Stellar Mistakes

Proposals and Fiancées

Days passed, a new week started, and Lucy began to hole herself up in Fairy Tail's basement library with her laptop and notebook. Sometimes Natsu, Levy, or Cana came down to see her, but otherwise, she did not talk to anyone during that time.

On Friday, Natsu and Levy came to invite her to lunch, which she turned down yet again. Natsu furrowed his brow in concern.

"Are you okay?" He poked her shoulder when she continued to write in her notebook rather than look up at them. "You look like you're possessed."

"Are you even going home at night?" Levy asked, also looking worried about Lucy. "Don't tell me you've been sleeping here at the office."

"I'm going home," she assured them. "I have Plue to worry about, after all."

The truth was, she only went home to give Plue food, water, and walk him. She then went straight back to work. A few times, she called her landlord and begged the old lady to walk the dog for her. Although cranky, the woman agreed, since it was better than having urine stains on the carpet. Lucy actually had slept at the office twice.

She had never had so many ideas in her life. Loke's work was so amazing. The notebook she got for the GMG project quickly filled up with rough storyboard ideas, but none of them were quite right. She wrote, erased, wrote more, scratched out ideas, wrote again...

Although struggling to get the perfect concept to take shape, she did not feel stuck like she did before. She was making significant progress, but out of hundreds of ideas, she was searching for that special one, the idea that would blow away not just Loke, but the whole world.

Looking back, she realized she had never made anything that she was a hundred percent happy with. Although she was confident in her talent, anxiety and doubt always hung over her. Deep in her heart, she had known what she was looking for, but she had not yet matured enough to bring out that inner strength and turn it into something creative.

Now, she felt like she could do this. She could make this awesome. This was her ultimate chance. Once she was done, she would show Loke first thing.

She skipped lunch, and she did not realize that work had ended. As the clock struck seven, she finished her latest version of the proposal. She printed it out and rushed to Loke's office, unaware of how late it actually was.

She got onto the elevator in the basement library, but instead of hitting the Creative Department's floor, her hands shook with excitement and she hit the first floor. Oh well, she hit the upper level as well. The elevator rose, and the doors dragged themselves open at the first floor, revealing none other than Loke standing in the main foyer.

Lucy grinned at seeing him and began to run over, proposal in hand. That was when she realized that beside him was someone she had never seen before. She came to a stop as she realized they were in the middle of a conversation.

"I'm sorry," said the petite woman, "but it's time for me to go."

"Don't worry, Aries. I know your father has an early curfew for you."

"It was nice to see you again, Loke."

Lucy's heart gave a painful thump when she heard the familiarity in their words. Calling him Loke instead of Mr. Leo had to mean that she did not work there, and whoever she was, Loke knew her father. A family friend? The woman herself was dainty, with pink hair that turned into perfect cotton-like puffs around her shoulders. Her dress was pure white and clung to her shapely body, accenting her cleavage, with a matching white choker and long, elegant white gloves coming up past her elbows. She possessed a simple, polished elegance about her, and she stood so close to Loke, they obviously knew one another very well.