Note: Hi! Hi! I like all your reviews and I enjoy reading 'em! Next couple is....... drum roll please! ............. nevamind.... just read!
Chapter 3 - Crush
A hand, exhausted from the previous training, twisted the knob closed, shutting the shower down. He rested his forehead on the cold, wet tiles of the shower stall wall and took a deep breath. No matter how many times he tried to forget, he will never get the image of her out of his mind. To him, she was the last person he wanted to think of, but she was also the first person he was thinking of.
A droplet of water fell from his soaked face. His back, bruised and torn from defeating a mother T-Rexaur, trying to protect her young, were aching more. His body ached all over. "A good rest helps," he whispered to himself. With another breath, he opened the door to the stall and reached out to the towel holder nearby. He pulled his green towel from its place, keeping the floor wet by staying inside the shower and ran the towel over his hair. He stroked his neck as well, getting rid of all the wetness from the water, then ran his towel around his chest, his back and lastly, his feet. With that done, he stepped out of the shower and dried his feet on the cloth lying on the floor in front of him. He wrapped his towel around his waist, leaving his chest and back bare and walked into his bedroom.
He could hear the wind howl through the window. He gazed towards the beaming red light of his clock, eyes widerning in astonishment. It was still too early to be dark outside.
Dark clouds began to hover over Garden. That's when Zell knew it was about to rain. Zell walked to his bed. He glanced at the window for awhile, before he let himself fall down back first on the soft mattress. His eyes trailed up at the ceiling. There was nothing else to do in Garden, except maybe go to the training center and almost get yourself killed and hang out with friends, but Zell has been doing that for as long as he can remember. He wanted to do exciting things and forget everything about the girl he's been thinking of for the past six weeks.
Without bothering to change his clothes, leaving only his towel around his waist and his chest, exposed in the heated room, he closed his eyes and readied himself to sleep. However, a knock on the door interrupted him from his serene state. Mumbling to himself, Zell slowly lifted himself up from bed to answer the door. He knew it was probably Irvine with some girl. The cowboy insisted that he dated for awhile to add excitement in his life, but Zell would turn him down everyday and everyday, Irvine would bring a new girl for him to date. What is he, the host of that 'Blind Date' show? He grasped his hand around the steel knob, thinking about hunting Irvine down before he could pick up anymore girls and opened the door, glaring at his expecting visitor, but his expression changed when he noticed what the door had revealed. It was Selphie, with her smile that always brightened everyone's mood.
"Hi- Z-.... um...." She paused from her hyperness and stared at Zell, looking at him up and down. Her eyes traveled from his bare feet, stopping at his chest. She quickly pulled her eyes away from him and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry if I interrupted you with anything, Zell. I'll come back when you're done changing," she said, her cheeks bright red.
"Huh?" He arched an eyebrow, then looked at himself. His face turned the darkest red that you could ever see, placing his arms across his chest to cover himself. He had forgotten to put some clothes one. "Sorry about that... um... I'll be right back." He closed the door, the redness never leaving his cheeks. He could hear Selphie trying to stifle a giggle on the other side of the door. He couldn't help but smile at himself. 'She's so cute when she laughs!' he thought in his head.
A few minutes later, Zell opened the door once again. He was dressed in his usual attire, a blue vest overlapping a grey t-shirt and jean shorts with running shoes and white socks. His tattooe, still marked on the right side of his face never faded. He grinned when he saw Selphie walking towards him. She has been sitting on the bench across from his room, waiting for him, fully clothed this time.
Selphie waved, trying not to picture Zell and his broad chest. "Hey um..." she paused. 'Great, Selphie! You just see a guy with no shirt on and now you're cracking up!' She took a deep breath and forced another smile on her face. "I was wondering if..." She took another breath. Why was it so hard to speak? After all, this is Zell, her best friend in the whole wide world!
Zell looked at her. "Are you all right, Seff?" He could tell Selphie was still shocked. Why wouldn't she? He just gave her a strip show just now, of course she would be shocked!
Selphie nodded, forcing another genuine smile. "Are you busy right now, Zell?"
Zell shook his head. "Nah, I was just ready to close my eyes, no biggie."
"Oh." She felt bad already for staring at Zell's chest and now she feels bad for waking him up from his sleep. "I'm sorry," she said.
Zell shook his head again. "Oh, don't be. I was just resting my eyes for a second, you know, just laying on my bed. You didn't bother me at all."
'Not at all, Selphie,' he added in his head.
Selphie grinned. Zell was a very forgiving person. That's what she likes about him. He is such a sweet guy! "Well, I'm recruiting more members for my Garden Festival committee and I was wondering if you could help me prepare for the graduation that's coming up!" Her bright smile returned.
Is it close to next year already? He almost forgot that they have one more week until May, which meant preparations for the graduation of the new SeeDs, which meant the SeeD ball. The Senior SeeDs were welcome to attend and Selphie was in charge of the whole event, eventhough she's a senior now. Cid made it an 'okay' to have some of the seniors help out with the Garden Festival, since not many Junior SeeDs joined the Committee. Zell looked down on the hopeful eyes of Selphie. Her emerald eyes were so bright and inviting, that Zell couldn't help but agree to help out.
"For you? Of course! 'Sides, there's nothing else to do." Zell said, cheerily. He smiled.
Selphie's eyes widened. Zell is actually going to help her? Maybe it was just his way to get out of boredom. She planted both her fists on her hips and wagged a finger towards the blond. "Did you agree to help me so you got something to do?"
'No, I did it just for you,' he thought. Zell shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
Selphie giggled. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, jumping up and down excitedly. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! You are such a sweetheart! We have a meeting today at six o'clock! Don't be late!" She released her arms from around him and turned around, his back facing her. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled, before walking away, back towards the the Committee meeting place. The stage.
"I won't," saying it more to himself, rather than towards Selphie. Zell sighed, watching her go. Selphie had captured his heart and he has no idea how long he can hold his feelings any longer. He loved her and there was no mistaking it. They have been friends for a long time. Longer, if you add that time back in the orphanage. Selphie defended him when Seifer teased him and called him names. At times, it was Selphie who pushed Seifer down when the blond went too far as to pushing Zell down on the ground. He smiled at that thought. They were friends, yes, but Zell wanted it to be more than that. Many times he tried to tell her and many times he failed, afraid of being rejected.
He turned his back on the disappearing girl and faced the door, opening it fully in front of him. He pushed the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The meeting was only two hours away.
****************
"All right everyone! This is our plan for the ball!" He watched her put two ribbons, gold and green together, setting them side by side and put it up higher for all the members to see. When she saw him, she smiled and waved with one hand.
Zell nodded, his way of greeting when he wasn't thinking straight and walked over to the group of young men and women. He sat on a chair at the front, closer to Selphie. He watched her walk over to the table behind her, pulling out a red ribbon, then placing it beside the green one in her hands.
"What do you guys think of this one?" Selphie asked, her smile beaming brighter.
Zell looked around him. Everyone suddenly turned towards each other and whispering to each other about the ribbon. He could hear people say that the red and green looked 'Christmas-sy' or that red and green never look together. He prefer green and gold, not that he knew everything about colour co-ordination. No...o... he doesn't!
"I like green and gold together," the blond man spoke, looking up at Selphie.
Selphie seemed surprised, as she looked down and stared at him. All eyes turned towards him, watching and waiting for him to explain why gold and green looked together. Zell didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say the real reason. Green had the colour of her eyes and the gold had the colour of her usual yellow dress when it shone underneath the sunlight. It seemed gold to him when it did.
Selphie smiled at him, then grabbed the gold and green together and showed them to the group. "I think gold and green would be nice, don't you think?"
Everyone nodded, showing their approval on the two colours. When she saw several nods, Selphie put the ribbons down and leaned towards Zell. She winked at him, patted him on the back and smiled. "Great job, Zell!" She gave him one last smile, then walked over to the same table.
"Gee, Zell, I had no idea you were so into colours these days." He was startled to hear a very familiar voice whisper beside him. He turned his head to his right, towards Irvine who tipped his hat at the side when he said something clever. He was too busy eyeing Selphie that he didn't notice Irvine there. Selphie must have given him her puppy dog eyes, a way of getting her friends to join the Committee.
Zell smirked and folded his arms across his chest. He slapped Irvine in the back, so hard that it almost forced Irvine to fall forward. "I see Selphie did the puppy dog on you, eh?"
Irvine smiled, sitting back up and fixing his stetson on his head. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Hey man, I went on my own. 'Sides, it wasn't Selphie who got me to go, it was the women here that forced me to. Man, can you believe the number of girls here?" He looked around and winked at one girl flirtatiously, who giggled and turned to her friend beside her to whisper something. "I'd be a lucky if I was the only guy here with all these girls."
Zell rolled his eyes. "Well, you're even luckier if you weren't dating Selphie anymore, then she would've beaten you silly." He leaned back on his chair and grinned. "Is this the only reason why you came?" he asked, hoping it wasn't the reason he was thinking of. Irvine could still be in love with Selphie, but what does he know? He'll have to check.
"Of course!" he replied, lifting his arms at his side. "Speaking of which..." He put his arms down and looked at Zell. "What's your reason of coming here? Wait! I know!"
He does?
Irvine looked around. "There's a particular girl here you like, right? She's somewhere here, isn't she?"
Zell didn't answer, which confirmed Irvine that there is a girl in the committee he wanted to date. However, it wasn't the girl Irvine was thinking of. The cowboy stretched his neck farther like a crane and looked at the very back of the room. He spotted someone, but Zell couldn't care less. The blond man already spotted someone he wanted. He watched her move from one place to another, trying to decide which colour went with what colour. She laughed when one of male members made a joke about the silver garlands in her hands. He loved her laugh. Everyday, when she laughed like that, it cheered his heart, always gave him wings to fly when he saw her smile.
"Ah hah!" Irvine silently yelled, staring at Zell. Zell quickly took his eyes off of Selphie and glanced at Irvine. The cowboy smirked and nodded towards Selphie. "Hey, man I had no idea you liked her that much!"
"Who?"
Irvine rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He lifted one leg and rested it over the other. "You know who I'm talking about!" He leaned towards him. "All that smiles must have hypnotized you!"
Zell looked at him, wide eyed. "Is it that obvious?"
Irvine snorted. "Hell yeah! Even the shores of Balamb know what you're thinking right now!" He patted his back, much harder than Zell gave him earlier and forced the blond man to stumble forward and fall on his face.
Everyone started laughing.
"My God, Zell! Are you okay?" Selphie went to him. Reaching down, she helped him on his feet. Zell, once up, fixed his shirt and glared at Irvine, who just grinned mischeviously up at him.
Zell looked at Selphie and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I better go," he said. He turned around and walked away, missing the disappointment on Selphie's face. Irvine and the rest of the members watched him go.
Selphie took a deep breath and gave Irvine an icy glare. "What was that for?"
Irvine grinned. He felt sorry for doing that. He thought, maybe if he did that, Selphie would come and help him up, then that would be Zell's cue to ask her out. She did come over and help him up, but he never expected Zell to walk away just like that. Maybe it was the curious eyes of all the people present there.
"Sorry, I'll go after him," he said. The cowboy stood up and walked out the door to the main hallway.
GoodGurl: Hi y'all! I hope you like this one! Wow! Zell having a crush on Selphie? Is it really a crush or just a feeling? What Irvine did was stupid, but did it really show Selphie's feelings as well? You know, when she was disappointed when he turned around and walked away? Soon, my friends, you'll find out! See ya!
Chapter 3 - Crush
A hand, exhausted from the previous training, twisted the knob closed, shutting the shower down. He rested his forehead on the cold, wet tiles of the shower stall wall and took a deep breath. No matter how many times he tried to forget, he will never get the image of her out of his mind. To him, she was the last person he wanted to think of, but she was also the first person he was thinking of.
A droplet of water fell from his soaked face. His back, bruised and torn from defeating a mother T-Rexaur, trying to protect her young, were aching more. His body ached all over. "A good rest helps," he whispered to himself. With another breath, he opened the door to the stall and reached out to the towel holder nearby. He pulled his green towel from its place, keeping the floor wet by staying inside the shower and ran the towel over his hair. He stroked his neck as well, getting rid of all the wetness from the water, then ran his towel around his chest, his back and lastly, his feet. With that done, he stepped out of the shower and dried his feet on the cloth lying on the floor in front of him. He wrapped his towel around his waist, leaving his chest and back bare and walked into his bedroom.
He could hear the wind howl through the window. He gazed towards the beaming red light of his clock, eyes widerning in astonishment. It was still too early to be dark outside.
Dark clouds began to hover over Garden. That's when Zell knew it was about to rain. Zell walked to his bed. He glanced at the window for awhile, before he let himself fall down back first on the soft mattress. His eyes trailed up at the ceiling. There was nothing else to do in Garden, except maybe go to the training center and almost get yourself killed and hang out with friends, but Zell has been doing that for as long as he can remember. He wanted to do exciting things and forget everything about the girl he's been thinking of for the past six weeks.
Without bothering to change his clothes, leaving only his towel around his waist and his chest, exposed in the heated room, he closed his eyes and readied himself to sleep. However, a knock on the door interrupted him from his serene state. Mumbling to himself, Zell slowly lifted himself up from bed to answer the door. He knew it was probably Irvine with some girl. The cowboy insisted that he dated for awhile to add excitement in his life, but Zell would turn him down everyday and everyday, Irvine would bring a new girl for him to date. What is he, the host of that 'Blind Date' show? He grasped his hand around the steel knob, thinking about hunting Irvine down before he could pick up anymore girls and opened the door, glaring at his expecting visitor, but his expression changed when he noticed what the door had revealed. It was Selphie, with her smile that always brightened everyone's mood.
"Hi- Z-.... um...." She paused from her hyperness and stared at Zell, looking at him up and down. Her eyes traveled from his bare feet, stopping at his chest. She quickly pulled her eyes away from him and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry if I interrupted you with anything, Zell. I'll come back when you're done changing," she said, her cheeks bright red.
"Huh?" He arched an eyebrow, then looked at himself. His face turned the darkest red that you could ever see, placing his arms across his chest to cover himself. He had forgotten to put some clothes one. "Sorry about that... um... I'll be right back." He closed the door, the redness never leaving his cheeks. He could hear Selphie trying to stifle a giggle on the other side of the door. He couldn't help but smile at himself. 'She's so cute when she laughs!' he thought in his head.
A few minutes later, Zell opened the door once again. He was dressed in his usual attire, a blue vest overlapping a grey t-shirt and jean shorts with running shoes and white socks. His tattooe, still marked on the right side of his face never faded. He grinned when he saw Selphie walking towards him. She has been sitting on the bench across from his room, waiting for him, fully clothed this time.
Selphie waved, trying not to picture Zell and his broad chest. "Hey um..." she paused. 'Great, Selphie! You just see a guy with no shirt on and now you're cracking up!' She took a deep breath and forced another smile on her face. "I was wondering if..." She took another breath. Why was it so hard to speak? After all, this is Zell, her best friend in the whole wide world!
Zell looked at her. "Are you all right, Seff?" He could tell Selphie was still shocked. Why wouldn't she? He just gave her a strip show just now, of course she would be shocked!
Selphie nodded, forcing another genuine smile. "Are you busy right now, Zell?"
Zell shook his head. "Nah, I was just ready to close my eyes, no biggie."
"Oh." She felt bad already for staring at Zell's chest and now she feels bad for waking him up from his sleep. "I'm sorry," she said.
Zell shook his head again. "Oh, don't be. I was just resting my eyes for a second, you know, just laying on my bed. You didn't bother me at all."
'Not at all, Selphie,' he added in his head.
Selphie grinned. Zell was a very forgiving person. That's what she likes about him. He is such a sweet guy! "Well, I'm recruiting more members for my Garden Festival committee and I was wondering if you could help me prepare for the graduation that's coming up!" Her bright smile returned.
Is it close to next year already? He almost forgot that they have one more week until May, which meant preparations for the graduation of the new SeeDs, which meant the SeeD ball. The Senior SeeDs were welcome to attend and Selphie was in charge of the whole event, eventhough she's a senior now. Cid made it an 'okay' to have some of the seniors help out with the Garden Festival, since not many Junior SeeDs joined the Committee. Zell looked down on the hopeful eyes of Selphie. Her emerald eyes were so bright and inviting, that Zell couldn't help but agree to help out.
"For you? Of course! 'Sides, there's nothing else to do." Zell said, cheerily. He smiled.
Selphie's eyes widened. Zell is actually going to help her? Maybe it was just his way to get out of boredom. She planted both her fists on her hips and wagged a finger towards the blond. "Did you agree to help me so you got something to do?"
'No, I did it just for you,' he thought. Zell shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
Selphie giggled. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, jumping up and down excitedly. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! You are such a sweetheart! We have a meeting today at six o'clock! Don't be late!" She released her arms from around him and turned around, his back facing her. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled, before walking away, back towards the the Committee meeting place. The stage.
"I won't," saying it more to himself, rather than towards Selphie. Zell sighed, watching her go. Selphie had captured his heart and he has no idea how long he can hold his feelings any longer. He loved her and there was no mistaking it. They have been friends for a long time. Longer, if you add that time back in the orphanage. Selphie defended him when Seifer teased him and called him names. At times, it was Selphie who pushed Seifer down when the blond went too far as to pushing Zell down on the ground. He smiled at that thought. They were friends, yes, but Zell wanted it to be more than that. Many times he tried to tell her and many times he failed, afraid of being rejected.
He turned his back on the disappearing girl and faced the door, opening it fully in front of him. He pushed the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The meeting was only two hours away.
****************
"All right everyone! This is our plan for the ball!" He watched her put two ribbons, gold and green together, setting them side by side and put it up higher for all the members to see. When she saw him, she smiled and waved with one hand.
Zell nodded, his way of greeting when he wasn't thinking straight and walked over to the group of young men and women. He sat on a chair at the front, closer to Selphie. He watched her walk over to the table behind her, pulling out a red ribbon, then placing it beside the green one in her hands.
"What do you guys think of this one?" Selphie asked, her smile beaming brighter.
Zell looked around him. Everyone suddenly turned towards each other and whispering to each other about the ribbon. He could hear people say that the red and green looked 'Christmas-sy' or that red and green never look together. He prefer green and gold, not that he knew everything about colour co-ordination. No...o... he doesn't!
"I like green and gold together," the blond man spoke, looking up at Selphie.
Selphie seemed surprised, as she looked down and stared at him. All eyes turned towards him, watching and waiting for him to explain why gold and green looked together. Zell didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say the real reason. Green had the colour of her eyes and the gold had the colour of her usual yellow dress when it shone underneath the sunlight. It seemed gold to him when it did.
Selphie smiled at him, then grabbed the gold and green together and showed them to the group. "I think gold and green would be nice, don't you think?"
Everyone nodded, showing their approval on the two colours. When she saw several nods, Selphie put the ribbons down and leaned towards Zell. She winked at him, patted him on the back and smiled. "Great job, Zell!" She gave him one last smile, then walked over to the same table.
"Gee, Zell, I had no idea you were so into colours these days." He was startled to hear a very familiar voice whisper beside him. He turned his head to his right, towards Irvine who tipped his hat at the side when he said something clever. He was too busy eyeing Selphie that he didn't notice Irvine there. Selphie must have given him her puppy dog eyes, a way of getting her friends to join the Committee.
Zell smirked and folded his arms across his chest. He slapped Irvine in the back, so hard that it almost forced Irvine to fall forward. "I see Selphie did the puppy dog on you, eh?"
Irvine smiled, sitting back up and fixing his stetson on his head. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Hey man, I went on my own. 'Sides, it wasn't Selphie who got me to go, it was the women here that forced me to. Man, can you believe the number of girls here?" He looked around and winked at one girl flirtatiously, who giggled and turned to her friend beside her to whisper something. "I'd be a lucky if I was the only guy here with all these girls."
Zell rolled his eyes. "Well, you're even luckier if you weren't dating Selphie anymore, then she would've beaten you silly." He leaned back on his chair and grinned. "Is this the only reason why you came?" he asked, hoping it wasn't the reason he was thinking of. Irvine could still be in love with Selphie, but what does he know? He'll have to check.
"Of course!" he replied, lifting his arms at his side. "Speaking of which..." He put his arms down and looked at Zell. "What's your reason of coming here? Wait! I know!"
He does?
Irvine looked around. "There's a particular girl here you like, right? She's somewhere here, isn't she?"
Zell didn't answer, which confirmed Irvine that there is a girl in the committee he wanted to date. However, it wasn't the girl Irvine was thinking of. The cowboy stretched his neck farther like a crane and looked at the very back of the room. He spotted someone, but Zell couldn't care less. The blond man already spotted someone he wanted. He watched her move from one place to another, trying to decide which colour went with what colour. She laughed when one of male members made a joke about the silver garlands in her hands. He loved her laugh. Everyday, when she laughed like that, it cheered his heart, always gave him wings to fly when he saw her smile.
"Ah hah!" Irvine silently yelled, staring at Zell. Zell quickly took his eyes off of Selphie and glanced at Irvine. The cowboy smirked and nodded towards Selphie. "Hey, man I had no idea you liked her that much!"
"Who?"
Irvine rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He lifted one leg and rested it over the other. "You know who I'm talking about!" He leaned towards him. "All that smiles must have hypnotized you!"
Zell looked at him, wide eyed. "Is it that obvious?"
Irvine snorted. "Hell yeah! Even the shores of Balamb know what you're thinking right now!" He patted his back, much harder than Zell gave him earlier and forced the blond man to stumble forward and fall on his face.
Everyone started laughing.
"My God, Zell! Are you okay?" Selphie went to him. Reaching down, she helped him on his feet. Zell, once up, fixed his shirt and glared at Irvine, who just grinned mischeviously up at him.
Zell looked at Selphie and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I better go," he said. He turned around and walked away, missing the disappointment on Selphie's face. Irvine and the rest of the members watched him go.
Selphie took a deep breath and gave Irvine an icy glare. "What was that for?"
Irvine grinned. He felt sorry for doing that. He thought, maybe if he did that, Selphie would come and help him up, then that would be Zell's cue to ask her out. She did come over and help him up, but he never expected Zell to walk away just like that. Maybe it was the curious eyes of all the people present there.
"Sorry, I'll go after him," he said. The cowboy stood up and walked out the door to the main hallway.
GoodGurl: Hi y'all! I hope you like this one! Wow! Zell having a crush on Selphie? Is it really a crush or just a feeling? What Irvine did was stupid, but did it really show Selphie's feelings as well? You know, when she was disappointed when he turned around and walked away? Soon, my friends, you'll find out! See ya!