Authors Notes: I apologize a hundred times for how long this chapter took. For some reason, I just couldn't sit down and write it. Plus, things have been kinda crazy lately. (I know, excuses, excuses). Please read and review! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! Like I said in the last Authors Notes, I'm working on this little thing where, at some point in the story, I will explain a "quirk" of all the main characters. For example, I'm going to explain Zell's tattoo (as if that hasn't been done to death), and Irvine and his cowboy motif (again, no points for creativity). I know it really has nothing to do with the story, but I thought it would be interesting, and the story is long enough to throw it in without distracting too much from the actual story line. I already know definitely what I'm doing for Irvine, Selphie (Selphie's is in this chapter, actually, about her love of trains), and Zell, but I'm at a loss for the other characters. So, suggestions are welcome there, too.
Chapter 5:
Irvine and I had it out at dinner that night. Selphie just started snickering at me as I typed that. "You HAD IT OUT?" she's saying. "What's with guys? Can't you just say you apologized?" Well, there wasn't much of an apology, really. It went sort of like this.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"What's up?"
"Eh. You?"
"Eh."
And things were good again. That's how we guys like to operate. No mushy reunion scenes.
Selphie brought Lore along to dinner that night. She had grown into our little group pretty quickly. Two days, and already Quistis and Rinoa thought she was the greatest. And you already know about Irvine. Squall acted pretty indifferent towards her, but that was expected. I could tell he liked her okay. Selphie was really glad she fit in with us so well. We all sat and talked for awhile, then Selphie blurted out, "Hey, guys, let's go out tonight!"
"Great!" Rinoa agreed. "Where to?"
I noticed Lore made a point of looking at her plate, not wanting to intrude. Irvine thought for a moment. "What's near here? There's nothing at Balamb, is there?"
"Hey, party at Mrs. Dincht's house!" Selphie cheered. "Booyaka!"
"Yeah, right. She'd flip if I brought all you raving lunatics there."
"I don't know, your mom seems okay with stuff like that," Selphie argued.
I shrugged. "It still wouldn't be the same with the parental supervision. And there's nothing else in Balamb, no clubs or anything. Timber?"
Rinoa nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, there IS a club. Lots of teenagers go. They just won't serve alcohol to us."
"Eh," Irvine replied. "We take what we can get. I can't think of anyplace better."
Squall nodded. "Lore, can you sign out?"
Garden rules were that curfew was 11:00. After that, you had to be in your dorm or the training center. (Of course, that's not saying everyone always followed that rule...) 2 times a month, you could sign out to be gone overnight and just had to be back in time for your classes the next day. That was really only convenient once in a while to go out with your friends, or if you lived nearby like me. Most people couldn't go home just for one night, they lived too far away.
Lore finally looked up. "Oh, no, I don't want to intrude on you guys-"
Quistis cut her off. "No, come with us! We all want you to come, right?" Everyone nodded their assent.
"Well, if you're sure.." Lore said uncertainly.
"Of course we're sure!" Rinoa chimed in.
" Let's all meet in the lobby at...7?" Squall asked. "The girls can hurry to get ready. We can't leave much later than that, with the train ride." Everyone finished eating quickly, and we scattered to get ready to leave.
I didn't really have much I needed to do to get ready, so half an hour was plenty of time. I took a shower, dressed, brushed my teeth and combed back my hair. In twenty minutes, I was ready. It occured to me that I had taken two showers that day, and noted in amusement the change in my personal hygeine since I had met Lore. Since I still had time, I shaved. Then for good measure, I put on some cologne. Then I headed to the lobby. Rinoa, Squall, and Quistis were already there. Soon I could see Irvine walking towards us with Selphie. Lore followed behind them, looking self conscious. I couldn't tell why, she was a wow. Her long hair was down, but part of it was twisted into some kind of knot on her head. I'm no good with that sort of thing, but it looked better than it sounds. She was wearing dark green heels and a green sleeveless dress with a knee length skirt. The skirt fell in waves, or pleats, or whatever the hell girls call them. They came to stand with us.
"All right, we'll head to Balamb if everyone's ready," Squall said. When he got no protest, he pushed open the door and began walking out of Garden. I went behind everyone to where Lore was.
"Relax," I whispered. "You look great."
"Thanks," she said, sounding relieved. "I always feel funny having to dress up. I never know if I'll be too casual or too dressy."
"Relax," I repeated. I waited as she signed out at the front desk, and we walked to Balamb. At Balamb, we stopped for a minute to say hi to my Ma, and introduce her to Lore. I told her we had to leave soon to go to Timber. She said, "You know, Zell, if you'd like to bring a few friends over for a small party sometime, I don't mind. You don't always have to go to Timber and these places." Selphie elbowed me.
"Thanks, Ma, I'll keep that in mind," I replied, brushing Selphie's arm away. "Right now, we better catch our train." We said our goodbyes and headed for the train station.
We were all together in one car. Selphie stood outside in the hallway, watching the scenery through the windows all along the side of the car. Lore was with her. The rest of us sat in the room on the train and talked. After about ten minutes, I went to go see what Selphie and Lore were up to.
Opening the door, I saw them looking out the window. Quietly, Selphie spoke. "I don't remember her anymore."
Lore looked thoughtful, then answered, "Your mother?" in the same low voice. Selphie nodded, "I know things from my old diaries, like about the train. But in my mind, I can't remember about her. What she looked like, how she acted..."
They still hadn't noticed me. "Hey, ladies, whatcha up to?" I called out like I had just gotten there. I didn't want to look like I had been spying on them, but I wanted Selphie to know I was there before she said anything else.
"Hi, Zell! We're just talking out here!" Selphie replied in a falsly cheerful voice.
"Really? What about?"
She looked at me for a minute. "Zell?" she finally asked. "Can you remember them? Your real parents?"
I shook my head. "Not one thing."
"I- I used to. A little. Then, right after Irvine told us about the orphanage, I read through some old diaries. From before I had used a GF. And as I read, I could remember her more, if I tried real hard. Now, all I know is what I read in my diaries....I don't actually REMEMBER any of it...."
There were a few moments of silence, then she continued, lost in thought. "She put me on a train to see my dad. I was too young to really know why, but I think it had something to do with the war. She was getting me out of a dangerous area. So she put me on a train, all by myself, to visit him. She said I'd come back to her soon, I was just going for a visit. I think...I think she really believed that. After awhile, my dad sent me back to my mom...but she had already died. The neighbors got the note that I was coming, and went to meet me at the train station instead. I never really realised what had happened. I stayed with them for a few days. They checked around to see if my father was still living, they didn't want to put me on a train if he wouldn't be there to take care of me. They received a notice...that...that he had died..So they put me on a train to an orphanage instead. I was so young..I still thought I was going to meet my mom there. I thought she was at the orphanage, whatever that was. I was so happy...then some lady from the orphanage came to meet me. There was no room there, probably because of the war. So after a few days, they sent me to Matron." She smiled sadly. "No one really explained what was going on. They were so confused as to what to do with me, they didn't really have time to explain what death was. I still thought it was going to be my mom waiting for me when I got off that train. But it was Matron..she was the first one to really explain to me what had happened. Still, I've always liked trains. I think way back in my mind, it's like I'm still thinking I'm going to go see my mom." There was a moment of silence, then she began humming softly to herself. She sang, quietly, "Train, train, take us away.." Then she added, "My mom taught me that song," and resumed singing. All I could really think of was how glad I was I have my mother. She's my mother through adoption, but I never felt like I was growing up missing anything like Selphie must have. Even if she didn't remember much about the orphanage at Trabia, she still would have known where she came from. And it wasn't from a home with a mom and a dad like most of her friends there. It was pretty weird, seeing Selphie so serious.
Of course, in a few minutes she was acting her normal self, exclaiming over a lake, telling Lore about Timber, and, strangely enough, pretending she was a duck. Don't ask.
We reached Timber around quarter after 8. Rinoa led us to the club she had been talking about. As you entered, there was a bar to the right, along the same wall as the door. The right side of the club was tables, only 8, and the left side was a large, open dance area. In the far left corner was a platform for a band, but there was a D.J. that night. His stuff was set up next to the band platform, towards the center of the wall. Rinoa explained that they had more tables in storage for the rare times they needed them, but had put them away to have as much room to dance as they could. Leading us to a table, she also informed us that bands were only on Saturdays. We sat down. Squall, Irvine and I went and got drinks for everyone. Rinoa managed to persuade Squall to dance. I swear, if she put her mind to it, she could get him to agree to anything. I have never seen a guy so whipped. At least he had improved since the SeeD Ball. If he still looked at stupid dancing now as he did then, I would have made him sit at a different table.
Through the night, Squall danced with Rinoa several times, but only when she forced him. A stranger asked her to dance. When she came back to the table, Squall's arm stayed quite possessively around her shoulders, which discouraged that from happening again. Irvine danced with all the girls at our table, but didn't ask anyone outside of our table to dance. I guess I had gotten him kinda shook up earlier. It looked like he was starting to shape up. Selphie, on the other hand, danced with about every guy there. She was full of energy. Irvine didn't really seem all that concerned. I think he just didn't feel some guy all the way from Timber she spent 3 minutes with was much of a threat. Lore hung out with a lot of guys, too, but I was pretty calm about it. I had pretty much the same attitude as Irvine. It also might have had to do with the fact that by that point, Irvine and I had wandered up to the bar and discovered they wouldn't card us. We must have been able to pass for 21, because Rinoa insisted the owner wouldn't look the other way if they had any doubts. So he and I were in charge of getting drinks for everyone. By the time she started dancing with all the Timber jerks, I had already had a couple of drinks and was feeling pretty mellow. Speaking of mellow, I haven't said anything about Quistis. She protested us drinking at first, but we finally talked her into a Daquiri. She had a couple of drinks, kinda reluctantly, then really started loosening up more. She was goofing around, dancing with people, not thinking so damn much about every little thing. I had never seen her look like she was having as much fun as she was then. Nothing like a little false self-confidence. (Or sarcasm.)
While Lore was with some new loser, Selphie dragged me off for a dance. She insisted that since I had danced with Rinoa and Quistis, I had to dance with her, too. Reluctantly, I agreed. As we walked out to the floor, I heard Squall say, "I'm surprised he had the guts to say yes after what Irvine did today."
Quistis replied, sounding amused, "More like he didn't have guts enough to tell Selphie no."
"Just ignore them, Chicken-Wuss," Selphie called over her shoulder. She stopped and put my hands on her waist, ready to dance.
"The HELL?! Why's everyone picking on me?!"
"Settle down..chicken-wuss."
Rolling my eyes, I sighed in exasperation. After awhile, Selphie, that sneaky little brat, started guiding me towards Lore without my realising it. Once we were next to her, I noticed, but it was too late. Selphie was already yelling hellos. "This is Robert!" Lore shouted over the music. "He's got the greatest sense of humor!" she added with a giggle. Oh gag me. I decided I was going to need another drink. Or five.
"Hey, why don't we-" Selphie began. I knew what was coming, and started walking away. "Switch partners? Lore, you can dance with Zell. Hey! Where IS Zell?!" Selphie continued, her voice fading as I got farther away. I would ask Lore to dance sometime. I just didn't want to get pushed into it by that brat.
Lore came back after another dance, which made 3 in a row. All with different guys, luckily. At least she didn't seem to have any real interest in anyone, not even Robert with his great sense of humor. Tapping my glass, I asked her if she wanted to dance. She smiled, one of those "no-thanks-not-a-chance-but-I-don't-want-to-hurt-your-feelings" smiles. "Oh, Zell, I'm kinda tired right now. But we'll have to dance real soon." Quistis came back then. Dropping into her chair, she gasped for breath. Her eyes were shining. "It's been a long time since I danced like this," she breathed. "I haven't danced outside of a Garden function in 3 years."
"3 years? You couldn't tell out there, you were great," Lore praised.
"You should have seen the guys watching," Rinoa added. Quistis blushed, but she was beaming.
Lore sat out the next few songs, then got up, pulling on my arm. She was an awesome dancer. You could tell she was really good, but she wasn't showy about it at all. We just messed around, BS-ing some swing steps. She tried spinning me around, but she was so short I had to kinda duck under her arm. Then we tried disco. Then we took all these professional dance moves and made them really cheesy. I had to copy her, she actually knew things like waltzes and cha-cha and whatever else there is. That led into her starting a "flapper" thing, which half the people out on the dance floor got into it. I was DYING of laughter. She totally cracked me up. Selphie and Irvine made their way over to us. Still dancing, Selphie called, "Zell, do you ALWAYS have to make people look at you, no matter where we are? Do you do anything serious?"
"Why bother?" I retorted.
Irvine shook his head. "The universe sure is vast..to think we may have found someone who can compete with Zell's clowning."
Lore put on a look of horror. "No, take it back!" Everyone laughed.
"The hell is everyone picking me so much?!" A slow song started, and Selphie and Irvine began drifting away from us. Lore leaned against me and we swayed to the music, just like regular people this time. I started to notice that it was almost like she was using me to support her, which was a little strange, but I wasn't going to complain. The music sped up again, and we started doing the twist. We tried a few Salsa steps, then she started the Mambo. It didn't fit the music at all, but we didn't care. The song ended, and she shook her head. "I'm out for now."
"Aw, come on, we're just getting started!"
She shook her head again. Selphie suddenly broke through to us. She came up to me. Glancing at Lore, she said, "Dance with me, Zell?" I could have sworn she sounded almost nervous.
"Where's Irvine?" I asked.
"Off getting drinks or something, who knows? Lore can sit down for awhile." I agreed, watching Lore as she walked back to the table. Once the song finished, Irvine came back to reclaim Selphie, and I returned to our table. Rinoa had dragged Squall off for another dance, and I didn't have any clue where Quistis was. So that left me and Lore. I didn't ask her for another dance, reasoning Selphie must have known she was tired. And listening to her, her breathing sounded kinda funny, like she was short of breath or something. We just sat and talked. It was about one in the morning, and things were starting to wind down. The rest of the night, a few of us danced a little more, we had a couple more drinks, but I think everyone was tiring out. We left at about quarter to two, and were back in Balamb at 2:30. Selphie and Lore stayed with the rest of us, Selphie because it was dark and Lore because it was cold. She was cold in the train room, too. I ended up giving her my jacket.
About two minutes before we arrived in Balamb, she woke me up. She tried calling my name, and finally leaned over so we were nose to nose. "Zell!" she hissed.
"Huh?" I muttered tiredly. I opened my eyes, and looked right into a pair of brown ones. I jumped, startled, and hit my head on the wall I had been leaning against.
"Jesus!" I exclaimed. The commotion woke everyone else up.
"We're going to be there soon."
"Mm-hmm." I murmured, half asleep again. "Oh, man, then we have to walk to Garden."
"We could always rent a car. Or stay at your house and walk to Garden in the morning. Would your mom mind?"
"Nah," I said tiredly. "That's a great idea. Why don't I have great ideas?"
She smiled kindly. "Because you have a very big heart......and a very small brain."
Squall snickered. "So, are we staying at your house? Do you mind?"
We arrived at Balamb then, and I had time to think about it while everyone was getting off the train. "I guess it'll be cool," I answered later, as we left the depot. "I mean, you've all been to my house already, and I'm too tired to walk back to Garden." So it was decided, and we all went to my house. I warned everyone to be quiet, and we went inside.
"So, who'll stay in the living room and who'll sleep in your room?" Squall asked.
"OOOOH! I wanna see Zell's room!" Selphie whispered excitedly. I thought fast. Selphie and who else?
"Okay, Selphie, me, and Lore'll be up in my room."
Irvine laughed. "You don't think Rinoa and Squall should be separated, if they'll be here all night together?"
"Hey, I'm not the chaperone," I replied. "Bathroom is right there, before the stairs." I got some blankets and pillows for Squall and Living Room Co., then took Lore and Selphie upstairs. I was gonna get Lore in my bedroom...just not the way I had hoped. It would do.
Selphie jumped into the room. "Wow! So this is Zell's room? It's so clean!"
"Yeah, and I like it clean. So don't go wrecking everything, brat."
She stuck her tongue out at me. "You should be honored that a very very cute girl is in your room!"
Oh, I am, Selphie. Just not the same girl you're thinking of.
"Is this your T-Board?" Lore asked quietly.
"Uh-huh. I had to leave it here so it didn't get confiscated like my other one."
Selphie giggled. "Is this the same one you were on when you flew into the girls restr-"
"Aargh! That's enough of you!" I interrupted. Trying to ignore the blush I felt on my cheeks, I turned to Lore. "You board?"
She shook her head. "I don't know how."
"Really?! I'll teach you sometime. It's great."
"When's your first class tomorrow, Lore? 9:00?" Selphie asked.
Lore nodded. "I can leave by myself. I hate for everyone to get up at 8:00 because I have to be in class."
"No way!" Selphie protested. "I'll come with you, you can't go by yourself!"
"I'll set my alarm and the 3 of us will go. 8:00?" I said, reaching for my alarm.
She thought. "Umm...make it 8:15, I can get ready at Garden in 10 minutes."
I set the alarm, and left to get pillows, blankets and such. Selphie was asleep when I got back.
"Zell," Lore said.
"Ye-esss?"
"You're drunk," she stated.
"No, I'm not. I hardly drank."
"You are and you did too. Look, you just stumbled."
"So?"
"Zell, hit that punching bag over your bed."
I tried, missed, and fell face down on the bed.
"You're drunk."
"That's a silly way to tell," I mumbled from the mattress, then started sitting up.
She rolled her eyes. "Lay down."
"Whoa, I'm not that kind of guy," I answered. In my mind, I thought, Like hell you aren't, Dincht.
"Oh, be quiet. You need to go to sleep. Lay down."
I moved to the side of the bed and lay back. She began folding a blanket and set it on the ground.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Making myself a bed," she replied, covering Selphie with another blanket.
"Aren't you sleeping here?" I said, patting the bed.
She picked up a third blanket and moved towards me.
"Zell, you're on the bed."
"We can share."
She stood by the side of the bed. "We are NOT sharing the bed."
"Why not? Lots of room."
"No."
I grabbed her waist and started pulling her down. She tumbled onto the bed, then hurriedly stood up.
"No," she repeated.
"Then you sleep on my bed and I'll sleep on the floor. You're my guest."
She pushed me back down. "It's YOUR bed!"
"Lore-"
"Zell." She threw the blanket down over me. "There. No more arguments."
"Fine, whatever," I replied, tired again. She tucked the blanket around me.
"You're the greatest," I mumbled. She sat on the edge of the bed.
"Zell, you're drunk. Go to sleep."
"I told you, I'm not drunk."
"Goodnight, Zell." There was a long pause and I began drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, she leaned over and gave me a small, soft kiss goodnight. She waited a moment, and I think maybe she had decided I was asleep. Or maybe not.
"You're drunk...and you taste like candy," she said quietly. Then I felt her move off the bed, and heard the rustle of a blanket as she lay down on the floor and pulled the blanket over herself.
Chapter 5:
Irvine and I had it out at dinner that night. Selphie just started snickering at me as I typed that. "You HAD IT OUT?" she's saying. "What's with guys? Can't you just say you apologized?" Well, there wasn't much of an apology, really. It went sort of like this.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"What's up?"
"Eh. You?"
"Eh."
And things were good again. That's how we guys like to operate. No mushy reunion scenes.
Selphie brought Lore along to dinner that night. She had grown into our little group pretty quickly. Two days, and already Quistis and Rinoa thought she was the greatest. And you already know about Irvine. Squall acted pretty indifferent towards her, but that was expected. I could tell he liked her okay. Selphie was really glad she fit in with us so well. We all sat and talked for awhile, then Selphie blurted out, "Hey, guys, let's go out tonight!"
"Great!" Rinoa agreed. "Where to?"
I noticed Lore made a point of looking at her plate, not wanting to intrude. Irvine thought for a moment. "What's near here? There's nothing at Balamb, is there?"
"Hey, party at Mrs. Dincht's house!" Selphie cheered. "Booyaka!"
"Yeah, right. She'd flip if I brought all you raving lunatics there."
"I don't know, your mom seems okay with stuff like that," Selphie argued.
I shrugged. "It still wouldn't be the same with the parental supervision. And there's nothing else in Balamb, no clubs or anything. Timber?"
Rinoa nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, there IS a club. Lots of teenagers go. They just won't serve alcohol to us."
"Eh," Irvine replied. "We take what we can get. I can't think of anyplace better."
Squall nodded. "Lore, can you sign out?"
Garden rules were that curfew was 11:00. After that, you had to be in your dorm or the training center. (Of course, that's not saying everyone always followed that rule...) 2 times a month, you could sign out to be gone overnight and just had to be back in time for your classes the next day. That was really only convenient once in a while to go out with your friends, or if you lived nearby like me. Most people couldn't go home just for one night, they lived too far away.
Lore finally looked up. "Oh, no, I don't want to intrude on you guys-"
Quistis cut her off. "No, come with us! We all want you to come, right?" Everyone nodded their assent.
"Well, if you're sure.." Lore said uncertainly.
"Of course we're sure!" Rinoa chimed in.
" Let's all meet in the lobby at...7?" Squall asked. "The girls can hurry to get ready. We can't leave much later than that, with the train ride." Everyone finished eating quickly, and we scattered to get ready to leave.
I didn't really have much I needed to do to get ready, so half an hour was plenty of time. I took a shower, dressed, brushed my teeth and combed back my hair. In twenty minutes, I was ready. It occured to me that I had taken two showers that day, and noted in amusement the change in my personal hygeine since I had met Lore. Since I still had time, I shaved. Then for good measure, I put on some cologne. Then I headed to the lobby. Rinoa, Squall, and Quistis were already there. Soon I could see Irvine walking towards us with Selphie. Lore followed behind them, looking self conscious. I couldn't tell why, she was a wow. Her long hair was down, but part of it was twisted into some kind of knot on her head. I'm no good with that sort of thing, but it looked better than it sounds. She was wearing dark green heels and a green sleeveless dress with a knee length skirt. The skirt fell in waves, or pleats, or whatever the hell girls call them. They came to stand with us.
"All right, we'll head to Balamb if everyone's ready," Squall said. When he got no protest, he pushed open the door and began walking out of Garden. I went behind everyone to where Lore was.
"Relax," I whispered. "You look great."
"Thanks," she said, sounding relieved. "I always feel funny having to dress up. I never know if I'll be too casual or too dressy."
"Relax," I repeated. I waited as she signed out at the front desk, and we walked to Balamb. At Balamb, we stopped for a minute to say hi to my Ma, and introduce her to Lore. I told her we had to leave soon to go to Timber. She said, "You know, Zell, if you'd like to bring a few friends over for a small party sometime, I don't mind. You don't always have to go to Timber and these places." Selphie elbowed me.
"Thanks, Ma, I'll keep that in mind," I replied, brushing Selphie's arm away. "Right now, we better catch our train." We said our goodbyes and headed for the train station.
We were all together in one car. Selphie stood outside in the hallway, watching the scenery through the windows all along the side of the car. Lore was with her. The rest of us sat in the room on the train and talked. After about ten minutes, I went to go see what Selphie and Lore were up to.
Opening the door, I saw them looking out the window. Quietly, Selphie spoke. "I don't remember her anymore."
Lore looked thoughtful, then answered, "Your mother?" in the same low voice. Selphie nodded, "I know things from my old diaries, like about the train. But in my mind, I can't remember about her. What she looked like, how she acted..."
They still hadn't noticed me. "Hey, ladies, whatcha up to?" I called out like I had just gotten there. I didn't want to look like I had been spying on them, but I wanted Selphie to know I was there before she said anything else.
"Hi, Zell! We're just talking out here!" Selphie replied in a falsly cheerful voice.
"Really? What about?"
She looked at me for a minute. "Zell?" she finally asked. "Can you remember them? Your real parents?"
I shook my head. "Not one thing."
"I- I used to. A little. Then, right after Irvine told us about the orphanage, I read through some old diaries. From before I had used a GF. And as I read, I could remember her more, if I tried real hard. Now, all I know is what I read in my diaries....I don't actually REMEMBER any of it...."
There were a few moments of silence, then she continued, lost in thought. "She put me on a train to see my dad. I was too young to really know why, but I think it had something to do with the war. She was getting me out of a dangerous area. So she put me on a train, all by myself, to visit him. She said I'd come back to her soon, I was just going for a visit. I think...I think she really believed that. After awhile, my dad sent me back to my mom...but she had already died. The neighbors got the note that I was coming, and went to meet me at the train station instead. I never really realised what had happened. I stayed with them for a few days. They checked around to see if my father was still living, they didn't want to put me on a train if he wouldn't be there to take care of me. They received a notice...that...that he had died..So they put me on a train to an orphanage instead. I was so young..I still thought I was going to meet my mom there. I thought she was at the orphanage, whatever that was. I was so happy...then some lady from the orphanage came to meet me. There was no room there, probably because of the war. So after a few days, they sent me to Matron." She smiled sadly. "No one really explained what was going on. They were so confused as to what to do with me, they didn't really have time to explain what death was. I still thought it was going to be my mom waiting for me when I got off that train. But it was Matron..she was the first one to really explain to me what had happened. Still, I've always liked trains. I think way back in my mind, it's like I'm still thinking I'm going to go see my mom." There was a moment of silence, then she began humming softly to herself. She sang, quietly, "Train, train, take us away.." Then she added, "My mom taught me that song," and resumed singing. All I could really think of was how glad I was I have my mother. She's my mother through adoption, but I never felt like I was growing up missing anything like Selphie must have. Even if she didn't remember much about the orphanage at Trabia, she still would have known where she came from. And it wasn't from a home with a mom and a dad like most of her friends there. It was pretty weird, seeing Selphie so serious.
Of course, in a few minutes she was acting her normal self, exclaiming over a lake, telling Lore about Timber, and, strangely enough, pretending she was a duck. Don't ask.
We reached Timber around quarter after 8. Rinoa led us to the club she had been talking about. As you entered, there was a bar to the right, along the same wall as the door. The right side of the club was tables, only 8, and the left side was a large, open dance area. In the far left corner was a platform for a band, but there was a D.J. that night. His stuff was set up next to the band platform, towards the center of the wall. Rinoa explained that they had more tables in storage for the rare times they needed them, but had put them away to have as much room to dance as they could. Leading us to a table, she also informed us that bands were only on Saturdays. We sat down. Squall, Irvine and I went and got drinks for everyone. Rinoa managed to persuade Squall to dance. I swear, if she put her mind to it, she could get him to agree to anything. I have never seen a guy so whipped. At least he had improved since the SeeD Ball. If he still looked at stupid dancing now as he did then, I would have made him sit at a different table.
Through the night, Squall danced with Rinoa several times, but only when she forced him. A stranger asked her to dance. When she came back to the table, Squall's arm stayed quite possessively around her shoulders, which discouraged that from happening again. Irvine danced with all the girls at our table, but didn't ask anyone outside of our table to dance. I guess I had gotten him kinda shook up earlier. It looked like he was starting to shape up. Selphie, on the other hand, danced with about every guy there. She was full of energy. Irvine didn't really seem all that concerned. I think he just didn't feel some guy all the way from Timber she spent 3 minutes with was much of a threat. Lore hung out with a lot of guys, too, but I was pretty calm about it. I had pretty much the same attitude as Irvine. It also might have had to do with the fact that by that point, Irvine and I had wandered up to the bar and discovered they wouldn't card us. We must have been able to pass for 21, because Rinoa insisted the owner wouldn't look the other way if they had any doubts. So he and I were in charge of getting drinks for everyone. By the time she started dancing with all the Timber jerks, I had already had a couple of drinks and was feeling pretty mellow. Speaking of mellow, I haven't said anything about Quistis. She protested us drinking at first, but we finally talked her into a Daquiri. She had a couple of drinks, kinda reluctantly, then really started loosening up more. She was goofing around, dancing with people, not thinking so damn much about every little thing. I had never seen her look like she was having as much fun as she was then. Nothing like a little false self-confidence. (Or sarcasm.)
While Lore was with some new loser, Selphie dragged me off for a dance. She insisted that since I had danced with Rinoa and Quistis, I had to dance with her, too. Reluctantly, I agreed. As we walked out to the floor, I heard Squall say, "I'm surprised he had the guts to say yes after what Irvine did today."
Quistis replied, sounding amused, "More like he didn't have guts enough to tell Selphie no."
"Just ignore them, Chicken-Wuss," Selphie called over her shoulder. She stopped and put my hands on her waist, ready to dance.
"The HELL?! Why's everyone picking on me?!"
"Settle down..chicken-wuss."
Rolling my eyes, I sighed in exasperation. After awhile, Selphie, that sneaky little brat, started guiding me towards Lore without my realising it. Once we were next to her, I noticed, but it was too late. Selphie was already yelling hellos. "This is Robert!" Lore shouted over the music. "He's got the greatest sense of humor!" she added with a giggle. Oh gag me. I decided I was going to need another drink. Or five.
"Hey, why don't we-" Selphie began. I knew what was coming, and started walking away. "Switch partners? Lore, you can dance with Zell. Hey! Where IS Zell?!" Selphie continued, her voice fading as I got farther away. I would ask Lore to dance sometime. I just didn't want to get pushed into it by that brat.
Lore came back after another dance, which made 3 in a row. All with different guys, luckily. At least she didn't seem to have any real interest in anyone, not even Robert with his great sense of humor. Tapping my glass, I asked her if she wanted to dance. She smiled, one of those "no-thanks-not-a-chance-but-I-don't-want-to-hurt-your-feelings" smiles. "Oh, Zell, I'm kinda tired right now. But we'll have to dance real soon." Quistis came back then. Dropping into her chair, she gasped for breath. Her eyes were shining. "It's been a long time since I danced like this," she breathed. "I haven't danced outside of a Garden function in 3 years."
"3 years? You couldn't tell out there, you were great," Lore praised.
"You should have seen the guys watching," Rinoa added. Quistis blushed, but she was beaming.
Lore sat out the next few songs, then got up, pulling on my arm. She was an awesome dancer. You could tell she was really good, but she wasn't showy about it at all. We just messed around, BS-ing some swing steps. She tried spinning me around, but she was so short I had to kinda duck under her arm. Then we tried disco. Then we took all these professional dance moves and made them really cheesy. I had to copy her, she actually knew things like waltzes and cha-cha and whatever else there is. That led into her starting a "flapper" thing, which half the people out on the dance floor got into it. I was DYING of laughter. She totally cracked me up. Selphie and Irvine made their way over to us. Still dancing, Selphie called, "Zell, do you ALWAYS have to make people look at you, no matter where we are? Do you do anything serious?"
"Why bother?" I retorted.
Irvine shook his head. "The universe sure is vast..to think we may have found someone who can compete with Zell's clowning."
Lore put on a look of horror. "No, take it back!" Everyone laughed.
"The hell is everyone picking me so much?!" A slow song started, and Selphie and Irvine began drifting away from us. Lore leaned against me and we swayed to the music, just like regular people this time. I started to notice that it was almost like she was using me to support her, which was a little strange, but I wasn't going to complain. The music sped up again, and we started doing the twist. We tried a few Salsa steps, then she started the Mambo. It didn't fit the music at all, but we didn't care. The song ended, and she shook her head. "I'm out for now."
"Aw, come on, we're just getting started!"
She shook her head again. Selphie suddenly broke through to us. She came up to me. Glancing at Lore, she said, "Dance with me, Zell?" I could have sworn she sounded almost nervous.
"Where's Irvine?" I asked.
"Off getting drinks or something, who knows? Lore can sit down for awhile." I agreed, watching Lore as she walked back to the table. Once the song finished, Irvine came back to reclaim Selphie, and I returned to our table. Rinoa had dragged Squall off for another dance, and I didn't have any clue where Quistis was. So that left me and Lore. I didn't ask her for another dance, reasoning Selphie must have known she was tired. And listening to her, her breathing sounded kinda funny, like she was short of breath or something. We just sat and talked. It was about one in the morning, and things were starting to wind down. The rest of the night, a few of us danced a little more, we had a couple more drinks, but I think everyone was tiring out. We left at about quarter to two, and were back in Balamb at 2:30. Selphie and Lore stayed with the rest of us, Selphie because it was dark and Lore because it was cold. She was cold in the train room, too. I ended up giving her my jacket.
About two minutes before we arrived in Balamb, she woke me up. She tried calling my name, and finally leaned over so we were nose to nose. "Zell!" she hissed.
"Huh?" I muttered tiredly. I opened my eyes, and looked right into a pair of brown ones. I jumped, startled, and hit my head on the wall I had been leaning against.
"Jesus!" I exclaimed. The commotion woke everyone else up.
"We're going to be there soon."
"Mm-hmm." I murmured, half asleep again. "Oh, man, then we have to walk to Garden."
"We could always rent a car. Or stay at your house and walk to Garden in the morning. Would your mom mind?"
"Nah," I said tiredly. "That's a great idea. Why don't I have great ideas?"
She smiled kindly. "Because you have a very big heart......and a very small brain."
Squall snickered. "So, are we staying at your house? Do you mind?"
We arrived at Balamb then, and I had time to think about it while everyone was getting off the train. "I guess it'll be cool," I answered later, as we left the depot. "I mean, you've all been to my house already, and I'm too tired to walk back to Garden." So it was decided, and we all went to my house. I warned everyone to be quiet, and we went inside.
"So, who'll stay in the living room and who'll sleep in your room?" Squall asked.
"OOOOH! I wanna see Zell's room!" Selphie whispered excitedly. I thought fast. Selphie and who else?
"Okay, Selphie, me, and Lore'll be up in my room."
Irvine laughed. "You don't think Rinoa and Squall should be separated, if they'll be here all night together?"
"Hey, I'm not the chaperone," I replied. "Bathroom is right there, before the stairs." I got some blankets and pillows for Squall and Living Room Co., then took Lore and Selphie upstairs. I was gonna get Lore in my bedroom...just not the way I had hoped. It would do.
Selphie jumped into the room. "Wow! So this is Zell's room? It's so clean!"
"Yeah, and I like it clean. So don't go wrecking everything, brat."
She stuck her tongue out at me. "You should be honored that a very very cute girl is in your room!"
Oh, I am, Selphie. Just not the same girl you're thinking of.
"Is this your T-Board?" Lore asked quietly.
"Uh-huh. I had to leave it here so it didn't get confiscated like my other one."
Selphie giggled. "Is this the same one you were on when you flew into the girls restr-"
"Aargh! That's enough of you!" I interrupted. Trying to ignore the blush I felt on my cheeks, I turned to Lore. "You board?"
She shook her head. "I don't know how."
"Really?! I'll teach you sometime. It's great."
"When's your first class tomorrow, Lore? 9:00?" Selphie asked.
Lore nodded. "I can leave by myself. I hate for everyone to get up at 8:00 because I have to be in class."
"No way!" Selphie protested. "I'll come with you, you can't go by yourself!"
"I'll set my alarm and the 3 of us will go. 8:00?" I said, reaching for my alarm.
She thought. "Umm...make it 8:15, I can get ready at Garden in 10 minutes."
I set the alarm, and left to get pillows, blankets and such. Selphie was asleep when I got back.
"Zell," Lore said.
"Ye-esss?"
"You're drunk," she stated.
"No, I'm not. I hardly drank."
"You are and you did too. Look, you just stumbled."
"So?"
"Zell, hit that punching bag over your bed."
I tried, missed, and fell face down on the bed.
"You're drunk."
"That's a silly way to tell," I mumbled from the mattress, then started sitting up.
She rolled her eyes. "Lay down."
"Whoa, I'm not that kind of guy," I answered. In my mind, I thought, Like hell you aren't, Dincht.
"Oh, be quiet. You need to go to sleep. Lay down."
I moved to the side of the bed and lay back. She began folding a blanket and set it on the ground.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Making myself a bed," she replied, covering Selphie with another blanket.
"Aren't you sleeping here?" I said, patting the bed.
She picked up a third blanket and moved towards me.
"Zell, you're on the bed."
"We can share."
She stood by the side of the bed. "We are NOT sharing the bed."
"Why not? Lots of room."
"No."
I grabbed her waist and started pulling her down. She tumbled onto the bed, then hurriedly stood up.
"No," she repeated.
"Then you sleep on my bed and I'll sleep on the floor. You're my guest."
She pushed me back down. "It's YOUR bed!"
"Lore-"
"Zell." She threw the blanket down over me. "There. No more arguments."
"Fine, whatever," I replied, tired again. She tucked the blanket around me.
"You're the greatest," I mumbled. She sat on the edge of the bed.
"Zell, you're drunk. Go to sleep."
"I told you, I'm not drunk."
"Goodnight, Zell." There was a long pause and I began drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, she leaned over and gave me a small, soft kiss goodnight. She waited a moment, and I think maybe she had decided I was asleep. Or maybe not.
"You're drunk...and you taste like candy," she said quietly. Then I felt her move off the bed, and heard the rustle of a blanket as she lay down on the floor and pulled the blanket over herself.