The Flat Friends (ROOM MATES BOOK 2)

chapter 19 ~ leave the city

Silence enveloped her as she stepped through the door and the recognizable smell of old paper filled her nose. Something so familiar put her at ease, just a little.

"Hey, Lucy!" A sweet voice called quietly from behind one of the wooden shelves that carried what looked like hundreds upon hundred of books. The blondes eyes darted in the direction of the voice, right before Mira's smiling face popped out from the aisle with a book in hand.

"Didnt except to see you here so soon! I saw you through a gap in the books!" She giggled, her trademark genuine friendliness clearly evident.

"Oh hi Mira!" Lucy replied with a smile, trying her best not to be obvious as her gaze attempted in a quick sweep of the library - from where she was, she couldn't see Natsu.

"Ooh! While you're here, you need to meet Levy! She's basically the boss of the library." Mira giggled before turning back to look down the aisle she came from. "Levy!.... Oi, Levy!"

When Mira had seemed to finally get the bluenettes attention she gestured for her to come over and pointed in the direction of Lucy.

"Mira, how many times do I have to tell you to keep it down in here..." a voice that filled Lucy's heart with so much happiness, slowly appeared before she came out of the aisle and faced the platinum haired girl. "In case you've forgotten, you're in a library." She spoke, emphasising the last word. 

Lucy couldn't help but let out a little laugh at Levy's attitude - when thinking back to how friendly her Levy was, she still couldn't get used to the grumpiness of this one.

"I'm Lucy." The blonde introduced herself,  stopping the conversation between Mira and Levy and situating herself in the middle. "Levy" the bluenette simply replied.

"Anyway, what brings you here?" Mira began, most likely noticing Lucy's slight fidgeting and constant looking around. "Looking for a book by any chance?" She laughed.

"In the future, I definitely will be." Lucy began. "But at the moment I'm looking for someone... have either of you seen Natsu around anywhere?"

"That weirdo? No, he wouldn't step foot in a library if it killed him." Levy puffed rolling her eyes - probably at the thought of this place's 'scaredy-cat' Natsu - but Lucy new that wasn't what he was really like. Her and Natsu had spent hours together in the Library on the past.

"Oh, well, thanks anyway." The blonde replied, not bothering to hide her disappointment - something Mira seemed to definitley pick up on.

"Hey, it's coming up to lunch time, do you wanna come and sit with us in the cafeteria?" Mira suggested, smiling brightly at Lucy in hopes of bringing her mood up. "And I'm sure Natsu will be there, he never misses the chance for food."

"Sure." Lucy replied, and left the library with Mira and Levy.

•

Lucy felt like a zombie as she walked emotionlessly toward the lunch cafeteria. Her hands pinned still at her side as her shoulders were bumped and bashed about by the rampage of fellow students on their way to appease their hungry stomachs. She felt the walls of people around her blur into one big mould of browny black - the boring hair colours blending into the boring corridors that mixed with the boring smell of canteen food. She felt lifeless. Not a single pulse ran through her veins that urged her to get on with this life and just act normal. Nothing was normal. Especially without him.

She couldn't seem to focus on anything but him - not even Mira and Levy beside her could keep up a conversation with her.

It wasn't until Lucy saw a blur of pink hair that the bounce was returned in her step.