Chapter 3: The Day After
All morning during the day after the Masquerade, Rikku's friends asked if there was anything they could do for her and consoled her. During first period Tidus offered to beat Gippal up and Yuna tried to keep Rikku's mind off of the guy. During 2nd period Yuna's still tried to avoid the topic and Lulu threatened to toast Gippal with a Firaga or two. 3rd period, P.E., came and Lulu tried a combo of threats towards Gippal and consolation for Rikku. At lunch, Tidus, Paine, Lulu, and Wakka each threatened to kill Gippal together.
Rikku was sorely tempted to take them up on the offer, but knew it wouldn't resolve anything. Although she was thinking maybe a beat down on Gippal might make her feel a lot better.
Finally, the dreaded 5th period came. Gippal kept looking at Rikku hoping to get a look at her, but every glance only got a view of her head stuck inside of a book. Yuna, Tidus, and Lulu shot deathly glares in his direction.
Once the bell rang, Rikku ran towards the door. Gippal was faster. When he got there he held his arm out to stop her from escaping. He spoke up slowly.
"Look, Cid's Girl I'm sorry. I know sorry isn't enough, but I have nothing else that I can say. So please, can we just talk? Please?"
He looks at her with a pleading look in his eyes, and she almost believes he really is sincere. Almost.
"Yeah, about last night… I'm sorry, too. I got over it a long, long time ago. I dunno what made me just blow up on you like that..."
"So can we talk?"
"What's there to talk about? You're sorry, I'm sorry. All's forgiven. So you can just build a bridge, and get over it."
"Rikku-"
But before he can talk more she ducks under his arm and bolts out of sight. He stares at the class who's now looking at him and then glares. "Don't you people have classes?!"
They all shuffle out nervously. They all are thinking the exact same thing. English was going to be very interesting this year.
xXx
When he got to P.E., Gippal saw Tidus walking over to him. Gippal was not in the mood to deal with him. Tidus spoke first anyways.
"I'd beat your ass, but that probably wouldn't make Riks any happier."
"Tidus believe me when I say this. I really want to make this work with Rikku, but she's making it so damn difficult. You wanna know why Rikku's pissed off with me?"
"If it's good then I'll tell Paine to not kick your ass… much."
"Okay whatever, and I swear to you that it's the truth. So, 2 years ago, me and Rikku were dating, right? Well it was all going really good, like really good… the best thing in my life kind of good. And I even thought she was the one, but things got out of hand when my dad said he wanted me to go to a military school. I tried for 6 months to tell her that I was leaving, but I couldn't do it. I put it off until the night before I had to leave. So I just bought some stupid card, wrote bullshit lies, and just left. Just like that."
"Oh my god! You were in love with Rikku," piped up a high voice. The boys snapped there heads towards the source, and found Yuna standing there with a sparkle in her eyes. "You were in love, with Rikku…"
Although really annoyed with Yuna's dream state, Gippal replied, "No, not just were, I think I still am…"
"What?!" both Yuna and Tidus snapped startled by his last comment.
"I Think. That I'm. Still In. Love With. Rikku." He repeated the syllables in pairs to emphasize the meaning, and so that they could comprehend what he was saying. "And I want to get her back…"
"What?!" Again both of lovebirds were confounded by his last comment.
"Oh, for Yevonsake! I'm still in love with Rikku, and I want to get her back. Make me repeat it again and I'll rip out your tongues."
"Then why don't you tell her?!" Yuna asked apprehensively.
"Haven't you noticed he attitude towards me?! She won't even let me talk to her, let alone let me tell her that I want her back so bad, it kills me inside!!!" Gippal almost screamed it, making several people look over in their direction. Gippal death glared at all of them, making them all turn back to their free play activities immediately.
"So let me get this straight. You left Rikku, but only because your dad had you go to military school, and now that you've seen her again you want her back? Bad enough to kill?" Tidus thought it over slowly. (A/N: Poor blonde…)
"Close, but two things are wrong. I've wanted her back the whole time I've been away from her. And It's not 'crazy enough to kill', but 'enough that it kills me inside'. Although I would kill, if it meant that I got her back."
"Okay I got it… I think…"
"Gippal, I got a deal for you." Yuna said it, while looking at her shoes, showing that she felt guilty that she was about to suggest this.
"And what would that be, oh High One?"
"If we, all of us, meaning Me, Tidus, Paine, Baralai, Lulu, and Wakka, help you get Rikku back, will you promise not to break her heart, again?"
"Are you kidding? Wait, I shouldn't joke around, you might take the offer back. But, seriously, if I got Rikku back, I would never let her outta my sight… although that might annoy her."
"So we have a deal?" Yuna puts her hand out to complete the deal.
"Hell yeah!" Gippal takes Yuna's hand and shakes it till it's numb. She takes it back gingerly massages life back into it.
Gippal then turns back to them. "So… How are we gonna get her talk to me? That should be our top priority for the moment…"
"We could try to get her to go to a Blitz Game, but since you're on the team, she'll never go now… Dammit! How are we gonna get her to talk to you."
"Wait, Yuna, why don't we invite her to that club we're goin' to next week, and have the others come along with Gippal?"
"Tidus! That's a great plan! Wait… That's a karaoke club… I dunno if it's safe there for a good conversation…"
"Yeah, your right."
"But we could always make it work somehow. Just how?"
"Dunno…"
"Whatever! I'll get her to talk to me one way or another," cut in Gippal sharply.
"I just got an awfully evil idea…" thought Tidus, grinning maliciously. "Why don't we form bands, and sing!!!"
"Errr… Tidus, babe… Where's the point in that?" asked Yuna, who was confused by the pointlessness of the statement.
"Actually, I like it. It'll remind Cid's Girl how great she sings…" Gippal trailed off remembering memories of sitting by the pond in the forest by their houses and Rikku singing softly. It brought a small smile to his face.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Rikku sings!!! In all my years of knowing her, she's never once sung anything." Yuna looked astonished at this new piece of news about her own cousin.
"Really? She's never sung for you? Well, you should hear her. She's awesome."
"So we can use the karaoke club as the meeting place. And we're gonna sing."
"Wait, since Rikku knows that you guys don't know that she sings, you shouldn't tell her about the bands."
"Okay, so now we gotta go and convince her to come. And convince the others to help you. The latter will be probably be harder…"
"Yeah, yeah. Just do what you gotta do."
(A/N: Sorry about the delay in updates. I got carried away with my FictionPress Account, Aroes Sylverthorne. If you wanna read my neat little Supernatural Romance, the Requiem, just head over to my profile and click the link that I've provided their, it's under the name Aroes Sylverthorne.)
