A/N: I'm warning you ahead of time-the second half of this chapter is, in a word, blunt. There aren't exactly any truly graphically depicted acts in this (okay, borderline), but some of the terms used aren't very….clean. We're talking about a sexually frustrated Seifer Almasy here. There was no way to keep it clean without compromising the honesty. As it is, it's a toned down version of what PodSara originally wrote, which was um, really, really steamy and off the charts dirty. If this kind of thing in any way offends you, you should probably turn back now and go find yourself a cute vanilla Squinoa to read. Consider yourself warned.

For the rest of you, I hope you find it as amusing and enjoyable as we did while writing it.

Chapter 10

Eight Ball, Corner Pocket

I

I woke early the next morning, feeling rather good considering how much I'd had to drink. I turned off the alarm and sat on the edge of the bed thinking about how I'd behaved at the bar with Squall. Hyne, I was an idiot. Or maybe he was the idiot for believing in me. I wasn't really sure which. While the irony of his faith wasn't lost on me, I really had to stop and wonder what it was he'd seen that I didn't. Did it give me hope to know he didn't want me to fail? Absolutely. Did I believe that I wouldn't? Well, the jury was still out on that one. All I can say is that I wanted to succeed, but given my history, my chances didn't seem so great.

But I wanted this. I wanted to keep my freedom and my friends, and earn back a little bit of respect, if only through my skill at wielding a gunblade. That in itself was more than I could ask for, but I wanted it, whether or not I deserved it. Maybe that's why I felt so damned bad about the whole situation. I didn't deserve it, and the people that should have hated me were the ones responsible for getting me here. I'd never done a thing for any of them, and if the situation were reversed, I know I wouldn't care what happened to any of them. For them to be so selfless and generous only highlighted how much of a dick I was in reality.

I really needed to take stock of what I was actually doing here. There was the instructor thing and the student center, but what was I really doing here? And what did they really want from me? Was this a tough love lesson, something Cid had cooked up to make me see the error of my ways? If so, I didn't need it. Even in prison, I'd known, and I regretted the things I'd done every single moment of every single day. True, being here made it worse, as I had to look them in the eye and know what an ass I'd made of myself and what a mess I'd made of the world. But, I was still free. I was a free man, and that was so much more than I deserved.

I got up, made myself some coffee and resolved that I would stop feeling sorry for myself. No more second guessing myself. No more doubting. I would do what they asked me to do, and I would do it to the best of my abilities. If this was my penance, I would be man enough to accept it. I couldn't afford to let anyone down. Not Squall, not Selphie, not Cid or Rinoa. Most of all, I couldn't let those kids down. Even if only Alana and Mikael respected what I had to teach them, I would do it and I would be happy about it.

I dressed and went to the Training Center, where Squall's words, "I'll see you in the morning," proved more than just a figure of speech. I found him leaning against a tree as if he'd been waiting for me. I hadn't planned on actually meeting him here until I was sure I was ready to fight him again, but as I stood there, I decided I needed to make up for being such a pathetic whiner the night before.

He had other plans for me.

"I started thinking last night after I left the SeeD Lounge," he began. "You haven't done much training with a two handed blade, have you?"

I was taken aback, but I shook my head. "Not since our cadet days."

"How are you going to teach it if you don't have much experience with it?"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was getting at. He was the one who wanted me to do this. Why ask me?

"Guess you guys didn't think that one through, huh?"

Squall shot me a harassed look and handed over his blade. Surprised, I reached out slowly and took it from him.

"Give me yours," he said.

Reluctantly, I gave him mine. He lifted it and gave it a few test swings, then let it rest beside him, almost as if he'd dismissed it.

"I'm letting you borrow Griever till Friday," he informed me. "It'll help you refresh your memory on how to train with it. I'll hold onto yours till then."

"You really trust me that much?" I asked.

"I trust you."

He didn't elaborate, but he didn't need to. Entrusting your weapon to someone else was a huge deal. Your weapon is an extension of you, and most SeeDs are superstitious about their weapons. You don't handle or mess with someone else's, and when you die, you either pass it on to a loved one, or you're buried with it. Trading with someone was unheard of unless you really and truly trusted that person. It went without saying that Squall was genuine in this exchange. He wouldn't have done it otherwise.

I gave it a few test swings, unused to being limited by having both hands occupied. The damned thing was heavy, it's weight twice that of my own. Now I remembered why I'd never bothered with one, though both had their advantages.

A two handed blade gave the advantage of hitting harder and you had more control over it, but your range of motion was limited and you couldn't cast magic and fight with it at the same time. The weight and design of it made it impossible to do both. Sure, you could hold it one handed while you cast your magic, but you couldn't parry an attack with one hand while casting with the other. Well, you could try, but it wasn't very effective and Squall had the scar to prove it. It did do a lot more damage than a single, though, making the casting of magic optional, since it took a lot less time to chop your enemy to bits than it did to try to work magic into your strategy.

On the other hand, a blade like mine allowed for simultaneous attack or parry and the casting of magic due to its lighter build. It also let me move freely and attack from just about any angle. I could move faster and attack quicker, but the trade-off was that it lacked the power of its predecessor. For that reason alone, it was less popular than the two handed version, but personally, I preferred speed and style over brute force, but that was just me.

"Meet me here on Friday, same time," Squall said, "and you can show me what you learned."

"Do I get a gold star if I do well, sir?"

"Better. I'll give you leave to go to Balamb a week from Friday with your posse," he said, "so that you don't forget why you're doing this."

I was dumbfounded. I never expected him to understand me and my foibles, but he did. Was I that transparent? Was it really that easy for him to see I was frustrated and stressed out?

"Why?"

"You're under a lot of pressure," he said, "I figured if I didn't let you go blow off some steam, you'd crack before finals. Neither of us can afford that."

"So you've got something riding on this, too, do you?"

"You know I do," Squall said, "but it's not just that you losing your shit would leave me without a gunblade instructor. I'd hate to see you go back to prison, and I'd hate to lose you as a friend."

"Are we friends?"

"I'd like to think we could be."

This was a conversation I never thought we'd be having. It was one thing to respect the other and come to a mutual understanding about where we stood. To put all our grievances behind us and actually like one another was something completely different. Yet, I supposed we'd done that already. Time and experience had matured both of us enough that we could have a conversation that didn't end in bloodshed. And I'd found since I'd been back, I wasn't uncomfortable in his company. As an added bonus, he didn't sugar coat anything and he told the truth, even if the truth sucked. Would we ever be close? I doubted that, since Squall wasn't really close to anyone except Rinoa, but to my utter amazement, it did seem friendship was where this was headed. Apparently, Squall saw it too.

"Your funeral," I said. "Wait till the press gets ahold of that."

"I don't give a damn."

Squall was quiet for a moment, staring contemplatively off into the distance. Then he hoisted Hyperion up to his shoulder and nodded at me.

"Looking forward to the day you're ready to challenge me again," he said. "Hope it's sooner rather than later. Don't make me wait too long."

II

Later, after I'd returned from my last class, I prepared to sit down and study when there came a ferocious banging on my door. I looked out the peep hole and there were those eyes, those insane, unnaturally green eyes, like broccoli with the volume turned up, peering back at me. I toyed with the idea of not answering, but she continued pounding on the door without stopping, hard enough to rattle it on its hinges. If I let it go on much longer, she might actually bust it down. With a heavy, irritated sigh, I flung the door open.

She started talking before I could even tell her to go away.

"Great news, Seifer," she gushed and pushed her way past me into the room. "The pool table was delivered already, but I'm going to need your help to move it into the activities room. They just kind of dumped it in the hall and left."

"I'll get Raijin to help me in the morning," I said. "I've got some studying to do, and I need to develop my photos for Friday's class."

"It's blocking the hallway," Selphie said. "It's gotta get moved today, lazy butt."

"Then I'll get Raijin to help me when he's off work."

"I can't get into the office!"

With a heavy sigh, I consented. "Fine."

It was as she'd said. The delivery people had just left the stupid thing right in the middle of the hallway, blocking the office, the storage closet and the room it was supposed to go in. The only way into any of those rooms was to climb up onto the table, slide across and in through the doorway.

"Why didn't you tell them to put it in the activities room?" I asked.

"I was in Cid's office when they came. I didn't know it was coming today. They told me tomorrow!"

"You and I aren't going to be able to move this by ourselves," I said. "If you'd just wait a bit, I'm sure Raijin will be happy to help."

"We've been over this, Seifer. It needs to be moved. Now. Right now."

Cursing to myself, I grabbed one end, and Selphie grabbed the other. Slowly, we were able to half slide, half carry the thing into the activities room. Once it was inside, I set it down and made a bee line for the door.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We moved it, and now I'm going back to my room to study," I said. "Is that okay with you, Warden?"

"We have to figure out where to put it!" she cried. "You can't just leave!"

"We can do that tomorrow."

"Oh, hey," she said, looking inspired. She patterned her hand and said, "Float."

The table lifted itself a couple of inches off the floor and hovered there as if light as air. I kind of wanted to scream right then, but I held it in. I was going to murder her. And then myself, for not thinking of it first.

"Help me guide it to the middle and then you can go, okay?" she said.

"Fine."

The float spell proved somewhat ineffectual, probably because of the weight, and it came crashing down on my foot an instant later

"Son of a bitch!" I bellowed, holding my injured foot with one hand and hopping around like a fool on the other.

"Sorry," she said, "It was worth a shot."

"If you'd just wait till tomorrow, I can get Raijin to help me," I yelled. "But no, you have to do it now. Never mind that I have stuff to do. It's always about you and your stupid plans and I'm sick of it!"

"I've got a ton of things to do tomorrow, Seifer. I won't have time!"

"So do them! Rai and I will take care of it and you can do your thing. Problem solved."

"You won't have time, either! You've got class all day, remember?"

"After my classes, then," I said. "I don't know what the big hurry is, anyway. It's not like anyone's interested in all this crap."

Her face turned crimson and I knew I was in for it. I braced myself for a shit storm of verbiage to be rained down upon me.

"They would be if you didn't scare them off. You and your meat head friends!" she screeched. "I caught Fujin trying to force some kids to sign up yesterday, and I've got news for you. That's not how it works! They're supposed to do it because they wantto do it, not because they're afraid for their lives!"

"Yeah, all your love and kindness crap works so well! And I thought those meatheads were your friends, too, seeing as the three of you are joined at the hip these days!" I bellowed back. "And while we're on the subject, let's see how many you got signed up," I grabbed her roster from the table. "A great big zero! Look at that! That's the Grendel calling the Wendigo ugly, right there!"

"Shut up!" she cried and stuck her finger in my face. "I've got a lot more to do than you do!"

"Bullshit! You work me like a freaking dog, and on top of that, I've got my classes and my training too, so I don't want to hear how much work you have to do! You spend all your time making stupid, ridiculous and nonsensical lists and flipping through catalogues that don't have anything to do with what you're trying to accomplish here!"

"You're a big, dumb, stupid idiot!" Selphie said. "And, you're mean! You're a big dumb mean meanie!"

"That's Rinoa's line. Get your own!" I said.

"A-hole! Big, ugly, mean effing a-hole!"

Her inability to use the actual explicative cracked me up and made the whole scene seem less an argument than a comedy routine. The whole situation was absurd.

"That's the best you've got?" I asked. "Effing A-hole? Well excuse me while I go to my room and cry now. Really. You've wounded me. Deeply."

I'm not sure how it happened, but one second we were screaming at one another and the next she was in my arms and our lips were mashed together. A hot storm of pure, angry lust washed through me and I pushed her down onto the pool table. To be honest, I was still pissed at her for, well, just about everything, and I wanted her to know it. I wanted every bit of my frustration with her to show, but I couldn't stop kissing her to save my life. I was like a man possessed.

I shoved my tongue into her mouth as I leaned over her and she eagerly kissed me back with the same kind of urgency. She made a strange noise, somewhere between a moan and a little girl's squeal of delight as she dug her fingernails into the back of my neck. One of her legs wrapped around my waist as I crushed her beneath me.

Hyne almighty, I wanted her. I didn't care who she was or what she'd said to me or how much she annoyed or pissed me off. I was stupid with lust, turned on by her anger with me, and even more by the way she seemed to enjoy being manhandled. I wasn't being gentle with her, but she liked it. That much was evident by the way her hands slid up my back and she raked my skin with her fingernails and in the way she responded to my mouth on hers.

When my lips moved to her throat, she squealed again and arched her back, digging her fingernails into the back of my neck. That was all it took to send me over the edge. I fumbled for my zipper.

"What. The. Hell...!"

We both looked toward the source of the voice, startled and confused by the interruption. Quistis stood in the doorway, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Her shock was evident. It was obvious the last thing she expected to see was the two of us humping on the pool table. Her face went a little pale, and for a second, I thought she was going to yak all over the place.

"Get off me, you big stupid idiot!" Selphie screeched, right in my ear, and began to pummel me with her tiny fists.

I stood slowly, feeling conflicted. Part of me wanted to drag Selphie up to my room by her hair, caveman style. The other part wasn't sure what had just happened. I stood there feeling like a man who'd just been poleaxed, unsure of if I was still in the here and now or if this was some sort of bizarre dream.

In the doorway, Quistis cleared her throat. "Uh, I'll come back later?"

The instant she was gone, we were back to screaming at one another.

"What did you do that for?" Selphie cried, giving me a rough shove. "Now Quistis is gonna think I'm messing around with you!"

"You're the one that grabbed me! I was just reacting to the situation," I growled back.

"I grabbed you? Are you kidding me?" she screeched. "In what world could I possibly want you? I've already got a boyfriend!"

I started laughing. "Right. The cowboy. The one who's boning his secretary when you're not around? That boyfriend? Or is there another one, 'cause after the way you just jumped my shit, I'm inclined to believe you're both messing around."

Her face went pale. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Admit it. You wanted me."

"You're crazy!" she screamed.

"Why, because I'm telling the truth?"

We were face to face again, and I half expected us to end up back on the pool table, groping one another. But it didn't happen.

"I hate you!"

"Get in line. Everybodyhates me!" I yelled. "What makes you so special?"

Selphie's face turned red again and she balled up her fists. I thought she was going to hit me, but instead, she stalked from the room, presumably to go cry to her redneck boyfriend about what a jerk I was.

I took a deep breath and headed to the training center. I had a mountain's worth of frustration to work off and I vaguely wondered if it was physically possible for my balls to actually explode.

III

Selphie couldn't believe what had just happened. Not only did she make out with Seifer, but she got caught, then ended up fighting with him again. In a way, she was glad they'd been interrupted, because she'd been thirty seconds from tearing his clothes off and letting him have his way with her. Hyne, she'd never been that hot for a guy before, and no guy had ever kissed her like that.

There was something so raw and unapologetic in the way his mouth had moved against hers, something demanding and not at all sweet. All of it had felt so out of control and it made her forget, just for a moment, about Irvine or anything else that mattered in her life. How could Seifer have that effect on her, when she could barely have a conversation with him that didn't end with one or the other annoyed and frustrated? Then again, this was par for the course, wasn't it? Those few, brief moments had left her annoyed and frustrated, hadn't they? But what if…?

Of course, getting caught wasn't a good thing, and she hadn't meant for it to happen in the first place. Especially not with Seifer! She was with Irvine. She loved Irvine, right?

Right.

There was only one thing to do. She'd find Quistis and explain things, then beg her not to tell anyone what she'd seen. Simple as that.

And she could trust Quistis. Quistis was her friend, who'd told all of her own secrets, including the one about how she'd once slept with Nida to make Squall jealous, and how much she'd once despised Rinoa for getting in the way, even though she didn't feel that way now. Quistis would keep her secret.

As she hurried up to Quistis' office, she quietly seethed about what Seifer had said about Irvine. Just because he worked a lot didn't mean that he was cheating. His job kept him busy, just like hers did. So what if he spent a lot of time with his secretary? Selphie spent a lot of time with Seifer, and it didn't mean a thing.

Except, Selphie had just made out with Seifer.

What if something like that happened between Irvine and his cute little secretary? What if they didn't mean to, and it just happened?

No. Irvine loved her. He might flirt, but that was as far as it would go. Selphie was sure of that.

And she and Seifer hadn't done anything really wrong. Just a little kissing. Okay, well, a lot of kissing, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Still, Selphie knew Irvine would be hurt if he knew. She couldn't let him find out about this. Quistis had to understand.

She found Quistis in her office. Before Quistis could say a word, Selphie started explaining. She couldn't keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, or the worry out of her voice. Quistis just sat there, listening, without an expression on her face. Selphie found this strange. She'd expected at least some kind of sympathy or understanding or flat out disapproval, but Quistis' face was absolutely blank.

Maybe it was just the shock of what Quistis had seen. Selphie figured if the situation had been reversed, she'd want to claw her own eyes out, drink a quart of Sylkis and then forget she'd ever witnessed such a thing.

"Why are you telling me this?" Quistis asked. "You don't have to justify yourself to me, you know."

"Don't I?" Selphie pleaded. "I mean, you saw!"

Quistis shrugged. "It's not like anyone would believe me. You and Seifer aren't exactly the perfect couple, you scream at each other all the time...who'd believe that I saw the two of you going at it?"

Selphie groaned. "Did you have to put it that way?"

"That's what you were doing," Quistis said with another shrug.

"I know, but you didn't have to say it like that..." Selphie said.

"Listen, are things with you and Irvine okay?" Quistis asked.

Some strange emotion flickered behind Quistis' eyes, but it was gone too quickly for Selphie to even try to identify it. Either way, it didn't matter, so long as this never, ever got back to Irvine.

"Sure they are," Selphie said. "Why would you think they weren't?"

"I was just trying to think of an explanation for what happened," Quistis said. "There's got to be some reason you let Seifer even lay a hand on you."

"If there's a reason, I don't know it," Selphie sighed.

She was having trouble forgetting how his lips had felt against hers. Hyne, the boy knew how to kiss. And she grudgingly had to admit to herself that she'd liked the way he'd taken control. Irvine never did that. For all his talk, he wasn't that aggressive in bed. Just once, she'd like for him to take charge instead of letting her call all the shots.

The idea was such a turn on, she excused herself from Quistis' office and nearly ran to the armory, where she pushed Irvine into his office, locked the door and let him have her on the desk.

She thought about Seifer the whole time.

IV

An hour at the training center did nothing to quench the fire burning in my neglected loins. It had been more than three years since I'd gotten laid. Since I'd been back, it hadn't really been a priority, given that just about every girl at Garden was afraid of me, especially the cute ones. Had I approached them, I knew they'd probably run away, screaming rape or something. If I had leave to go to Balamb, I could have easily found myself a hooker, but I didn't want what they were selling anyway. I may have been desperate, I may have been a bastard, but I wouldn't settle for something like that. I wanted a girl who was into it, not someone who was doing it because I paid her to. Trust me. There's a huge difference between the two. Don't ask now I know.

Three years without sex. Now, it was the only thing on my mind. It was an itch I couldn't scratch and it was making me nuts. I stalked around Garden for a while, eyeing all the girls that passed. All of a sudden, their uniforms were obscene. The skirts were far too short, the jackets buttoned too low, so that a hint of cleavage could be seen at the top. Even the plain girls looked like walking porn to me.

I was going freaking crazy.

In three years, I'd forgotten exactly what it was like to have that kind of contact, and now that I'd had it, my need had suddenly kicked into overdrive. I was a walking hard-on. A boner in a trench coat. I swear, if a girl had smiled at me, I probably would have tried to hump her like a dog.

I kept thinking about Selphie's leg hooked around my waist, the way her fingers had raked my skin. I thought about her hands on my back, how her skin might have felt against mine. Had Quistis not walked in when she did, I would have had Selphie, right there in the activity room. I probably would have regretted it later, but after three years in the pokey, consequences were the last thing on my mind. I didn't care who she was, who her friends were or who she might or might not be dating. She'd wanted me, and that was something I was going to have a hard time finding here. Finding a girl who didn't fear or hold a grudge against me, who was also not a cadet, was like trying to dig my way to hell without a shovel.

I also wondered why Selphie hadn't hauled off and slapped me for touching her. I might have blamed her when we were arguing, but I was pretty sure I'd initiated it. Selphie was so in love with the cowboy, the thought of making out with me had probably never even crossed her mind. I was intrigued by the idea that she'd been into it. She hadn't resisted in the least, despite her boyfriend and her undying love for him.

I tried to distract myself by going down to the cafeteria with my notes, as was my habit now. I ordered a large coffee, a couple slices of pizza and sat at my usual table and tried to focus on my notes for tomorrow's class. Of course, I couldn't concentrate. All I could think about was getting laid and Selphie's fingernails digging into the back of my neck.

To my surprise, Selphie slipped into the chair across from me. Her cheeks were glowing and her hair was mussed, and I knew right then that she'd run to Irvine.

I was pissed.

"Let me guess," I said. "You fucked him in his office."

She pursed her lips together but didn't say anything.

"Was his secretary jealous, or did she join the party?"

"Shut up, Seifer," she said. "Why do you have to be so crude?"

I could tell she was trying desperately to keep her cool, but I was determined to make it difficult for her. I was glad it ruffled her feathers a little, but she'd had her satisfaction, while I hadn't.

"Well, if you came to rub it in, get lost. I've got to study."

She rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Can we just forget about it? Call it a moment of insanity?"

"Whatever," I said with a shrug and returned my attention to my notes.

"That's Squall's line."

"Look, I need to focus here, so if you don't have anything important to say, take a hike. I've got stuff to do."

I wanted to verbally tear her apart, but I held it back in favor of not making the situation worse. If I thought I'd been on the edge last night, that was nothing compared to this. At that point, anything, anything at all could have set me off and I didn't want another reason to flip out.

"I'm supposed to be helping you, remember?" she said.

"Don't need your help. I need you to shut up and leave."

"Come on, Seifer. I don't want you to be mad at me, okay?"

"I'm not mad," I grumbled, lying through my teeth. "I'm trying to study. I have a class in the morning, remember?"

"You really want to be left alone?"

"Yes!" I cried. "What part of shut up and leave didn't you understand?"

Without warning, Selphie picked up a slice of pizza from my plate and smacked me across the face with it. That was all it took for me to forget about keeping the peace.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled. "Have you made it your mission in life to drive me completely out of my mind? Because I've got to tell you, it's working! You have to be the most impossible, most obnoxious, insane, ridiculous, immature and annoying creature I have ever met! Why are you doing this to me?"

When I mentioned that I was on the verge of snapping, I meant that. And Selphie had just pushed me over the edge. I sat there ready to beat her senseless if she made one false move. I was so enraged, so frustrated, I was shaking.

"I'm not doing anything to you!"

"You keep assaulting me with food products!" I bellowed at her, hurling the slice of pizza across the table at her. "I have things I need to get done, but you won't leave me alone! All I ask for is a few hours a day of peace and quiet so that I can study, but you've taken over every second of every day with your bullshit yearbook and fuzzy yellow crap everywhere! It's making me fucking crazy! For the love of Hyne, just leave me alone!"

"Why do you have to be so hateful? You really need to learn how to talk to people, Seifer!" she said. "You're really, really mean sometimes!"

"And you need to figure out what you want," I said. "You say you're in love with him, but then you're all over me every chance you get."

"Don't bring that up here!" she cried. "And stop making it sound like I'm constantly trying to jump your bones, you big fat liar! YOU kissed ME, remember?"

"You kissed me back. Twice," I growled. "I don't recall you trying to stop me either time."

Selphie got up and smoothed down her hair, suddenly all calm and collected as if this conversation had never happened. Her normally happy, friendly face shut down and became hard and cold and completely unlike her. She didn't even look like the same girl as she stared down at me.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'll leave you alone from now on."

With that, she turned and stalked from the cafeteria, leaving me with a very, very bad feeling.

V

Quistis sat in her office, staring out the window at the Quad below, thinking on what she'd witnessed earlier. She'd gone to ask Selphie about a requisition form she'd submitted and had walked in on the very last thing she'd ever expected to see. Whether or not it was the first time, as Selphie seemed to imply it was, it didn't really matter much. Something was up between the two, that much was obvious, and it changed the game a little. Not that Quistis was justifying what she'd done, but it seemed Selphie was no longer the innocent victim Quistis thought she was.

Though it had been unexpected and shocking at the time, now that Quistis thought about it, Selphie and Seifer kind of…worked. Quistis couldn't say why, exactly, because on paper, it was a terrible idea. But after witnessing them together like that, it didn't seem so crazy. They may have outwardly hated one another, there was no denying that there was chemistry. Otherwise, she wouldn't have seen what she saw earlier.

Or maybe Quistis was just rationalizing her own guilt. Maybe she was just looking for a reason to make it okay for her to be with Irvine. Whether or not he was being honest with her about his own feelings, Quistis couldn't help her own. In spite of her anger and guilt, somehow, she had fallen for Irvine Kinneas. If circumstances had been different, if Selphie had never been in the picture, it would have been so easy. Because it felt so natural to be with him. Being around him made her feel at ease and more complete than she'd ever felt in her entire life.

Maybe she could somehow…somehow what? Push Selphie into Seifer's arms so that she could justify what she was doing? It hadn't looked like Selphie would need much help in that department.

I am a terrible friend, Quistis thought.

Quistis picked up the phone and dialed the armory without thinking.

"Armory. Kinneas speaking."

"Irvine?"

"Quistis? What's up?"

"Can I see you in my office?"

"When?"

"Now."

She hung up the phone and undid the top two buttons of her blouse. If she was going to hell, she might as well do it thoroughly.

A/N part 2: I think I've mentioned before, this story is 90% done. All the chapters are written, it's just a matter of editing and maybe a little tweaking of the last chapter. I'll try to post 1-2 chapters a week, if only to get this one off my conscience. I mean, it's done, so I might as well post the whole thing.

To everyone that's posted a review-we thank you! To those that have not, we'd love to hear from you. –Hint, Hint-