LOVE & LUCKY 🌹 Layla's Daughter ✓「1st Place in FFFA」

11: Confusion

Lucy ended up staying after school; hiding from everyone under the tree she usually rests at. She sighs as she pulled her hoodie to be relieved of the sight. It'd be impossible for her to figure out what she might do or how she might react once she sees that man again.

"I wanna go somewhere else.."

💄

Cana leaned her head against one of the poles as she evaluated her own bar. Am I going bankrupt? She thought to herself.

"I just hope Lucy's okay.. even for a bit." she whispered to herself as she started handing over huge glasses of beer over to her customers.

"Ey, you the owner of this joint?" a drunk man with his hair tied into a bun came upon her; he hiccuped at the sight of her. "Mind showing me around?"

Cana rolled her eyes internally, but outside she needed money and new customers means more money. So with her signature smirk and her seducing eyes, she wrapped an arm around the stranger and purred, "You sly fox, of course I will."

The door was slammed open, revealing Lucy as the culprit. It made Cana's eyes widen, "Lucy! You're back early?" she was ignored as the blonde stomped straight into her room, slamming her bedroom door, causing silence to revolve around the atmosphere. But with Cana's signalling whistle, the music started up again, making people forget about the whole incident.

"Excuse me for one sec, honey," Cana bit her lip, planting a soft kiss on the stranger's cheek before she went into her niece's room.

Normally, guardians would scold their kids, but in Lucy's case-Cana didn't. She locked the door and closed the curtains, assuming Lucy was at that stage again. She went and sat beside her, already holding both of her wrists at the ready. "What happened? Lucy? Is it back again? Is it.. being triggered again?"

Surprisingly, Lucy heaved a long sigh, facing the ceiling, her wrists still locked by her aunt's. "Auntie.. do you think it's really possible to.. to.."

Cana stayed still as she waited for Lucy's question; fear almost overruling her.

"..to not be afraid of your phobia anymore? I've never read anything about Androphobia, but how come.. I-I feel like it's over?"

Her aunt was mildly taken aback at her statement, making her back a bit. "Lu, be honest-is there something I should know about the reason behind you asking that question?"

The blonde couldn't look at her straight in the eyes. She just looked away casually to avoid contact. "N-Not really - I'm not sure."

Cana sighed in relief at that, letting go of both of her niece's wrists, patting her head, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "Lucy, you can talk to me about it, right now."

Lucy nodded, taking a deep breath before she spoke, "I talked to a man."

"Oh, you talked to a man. Wait, what!?" Cana grabbed both of her shoulders, her eyes darted on the young one's face. "When exactly did this happen?"

"I-It was the day.. your new employee brought me to work as a bartender that day. I-I met the guy with the pink hair and the.. innocent personality he had. It was absolutely refreshing. I don't know the right term, but he makes me feel comfortable, even though it usually doesn't. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Before the brunette could reply, they were disturbed by someone knocking on the door, making both of them look over to see one of the employees. "Ma'am Alberona, there's a man waiting for you to accompany him."

It almost slipped out of Cana's mind about the new customer she met earlier; making her look pitifully at Lucy. "We can talk about this later." was all that took Cana to leave her and be assured about it-the talk.

"I'll come back a little early. This is more important for both of us, Lucy. We need to have that talk."

💄

Without anything else to do, Lucy held out one of her notebooks and started scribbling something down; a self reflection of what she thinks is happening in the midst of her phobia.

» It's happening again, Lucy. I can feel myself returning to the old me; unafraid, the me who was never traumatized about something. Ever since I met him, I've always felt comfortable around him. Not that I always hang out with him, but when we talked that night-even for just a little bit, I knew there was something important about him. I somehow sensed that I need him. I don't know if it's the key for me to lose my trauma, but I know he's someone I need to stick close to.

Lucy didn't manage to finish her journal when someone knocked on her door again. She looked up to see one of the employees peeking out, "Lucy, there's someone looking for you."

This made her feel surprised. Nobody has ever visited her before. She kept assuming that maybe it was those two bookworms she met the other day, yet at the same time, highly doubting it because they barely said a word about information about each other.

The moment she took a step out of her room, she looked down and saw the one she least expected - Natsu Dragneel.

"He did come."

In a rush, she went and sat across Natsu, whose eyes widened when he was suddenly greeted by the blonde. "Ah, we meet again."

"Well, of course, you came to my workplace."