"Are we there yet?" Squall asked.
"Not yet," Laguna said as he kept his eyes on the road ahead.
Squall waited a few seconds, glancing out his window and then back at his dad. "Are we there yet?"
Laguna let out a laugh. "No Squall. We aren't there yet. You gotta wait a little longer. Why don't you play another game with your sister to help pass the time?"
"Yeah!" Ellone agreed. "We could play I Spy!"
Squall pouted. "I don't wanna play that again! I'm no good at it and it's boring!"
"Okay, then let's think what else we can do," Ellone said as she looked around the car.
'Wanna guess what number I am thinking of?"
"No."
"How about playing a card game?"
Ellone reached in front of her and picked up her backpack, placing it in her lap. "We could play Go Fish or, oh! Triple Triad!"
"I think Squall may be a bit young to understand that," Laguna answered.
"Yeah, there's too many numbers and rules," Squall added.
"But you taught me when I was four! Squall's eight years old now!"
"Well it all depends on the person and if they want to learn the game. So Squall, what do you say? Wanna give it another go?" Laguna asked.
Squall looked at Ellone and then the cards she held in her hand. "Well I guess… the cards are cool to look at."
"Okay then let me go over the rules with you!" Ellone said cheerfully.
Together they looked through the cards all while Ellone explained the rules as best as she could. Laguna happily listened in as he continued to drive down the road, happy the two found another thing to keep themselves busy while they finished up the drive.
Time passed before they knew it, neither of them even paying attention to the outside. Laguna smiled a little, knowing how much more surprised they would be when they realized they would be at their destination.
Soon enough, that time did come when he made the final turn and slowly they started to drive into the city tht was their destination. He hummed happily before he cleared his throat.
"Okaaaay! We're here!"
The two children looked up and their eyes widened with wonder. They each turned to peer out their window to see the new location that was now around them.
"I see the ocean!" Squall commented. "It's really the ocean!"
"It's so blue and pretty. Just like all the pictures," Ellone added.
"And we really get to stay at a hotel right by the ocean? We could play in it any time?" Squall asked excitedly.
"Yup! We could totally do that. Just as long as it's safe to swim and I'm around to watch you guys. But there are still plenty of other things we can do as well! Oh! Just wait until you see the boardwalks, they're so cool. And I know the main street is all old fashioned even down to them using old fashioned chocobo and buddies."
"Dad, you mean chocobo and buggies," Ellone giggled.
"Right right! I knew that," Laguna chuckled sheepishly.
"They got chocobos here?!" Squall squealed. "We have to see the chocobos! I wanna go and pet them and take lots of pictures!"
Laguna laughed. "Sounds like you already got a good plan going. Let's first get checked in to the hotel and then we can explore the shoreline and the boardwalks. How's that sound?"
"Yay!" Ellone and Squall both cheered.
They pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and once again the children were in awe at the sight of everything. They had been to plenty of hotels in past vacations, but nothing was a grande and majestic looking at this one., Plus it was right by the ocean, which made it even more amazing compared to all the others.
"Do you think they have a pool?" Squall asked his sister. "Or is the ocean going to be the pool?"
"I bet they got a regular pool for all the people that don't wanna smell like the ocean. But I bet it's a really, really pretty pool. Maybe it even has a waterslide!"
"Ooh! We should go explore! Dad, can we explore once we get to the room and stuff?" Squall asked as he looked at his dad's face in the mirror.
"Sure! We can go explore the place. But yeah, first things first. Get the stuff up to the room. I bet that will surprise you two as well."
Soon enough, they gathered the items they needed from the car and loaded them onto a luggage cart. Then they headed inside and once again the two children stared at how grand this hotel lobby was. It was just the lobby but it looked so huge in their eyes.
Thankfully, the check in didn't take long and they were able to run to the elevator to head up to the 8th floor where their room was. Stepping inside the elevator was another thing that the children were still so shocked about.
"It's a glass elevator!" Ellone said
"We can see all the way through the lobby to the other side!"
"Man, if I had known you two were going to be so excited about everything I would have gotten my camera out already. You two are being so adorable!"
By the time they were out of the elevator and at the door to their room, Laguna could see his children could barely keep in their excitement. If the lobby and elevator were that neat, he knew they were going to freak out about the room.
Unlocking the door, Ellone and Squall ran into the room, giggling and gawking over every little thing. It was a massive suite that had a mini living room, a kitchen, and two different bedrooms. One was the master bedroom with a king size bed and the other was a smaller room with two twin sized beds.
"This is so cool! We got our own room and it's like a mini house!" Squall said as he ran to the nearby window to look outside. "And we can see the ocean from here! It looks even bigger than before!"
"Well, if we get all our stuff unpacked from the cart, we can head on down and see the ocean. How's that sound?" Laguna offered.
The children cheered again before going to help unload everything and place it on the beds. When everything was settled, the three headed back down, dropped off the cart, and headed outside.
Squall and Ellone started to run ahead, but Laguna was quick to keep up with them. They ran all the way down until they reached the shore, the waves washing up nearly touching their shoes. Once again, the two cheered happily as they tried to outrun the waves and find pretty rocks and shells that were buried in the sand.
Eventually they came to one of the boardwalks. Upon walking up it, Squall started to pull on his father's hand as they moved forward. "They got fishing here! Can we go fishing? Please? Pleeeeeease?"
Laguna ruffled up Squall's hair and nodded. "Sure thing, buddy. We can go and do that."
"Yay! Then we can fish and I can be the best fisher ever!"
"Fat chance!" a new voice suddenly said. "I'm the best at fishing here!"
Squall looked to the side and saw that there was a boy his age standing near the railing of the boardwalk. The other boy had short blonde hair and a glare that would not go away.
Squall let go of his dad's hand and moved closer to the boy. "Well I'll be the new best person at fishing! I bet I can be better."
The boy scoffed. "No way! I live here and you're just tourists. And tourists are never as good as the people who live here."
Squall puffed out his cheeks. He wanted to say more to this boy, but he remembered his dad's words. He knew that he shouldn't let someone annoy him like that, and he should instead do his best to be polite.
"Well, what's your name?" Squall asked. "If you are the best, you gotta have a name that everyone talks about right?"
The boy crossed his arms and smiled. "Seifer and you'll see I'm the best. But who are you who thinks he can beat me at fishing?"
From behind the two boys, Ellone and Laguna watched carefully. Laguna chuckled softly when he heard the boy introduced himself. "Well what do you know…"
"Know what?" Ellone asked as she looked up at her father.
"Huh? Oh, nothing… it's nothing. Just funny that it looks like Squall has made a new friend who also could be a rival. A frival?"
Ellone laughed. "That's not a real word."
"Ah! Well I say it's a real word now! My trademark!" Laguna declared.
Ellone laughed again before going back to watch Squall talk with Seifer. Despite how the two started by arguing over who was the best fisher, they started to just talk normally and started to act more friendly. It looked like Squall would be making a new friend on this little vacation.
Eventually, during the entire course of their vacation, Squall would almost always hang out with Seifer. The two became rather close within no time at all, and even with that they still were trying to be the best at whatever it was that they were doing. It was all done in a friendly child manner, but they still seemed to love the competition with one another.
One evening, near one of their last days at the hotel, Seifer had come over to have dinner with them. Soon after the two boys played around until they tired themselves out, passing out on the couch, right by each other's side.
Laguna smiled as he placed a blanket over the two and stepped away to give them some privacy and quiet space to sleep. When he turned around, he motioned Ellone to follow him into the master bedroom.
When they were in there, Laguna flopped onto the bed. "Guess today's day of play before and after dinner really wore the little guys out."
"Yeah. but it's been nice that Squall made a new friend. He's usually so shy at school around new people. Took him forever to warm up to his friends back home, remember?" Ellone asked as she sat besides Laguna.
"Yup! You're right, but I feel with this kid, it's a bit different," Laguna hummed.
Ellone narrowed her eyes, looking at her father. "You're doing it again!"
"Doing what? What am I doing?"
"You got that look on your face! The one where you are thinking about something but you say it's nothing. But that means it's gotta be something!"
Laguna looked at Ellone before he chuckled softly. Gently, he patted her head. "You're always so smart, Elle. But really, it's nothing you need to worry about. It's not even a worrying thing. Just your old man thinking about our lives and stuff and just how happy I am."