The Slacker
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII
The Student
With peaceful rest, the night never seemed to last.
With one sleeping it away the night life would never grow to be more than a fetus.
It would never conceive nor retain any memories of its own.
If things were to happen, they would remain unseen and unknown by all whom inhabit the house. How then would people realize just what is going on around them? A gap in memory would be realized just as soon as one woke up.
As the hours dragged on and morning took possession of the sky, Squall could be seen to stir in his sleep.
He rolled onto his back and felt something out of place. As he moved, there was something else there that just wasn't him. A dead weight. He didn't know what it could have been, so despite his urge to relax and catch up on a few more minutes of precious rest, he forced his sleepy eyes open and tilted his head to the side.
He felt the arm draped over him and followed the free-loading limb up to the owner sleeping contently beside him.
Squall snapped awake at the realization. Finally, he remembered how that previous night had ended. He'd come home surprised to see Rinoa already asleep in his bed. She'd had no apparent uncertainty about the situation and had simply gone ahead and curled up in what she considered her new territory – Squall's bed – the way a new pet cat would, but this was no cat. It was a human girl. There was a definite difference.
While the concept of sharing a bed with a pet could be seen as perfectly innocent and even childish, sharing with another person was in no way similar.
The previous night he'd been too courteous to wake the girl up and too tired to find somewhere else to sleep. In the end he'd settled on sharing the bed with her. It didn't seem like a big deal then but the sun seemed to shed new light on the entire situation.
Why had he decided on that course of action? Sure, nothing had actually happened but if anyone saw them, what would they think? What would Quistis think of it and more importantly, what if he was to find out? What would happen then? Would she be allowed to stay? Would he be allowed to stay?
Squall was pulled out of his contemplation by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Eyes wide with panic, Squall slowly looked around to see a rather angry looking Quistis. She wore her blonde hair up in a high ponytail with loose golden tresses coming down to frame either side of her face. She was dressed in casual, yet sensible clothing. She wore a long orange skirt over dark blue pants and an orange blouse.
As Squall watched her, she simply stood there looking at him angrily and clicking her tongue impatiently.
"I hate to interrupt," she said, not bothering to lower her voice for the intruder's sake, "but we're going to be late."
"Oh, right," Squall replied quietly so that he wouldn't wake Rinoa. "Just give me a minute and I'll be right out."
"Just don't take too long. I'm not being late just because you two were up fooling around all night."
"But we weren't!" the brunette exclaimed, extracting a minute groan of protest from the sleeping Rinoa beside him.
"I'm sorry," he apologized despite knowing that she was unlikely to hear him.
"Sure, whatever you say, Squall," Quistis said skeptically. "Just don't make me late or I'll have to leave without you."
"Whatever," Squall said, carefully sliding Rinoa's still form over so that he could get out of the bed.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Quistis asked, turning around.
"We're not going to be late" the brunette replied, looking at the clock beside the bed. "We still have time. Just let me get dressed and we'll get going."
"You're acting different now, Squall. I've seen it many times in literature but you seem to be a personification, or living hyperbole of it."
"I don't understand."
"She hasn't even been here a full day and you've already changed."
Have I? – He asked himself. He didn't think there'd be any difference. Of course he knew it would be hard but he didn't want to throw Rinoa out and give her nowhere to go. On the contrary, he wanted her to stay.
He looked to Rinoa, and then to Quistis.
"Whatever" he uttered at the retreating blonde.
The brunette quickly dressed in clothes similar but not identical to those he had worn the day before. His attire consisted of a white short-sleeve shirt with black formal pants. He wore an open black jacket over the shirt.
He looked back to the sleeping girl before leaving the room.
"Guess I'll see you later on," he said to her deaf ears before taking that final step away in his departure.
As he stepped out of the room he closed the door, taking note of the identical closed door next to it. That was the door to Quistis' room. On the right side of the room was the bathroom and on the left was a staircase leading down.
After stopping to use the facilities Squall walked past the large window – more like a glass wall – to the staircase.
He descended the stairs to find Quistis waiting for him in the lower portion of their home. She sat on the couch with her legs crossed.
This room was split in two. On the right was a living room complete with couch, armchairs and television. On the right was a kitchenette. Squall walked over and poured himself a drink of coffee.
Once he'd downed the drink he looked over to the blonde.
"You ready?" he asked her.
"Are you?" she replied skeptically.
"Isn't that obvious?" Squall answered, adding to the 'question game.'
"So that's all you're having?"
"If you don't stop this nonsense, we'll be late." Quistis gave a slight grin.
"Now you're acting like the Squall I know" she said, leading the way out of the house. There were two doors, one leading outside and one leading to the house next door. Quistis walked to the building's exit and opened the door, walking through and holding it open for Squall. "Should we lock it?" she asked.
"I don't know" Squall replied, placing a hand on his hip thoughtfully. Rinoa… would it do any good to lock you in? "That all depends on when she should decide to get up."
"We'd better lock the door in case. It's not like she has anywhere to be."
"I guess," Squall conceded as the blonde inserted her key into the now closed door and turned it all the way around until the mechanical lock made its clicking sound.
The two made their way toward the road where they were met by an energetic and enthusiastic Zell.
"Yo, it's about time you two got here!" he called out to them by way of greeting.
"Zell, it's only seven thirty in the morning. Could you maybe keep it down? People might be trying to sleep."
"Most people should be up by now. Only lazy bums with no jobs would be asleep this late," Quistis retorted.
"And housewives and school kids," Squall added.
"Yeah, lazy bums… and people that need practice in getting up early for when they get jobs."
"Housewives don't get jobs."
"Housewives are usually mothers that have no choice but to stay home with their children. Only a fool would actually choose to stay at home all day when they don't have to."
"I get it, Squall. You're worried about Rinoa, aren't you?" Zell accused.
"No. I just don't want you to disturb the neighbors."
"Yeah right, you don't want to wake her up."
"I couldn't care less what time she wakes up," Squall snapped back.
"Don't lie, Squall," Quistis argued. There was no teasing nature to the blonde's words. When she spoke, it was with sincerity. "You're bad at it."
"Whatever" Squall replied with an arduous sigh, this was pointless. There was no point in continuing such a fruitless argument. They were wasting time. "Shouldn't we get going?"
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Quistis answered truthfully.
With the discussion over, the three of them stepped inside Zell's car; with Zell driving, Quistis in the passenger seat beside his and Squall behind him in the back. This was the way they usually travelled to and from Garden each day. Zell would always drive and Quistis would ride beside him while Squall always sat in the back, staring jadedly out at the passing scenery from the window.
Quistis and Zell always had much to talk about and sometimes Squall would listen in though he usually tuned them out. He didn't feel part of the conversation and didn't want to impose himself upon them.
It wasn't as though he segregated himself from them by any means. He just opted to give them time alone. It was obvious the two were close and he knew they'd been in Balamb together for a while, longer than he had anyway.
Zell had lived in that house all his life with his mother. Quistis had moved in beside him the previous year to begin her studies at Balamb Garden, one of the world's most prestigious Universities. Squall and Zell were both eighteen and one year Quistis' junior.
For both of them, this would be their first year at Garden, although Quistis had started her studies the previous year.
An interesting fact about that was, Quistis and Zell were planning similar career paths, unfortunately, they couldn't go together to the same classes for obvious reasons, since Quistis was one year ahead so all three of them were separated each day but then united in their own time.
Squall came out of the building feeling quite drained from his morning classes. His schedule for the day had given him time off for the next hour or so. As he wandered around the vicinity on his own, he couldn't help but wonder where those two had gotten to. The three of them had tried to schedule there classes at similar times so they'd start and finish at the same time. There were some exceptions but they were always able to have lunch together.
"Squall, over here!" a voice called out to the brunette. He looked over in time to see Zell and Quistis approach him.
He waved them over to show his acknowledgement and began walking over to meet them.
"So this is where you were?" he said. "I was looking for you. Were you here all this time?"
"No," Quistis replied. "We were looking for you. Where do you want to go for lunch?"
"Um… what's wrong with the cafeteria?" Squall asked them. It was true. That was where they usually went.
"I have a better idea," Zell informed him smugly.
"Oh?" Squall asked, placing his hand on his hip in interest.
"Yeah, it's this new café that just opened up."
"Zell found it earlier today."
"Well, I have to admit that Zell is the expert when it comes to restaurants and the like."
"It's settled then."
The three walked off-campus for over ten minutes until they arrived at what appeared to be an old western style tavern.
"This is it?" Squall asked doubtfully. He was unsure why the other two had stopped here."
"Yup, this is it" Zell said, proud of his unique find."
"I thought it was going to be a café'," Squall replied disappointedly.
"It is," Quistis assured him. "This is all just a gimmick."
"Are you sure you want to eat here though?" Squall asked the duo skeptically.
"It's pretty good here, Squall we ate here earlier. You should give it a try."
"Really? You two really want to eat at a place called 'Pussycat Play land?'" he asked, reading the large sign above the door. Despite the proprietor's tastes, Squall had to admit that he'd undoubtedly put a lot of work into the graphic sign. It was an absurdly detailed image of a cowboy standing in the middle of a desert with his lasso tightly bound around two well-built, scantily-clad nekkomimi.
Though nothing more than an advertisement, it was certainly a provoking image. The nekko girls were bound so tightly that they were forced into an awkward embrace, each pressed flush against the other, ample chests so close together that it looked painful, limbs intertwined.
From Squall's perspective, this looked more like the advertisement of a fetish club or artwork from a perverted cartoon than any kind of restaurant. It was a wonder the local feminist coven hadn't shut the place down by now, or even allowed it to open. There didn't even seem to be any signs of a protest march.
"Just give it a shot," Zell told him. "Who knows? This could become our new regular."
"Alright… but this better not turn out to be one of those gentleman's clubs."
"It's not, don't worry." Although still skeptical, Squall followed the two in.