Summary: She's pretty, hot, and damn alluring. And she's famous, too. But why can't she get his attention?

A/N: And here comes another story. This would be a two-shot since this became loooong for a one-shot. Ah, this story is inspired by Girls' Generation's (Taeyeon Tifanny Seohyun) song Twinkle. Have any of you seen that video? Waaah! You just made me so proud, Seohyun! The tallest among them three. Really! *wipes imaginary tears away* I was so in love with that song. And their voices, too. Along with many others, like… *mentioning all other Girls' Generation's songs* and yeah. No, I'm not a fan of them, I just like their songs and…

Okay enough with the babbling. Again, may I remind you that English is my second language, not to mention this chapter is unbeta'd, so please, please pardon the errors. Oh and Natsu and Lucy may be a bit OOC here.

Disclaimer: Do I look like Hiro Mashima to you? Well, for one, I am a girl! Secondly, I am not Japanese. (Not that I hate the idea of being one though. Hihi.)

Enjoy reading! ^_^

Twinkle

Chapter One: Why Is He Such a Dolt?

The sky is clear and blue and the gust of wind is just enough to tickle someone on their necks. The weather is fine. Lucy Heartfilia gazed at the river in front of her admiring the sun's reflection against it, making an impression of the river glittering. She sat cross-legged on the grass by the riverside enjoying the warm and nice feeling hit of the sun on her creamy skin. Any member of the Heartfilia household would go screaming at her for sitting in an unlady-like position, displaying herself in front of so many 'commoners' as what her father refer to townspeople. Not to mention the choice of clothes she's currently wearing: a simple blue blouse and a pair of jeans. She smirked as she imagined what her father might have looked when he sees what she's doing and wearing right now.

Not that he's not infuriated at this very moment, anyway.

She had just ditched her piano lessons after getting another heated argument with her father over something so trivial. Plus, she's getting tired and irritated by her piano teacher who's a very big flirt as he keeps on trying to hit on her. Even though Loki is the same as her age and, well, he got some looks in all fairness to him, Lucy still considers him a big annoyance to her life and he just makes her twitch uncontrollably in irritation. Ugh, just thinking about him irritates me.

Rubbing her temple, Lucy closed her eyes and sucked in a large amount of air using her nose trying to drown out her irritation. This is what she always wanted: peace and tranquility. No one could ever take that away from her, even now that she's far away from her father. Definitely. She slowly let out the breath she's been holding without opening her eyes. There, she's starting to calm down. Ahhh, what a beauti—

"Why are you making that hideous face, Lucy?"

Said girl snapped her eyes open to find a pink-haired teenage guy with a curious look on his face crouching down at her level, peering at her. Then, he sat back, settling his butt on the grass and guffawed. "Look at your face, Lucy! You look… hilarious!" He said clutching his stomach as he almost rolled on the ground from laughing.

Two veins popped on Lucy's head and her irritation rose up ten—no, twenty-folds. "Natsu.." she said in a dangerously low voice raising up her right fist. The boy, however, was too preoccupied to notice so he continued on laughing like it was the most horribly side-splitting thing he had ever seen in his entire life. So, he was surprised when he was hit by a hard and painful blow on the head by none other than his bestfriend herself.

"Ow, Lucy, what's that for?"

"That's for being an idiot, idiot!" Lucy yelled at him, glaring. "And I was trying to relax."

"You're trying to what? With that face?" Natsu asked fighting the urge to snort.

"Natsu Dragneel.." Lucy warned again.

"Fine, fine, sheesh. Your fuse today is really relatively shorter than the usual," Natsu grumbled. "Is that Loki hitting on you again?"

He really knows me that much, Lucy thought to herself. Sometimes, she thought, Natsu might be a much better father to her than her real one. He knows her inside out. (No pervy thought on that.) But on a second thought, Natsu doesn't qualify as a father; more like a brother. His child-like attitude (with a mind of a five-year old in its extreme moments) earns him a lot of peculiar looks and at its worst, trouble. But sometimes, he earns interesting looks from girls their age thinking about taking care of him. Once, she heard that when they were in a grocery and he howled – yes, howled, you read right – when his favorite milk drink is currently out of stock. A strawberry-headed girl cooed at how adorable he is as she nudged her brunette friend and together they ogled at his cuteness. She wanted to tell off the girls and glare them with all her might but she restrained herself, afraid that someone might recognize her as the Lucy Heartfilia, lone daughter of Jude Heartfilia. She felt sour that entire day.

"Ugh, how disgusting," she had said aloud referring to the two girls as she recalled that day.

Natsu clicked his tongue and shook his head, thinking that she had answered his question. "You ditched again, Lucy Heartfilia."

"I know, and I texted you, right?" Lucy snapped. She's still feeling sour at the moment. "And who gave me the idea of ditching on my classes if I get bored, huh, Dragneel?"

"Alright, I do," Natsu surrendered. "So? What are we going to do to? Are you planning to just nag at me all day?"

"I don't nag!" Lucy protested. When Natsu raise an eyebrow at her, she drew back. "Okay, maybe I nag at times, but that's because you annoy me."

"Are you PMS-ing or something?"

"No."

"Ah, so maybe I'm just really that annoying." Natsu said and stood up with Lucy following his movement with her eyes. "Well, then, I gotta go. See you around."

"Woah, woah, wait. Where do you think you're going?" Lucy asked as she also stood up and tugged at his shirt to keep him from walking away.

"You said I'm annoying so to save you from another fit, I'm just volunteering to disappear."

"When have you become so sensitive?" Lucy asked her brows furrowed with her hands on her hips.

Natsu looked at her with a straight face. "You know, Lucy, just because I'm a goofy kid doesn't mean I don't get hurt."

His bestfriend just gaped at him with her mouth open, clearly surprised by his words. Does he really mean it?

Another fit of laughter from Natsu as he clutched again his stomach and pointing his right index finger right in front of the blonde's nose. "Gah, Lucy! You never fail to make epic face expressions! They're just the best!"

Why am I not surprised, she thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Natsu," she said as she sighed heavily and for the second time that day, rubbed her temples. "C'mon, let's just grab something to eat before I completely punch your face in for being a hundred percent idiot."

"Hey," Natsu protested and stopped laughing. But the blonde ignored him as she grabbed his wrist and tugged him away from the riverside. When they were out on the road, Lucy pulled away her hand and placed her hands at the back of her head and sighed happily. Natsu looked at her confused by her sudden change of attitude. Women and their mood swings, he thought groaning to himself.

"Ah, it's really nice to be like this forever," Lucy said grinning to herself.

"An out of school youth?" Natsu asked thinking about how they don't have their classes as it is currently summertime.

Lucy, however, deadpanned at his comment. "No, Natsu," she monotonously answered. Then she straightened up as she put down her hands back at her sides, "What I mean is to be free like this forever. No duties and responsibilities that should be done, no unnecessary rules to be followed, and most of all, no father that dictates things about your life like he's a frustrated puppeteer." Even in school she's being followed by paparazzi disguising themselves as students just to take pictures and articles about her. When they first caught one, her father had a fit and almost transferred her to another school but luckily enough (if you call that lucky), she convinced him by making a promise to always behave even at school. That caused her a lot more trouble than what she first thought.

"But you're a Heartfilia, the lone daughter of one of the richest man in Fiore actually. It's only natural to be tied up like that," Natsu said looking up ahead. It's his turn to raise his hands at the back of his head.

"You don't have to remind me. And please don't make it sound like it totally sucks to be me," Lucy scowled.

"I'm not saying anything like that," Natsu replied.

"Whatever."

They were silent for a while as they continued to walk, passing by stalls and stands. Then she was surprised when he suddenly broke the silence.

"You know you have a choice on what path to take," he said. Lucy looked at him suspiciously that he looked back at her. "What?"

"Nothing," she said tearing her gaze away from him. "So, how is your summer going?" She tried to steer away the conversation even though she was the one who brought it up on the first place. She just can't take her distress on such matters. So before she breaks down and startle her bestfriend, she better drop the topic and jump onto another one.

"Pft," he said lazily. "I don't really have a lot of things to do and it bores me to death."

"Oh? You were excited about summer since January, you can't even stop talking about it," Lucy asked surprised about Natsu's lack of interest on summer. She thought it must have been very nice to spend the summer as an average teenager—a not-Heartfilia, that is.

"Keh, it turns out I have nothing to do," he replied.

"I thought you were hanging out with Gray?" Lucy referred to their childhood friend and Natsu's friend slash rival.

"That pervert? He seems busy about something so he keeps on shooing me away. Is it because of that stalker-girl? I wonder."

Lucy considered that for a moment, but then she remembered that Gray seems unresponsive to Juvia's feelings towards him. The girl does everything to make sure she always shows her love for her 'Gray-sama'. Juvia seems obsessed at the raven-haired boy to the point that she sees everyone as rivals in love, including her. Err, no, scratch that. Especially her. She doesn't get what Juvia sees in her that makes her think she's a 'Rival in Love for Gray-sama' even though she did everything to convince her that she doesn't look at Gray the way she, Juvia, looks at him. Probably, she heard from someone that Gray once confessed to her which she bluntly rejected. But sadly, the boy in question is either not interested in her or is just completely oblivious about it. Gray can be dense sometimes. But not as dense as her bestfriend.

She chose to not respond to Natsu's comment, however. "How about Erza?"

Natsu suddenly shot a somewhat disgusted look. "No, I don't want to. She's always beating the crap out of me everytime she's within at least five feet radius." Lucy snorted at that in which he further scowled, but he decided to make it pass. "Besides, she's probably too busy with Jellal to even hang out with me."

The blonde nodded. That is indeed true. Erza might be scariest woman alive but she's also beautiful and well, of course, a woman (and a darn hot one at that). It's no wonder Jellal Fernandez fall for the red-head and her for Jellal.

"Hmm, how about Lisanna then?" Lucy asked curiously slightly raising an eyebrow at the pink-haired bestfriend of hers. "I bet she's much too eager to hang out with you." Lucy knows the girl has a crush on Natsu since they were kids and she didn't hide her observations to him. Even though Lisanna doesn't say directly that she likes him, she doesn't ignore it either. To think that Lisanna would like the moron bestfriend of hers, that is saying something.

The moron bestfriend slightly blushed and turned to look away to hide his slightly pink face and said, "I didn't call her. Besides, she might be busy, too, so I don't want to be a bother."

"Heehh.. But if it's you, I'm sure it's not a bother at all. Believe me," Lucy replied clearly enjoying at embarrassing Natsu. And feeling a little irritated as well. Well, she started it in the first place.

"Shut it, Lucy," Natsu said irritably but still pink on the cheeks.

"Oh? Are you annoyed, lover boy?" Lucy cooed.

"Tch. Whatever."

Lucy giggled which made Natsu blush even more. ""Aww, lover boy's blushing. How cute!"

"Seriously, Lucy!" Natsu huffed and walked faster gaining a few steps ahead of the teasing blonde.

"Hey, Natsu! Wait up!" Lucy called as Natsu walked past her. He turned to her for a few moments just to stick out his tongue at her before running at full speed ahead of her. "Geez, what a hot head."

"Ew."

Lucy looked disgustingly at Natsu who sat across the table happily and enthusiastically chomping a rather large-sized chicken leg on his right and a handful of fries on his left. True, she might have been wrinkling her nose on the too-much-refined actions she has to do in their mansion especially in front of her father and his visitors, but she also disapprove of the too-much-unrefined actions that Natsu is doing especially on the table. "Natsu, could you.. slow it down a bit?"

"Mm? Werkyumin?"

For what Lucy understood to be 'What do you mean', she responded, "Slow down eating? There's food all over your mouth. I don't intend to eat all your food if that's what you think I would do. And please don't attempt to talk when your mouth is really full." She put down her own fork beside on her plate of vegetable salad.

"Amerngry, werermey spose terder?" (I'm hungry, what am I supposed to do?)

"You're always hungry," Lucy said and complimented herself mentally for understanding him despite his full mouth. "And it's not-"

"Dertbe chuch sho shtrick, Rushiii-" (Don't be so strict, Lucy.)

"-advisable to speak while eating-"

"—ju abto enchoy da huud—" (you have to enjoy the food)

"—coz you might-"

"—ju—" Natsu suddenly coughed and immediately put down the chicken leg and fries before he pounded on his chest.

"—choke." Lucy finished her sentence though her warning was late. "Thought so," she deadpanned and unwillingly stood up from her seat and walked on Natsu's back. Helping him by pounding him on the back, she ignored the funny stares the costumers are giving them even though inside she's burning red with embarrassment. "You really are hopeless, Natsu."

Finally, Natsu stopped coughing and grabbed for the glass of water and drank it. He sucked air in heavily trying to catch his breath and blinked several times. "Haaaah, thank you," he said out of breath.

"Geez," Lucy said again fighting the urge to face-palm. "Wash your hands, go! And try to act more civil."

"But-"

"No buts, Natsu."

He pouted and Lucy has to keep a poker face to drown the weird but warm feeling somewhere in her stomach. Despite his whines, however, he obeyed her and grudgingly went to the washroom. When he was out of sight, she slumped and sighed exasperatedly. Really, what am I going to do with him?

"Just hang on there, miss."

Lucy turned to see an elderly man smiling kindly at her. Across the table with him is an elderly woman who might be his wife. She, too, was looking at her kindly but with a smile on her face.

"Er, what do you mean, sir, if I may ask?" Lucy smiled kindly showing a confused look.

The man replied, "We're just cheering you on."

Lucy tilted her head to the side with confusion.

"We're just happy to see a couple such as you," the woman said. "You're both cute to look at. And you're so kind and in love to have put up with him. Though I'm sure he has a lot of good qualities that you have seen. He's not that bad looking, too, right, darling?" she turned to her husband who in turn nodded gladly.

Woah, wait. Are they suggesting that she and Natsu is a couple? Oh heck, no. "Uhh, Sir, Madam, I'm sorry but he's not my boyfriend if that's what you think he is. We're just good friends."

The woman seemed to be unfazed by the revelation though. "Hm? Well, I can see that."

Lucy just frowned at them completely at a loss for words. She wanted to laugh out loud and say silly things that may contain words that might insult her bestfriend but seeing that the couple she's talking to is way older than her, she just bit her tongue and held what she wanted to say.

"Ahh, talk about being dense."

Lucy would have wanted to retort but someone just suddenly called out. "Hey, is that the Heartfilia heiress?"

Uh-oh.

"Miss, are you, by any chance, Lucy Heartfilia?"

"N-no, I'm not. I'm sorry. I just look like her." Way to go, Lucy, she thought. What a lame denial.

The man eyed her and she felt goosebumps all over. There were also eyes on her and some says they're not interested in whether she's Lucy Heartfilia or not. They're just interested. In her. Crap.

She might have passed as a best actress with her poker and calm face if not for the idiot Natsu who just came from the bathroom and called out her name with a wide and adorable (yet annoying at that time) grin. "Lucy, I'm done!"

Double crap.

Before the costumers could stand up and surround her, she grabbed Natsu by the wrist again and bolted out of the restaurant leaving a wad of bills for their meal. How had she done that in less than a minute, she doesn't know. Now they were running madly away from the restaurant with a group of boys on their tail.

"Faster, Natsu!" Lucy was still dragging him.

He grins even more widely and ran faster, now dragging Lucy. She let out an 'eep' but her legs managed to keep up with the speed. They turned to a corner and stopped, waiting for the men to pass by. When they ran past them without seeing them, Lucy sighed and slumped back on the wall thanking all the holy beings for saving her from the men.

"I didn't know you were this famous, Lucy," Natsu said looking at her with an amused face.

"Shut it."

He laughed. "That was fun!"

"For you. But for me, it's not!" Lucy growled. "Ugh, I thought no one knew me in this place!"

"Sucks to be a Heartfilia."

Lucy glared at him dangerously.

"Just kidding," Natsu grinned. But Lucy just looked away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Aw, c'mon, you're not mad at me, right?"

"What if I am?"

"Eh, Luucyyyy.." Natsu whined. Then he said, "But you know what, this is by far the happiest day of my summer."

Lucy raised her brow and turned to him.

"I told you I was doing nothing this past few days. I'm glad you texted me to meet you. I don't know, probably, I just missed you. It feels so lonely without you around," he said nonchalantly and added his trademark grin again. And then looked ahead.

Lucy swears she's blushing but because he's looking ahead and not at her, she simply ignored her burning cheeks. "Tch," was all she could say.

"I don't have someone to pull pranks with. And I just miss your funny face," he added.

Right, Lucy thought. That doesn't sound too romantic. "Why you little-"

And again he burst out laughing as she tried to hit him with her small fist. They caught up in another chase again, but this time, Lucy was the one chasing the pink-haired idiot as she yelled, "I hate you, Dragneel!"

Screw it. Screw it all.

Lucy huffed and plopped down on her bed with her arms spread wide, another position that she might earn another scolding from her father for being an unrefined young lady. She eyed her fancy pink dress that shows her shoulders and had a billowy skirt that reaches down her toes. Pft, very uncomfortable to wear. Then she looked up her spacious room's ceiling and howled mentally how screwed her life is. She remembered her conversation with her father just minutes ago.

.

.

.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Lucy looked up from the table to see none other than her father who looked like he could murder a whole pack of wolves with his chest rising up and down with anger. He was waving a daily newspaper in front of her and from what she sees, the newspaper contain her picture running away with Natsu on her tail. The headline read: Lucy Heartfilia, the Heartfilia heiress, runs away with a commoner boy? She gasped as she never knew that someone had snapped a picture of her running madly away from the restaurant yesterday.

"Do you know what shame had you put me into?"

Here we go again, she thought. She knew that face. Her father's face is reddening with anger now, purple veins starts to show on his neck that she restrained herself hard not to laugh at him.

"Father, I-"

"This is ridiculous, Lucy! This is way too much! You had just stained the name of our family!"

What is wrong with running anyway? It's not like she was eloping with Natsu, right? Though that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Tch, he's your bestfriend, idiot.

Her father continued to rant, "This is not what I was teaching you to do! This is a disgrace-"

Blah, blah, blah, Lucy rolled her eyes and tried to drown her father's tirade. Looking for a distraction, her eyes fell on the newspaper with her and Natsu's picture. Hmm, we look good together, she mused. Eh? For the love of Mavis, stop thinking about it, Lucy. It's nauseous enough and here you are getting a good scolding from your ever loving father.

"Lucy Heartfilia, are you even listening to me?"

"Y-Yes, Father."

She felt his eyes scrutinize her for a moment that she can't help but lower down her gaze. Her father really is intimidating. "I have decided," he finally said.

Her head snapped up, her chocolate brown eyes filled with wary. What? What had he decided? She expected for the worse for when his father decides on something, she knows it would never be good. For her, that is. But what her father decided is far worse than what she expected. Worst, actually.

"You are going to attend a marriage interview three days from now, whether you like it or not," her father's eyes are brimming with malice as he stared hard onto her dilated brown ones. "And you have to act your best or I'll set a schedule for your wedding. Right away."

.

.

.

And there it was. The cause of her misery. And when she's still enjoying her summer with Natsu, too. Then she paused. Natsu. Right, Natsu, he would help her in this dilemma.

She listened to make sure that the maids that are guarding her room outside don't just barge in when she takes out her phone. If they know she has a mobile phone, her father would take it away, too, and that would leave her nothing but eternal doom and boredom.

"Hello, Natsu? Yeah, I know, my father already saw it and that's one less thing to worry about," she said as she rolled her eyes, a gesture that looks completely off when wearing a very fancy and lacey dress. "Listen, I… I just want to talk to you, right now. Could you come?"

Around 15 minutes later..

"That was fast!" Lucy looked at her bestfriend who was grinning smugly at her. With his untidy hair and unbuckled belt, it looked like he ran his way to their mansion with the speed of light. "Why is your belt unbuckled?" she asked eyeing it with a slight pink on her cheeks.

Natsu's head shot downwards to look at the thing Lucy's been talking about and almost gasped that indeed it was not clasped properly. "Dammit!"

"Natsu, you're not.. doing anything.. strange when I was talking to you on the phone, right?"

"What do you mean? No, I'm not. I'm just watching TV," his voice quivered.

"Right."

"That's the truth! I was just hurrying to get here that I forgot to clasp it properly after taking a bath!" His voice raised a pitch higher than the usual that Lucy reached out to clamp his mouth shut, afraid that the maids and butlers outside might hear them and discover a pink-haired male in their Ojou-sama's bedroom.

"Keep it down, sheesh," she hissed, blushing slightly at the thought of Natsu running as fast as he can to meet her. Natsu is a laid back and he's usually the latest to come when their class is having a meeting, so she was touched that her idiot of a bestfriend responded as soon as possible to her request.

For the past 15 minutes after her call with him, she pondered on what to do to let Natsu in without the guards noticing. She even scolded herself for being such an impulsive moron for calling him out of the blue and selfishly requesting him to meet her. In their house. So she was surprised when she saw him climbing in her window and grinning at her like it was just a normal thing to do. Even though he was her bestfriend since four, he still manages to surprise her even now that they're both healthy nineteen year olds. So when she saw that same grin on his face that made her think he was the biggest idiot she had ever laid eyes on, she can't help but give him her own wide grin.

"I missed you, Lucy!" He called in a softer voice than his normal and tackled her into a bear hug. Lucy's back was at the bed and she was surprised by his attack that she fell back and they both fell on the bed. Even though there is nothing malicious about it (she consoles herself about it), Lucy paled at the thought of her father seeing their current compromising position.

"Aren't we together just yesterday?" Lucy asked.

"Yesterday and today are both different days," he said still grinning at the bed. His breath tickled Lucy's neck and bare shoulders that she fought hard to stop the darn goose bumps from appearing.

She pushed him off of her with all the force that she could muster and inhaled deeply. She was almost suffocated by (1) Natsu's very tight bear hug and (2) her own pounding heart that's already near her throat. "When have you become so smart?" she insulted him to hide her embarrassment to herself for thinking such dirty thoughts about him.

"You're questioning my awesomeness again," he said completely unaffected by her insult as he rolled over on her wide bed. "Your bed is nice and comfy, Lucy. How come you have this awesome bed? Ahhhh, it would be awesome if I own this bed! Awesome!"

How he managed to use the same words all over again without minding if he sounds like a total moron, she doesn't really know. Then he stopped rolling all of a sudden and turned to look and study her face. Lucy slowly inched away from him, another blush evident on her cheeks. Why is she blushing a lot of times than the usual today? "W-What?" she asked her voice almost turning into a soft shriek.

"Hmm.. your face is funny. And your dress, too," he added when he pulled back and eyed her outfit. "Overall, you look funny!"

What the hell?

Men would normally drool and ogle at her with her outfit such as today, with her (has she mentioned it already?) billowed lacey pink dress and a pair of equally pink boots. And her blond hair is tied in a neat and elegant bun, too. Even though she doesn't like wearing these fancy and expensive outfits, she still makes sure that she looks breath-taking and people around her always say that. And now, her own bestfriend says she looks funny?

He snorted, "Pft! Lucy, you look ugly."

What the effin poo-?

Her eye and mouth twitched. "Come again, mister?"

"I said you're ugly!"

"I AM NOT UGLY!" She finally burst out and suddenly there was a rapping on her wooden door. Groaning exasperatedly for losing her cool and yelling like that, she shoved Natsu inside her large wardrobe. "Stay here and be quiet or I'll behead you myself before my father does it if he catches you in my bedroom."

Natsu just nodded his head with wide eyes, clearly aware of his bestfriend's glare with the intent to kill. He knows her enough that she's seriously pissed at his comment and is very sure that she would be very true to her word if he ever make a squeak. He's glad enough that she still had a clear mind not to murder him after he called him ugly.

The wardrobe closed and he heard Lucy's boot made a sound as she walked, from what he judge from hearing, in a refined manner and opened her door.

Lucy steadied her breathing before she opened the door. A brunette maid on her late forties with a kind and worried expression greeted her outside the doors. "Ojou-sama, we heard your yell. Is something the matter?"

"No, I'm fine, Spetto-san. It's just.." she looked away feigning sadness on her fine features. Not that she had a hard time faking it though. "Well, it's personally about me and my.. father."

The maid, probably aware of their master and their master's daughter's argument in the lavish dining room, nodded understandably and gave her a face of what Lucy makes out to be sympathy.

"And if you may be so kind, I just wish for some privacy while I… contemplate on things," she added with a sad smile on her face hoping to all invisible forces that the maid would feel sorry for her and leave her alone to help her out of her 'distress'.

"B-But.." The older woman stuttered with a torn and frustrated look on her face. She knew, Lucy thought, her father ordered to watch her. "Oh, okay, fine. But please, Ojou-sama, don't do anything so reckless again," she sighed in defeat.

"Thank you, Spetto-san. I owe you big time!" She grinned and then suddenly stopped when the older woman looked at her like she just utter a profanity. "I mean, I am in your debt," she grinned and locked her in an embrace. When she pulled away, she bowed down and gently closed the door leaving an astounded helper behind. After she sighed and limped with her back on the door, she headed to the wardrobe where Natsu had been hiding. "You can come out now, idiot," she said when she opened the double doors.

"What is this about your father?" Natsu asked as soon as he went out of his hiding place. His brows are furrowed and his arms are crossed.

"That was what I want to talk about." A sigh escaped from the blonde's lips as she plopped down on her bed and bit her lip. She could feel Natsu's eyes following her every movement that she became a little self-conscious. "As I said, my father already knows about our little expedition yesterday."

"Uh-huh, you already said that on the phone," the pink-haired nodded still not looking away from her. "So, what's your punishment? Grounded?"

"I wish it would just be as simple as that. I can always escape if I'm grounded," she muttered looking at her boots. "My father wants me to attend a marriage interview."

There was a moment of silence after the blonde uttered those words that she was afraid of his reaction. At that, she looked up rather hesitantly to find Natsu looking back at her as if expecting her to say something more. "Natsu?"

"That's it? That's what you are so worried about?"

Lucy's brow creased.

"C'mon, Lucy, it's just a marriage interview, nothing to be so fussed up about," he said nonchalantly that she felt like she was being abandoned. She had almost reacted violently against it and now he thinks that it's not a problem at all?

"Natsu, do you know what a marriage interview is?" she asked suspiciously hoping against hope that he was confused with the word that's why he didn't react what she expected him to react. This was Natsu after all. You have to explain and elaborate things properly if you want him to understand you.

He took her by surprise however when he nodded rather smugly. "Of course, I do. What do you think of me, an imbecile?"

You really are, Lucy thought but she was too surprised and hurt to say it. Hurt? Then with a practiced face, she tried to recover and asked, "Do you know what will happen if I attend a marriage interview?"

"Of course, it- Wait." The pink-haired teenager raised his index finger, "Are you questioning my intellectual ability, Lucy?"

Said girl just gaped at him, her eyes exaggeratedly wide with shock and confusion. So he really does want him to attend the interview, huh? "So you mean you want me to attend the marriage interview?"

"Of course, your father told you so," he nodded and leaned on one of the support of the large four-poster bed. "You have to attend that marriage interview."

Of course your face. Looking down and feeling the tears starting to cloud her eyes, she nodded. Good lord, she's crying. Pathetic. How she wished her hair was not tied in a tight bun so she could cover her face from him. She used to be comfortable with him around even when she's in a bad mood and crying but right now, she just wanted to get away from him. As soon as possible.

Natsu might have noticed his bestfriend's change in demeanor that he crouched down to look at her face but the girl just pushed him away."Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she muttered. Natsu knew she was faking it and opened his mouth to protest but Lucy cleared her throat and sucked in a large amount of air. Oh no, he thought. She's definitely forcing herself not to cry, he knows that gesture. "You know, Natsu, I don't really feel good at all right now."

"Should I-"

"I just want to be alone right now," she sniffed and stood up, walking away from him to avoid him seeing the tears that are now leaking from her eyes.

"Lucy, what's wrong?"

"Just.. just go home for now, please?" she said and absent mindedly arranged her dresses hanging in her wardrobe.

"Lucy, you're definitely hiding something-"

"I said get out!"

"Lucy-"

"Spetto-san! Spetto-san!"

At that, Natsu scrambled for the window after giving her a confused yet worried look that she didn't see because her back was on him. Just as the doors of her room burst open, Lucy had suddenly whirled around to find her pink-haired bestfriend gone. That scared the hell out of her. If he was caught, he'll be dead meat. But she was the one who called the maids, right?

Spetto-san and three other body guards came rushing in her room looking alert. With curious and questioning eyes, the older woman turned to the tear-stained blonde who in turn looked back at her. Suddenly, she ran towards the older woman's arms sobbing and crying her eyes out.

Thinking that it was because of their father's argument, the older woman reached out and patted her blonde head, whispering assuring words to her. "Oh, Lucy."

A/N: So with that, I will leave you with this chapter, first. This chapter may or may not be longer than the second one (which I will be posting soon.) depending on my mood (?). Sooo.. Any suggestions? Comments? Reactions? Hate messages? (Nah, just kidding, I'm afraid of flames. Nyahahaha! :D)