A/N: Thank you for the reviews everyone! I'll keep it short this time, and give you a long chapter to make up for the super long Note on chapter one!
Chapter two -- The Barn
Seifer gave her a roguish smile, to which Rinoa could only manage a bashful one in return. She quickly looked away from him, and turned instead to Selphie and Irvine, who had claimed the backseats. Irvine had his arm around Selphie, it was permanently fixed there these days, but Selphie never seemed never to notice.
"Daddy let you out in the end, chick?" Selphie asked.
Rinoa knew Selphie was teasing her, but she didn't mind. It was only when it was Seifer that did it that she got tongue-tied, or annoyed when Irvine tried it on. Although, these days Irvine had pretty much given her up as a bad sport, and generally ignored her.
"No, I snuck out the patio doors," Rinoa said. She heard Seifer laugh.
"Oo rebel," he said mockingly.
Rinoa went silent, she had never been any good at arguments, even if they were only in jest. But Selphie had quickly picked up on this, and now saw it her mission to defend Rinoa whenever it wasn't her doing the teasing.
"Shut up Seifer, just because your parents don't care whether you go out or not."
Seifer took his hand away from the gear stick, which he was about to put into first, to clutch at his chest.
"Harsh, so very harsh," he said pretending to be heartbroken.
Selphie rolled her eyes. Caught up with laughing, Rinoa surprised herself by joining in.
"Hey, you promised me a drive in your car, are you going to drive, or are we just going to sit here all night?" Rinoa asked.
There was a moment of silence where no one knew whether Rinoa was joking or not, and Seifer looked momentarily stunned.
"Hey, don't you start," he warned jokingly, selecting first gear. "But if you want to see what this car can do…"
He shot forward before anyone was prepared, slamming the car into second, third and then fourth gear. The engine roared aggressively as they whipped by the stationary cars, in Rinoa's quiet well-behaved upmarket neighbourhood.
Selphie began laughing hysterically, but Rinoa clung to her seatbelt petrified. Every time they turned a corner Rinoa was convinced that they were about to die. She kept looking forwards, trying not to notice the speed in which they were passing by the houses. Any moment now they were bound to run into traffic, but would Seifer have time to stop?
The more dangerous the ride became, the more Selphie laughed. Rinoa was certain her fears were well founded when she heard Irvine voicing his concerns, but when Seifer turned off of the main streets and began heading out into the outskirts, Rinoa began to relax slightly. He was forced to slow down due to the bends in the road, but was still taking the corners like a rally driver.
He passed Rinoa a control of some kind and asked her choose some music. Worried she might break it, Rinoa nervously flicked though some channels. She hesitated on one, she knew the song it was an old favourite of hers, but clearly no one else liked it.
"No way are we listening to that," Irvine said unkindly. He took the control away from her without asking.
The music changed to something much louder, and with less words. It had been playing the last time they had gone to a club, Seifer had danced with her to this one. He had only danced with her once though, probably to stop her looking so unpopular. She wondered why she'd remembered the song.
"Oh oh baby," Selphie began singing. "Yeah yeah oooh!"
"Is there even a song that doesn't have the word baby in it?" Rinoa asked over the music.
"Sure," Selphie said. "No…wait…"
Seifer had turned the music down. Rinoa often came out with strange questions, it was something that made her interesting he thought, that and annoying. Selphie was struggling to think of an answer, humming parts of songs aloud.
"Do you actually care?" Seifer asked.
"Well…no, I suppose not," Rinoa replied sheepishly.
Rinoa turned to look forwards, feeling kind of stupid. She wondered what had made her say anything at all, or why Seifer was now grinning and casting her sideways glances, which she was choosing to ignore.
They reached the barn with the music still blaring. Selphie and her friends had been coming here for a while before Rinoa had shown up in their lives. The first time she had gone here with them, there had been more people. But she had never seen any of them again. They had been Seifer's friends she was told, none of them went to the same school that she did.
Selphie led the way to the barn, and threw open the old wooden door. Rinoa trailed behind, always last, never wanting to push herself forwards. Someone else must have discovered the place since their last visit, as there was now a rope hanging from one of the beams, in the form of a crude swing. There was also some empty beer bottles scattered around on the floor.
Rinoa soon realised that this was probably going to be one of those boring nights, where everyone would drink, Selphie would end up being sick, and she'd end up going home feeling cold and miserable. She tried to cheer herself up, so that she might contribute to the night, it wasn't their job to entertain her after all. But she still felt disappointed.
"Hey, who wants the first go?" Irvine said catching hold of the rope.
He held it out towards Rinoa, who shook her head.
"I'll do it!" Selphie volunteered taking the rope from her boyfriend.
Rinoa moved out of the way, and noticed that Seifer had done the same. He grinned at her, and she knew he was wondering how long it would be before Selphie hurt herself. He stepped closer to her until he was standing just a few inches away. Rinoa felt her face turning red.
"Why didn't you return my text?" he asked.
Rinoa looked up at him worried, but saw that he was smirking. He was trying to make her say something stupid like she normally did, like giving him compliments without realising.
Rinoa didn't know why he was still bothering with his joke though, he'd already shown off his car. Which she had to add, was very impressive.
"I didn't think the message was for me," she said, not knowing where she was taking the conversation. It would have been easier to have just said that she had forgotten. He looked confused. "I thought you'd sent it to the wrong number."
A look of understanding passed over Seifer's face before he began grinning.
"Why would you think that?"
Rinoa looked at Selphie, she was still arguing with Irvine about how far to swing on the rope.
"Because you've never text me before," Rinoa said. It was a truthful reply this time, and her voice sounded sincerely innocent.
It was her tone of voice that made Seifer rethink what he was going to say next. He was about to accuse her of playing hard to get, ignoring him on purpose, but he quickly saw that she wasn't even aware that he liked her. He would have to start again.
"Well," he said replacing his grin with a look of sincerity. "Perhaps I've now realised the mistake I made."
Rinoa gazed at him puzzled. If she was supposed to know what that meant, then she was at a loss. He waited for her to say something, but not wanting to say anymore himself at present, shouted over to Selphie.
"Just get on with it Sel, Irvine wants to look up your skirt!"
The look of outrage on Selphie's face made Rinoa laugh. Irvine was blushing a deep red, as if he had been thinking along those lines himself, and it was good to see Irvine uncomfortable for a change, as it was usually her.
"You're a pervert Seifer," Selphie said indignant, but she ordered Irvine to go stand to the side regardless.
Only Selphie could manage to make swinging on a rope, hanging from a beam, look easy. But after the excitement of the rope swing ended, they sat in a circle on the floor and passed around the cans of larger.
"I don't like this," Selphie said before taking another large swig.
"Then give it to me," Irvine said. Selphie hugged the can away from him.
"I didn't say I wasn't going to drink it. I just think that, since I'm no longer the minority, Seifer should buy me and Rinoa alcopops."
Rinoa agreed, but drank from her can as if she wasn't really bothered. Seifer refused to buy what he called 'girls drinks' because they made him look like a sissy, or so he said.
"I'll only buy them is Rinoa wants them," Seifer declared reclining back into more comfortable pose.
Everyone looked at Rinoa. Selphie was begging her to say yes, but she was so grateful that Seifer had thought to buy her anything at all, that she didn't want to throw it all back in his face.She thought Irvine was looking at her oddly, as if he knew something she didn't.
"Well," she said, stretching out the word. "I wouldn't mind."
"Yes!" Selphie yelled before Rinoa could say anymore, or apologise. "See, two against one, now you have to by something nice."
Seifer shrugged.
"Sure," he said, then added under his breath, "If it'll shut you up."
Rinoa caught his comment and looked down. She hadn't really minded what she drank, as long as she was included. She was thankful at least that Seifer wasn't looking at her the way he was looking at Selphie, with annoyance.
"So, lets play truth or dare!" Selphie said, repositioning herself so that she was kneeling. "We can use one of these old bottles."
Rinoa hated truth or dare, she always tried to think of an excuse to not play, but she wouldn't be able to today, as there was no bathroom to go and hide in. It wasn't that she didn't want to hear what others had to say, just that she had nothing interesting or shocking to share. Her innocence made her pathetic in her eyes, and she was sure the others would laugh if they found out.
She would choose dare, and hope that they were kind to her.
"Sel we play that too much," Irvine complained. "How about we go have another look at Seifer's car?"
It took a while before Selphie worked out what he wanted, and she abandoned Rinoa to Seifer, whilst she disappeared with her boyfriend, to engage in the kissing that they never managed in the daytime.
Rinoa took another sip, then decided the night might go by quicker if she just drained the whole can and began a new one. Seifer seemed only happy to oblige her, by opening the next can for her.
"Thanks," Rinoa said taking the drink. She blushed under his gaze.
Ever since she had been introduced to Seifer she had thought he was cute. She had hoped that he might think the same about her, but all the time that they had hung out together, he had never tried to get to know her. But now that Selphie and Irvine tended to disappear together every night, she supposed there was no one else to talk to.
"Do you have a favourite drink?" he asked.
Rinoa frowned.
"Something other than lager?" he clarified.
Rinoa felt the can shaking in her hand. Why was she so nervous? He was only asking her what drinks he should bring next time. Except, Rinoa had never had an opportunity to try anything other than what her new friends drank, and didn't have an answer.
"Oh you know, anything," she said, hoping that she sounded knowledgeable about the world of alcohol.
He smirked knowingly.
"That new car cost me a fortune, so lets go break up those two," he suggested. "Before they damage something."
Rinoa smiled, happy to be doing something other than racking her brains for something to say.
Selphie and Irvine had managed to steam up the windows so much, that Seifer had to turn on the heater before they could get going. Although now that they had an audience the two in the back curbed their enthusiasm for each other a little, although not enough to spare Rinoa her blushes.
Rinoa sighed, tonight had been a waste of time, but at least she had gotten to see Seifer's new car, and be (as far as she knew) the first girl to sit in the front seat. Before they dropped Rinoa home, they stopped for the obligatory cheeseburger from the late closing takeaway.
Rinoa wondered sometimes how boys could manage to eat so much, and how Selphie could still eat chips with cheese and still be skinny. However the alcohol in her blood was screaming out for fast food, and Rinoa obliged it with chips.
When they stopped outside of her house, Seifer cut the engine and got out of the car. Panicking that he was about to start being loud and cause her father to come investigating, Rinoa hurried around the car to attempt to tell him to be quiet.
"Coming out tomorrow?" he asked shutting the car door on the others in the back.
"You could have asked me that in the car."
She didn't mean to sound reproachful, but if her father happened to look out of the window now, she'd be in more trouble than she'd ever been.
"If I text you later, will you text back?" he asked.
Rinoa nodded, keen to get moving, and for her friends to get gone.
"Yeah," she said, not really knowing what she was agreeing to. "Sure. I got to go."
She began the walk to the gate, then crossed onto the grass to hide the sound her boots made on the path. She heard the car start, and leave. With her friends no longer able to give her away, Rinoa relaxed.
She began to think over Seifer's request, and was about to smile, when opening the patio door she bumped into her father.