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The Path of Thorns
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Click. Click.
Click.
The rays of dull light reached out and cupped the mans face, he leaned into it.
Click. Click.
Click.
Stale air, the scent of doughnuts filling his senses.
Click.
He felt anxious, waited on the small clock on the corner of the screen. Just staring and restlessly tapping a key or two now and again.
Click.
"Hey Squall!"
Squall didn't say a thing, even though the voice had made him jump. Calmly he turned his head, not surprised to find his bosses dispassionate face before him.
"Yes?"
He inspected the man he had been answering to for the past four years of his life, since he had turned nineteen, his name was Gord. Tall, but his height did nothing whatsoever to hide the spare tire plunging eagerly over his hiked up pants. His face was old, much too old for a forty year-old mans. His infamous button up shirts, they came in purple, blue and this disgusting teal-green color. The last one was his favorite, Squall guessed, since that was the one he was wearing now and wore most days. Besides that the only noticeable characteristics of the man were his inexplicable need to check his watch every two seconds and the way he would flick what was left of his ratty-brown hair at just as many frustratingly close together intervals.
"Go fill the ink cartridge, will you? It's empty again".
His stern voice was forewarning and Squall smiled to the man saying "I'll get right on it".
It wasn't really rocket science, anybody could tell that Squall and his boss were not too fond of one another. The only reason Squall still held his job was due to his constant sucking up. His need to please all those around him.
"And Squall?"
The much younger man turned away from his computer screen in the small cubicle again, looking back at his boss and forcing another giant smile on his over-tired face.
"Clean yourself up, you aren't looking great lately and I don't want your messiness reflecting badly on this company".
Squall bit his lip and turned away, scared that he might do or say something wrong. However, still feeling his bosses presence outside his small cubicle after awhile he managed to mutter a response of "Yes, of course, I will, Sir".
"Good".
Squall glared at the paperweights on the corner of his desk. An empty desk, cold and boring.
The young man then took a moment to assess himself after turning off the computer monitor. His black and white reflection stared back at him. Even though he knew at present he wasn't in a particularly cheerful mood, he couldn't help but think 'Wow, that guy looks pissed'.
He ran a hand through his auburn, shoulder-length hair. Shaggy and uneven pieces framing his sickly pale face. Hair cut, that was one way he could clean himself up. Then he looked down, at an undone green and black striped tie resting over his rather untidily done, white button-up shirt. Alright, easy one, start looking at the buttons again and make sure your tie is done up correctly.
His eyes scanned down even further still.
Stained pants? Alright, he had to admit, that was shocking.
Squall Leonhart might be in a rut, but never, not once, had he ever, walked around with egg yoke on his crotch before.
Damn his incurable urge for eggs in the morning. Damn it straight to hell.
::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::
She waited.
She knew he was coming, he did every night at precisely 6:37 p.m.
First a cleansing wash in the hot spring.
Second a good thirty minutes in the sauna.
Then, third… it would be her turn.
Lately, he only ever let her massage him, said she was the best masseuse he had ever had. She thought happily 'you are the best customer I've ever had'.
She waited. He'd already had his dip in the hot spring, and now it was nearly time for step three.
The sauna door opened and the tall, skinny and yet well-sculpted man finally stepped foot outside, pools of steam surrounding his lean form. She gaped. He was so attractive, she had found herself recently not knowing what to say, choking up during their weekly sessions.
He spotted her, recognized the familiar turban and smiled care-freely. She could see the weight upon him just by glancing into his eyes.
Lately he had been stressing about his work. His boss had it in for him and his colleagues wouldn't even bother with him because of his necessity to do exceptionally impressive work just to keep his job, making them all look pathetic in comparison. He also talked about his dog a lot. It actually hadn't been his but his sisters, she had moved out and not wanted it anymore, therefore the man who abhorred animals of any kind ended up taking care of it. That had been stressful on him too.
She liked listening to him talk about his life. It was different with him, it wasn't her just waiting for her turn to speak, she really did enjoy learning about him and she felt that he experienced the same feelings for her, also.
Not only were the sessions therapeutic for him, but also for herself. Although clients of the Trabia hot springs were forbidden to see the staffs faces or even know their first names (due to some stalking issues they had been forced to deal with in the past) Rinoa couldn't help but love this man.
He came across as cold, blunt, he hates animals and she had recently learned, is not too fond of children either, but he could completely melt her heart. With his words, his look, his smile.
"Hey, good to see you, how are you, Heartilly?" he asked excitedly as he tightened the towel around his waist.
She smiled and she could feel his eyes on her own, the only part of her face that he could see clearly behind the concealing robes.
"I'm good, what about you?"
She didn't know why, but with him, her voice always liked jumping up eight octaves. It was something inside of her subconsciously making her feel inadequate, jittery, like wanting to run away and swallow hard every other second.
Rinoa wished she could tear off the interfering robe and jump him. She imagined how he would look at her if only he could see her, she was nearly one hundred percent sure he would fall madly, head-over-heels in love with her. After all, she knew it herself, Rinoa Heartilly is one hot mama.
They started walking.
"Found out I spilt egg on my pants in the morning… right on the crotch" he laughed tenderly and smiled.
The raven-haired girl laughed too, but found herself having to tuck a small piece of hair away which had begun peeking out the side of the robe. Squall had glanced over, mouth-hanging open as he observed but quickly looked away and made it seem like he hadn't seen anything. Rinoa tightened the cloth.
"That doesn't sound too good," she chuckled and reached out for his hand just outside of the door she had stopped at.
Squall began to pull back his hand, his look telling her that he was wondering what she was doing.
"Got a new room, it's bigger, and way better!"
"Oh," he smiled, melting a very unsuspecting heart.
'Such an amazing smile' she sighed, and shyly withdrew her hand from his, then she turned and pressed the switch on the wall.
The whole room lit up all at once, revealing leaves and rocks and a small waterfall in the corner.
"Whoa, this is… nice," Squall stammered out and followed behind the woman as if in a trance.
"I know!!" she cheered happily, nearly bouncing up and down.
She clapped her hands together elatedly and ran towards him. Squall glanced down at her, surprised. He found himself taken off guard even more so when he looked into her eyes. The light of the room made them look a beautiful, russet brown, deep and waiting impatiently for his full attention.
"Guess what?" she asked finally, the question he had been waiting for.
"Yeah… what?" he replied, trying to take his focus off her small frame wrapped around his arm and pressing dangerously close against him.
"No, guess!" she kept on going, and he tensed.
"No, no, I'm no good at guessing,"
"Squall, I'm not joking," her voice alarmed him, he hadn't even known she could make it that low, "Now guess!"
The tall, brunette man took a deep breath, even the air in this room seemed fresh and cool against his skin.
"You got a promotion?"
Rinoa tightened her grip and suddenly backed away from him, Squall quirked a brow, wondering if he had said something wrong.
"You're not supposed to guess it you loser!" she yelled jokingly while giving him a light punch in the arm then she turned away and started setting up the massage table.
"You did? Wow, good for you, it's about time, hey?" Rinoa only nodded back to the man and motioned for him to take his spot on the table.
She admired the way his muscles rolled beneath his smooth pale flesh, the glean of sweat still fresh on his skin and the smell of his cologne… ahh, it suited him perfectly. Manly and strong, but not like those spray kinds that overdid it. No, this man knew exactly what he was doing.
"Yeah, I mean, two years? I think that's a little long to wait for a promotion… but look at this! It was completely worth it!"
Rinoa knew he was smiling when she heard him say "I've been waiting for mine for four years now".
The small woman pressed onto her toes and rubbed her hands over the mans shoulder blades in calm, soothing motions.
One other thing she really liked about this man was that he didn't groan like they were having sex whenever she massaged him. She hated when they would do that, because a good half of her cliental happened to be smelly, old, perverted men. Although, she found herself curious now.
Would he be the same with love-making. Silent but deadly?
Rinoa giggled to herself.
"What's so funny?" Squall asked, trying to sound irritated but still smiling.
"Nothing. That is a long time to wait! But don't worry, you'll get what you deserve soon enough!"
Rinoa wondered if it sounded a little too encouraging, especially when she felt the man tense up underneath her fingers.
"You think I deserve good things?"
Was that actual emotion she heard in the mans voice? Squall showing emotion other then stress about work?
Actual anxiety, worry about her reply. A gentleness to his words…
"Yeah, of course!"
He loosened up again.
"Thanks," he mumbled as he slipped into a drowsy state, fully enveloped in the womans warm touch and skilled hands.
"Yeah…" she replied, and smiled.
::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::
Another dull, repetitive day.
Filled with self-obsessed bosses and jealous co-workers. Of silence and rejection.
Of a pang of deep hurt in Squall's heart.
He felt it more and more with each day, it seemed. A dreary feeling keeping him down, a hopelessness, the inability for him to feel excited about life anymore.
He felt hallow.
So incredibly hallow.
But he'd learned weeks ago, life doesn't stop for the hallow people. It just keeps going, making it harder for them with each passing minute.
He missed the feeling of someone caring, being right there beside him. His life had become dark and monotonous.
Squall felt like just to get through one day at a time was a perilous duty.
Whatever happened to his friends? He thought about it and couldn't understand when he had become so alone.
He'd long since stopped talking with Seifer, who had been his good friend since childhood, always liked picking on him and being the big man, but Squall knew he was a good guy. He suddenly found himself wondering how he was doing. Were him and that sexy blonde, Quistis married yet? Or were they even still together?
What about Irvine? Him and the cowboy had been good friends just as long as he could remember. Things had gotten a bit rough for them when Irvine had told Seifer that he and the blondes girlfriend at the time were fooling around. That was all resolved however, and Seifer ended up getting his heart broken in the end, anyways.
Come to think of it, Squall very seriously doubted that things would work out for him and Quistis. He just couldn't imagine Seifer Almasy settling down. It was unthinkable.
Just as unthinkable as Squall Leonhart being late for work.
"Shit!" the man cried after realizing the time.
He plunged for his briefcase and flung himself out the door, struggling with his apartment key and just barely missing the old woman coming down the hall of the building as he charged down it in the opposite direction.
He ran all the way down the stairwell (luckily, only one floor) and raced past all the people in the lobby, pushing and shoving here and there in frustration. For the split second it took to look down Squall noticed a lot of things.
Undone tie, coffee-stained shirt (at least it was black), and one of his shoe-laces threatened to come undone at any given moment.
This wasn't going to be a very good day.
Another inward curse and he had managed to get to the parking lot, rounding the corner of row B and searching feverishly. The brunette sighed a heavy sigh of relief once reaching his car, a blue Lexus and he hopped in without a second of hesitation.
He pulled out, the daylight blinding him and causing him to squint uneasily while waiting for an opening in the oncoming traffic.
"Come on, come on!!!" he cried irritably to himself, the low hum of the radio completely droning out compared to the sounds of the street life.
Finally, an opening.
The brunette began to pull out hurriedly, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, eyes fixed on the road, completely absorbed with getting his spot in the mass of vehicles.
Too bad he didn't see the black SV12 S Biturbo roadster just pulling out from the curb.
Squalls car swerved slightly from the impact of the other car, nearly slamming into a parked vehicle a mere meter or so away. His head whipped forward and back, all of the uneaten food, pens and papers, and even his bobbing head 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' figurine flew to the floor of his car.
The young man didn't even have a chance to get a few good swears in before realizing what was happening. It was all happening way too fast.
Then all at once it stopped.
It seemed like time had slowed down for him, he slowly lifted his aching head, putting his hand to it. He saw people staring into his car curiously but they seemed just as confused and disbelieving as he was.
Squall stepped out from the car, swaying slightly before getting to his feet and managing to glare in the direction of the other vehicle. The one that had hit him.
Time still seemed slowed as he pried open the passengers side of the black automobile, glad to find it unlocked, and crawled inside.
It was a she, he could see this even though her head was turned away, leaning against the cracked window.
He didn't say anything, still effected by the shock of it all.
"Ahh, what, what happened?" the girl asked, Squall delicately held her head and helped her sit up straight. He saw blood running down the one side of her face that he could see as she scanned the wreckage of her expensive vehicle.
"You ran into my car?!" she cried, shaking her head in disbelief at the sight in front of her, causing her raven-black hair to trail along the pallid nape of her neck, Squall noticed.
Then he realized her abusive tone and cursing.
"Hey! I pulled out and you weren't checking, this is your fault!" he yelled, removing his hands from being anywhere near the girl and withdrawing into the leather of the passengers seat crossly.
"No! I remember what happened! You-!" she turned, and the look she gave him made him feel like she had just accused him of murdering her whole family.
"You pulled out before indicating, I didn't want to let you in…" she muttered in an almost whisper.
Squall leaned away from her, preparing to step out of the car incase this girl turned out to be some sort of asylum escapee.
"What? You weren't going to let me in just because I hadn't turned my indicators on yet?" Squall snapped, growing more and more frustrated with the girl by the minute.
Why was she staring at him like that?
"What're you staring at?" he added, just as bitterly.
"I-" suddenly her face twisted up in anger, Squall put one foot outside of the car, "I'm not staring at anything! You just ruined my car! You're going to be paying for it!"
"What?! I'm not paying for your stupid car!! You're the one that needs to learn how to drive! Besides, who parks behind a semi in a location like this?!"
"You're actually trying to turn this around on me now?!" the dark haired girl snarled, squinting her dark brown eyes.
"I'm not 'turning' anything! There is nothing to be turned!"
The girl's head jerked to the side and her lips twisted into a half-smile, half-frown.
They fell silent and both just sat, very awkwardly mind you, in the girls car.
"I'm not paying," the brunette finally stated, not even bothering to look over at her.
The girl frowned and bit her lip.
"I'm going to bleed you dry, just wait until you meet my lawyer," she turned her head and glared at the man coldly.
He stepped from the car, then hesitated and got back in.
"Do you have a pen and paper?" he ordered more then asked.
"Why?" the dark haired girl cringed at what seemed like the very thought of having to spend more time with him then she had to, although, Squall noticed that she seemed far more upset then a normal person should be.
He let it go, just figuring it was a very expensive car.
"I'll give you my number, I don't want to get in a huge fight about this and make it seem like I was being difficult. I don't have the time now, contact me later and we'll work this out".
The girl seemed surprised by how business-like this young man was acting all of a sudden.
"Fine," she snapped back and rummaged around in her petite little, navy blue bag with the beaded flowers on it.
Squall rolled his eyes at the feminine nature of it.
"Here," she shoved the small notepad at him and a light up pen with a heart on the end encircled by pink fluff.
The young man gagged.
"I'm not using that," he declared matter-of-factly and looked up at the girl with horror on his face.
"I thought you were trying not to be difficult," the girl said, a defiant look on her attractive features.
Squall only shook his head and began writing, the heart-pen lighting up every other second and blinding him.
As soon as he had finished he tore off the tiny page ruthlessly, ignoring the tiny little people on the corner of it holding hands, and flinging both the pad of paper and the pen back at her. The girl looked disturbed but simply snatched them up from where they had landed and shoved them back into her purse, along with his number.
"Thanks".
Squall nodded frigidly to her and stepped out of the car, shaking his head, not believing his luck.
'The only time I run into cute girls is in my car…' he fumed.
Yes, this was not going to be a good day.
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What a jerk! Rinoa couldn't believe she could ever like a guy like that!
Sure, he was probably stressed about work, in fact, that was probably what he was hurrying for, possibly late?
Still, that doesn't give somebody the right to be so rude!
"Rinoa, are you okay? You look kind of mad…"
The raven-haired girl glanced to her right, finding her best-friend Selphie standing there.
Selphie was a bright, charming girl, she always liked making others smile. Rinoa had fallen in love with her the day she met her, no other friend had ever been so caring and no other friend had ever traversed the trials of friendship the way Selphie had. They had been through a lot together, so of course, for Rinoa to tell Selphie what had happened earlier was really no big deal to her at all.
"Selph? You know that guy I told you about from my work?"
The cheery girl nodded, her flipped out hair bouncing in tune with her walk, her eyes fixing intently on her fair-skinned friend.
"Yeah… I ran into him this morning,"
"REALLY?!" Selphie screeched, causing half of the people at their work and most of the customers to stop and stare just as they walked in the back door of the restaurant.
"Yes…" Rinoa replied solemnly.
"Well?! And did he recognize you?!" the oblivious girl kept shouting, despite the stares of their co-workers.
"Selphie, could you quiet down a bit? It wasn't actually like, I didn't run into him in a good way, okay?"
Selphie withdrew, visibly trying to figure out what her friend could mean.
"I hit his car…" Rinoa finally admitted, but the face Selphie gave her made her angry all over again.
"He pulled out in front of me!! I had to call to get my car towed and take the train all the way here! And his car was still working!"
"Oh…" Selphie patted her friend on the back, staring up into her face with a smaller smile then usual gracing her lips.
"So, he didn't recognize you then?"
Selphie walked Rinoa over to a chair in the restaurants kitchen and Rinoa plopped down onto it, looking completely exhausted and discouraged.
"I told him that I was going to sue him, I mentioned 'my lawyer'".
"But Rinoa, you don't have a lawyer, you don't even have car insurance… you work two jobs just to get by," Rinoa glared up at the girl, "I know that, Selph," she replied and laughed at how naïve her friend could be at times.
"Oh, well then why would you have said that to him?"
"I was mad!" Rinoa yelled, yet again disturbing the staff of the restaurant.
"Aw, Rinny, it's okay, he was probably just not being himself, I mean, after all the good things you tell me about him, like how shy and sweet he is, he can't really be a jerk, can he?"
Rinoa slowly looked up towards her friends, bright, seemingly glowing face.
"Yeah, you're right, Selph, thanks".
The raven haired girl stood with a new found intensity in her eyes and she pulled on her hairnet enthusiastically.
"He isn't a jerk… he isn't".
::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::
"Squall!"
Click.
"Ah! Uhm-yes?"
The brunette swiveled in his chair again, still panting and sweating and trying his best to make it seem like he had been at work on time.
"Come to my office!" Gord yelled at the fatigued man hanging limply in the rolly-chair.
Squall went stiff. His office? Did he know how late he had been?
Probably, this was his boss after all.
Squall stood up from the chair rather shakily and followed behind the tall, balding, fat man. He felt queasy, and even more so when he saw all of his smug co-workers watching over their cubicles.
Was he getting fired?
God knows word could get around fast in this damned office.
They reached Gord's office eventually, a small room with a large window. Squall moved into the room, looking over to the bookshelf with books written about computer tectonics and other such materials that he knew his boss would never do more then blink an eye at.
He sat down nervously in a small seat across from the heavy mans enormous desk. Bosses always seem to do up their offices and position their furniture so that it will seem as intimidating as possible for their employees, Squall thought.
He gulped.
"Now, Squall, you've been working for me how long?"
"Uh-uh, four years to date, Sir, this will be my fifth,"
Gord seemed amazed by these statistics and fiddled with the blue pen on his desk, flipping it around in his fingers.
Squall eased into the conversation slightly, but still found himself having trouble speaking.
"Huh, really? Well, then you'll be happy to know I have an important job for you," Gord was actually smiling at him. Squall couldn't believe this was happening and only blinked a couple of times and glanced around the room, as if looking for the person standing behind him or hiding in a corner.
No, he was smiling at him.
"Uh, yes, I would be, Sir".
The fat man leaned back in his chair, interlocking his fingers together now with the pen in between.
"You're going to be transferred, for the next two months you will be working at Inacom. Advertising Company. You will be representing our company so I don't hesitate in telling you that your very job could be depending on this".
Squall could only nod. There was a lump in his stomach, now it was riding up his throat. He couldn't speak.
"Sir, may I ask what the job is?" it came out weakly but it looked like Gord only enjoyed his employees terror.
"Of course," he announced, much too happily, "The importance of this job is that we will be making ties with Inacom. It's a big company, one that could get this one off the ground. All you have to do is go there and work on whatever jobs they assign you to with whomever they assign you to work with. If the boss over there see's how productive our company can be then he will sign a contract with us, that basically sums it up. You up for it?"
Squall nodded weakly again, eyes bulging and still having trouble catching his breath.
"Haha, good, because you would have been fired otherwise," his laugh betrayed the look in his eyes, Squall could only smile as he pictured getting up on Gord's desk and punching him right in his lard-infested chins.
He watched them jiggle as he laughed.
'Ew, didn't need to see that'.
"Oh, and Squall?"
Squalls eyes snapped up quickly to his bosses.
"Yes?"
"Clean yourself up, you're a mess!"
He didn't even try to make that sound nice.
Squall got up unsteadily from his chair, relief in finding that at least he wasn't being fired, although it could very well end up that way.
The brunette trudged over to the door, then went stiff, he turned with a frantic expression on his face.
"Sir? Uh-When do I start?" eyebrows raised, heart racing.
"Today. Pack your stuff, Leonhart! You're life's about to change!"
Yes. Today was a very, very, very, bad day.
::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::
"Rinoa, you okay? You've seemed a little down all day".
"Oh, hey Zell," the dark haired girl sighed, while scrubbing another dish and adjusting her "Juicy Chicken" hat, feathers and all.
This stupid uniform, that stupid Squall for ruining her car and her day.
"No, nothing's wrong…"
Zell fidgeted on the spot for a moment and then shrugged, eating some more of the fries instead of making them.
"Well, anyways, Loraine sent me back here to get you, she says it's urgent!"
"What?" Rinoa darted around to glare at the blonde.
What now? She couldn't be getting fired! She couldn't afford that! She needed this job!!
Rinoa slowly dried off her hands on her work outfit and walked down the long, sterile hallway to the very back of the restaurant.
She was twitching, cracking her fingers, and chewing her hair. Nervous habits, all of them.
"Loraine?" she asked softly as she knocked gently on the door at the end.
It swung open.
"Darling! You must come in!"
Rinoa stood with her hand still in the air in the 'knocking position' before getting tugged into the room by her boss.
Loraine had always been an elaborate person, Rinoa's mother had been a close friend of hers since she couldn't remember when. Rinoa looked at this woman again, this time closer then ever before. She was skinny, cheekbones sticking out of her face incredibly far and lips so big that they became her most prominent feature by far. She always wore way too much blush and those feather boas made Rinoa want to strangle herself.
"Yes, what is it Loraine?" Rinoa asked kindly, concerned for the eccentric woman and how upset she seemed.
"We have problems, big problems! We're upgrading, you know that, right?" Loraine questioned, while pacing her very disorganized office frantically.
"Yes," while Rinoa would speak she would stop pacing for a moment and take another drag of her cigarette.
She started pacing again.
"Well we need somebody to go down to help with the advertisements, the guy I hired to do it quit on me because I told him I couldn't pay him just yet!"
Rinoa wasn't getting a good feeling about this.
"So, you want me to go instead, right?"
Loraine stopped again.
"Would you? I'd love you forever if you did, doll!"
Rinoa sighed and staring into those eyes she couldn't say no.
"Fine," she sighed, feeling sick to her stomach.
'Why always me?' she thought wearily.
"Okay, great! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Rinoa giggled as the older woman grabbed her face and started kissing her cheeks in a motherly sort of way.
Then she smirked and tossed her cigarette into the ashtray.
"Alright, all you have to do is go to Inacom. Advertising Company, you'll have to look up the address, I'm never good with things like that. Anyways, when you get there, all you have to do is ask for Edea Kramer".
"Edea Kramer?" Rinoa confirmed and Loraine nodded.
"Once you get to her just tell her you represent the "Juicy Chicken" restaurant chain. She should take it from there".
Rinoa took it all in, making sure to remember.
She nodded.
"Oh, and Rinoa hun?"
"Yes?"
"Could you try to be very business like, I need to leave a good impression, this is me risking my ass!"
Rinoa giggled again and nodded.
"Yes, Loraine, I will".
She received one more grateful smile from Loraine and left the room.
Then a thought hit her so hard that when she realized it she had to stop to catch her breath.
'Doesn't Squall work for some advertising company?'
::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::o::
Please R&R!