Balamb Garden's Yuletide Vacation

Chapter 17

Sunday, December the Seventeenth

Even though it was Sunday morning, Zell was up fairly early. This was the day he was supposed to travel to Balamb City and visit the Hot Dog Emporium in order to set up the arrangements for the hot dog bar. The Hot Dog Emporium, being located within Balamb Mall, was always open for some hours on Sundays in hopes of attracting shoppers for lunch since they also had a restaurant besides a catering service. As it was now so close to the Solstice holidays the mall itself, as many of the stores within it, were open extra hours in order to accommodate holiday shoppers.

Zell had finally gotten into her clinic room to apologize to Rinoa the evening before. His accidental victim had acted rather standoffish when he had attempted to make amends. He told himself that he understood that she would be highly upset over what had happened. Although he was accepting of her still being mad at him, it hurt his feelings nonetheless.

Out to get Rinoa! Zell thought. That's crazy, wouldn't I know if I were out to get Rinoa?

Zell had nowhere to turn to for support or insight. He normally utilized his girlfriend in that role, but recently she had seemed to lose faith in him for some reason. That's not right, he thought. Your girlfriend should believe in you.

Zell only had one other person to whom he could go for support and that was Squall. Talking to the commander was out of the question as no one had really seen Squall for days except in passing for seconds at a time. And when they had, the commander had been horribly rude. Well, I'll ask Nicole to go with me down to Balamb and maybe on the way we can talk.

Yeah, that's the ticket! Zell thought optimistically as he left his room to make his way toward the cafeteria. As soon as Zell entered the cafeteria he saw Nicole, Selphie, and Irvine sitting at a table near the back of the first room. Nearing the table, the blond-haired SeeD called out, "Hey Nicole! You wanna go with me down to Balamb?"

"That depends," his pretty dark-haired girlfriend answered mysteriously.

"On what?" Zell inquired bouncing up and down on his toes, shadow boxing.

"On whether you know what day it is," Nicole answered.

"Well, of course I know what day it is," the excitable SeeD answered feeling completely confident for a change. "It's the day we go to Balamb to leave the cash deposit with the Hot Dog Emporium."

Nicole looked stricken and then tried once more. "No, that's not it… today is a very special day."

"What's so special about a Sunday?" he asked, thoroughly confused as he usually was.

"Oh Zell!" the young woman burst out crying and fled the cafeteria.

"What'd I say?" Zell asked confused glancing from Selphie to Irvine.

Selphie stepped forward and softly touched Zell on his arm. "Zell, honey," she said gently, "Today is Nicole's birthday."

"Oh my sweet rear end!" the young man exclaimed. "Are you sure? I thought it was next Sunday."

Matt, who had just approached with Quistis in tow advised, "A stitch in time saves nine."

"Yes, I'm sure," the green-eyed woman replied, flashing Matt a glare of annoyance. "In fact I'm throwing her a surprise party in the secret area. Now when you go to Balamb you pick her out something really nice -."

"Oh, don't worry," Zell interrupted. "I have something real nice I'm gonna get her."

"Okay, good," Selphie praised. "Now hurry up and get back here as quick as you can. And then come straight to the secret area for the surprise party."

"I will!" Zell called out over his shoulder as he had already turned and was sprinting from the cafeteria. Surprise party, huh? I hope it turns out better than the one Squall gave Rinoa, he thought.

Quistis turned to her boyfriend. "I can't believe you said that."

"What?"

"Oh, never mind…"

~*~

Selphie once again made use of the tables and chairs she had used for her wine and cheese party several nights prior. With the help of Rinoa and Andrea the area had turned into a rose and lavender wonderland of balloons and streamers. The birthday cake Quistis had purchased stood in the center on a table bedecked with fresh roses.

The whole gang was there, except for Zell who had not yet returned from Balamb. Even Squall had made an appearance. The commander sat sullenly at a table in the corner sipping at a pint of Shumi beer.

It was getting late, and Selphie had decided to proceed in spite of the fact that Zell had not yet arrived. Matt, who had been elected to take the martial artist's place in fetching Nicole, had gone to perform his duty.

The gang waited with the lights off for Nicole's grand entrance. When the birthday girl stepped into the Secret area on the arm of Quistis' boyfriend, Selphie snapped on the lights and everyone shouted, "Surprise!"

"Oh!" cried Nicole, "how sweet of you all!" She grinned happily, her face glowing with excitement. She was soon surrounded by her friends wishing her a happy birthday. Looking around, Nicole asked, "Where's Zell?"

"He'll be here any minute," explained Selphie, trying to make the librarian feel better, "he got stuck in Balamb."

Nicole's face grew cold. "How convenient," she said with a sniff. With a shrug she accepted a glass of bubbly pink wine and proceeded to enjoy herself.

The party was well underway when Zell finally made his appearance. Out of breath and covered with a faint sheen of sweat from running as fast as he could to make it on time, the blond SeeD approached his girlfriend.

With an apologetic grin, Zell approached his girlfriend. She said nothing but looked at him with an unreadable expression. When he leaned forward to offer Nicole a kiss she backed away.

"Ew, Zell, you're all sweaty."

"Sorry," he said, "I ran all the way here."

"Yes, well, you're late," Nicole complained.

Zell sighed. "I'm sorry," he apologized again. "It took a while to have this made for you." He held out a tiny gift bag.

Nicole scarcely glanced at the gift. "You can put that over there." She gestured to a table heaped with gifts and presented Zell with her back. Holding back tears, Zell did as he was told then went to stand by the entrance to the secret area. A long time passed before Nicole made eye contact with her boyfriend again. When she did she gave him her iciest glower then stuck her nose up in the air and proceeded to continue ignoring him.

Tears emerged from Zell's sky blue eyes. Then, choking back a sob, the martial artist ran from the area.

Squall, having seen all this, shook his head slowly. Gulping down the remainder of his beer, the commander made his way over to Nicole. "Happy birthday, Nicole."

"Thank you, Squall," she said, her eyes glazed from the alcohol she'd imbibed.

"I have some paperwork to finish," he told her, "so I guess I'll see you around. Goodnight."

Nicole looked imploringly into Squall's glum countenance. "I guess you think I'm being really hard on Zell…"

Squall shrugged. "I don't think anything."

"That'sh very true," deadpanned Rinoa, who was obviously very drunk, "Hyne shaysh 'We are what we think. All that we are arishes with our thoughts. With our thoughtsh, we make our world.'"

"Whatever," Squall retorted.

Rinoa puffed herself up. "That'sh your anshwer to everything" –hiccup- "isn't it Shquall? Whatever, whatever, whatever…" She hiccupped again and then belched loudly. The sorceress was too drunk to excuse herself or even be embarrassed at her rudeness.

Refusing to be drawn into a confrontation, Squall merely strode out of the party. Rinoa stood glaring in his departing direction long after he was gone.

"Well, that was uncalled for," commented Matt.

Rinoa whirled on Quistis' boyfriend with her chin jutting out. "Bite me!"

Matt blanched slightly. "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, Rinoa, I was just making an observation!"

"Well, a very poor one!" she told him, unpuffing herself. "I am just so sick of Squall being so mean."

"You know, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," Matt advised gently.

Rinoa huffed. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

A drunken Irvine spoke up just then. "I means that if you want to be with Squall, you will have to accept him for what he is. You can't change him." He looked pointedly at Selphie.

"Shut up, Irvine!" the tiny SeeD retorted, understanding his implication.

Irvine slammed his glass of brandy down on the table. "I am getting just a little bit tired of you telling me to shut up, Selphie."

"I'll tell you whatever I want to, Irvine… you brought it on yourself!"

"Every stick has two ends," Matt pointed out.

Selphie bounced over to Matt and shook her finger in his face. "You shut up, cliché-boy, this is none of your business!"

The argument only degenerated from there and Nicole began to cry. Quistis was tired of all of it. Andrea was already comforting Nicole, so she saw no reason to stay any longer. The instructor quickly departed the ruined party and made her way to her room.

~*~

Quistis sat on the end of her bed gazing at her sparkling holiday tree, brooding over the unpleasant ending to Nicole's birthday party. The holidays were looking worse and worse for her and her friends. A tear trickled down the blonde lady's cheek, which she hurriedly swiped away.

Tap tap tap.

Quistis started at the sound of the rapping upon her door. She hurriedly rushed to open it, but found the hall was empty. Deciding someone was playing games, Quistis began to close the door but then she espied a bright red envelope lying on the floor. Ripping it open, Quistis read a short note that had apparently been written by Matt.

"Dear Quistis," stated the note, "I have a little surprise for you. Meet me out by the rear entrance at eight o'clock sharp. Don't talk to anyone you see on the way, even me, or it will wreck the surprise. Dress warmly. Love, Matt"

Wondering what Matt could possibly have to surprise her with, Quistis checked her watch. It was 7:23, she didn't have much time!

Bundled up in her new suede coat with fur trim, Quistis hurried through the halls. Curiosity was devouring her; Matt had never done anything this mysterious or exciting before. When Quistis exited through the narrow doorway of the parking garage, she stopped short.

Bathed in moonlight before her was an old fashioned chocobo-drawn sleigh. In the giant birds' preening, the bells of their harnesses jingled cheerfully. Throwing her head back in laughter, she wrapped her arms around Matt who was bundled up so snugly all she could see of him were his eyes above the muffler covering his face. A cloud had covered the moon and Quistis could barely even see her boyfriend's eyes in the shadow.

"It's so wonderful!" cried Quistis. Matt chuckled softly and took her hand to lead her into the sleigh.

"Ready?" he whispered.

Quistis nodded and pulled out a fur hat to cover her head with. "Why are you whispering, Matt?"

"Sore throat," he whispered as he gave the sleigh driver the cue to set out.

That's odd, Quistis thought, he seemed okay at Nicole's party. Ah well…

It was a perfect night as they traversed the Balamb countryside, the chocobos' harness bells jangling merrily. Quistis' smile did not waver as she snuggled against Matt who had his arm tightly around her shoulders.

As they plodded on, both remained silent. It was unlike Matt to be so quiet. The lovely young woman did not speak up about this for fear of causing him to begin spouting clichés again. Instead Quistis pressed her cold face into the warmth of his neck. She was surprised when her insides began to flip-flop in excitement. Deciding that Matt must have changed his cologne, Quistis went with the emotion.

Maybe his cologne was the problem all along, she mused.

They were on their way back to the Garden when Quistis said, "Oh, Matt, this was wonderful! It must have cost you so much gil!" Quistis knew that Matt tended to be something of a tightwad. Actually, he's just plain cheap, she admitted to herself.

"Nothing's too good for you, Quisty," he whispered.

Quistis giggled. It's about time he caught on to my nickname. "You are so sweet!" she reached to pull aside Matt's muffler in order to kiss him. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, obviously had other ideas and pulled away.

"Oh Matt," she chastised, "there's nothing sinful about kissing, we've done it plenty of times!"

"Contagious," was all he muttered, pointing a gloved hand to his throat.

They were just pulling up to the Garden and Quistis did not want to waste the moment. "Oh don't be silly," she said, forcefully pulling away his face covering. Quistis was stunned momentarily when she found the face staring back at her was not Matt's.

"Seifer!"

He turned his face away. "Yeah…"

Quistis knew she should be angry; in fact she tried to make herself so. But she could not. As the sleigh pulled to a stop, Quistis found herself pulling Seifer near. Without thinking she pressed her lips gently against Seifer's. He had just begun to kiss back when all of a sudden he pulled away. There was a strange look of fear in his eyes before he wordlessly turned from her.

After handing the driver an envelope stuffed with gil, Seifer leaped out of the sleigh only to disappear into the darkness. Quistis disembarked slowly, pondering what had just happened between them.

(A/N: Rinoa's Hyne quote was originally said by Buddha.)