Oh how I love writing this fic! I hope you like it too, it was great when I logged on the comp at London Drugs (ok, I was just a tad bit desperate to see if I had any reviews) and discovered 13! *13*! On one chapter! Of a simple song fic! You guys are great, Ifalna, tifa, Lizziechan, PinkStarz, grrl gamer, Jacks, Alonia, Dalpal, Do I have to sign in (lol, no it's not necessary), Aeris, Brazen Angel, Tiy, and Apple Pie. Thanks a lot for reviewing ^_^ Jacks write more of Majestic! Dalpal write more of One More Day! Aeris!!!!! Write more Moulin Rouge FF8 Style!!!! Gaaaahhh!!! Alonia, write more of Shattered Thoughts and Broken Dreams AND If Love is a Red Dress! Brazen Angel you MUST write more of The Walls Between Us! Tiy, you have to write *something* I'm sure you rock! Apple Pie, I am dying to read another chapter of Timed to Hate, Fated to Love. I loved Tess Almasy so much I need to read any and all versions available. grrl gamer, write something elssseeee! C'mon it's been long enough after Infatuated Souls! PinkStarz, would you plz get going on Resurface and Breathe? Plz? Plz?
The ppl who reviewed this fic are the ones who most like to TORTURE me! Coincidence, I think not. Get writing!
P.S. Not to keep you further *looks sheepish* but I just wanted to say that now, I'm lapsing out of songfic form bcuz I am a lazy person, and no song seems to suit this chapter. ^_^ And I'm trying hard not to trivialize Rinoa, in what precious little time she spends in this fic. Really. Really. Hard.
P.P.S (God, am I annoying or what?) Thx to PinkStarz for helping me with the Quistis/Seifer date scene. You rock hun. ^_^ On with the story (finally, poor you).







~****~


Quistis looked at herself long and hard in the mirror. It was 7 p.m. already, and she was at a loss. She needed a ticket out of this arrangement, but she didn't want to hurt Seifer.

"I need help." She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed a number she couldn't say she called often. Rinoa's dorm. She sincerely hoped that she wasn't visiting Squall right this moment. Quistis sighed her relief when Rinoa's ever chipper voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Rinoa? It's Quistis. Umm...I need...help with something. Could you come to my dorm for a minute?" Rinoa was a little confused, but happy that the second iciest person in all of Garden was going to open up to her. The girl had the golden touch.

"No problem, Quisty! I'll be right over!" Quistis sat on her bed and mused for about half a second before her door flew open and an out of breath Rinoa greeted her sheepishly. "Hiya! So you said you needed help?"

Quistis chuckled. "I think you might want to sit down." When Rinoa had perched on Quistis's computer chair, she unleashed her story on the girl. Rinoa's eyes got wide in amazement as she took in everything that had happened to Quistis in the space of one night. "So how can I get out of it without hurting his feelings?" Rinoa squinted at her, then took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"You sure you want out?" Quistis nodded. "Quistis, I don't think I have to tell you this but...Hyne have you *looked* at Seifer? He's hot, Quisty. Really. Really. Hot. Comprende? I mean, I love Squall, but you have to appreciate that caliber of handsome." She sighed. "Can't you just date him this one time? How bad could it be? Oh my God! You'd make *the* cutest couple! C'mon Quisty!" Before she could respond Rinoa spoke again. "What will you wear?" She started rooting through the closet.

"But Rino..."

"No buts, you're going. I mean, it could be true love right?" Quistis rolled her eyes.

"Sure Rinoa, whatever you say, Rinoa."

"Don't mock me! Oh! This is perfect!" She held up the outfit in her hands. It was an older ensemble, but one Quistis had worn only once. Her foster parents had given it to her, but of course her battle gear had taken the place of any real casual clothing for quite some time. The halter and pants she'd worn to the club had been new, courtesy of Selphie. She looked at the clothing skeptically. It was basic, a denim miniskirt with a few pleats in one side and a white tank top with the words 'When did I realize I was God? Well one night I was praying and I discovered I was talking to myself' on it in small, blue block letters.

"Well..."

"Oh c'mon, it's boring enough to stay with your stern holier-than-thou impression, but fun enough to be, well, fun." The dark haired girl winked at her, mischief in her eyes.

"I should have realized this would happen."

"Oh well, hindsight is twenty-twenty blah blah blah, go change!" She thrust the outfit into Quistis's hands and pushed her into the tiny bathroom her dorm boasted. In a minute's time, Quistis emerged, self-consciously tugging at the hem of her skirt. Rinoa smacked her fingers with a lipstick she had procured from somewhere. "Leave it. Sit, the wonder is only beginning!" Quistis sat on her bed in confusion while Rinoa whipped a makeup case out from behind her back. "Never leave home without it."

Expertly, Rinoa kept makeup to a minimum. A light, colorless lip-gloss and a baby blue eyeliner, finishing with a bit of eye shadow of the same shade.

"See? That's not so bad is it?" Quistis looked at herself in a small mirror Rinoa was holding up. She had to admit, the shadow brought out her eyes. Her mouth looked fuller, and she wondered if she was going to have problems on this date...why did she never resist what people threw at her?

"No...not so bad. Are you done?" Rinoa got out a brush and a curling iron, smiling sweetly all the while.

"No." Her voice lilted like a songbird that had learned to speak, giving it a childish edge. She brushed Quistis's hair stick straight, then proceeded to give it a bit of body and curl the ends loosely with the curling iron. Quistis counted floating gunblades in her head. Finally Rinoa's triumphant voice rang out. "There! Finished! Good call on wearing your hair down!"

"My hair clip broke..." she mumbled, but Rinoa continued on.

"Well off I go, it's practically 8 o'clock! Have fun!" She collected her various belongings and fled the room. "Call me again if you need me!" Quistis rushed to the door and looked around for the smaller girl, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Thanks..." she said to the air around her. A man's voice came from behind her.

"You're welcome, but what for?" She turned around abruptly to meet Seifer's green-eyed gaze, his eyes sparkling in amusement. Smiling nervously she fiddled with a strand of her hair.

"Oh...Seifer...uhm, nothing I was just...Rinoa was just here. She's disappeared somewhere." He didn't seem to have heard a word of what she said, he was too busy looking her up and down. When Seifer finally met her eyes again, he was frowning lightly.

"It might be a little cool outside you know." Quistis nodded.

"I have my coat inside, but I didn't put it on because it's so warm this side of the dorms." Seifer walked right past her into her dorm and got his coat off the chair Quistis had hung it over. For the second time in a day, Quistis found herself wearing the Fire Cross emblazoned coat. He carefully lifted her hair out of the collar and let it settle around her shoulders again. "Heh...thanks..."

Seifer took her hand and led her out to a car he had 'borrowed' for the night, making sure she was comfortable in her seat before he climbed in the driver's side. Quistis had only a few seconds to contemplate his satisfied smirk before the car took off at the speed of sound.

"Where are we going, Seifer?" Seifer smiled, and looked over at her. The car weaved ever so slightly. "Eyes on the road!"

"It's a surprise. And I can drive!" But he turned his attention back to the route anyway. Quistis sat in silence until the car came to a halt. She was unsure what to say to him, his very presence was unnerving her. She let herself out of the car, and found Seifer standing beside her in seconds.

"The Black Sun?!" Quistis said, blushing slightly when she remembered what had happened the last time she went there. Seifer smirked, pleased with himself (but when isn't he?).

"Yup. The first place we met." He nodded sagely.

"Seifer I've known you since I was four years old." Seifer looked around, unconcerned.

"...Whatever."

"Don't go all Squall on me." Making a face, he dragged her past the bouncer and into the dark gloom of the vibrating club. The music was typically loud, and Quistis was bombarded with flashing lights that could have given someone a seizure. Yellow, purple and blue strobe lights illuminated everyone and everything in the club. Her own hair shone blue, Seifer's, even more golden.

They strode up to the bar, taking a seat on two available stools. The bartender glanced at them once before giving them each a Jell-o shot.

"Free shot for the couples." The thirty-ish woman smiled and went back to cleaning glasses.

Quistis looked at her shot skeptically. She eyed the Jell-o and inwardly wondered just how much vodka was in it...

"Maybe you should have them both, Seifer." Seifer picked up one shot a shoved it in her hands.

"Don't be chicken, Instructor." Quistis glared at him, wondering why-oh-why she had to choose this man's bed to wake up in.

"Can I ask you to stop calling me that?"

"You can ask, but I won't oblige." He favored her with a wicked grin and she ate the Jell-o shot. It was going to be a long night. Wait...why am I staying here with him when I could be on the dance floor with someone who doesn't aggravate me to the point of suicide?

Good question. Quistis's mouth turned upward into a little smile of her own. She took off Seifer's coat and handed it back to him. Grinning she took a seat on a barstool a few feet from him and called into a crowd of admirers from afar.

"Who wants to buy me a drink?" In seconds, half the male population of the nightclub was gathered around her. She specifically requested vodka, *not* tequila, of her followers. Damn, this is fun!

She didn't see Seifer again in the space of time she was at the club.


~****~

Late the next afternoon, somewhere around 3pm, Garden's members heard Quistis Trepe's voice pierce the silence that had so far been maintained in Seifer Almasy's dorm.

"GOD DAMMIT!"













I'd keep writing but this chapter was giving me trouble so...meh. See you next chapter! Also, plz R&R. ^_^