Irvine looked at Selphie.
"Was it something I said?" he asked.
"Zell's lonely" Selphie said "He
didn't need reminding of it"
"Well I didn't know he'd take it so
personally!"
Selphie looked at him, insistently.
"You want me to apologise, right?"
"Yes – and you're going to do it
when I'm watching you to make sure you do it"
Irvine rolled his eyes.
"Yes ma'am"
Xu wasn't sure what just came over
her. For the first time in life, she had obtained some kind of rhythm. She
practically bounced into her class, which she was supposed to be teaching,
whistling and her face a picture of happiness.
Her students were more than slightly
confused at her unusual euphoric mood, seeing her singing to herself as she
collected up the papers from their previous written exam and handed the fully
marked pieces of paper back to her students. They watched in bewilderment as
the normally fairly reserved Xu whistled jauntily, and practically skipped back
to her desk.
"Afternoon students!" Xu announced,
cheerfully.
One young man put his hand up.
"Uh…are you okay, ma'am?"
"Never felt better!" Xu replied, in
the exact same tone of voice.
This worried students. It wasn't that
she was moody for the rest of the time exactly, but she was normally quite
conservative, answering with a 'Fine' was the usual answer from Xu.
Her astonished class was forced to
get down to work, and as she set them their work, Xu began to daydream.
'He likes me!' She thought,
happily 'He really does like me!'
She hadn't dated for years – if ever at
all. Once she had dated, but that had been years ago and she was still quite
nervous about the idea.
Dating was not a word you generally
associated with Xu, a word that nobody did ever. But now she had the chance to
prove the sceptics wrong – She could and would date somebody.
'I can be sure of that' she
thought.
"Got a date, ma'am?" one of the younger
SeeDs asked her.
Xu blushed, and tried to answer – But
her words got stuck in her mouth, and she just couldn't answer.
"You have? Wow! Who is he? Is he cute?"
another girl asked.
Xu folded her arms, and looked at her
class sternly, despite her inner mood.
"That's for me to know and for you to
find out another time – Now why don't you get back to work?"
There was a chorus of mumbled 'Yes
ma'am', and soon the room was silent again. Xu sat down at her desk, and stared
into space as she thought dreamily about the next evening. She couldn't wait.
'Oh Zell…´she thought, with a
cheery sigh 'I love you…'
Zell was also in a good mood. As if
somebody had been listening to him from up above, he found that the days coming
up now had a shape, a pattern rather than being an oblivion like future.
His heart was lighter, his face brighter
and his feet felt like they could just let him leap up into the sky and sing
one word to whoever would listen;
Xu…Xu…Xu…
Her name was almost musical, he couldn't
stop thinking about her name and her. Everything about her was perfect, and now
tomorrow evening he'd be able to tell her how he really felt.
But how? What if she didn't like him as
much as he liked her? What if…
He shook his head. He'd find out soon
enough what she really thought of him.
"Hey, Zell!"
Zell turned, to see Irvine walking up to
him, Selphie in tow as usual.
"Oh, hey Irvine!"
Irvine raised an eyebrow, quizzically.
"You've cheered up…something good
happened?"
Zell couldn't help but grin.
"You could say that, yeah"
"Oh…" Irvine nodded, but Selphie then
nudged him hard in the ribs. He winced "Oh yeah, I'm sorry for saying what I
said earlier – It was totally unnecessary"
"Don't worry" Zell replied "I've made quite
a bit of progress anyway"
Selphie smiled a bright, and also relieved
smile.
"You mean you've got a girlfriend?!"
"Well…" Zell thought of words to use
appropriately "Sort of…I don't know if she feels the same way about me yet, but
we have got a date tomorrow night"
"A date?" Irvine slapped Zell on the back
"Well done, man! Knew you could do it! So, who is this amazing girl?"
Zell grinned.
"Shan't tell you"
"Oh c'mon…!"
"Sorry!" Zell said, grinning "I don't think
I want to tell you yet"
It was a day later, and Zell was in his
room, checking himself over. His date was in three hours, and yet he was still
standing here making sure he didn't look like a total idiot. He'd swapped his
baggy blue trousers for a pair that more befitted an elegant young gentleman
trying to impress his date without being too artificial, although he tried not
to change too much – he'd seen enough movies to know that girls didn't like
guys who were overdressed, neither did they like slobs.
Due to the peace currently settling in the
world, SeeD found themselves less in demand, so Zell had more time on his
hands. He'd spent this time asking Selphie what kinds of scents girls liked.
Selphie had smiled, and given him a name – Irvine had given him a price, with a
slight wince. He'd also asked Selphie what kinds of gifts girls liked – Zell
had dated once or twice, but this time he really wanted a good impression.
Selphie recommended flowers. Zell went down into town in the morning, and
bought the scent that had been recommended to him. It was so expensive, Zell
had reckoned that the amount of money used for it could easily fund Dollet's
government for a year and a half. He also bought the best flowers her could
find, and got back before they even started to look like drooping, quickly
putting them in water.
Had to get it right…
He stood back in the mirror, looking at
himself. Smart, but casual. Perfect. He just hoped that Xu wouldn't mind.
'Right Zell' he thought to himself 'Tonight
is going to be the BEST night of your entire life, providing you play your
cards right'
An hour after Zell had finished preparing,
Xu was also readying herself.
Xu had been worried as to the kind of girls
Zell liked, and had even thought of asking around to see what kind of a dress
Zell would be impressed by.
She had taken the afternoon off, and had
taken a trip into Balamb to buy herself a decent dress. She didn't want to be
overdressed for the occasion, but she didn't think that he'd be particularly
impressed if she turned up in the clothes she wore at weekends to a date.
She had eventually chosen a black dress
that took her liking, and so then she had decided to buy herself a pair of
proper earrings – She'd never found time for them, but now…
They were diamond studded ones, and very
beautiful too. She wanted to show just how feminine she could look, she'd been
asking Quistis what the best hair styles were – Quistis had said she wasn't
sure, so she decided to ask Rinoa, who had finally helped her out.
'Wear it natural' Rinoa had said 'Boys love
hair – especially hair like yours, it'll go down a storm!'
She just hoped that Rinoa was right as she
gently applied some perfume and lipstick (although not at the same time,
obviously).
Xu looked at the final results.
Good, she thought, not too bad at all.
It was a warm evening, and Zell knew he was
late. He'd spent so long making sure he looked fine in the mirror, that he
hadn't noticed it was 5:55pm.
He grabbed the flowers, and ran like hell.
Zell arrived, breathless, in the Quad at 5:59. He was just on time. As Zell
walked towards the newly constructed stage, he scanned the area for Xu. There
were two other couples…but no Xu.
His heart sank.
"Zell!"
He spun round, and to his relief, here came
Xu…his jaw dropped. She looked beautiful. She looked absolutely breathtaking,
and in the setting sun, she glowed, like an angel.
"Wow…" he gaped as she walked up to him,
looking hopeful "You look so beautiful…"
Xu blushed.
"Thanks" she replied.
He handed her the flowers, and her face
broke into an excited smile.
"I hope you like them"
"Oh Zell! That's so sweet! They're
beautiful…" she sniffed them deeply "And they smell wonderful!"
"It's the least I could do" he replied.
Then she leaned close to him, and sniffed.
"Mmm…that's a nice smell you've got, I hope
you didn't spend a lot of money just to impress me"
"Well, I wanted to" Zell replied, smiling.
"I know this really great place in town" Xu
remarked "We can use a SeeD car to get down there, or something"
"Yeah!" Zell grinned "Why not? Let's go!"
Zell put his arm into a loop, the perfect
gentleman. Xu smiled happily, and put her arm in it. Arm in arm, they walked
towards the garage. Strictly speaking, transport cars were only supposed to be
used on missions, but since they were both fully-trained SeeD's and the world
was currently quite peaceful, nobody cared really.
Xu held onto Zell, and Zell gently pressed
his date close to him. He was going to love this, he just knew it.
END OF PART TWO