"Yunie! I thought tonight was supposed to be girl's night? As in, just us girls?"
"Well, we can still have girl's night! It's just.." Yuna began.
"But Tidus is not a girl, Yunie! Ugh, this isn't fair!" I complained irritably.
Every Saturday night, Yunie, Paine and me go out to Blitz- not Blitz as in playing blitzball, silly. Blitz is the hottest nightclub in Luca, and we always have so much fun whenever we go! All of us girls dance the night away, laughing and talking about everything that's happened on all of our adventures. Plus, we always get ready together and buy amazing outfits to wear. Ever since Tidus returned, though, he's been wanting to spend all of his time with Yunie. And I totally get that because they're "in love" or whatever, but he's gone too far this time! Tidus actually asked if he could come with us to Blitz tonight. Yunie said yes. So, I've been nagging and complaining, trying my hardest to salvage our precious girl's night. It's so hard to explain why I love going out with Yunie and Paine so much. It just makes me so happy that we can spend time together, especially since I know we'll all drift apart soon.
After a few hours of complaining that Tidus joining in on our girl's night would be totally unacceptable, I admitted defeat and began to get ready. I still wanted to go out tonight, even if Yunie would be busy with Tidus. My choices for outfits were endless; I have more dress spheres than I can count, which always makes a girl happy. After a few minutes of trying on different outfits, I decided on a short chocobo-yellow colored dress, covered entirely with glitzy sequins. I paired it with my favorite yellow stilettos and did my usual makeup routine. A few sprays of my cotton candy perfume and my purse completed the look. After glancing in the mirror, I did a cute pose and winked. Perfect! Tonight, I was determined to have fun, even if I only had Paine to talk with.
"Rikku! C'mon, we're all leaving!" I heard Yunie call from downstairs.
Skipping out of my room, I left with Yunie and Tidus to our destination. After a few minutes of walking through downtown Luca, we were soon at Blitz. Hundreds of people were waiting in line- I silently thanked Yunie for her popularity, otherwise we'd be waiting in line, too. Because Yunie defeated Sin and is currently the hottest Songstress in all of Spira, we're able to be on the VIP list every night. So, no waiting in line for us! Benefits are so sweet. We were met with incredible bass and twinkling lights as soon as we were inside. People were dancing happily on the dancefloor, some lounging by the bar waiting for their drinks. I frowned as I scanned the room. Paine wasn't here!
"Yunie, where's-" I began.
"Sorry, Rikku! Me and Yuna are gonna go dance!" Tidus winked.
I glared angrily at Tidus as he ran off with Yunie to dance. This was just great. Now Yunie and Tidus would be gone all night, and Paine was nowhere to be found. I guess I won't be dancing tonight. Maybe a drink will make me feel better? I walked over to the bar and sat down, getting comfy in my chair. I smiled at the bartender and ordered my favorite drink.
"Can I please get an Appletini?" I asked sweetly.
"Actually, miss, that gentlemen over there has kindly paid for your drink already." The bartender smiled.
Who would buy me a drink? Usually guys always bought Yunie drinks either as thanks for beating Sin or because they were shamelessly flirting with her. She always politely declines them because she hates to drink alcohol, but we always laugh so hard whenever she gets asked. Paine always got drinks bought for her, too. She loves the fruity drinks they serve here and always flirts with the guys knowing she'll get them for free. But me? No, I always buy my own drinks. So who would buy me one?
"Well, if it isn't Cid's girl. You look pretty hot tonight, sweetheart!"
I felt a shiver run up my spine. That voice was so velvety smooth, even over the loud music! And there was only one person who was allowed to call me that!
"Gippal? What are you doing here? And why did you buy me a drink?" I asked curiously.
"I'm pretty good friends with the owner of this place so he asked me if I wanted to come tonight. Plus, I had a pretty hard week at the Faction so I thought why not have fun for one night? And I bought you a drink 'cause you look smokin' hot." Gippal said, smirking.
"Uh, thanks." I said, feeling my cheeks burning.
"Don't get so flustered, Cid's girl, I'm just flirting with you! C'mon over and sit with me and we'll catch up." Gippal laughed.
I followed Gippal over to a table, trying to get rid of my stupid blush. Gippal always knew how to embarrass me and make me blush, and I hated it! It always made me so mad whenever I heard a rumor that Gippal was dating some new girl he met at the Faction. It's like he loves to lead me on! And the worst part about it is that I've liked him ever since we were little. But I'd rather get attacked by Omega Weapon than ever admit that to Gippal. So, putting on my best "cool as a cucumber" expression, I sat down across from Gippal and sipped at my drink, listening to him talk about everything.
"..So anyways, Paine wanted me to tell you that she felt bad she couldn't come see you and Yuna tonight. I guess Baralai invited her over for dinner."
What? Now Paine was spending time with Baralai? What a wonderful blow to my self confidence. I guess having Yunie gone with Tidus all the time wasn't enough. Now my other best friend was dating stupid Baralai, which meant that girl's nights were officially over. And I felt totally disasterific. I have no boyfriend, no exciting future ahead of me, nothing. This was just peachy.
"Rikku? Hey, Rikku! Whatcha thinking about?" I heard Gippal ask.
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering what I'm going to be doing on Saturday nights from now on." I said, slightly depressed.
"You'll be partying with me, silly. No way am I letting you get all depressed just 'cause your girls are with their boyfriends all the time." Gippal replied.
"Party with you? Won't your girlfriend get upset?"
"Girlfriend? What are you talking about, Cid's girl? Are you crazy?" Gippal laughed.
I'm sure that Gippal had a girlfriend. I mean, every time I'm at the Faction or at Bikanel, I always see Gippal with a different girl. He's attractive, obviously, so of course girls always love to be around him. Seeing so many girls flirt with him all the time was one of the reasons I decided to stop working at the Faction so much. I admit that I get super jealous whenever he's with anyone, so I made up the excuse that I needed to spend more time with the Gullwings because I was bored with machina. That was a total lie. I loved working with machina and getting to see Gippal everyday, but those days were in the past. Why would he have an interest in me? I'm just Rikku.
"Every time I see you, you're with another girl. It's pretty obvious." I said quietly.
"Just because girls flirt with me doesn't mean I'm interested. Rikku, listen to me. It's always been you." Gippal answered.
"What's always been me?" I asked, confused.
Gippal sighed and grabbed my hand, leading me to the dancefloor. His hand felt so nice intertwined with mine, so I didn't object. It was so nice to have Gippal near me.. I was snapped from my thoughts as I realized we were in the middle of the dancefloor surrounded by hundreds of people dancing together. The song playing was incredible, and I could feel the bass pounding all throughout my body. Suddenly I realized I could also feel Gippal's breath on my neck; when had he gotten behind me?
"You're so dense, Cid's girl. I've been crazy about you since the day we met. Understand now? Dance with me, sweetheart." Gippal said in my ear.
Totally speechless, I happily obliged. Gippal liked me.. I felt my heart swarm with butterflies as it skipped about a hundred beats. I was ecstatic! This night was turning into one of the best in my life. Dancing was one of my favorite things to do, and with Gippal too? Yes, please! We danced together to the pounding beat of the music. Our dancing started off innocent but quickly turned dangerously provocative. I felt Gippal move his hands up and down my body as I ran mine through his hair, all the while grinding together. This felt so wonderful..
"Mmm, Rikku, you smell good enough to eat. So damn sweet, I could just eat you up.." Gippal murmured.
I'd be lying if I said that hadn't totally made me melt. No wonder so many girls liked Gippal! He was totally gorgeous and sure knew how to charm a girl. I wanted to stay here dancing with him forever. Everything just felt so perfect, too perfect in fact that I thought I might be dreaming. Feeling Gippal suddenly lean down to capture my lips in a kiss definitely proved that I wasn't dreaming. The kiss was so soft and sweet, full of emotions and feelings we'd both been keeping inside for years. I then understood why Yunie always loved being with Tidus so much; having a guy that cares for you so deeply felt incredible. I can't believe I'd been missing out on this for so many years. I stood on my tippy-toes to deepen our kiss, feeling Gippal smiling.
This was bliss.
AN: I'm actually pretty pleased with how this turned out. I wish Rikku and Gippal would've actually gotten together and had more scenes in Final Fantasy X-2;)
Anyways, I hope you all like this! I've always wanted to write a Rippal story and I finally got one finished. Woohoo:) Please let me know what you think, and I promise to update all my in-progress stories very soon! Until next time, my lovelies! xx