Lucy was working an early shift at work one Friday. A young man with bright pink hair came in, looking a bit nervous. "May I help you?" She asked.
"Hi. I... I need to put in a reservation and ask a favor." He said.
"Sure thing, what type of favor?" She smiled to help him feel at ease which appeared to work.
"I'm going to propose to my girlfriend tonight. Me and all our friends are coming here afterwards to celebrate so I wonder if you could maybe make a cake or some dessert to help us celebrate?"
"Absolutely! Will that table in the corner there work well for you?" She asked pointing to a large, rectangular table.
"Yes, looks like it. Thank you so much, we should be in around 6, alright?"
"Sounds good, my shift ends at 6:30 so I will be helping you, I've got dibs!" Lucy smiled again. "Can't wait to meet her."
"Thanks!" He was about to turn away, but Lucy stopped him.
"Wait, I need your name for the reservation."
"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He smiled and waved as he left, letting Lucy settle everything.
Hours later, Lucy paced near the door, waiting for Natsu to return with his fiancee. It was nearly 6:30 and she kept the cake near the entrance to the kitchen, yet no pink haired boy returned. She sighed and left, changing out of her apron and into her tank top and skirt.
As she came back out, she spotted a single silhouette against the window at the table she'd reserved for Natsu. Lucy went to tell him to vacate the spot but realized it was in fact Natsu sitting there. Alone. She hesitated then walked the rest of the way to stand opposite of him. "You're back."
He looked up at her with red eyes. "Yeah, didn't want to leave you hanging."
Lucy bit her lip. "Well I don't have anywhere to be. Want to share a bit of chocolate cake and talk about it?" She asked. All he could do was nod. Lucy left her bag at the table and returned with a small, two person cake, the top smeared where she'd erased the "congratulations" she wrote.
Natsu was the saddest person eating chocolate cake Lucy had ever seen and her heart broke for him. "What's her name?"
"Lisanna." He said miserably. "I had a perfect plan. We were going to the forest where we'd found my cat, Happy, together and after we'd walked in a little ways, I'd have her close her eyes and all our friends and her siblings would pop out and I'd pull out the ring-" he set the red velvet box on the table for her to see the simple ring inside "and ask her to marry me."
Lucy said nothing, she couldn't think of any word to cover how much she wished he hadn't been hurt this way.
"She said no." Natsu sniffed, eating a large bite. "She said no and she started crying. How does that work? Why does she get to cry?"
Lucy shook her head, at a loss for words. "I'm so sorry."
"Well, everyone else was too. But I didn't want to see anyone else, I just wanted to be alone." Natsu sighed and let his fork drop. "Thank you, by the way."
"Not a problem." She said. "I wish I could do more."
He smiled, a real smile even if it was a little sad. "Me too."
Lucy took a breath to give her the courage to say what she wanted. "Maybe in a little bit, once you feel better you could come back. I always work until 6:30." She glanced up at him and quickly added. "If you want, I mean if you ever need someone to talk to or whatever, someone to make a cake... I'm your girl." She smiled and he smiled back.
"Thank you, Lucy..."
"Heartfelia."
"Thank you, Lucy Heartfelia. But tonight I think I'll be going home." He stood and so did she.
"I hope she realizes she's made a huge mistake." Lucy said. He walked with her until they got outside. She waved to him and they split, each going to their own cars.
About a month and a half later, Lucy got a nudge from her coworker, Loke. "Hey, someone's looking for you, Lucy."
"Really?"
"Some boy with pink hair."
Lucy's heart beat a bit faster and her cheeks warmed up. She quickly fixed her hair and hurried to the front.
Natsu looked up and smiled a little. "Think I could get a table for two? My date should be done about 6:30."
