Never Ending Love (a Nalu Fanfiction)

Chapter 2. Mixed Feelings

Unable to fall asleep again, Lucy decided to wake up. She could not help but smile when she saw Natsu still snoring while his arm was wrapped around her waist. She carefully moved his hand and got up to take a shower. Once finished, she prepared breakfast for the three of them.

She approached him with a sweet voice, "Natsu, wake up! Let's eat so we can go to the guild".

A hoarse voice came from his lips. "Yeah, I am coming, Luce." He paused and stretched his arms up; then he looked at her and continued, "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden? Sometimes you are such a weirdo..." he yawned, "I mean, you never treat me gently, and you usually kick me out of your apartment."

Lucy turned to look at Natsu in embarrassment. She thought, "When I had no idea that my feelings towards him would change so quickly... indeed, I did not hesitate twice to kick him out of my home."

Natsu felt taken aback when he saw Lucy's face turning red. He wasn't really expecting any response at all to his comment. Her flushed face and her silence somehow made the situation between them even more chaotic than before. He muttered, "I...ummmm I'll take a shower first, you and Happy can start eating without me."

While she saw him heading toward the bathroom door, she silently continued thinking, "Natsu, how can I make you understand my feelings towards you when I know you are incredibly dense for this type of thing? More importantly, I know that your heart does not belong to me..." She sighed in frustration, woke Happy up, and sat down to eat.

Before closing the bathroom door, Natsu stole a side glance and saw her embarrased face turning into a blank expression as she swayed Happy to wake him up. Once in the bathtub, he closed his eyes, trying to control the wave of feelings Lucy awakened in him. He couldn't help but compare that feeling to what he felt when he was with Lisanna.

He thought, "I admit I was surprised when Lisanna returned. I felt the yearning for those special moments of our childhood when she threw herself towards me, but there was more than that in her embrace. When her eyes met mine, I could see her expectations of finding a lover rather than a friend in me. And yet I disappointed her. I didn't really know how to feel at that moment, but I shuddered at the thought of having her back from the dead. My feelings became a turmoil since her return, because in the 2 years that she was gone, more than once I wondered if she and I would have become a couple, if she had not disappeared. We've known each other since infancy, and we promised to get married when we were kids."

Natsu took a deep breath as a memory that took place during the 'Grand Magic Games Wedding Contest' crossed his mind, "Natsu!" said Lisanna running towards him in a long, white strapless wedding dress.

"You look good in that!", Natsu said, amazed at the beautiful girl with short ivory hair, charming sky-blue eyes, and great personality that was standing before him.

"You too, Natsu!", she replied, embarrased, fixing her gaze to the ground.

"¿When did this...?" He said startled as he noticed that his outfit had changed.

"Come to think of it, when we were kids, I imagined that we would get..." Just before she could finish, she was interrupted by Lucy and Loke knocking Natsu down. But Natsu knew what she implied with her comment.

Natsu let the water fall on his face and began wondering, "Back then, when did I stop thinking about what my future with Lisanna could be? I think it was when I was looking for Igneel in 'Hargeon Port' and met Lucy instead. I was mesmerized by her beauty, but it was not just that. There was something about her that I couldn't explain, some sort of hidden attraction that drew me towards her. Also, something in her scent causes me nostalgia, as if I had known her scent for a very long time. Plus, despite knowing Lucy for less time, I felt that my bond with her was way much stronger until we fought Zeref. So, what happened to us after that? I just don't know why she put so much distance between us..."