It was a nice Friday and we spent it by playing games in the arcade and swimming in our school's indoor pool. "Oh come on!" I sigh, pressing buttons fiercely onto the PAC Man booth.
Sting snorts next to me as he pats my back.
"I told you, not even I could beat it."
"Let's just go get some food and head to the pool." He says, I ignore him. And when he calls me name I raise my finger at him and shake my head at him. He sighs, "Alright. Good luck then. If you need me I'll be at the indoor pool with Gray, Loke and the others." I can tell he left as I play a couple of levels until I try to beat the game. I'm frustrated but can't stop trying to win. I hate losing, I always have to win. This last level is incredibly hard I'm sure I've lost fifty plus times already.
I decide to take a break and get something to drink. I buy a raspberry slushy as I walk back to my game booth. I almost lose my grip on the plastic cup when I saw Lucy hanging out right there, next to the game. She takes out her game card. Instead of game coins, we as the students a game card that limits how much we play. The school still monitors us on how much 'unhealthy' time we waste on video games.
I grin as I call her name. "Hey, Lucy!"
She doesn't look back as she sets up the main screen. I grow closer. "Hey? Why won't you say hi." I frown. She opens her mouth, "Hello strange specimen." I see that teasing smile.
"You won't win," I say. "It's incredibly hard. I've tried everything." I say, watching as she plays. But my eyes go wide when I see how easy she manipulates the video game. Left, right. Quick and precise like she's got a whole strategy. And when she wins, she grins, "Yes! I won!"
"HOW?" I say, shocked.
"The key is to have fun." She tells me.
"Mhm." I say, sarcastically. "I don't believe you."
"I spoke with Lisanna." She says, abruptly. I look at her surprised. "We talked about the whole situation the cheerleading one. She's so-god I can't believe her. I decided to just quit cheerleading as long as she's captain."
"Mhm." I hum. But I'm not interested in what her and Lisanna argue about. Now that Lucy's here I want to hang out with her.
"Wanna head to the pool?" I ask. Smiling. She looks at me for a moment and says, "Yeah sure. Why not?"
"Awesome let's go then!" I find myself grabbing her wrist and pulling her. But she stops me. "Hold on! I have to go change into a swimsuit. You should too."
"Alright. See you at the pool, then?" I say.
She nods, with a cute smile. "Yep." Then we part ways.
I change into some swimming trousers and take off my shirt off my back. When I exit the dorm room. I catch the guys from across the pool. Gray's sitting on his ass, just not doing anything while Juvia is in the pool talking to him from the water. He looks uninterested as he sips from his smoothie on his other hand. I don't see Lucy anywhere so I assume she must be getting ready. I'm drinking from my straw as I sit next to a chair next to Gray.
"Hey jackass." He instantly scowls and I laugh.
"Natsu!" Sting says, a wide grin on his face. He's trying to keep himself afloat on the water. "You made it!"
"Sting, what the fuck are you wearing?" I say. Looking as he has swimming floaties on his both arms like a little kid would. He shrugged, "Yukino insisted." I shake my head, surprisingly both Gray and I break into laughter.
"Where's Yukino anyway?" Gray yells.
"She's with the girls in the locker room. She'll be back soon!" Sting explains, then he turns around and dives into the water.
Maybe Lucy's in the lockeroom? She probably is.
"So who's your new roommate, Gray?" I ask him. Finishing off the slushie. The color is drained and there's only frost of ice.
"It's Lyon." He says, pissed. "Honestly I'd rather be roommates with you, and that's seriously saying something."
I grin, as I show him my fist. He rolls his eyes at me. He finally pumps my fist. We enjoy the silence, following by the manly loud screams of Cana as she yells at the guys. "STOP SPLASHING WATER—YOU BETTER STOP-ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, DROY. I'm about to kill your leaking hamburger helper ass!" She shouts.
Juvia suddenly pounces from underwater. Scaring the shit out of me I drop my slushy on the floor. There's hardly spill; more ice. "Oh my god!" I pick up the mess.
"So you really could do it. That's amazing." Gray says, he looks dazed into his thoughts. "Do what?" I ask, looking at Juvia who's smiling her cheeks bright pink as she smiles at Gray. Both share an intimate stare. "Juvia was proving to me that she could hold her breath under water for five minutes." Gray says, now looking at me.
I blink, "Are you the real Loch Ness monster everyone's talking about?"
Gray scowls at me instantly, "Shutup, you idiot." Juvia gives me a dirty look. "Yeah, shut up."
"Oh wow," I say. "You two should just date already." They both look away. Bright red. "What about you? Shouldn't you be dating LUCY?" Gray brings up.
Juvia perks up. "Oh?"
"Shutup! We're just friends." I state. Angrily. But I can feel myself blush as I try to hide it. My whole freaking body vibrates for a whole second. "Yeah. More like friends with benefits? I saw him with Lucy alone. They were gone for like an entire day."
"Never thought Natsu would get another girl to like him." Juvia says, intrigued. I glare at her and then back at Gray. "Yeah me neither." He smirks at me. "We're just friends! She doesn't see me that way! You guys better not talk shit around and ruin our friendship." I clench my jaw.
"Oh he's in the friend zone." Juvia says, like it explains everything. Gray agrees with a nod, "Oh yeah he is. Pretty hard spot. Try getting out of that one."
"What!?" I shout, feeling offended.
"Trying to get out of the friend zone like..." Gray sings.
Juvia laughs, "Poor Natsu." Gray laughs and walks towards the pool. "Natsu's in the friend zone!" He mocks, as he splashed into the pool. Juvia treads next to him, as she throws her head back and laughs. They both laugh together.
"Oh whatever," I snap. "I'm leaving."
I say that as I pass by. Then I see Lucy, but I had just passed her as I heard her voice echo as I left. "Natsu? Where you going?" It sounded muffled like she had something in her mouth. I grinned like nothing happened as I passed by Gray and Juvia again.
"And I'm staying." I said, under my breath.
I hear some girls giggle and joke around as they tell Lucy something. Lucy just ignores them and eats her blue popsicle that she's currently holding in her hand. Her hair is in long pigtails that reach her waist. I try to ignore the fact that she looks very attractive right now in her swimsuit. "What took you so long? Were you fighting zombies again?" I sigh, as I step closer to her.
"Yes." She says, pointing at me with the popsicle. "As you can tell, I'm severally wounded. It's been seven years since I last saw civilization just like it is now."
"Well, welcome back, soldier." I grin, as I put my arm on her shoulder and we walk along the pool. We stop at the edge of the pool. Lucy looks down at the water. "Have you ever swam before?" I ask.
"Have you ever swam before? Because either or I'm on impulse to punch you and knock you down the water if you don't get your goddamn arm off me, now." She sneers at me. I immediately remove my arm off her shoulder. "Alright, alright. No need to be so evil." I chuckle. She bends down and checks the temperature of the water with her hand. "God it's so cold!"
I bend down and take the popsicle from her hand. Popping it into my mouth. "I can't do this. Swimming was a bad idea. It's way cold."
"I brought towels?" I say, hopefully. Grabbing a towel from the chair next to us. I show it to her.
She shakes her head. "You know what? No. I'm not going in. It's not just the temperature of the water. There's hundreds of different bacteria from everyone. Public pools are known for their incredible growth of bacteria—and someone could have pissed in the water! And guess what!" She looks at me.
I sigh. Here she goes with her 'guess what' contradictions. "What?" I say, looking right back at her.
"We wouldn't even notice! And accidentally swallow it!" She gags at the thought and I break into laughter, as I slap my knee. "What in the hell are you laughing at?" She hisses. "I'm just saying."
"Lucy," I say, as I gently put my hand on her bare shoulder. "No one's pissed in the water. The pool is cleaned up everyday with anti-bacterial chemicals. Would you just swim with me?"
She looks at the pool, stands up. But then, "Well first of all. You don't know that—" that's it. I stood up and knocked her down the water. Both of us. I didn't let go of her waist until we hit water. When we came to the surface for air she spewed out water. "Oh you're so DEAD." As I'm laughing, she punches me over and over again.
"Okay!" I shout. "I'm sorry. Just stop punching me...my damn it hurts..."
She chuckles, very sinister. The whole definition of SINISTER.
She sits at the edge of the pool. Her legs in the water as she sits around the pool. I tread water as I float besides her. "What are you doing, Lucy?"
"I'm fucking cold. Don't talk to me." She says, shivering. She's hugging herself. Her breast enlarging as I try not to look. She's definitely built for perfection.
"Why don't you just get inside then?" I ask. She could also grab one of the towels I had. But I guess someone that passed by earlier took them.
"I can't just leave you...." she says, very quiet and almost like she's pouting at the fact. I sigh as I swim toward the edge of the pool and hoist myself next to her. I take my book bag from my chair as she watches in curiosity. "Water you doing?" She laughs. I chuckle at her pun as she does her best to stay herself even if she's freezing. I take my towel out and as I see her smile so adorably nervous, I get nervous myself and throw it over her head. "Hey!" She muffles for a second. She takes it off her head.
I laugh. "Sorry."
"Y'know there's better ways to pass a girl a towel." She says, wrapping herself into the towel. Covering her fully up from the shoulders to the waist. Out of curiosity I check the time, it's dark outside. So it must be late.
"Warmth at last!" She says, sighing.
I chuckle. "So no more cheerleading?" I lean back.
"Nope." She says.
"That's good." I say, finding some relief that she won't be surrounded by perverts again.
"What's that suppose to mean?!" She says. Glaring daggers at me. I grin wide. "Oh nothing."
"So, Lucy have you ever been with someone?" I ask. She practically squeals as I see her turn red. "No why would you ask that!?"
"Just answer the question." I sigh. She looks away for a moment and hugs herself and the towel tighter. "Not really..." She says, timidly.
I find myself surprise. And I smirk as I witness this adorable vulnerable side of her. "What about you?" She says, starting to get angry.
"Hmm..." I say. Then I stand up, she watches me curious. Then I turn around and walk away. "Hey! Natsu! Answer the question! Where are you going??"
"Sorry, I think I'm gonna head out now." I say. I can hear her run towards me. As she punches me from the back. "You answer the question or I'll keep punching you the next time I see you! Oh it won't take a matter of time until I break one of your ribs or two!" I turn around, my whole body facing hers as we're only inches away. She punches my chest, I grab her wrist. She looks up at me on surprise. But glares at me.
"Stop punching me," I echo a laugh. "I'll tell you, but you'll be surprised."
She pulls her wrist back. "Try me."
I sigh as I take a seat on a chair. I've realized we're the only ones at the pool and everyone has left. I point at the chair next to me and tell her to sit. I notice this pretty gold necklace around her neck and collarbone. "Believe it or not it was Lisanna." I say, watching her reaction. She blinks, deadpanned. "Why-Why aren't you surprised??" I ask.
"Because it's obvious." She says. "I've seen the way she looks at you, like you've guys been close once."
"Oh," I say. "We were just childhood friends. In the end we never saw each other more then that. We've never kissed even."
"Really?" She perks up.
I nod. "Yeah." I feel shy all of a sudden.
"Hey, Natsu." She says, softly. "Could we go? I'm tired..." she definitely does look tired. "If we don't go soon, I'm bound to fall asleep as we speak. So we should just go now."
I nod. "Okay."
I walk her to her dorm. Before she closes her door she looks at me. "Goodnight, strange specimen." She says, softly from her lips.
"Goodnight, you crazy girl." I say. She tells me to shut up, quietly, followed by a laugh. She punches me once on the shoulder. "Bye!" And closes the door. I walk away from the dorm. I think about her as I sleep. And I don't stop tossing and turning around all night. I even pretend she's a goddamn pillow next to me as I hug it very tight. That actually helps and I fall asleep fast.