The sound of heavy knocking woke me up the next morning.

I sat straight up. Breathing in deep breaths but it wasn't from any bad dream. Whoever is aggressively abusing my door was doing it very loudly.

The party the night before ended up pretty sloppy. Erza tried to get me as drunk as she was when she decided it was a cute idea to challenge Cana to drinking competition. I had to help Jellal carry her all the way home to their apartment a mile away from the venue in downtown Magnolia. Other than that, it was pretty fun. 

I met a lot of the other teams' players. Each were well aware of my name and each were respectable enough to have a decent conversation with me. There were some I became a lot closer with and some I wouldn't mind keeping a good distance between. I did drink a little so there might some pictures of me making a fool of myself somewhere out there on someone's Instagram. I honestly don't know.

Sting Eucliffe...somewhere intrigued me. After giving me his number, he reverted to this very professional persona. He asked me for advice here and there, would ask me about my time with Barcelona and just make nice, light small talk. He always knew what to say to keep the conversation going and I appreciated that. With all the stress I had about coming home to Magnolia, having someone I didn't know before be there as a buffer really eased my mind a bit.

I'm gonna keep my eye on him. Not because he made any romantic inclination towards me but because he was actually interesting. 

"You better be up before I climb through that window of yours."

Shoot!

That's Erza!

"Uh, uh I'm coming!" I jumped off my bed, bolting towards the door and swinging it open. On the other side stood a smirking red-head with her arms crossed.

I gulped. "A-am I in trouble or something?"

She shook her head. "Not even close. Levy and I just thought it'd be a good idea to grab brunch together with you so we can catch up. A few others might be joining us if they choose to wake up on time."

I sure hope she doesn't mean a certain very angry and loathing shrimp head. "A heads-up would've been nice."

"It's like you forgot who we are." She laughed, making her way inside. "We like surprises."

Oh I remember. I'm surprised she actually knocked this time. Back in the day (how old am I?), I'd come out of the bath and she along with Gray and Natsu would just be lounging in my living room as if they were meant to be there.

"Okay let me get ready." I sighed making my way over to my closet.

I was so lost in picking out a cute enough casual outfit for the brunch I didn't notice Erza doing what Erza does.

"Lucy! How dare you?" She gasped from a corner in my room. 

I whipped at her, hoping she wasn't at my desk again trying to read whatever writing masterpiece I have brewing. There was a certain story I'm not ready for her or anyone in Fairy Tail to read just yet. And if she got her hands on tha-

"How do you wear this in public?" My mouth dropped when I finally located the team captain.

Erza "Titania" Scarlet was in my panty drawer...AGAIN!

There goes all thoughts of people in Fairy Tail maturing...

---

"All I'm saying is a lady must be sophisticated even with the undergarments she wears under her clothes..." Erza was scolding me for some thongs she found in my drawer I kept for any sort of special occasion.

I never wore them because when I bought that pair...

"Lu! Erza! Over here!" 

We had taken an Uber downtown to this really cute cafe close to the venue last night. Levy and Juvia were seated outside at a table meant for at least eight people. Levy was out of her seat waving at me as we walked down the street from where the Uber dropped us off.

Poor guy.

I'll make sure to tip him good since he had to sit through Erza's scolding the entire ten minute drive.

 "Just how many people did you invite?" I asked my captain, glancing at her with one eyebrow raised.

Erza snapped out of her lecturing frenzy and that smirk from this morning returned. "Just enough."

A new form of nervousness settled into my stomach. What if I don't know what to say? I mean, even though we all went our separate way, everybody here has spent the last year together. I'm the odd one out since I was on a completely different continent. 

It's okay.

I'll just settle in as the quiet one and listen to their life stories. I don't mind. I just hope I don't beat myself up even more for not being there and creating those fond memories with them like I should've. 

They painted a picture together. 

And me?

Painted my own all alone.

I gave both Juvia and Levy a hug before taking a seat next to Erza. Almost immediately, my ears filled with chatter from the other customers sitting at the other outdoor tables. Some were encouraging others to brave up and ask for a picture with us while others wanted to get close enough to hear any gossip that might come out of our mouths. That'd make the weekly magazine in the matter of seconds.

"Is sitting out here really a good idea?" I asked my girl-friends.

Levy shrugged. "We're just having lunch and complaining about our men. What is there to gossip," She said rather loudly so the nearby tables can hear. "About."

Their men.

Right.

Damn! It sucks being single when everybody else in your life are making moves with their significant others. 

Oh well.

As long as their happy and warm in their relationships, I'll be okay.

"We got Erza her usual already." Juvia announced. "Levy took a shot in the dark and ordered your last favorite sandwich when you were here."

"Good." I leaned back, trying to ease myself as much as possible. "That hasn't changed."

Levy sighed in relief. "So, tell us everything that's been going on with you, Lu. Working on anything new?"

"Oh no, no, no no no, we are not talking about writing right now." Juvia groaned. "I wanna hear the more juicy stuff in her life. Like that one rumor you had with one of the guys on the U20 team. What was his name...um was it like Thiago Lily or something? The one from Brazil."

"Wrong flower." I said, deadpanned remembering when that new broke out just because he bought me a drink at the club. "It's Thiago Rosa. And nothing happened there."

"Well, something must've happened for there to be rumors about it." Erza commented, putting her phone down. "I remember hearing that one."

I rolled my eyes. It wasn't even anything huge. Some reporter managed to sneak into the same bar while the entire FC Barcelona organization was there and noticed that one little thing. "Thiago was just buying a drink for his senior."

"His..." Levy nudged Juvia with a mischievous smile. "Senpai!" They said in unison, clapping and laughing like stupid clowns.

"You guys are literally making nothing into something." I sighed. "It was an innocent drink."

"Innocent my ass!" A different voice chimed in. Cana was standing right by our table, scaring all of us.

How the hell did she get here without any of us knowing?

And, of course, with her signature perfume.

Alcohol.

She plotted herself down right next to Erza. "No drink is innocent, honey. Especially one that a man buys for you."

My other friends agreed and I just groaned loudly. "It WAS innocent!"

"No it wasn't!" They all yelled, catching the attention of everybody around us once again.

"Okay, you guys just suck and a whole bunch of high school teenagers." I laughed and they joined in.

We eased into a different conversation, teasing each other and just talking good story. I learned a lot from each person and what they've been up to. It was actually pretty nice and the earlier nerves of not being about to fit in again was completely gone. 

They talked, saying: 'remember this, remember that?' 

I listened.

Then they asked what my life was like and I hesitated. I didn't want to tell them that it was a life of luxury because a part of it really was. With all the time I spent there comes money. Each goal I score I get a bonus and not to mention the places we stay at when we travel. We always fly first class on whatever airline and we just live a lavish lifestyle.

The girls I play with all have families they bring with them. Me? I'm the only one that don't share my extra tickets. Mainly because I always thought my only family didn't want anything to do with me anymore; especially wearing the number 7 for a completely different team. 

I was foolish to say the least.

"Where are they?" Erza suddenly commented, checking her watch. 

I blinked. While we were talking, our food was already brought out to us. I was already wolfing down my BLT when she spoke.

"Who?" I asked.

"Sorry!" I asked a little too early.

Looking up, I immediately recognized the long snow white hair of our team's manager: Mirajane Strauss.

And right behind her...

The tomato suddenly became too dry to swallow.

Lisanna Strauss.