The next few days, Lucy managed to land a job as a barista and server at the brand new Café. She wasn't surprised since she'd worked at Starbucks before, and that was hefty work, constantly being bugged by annoying customers that demanded it to be perfect. She understood wanting the drink to be at high standards, but it was the occasional bastard screaming that he didn't get enough chocolate sauce on the whipped cream of his frappe.

She was currently happily humming as she wiped the tables, a gleeful smile placed on her lips.

"Juvia thinks this is too much work already!" A bluenette cried, her shoulders slumped. A broom was held loosely in her palms, slowly sweeping the floor.

Lucy laughed from her comment. "It's only the beginning, tomorrow's the first day we open up!" She excitedly said, quickly maneuvering to the next table to clean. "Ua maika'i."

Juvia raised an eyebrow. "Juvia doesn't know what... that means."

Lucy winced. "Sorry, it means 'it's okay'."

"I told my boyfriend if he doesn't come, I'm breaking up with him." Another bluenette shouted. She was the same age as them, but only significantly shorter.

"Wow, that's no pressure at all." Lucy said over her shoulder, smiling at her new friend, Levy. The first day they'd both shown up and instantly made connections somehow.

Levy tapped her foot against the ground and crossed her arms. "That metal-head better not forget to come after his workout."

"What sport does he do?" Lucy asked, curious to know more about her newest friend. For a quick second, the face of the young male she met popped in her head, causing her cheeks to tint pink.

Levy threw away a dirty napkin. "He's a boxer. He usually has a match every Wednesday evening or Friday afternoon," She said, cleaning the counter. "But he's always ticked because Friday nights usually pay the most, so he's been trying to work his butt off so he can maybe have a fight scheduled that time."

"Wow, hope he can do it," Lucy said, giving her an assuring smile. "I actually never watched boxing in person, but he'll manage if he's that motivated."

Levy sighed, shaking her head. "He's big and strong, but he's just slow, so he's been working on his agility mostly." She lightly laughed at the memories of watching his replays that she'd recorded, remembering him getting grumpy as they watched a certain pinkette beat the crap out of him.

"Maybe I'll come to an event with you, it'd be so much fun." Lucy suggested, her large brown eyes twinkling with excitement.

Levy raised her arms in the air. "Yeah! Then we can eat crap loads of popcorn and you can see Gajeel get punched in the face!"

The two of them started cracking up, continuing to clean everything until it was completely spotless.

After getting released from their last day of preparing, Lucy said her goodbyes to Juvia and Levy, promising that they'd hang out soon.

Lucy managed to get home quickly, avoiding getting trapped by a group of drunken males that catcalled her out. It's not like she was wearing anything fantastic, her face was bare without makeup and she wore another pair of sweats with a t-shirt.

She smiled as she flopped on her bed, grabbing her old laptop and snapping it open. "Well, at least I have a job at the moment." Lucy mumbled, letting her fingers glide across the keyboard to search more places around the area.

Even from the café opening tomorrow, her pay was still only a mere eight dollars an hour, subsequently too low for her to afford her cheap apartment for a month.

At this point, she was willing to do anything to stay off the streets.

Brown orbs continuously scanned the computer screen, sighing to see nothing available. If she could live in Seattle, all her dreams would come true.

"I really need to find another job..." Lucy groaned, blankly staring as she scrolled through every possibility.

Her father was filthy rich, and he didn't share any of it. Not even with his own daughter, which he hasn't contacted her in years.

It's not her fault she didn't want to be constricted by his rules that would've controlled her future.

"Now, let's try again, Lucy. You can do this." A young woman said, spinning on her tip-toes in a perfect circle.

Lucy only watched the dancer gracefully move like a gazelle, fluid movements she couldn't comprehend. "I can't dance like this...it's too formal." She sighed, her eyes dropping towards the ground.

"You're destined to be a ballerina, that's what your father wants. It's because it's the only thing that still keeps your status high, it's a classic thing to perfect in." The instructor softly said, giving Lucy a reassuring smile.

Lucy shook her head. "I'm not destined for formality, I don't care about my status. I want to be successful in my own ways, not my future being controlled. I can't dance like this."

Lucy sighed, propping herself up on her elbow. She was nowhere near perfect, what her father expected to be. Her style of dancing was drastically different, and that's what pushed it too far.

The screen of her small phone lit up next to her, grabbing her full attention. A smile crossed her face to read a text message from Gray, quickly opening it to reply.

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Gray giddily smiled as he tapped his foot, almost wanting to smirk in his best friends face. "Look, we've been texting for days now, she's totally into me." He bragged, his voice having a cockiness to it.

Natsu eyeballed the screen, raising his brow in surprise. "Wow, I'm actually surprised to see you haven't scared her off by sending nudes."

"Hey! This girl's different, I can feel it!" Gray yelled, ignoring the laughs that echoed from the salmon-haired male. "I actually took her out for a walk yesterday!"

"A walk? What is this, kindergarten?" Natsu spat, shaking his head.

"You were the one who didn't know gay from straight, you idiot." Gray hissed back, immediately causing the cocky laughs from Natsu to subside.

"Shut up." Natsu flipped him off.

Gray's phone lit up, which he almost jumped out of his seat from one mere reply. Natsu gave him a strange look from the side, but curiously glanced at the name of the mysterious girl he'd met last week.

"So her name's Lucy? Not too bad, has a nice ring to it." Natsu admitted, nodding his head in slight approval. It didn't sound harsh or overpowering, it was almost soft and delicate, a hint of innocence behind the arranged letters.

"She's never seen a fighting match before, maybe I'll bring her so she can see your ass get handed to you this Friday." Gray smirked, pressing the send button on his large iPhone screen.

Natsu scoffed. "She'd probably leave your ass for mine instead, but then she'd get caught coming back to you because I have a girlfriend."

"She's not like that, besides, I might take her out tomorrow to the café that's opening." Gray said, a goofy smile plastered on his face at the thought of an actual first date.

"Then I'll barge in and she'll leave you in the middle, and you'll be left baeless." Natsu cockily joked, receiving an unexpected punch in the face.

"Shut up!" Gray yelled, throwing another fist towards his pinkette friend. Before his fist met his face again, he was already falling back onto the couch from receiving a nasty blow to the stomach. A groan escaped his body, trying to subside the bruising pain in his stomach.

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Natsu flopped on his empty bed, undeniably thanking for his own time without anyone to bother him.

Lisanna texted him earlier saying she was staying at her place for the night, which he didn't mind; he occasionally got bothered by her clinginess towards him, and it drove him mad.

They started out in a blissful trance, totally head-over-heels for each other, but it only escalated after a few months. She started to demand more of him, trying to pry more of his time he spent training instead.

To be honest, he was doubting himself in their relationship. What if they weren't compatible any longer?

After checking all of his notifications on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, he set his alarm for the morning. He skipped most of the comments females had left under his recent Instagram post, not even taking a glance at what was hiding in his DM's.

Natsu settled into a comfortable position, his mind only focused on his goals. He had to not only physically prepare for this Friday, but also mentally. He studied a little bit about his opponent, seeing he hade slightly more potential than other competitors in the past.

But first, he'd check out that new café sometime tomorrow as an additional plan for his long day.

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Fight for Glory
❀ by queen_random1 ❀
comments & votes are
always more than welcome.
❤️Thank you for reading❤️