Stellar Mistakes

Rooftop Showdown

Later that day, when it was time to go home, Lucy did not head to the bottom floor. She went the other way.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself as she rode the elevator to the top floor.

She stepped out onto the rooftop and gazed out at the evening sky. It was tranquil, and although it was not fully dark yet, she could still look up and see some of the brightest stars. Out of habit, she found the constellations, as her mother had taught her. Aquarius, Virgo, Cancer...

Just then, the door opened and someone walked out onto the rooftop. She turned slowly, expecting to see Loke there, but instead she saw pink hair.

"God, it's suffocating down there right now."

"Natsu!"

He paused at realizing she was there, but he strode forward with a stern face. "What is up with that photo? Are you still hooking up with that guy?"

"Whoa, easy there," she said as he charged at her like a dragon. "Didn't you hear Mr. Leo? That was taken when we came in on Saturday—"

"I'm asking if you're still involved with him?" he shouted.

Such an aggressive attitude coming from him made all of Lucy's negative feelings explode, and she shouted back at him. "Why are you still on my case about this? You're my friend, but this has nothing to do with you."

"It does, precisely because I'm your oldest, closest friend."

"So what?" she yelled. "Besides, nothing happened that morning. The photo was just of him taking me home after I had stayed up working all night. Everyone on the team was working hard that Saturday. Everyone but you, I may add," she added, slamming her finger into his chest.

Natsu's mouth dropped. "My cat Happy was sick, I had to take him to the vet—"

"You could've showed up at any time, and you would have found all of us working our butts off. Even Gray showed up early, although he had a commitment that night. Poor Freed was so exhausted, he had to take a cab home; he couldn't keep his eyes open. I was there the whole day and night. When we finally finished, the trains weren't running yet, so Mr. Leo drove me home. There's all. There's seriously nothing else to it."

Natsu looked stunned and a little hurt that she was yelling at him, accusing him of not working as hard as the rest of the team, and brushing aside their years of friendship. "Lucy, this isn't like you. What do you even see in that guy? Power, money?"

"No!" she shouted.

"You knew he was engaged, didn't you? At the meeting this morning, when the king came in, you didn't look at all surprised by that part."

Lucy bit her lip, and she muttered weakly, "When we hooked up, he wasn't engaged yet. He was only thinking about it. And I didn't know that she was the king's daughter. I found that out this morning, like everyone else."

"Then you knew all along, the guy was never going to be serious about you."

"I ... I knew that," she mumbled.

"Then why?" Natsu yelled in desperation. "Why would you get into a relationship that you know will never work out? I seriously don't get it." Natsu gnashed his teeth and looked pained. "Are you in love?"

Lucy felt her chest jolt with a sob she could not release. What sort of answer could she give? Just hours ago, she had told the King that she was not in love with Loke. She had come up to this roof for a reason, and now, being asked that...

"Lucy ... goddammit," he said, shaking his head in grief. "It's just not like you, having a relationship that's purely physical. You can't do this to yourself! I can see how this is tearing apart, and as your friend, I can't simply keep quiet about it anymore."