Name
(The last chapter of Name ended with Ellone and the others telling Irvine to ask Selphie to the school dance. I cut it off with a cliffhanger ending when he was walking towards her. In case you don't remember, I apologized, too. *grin*)
I bent down to gather up my books, pretending I didn't care that Irvine was walking towards me.
"Selphie?"
I stood up. "Yeah?" I would have laughed at his face if I hadn't been so nervous myself. He was a mess. His face was pale and he had his hands in his pockets and the most nervous expression on his face. I smiled to let him know I was listening.
"Well. . .There's a dance Friday." He paused.
"I know. Ellone told me." I waited expectantly.
"I was wondering. . .do you want to go with me?" He finished all in a rush.
I grinned. "Do you mean as a date?"
"Um. Yeah. That's what I meant." He looked flustered now, and I knew he was thinking that I meant I didn't want to go on a date with him, which was of course not true. I hurried to correct my mistake.
"Good. I'd love to go to the dance with you." I smiled.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I wouldn't lie to you."
He grinned, that charmingly heartbreaking smile. "I'm glad." We stood there for a minute or so, just grinning like idiots, until he broke the silence. "Could I walk you out to your car?"
"Sure. Do you want to go see a movie, or something? Just us?"
"Right now?"
I shrugged. "Sure."
"On one condition."
"And that is?"
"You have to meet my parents."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"Have you forgotten?"
"Forgotten what?"
I sighed, exasperated. "Irvine. Kinneas. Selphie. Tilmitt. Hello?"
"Oh. That. My parents don't care!"
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"I don't want to put you on the spot."
"Trust me, Sefie, you won't."
"Sefie?"
"Yeah. . .it sounds cute."
I smiled. "I like it."
"Good." He smiled.
"One question. You say, "This is Selphie. My-"
"What?"
"What am I? Am I your friend, or what?"
"I don't know. What do you want to be?"
"What do you want me to be?"
"My girlfriend."
"Really?" I smiled.
"Yeah."
"So, you'll say, "Mom, this is Selphie, my girlfriend."
"That's right."
"Good."
"Really?"
"I said so, didn't I?"
He smiled. "Let's go then.
*
"It's so nice to meet you, Selphie. Irvine hasn't had a girlfriend in so long."
"Mom. . ."
"Oh, I'm embarrassing him. I always seem to do that." She laughed. His mom was a very nice woman, and hadn't seemed the least bit concerned when she heard my last name. "Well, I know you have plans, so, go on to your date."
"Mom!"
"Well, what am I supposed to say? Behave, both of you." She smiled and left the room.
"That was my mom." Irvine said.
"She's cool."
"Everyone thinks so."
"So, are we going?"
"Yeah." We'd rode here in his car, so we headed back outside in the direction of the driveway.
"What do you want to see?"
"Um. . .I don't care, really. Please, just nothing too graphic."
"Sure. How about. . .A Knight's Tale?"
"Yeah! I've wanted to see that for a while."
"Ok."
*
The movie was great. We had a really good time. There was no kissing, or other such activities, but somewhere near the middle, I felt his fingers slip around mine. I'd smiled a little and held on tight.
He drove me home afterwards, stopping a few houses down so no one would see him. Before getting out of the car, I'd leaned over and kissed him on the lips. I pulled away before things could get any more intense. There would be time for that later, and in front of the neighbors was not the best place. I'd smiled at him as I got out of the car, and then I had ran to my room before anyone, Taren, namely, could find me and ask where I'd been.
Now I was sitting on my bed listening to the Goo Goo Dolls. The music was on low, but I could tell when each song came on because I'd had this cd since the day it hit the shelves and listened to it all the way through at least six times a week. There was no way to keep track of the times I'd just put it on to hear a few songs in particular. It was their newest cd, Dizzy up the Girl. I had almost all of them, but this was my favorite. A Boy Named Goo was a close second.
I was so excited about the dance on Friday. I knew I'd have a good time with Irvine. Quistis had said that sometimes he was a total flirt and ladies' man, but really he was a good guy at heart. I knew he liked me, and I wasn't worried. Besides, if I did catch him checking out another girl, well, I was sure Quistis would help me make him very sorry. I smiled, laying back on my bed and staring at the ceiling.
I didn't really know why I was smiling, just that I was so happy. Irvine Kinneas, quite possibly the hottest guy on Earth, was my boyfriend, and there was nothing any one could do to change that. I had great friends, even though I had only been at my new school for two days.
As long as Taren stayed out of my business, this could be a really great year for me. What was left of it anyway.
I sighed happily and fell into a daydream about Irvine.
*
The next few days passed very quickly, and before I knew it, Friday was upon me. I had a really cute dress to wear tonight, I had found it at the mall with Ellone on Wednesday. Rinoa and Quistis hadn't been able to go shopping, but I'd still had fun with Ellone. She'd gotten a really pretty light green dress, and mine was-a surprise! I couldn't wait for Irvine to see it.
Friday afternoon Quistis came over to my house after school. The dance didn't start until five, and it was a long stretch of time from the three-fifteen dismissal from last hour.
She'd brought her dress in her backpack, so the first order of business was of course to iron it. It was a gorgeous dress and I could tell she'd look great in it.
The make of it was similar to mine, it had straps holding it up, but instead of just going over the shoulder as they would normally do, they crossed over in the front and then again in the back, making her shoulders bare completely. It stopped just before her knees, and was a light pink color that looked wonderful with her blonde hair and blue eyes. The material was silky soft and clingy.
"Seifer's going to be all over you." I stated. She blushed a little, having given up her charade.
"I don't know if that's good or bad." She said, laughing.
"Trust me, don't worry."
She looked at herself in the mirror again. "I don't know. . .maybe I should change?"
"No way. You are wearing that dress no matter what." I said, giving her a look.
"Fine." She said in a resigned tone. I quickly exchanged my school clothes for the dress and grinned when I saw my reflection.
The dress was a soft yellow, my favorite color. It had tiny flowers all over it, and the straps tied on my shoulder, giving it a sundress effect. It was just a little shorter than Quistis's dress, making my legs look longer. I'd left my hair straight instead of curling it up, and it looked nice, hanging just past my shoulders.
Sandals of a matching color added about two inches to my height, making me not so short anymore, and perhaps tall enough to come up to Irvine's shoulder, at least. Quistis wore sandals, too, although she didn't need added height. Lucky her.
We didn't spend too much time on makeup, because we didn't want to be late. Finally we were completely ready and we headed out to the car. Aidan was going to drive us there and back, during the three hours of the dance he'd probably go down to the pool hall with his friends.
In the car I was so excited, and if Quistis was she didn't show it. I knew she probably was, but she was more composed than I was sometimes. She was mostly just worrying.
"What if he doesn't like the dress?"
"Quistis, come on. If he doesn't like it, so what? He likes you!"
"What if he doesn't?"
"He does."
"How do you know?"
"I just do, okay? Stop worrying about it. Everything is going to be fine." Seifer hadn't asked her to the dance, but I knew he'd been trying to. Ellone and Squall agreed on that. Ellone had confided in me privately that he was afraid Quistis still liked Squall and she'd tell him no. They would both be there, though, and if they didn't get together on their own, Ellone and I were there to push them in the right direction.
After what seemed like an eternity we pulled up at the school. A lot of people were already here and the parking lot was almost as noisy as the gym was. Quistis and I didn't bother looking around, Ellone had said she'd make sure 'our' guys were waiting out front. Nervously I smoothed out my dress and waited for Quistis to catch up. We walked up to the doors together, and sure enough Irvine and Seifer were standing there talking. Every so often they'd look around, most likely for us. My guess was confirmed when Seifer looked over to where we were, turned back to Irvine and pointed to us. Both of them smiled and headed in our direction.
"Hello, ladies. You're looking lovely tonight." Irvine said jokingly. I rolled my eyes and Quistis and I giggled. We walked in together, catching up with Ellone and Squall, who had just arrived, on the way.
Squall immediately departed in search of Rinoa, leaving the five of us standing there. Fujin and Zell said hello and then I think they left to dance, but I wasn't positive. They could have just been wandering around wreaking havoc.
Blink-182 was blaring out of the speakers, and while some people were dancing, we just stood there. It was like that for the next few songs, but finally a song I knew-and loved-came on. You could tell it would be a slow song just by the first few notes, and Seifer immediately tried to walk off, but I grabbed his arm, and Quistis's, and forced their hands together so that they were holding hands. They both turned red but didn't pull apart.
"Go dance." I commanded. They did.
After they were out of sight, Irvine grabbed my hand. I turned to him.
"Do you want to dance?" He asked, rather shyly.
"Of course." I said, smiling. We moved out onto the dance floor just as the words of the song began.
And even though the moment passed me by
I still can't turn away
I saw the dreams you never thought you'd lose
Tossed along the way
Letters that you never meant to send
Lost or thrown away
And now we're grown-up orphans that never knew their names
Don't belong to no one that's a shame
You could hide beside me maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name
Scars are souvenirs you never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself somewhere out there
Did you get to be a star
Don't it make you sad to know that life
Is more than who we are
You grew up way too fast and now there's nothing to believe
And reruns all become our history
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio
And I won't tell no one your name
I think about you all the time
But I don't need the same
It's lonely where you are come back down
And I won't tell 'em your name
The song ended with some slow musical notes but neither Irvine or I made any move to step away from each other.
"Sefie, I don't care if your last name is Kinneas. You're who you are, not your father. I love you and I would no matter what your name was. But you do know that sooner or later someone's going to find about about this and it won't be pretty."
"I don't care, because I love you too."
He looked at me carefully. "Did you just-"
"Yes." I stood on tiptoes and kissed him. This time, I didn't back away.
That dance was perfect. How was I supposed to know that tomorrow everything would change?
-End chapter five
