Chapter 10: Secret Relationship
With just an eye opened, Carole totally woke up with a smile and quickly put her clothes on, the new ones. Her heart was beating fast. She wanted to go to Garden as soon as possible to see if the memories she had from the past night were just a dream or not. She rushed down the stairs and bursted in the kitchen to grab a toast for breakfast.
"For heaven's sake," her mother exclaimed. "What's with all the racket, Carole? I almost had a heart attack!"
"Sorry," she said going to sit at the table with a glass of milk.
Her brothers and sister were already there.
"What's the hurry?" Rachel asked. "For what I know, you still have plenty of time."
Carole kept silent, eating her breakfast quick.
"Why do you look so happy?" Robert asked. "Is today a special day?"
"Maybe it will the second I get to Garden!"
"My, you sound so happy!" her mother entered with a cup of coffee.
She sat down at the table and looked at her elder daughter.
"You must have slept well because you sounded pretty depressed yesterday when you came back."
"I feel really great!"
She swallowed her milk in a gulp.
"I'm done!"
She quickly got up and put her glass in the sink before hurrying back in her room. Rachel turned to her mother.
"What are those clothes she's wearing?"
"Now that she's a SeeD, she can wear whatever she wants."
"It looks cool," Pierre commented.
"Not very warm though," Robert added.
Steps came down the stairs and Carole rushed to the door with her gunblade tied up to her belt. She put her black boots on.
"Gotta go! See ya later!"
She slapped the door once she was out.
"She looks like Squall with those clothes," Rachel said.
"A little more feminine though," her mother said.
Carole walked out of town, eager to get to Garden and see if she dreamt.
"I'm sure it wasn't a dream, it's all so clear in my mind."
A doubt suddenly appeared in her mind and she froze.
"I still have an hour until my class and I don't know if he has any. I told him 'this morning' but I didn't give him any time. I wonder if he'll be there already..."
She started walking again.
"I'm sure he will, I feel it!"
She walked faster and Garden appeared bigger and bigger the closer she was to it. When the entrance of the Garden yard appeared, she stopped breathing. There he was with his leather clothes leaning against a structure. Carole started running and hurried his way. When Squall saw her, his face lightened up and he smiled, pushing himself away from the strusture. He girl literally jumped in his arms and he caught her with a little laugh. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed his hands on her back.
"It wasn't a dream... you're here, you're really here..."
Squall smiled from the girl's innocence and closed his eyes. Holding her was making him feel like everything was simple.
She looked up to him and smiled.
"Do you have classes today?"
"Not this morning but I have some work to do."
"I don't have anything to do until an hour."
Squall looked pretty surprised.
"Then why are you here so soon?"
"And you?"
"Well... you didn't tell me when you wanted to meet me so I came when I woke up to be sure not to miss you."
"I was eager to see you..."
She hugged him again.
"Me too... and you know what? For a moment, I feared yesterday's night might have been a dream. But I know it wasn't."
He lifted her chin and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"We should get going now," Carole said. "I think I'll go to the library before my class. After that, I'll be busy 'til noon."
"Me too. Then we can meet at diner?"
"Sure!"
They entered Garden together and got separated in front of the stairs down the elevator. Squall climbed up the stairs and Carole walked to the library, both waving at each other.
Dinner time in the cafeteria. Seifer was at a table with Audrey, Raijin and Fujin. At another table, close to another one, Miaka and Gackt were keeping the two other seats free while Zell was at the other table with Rachel, Selphie and Irvine. Quistis was at the headmaster's office.
When Carole entered the place, she spotted her friends right away and hurried to them with a big smile.
"Carole-chan! Have a seat!"
The girl did as she was told.
"Is this your new outfit?" she asked.
"Yup!"
Gackt and Miaka were admiring the new clothes while on the next table, Irvine was staring.
"Coooool..." he trailed off whistling.
"Dummy," Selphie whispered elbowing him in the ribs.
"Ow! Hey that hurts!"
Carole peeked at the entrance a few times while she was eating. Miaka placed her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands and she was stared at her friend, frowning curiously. When Carole noticed, she stopped eating and turned to her.
"What?"
"You seem different... Don't you think so, Gackt?"
"I don't know..."
Irvine felt like participating to the conversation.
"It must be the cool new outfit!" he said. "And she got a cool body to put in!"
"Irvy!" Selphie exclaimed.
She slapped him behind the head, making him lose his hat.
"Sefie...!"
Carole giggle and went back to her meal.
"No, it's something else," Miaka insisted. "Your eyes are shining like there're sparkles in."
"I'm just feeling great today."
The girl was hiding something from her and Miaka would have sworn it. She knew there was something going on but she also knew that if she didn't want to tell, she had a good reason.
"I think I saw Squall this morning," Seifer suddenly said.
"I didn't see him and I went to get him early this morning," Gackt informed with surprise. "He was already gone."
"I saw him going outside and he looked pretty happy to me," Seifer continued.
"My! What the hell happened during night? Yesterday he was barely listening when we were talking to him."
"True," Selphie said. "He looked like he had a lot on his mind."
"Carole too was feeling down yesterday," Rachel said. "When she came back home for supper, she said she wasn't hungry and locked herself in her room. When she came back this morning, she was all happy."
"Maybe thay had an argument yesterday," Zell supposed. "When I went to get Squall yesterday, she was there too."
"Nani?!" Miaka exclaimed.
"What!?" the others exclaimed.
Everyone turned to Carole who momentarily looked embarassed but fixed things up rapidly.
"I wanted him to be the first one to see my new clothes considering they look a lot like his."
"And what happened? He got angry, ne?"
"No, he even said I was looking great."
"Then what is it?"
"What I wonder," Rachel interrupted, "is how come if they were both so down yesterday evening, they're both so happy today!"
Everyone turned to Carole again with curious faces, making the girl uneasy again.
"Stop staring at me like that!"
"Sorry to be late!"
Squall sat down on the remaining free seat, just besides Carole and everyone jumped for not hearing him come.
"What's wrong?" he asked when he saw the faces.
"Hey guys," Seifer called. "Guess what? Someone saw Squall with a 'girl' this morning."
"Seifer!" Audrey scolded. "You promised you wouldn't tell about it!"
"Really?" Gackt exclaimed. "You got a new girlfriend? Who is it?"
"Don't know the details," Seifer continued. "Don't even know how she's like."
"When was it?" Rachel asked suspiciously.
"Around 7 this morning I think."
"Mm... That's around the same time Carole left home..."
Carole held her breath. Squall and her agreed sooner not to tell about their relationship.
"Did you see anything?" Rachel asked.
Breathing out...
"No, nothing."
It wasn't a lie. She didn't see anything. How could she have see it if she was the girl they were talking about?
Miaka looked at her friend a sorry way and Gackt looked at Squall curiously.
"Why didn't you tell me about it, Squall?"
"Wait, wait!" Selphie called. "Maybe it wasn't a girlfriend?"
"Well, Squall?" Irvine asked.
Squall kept silent a while, peeking at Carole. He lowered his head.
"I was with Carole," he said.
"What?!"
"She wanted me to meet her early this morning. We effectively had a... misunderstanding yesterday. She wanted to meet me this morning and I agreed right away. That's why I was happy. I knew everything would be fine again."
"And that's why Carole was so hasty this morning!" Rachel said. "You wanted everything to go back to normal!"
"Exactly!"
They had to lie but the others seemed to believe their little story.
The gang finished eating and Miaka understood less and less. Carole's face lightly changed since Squall showed up.
"You two sure would make a nice couple..."
"Why... why do you say that?" Carole asked.
"Look at you: both wearing leather and jackets, both wielding gunblades for weapon, both being SeeDs... You're the perfect couple!"
"Yeah, right..."
Seifer got up.
"This was really fun but unlike you SeeDs who seem to have lots of free time, I got work to do. See ya! Coming, Audrey?"
"Right behind ya!"
Raijin and Fujin got up along.
"Hey, Seifer, no need to be hard on them, ya know!"
"RIGHT!"
"You're only sweet to Audrey when you think we're not look... Ow!"
Fujin had kicked him.
"FOOL!"
"That hurts, Fujin, ya know!"
The others, including Seifer laughed. Poor Raijin always in Fujin's way, her favorite kicking victim. She never kicked anyone but him.
"Come on, let's go," Seifer said.
The four members of the Disciplinary Committee left the cafeteria to go on with their duty.
Rachel looked at her watch and got up.
"Gotta move on too, I got class."
She quickly kissed Zell on the cheek and hurried out too.
"Hey! Is that all?" Zell complained getting up.
He went after her.
"Hey, Sefie," Irvine asked. "I feel kinda rusted for not participating in missions for a while. Wanna help me practice my shooting?"
"Why not? This is better than doing nothing. See ya later guys!"
The cowboy and his girlfriend left too, leaving only one table full. Gackt shrugged.
"Do you have anything to do this afternoon?" he asked his friends.
"No," Miaka and Carole said in the same time.
"Not much classes now that we're SeeDs," Miaka added.
"Nothing either," Squall said. "Even though I'm the SeeD leader, it happens sometimes that I don't have anything to do."
"Great! Then why not go to the training center and have a contest: the one to kill the most monsters wins."
"Mmm..." Miaka thought. "Not bad."
"And if someone meets a T-Rexaur and can't flee or defeat it alone, call the others and the contest ends," Squall said thinking about Carole's incident.
"I agree," Gackt said.
"Okay for me," Carole added.
"Then let's go!"
The little group left the cafeteria. Twelve people leaving almost in the same time made it look pretty empty...and silent.
Gackt and Miaka had to go get their weapons while Squall and Carole were waiting in the hallway to the training center. Carole finally alone with Squall took advantage of the moment to ask for a little affection from him by placing herself close. He understood and wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes and sighed.
"I couldn't wait any longer..."
"Why? We were together just this morning."
"I know but... I don't know why if you're near I want your arm on my shoulders or rest my head on your shoulder. It's like I need a physical contact with you permanently."
He hugged her tight like he knew she wanted him to. Then he thought he was feeling tha same.
"What will I do when I get back home? I feel like I won't be able to eat or sleep and I'll see you everywhere."
"Come to the secret area tonight."
"After curfew?"
"No, before. People usually meet there after curfew so there won't be anyone there before."
Carole moved away, turning her back to Squall.
"Why do we have to hide it? Miaka knows how I feel, didn't you see the distress on her face when Seifer said you were with a girl this morning? She was worried about me! If she'd know we're together, she'd be happy for me. And Gackt too because he knows too."
Squall placed his hands on ehr shoulders.
"But you must understand. When we'll attend missions, if I choose to take you with me, everyone will think it's because you're my girlfriend but it's not the entirely true. Of course I love you but I also know your skills."
She turned to him.
"People will find out soon enough and we won't be much advanced. I think Miaka suspects something. Did you see how she looked at me at dinner?"
"Yeah, and Gackt too."
"Just to them, then? We can trust them! Only them please? I can't keep it for myself, you're my first boyfriend ever and I'm 18 already!"
"So? I'm 18 and you're my 2nd girlfriend."
"Within a year..."
That's right, Squall thought. A year ago, I never even dreamt of standing this close to a girl and talk about love like this. I sure have changed...
"I feel like I waited all my life for you and now that I've found you, I would like to never let you go..."
Squall lowered his head and they kissed.
"Are we supposed to do this all the time?" Squall asked teasing.
"You're the expert, at least you got experience."
"Not much. But I kinda... like this."
They were about to kiss again when they heard a whistling followed by clapping coming from the entrance. The couple guiltily broke apart and blushed shamefully.
"So that's what you were hiding!" Miaka exclaimed with joy.
She hurried to her friend and hugged her.
"Lucky you! You're finally together!"
"You sure kept her waiting," Gackt said tapping Squall in the back. "But the result is great! I kinda knew it."
Carole turned to Squall.
"If they were so sure about it, what tells us nobody else knows?"
"What do you mean?" Miaka inquired.
Squall explained his point about future missions consequences if his relationship with Carole would become public.
"No problem!" Gackt assured. "We can keep a secret, can't we Miaka?"
"Of course! But what I'm dying to know is when, for heaven's sake, did it happen? Yesterday for what I know, you were down and this morning, you were all cheered up. When and where?"
Carole looked at Squall again who shrugged with a smile. Then Carole turned to Miaka and lowered her voice.
"Can you keep it a secret too?"
"I looooooove secrets! Secret is my nickname!"
"No, your nickname is Miaka."
The four laughed then Gackt sighed placing a fist on his hip.
"So much for the training contest..."
Note: If you think there's too much cute stuff, well be brave! Action's on the way in the next chapter!
Maybe some will think Squall wouldn't act this way... True, but look how he changed! Dating Rinoa changed him, she dumped him, so he changed again and now he's dating me!!
There's one funny thing. When I first wrote this story 2 years ago, I was still single, so this was like a big fantasy (but not final, hehe) but now I got a boyfriend... and he's one of the characters in this story!! Guess who it is?? I'll tell in the end.
So far, I got more than half of the story typed and the best is yet to come! Keep reading! While you're waiting for this story to be updated, you can kill some time reading my others!
I didn't think this fic would get so popular! I'm glad!