"It looks like you have company." Lightning said as she and Serah approached Snow's house once more. Serah could see Lebreau talking to Snow and Gadot and Yuj standing close by. Serah smiled.
"Yeah, everyone's there. Hey, do you want to stay for the cookout?" Serah asked Lightning. They had been gone for quite a while. Lightning smiled and thought a moment. She considered saying yes for a moment.
"No, no those are your friends not mine. I would hardly fit in and frankly, I'd…spoil the atmosphere to a certain extent." Lightning said.
"Well, you're welcome to stay if you want. Listen, I'm staying here tonight; not because I'm mad at you but because I want to." Serah said. Lightning's heart sunk a little bit. She wanted so much for Serah to come home but she couldn't judge her and she had to respect her decision.
"Okay." Lightning said.
"Do you want to go get lunch or something tomorrow?" Serah asked. Lightning smiled.
"I'd like that very much." Lightning said.
"I'll come by the house tomorrow at 12:30. You pick where you want to go." Serah said.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Serah stood on the bottom step of the house and watched Lighting walk the other way down the beach toward the boardwalk town of Bodhum. Lightning turned around and waved when she was halfway gone. Serah continued to watch her until Lightning had completely slipped away from sight. She turned around and headed up the stairs and around to the back of the house.
"OH MY GOD YOU'RE SLEEPING WITH SNOW!?!" Lebreau yelled at Serah. Gadot laughed.
"Hi Lebreau it's nice to see you too!" Serah said teasingly. "I'm pretty sure they heard you at the next house."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! I HAD NO IDEA! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE TO KNOW EVERYTHING!" Lebreau continued yelling with excitement.
"Snow said your sister came over. How did that go?" Yuj asked.
"It actually went very well. She's really had a change of heart though I'm not sure why. I don't question her sincerity it's just that it's not like Lightning to be so weepy and remorseful. I think things are going to change between us." Serah admitted.
"Really? That's wonderful, Serah! That's great news!" Snow was excited for her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Hold on! I'm not done with you! Is he any good?" Lebreau asked Serah. Gadot laughed hysterically.
"Serah, I will give you any amount of money if you answer that!" Serah walked away from Snow and rolled her eyes.
"I am so not answering that. I'm going to get something to drink." She said disappearing around the corner of the house.
"HEY! MAKE SURE IT'S SOMETHING WITH ALCOHOL…Because I'm going to ask that again later." Lebreau said much quieter to Yuj. It was strange that it never bothered Lightning that Serah drank underage. It was likely because she and Serah had drunk together many times before in the past. In fact, Lightning had given Serah her first drink when Serah was 16. Legal drinking age wasn't enforced in Bodhum anyway, so it was never the concern of anyone.
"Serah, I made you hamburger." Gadot said as he finished up his first round of meat on the grill.
"Did you put cheese on it?" Serah asked as she reappeared from inside the house.
"I did put cheese on it because Snow told me to." Gadot said. Serah smiled.
"Thanks, sweetie. I'm quite hungry." Serah said taking the burger from him. Lebreau sighed as she took a drink of whatever was in her hand.
"I'm sorry…I just can't look at you now without seeing Snow on top of you." Lebreau told Serah bluntly. Serah laughed at her and clanged her glass against Lebreau's. "What exactly does this mean now? What is your sister going to do or not going to do?"
"It's kind of hard to explain because it goes much deeper than simply Lightning finding out I was sleeping with Snow. But to make a long story short, she is going to start respecting me more and stop treating me like a little girl." Serah explained. Lebreau shook her head in agreement.
"That can't be a bad thing. While you were gone Snow told me about everything that happened. What did you do, Serah? I mean what kept you from going shit crazy on her?" Lebreau wondered. Serah shrugged.
"She's my sister. As angry as she made me over the way she treated Snow I still had to love her." Serah said taking another bite of cheeseburger. Lebreau smiled.
"You know I'll always be here for you if you need another sister. Oh, on a completely unrelated note I like your bikini. Lebreau held her plate up to Gadot as he plopped a burger in front of her. "Hey, don't burn yourself do you hear me Gadot? I don't want to be sitting in the hospital with you like the incident that occurred back in January." Lebreau scolded. Gadot laughed.
"Don't worry Lebreau." Gadot reassured her.
"Hey, don't you tell me not to worry! Snow! Don't play with lighter fluid!" Lebreau shouted.
"Okay, mom but can I stay out past 10:00 tonight?" Snow asked Lebreau kidding her. She had a hand gesture for him. "So, talk to me. School's out because of some leak? When is your last day?" Lebreau asked. This conversation continued as Yuj made a terrific realization.
"Hey you know what you need, Snow? A pool. A pool would be awesome to have behind your house." Yuj said joining Snow beside the grill.
"Yuj…I live like….I don't know…two hundred yards from the ocean…why do I need a pool?" Snow asked him.
"It would be cool!" Yuj said.
"Does this look like the face of someone who cares about being cool?" Snow asked Yuj.
"Not really, but let me tell you! If I lived here I would have a pool." Yuj said. Snow just laughed at him. It was obvious that one of these days Yuj needed to have a job where be made over 50,000 gil a year based on the way Yuj spent money and the way he dreamt big.
"That's cool. Can I ask you something? Do you have any friends at school?" Serah laughed at what Lebreau just said. "Wait, wait…I don't mean it like that…what I mean is to hear you talk it sounds like you go to school with some very immature losers." Lebreau was so honest.
"I do! And to answer your question I don't have friends at school. I go, I do my work, Snow picks me up almost every day for lunch, I finish the day and Snow picks me up at the end of the day. I talk to some of the other students at school but just a few. You guys are my real friends." Serah explained noticing that her drink was nearly gone.
"You said your sister has been a bit of a bitch lately. Does she even realize you're graduating at the top of your class? Because if she doesn't she will since we are all going to stand up and scream for you when the dean calls your name." Lebreau said smiling all over.
"Why does that not surprise me at all? You should have been with us yesterday. Snow, I, Gadot and Yuj went to PalumPolum and of course Yuj insisted on picking out my graduation dress." Serah said standing up and brushing crumbs off her cover-up shorts.
"I knew you all went. I would have gone but I worked all day yesterday. It's okay though business was good. If Yuj picked it out it has to be really pretty…and expensive." Lebreau said as Serah took her glass to go fill it up again. Serah laughed.
"Uh, yeah…both of those." She said leaving this cookout to get her and Lebreau something else to drink.
"So what's it been like with Serah staying here with you?" Gadot asked Snow.
"It's wonderful. I wish she wouldn't go home but I know that eventually she will have to especially since Lightning wants to mend things with her. I would never keep her from that but now that she's here it's going to be hard to let her go back home." Snow said.
"You know, she graduates in less than seventeen days you could always marry her." Gadot was mostly kidding when he said that but he could tell by the look in Snow's eyes that he had taken Gadot's words much more seriously. Gadot just smiled and shook his head. He didn't exactly know what to say next. Fortunately, Lebreau was around to yell at them.
"HEY, GENIUSES OVER THERE! YOUR GRILL IS ON FIRE!" Gadot spun around to see that Lebreau was indeed correct. Gadot panicked but Snow just laughed at him. Serah had returned with the drink she fixed for Lebreau. "Thanks, you're just in time to watch Gadot flip out." Lebreau said calmly.
"Good! I love watching Gadot flip out. It's a rare treat." Serah said. "Oh, look Snow's not helping him at all. He's just laughing at Gadot and making this situation worse."
"And then of course there's you and me who are doing nothing but sitting here drinking and Yuj is on the phone. You know what, if Gadot burns himself it's his own fault. I'm sick of keeping him safe." Lebreau said.
"Nobody ever calls Yuj, what's up with that?" Serah asked. Lebreau raised her eyebrows. "I guess he hadn't told you all yet. He's 'talking' to someone. I don't know who she is but I bet you she dresses well." Lebreau and Serah laughed. "Wait, here's my prediction…whoever she is…if it's anything that he's actually interested in pursuing he'll introduce her to you and Snow first because he knows I'm super critical. Then, he'll introduce her to Gadot because if you and Snow are okay with her then Gadot pretty much has to be. Now me? I'll be last to meet her because he knows how I am." Lebreau deduced.
"That is surprisingly accurate." Serah said. This had turned out to be a much better day than ever imagined. Serah thought for sure that Lightning showed up earlier today to be irrational and unreasonable. That wasn't the case. Serah thought for sure her sister's presence earlier would have ruined this cookout. That wasn't the case. What else could she ask for at this point in her life?
The cookout ended in the early evening after a late afternoon ocean dip. Lebreau always made fun of Yuj because he complained about saltwater not being good for the colors in your clothes. Gadot always followed Yuj's complaining up with some sort of smart ass remark. Everyone was gone now and Snow and Serah were laying on the couch watching a news anchor ramble something about a Pulse Fal'Cie Vestige. Neither of them was paying much attention to it. It was hard to pay attention to whatever was being said when you in the middle of a very heated kiss. Serah's naked back felt hot to the touch where she had been sunburned earlier in the day despite all the sunscreen she had put on. Her being sunburned was an excellent excuse for her to be lying half naked underneath Snow. Serah felt soft blond hair on her neck.
"I'm really happy that Lightning talked to you today." Snow told her.
"Me too. She means it." Serah said.
"Was she upset that you weren't coming home tonight?" Snow asked her kissing her neck.
"She was a little…but it wasn't because she didn't agree with the decision. It was because she wanted to be with me. We're going to have lunch tomorrow." Serah explained sighing as Snow's lips crept over her collar bone.
"That's nice. I'm sure you will have plenty to talk about with her. I love you and I can't wait to get to know her. But she's got to know you first." Snow told her. Serah smiled as her hands caressed their way down his back.
"You will. She's going to make an effort to get to know you better. She has no reason to not like you and she's going to learn how great you are." Serah said resting her head against his. Serah felt her body shiver as Snow touched her. "Hey, Snow?" Serah questioned softly letting her hands move farther down his body.
"What, baby?" Snow asked her. Serah could feel the ties of what was left of her bikini come undone at her hips.
"I don't know what I'd do without you." Serah said. Snow looked at her.
"You are never going to have to know what that would be like." Snow reassured her. Serah smiled before letting her lips sink into his. Serah moaned, feeling Snow's body rub against hers. She loved how Snow made her feel invincible; how he made her feel like nothing in the world could or would hurt her. The past few days had been a whirlwind of emotion but it was over now.