I own absolutely nothing, because if I did I wouldn't be on here writing this crazy fanfiction.
Woo-hoo! Time for chapter 4!
By the way, I feel like I've been putting Seifer kind of OOC, so I'll try to do better about that.
Chapter 4: "Popping the Question"
Julie walked purposefully away from Seifer, knowing his eyes were boring holes into her back, and retrieved her gunblade.
"Is that yours?" He asked, suddenly interested.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Let me see." He handed his to her when he took hers to give her something to inspect as well.
Seifer's gunblade was significantly heavier than Julie's, but she liked hers to be as light as possible. She could use it one-handed, which left her other hand open for magic whenever she needed it.
"Wow…" He murmured and slashed it through the air. "Whoever made it knew what they were doing."
She nodded, and for some reason her chest tightened at the indirect compliment. Seifer Almasy, master gunblader, liked her gunblade. Well, maybe 'master' was stretching the truth a bit far, but from what she'd heard he was an excellent fighter.
The exchanged once again, and she stared up at him curiously. "So, what did I interrupt?"
Seifer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm glad you did interrupt," he said. "Quistis likes to go out of her way to try and help me." He rolled his eyes. "She's a royal pain in the ass if you ask me."
Julie laughed. "You don't talk about her like she is your instructor and homeroom teacher." She observed.
"She's my age, Julie." He told her.
"Really?"
He nodded. "And after the…thing with Ultimecia, formality didn't seem like a top priority with anyone. She doesn't bother to correct me anymore." He shrugged. "So I don't worry about it."
"What about the others who were involved?"
He grinned. "They all have their own nicknames, given to them by yours truly. If you ever catch me around them you'll hear them."
They both laughed.
"Come on," he gestured for her to walk with him. "I'll walk you back to your dorm."
Julie was on her way to supper that night, alone, when she was abruptly confronted by a young woman with dark hair in a long, blue sweater/jacket with two wings on the shoulder blades.
"Are you Julie Adams?" The girl asked.
Julie stopped walking, her surprise making her forget to keep moving her feet. "…Yes…why?"
"Hi. I'm Rinoa." The girl stuck out a hand, and Julie shook it hesitantly. This was…interesting.
"Can I help you, Rinoa?" Julie asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, sorry. You probably think I'm crazy." Rinoa laughed.
Julie calmed down a bit and smiled.
"But," Rinoa continued, "I'm a friend—well not a friend, really, more like an acquaintance—of Seifer's."
Even when he is hated, Seifer is the center of everyone's attention whether he realizes that or not, Julie noted as the girl continued to speak.
"We've been trying to get Seifer to loosen up since he's returned to the school, but so far all he's done is ignore us mostly or say some rude comment. Anyway, we're going out into Balamb tomorrow night, and we wanted to know if you could convince Seifer to come with you."
Julie was speechless. They wanted her to what? "You want me to ask Seifer out on a date?"
"No, no, no! I wouldn't put something that life-threatening on anyone." She laughed, and Julie smiled again and rolled her eyes playfully. "Quistis told me that Seifer seems to act a bit different around you and he doesn't seem so…" She stopped for lack of a good word.
"Anal?" Julie offered.
"Yes!" Rinoa snapped her fingers. "So, since you get him to calm down some, do you think you could get him to come out with us in a little group outing? It would be good for him: a nice change of scenery. And we can introduce you to everyone. You'll already know Seifer, Quistis, and I, so that only leaves four others, two of which are dating, one of the others is dating me, and the other is just…well you'll see." She paused for a much-needed breath. "So, what do you say?"
Julie regarded Rinoa carefully before nodding slowly. "I don't know if he'll agree to come along, but I'll see what I can do." What harm could it do to ask him? Sure, they'd only known each other for two days now, but that doesn't matter.
She still couldn't shake the fact that she could swear Rinoa had just asked her to ask him out on a date, though.
The next morning, on the walk to homeroom, Julie was getting butterflies just thinking about 'popping the question' to Seifer about that night. When she sat down beside him in the back, the butterflies escalated to buzzards.
She withdrew her notebook and proceeded to write the question down. She figured she was less likely to get in trouble for not paying attention that way and it was easier to ask him.
Your friend Rinoa invited me to go out to Balamb with them to eat somewhere, and we were wondering if you would like to join us. She passed the notebook over to his lap and handed him the pencil.
He read it and frowned, and Julie's stomach actually, literally did a somersault.
He wrote something down and passed the pad back to her: I don't think it's such a good idea.
Julie sighed. Well, I didn't have the heart to turn her down; she seemed like a sweet girl. And I won't know any of them. Can you just go to be my support? No one could deflect the 'damsel in distress' playoff.
He grimaced. Can't Rinoa or Quistis be your support?
She rolled her eyes. Quistis…my homeroom teacher…it'll be weird enough going out to eat with her, much less five others I barely know.
He was quick to respond with: You barely know me, too.
But I know you better than I know any of them. Please just go for me. I won't feel so out-of-place if you're there.
She could've sworn he'd muttered, "but I'll be out of place" when he read that. He wrote back: I don't really want to, but I guess I will.
She did nothing on the outside but write an enormous "Thank You" that took up the other half of the page, but on the inside she was screaming with relief.
All right, all right! I know it's a short chapter! I just wanted to go ahead and get this out there so I can start on the next chapter, which I assure you will be longer. Kay? Please review!