Star Crossed Lovers

By RobertDogwood@aol.com

Edited by Vick330

Chapter Two
Hungry Heart

In the days to come, Squall acted cool and distant towards Rinoa. He would appear at her door everyday to perfunctorily escort her to breakfast, lunch and dinner in between his other Garden duties. After dinner, he would always walk his girlfriend back to her dorm room, formally bid her good evening and offer a chaste kiss on her cheek.

The incident that occurred in her room was never brought up by Squall in conversation. It was as if it had never taken place.

Rinoa didn't dare mention it herself or make any allusion to it. She didn't know what sort of reaction it would engender in him, and it filled her with unease. He might quit speaking to her entirely. As it was, Squall only spoke when Rinoa asked him a direct question, and then only answered in monosyllables.

Despite their now defunct romance the time passed quickly for them. Squall was sent out on several missions of varying lengths and degrees of danger, which culminated in a highly dangerous undercover assignment. He infilitrated a Galbadian spy ring based in Esthar and single-handedly destroyed it.

Laguna planned to present Squall with the Estharian Medal of Honor, their highest and most honored award. Predictably, Squall refused, claiming it would hamper his worth in the field. But everybody knew this was just an excuse; the brooding man hated any kind of pomp and ceremony.

Meanwhile Rinoa buried her emotions by keeping herself busy with various projects - such as helping to raise money for the Garden's new gymnasium and the Balamb Crippled Children's Fund.

The ebony-haired young woman also spent a great deal of her time with the young students, often acting as their surrogate mother or older sister, depending on their ages.

Unfortunately Squall's duties began to place even more responsibility on him. When he was able to wrest himself away from all his responsibilities and spend time with Rinoa, he was even more distant than previously. And that was when he didn't avoid her altogether.

Rinoa realized she should have spoken to Squall about that night a long time before, because now it was too late. Too much resentment had formed on both of their parts, and there was now a feeling of discomfort between them.

The night that completed the process of Squall and Rinoa's relationship tearing completely asunder, was the night of her eighteenth birthday. As she sat excitedly in her room, waiting for her boyfriend to suprise her with some sort of thoughtful act, each passing hour killed a little bit more of her feelings for him.

She had not expected a big party, or even a gift, but just dinner at Balamb or for him to at least visit, and make some small fuss over her. All she wished for was for him to simply care, but that hope was cruelly crushed. By the stroke of midnight, sounded by the Garden clock, Rinoa lay weeping across her bed.

"Hyne damn you, Squall Leonheart!" Rinoa fervently spoke aloud. "Never again will I give you the opportunity to hurt me like this."

When Squall tapped upon her dorm room door early the next morning, to escort her to breakfast, Rinoa had already left for the day. When no one called out or came to the door, Squall turned away assuming that Rinoa had decided to sleep in and never gave it another thought.


Some of Rinoa's voluntary underage female charges, ages thirteen to fifteen, convinced her to chaperone them on a swimming trip to Mandy Beach outside of Timber. They had recognized Rinoa's despondency over her now completely shattered relationship with Squall, because it so closely resembled their own teenage angst. It was arranged quickly for the Ragnarok to drop them off and then return in four hours.

As Rinoa sat on the isolated beach watching the young girls dash in and out of the water, splashing each other and laughing, she realized it had already done her some good to leave the Garden. It was soothing to experience some sunshine and fresh air, rather than fluorescent lighting and stale air conditioning.

Suddenly the oldest and therefore boldest, of the group of female students raced up the beach to where Rinoa was sitting.

Susu, a fifteen-year-old blonde, entreated, "Come on, Rinoa. It will do you some good to get in the water," while two other students attempted to pull Rinoa up on her feet.

"But I didn't bring a bathing suit," protested the ebony-haired woman.

"So what?" Susu retorted. "You've got undies on, don't you? Or would you rather we throw you in? We have enough girls to do it!" Susu exclaimed with a mischievous grin.

Suddenly Rinoa realized it had been quite a long while since she had done anything truly spontaneous. In fact, she recalled when she was these girls' age, and how she and her friends had gone skinny dipping, although she would never admit to that now.

Standing up quickly, Rinoa removed her stylish outfit and ran laughing down to the ocean with SuSu and the two other students. An hour later, Rinoa happened to glance up at the beach from the water, where she had just finished working on her back stroke. She was appalled to see a tall young man on the beach, leaning over her clothes.

Striding quickly towards the intruder, who was now holding her outfit in his hands, Rinoa cried out, "Hey! Leave my clothes alone, you thief!"

When the young man glanced up at her, Rinoa observed he was rather tall and wispily built with blond hair on the longer side and diffident good looks. Hmmm, Rinoa thought to herself, Not too shabby, on the whole I'd say.

Quickly reaching him, Rinoa yanked her clothes from his hands. She held them up as protection from his prying eyes, completely blocking his view of her body.

No more scenes like last time, she thought whimsically.

"I beg your pardon," the young man spoke in a cultured voice, while bowing to Rinoa. "My name is Ashley Wentworth and I reside just outside of Timber."

"And what is your interest in my property, Mr. Wentworth?" she asked challengingly.

He smiled and explained, "I was taking my daily constitutional on the beach, when I passed by your clothing. I was intrigued to see if it was a beauty who wore such a provocative outfit, and I am most pleased to see that that is the case."

Rinoa blushed prettily at the flattering remark, despite herself. She had been receiving so few compliments for anything as of late.

"And you are?" the young man asked, while daintily holding out his right hand bent at the wrist.

"Rinoa...Rinoa Heartilly," she answered while gripping her right hand with his, as he leaned down and kissed the back of her hand.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he replied.

The sun had lowered in the late afternoon. The now cool wind caused Rinoa to shiver slightly, causing her skin to become covered with goose bumps.

Noticing this, Ashley Wentworth exclaimed, "Oh, a thousand pardons, m'lady. You will catch your death of chill. Please allow me to turn my back, so you can immediately change into some warmer clothing."

When Ashley turned his back, the young woman felt slightly paranoid that he would suddenly turn back, but decided to trust him. She quickly changed her clothes, European beach style, holding and flipping her clothing in such a manner that she pulled her wet clothes off, and donned her dry ones without one inch of her body being made available to public eyes.

"Okay, you can look now," Rinoa announced.

Turning back to her, Ashley proclaimed, "Oh, Hyne! I was right. Even with your hair wet and no makeup, you are the most enchanting woman I have ever seen."

Again, and despite herself, Rinoa blushed slightly at his extravagant show of admiration.

"And what do you do?" Ashley inquired. "And where did all those young girls, that I first saw with you, disappear to?"

Rinoa smiled. "I live at Balamb Garden and they're all all down there hiding behind the dunes. They think they're spying on us."

Ashley threw his head back and laughed a hearty laugh.

Well, at least he laughs like an ordinary man does, Rinoa thought.

"Balamb Garden, hmmm. Are you a SeeD?" inquired the blond man.

"No," Rinoa answered, shaking her head. "I just live there for the time being."

"Might one inquire if one, such as myself, would be allowed to visit you there?"

He was really friendly and charming. Against her better judgment, Rinoa cast her fate to the winds and answered, "If you tell me in advance, I can arrange clearance for you to visit."

"How about this Sunday, about five in the evening?" asked Ashley.

"Yes, that would be fine," Rinoa smiled.

"Oh, capitol!" he exclaimed.

As Selphie cut the Ragnarok's speed dramatically in preparation of landing near the beach, Irvine, who was standing behind her, suddenly exclaimed, "Selphie! Look over there!"

As Selphie momentarily shifted her gaze to where Irvine was pointing, and observed Rinoa standing talking with an attractive young man, she thought, Oh, shit! That tears it now, doesn't it? It's about time for Quistis and me to step in.