DISCLAIMER: Okay, we all know the drill, right? I don't own the characters, I'm not that lucky. Well, except for Lore, I made her up. Don't sue, I'm just a broke high school student saving up for a car. If I'm lucky.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first story I'm publishing out on the internet. PLEASE review! I'm up to chapter two, finally. And again, Lore is pronounced like the name Laura.
CHAPTER TWO
After awhile, I did get to the Training Center, after I pulled myself together enough to remember that was my original destination. I messed around in there for awhile, killing time. Pretty soon it was nearly quarter after 12, around the time I met everyone for lunch. Running into the cafeteria, I spotted Irvine getting out of line with a tray of spaghetti.
"Yo, Irv," I called.
He turned to me and waited for me to catch up. "Hey, Zell. So like, where you been?"
"Trainin' center. Any hotdogs left?"
"Nah."
We reached the table everyone else- Rinoa, Squall, Selphie, and Quistis- was already sitting at. I plopped down next to Rinoa. She handed me a piece of bread off her tray.
"Hey, thanks!" I said, stuffing it in my mouth. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone kneel on the bench next to me. They leaned over, and I realised it was Lore. Nearly choking on the bread, I quickly swallowed.
"Ta-da!" she announced, setting something carefully in front of me. Looking down, I saw a plate of hotdogs. My mouth dropped open.
"ALL RIGHT!!" I yelled. "Totally cool, Lore, thanks!"
She laughed. "It's nice to be so appreciated." Halfway through the first hotdog already, I stopped to finish chewing. Swallowing, I asked, "So how'd you do it?"
"Magic," she replied simply.
"Oh!" Selphie exclaimed, jumping up. "I haven't introduced you all yet. All, this is Lore. Lore, this is Squall." Lore stood up and held out her hand. Squall looked at her for a moment, and Lore faltered, but kept her hand out to him. After a while, he finally shook her hand. I saw Rinoa breath a sigh of relief.
"This is Rinoa," Selphie continued. Rinoa shook her hand with a broad smile, a much warmer greeting than Lore had gotten from Squall.
"I already know Ms. Trepe," Lore said, turning to face Quistis. "Please, call me Quistis," she replied. Lore nodded, and turned to face Irvine, the last person to be introduced.
"And this is Irvine," Selphie announced. Lore held out her hand. Irvine took her hand, and, instead of shaking like everyone else, bowed deeply, kissing the back of her hand. "I'm very pleased to meet you." All of a sudden, I had a strong urge to see a certain cowboy wear ketchup. He let go of her hand, and instead touched her hair. "You've got lovely hair...but I'm sure you hear that all the time, a gorgeous girl like you." She blushed, and I gritted my teeth, grabbing the edge of the table. Then he put his arms around her shoulders and whispered something. Her smile grew, and my knuckles turned white from clenching the table so hard. He pulled out a chair for her and offered her a seat, even though he had just seen her sitting right next to me. I was PISSED. It had nothing to do with Lore. Well, maybe a little. Okay, a lot. But the reason I was mad was because of how Irvine jumps after all the girls before the rest of us get a chance. Then they follow him around with those puppy dog eyes, and can't see past him to us other nice guys. And he already has Selphie. I thought girls paid no attention to me before...hanging out with Irvine makes it about 50 times worse.
She looked at the seat, then back to where she had been sitting with me. She smiled at him again. 'Yeah, yeah, here it comes, again. Man, is it the cowboy hat or what ?,' I thought.
"Sorry, Irvine, I'm already sitting next to Zell," she replied, sitting back down next to me. Irvine had this shocked look across his face, probably about the same look I had. I know my mouth dropped open for a minute. He, of course, quickly regained his composure.
"Well, maybe next time," he grinned, sitting down. My expression quickly turned to a smug grin, thinking mature things like, 'Ooh, in your FACE! De-NIED!'. Then I realised I better make good use of this opportunity, and took my attention away from my gloating and focused on Lore.
By the next day when lunch came around again, I was nervous and excited. Nervous that Lore wouldn't sit with us again, or that she would and I'd make a fool of myself. Excited (and nervous) at the thought of talking to her again. I hurried into the cafeteria right at noon, not even bothering to wait in line to try and get a hotdog. Walking over to our table, right away I noticed two things.
Lore was there. And Irvine was next to her.
'Okay,' I thought. 'No big deal. It's just one lunch.' Even so, my good mood was quickly dissolving into nothingness. I sat down next to Selphie instead. For some reason, my eyes immediately focused on Irvine's hands. And watched as he moved them onto Lore's shoulders. And then watched as she frowned, and pulled his arms off of her. I was about to smirk again, then realised it didn't mean she'd let me put my arms around her, either.
"Sorry," he drawled. "You're just so pretty, I couldn't help myself. Here, how about I buy you a glass of iced tea or something and make it up to you?"
She smiled again. "I love iced tea. Just keep your hands off me this time." He nodded and left the table. I leaned over to Selphie and whispered, "Looks like they're getting along."
She nodded, "Yeah, he came into the cafeteria early today and sat next to her. I'm glad they're getting to be friends." (Honestly, could anyone be more trusting than Selphie?) Irvine returned with a glass of iced tea. Placing it in front of Lore, he sat back down.
"Thank you," she said.
"Anytime, beautiful," he replied smoothly. Then he turned to her and said something in a low voice I couldn't understand. In a moment, his arm was back over her shoulders. She didn't react. He bowed his head down to her and whispered something, moving his hand down her arm.
I leaned back over to Selphie, still keeping a pretty close eye on that jerk Kinneas' hands. "I don't know how you can watch him be like this." What I really meant was, 'Why am I even watching this? Am I trying to torture myself?'. She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me," she whispered back. "He'd never...um..you know, act." His hand moved farther down her arm and I gritted my teeth. I was ready to flip. But it's not like I had any right. I didn't own Lore. Still, I wasn't exactly thrilled to death. Then his hand started playing with the fabric of her shirt at her stomach. I wanted to leave, but for some reason I couldn't. I was frozen there, watching him, and couldn't react. She was killing me.
All of a sudden, she stood up, and slowly dumped her iced tea over him. My mouth dropped open.
"Maybe next time, when I tell you I don't want you to touch me, you'll keep your hands off. Try a cold shower." Kicking his chair backwards, she flipped him over onto the floor. He was still on the chair like he was sitting, but now his back was on the floor. She stalked out of the cafeteria.
We all just watched him for a moment. Then Rinoa giggled. Next Quistis, then me. Squall covered his mouth, but you could see his shoulders shaking. Selphie broke down in a fit of giggles, though she tried to contain herself. He stood up, righting his chair. Then he stood at the end of the table, glaring down at all of us. We tried to stop laughing, but then a drop of iced tea fell from his hat onto the table, and we lost it again. Selphie jumped up and hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder to muffle her giggling. He continued to glare at us, but held onto Selphie. Finally, after a moment, he grinned slightly. Looking self-conscious, he finally sighed. "I guess I deserved that."
He let go of Selphie, and added, "I've got to take a shower now." Tipping her face up, he kissed her quickly and walked away. She watched him go, then sat back down next to me.
"That was incredible," I laughed. "I have to talk to her about that."
Selphie grinned. "325."
"Huh?" I asked intelligently.
She rolled her eyes impatiently. "You want to talk to her, right? Her dorm is room 325."
I swallowed. Go to her dorm? I felt my stomach clench up. "A-all right, thanks!" I answered.
Authors Notes: Please Review! The more reviews, the more motivated I will be to add on to this in a somewhat timely fashion.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first story I'm publishing out on the internet. PLEASE review! I'm up to chapter two, finally. And again, Lore is pronounced like the name Laura.
CHAPTER TWO
After awhile, I did get to the Training Center, after I pulled myself together enough to remember that was my original destination. I messed around in there for awhile, killing time. Pretty soon it was nearly quarter after 12, around the time I met everyone for lunch. Running into the cafeteria, I spotted Irvine getting out of line with a tray of spaghetti.
"Yo, Irv," I called.
He turned to me and waited for me to catch up. "Hey, Zell. So like, where you been?"
"Trainin' center. Any hotdogs left?"
"Nah."
We reached the table everyone else- Rinoa, Squall, Selphie, and Quistis- was already sitting at. I plopped down next to Rinoa. She handed me a piece of bread off her tray.
"Hey, thanks!" I said, stuffing it in my mouth. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone kneel on the bench next to me. They leaned over, and I realised it was Lore. Nearly choking on the bread, I quickly swallowed.
"Ta-da!" she announced, setting something carefully in front of me. Looking down, I saw a plate of hotdogs. My mouth dropped open.
"ALL RIGHT!!" I yelled. "Totally cool, Lore, thanks!"
She laughed. "It's nice to be so appreciated." Halfway through the first hotdog already, I stopped to finish chewing. Swallowing, I asked, "So how'd you do it?"
"Magic," she replied simply.
"Oh!" Selphie exclaimed, jumping up. "I haven't introduced you all yet. All, this is Lore. Lore, this is Squall." Lore stood up and held out her hand. Squall looked at her for a moment, and Lore faltered, but kept her hand out to him. After a while, he finally shook her hand. I saw Rinoa breath a sigh of relief.
"This is Rinoa," Selphie continued. Rinoa shook her hand with a broad smile, a much warmer greeting than Lore had gotten from Squall.
"I already know Ms. Trepe," Lore said, turning to face Quistis. "Please, call me Quistis," she replied. Lore nodded, and turned to face Irvine, the last person to be introduced.
"And this is Irvine," Selphie announced. Lore held out her hand. Irvine took her hand, and, instead of shaking like everyone else, bowed deeply, kissing the back of her hand. "I'm very pleased to meet you." All of a sudden, I had a strong urge to see a certain cowboy wear ketchup. He let go of her hand, and instead touched her hair. "You've got lovely hair...but I'm sure you hear that all the time, a gorgeous girl like you." She blushed, and I gritted my teeth, grabbing the edge of the table. Then he put his arms around her shoulders and whispered something. Her smile grew, and my knuckles turned white from clenching the table so hard. He pulled out a chair for her and offered her a seat, even though he had just seen her sitting right next to me. I was PISSED. It had nothing to do with Lore. Well, maybe a little. Okay, a lot. But the reason I was mad was because of how Irvine jumps after all the girls before the rest of us get a chance. Then they follow him around with those puppy dog eyes, and can't see past him to us other nice guys. And he already has Selphie. I thought girls paid no attention to me before...hanging out with Irvine makes it about 50 times worse.
She looked at the seat, then back to where she had been sitting with me. She smiled at him again. 'Yeah, yeah, here it comes, again. Man, is it the cowboy hat or what ?,' I thought.
"Sorry, Irvine, I'm already sitting next to Zell," she replied, sitting back down next to me. Irvine had this shocked look across his face, probably about the same look I had. I know my mouth dropped open for a minute. He, of course, quickly regained his composure.
"Well, maybe next time," he grinned, sitting down. My expression quickly turned to a smug grin, thinking mature things like, 'Ooh, in your FACE! De-NIED!'. Then I realised I better make good use of this opportunity, and took my attention away from my gloating and focused on Lore.
By the next day when lunch came around again, I was nervous and excited. Nervous that Lore wouldn't sit with us again, or that she would and I'd make a fool of myself. Excited (and nervous) at the thought of talking to her again. I hurried into the cafeteria right at noon, not even bothering to wait in line to try and get a hotdog. Walking over to our table, right away I noticed two things.
Lore was there. And Irvine was next to her.
'Okay,' I thought. 'No big deal. It's just one lunch.' Even so, my good mood was quickly dissolving into nothingness. I sat down next to Selphie instead. For some reason, my eyes immediately focused on Irvine's hands. And watched as he moved them onto Lore's shoulders. And then watched as she frowned, and pulled his arms off of her. I was about to smirk again, then realised it didn't mean she'd let me put my arms around her, either.
"Sorry," he drawled. "You're just so pretty, I couldn't help myself. Here, how about I buy you a glass of iced tea or something and make it up to you?"
She smiled again. "I love iced tea. Just keep your hands off me this time." He nodded and left the table. I leaned over to Selphie and whispered, "Looks like they're getting along."
She nodded, "Yeah, he came into the cafeteria early today and sat next to her. I'm glad they're getting to be friends." (Honestly, could anyone be more trusting than Selphie?) Irvine returned with a glass of iced tea. Placing it in front of Lore, he sat back down.
"Thank you," she said.
"Anytime, beautiful," he replied smoothly. Then he turned to her and said something in a low voice I couldn't understand. In a moment, his arm was back over her shoulders. She didn't react. He bowed his head down to her and whispered something, moving his hand down her arm.
I leaned back over to Selphie, still keeping a pretty close eye on that jerk Kinneas' hands. "I don't know how you can watch him be like this." What I really meant was, 'Why am I even watching this? Am I trying to torture myself?'. She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me," she whispered back. "He'd never...um..you know, act." His hand moved farther down her arm and I gritted my teeth. I was ready to flip. But it's not like I had any right. I didn't own Lore. Still, I wasn't exactly thrilled to death. Then his hand started playing with the fabric of her shirt at her stomach. I wanted to leave, but for some reason I couldn't. I was frozen there, watching him, and couldn't react. She was killing me.
All of a sudden, she stood up, and slowly dumped her iced tea over him. My mouth dropped open.
"Maybe next time, when I tell you I don't want you to touch me, you'll keep your hands off. Try a cold shower." Kicking his chair backwards, she flipped him over onto the floor. He was still on the chair like he was sitting, but now his back was on the floor. She stalked out of the cafeteria.
We all just watched him for a moment. Then Rinoa giggled. Next Quistis, then me. Squall covered his mouth, but you could see his shoulders shaking. Selphie broke down in a fit of giggles, though she tried to contain herself. He stood up, righting his chair. Then he stood at the end of the table, glaring down at all of us. We tried to stop laughing, but then a drop of iced tea fell from his hat onto the table, and we lost it again. Selphie jumped up and hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder to muffle her giggling. He continued to glare at us, but held onto Selphie. Finally, after a moment, he grinned slightly. Looking self-conscious, he finally sighed. "I guess I deserved that."
He let go of Selphie, and added, "I've got to take a shower now." Tipping her face up, he kissed her quickly and walked away. She watched him go, then sat back down next to me.
"That was incredible," I laughed. "I have to talk to her about that."
Selphie grinned. "325."
"Huh?" I asked intelligently.
She rolled her eyes impatiently. "You want to talk to her, right? Her dorm is room 325."
I swallowed. Go to her dorm? I felt my stomach clench up. "A-all right, thanks!" I answered.
Authors Notes: Please Review! The more reviews, the more motivated I will be to add on to this in a somewhat timely fashion.