Author's Note: I wrote this about six months ago, someone just now suggested I post it here. I usually post in the Resident Evil section so I'm not familiar with this part of fanfiction.net at all. So, yeah, reviews appreciated – I know it's somewhat out of character for Selvine, but it's always how I imagined their breakup would be if they had one. -- rhea@mayaku.org
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," she said even though it wasn't okay at all. She idly ran her boot through the sand. "It's okay, Irvine."
"Look, I said I was sorry, babe." He punched the air, a movement that was so him it hurt to watch. "You know I'm not lying."
And he wasn't lying; in this moment, he truly was sorry. He loved her, wanted her, needed her and knew the truth: he never could have her. She was too free to be his, to be tamed. She wasn't meant to lose her spunkiness at age seventeen to a consummate ladies' man, no, she was meant to be spunky and quirky and beautiful and treasured by someone else later on the line. Someone who could do it better. She didn't need a cowboy, some disgusting man in a leather trench coat covered in stains. Self-loathing tasted acidic in the back of his throat. Irvine swallowed it.
"I know. Believe me, I know." She kicked the dirt and finally looked up, her eyes meeting his. They locked gazes for a minute. Then he spoke calmly.
"What do we next, Sef?"
Selphie replied cooly even though her insides felt like they were going to explode and roast on the desert's surface: "We kiss our last kiss and you go off to 'save the world' with your rifle in tow. Fifteen years later we meet at a café, no wait, a cheap run-down motel, for a one night stand." She choked back a bitter laugh. Bitterness was not becoming to a girl in a canary jumper, but it was there.
He nodded, swallowed once more to sate the self-loathing, and then dared to step closer to her. The cowboy slowly enclosed her in his arms, feeling her body tense up and her arms start to push them apart but changed their mind last minute, working to pull the ill-fated couple together instead.
Their lips soon found each other's in the same fashion, reluctant yet inevitable. Hands groped through bulky clothing under the sun until they broke apart and stared at one another. Irvine shrugged off his jacket, watching silently as it hit the sand without a sound and watching Selphie as she bent down, spread it out, and stood back up to press her lips against his.
When they fell seconds later, they fell together, but got back up alone.