"Hey, Rikku, looking good today," Reno winked as he walked past me and recited that daily phrase.

Me and Reno have been friends for years... And have been flirting for the past two years. I've always found him good looking, the red hair spiked everywhere and pulled into a long ponytail, the blue eyes framed by those mysterious red marks, his lanky physique - I could go on. Not to mention he has an amazing personality - he's always cracking jokes.

"Shut up," I laughed and rolled my eyes - the usual routine with Reno.

He smiled widely and carried on walking down the corridor on his way to his dorm, which conveniently was opposite mine and that was how we met. Wait... He's going back to his dorm? It's 8AM!

My thoughts continued on my way to my first class which happened to be drama. I walked in frowning and dumped my bag onto the floor next to my chair which was positioned in front of the stage.

"Rikku? Are you alright?" Yuna waved her hand in front of my face and proceeded to sit in the chair next to me. Yuna was my cousin, she has short mouse-brown hair with a long winding braid stretching down to her ankles. She also happens to be in the same drama class as me but is taking a vast number of other classes.

"Oh yeah, sorry Yuna. I was just thinking,"

"Thinking?" A small smile spread across her face, "About what?"

"Umm... Reno was heading back to his dorm this morning when he's due in his weapons class,"

"He was at Tidus' party last night. He probably came straight from there this morning after waking up,"

My eyes narrowed at her, "How do you know this?"

"Well, I did visit my boyfriend's party for five minutes last night before meeting you at the library,"

"Oh. Right," I felt kind of annoyed with myself that I had decided to skip another party to study. But hey, I have my four final exams next week and failure is not an option.

LATER THAT DAY

Remind me why the elevator hasn't been fixed? I finished trudging up the flights of stairs and began to drag myself down the corridor. As I found myself nearing my dorm room I took my key from my pocket to unlock the door. The key slipped into the slot perfectly and I turned the key-

"Rikku! Still looking good!"

"Reno... Seriously?!" I huffed and faced Reno. God, he looked awful.

"I'm guessing you were at Tidus' party last night then?"

"Erm, yeah. But I've got a problem and I need you to help,"

"Depends on what the problem is..."

"Well-" Reno glanced to the side and proceeded to do a double take. I peeked at his distraction to see Lenne walking to the laundry room with a basket of clothes, "Hang on, Rikku,"

Before Reno spoke again Lightning marched around the corner to make her way to our room. Thankfully we're also good friends otherwise sharing a dorm room would have been difficult.

"Reno, you look as though you've seen a ghost," she dragged me as well as Reno into our dorm room. Lightning slung her bag next to the wardrobe and slumped onto her bed, "I bet I know what this is about,"

"Huh?" I was officially confused,

"To be honest, you probably do. It's got around so quickly," Reno is never this rilled up about anything, it was cute.

"Right, the party last night, Lenne kissed me and... Just no!"

"Well, unfortunately for you, I heard from Lenne herself that she's going to try and get with you at the next party, which happens to be next weekend," Lightning smirked and started to pick at her nails,

"Rikku, please, help me," Reno gave me the biggest puppy dog eyes, it was adorable.

"What do you expect me to do?!"

"Well... Squall told me to act as if I already was with someone..."

Lightning burst into laughter, snorting and giggling alongside, which was unusual for her.

"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?" I raised my eyebrow,

"Yes..." Reno winced and glanced at me,

Lightning finished laughing in order to speak, "You should do it Rikku, Reno has never done a bad thing to you,"

I sighed in defeat knowing I should help Reno out since he's never treated a girl badly, especially me, "Fine! I'll do it," I know he's just trying to let Lenne down gently without breaking her heart even if this does seem a bit extreme.

2 DAYS LATER

Me, Yuna, Lightning, Squall and Reno were sitting on the field in front of the college. We were all fairly good friends so it seemed suitable to hang out every once in a while, Reno was sitting close to me, correction, incredibly close to me.

Tidus arrived which accumulated Yuna to jump up to kiss him, "Guys, you know Lenne is walking over?" Tidus spoke up - Yuna had told Tidus what was going on after I had told her. It only seemed suitable for Tidus to know since they're near enough glued at the hip.

Reno moved even closer to me and flung his arm around my waist but still tried to act casual.

"Lightning will you sign this for me?" Lenne glared at me and Reno but fitted a strained, sweet smile to her face,

"Lenne! I told you I'll do it next week! It's not like we're in some kind of rush!" Lightning clearly became agitated and huffed,

"Oh, well, Yuna can you sign it?"

"Sure, okay," Yuna took Lenne's leavers book and began to write her message. Lenne sat down directly opposite me and Reno and tried - key word: tried - to not look desperate.

I heard Reno say something to Squall and laughed as I looked straight at Reno with parts of hair covering my face. We stayed there for a moment, one of those awkward eye contact moments that are just too nice to look away. Eventually I did look away, obviously. Once Yuna had finished writing in Lennes book Lenne pulled Lightning to the side to speak to her. After a few minutes Lightning came back and smiled.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked, smiling myself,

"Lenne said she had no idea you and Reno were a thing. She said you looked happy together, asked why I never said anything about you two to her, which I replied by saying I didn't even know until today. And... She finished by saying she'll leave Reno alone," Lightning finished speaking to resume the straight lips.

"RESULT!" Reno cried happily with a huge grin on his face,

"You should be together at the party next week to show her it's not fake," Squall decided to add his input which resulted with me rolling my eyes,

"Fine," I sighed, "But I have intentions of getting drunk so you better look after me,"

THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY

I had arrived at the party with Lightning, Yuna and Tidus. I had a few (quite a few) bottles of vodka in my bag while lightning bought beer and cider. Yuna and Tidus had decided on only staying a couple of hours and staying sober. I walked straight to a corner with a couple of chairs and sat with Lightning following me. Yuna and Tidus went off to socialise.

Straight away I drank three bottles of vodka, one after the other and by the point of finishing the last bottle of vodka I had, I realised I was more than just slightly tipsy. I continued drinking in the corner with Lighting (I had begun to drink beer by this point).

"Well you at you two being social, aren't you?" Reno shouted over the music, I thought he and Squall were over with the guys?

"Hey, I have no obligation to talk to anyone here," I chuckled and shifted over to the edge of the chair, "Sit!"

Reno awkwardly turned around to sit on the other edge of the chair as I began to slip of the chair. Before I could fall, however, Reno wrapped his arm fully around my waist. It stopped me from falling, but was that the only reason he done this?

"Hey Light, you alright?" Squall sat down next to Lightning which started their conversation.

Reno had been nuzzling his nose into my neck for the last ten minutes and Lighting kept mouthing to me to 'go for it'.

I spoke back out in the open, simply due to the fact that I was too drunk to properly control my actions, "I'm scared,"

Reno's head shot up at my confession and Lightning looked at Reno, "Why?"

"Because… What if it means nothing?" I was scared that my feelings for Reno – my possible feelings for Reno – were not going to be returned.

"Just do it! You'll regret it if you don't!" Lightning was speaking the truth to me… Maybe I should just go for it…

"Hey Reno, Squall, you coming with us? We're going to go one of the bars in town," Vaan addressed the guys while still trying to communicate with other people at the party.

"Err… Sure. We'll meet you guys there," Reno seemed somewhat disappointed for some reason.

"Right! See you there!" Vaan pulled out a cigarette and left the party quietly, astonishingly.

"I've got to go…" Reno turned to face me, his arm still wrapped around my waist.

"Okay…" I looked at his lips and then his eyes before my lips crashed onto his. Time seemed to stop as our mouths melded together but before I knew it, it was over.

"I'll see you later," Reno whispered, stood up and walked out of the party.

"Yeah… Later,"

"Well, well, well, look at you go there!" Lightning gave me the cheesiest grin I swear I've ever seen on her face.

THE NEXT DAY

I woke up in my dorm room with surprisingly no hangover and every memory of the whole night. Damn. I kissed Reno.

I grabbed my phone to text Reno: Hey are you awake?

A message came straight back: Yeah I haven't been back to my dorm.

Sorry about last night.

Why are you sorry?

Because I kissed you.

Come to the café down the street. We can talk.

I threw my covers off me and grabbed the first pair of jeans and a shirt I could find and ran to the bathroom to get changed. After finishing I ran to my bed to grab my key and my phone.

"Hey where are you going at this time in the morning?" Lightning yawned and shifted in her duvet cocoon.

"Out. I'm meeting Reno. See you later," I ran out of the room and down the stairs. Once I got outside I walked – I didn't want to draw attention.

I arrived outside the only café I knew of in the area, I peered inside to see Reno sitting in the top left corner booth. Upon seeing me he smiled and waved. Guess I have to get this over with now. I walked in and over to the booth while yawning. I must have looked awful. My jacket hood was up and I was slumping.

"Hey Reno,"

"Morning sleepyhead," Reno grinned, "You're still looking good though,"

"Shut up. I'm not," I gave Reno a small smile and started to fidget with my hands.

"Yes, you are. You never believe me do you?"

"Of course I don't. I'm nothing special,"

"But you are. You're such a great person. You're beautiful and funny and you always make me feel better. Even if you don't say anything your smile always lifts me up," Reno cupped my hands with his own, "Can we see where this takes us?"

"You mean you don't regret kissing me?" my pupils must have grew in size,

"No! To be honest, I'm kind of glad you were drunk last night. I wouldn't have been able to do any of that knowing you were completely in control of yourself,"

I smiled, "Okay. Let's see where this takes us," I leaned over the table to meet Reno in the middle for our second kiss with hopes of more to come.