sea shells | natsu dragneel

chapter three

•∞•

"So, did you come here by plane?"

That was her first question.

"Yep, yesterday from Crocus. I took a cab and arrived here in the afternoon," I explain as stores pass with each step we take.

"Woah, a city girl," Lucy gaped. "how long are you staying here?"

"Two months."

The blonde nodded approvingly. The stone path morphed into a boardwalk, layered with sand. We padded down the wooden stairs, and I take in the view of the waves calmly washing upon the shore. 

We abandoned our shoes where the sand met the boardwalk. My feet sunk into the warm sand, a sudden bliss coming over me.

"There are several bars and beach cafes set along the backshore, and volleyball courts over there," she pointed to the right, where indeed nets were set up. Lucy skipped further into the beach.

"The further you go down the shore, the rockier the beach will become. That's why the town is set up here, for tourists."

"I see," I murmur, not very interested in any history lessons. Seagulls perched on the sand, preying for crabs.

"Wanna go get something to drink?"

•∞•

"I'm bored," a pink-haired man groaned, laying his head on the plastic table. "why isn't there anything to do around here?"

The man in front of him snorted.

He, in contrast to the other, had dark, navy hair and slim eyes, lacking a shirt. His expression was cool and collected, sipping on a red liquid from a can. 

"Okay, fine, if you say you're bored, let me give you something to do," he responded, before scanning his eyes over the beach. Dark orbs landed on a (h/c)-haired girl, and he smiled wickedly. "Natsu, do you see that girl over there?"

"Huh?" 'Natsu' sat up dizzily, turning his head left and right, bored. A sharp kick from under the table sends him doubling over, his head smashing against the plastic with an ugly crack. "Gray, what the fuck?!"

"Behind you," Gray jerked his head forward.

With building annoyance, Natsu turned his head to see his friend, Lucy, and another girl chatting happily.

His eyes widened.

She was very, very pretty.

The girl- around his age- had sleek (h/c) hair, tied into a ponytail. Her (s/c) skin reflected the sun in a glowy haze, (e/c) eyes sparkling as she threw her head back to laugh, revealing straight, white teeth.

"Uhm, whata 'bout her?" Natsu asks his friend, hoping Gray didn't notice the obvious attraction he had to her.

But the comrade did.

And that's what would make this all much more fun.

"Go get her number."

Natsu deadpans. "Dude, I'm not in the mood for flirting right now. Go ask someone else if you wanna bang her."

A twinge of jealousy rose through him as he pictured Gray buttering up to the pretty girl.

"You said you were bored, right?" the navy-haired man coys, a smirk crawling onto his pale lips. "Well then, won't it be fun to toy with an innocent tourist? Or... are you too scared to talk to a girl?"

"No!" Natsu growls, his pride immediately crashing through his head. "Fine," he huffs, sending Gray the middle finger for the unwanted jab at his ego.

Gray gives him a mocking thumbs up, taking another sip of his drink.

And, to Natsu's luck, Lucy just stood up, gave the girl a wave, and left.

Now.

•∞•

"I'm gonna go buy another one, I'm super thirsty," Lucy notifies, a hand going down in her brown purse. "do you want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," I reassure, eyeing the can in my hands. "actually, just water would be nice. I need to wash out the taste."

"Say that again," the blonde huffs. "But Jewels are the only cheap drinks we can get around here. They're even cheaper than water. And I'm broke, like everyone else, so you'll get used to the flavour soon enough."

"That's a relief," I mutter sarcastically, the bland taste still on my tongue. They only had strawberry Jewels- which was just a mix of red food coloring, water, and chemicals. You could taste the caffeine on your tongue. 

Lucy left; blonde hair bouncing behind her.

The sun warmed up my back, the cream-colored parasol casting a cool shadow over the table and I. Children ran past me, plastic spatulas and buckets in hand, ready to build sandcastles of all sizes.

And suddenly, someone takes a seat in front of me.

"God, that's a nice set of legs, at what time do they open?"

I look up from my drink.

Tan skin, a lazy smirk hanging on his lips. Devious eyes meet mine, the man steadying his chin on his hand. My eyes travel over the wide expanse of his shoulders- he's got to be tall. His voice sounded a tad familiar.

I take a good, long look at his pink hair.

I snort. "Oh, and here I was with some hope. Try again, honey."

He grins wider. "Honey? Looks like I've already gained a place in your heart."

"Ah, fuck off," I complain, and the man laughs in a boisterous manner. I notice the bold MCR graphic t-shirt he was wearing- he must be an idiot if he's wearing black in the summer. 

"I mean, if I gotta talk to a pretty lady like you, then gladly," he winks. 

I'm about to slap him, but someone else takes that grand pleasure.

Lucy's smack is sharp and hard against the side of his head. He doesn't look up at her, his eyes still on mine. 

"Well, I'm taking that as my cue to leave," he finally glances up to a fuming Lucy. "See ya later, pretty lady!"

And he was gone.

I grimace. Boys.

"Sorry about that idiot," Lucy apologizes. "He usually doesn't flirt with girls, if you can call it flirting. Actually... he was acting pretty strange. That's Natsu, by the way. He's a local here as well, part of the popular group I was talking about earlier."

My mind lulls through the memory of his deep voice.

"Can you tell me more about this popular group?" I ask, wondering if it's filled with more flirts like him. "if they're all fuckboys, you can tell me."

Lucy shook her head. "Not really. They're all very close- Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, some other guys and their 'leader' Laxus. After they finished high school here, they swore an oath to not date- because they believed that dating prevents them from 'living their lives' and shit like that. They call it 'bachelorhood'."

My nose scrunches in confusion. If they don't date, then why did he come up to me and flirt? He'd obviously done it before- the words had slipped out of his mouth smoothly, with the control of an expert. "But doesn't bachelorhood mean... that they're just not married?"

"Yeah, I guess they didn't realize that. Again, idiots."

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writing is hard when english isn't your first language 😒😒

edited