Anew 《Gray x Lucy x Natsu》

4| Hanging Out After School

"Luce..." Natsu called poking her cheek "Oi, Luce *poke*... Luce, Luce *poke poke*"
Natsu called her again, but was still ignored.

Lucy was sitting on her chair, her chin propped up by her right hand. Her right elbow rested on the books that lay on her desk. It was like she's very enthralled by Happy-sensei's lessons.
But how was that possible?
Fifteen minutes has already passed since the class was dismissed!

With a soft grunt, Natsu stood from his seat and went in front of Lucy's desk. He leaned forward, his face now barely a few inches away from Lucy's!

"OI! LUCE!"

Lucy flinched, snapping out from her daze.
Realizing Natsu very close, she clumsily stood up and backed away.
"N-Na... N-Natsu!" she stuttered, her cheeks now blushing redder than a tomato! Perhaps, it can even put Erza's hair to shame!

Lucy finally calmed herself after three whole minutes.
"Where is everyone?" she asked, roaming her gaze around the whole classroom.

But her cheeks once again flushed red!
She was all alone with Natsu!

Thump! Thump!
Lucy's hand clutched the clothing on her chest where the heart is.
'Ah... My heart heart is beating so fast. I can barely breath..."

"Where? They already went home, of course"

"W-what?!" Lucy panicked!
She was about to pick up her things but Natsu moved faster.

Natsu grabbed the belongings on her desk and stuffed it in her bag. He then took her bag then swung it over his shoulder.
"Let's go!"
Using his free hand, he grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her out of the room.

"N-Natsu!" Lucy called, a little out of breath. "Ch-chotto matte kudasai!" She can barely keep up with him.

Natsu looked back to her over his shoulder, flashing his wide toothy grin.
"Hurry. They are all waiting for us"

🌟🌟🌟

Natsu brought Lucy to the mall just a few blocks away from Fairy Tail High and entered a cafe. They roamed their gaze and it finally landed on a young woman with scarlet hair and a raven haired male. They were seated on a  table that was enough for eight people.

"Erza-san! Gray!" Lucy called smiling when they arrived at their table.
Lucy sat beside Erza and Natsu sat in front of Lucy.

"Haa? Where's the others?" Natsu asked, looking at the empty seats

"They got bored waiting and decided to go shopping for a little while. Erza and I voluntered to wait for you here" Gray explained, then smirked in a teasing manner. "You two really took your time coming here, Pinky"

Natsu suddenly grabbed Gray's collar! "Are you saying I'm a slowpoke, huh Frosty?!"

"Ha! You're just stupid as always, ash brain" Gray said through gritted teeth and also grabbed Natsu!

Erza crashed her hands to the table.
*SLAM!

Natsu and Gray froze and nervously looked at Erza. The two of them blanched, their faces now extremely drained of color!

"You two... don't start a ruckus in this cafe"

"A-aye!" they both said in sync. They are so scared at Erza that they hugged each other!

Satisfied, Erza took her seat. Natsu and Gray plopped down their chairs and softly sighed in releif.

*bzzzt- bzzzzzt...

Erza quickly fished her cellphone from her pocket and read the text message. She stood up from her seat and was about to go. After three steps, she stopped when she received another message.
When she finished reading, she looked back towards the pink haired boy.
"Natsu, you need to come with me"

"Haa? But, Lucy..." Natsu looked towards Lucy, hesitating.

"You do not need  to worry about me, Natsu. I'm here with Gray anyway" Lucy gave him a small smile, yet it did not reach her eyes

Natsu intently stared at Lucy's face as if scrutinizing her. He then glanced towards Erza, then back to Lucy, and then looked back towards Erza again.

Seeing Erza gettting impatient made him nervously swallow the lump on his throat. "A-aye!"

Five minutes have passed since Erza and Natsu left.
Lucy had her chin propped up with her right hand as she stared through the window. Or rather, as she stared at the window.
As for Gray, he was impatiently tapping the table. He cannot bear the defeaning awkward silence between them!

Gray stood up. "I'm just gonna buy something"
Lucy absent mindedly nodded. She did not give him even a glance.

After a few minutes, Gray returned.
"Here."

Lucy instinctively flinched backwards when the icecream almost touched her nose.

"Th-thank you" Lucy said and took the ice cream

Gray stuffed his hands inside his pockets and avoided to make ete contact. His cheeks were also tinged pink.

"Gray, is something the matter? Your ears are red"

That only made his face flush redder!
"I-it's n-none of your business!"

He sighed and finally calmed down.
"Lucy..." he called staring staright to Lucy's brown eyes. "I'm sorry"

Lucy gave him a confused look. "Gray, is there something you should apologize to me about?"

Gray raked his fingertips through his raven hair out of frustration. "I don't know! Have I done something to make you upset? You kept ignoring me since morning" his last sentence was barely audible and he averted his gaze from Lucy.

"Oh... no, no, no... it wasn't your fault, Gray" she said waving her hands. "I'm very sorry... I.. my mind was just pre-occupied by something"

"So does that mean you're not mad at me?"

"O-of course not!"

Sighed in releif and mumbled something.

Soon, everyone started coming back in groups.

"Ara ara... Looks like everyone's already here"  Mira said

"Hai! Let's go, minna-san!" Wend

"Let's go!" Everyone else cheered

except Lucy
"W-wait!"
Everyone's attention turmed towards her.
"Etto... Where are we going?"