Compulsive

Chapter 21

Everything was chaotic, for a while. Pairs were mixing up and changing, altering the rooming accommodations. People lost their room keys, needed an extra set just in case it happened again. Once everything was settled with the rooms, the kids were then taken to get some beach clothes.

The girls went nuts—Erza and Lucy excitedly ran around the little boutique, grabbing the cutest swimsuits, coverups and outfits, rushing to the change rooms to try them on. The guys were less excited about the clothing and more excited about the idea of getting fed—Juvia had promised they were going out for dinner next.

So, after shopping, the gang all headed out towards some little restaurant; it was nestled right into the beachside. The place was small and rather empty—which was suitable, considering this fairly large group coming to eat—and was sort of cute; there were golden, sparkly lights strung above the outdoor seating area, and cheerful music played in the background. It was dark by the time they ate, but the smell of the ocean filled the air, the lights lit up the place, and the sound of the waves could be heard as they chatted and ate their fill. Everyone was joyful; they looked nice, wearing their newly purchased outfits—the first outfit they'd worn that wasn't the facility's uniform for quite a while.

The group stayed at the restaurant for a while; after a couple hours had passed, people began to dwindle away. Juvia had told everyone to head back to the hotel when they were ready—she explained that there wouldn't be a lot of supervision, but that she was allowing this because she trusted all of them and knew they wouldn't disrespect her authority. She was right; the teens all genuinely liked Juvia and wouldn't want her career to be destroyed because someone was being stupid. She mentioned that they were free to roam where they wanted—the town was basically a resort town that had pretty tight security, so nothing criminal was really possible.

The group of teens dwindled down as time passed until, all of a sudden, it was Lucy and Natsu under some sparkly lights, the smell of the ocean thick in the air.

"It's nice here," Lucy said, sitting back in her chair, looking up at the stars above. "Hearing the ocean, hearing the waves. I sorta love it."

Natsu's lips parted into a grin. "Me too."

Hearing the warm wind breeze through the palm trees was incredibly relaxing; in fact, Lucy had never felt so calm before. It was like any of the things that had stressed her out before—school, her father, memories of her mother—didn't really bother her right now. It was like the bad things, the poison....here, they couldn't even touch her.

Lucy's brown eyes flickered to the boy in front of her.

She'd been so mad at him this morning. Angry to the point of tears, which had surprised even herself. Why? He'd ignored her, sure. Ran away from her on several occurrences. Avoided her in the halls, skipped meals so he didn't have to see her. Weird, even for Natsu. She'd thought she'd meant more than that to him...

But when she saw him today, all that anger sort of...didn't matter. She could see in his eyes something was wrong. She could tell by the way he walked. The way he sat alone on the bus. The way he kept looking back—trying, but failing to be subtle—at her the whole way to the airport. His eyes had been sad.

Lucy couldn't stand seeing his eyes like that—sad, dull, gloomy. The exact opposite of everything Natsu was: absolute sunshine, a ball of fire. She couldn't let him sit alone on the bus, looking like a sad little dog.

So, she'd sat with him. Forgiven him for being a dick the past couple days. It didn't matter to her. For whatever reason he felt he had to leave for a couple days, avoid her completely, it just didn't matter. She cared for him far too much to hold it against him.