Red + Red + Rose : Chpt. Four : Torn
Diary Entry : 0056 Date: 02-15-05
I never thought that I would dance onstage again and I'm not too happy with the fact that Irvine made me go up there, however it's not a big deal. I accepted the dancing job and now I'm doing okay with it, especially since Irvine has been helping to coach me up on stage. I still haven't told him what happened before…Seifer is the only one that knows and I intend to keep it that way.
I found out where Squall Leonhart lives and I think I'll drop by later tonight, since it's my day off work, and ask him if I can borrow his English textbook. Of course, he'll probably not even talk to me and thrust the textbook at me the same damn way he shoved the ring at me.
Zell has been dropping by the Opium a lot, I guess he enjoys seeing me dance, but then again, after the guys in my classes found out that I was dancing again, they started attending the Opium regularly as well. It isn't so bad but it's not as though I prefer their attention. I got a letter from Harvard yesterday but I've not opened it yet. I'm not nervous, just worried about disappointment which is probably inevitable.
Quistis gazed into the screen of her computer, tired from working overtime last night into the early hours of the morning. She glanced out the window and guessed that it was around noon. It was Saturday and she had nothing to do, save a "date" with Seifer later.
Deciding that there was nothing better to do and glancing at the small slip of paper that contained Squall's apartment number, for the millionth time that day, she contemplated going to see him. She even had an excuse made up if he didn't feel like chatting.
Standing up and stretching, she grabbed the slip of paper and went into her bedroom, deciding to change out of her pajamas. She slipped off the long, baggy tee shirt, which covered her entire torso down to mid thigh and was about to reach for a blouse when the phone rang.
Shit. That could be Irvine calling me into work tonight.
She ran outside her bedroom, while in her undergarments, and grabbed the phone off of the loveseat in the living room.
"Hello?"
"Love, you look better without the nightie on, why do you bother wearing it?"
"Ugh, do you mean to tell me that you were spying on me again?"
"If you'd call sitting in your kitchen, spying, then I guess that you're correct."
She narrowed her eyebrows and grabbed for her house-robe to cover herself up, then opened the door to face an extremely amused Seifer.
"Get out. I'm busy."
She threw the phone at him and slammed her bedroom door.
"I miss the days when you wouldn't be so shy to walk around you're apartment, in the buff, with me here."
"What a shame."
"Yes, quite."
"How the hell did you get in here, anyway?"
"You know that pesky Leonhart bloke?"
"Huh? What about him?" Concern was evident in her voice however Seifer didn't even notice it.
She began slipping on a pair of fake leather flares over her legs and grabbed a fuzzy, tight-fitting sweater from her closet.
"I caught that pervert coming up to your apartment while holding your key. Naturally, I questioned him about it but he wouldn't give me any response so I just had to-"
She winced, not wanting to hear what he was about to say.
"Well, you know…give him a slight blow to the stomach."
"And you think it's okay to do that to people? You could be arrested for harassment!" She fumed.
"I probably would be too, if he hadn't been carrying your key."
"That's beside the point." She was confused and rubbed her head, wondering why Squall had her key and what he was planning to do.
She opened the door to see Seifer again, staring at him the figure out if he had told her the entire truth.
"I have a confession to make, love."
"Oh?"
"I was peeping."
She glared at him and kicked his chin before he had a chance to defend himself.
"Idiot. Why did you come here, anyway?"
"I came here to start our evening plans early because I won't be able to make it later tonight."
She scowled but didn't push him away when he encircled his arms around her. Rising up on her tiptoes she gave him a soft kiss on his neck, finding herself drawn to him.
"Promise me you won't hurt anyone anymore." She told him.
"Does it upset you?"
"Mmmm."
"All right, but if that stalker tries anything funny then I'm still going to defend you. Consider me you're knight, love."
He pressed his lips against hers and she found herself responding to his kiss.
My Knight? But would you really be there if I were in trouble? I doubt it, just like you left me standing in the cold that night. You wouldn't have made me get back up on that stage again because you know what happened last time and I also know that, though you barely have an decency in you at all, you wouldn't want that to happen to me again. I wonder if you tell you're "ladies" the same damn thing. I'm just another one of your hoes so why the hell wouldn't you?
She felt him getting closer to her.
What about Squall? I don't want any more people to get hurt, his face was so swollen the last time I saw him and yet he didn't even yell at me or tell me to get Seifer the f*ck away from him. Why is he so silent? Why can't Seifer just leave him alone? But…he had my key. Why did he have my key? Was he planning to hurt me because Seifer hurt him? Perhaps he would try to attack me to get back at Seifer. I don't know anything about him; he's a complete stranger.
He trailed kisses down her neck and she closed her eyes, holding onto him.
**
"Dance again tonight."
"Why?"
"Because I want you to, I want to see you dancing."
"I'm tired and today's my only day off. Forget it."
"Love, I'm begging you to do this for me."
She was dancing on stage, swaying her hips fast and moving to the music, keeping in step with the other female dancers onstage at the large club. The lights flashed and the music blared. It wasn't uncommon for guys to sometimes come onstage and dance with one of them. This time a guy wearing a long black trench coat and a dark face came up and placed his hands on her hips. At first she thought it was Seifer and so she started sliding his hands along her hips and pulling off some tight dance moves until she realized this guy was wearing gloves. For a second she arched her eyebrows but quickly just assumed it was someone who wanted to have fun so she continued dancing and blended with him, though he was a bit off-step she managed to keep up with him and they didn't look too bad. After the dance began to change she turned around to wave goodbye to him because Seifer was staring at her intently. She tried to shrug him off politely but he continued dancing and wouldn't take his hands off her, slowing down her steps in an attempt to show him she wanted to stop and looking to Seifer in alarm. He gave her a confused look and she tried motioning to the person dancing behind her but she didn't think he noticed the dancer.
As a last resort, she tried whispering for him to let go but he ignored her and continued dancing so she slowly guided them off stage, while remaining to dance but not as daringly. She looked to Seifer again but it appeared that he was busy dancing with someone, by now she and the dancer had both stopped dancing but he wouldn't release her and had a strong grip on her by that time. They were right by a set of doors leading outside to the alley and suddenly he pushed her outside.
"Who the hell do you think you are? I have a job here and-"
"Seifer said it was cool."
"Huh?"
He had let go of her no but she had nowhere to turn to because it was a dead end behind her and he was blocking the way out of the alley.
"Seifer, I paid him off and he told me that you and I could have some fun together."
She gritted her teeth and cursed the asshole.
"Most likely he meant out on the floor in the club. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"No, for the amount he made me pay him I'd say that he meant things could go a bit further."
"Look, I'm a seventeen year old student, not a prostitute so I'm sorry but this isn't going to go any further. Go talk to Seifer if you're unpleased."
"I don't think so."
She tried to move past him but he wouldn't let her by. She tried pushing him away but he only continued to advance towards her.
"Fine, I gave you fair warning." She backed up rather quickly and then began running forward, jumping off the ground and attempting to do a round off past him and catch him off guard but he only grabbed onto her calves and made her fall to the ground.
She jumped up and brushed herself up then spun her foot around in a flash and aimed for ribs so she could push him back and knock the breath out of him. He dodged the kick and responded to it by grabbing her and shoving her roughly against the wall. Her head made a thud as it connected with the bricks and the world threatened to close in around her as her vision blurred and everything started to spin. She felt herself sinking to the ground, down the wall and couldn't do anything about it. The man was coming toward her again and she pretended to close her eyes and pass out but when he was within her reach she kicked out her foot and did a roundhouse kick, knocking him off balance.
"Seifer! Help!" She shouted, now desperate for some kind of intervention as the man got to his feet and the world lurched again before her eyes. Summoning all her strength, the pounded on the doors and kicked them with her feet before the man came running at her, at which time she moved out of the way just in time so that he ran into the doors and slammed against them.
"Bitch, get your ass over here."
"Leave me alone!" She shouted as he came charging at her. She didn't even have the chance to move away because he was too fast and everything was becoming blurry. The impact of him charging at her knocked her to the ground and by that time she felt hot tears coming to her eyes. He was about to place his hands on her when the door was kicked open and Seifer, Fujin and Raijin came running out. Seifer leapt over the guy and kicked him off, then kicked numerous other times before crouching down and punching him. Seifer didn't stop brutally kicking and punching him until the man had passed out, at which time he called Fujin and Raijin over to make sure he didn't try to get up. She saw him running over to her and she tried to blink back the tears.
"Love…" He mumbled in shock, seeing her on the ground with a bruise that was quickly forming and swelling on her cheek and a small pool of blood from the back of her head where she had bumped into the wall.
"I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, cradling her carefully and examining the wound to her head. She passed out…
**
And now he was lying beside her in bed telling her about his plans for later. She sat up and noticed that it was later in the afternoon as she glanced at her bedside clock.
"You should get going."
"Probably, but are you sure you want me to leave?"
"Why wouldn't I want you to go?"
He sighed and smirked at her before yawning as he sat up.
"Will you be working tomorrow?"
"Yes, will you be there?"
"Perhaps…I'm still surprised that you're dancing again and so smoothly."
"Dancing isn't just something that you forget over the span of a year, no matter how much I wish it was."
"You sound unhappy. If you don't enjoy dancing then why do you continue getting up on stage."
When she looked at him she had daggers in her eyes.
"I didn't exactly have a chance to get offstage when you and Irvine forced me up there. Why did you make me go up there again?"
"Irvine needed a dancer, he said that no matter how hard he tried to convince Selphie to get up there, she was just too shy. So I casually mentioned-"
"Just like you casually mentioned that it was okay for that jerk to bloody feel me up in the alley last year. I'm betting that you had the entire thing set up ever since the moment you told me about the damn job."
That shut him up, she supposed that he felt rather bad because he got up and slipped his shirt on.
"I'm sorry." She said, lowering her gaze to the floor.
"You still haven't forgiven me for what happened back then. I know you probably never will. Perhaps that's why you're so cold to me, hmm?" He cupped his hand around her face and tilted it up to meet his gaze.
"I know that I argue with you and bother you but I never mean to make you feel bad."
"It doesn't matter. What happened, happened and I obviously can't go back and change the past. I can't change your feelings either."
"You don't have to. I don't blame you for what happened, I know that you never meant for things to go that far and you didn't have bad intentions planned for me."
"Is that all?" He asked, grabbing his coat.
"………"
"There's going to be a party at around midnight, I should be back by then so if you'd like to go then I'll drop by later."
"Fine, but you'd better be on time. I'm not going to be up waiting until the damn morning for you to come."
He closed the door behind him and she heard his footsteps walking over to the elevator. Grabbing a shirt from where it had fallen on the floor, she slipped it back over her head and slipped into her flares for the second time that day. She grabbed the small slip of paper with Squall's apartment number on it and tucked it into one of her back-pockets seeing as she had no normal ones. She waited until she heard him board the elevator and the doors shut until she opened the door and began striding towards the stairs that would take her to the 16th floor which was the very top floor of the building while her room was only the 10th.
She jogged down the hall and continued to job up the flights of stairs, energetic and a bit anxious. When she thought about it, she didn't even know why she wanted to pay a visit to Squall except for the chance to ask him why he had her ring and keys. For a moment, she wondered if he really was a stalker and perhaps she should stay away from him but that suspicion quickly dissipated when she thought about how genuinely concerned he had been when guarding over her in the apartment.
Or was he just snooping around?
No, she decided, he was a perfectly normal Senior Student that attended Balamb High and, though a bit mysterious and strange, she had no concrete proof that convinced her that his intentions were bad.
She exhaled and came to a halt as she finally reached his floor and she began walking down the hall which had floor to ceiling windows on the right and the rooms on the left. The sun made the entire floor seem bright and clean. As she looked at the numbers on the doors, she realized that the next one was Squall's. She hesitated for only a moment before stepping forward and knocking.
Quistis heard noises coming from inside and then footsteps coming towards the door. There was a jingling of locks on the inside before the door opened and Squall stood in front of her.
"Squall…" She stopped, examining his face, a few bruises were still visible. His shirt was off and he was wearing baggy khakis, there was a deep purple mark that was just starting to show below his rib cage. Carefully, not knowing what else to do, she placed her hand lightly on his stomach and examined the bruise further. He pulled back and stared into her eyes, wondering what she was doing. Her previous thoughts and intentions were instantly forgotten about.
"I took a medical course last year, let me help you." She asked him, her eyes were pleading with him.
"I don't think your boyfriend would want that."
"You honestly think I care what Seifer thinks? He can go to hell for all I care."
He seemed surprised by this a lifted an eyebrow for a moment, still trying to decide what to do. He started closing the door and she sighed, however he changed his mind and opened it, motioning for her to come in. Apparently, he didn't like a messy apartment either because his was just as clean as hers was, maybe even more so. He led her into the living room and as he turned around she noticed he had a few bruises on his back as well.
"Do you have a first aid kit?" She asked, hoping he would answer yes.
He nodded and pointed to an open door behind her, which she presumed was the bathroom. She went in and found the kit in the cupboard under the sink. Opening the two latches and inspecting its contents carefully, she pulled out a tube of cream.
"Do you have any ice?" She called to him from inside the bathroom. He got up and went into the kitchen, when he came out he had an icetray and a cloth. She followed him back into the living room where he took a seat on a small leather couch.
Crouching down below him, Quistis noticed that he had purple, half-moons under his eyes and his skin was rather pale however she ignored that and got to work on his stomach.
"Relax your stomach muscles." She instructed, grabbing two icecubs out of the tray and placing them in the cloth. Before applying it she squeezed a small amount of the cream onto her finger and gently began rubbing it into where the purple was beginning to show.
"Seifer is an idiot. All I can do is give you my apology and my word that it won't happen again."
"It's my fault." He said.
His voice was deep and slightly emotionless although it wasn't too deep.
"Hardly. You saved me from a blizzard, I wouldn't exactly consider that your fault that you saved me because I was an idiot and didn't have drive home."
"I held onto some of your things."
She turned her attention away from the wound for a moment and looked into his eyes.
"Why?"
"………"
"You're not exactly the talkative type, are you? That's all right. I'll be out of here soon. I'm guessing you probably don't want me here anyway."
"It's not that-"
"it's just none of my business?" She finished his sentence for him in the form of a question.
"Whatever."
"I guess we're more alike then I thought."
She went back to work on the bruise, gently massaging the area around it with her fingertips and trying not to cause him any pain.
"Do they hurt?"
"No."
She moved her way up to his face and found herself looking into his eyes once again.
Grabbing the icepack, she carefully applied it to his cheek and below his eye. He grunted slightly when she placed it below his eye.
"You're eye muscles are very sensitive right now due to the fact that the area below your eyes is swollen."
"I noticed." He replied and scowled with disinterest.
"The one on your cheek is almost gone, it's not even swollen anymore. I don't think it needs any ice."
She placed her hand gently on his cheek for a moment but quickly realized what it seemed like and blushed slightly as she took her hand away.
"Stand up and turn around." She ordered.
He gave her a quizzical look.
"You have a few bruises on your back too, I want to see how bad they are and if they need any attention."
He hesitantly did as she asked and she noticed one of the bruises was right on his lung, it was probably extremely painful. She wasn't sure whether or not she should touch it. The other one seemed to be near his upper shoulder and was almost gone, like the one on his cheek.
"Go ahead." He said, sensing her uncertainty.
First, she put a small amount of cream on her hand and, being as gentle as possible, she rubbed it in.
"There you go. Just remember to be careful about the bruise near your lower back, okay?" She began gathering up the first aid supplies off of the floor.
"Quistis…"
"Hmm?" She looked up at him.
"Why did you come here?"
"I-well…it doesn't matter." She mumbled as she stood up and headed over to the bathroom.
"?"
"Seifer mentioned that you had my keys and that he hurt you. I was concerned so I came up to see…to see if you were all right." Placing the medical supplies back in carefully and shutting the lid, she turned around to face Squall who was standing at the doorway of the bathroom. He was silent for a moment but then began staring into her eyes.
"Your hands were frostbitten when I carried you up to your apartment. After unlocking your door I placed your keys in my pocket. The first thing I did when I got you inside was soak your hands and feet in warm water and your ring slipped off when it was in the water. I placed it on my own finger because I was busy boiling water for your coffee at the time." He paused, "When I was heading up to your apartment with your keys, I was planning to return them to you."
"But that imbecile stopped you." She said.
He nodded and looked away.
"I was…" He cleared his throat, "I didn't know that you had passed out when I was on my bike and so I was planning to return you home instead of going to the hospital."
"I see. Well, I suppose that clears up everything. I owe you, Squall."
She had walked over to the door and he had followed.
"I know this was a short visit and I still barely know you, but…I'd like to get to know you better. If you're ever bored or lonely, I'm assuming you live here by yourself, you can come down during the week and see me at the Opium."
"…………"
"Good bye," She placed her hand on his face again, at first he seemed like he would pull away but he didn't, "And take care of yourself."