The Way I Loved You

Summary= From nothing to everything, was only a thing he could make her feel. [Modern Day AU].

Pairing= Nalu.

Chapters= One-Shot.

Word Count= 2184.

For= bloodychuu's belated birthday! Thank you so much my twin for allowing me to be your friend! I'm so glad I'm able to talk with you, you're literally the sweetest person I know, and an amazing artist! Seriously, I'm so happy I went to blog and screamed about your art that day! I hope you enjoy this .

Fourth installment of my Taylor Swift's songs series!

As soon as the car came to a stop in front of the apartment building, Lucy extended her hand to open the door, but as soon as her fingertips brushed it, he swung it open.

Lucy could only stare at the pavement, and the way raindrops hit it and made it shine. She still wondered why she seemed to have her mind in the clouds this whole day.

"Lucy? Are you okay? You're going to get cold," he said, smiling and waiting for her, umbrella on his hand. Such a gentleman.

She blinked a couple of times, before finally getting out of the car. Not a single drop touched her dress, since he put the umbrella over her immediately. He smiled at her. "Lucy, do you want me to walk you to the door?"

A part of her said no. She didn't want it. Because no matter how nice, or gentleman he was with her, she wasn't feeling like she should be. From the moment he'd picked her up at the apartment hours ago, and throughout the whole date, she didn't feel anything at all.

It made her recall the countless times she'd dreamed of the perfect charming prince coming to her rescue. She'd dreamed of the perfect boy, sensible, caring, smart, handsome and nice. And now she'd found him. A boy who would treat her like a princess, and love her as a woman.

"Did you enjoy it?" he asked shyly, smiling at her.

He was always smiling, too. Did he ever feel another emotion that didn't allow him to smile?

Lucy nodded, no words coming to her. She spent a nice day, but at the same time she didn't.

She saw him pursing his lips together, if only a bit. Soon, they arrived to the living hall of the building, which was incredibly quiet, with only the secretary man half-sleeping in his chair behind the counter.

Lucy prepared herself to say good-bye. It was always the same thing, almost monotone, in all of their dates these last two months. They were still in the process of knowing each other better, but did she really want to know him?

He was sensible and incredible, saying everything she wanted to hear all the time. "You look beautiful tonight," he'd always say. He respected her and her space, never making her wait.

She'd dare say he was the boy of every girl's dream.

"Lucy." he said. His voice was firm, something unexpected that forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Yes?" she said.

"You look sad," he said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, don't worry," she said, smiling to not worry him.

"Do I make you sad?" he asked.

Her chest hurt, because she knew he knew. "No, you don't make me sad, really! It's just…"

"He's better, isn't it?" he asked. The sadness in his voice was too much for her to handle.

She bit her lip. "It's not that he's better," she said, shifting her weight to her other foot. "I don't really know what this is, I'm sorry."

"Well," he said, smiling again. "I don't want to make you feel bad. So I'm sure it's better if we end this here, right? I don't want to make you suffer anymore."

Lucy's eyes watered up, touched by the good heart of the boy. She never deserved any of this, she realized, as he continued to smile in pain. This prince was not for her, and it'd never be.

She wanted a dragon.

"Bye," she said. He nodded and left. The only thing she could do was stare at his back until the engine of his car turned on and he disappeared under the rain.

She sighed, wiping her teary eyes with the back of her hand. She couldn't say she felt sad, or angry that he kind of broke up with her. She didn't want to make him feel bad anymore, or be a weight in his life. He deserved better and she accepted it. They both had their own paths to walk from here on.

She took the elevator to her floor, and walked through the dark corridor to her door. It took her a moment to put the key on and crack it open. And as soon as she stepped in, she was welcomed by a huge grin, that belonged to the man sitting on her couch, eating her food without permission.

Angry, she yelled, "What are you doing in my house?" before remembering it was two am and the neighbors would kill her.

"Yo, Lucy!" Natsu greeted, his grin unwavering.

"Natsu!" she said, suddenly blushing, as realization hit her. Had he been waiting for her? "Why are you here?"

"I was bored," he whined. "And you took so long,"

"That's not a reason to eat my food!" she squealed angrily. She dropped her bag over the couch and took the cake away from his hands, ignoring his protests. "Go home!"

"But Lucy!" he said, following her to the kitchen, "I waited for you so long and now you want me to go?"

"Yes!" she said, even though her heart beat faster and faster with each of his spoken words.

"You're so mean," he said. As Lucy opened her fridge, she could feel him coming closer to her. "And weirdo, why are you so red now?"

She cursed the roller coaster of feelings that came like a bonus whenever he was there. It was amazing, how after a numb days all the emotions came in crashing her like an ocean wave.

She put the cake inside and closed the fridge, turning around with a frown, trying to get a hold of herself as he stared at her with his deep eyes. "I'm not red."

She gracefully passed beside him to go back to her living room, throwing herself over the soft couch. He came in right after, that knowing look on his face that always managed to irk her. She wondered what was he up to this time.

"You are," he said, leaning in over the couch at her side from behind. He was close. "Did he do this?"

Her eyes widened, shocked. She'd learned in the past weeks that her dates were something he hated to talk about, and she still tried to figure out the reason. So that he was the one bringing it up now was quite the surprise.

"No," she said, the engineers of her mind working all too fast.

"Then?" he arched his eyebrows.

"None of your business," Lucy waved her hand at him, before closing her eyes and turning her head. It's not like she could tell him the truth now.

"But Lucy," he whined again, extending the length of his words. "I'm your best friend, I want to know."

She felt when he put his hands over her bare shoulders, the point where their skins touched igniting a fire.

"Not telling you," she resisted.

"Maybe you have a fever!" he exclaimed, as if the idea popped in his mind all of sudden and he was certain it was the right thing. He turned her head around so he could face it, and then he touched her forehead with his.

Her breath got caught in her throat at his closeness, feeling his breath mixing with hers. She refused to meet his gaze, too afraid of what she'd do if she looked.

"Hmm," he murmured. "You don't feel hot."

"I'm not sick," she said.

"What are you doing, weirdo? Open your eyes." he said. Something in his voice made her oblige, even if he still was touching her forehead. Why was he not letting her go?

She was met with a pair of mixed feelings inside his dark orbs and a goofy smile.

"What do you want?" she asked, her face becoming redder than before.

"Did something happen with that guy?" he asked.

Lucy took a deep breath, lowering her gaze. But when she found his sweet lips on the way, she quickly looked up again. "We… we ended it up now, so I guess we'll not see each other again,"

"Thank goodness,"

Both opened their eyes with shock, not expecting that reaction. Natsu quickly let her go and stood up, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Lucy could only stare, arching her eyebrows.

"What?" she asked, trying to understand.

"What what?" Natsu chuckled nervously, avoiding her eyes.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Lucy said, anger starting to boil inside her. The relationship she had with the other boy was not meant to be, she knew it, but who was Natsu to laugh at it? Or to get happy over the fact that they broke up? Did he not think about her feelings at all?

"Umm, Lucy, I'm sorry, I-I was not going to say that and-" he stuttered, hiding his face behind the scarf wrapped around his neck.

Lucy shot him a hard glare before turning around. She hugged her knees over the couch, resting her chin over the knees. Her heart broke a little bit, if he found joy over her failures. It hurt, and she didn't want to see him.

"Are you mad?" he asked quietly, after a moment of utter silence. Lucy decided to ignore him.

Why was it always so complicated with him?

"Listen… I didn't mean it! I'm not happy that you broke up… even if you never dated… but-"

"Natsu." she said. He was only making it worse.

"If you're sad, then I'm sad too!" he said.

Her heart skip a bit, but before she could lose to her emotions, she stood up and grabbed her jacket. "I'm going out for a bit," she said.

"Wait, what?" he asked. His voice started to sound desperate. "But it's cold and raining,"

"I love the rain," she said. Opening the door, she shot him a last death glare before storming out.

She didn't want to fight with him. He was her best friend, after all -her partner, family, home. Even if he was a mess; not calling her when he says he would, making her wait, eating her food without permission and going into her house by the window, giving her too many emotions for her well-being.

She quickly made her way down, this time by the stairs. She was angry, at herself and at him. Why did she have to make such a big deal out of it? And why did he have to say nasty comments like that?

Lucy burst the front door open, ignoring the nearly heart attack she gave the guard man there. As soon as she stepped outside, she got wet, her black dress sticking to her legs. At least she was smart enough to grab her leather jacket, or else she'd freeze there.

The parking lot of the building was almost empty. And she screamed out of frustration.

"Idiot!"

"I know I'm an idiot, but geez, there's no need to let everyone know that,"

Lucy turned around to find Natsu, soaked there, wearing an apologetic smile on his lips. His usually spiky hair was down, giving him bangs. She loved it when his hair was down.

She didn't say a word, which made him sigh as he walked closer to her.

"Listen, Lucy…" he said. "If I need to tell the truth, I'd say I was kind of jealous, maybe."

Her eyes widened yet again, as she remained speechless.

"'Cause I thought that if you got together with that guy, then I'd be left all alone… And I didn't want to lose you…" he confessed. "So when you told me that you'll not see him anymore… I got happy. And I didn't think about your feelings back there, so, I'm sorry."

Her anger vanished as soon as it came. How could she hold a grudge against him, when he looked at her with those eyes?

"You're a nerd," Lucy shook her head, unable to stop the smile from spreading in her lips. "What should I do with you?"

"You can dance with me," he said. He was standing right in front of her, all of sudden.

She blushed, "What?"

He shrugged, "You like to dance, so why not?"

"But you hate dancing," she remembered.

"Accept this as an apologize," he said.

"You're so frustrating," Lucy whispered, as he put his hands around her waist and they started to dance so slowly. "Why would I even leave you alone,"

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I was afraid you'd leave me like everyone else does."

In that moment she realized the way his arms trembled. He was scared. Oh, how had he felt during this time without she noticing? What kind of best friend was she?

She looked up to him and put her hands in each of his cheeks, trying not to coward under his curious gaze. Taking in a deep breath and smiling, she said;

"I'd never leave you, Natsu."

He blinked, taken off guard by her words. His cheeks turned pink, but before she could lose it, he said, "Thank you, Lucy."

And their lips met.