A Racer and A Thug

The Caller

The days that past were fairly moderate. It seemed that Natsu and I had grown more of an understanding with each other after our little secret sharing. We weren't awkward with each other, Natsu didn't fear me as much and I felt more comfortable hanging around him and his crew. In truth, I liked it. Though I hated admitting it, I felt calm and....happy? No that's not it, but similar. It was a feeling I wasn't very familiar with and I couldn't figure out what it was.

"Hey, Lucy!" I looked up from my lunch to see Natsu walk up, he was wearing a dark grey jacket that he zipped up, probably concealing his fire red t-shirt. It had gotten considerably colder as the month progressed, this resorted in all of us to wear warmer jackets in school. Even the dress loving Cana and Mirajane weren't safe from mother nature's cruel October winds and had resorted to wear sweaters, jackets, and long pants.

I waved to the pink haired teen, a slight smile. "What's up?"

The teen walked over and plopped right next to me, showing no hesitance or fear. He was completely confident. "I was wondering," he started. "if you wanted to come to a race?"

"A race?" I raised an eyebrow. "Am I going to get front row seat like last time?" I smirked indicating the time we met and I had to catch a ride with him during a race.

"Uh...no," Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "You'd be standing on the sidelines, unfortunately. But you can still watch!" I noticed he became a little nervous again, which might have to do with him asking me, him not letting me get front row (which I didn't really care about), or it could just be his personality acting up. I decided that it was probably the last point.

"Well, I'd much rather sit back and watch. At least I won't be head first in danger." I shot a playful glare at Natsu. "Unlike last time."

"Ah, don't worry! That won't happen again.....hopefully," He looked away, his timid side resurfacing again.

After a few seconds of giving him a critical look, I asked, "So, where is it?"

"Huh?" The teen gave me a confused look at the question, probably a little surprised that I agreed (I was too). But he composed himself quickly and answered, "On North Street, in the west neighborhood."

"Ah, I've been there before. Shady place of you're going alone." I took a drink from my chocolate milk.

"Well, the race starts at 10 tonight."

"What are you two doin'? Settin' up a date?"

I, followed by Natsu, immediately started arguing back at the voice.

"Yeah, to you're funeral!"

"I-I-It's n-not like that!!"

Our commentator turned out to be Gray. Despite all the clothes he originally wore, he seemed to have stuffed more into his outfit. He looked like a huge marshmallow.

"G-Gray?!" Natsu exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"It's lunch," the black haired racer responded like it was the most obvious thing. "Though I hate the cold, I wanted to ask if you were still coming to the race. Why? Am I interrupting something?" He started giving us a sly smile that told us he suspected of us doing things that only couples do.

"Watch your mouth racer," I warned. "Unless you don't want to find yourself in the river naked."

That changed his tune pretty quickly. "Err...sorry Lucy." He stiffened and started to sweat. "Anyway, Natsu, you coming?"

"Yeah, you're racing this time, right?"

Gray smiled from ear to ear at that, "You bet! Levy said my car is all fixed up and rarin' to go, man I haven't raced in a while. It'll be nice to get back in the groove."