Author's Notes: Thanks to the people who reviewed!! You're all so nice.. I promise I'll try everything possible to make this more interesting!
Disclaimer I don't own anything
Quistis opened her closet and searched. Today was important. Squall had asked her to go to Balamb with him. For what she didn't know, he never said. All she knew was that she was going to look her best
~flashback~
"Can you come then? With me?"
"I… I guess so."
"Great! I mean.. uh… yea.. thanks."
"So.. is this really important?"
"Yea. Try not to be late ok? Don't tell anyone, I'll meet you at the Garden entrance at 10, is that alright?"
"Um.. sure."
~flashback ends~
Quistis sat down in front of the closet and sighed. She didn't have much choice of clothes since she never dressed up. There was her uniform, her battle outfit, a blouse, and a skirt, a black vest, and then changes of pajamas, and her boots, and that was it.
'Should I borrow something from Rinoa?'
She almost considered her idea, but then it would be too obvious. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it. What if Squall wasn't inviting her on a date? What if it was just nothing? Maybe he needed advice. But then why would he want to ask her all the way out to Balamb?
'I really need to clam down.' Quistis sighed. She laid down on the floor. 'Squall wants to talk to me.. it's important… ' She sighed again. 'Squall wants to talk to me….Squall….'
'Squall wants to talk to me!' She giggled a little, and was surprised at herself for giggling at all.
Unable to control herself, she fell into a fit of giggles. Practically rolling on the ground, she didn't hear the door open and almost chocked when she saw boots in front of her face –- Seifer's boots actually.
"Enjoying yourself Instructor?"
Quistis picked herself up and tried to recover her pose. She cleared her throat. "How did you get in here Seifer?"
"Your door was unlocked." He smirked, and leaned on the wall. "I came in here to ask you about a little rumor I've been hearing."
"What… rumor?" She asked. 'Please don't let it be more about me and Seifer.'
"I heard -- from very reliable source – the headmaster himself – that you're off today." He frowned. "I thought you said you didn't want to miss any more days."
Quistis turned around to face her closet. "I don't, this is an exception." She smiled and continued going through her closet, even though there wasn't much choice. She threw the blouse and the skirt on the bed.
"A special exception, right?" He smirked again, and grabbed the white blouse off the bed. "Must be for someone special too, I can't see Quistis in anything but her uniform and battle outfit. How bout letting me see after you put it on?"
"Fine... I guess…" she grabbed the blouse back and almost started to unbutton her pajamas when she remembered –
"YOU BASTARD!!! GET OUT OF MY ROOM RIGHT NOW!"
Seifer yelled and landed hard against the wall of the living room. "You sure you won't upset your date with your PMS thing going on?!!!"
She didn't answer, until after a while she came out. Her hair was down and she didn't have her glasses on. She stomped her way to Seifer menacingly, but he took no notice.
"You sick bastard!! Don't you ever try to do that again or I'll – "
"You look nice."
Quistis stopped and stared at him. "What?"
"You should dress up once in a while." He grinned. "Have fun Instructor." He gave a half hearted wave and left.
Quistis watched him go as she suddenly got the urge to smile. 'Wow! Seifer just told me I looked nice! Seifer -- of all people!!.' Her smile got wider. 'Maybe I am getting to him!'
Squall turned around when he heard footsteps, and was surprised to see Quistis there, not in her uniform, not in her battle outfit, but in a normal outfit. A real skirt. She smiled nervously at him and played with the front of her dress. He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding in and regained his posture.
"Hi."
"Hi." She said quietly, looking at the ground now that she's in front of him.
They didn't say anything for a while.
"Well.. uh.. you ready to go?" Squall asked.'Stupid question…'
She nodded, and they walked to the car parked nearby, Squall first, with Quistis following. He didn't open the door for her, and felt a bit guilty; she was his former Instructor. He sighed mentally and fixed the overhead mirror. Through he, he saw, out of the corner of his eyes, that Quistis was looking at her hands and sitting with her hair over the side of her face, as if trying to hide it.
'Funny, I have never heard Quistis this quiet before…'
The drive to Balamb was quick, and quiet, very quiet. They could hear the sounds of the rocks by the road as they ran over it.
When they finally did get o Balamb, Squall parked the car near a big mall. He got out, and opened the door for Quistis, who gave him a funny look, and he blushed, like he knew he did something wrong….
"So." She began, "Where are we going?"
Squall smiled – a real smile – and slammed the car door shut. He grabbed Quistis' hand and pulled her along like an excited schoolboy.
"C'mon! It's a surprise!"
Quistis laughed out of amusement and followed. They ran into the building, nearly knocking over a group of teenagers, and headed for the elevator. Squall pushed the button impatiently and frowned when it didn't open up. He dragged Quistis to the staircase and ran up to the 3rd floor. They raced their way through to crowd to the big domed center of the level, and stopped.
Squall turned around. "Ok."
"Ok what?"
"Try to guess where I'm taking you.
Quistis looked around. She spotted a jewelry store, a restaurant, an arcade, a big music store, a weapon supply store, a bookstore, and benches. She wrinkled her nose.
"Um… the weapon store?"
Squall looked surprised. "No.. but.. you wanna?"
"It doesn't matter. We can go to the place you had in mind before." Quistis shrugged.
"Ok." He looked around, and pulled Quistis with him. They jogged their way up to the –
"Jewelry store?" Quistis raised an eyebrow. She turned to Squall, who was looking towards the section of engagement rings.
'Engagement rings?'
That can't be for her, they barely know each other, despite their times together. That means the ring must be for –
'Dear Hyne.'
"You're going to marry Riona?" Squall turned to her, with another smile. "Yea. I had to choice a ring for her, but I didn't which one. You're her best friend here in the Garden, I thought…. I thought you should be the one to pick it out." He looked towards the ground and shuffled his feet nervously. "And… even though I've never been that nice to you or anything… you've always been there if I ever needed anything, I caused you your job…." He stopped, then continued. "Well… I just wanted you to be the first one to know."
He looked up from his little speech to Quistis with a hopeful look. He dropped his smile when he saw Quistis' sad face.
'I knew it… he'd never see me as anything than a friend… or as a sister…'
She took a deep breath, wishing the floor would open and she would drop to her death. All of the sudden, her chest felt tight and tingly, like it was on fire, and she hurt, all over, and it hurt so much she wanted to cry. Maybe she should. She took another breath and felt tears slide down her cheeks.
'Oh no! Am I crying!? I can't be crying! That's for foolish people!' She angrily wiped them away.
Squall gently took her hands in his and pulled them away from her face. He looked at her with concern and frowned. "Hey… Quistis? What's wrong?
She shook her head, her face showed no signs of emotion, except for the tear drops falling down her cheeks. Squall played with her hand and brought them up his chin level.
"Hey—hey Quisty. Look at me. Quistis, what's wrong?"
"I – " Quistis choked up. She stole one of her hands back and rubbed her tears away. She forced a smile on her face and suddenly noticed that her stomach felt hollow. Quistis threw herself at Squall for a hug and laughed. She laughed at her foolishness and her stupidly for even thinking that she had a chance after Rinoa came along. Squall patted her back nervously and stroked her hair to try to calm her.
'Don't cry Quistis! You can't be selfish! The only role you have in Squall's life now is a friend – and you're not going to lose that too!'
After a moment, Quistis pulled back and smiled, even though she knew she was still crying. "I am so happy for you!" She laughed softly.
Squall smiled, contented again; Quistis smiled sadly when she saw that she had made him happy again, even if it was for the moment. He gave her a peck, then rushed into the shop so Quistis couldn't see him blush lightly. Quistis touched her cheek, and went in after him.
After an hour, the two of them had left to get something to eat. Squall was excited, very excited, and nervous too, he would be more excited than nervous if he had only picked a ring out. Quistis sat on the other side and watched him slump down in his chair from exhaustion. She ordered them a drink and leaned forward.
"I'm sorry Squall."
Squall looked up, and shook his head. "Nah, not your problem."
Quistis sighed and leaned back, feeling guilty that she hadn't chosen a ring out. The truth was, none of them did look good, not to her. The waiter came by with their drinks, and Quistis stared at hers.
The punch swirled around in the glass as she stirred it with a spoon. It was so fascinating….
"Hey!" She leaned forward again. "What did you mean before?"
Squall looked up. "What?"
"You said… you said you had cost me my job…."
"Oh… that…"
He looked around the restaurant and didn't say anything for a while, then he stared back at his drink.
"I… did… cost you your job."
Quistis frowned. But Seifer had been the one who disobeyed orders at the SeeD exam, not them.
I think… well, you remember that time, when we were supposed to retreat back? And Seifer didn't, and we went after him, and then we sorta… split?"
She nodded.
"I could've stopped him from going in the communication towers at the beginning.. but… I think.. if it wasn't for me… Seifer wouldn't have failed the test." He laughed dryly. "Hyne, he wouldn't have failed anything at all. You paid to much attention to me -- " she blushed "—and I – " He stopped, and ran a hand through his hair. "Ahh…. its' hard to explain. Can I tell you some other time?"
Quistis sulked in frustration, but settle back in her chair. She looked out the window.
'That was a stupid thing to bring up Quistis… he probably just said it to make you feel better, he didn't mean it at all! And now look! You've made him all nervous!'
She let out a breath. She did feel bad. She couldn't believe that Squall was marrying Rinoa. Her worst nightmare…. What'll she do now?
Quistis hopped out of the car and looked up at the sky. She watched the lights of Balamb Garden shine out, like a big star that had fell. It was beautiful, but it only made Quistis feel sad… and lonely. She turned around and stood next to Squall as they waited for a guy to come and pick the car up – a good thing about being a commander, if you were too lazy to drive it down for a parking space.
Squall looked a bit sad. He stared up at the Garden too, not noticing that Quistis was looking at him.
"Hey Squall?"
"Yea?" He didn't look at her.
"I'm sorry I couldn't…"
"It's ok." He smiled lightly. "We can try next time."
Quistis smiled back.
"You can go in first, I'll wait for the guy."
Quistis nodded, and walked up the steps. She brushed back her hair and walked into the Garden towards the cafeteria. She hadn't eaten much and when she had, it was a long time ago. She pushed open the door and walked in.
Immediately the cafeteria stopped. Everyone looked at her. She stared back.
"Quistis!!"
Quistis whipped around and saw Selphie running towards her with Zell and Rinoa, who looked like she was allergic to something. They stopped in front of her, and she recoiled when she saw the mad look they had on their faces.
"Did you go to the mall with Squall today?" Selphie asked.
"Uh —I – Yea…" She stuttered out. There was a huge round of gasp, then Squall came in.
He looked around too, and rushed towards Rinoa when he saw her.
"Rin! What's wrong?"
"Don't come near me!" She shrieked, bursting into tears again. Squall looked hurt, but he didn't know what was going on.
"And you!" She turned to Quistis. "I respected you! How could you do this to me?!" She sobbed, and pushed past Squall out of the cafeteria, with Zell following.
Quistis turned to Selphie. "Selphie, what's wrong? What happened?"
Selphie puffed out her cheeks and took a deep breath. She narrowed her eyes at Quistis.
"I think you know Quisty! I can't believe you're so mean!"
Quistis shrink back from the angry girl and stared around the cafeteria. Everyone was nodding, or looking at her with a spiteful and angry look.
"How could you get engaged to Squall when you know Rinoa loves him??!!"
Oooh.. ^^ Please review and the next chapter will be out quicker!! ^^ why? Coz I'm evil!!! :P