The Gate of E.N.D.

Chapter 24: The Unwanted Date

Lucy took a final look in the mirror. Her "hair" was styled in a high bun, she was wearing the blue dress Erza picked out, and had a full face of makeup. She put on a pair of heels and exited the bedroom. "So, do I look okay?"

Gray's jaw dropped. "Lucy, you look beautiful." She blushed.

"Awww, they're so in love!" Erza squealed.

"We're not in love!" They argued.

"Yeah, Lucy's 'dating' Natsu." Happy said.

"And Gray's 'dating' Juvia." Wendy added.

"This is just as friends." Gray said as he tried to tie his tie.

"I'll do it." Lucy smirked as she tied it for him. "Dude, you put way too much grease in your hair."

"I didn't do it." He glared at Erza, who grinned brightly.

"The blonde suits you." Erza stuck out her tongue.

"Wait!" Natsu's loud voice startled them all. "I wanna see." He appeared before them and looked around. "Where's Lucy?"

"Um, right here?" She frowned.

"Oh. Why's your hair brown?"

Lucy glared at Erza. "Someone insisted on me wearing a wig."

Natsu cackled. "Classic Erza." He made a face at Gray. "Your hair is so greasy I can see my reflection in it."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Again, I didn't do it!"

Natsu got up in his face. "You better try anything with Lucy. Got it?"

"I wasn't planning on it." He glared at Natsu. "You two are dating, and I'm in love with someone else. We're just going as FRIENDS."

"HE LOVES HER!" Happy shouted.

"Jeez, Natsu's the overprotective boyfriend." Wendy noted.

"What? Wendy, how could you say that?!" Natsu asked as he turned to her.

She shrugged. "Lucy likes you enough, just trust her. And Gray's your best friend."

"I prefer the term frenemy." Gray said with a frown.

"Frenemy?!" Natsu demanded.

"Oh no, don't let them start." Happy groaned.

"Bye Natsu." Lucy held up his key with a smug smile on her face.

"Wait!" Natsu leaned towards her. "You look beautiful." He kissed her before disappearing.

"Must you always kiss?" Wendy made a face.

"It's romantic!" Erza smiled.

"You need a boyfriend." Wendy sighed.

"Goodbye." Gray huffed as he slammed the door.

"I say we should just pretend we had dinner but we really just hang around until Jellal shows up." Lucy sighed.

Gray shook his head. "No, Erza has excellent lie-detecting skills. We can just go somewhere."

"Okay." She dug through her purse. "By the way, this is from Wendy. She said you might need it." She handed him a wad of cash.

"Oh, nice." He said simply before tucking it into his pocket.

They both sighed. "This is so awkward."

He offered her his arm. "I feel like we shouldn't be enjoying ourselves when we have so much to plan."

She took it. "Yeah, me too. I'm hoping Jellal will have some good information because our plan could use some work."

"Yeah, it's a good plan, though. What we really need is a plan to kill Zeref without killing Natsu."