First of all, thanks for the reviews! As you can see, I am very much an amateur at this sort of thing even though I've been writing for quite some time now. (It's not one of my strong points.) Also, I lied! There is going to be a fourth chapter to this- I didn't think about the spacing of the events very well. The last chapter might be shorter than the others though.

Cry Me a River: …the explanations…

By Reikamae

When Zell opened his eyes he immediately closed them; the bright morning light escaping through the shut blinds. It was warm, unusually warm for it just being him. He slid deeper into the bed letting the smooth sheets brush against his naked body. Saturday- a time of rest. Zell just lay there thinking about what Rinoa was going to do about it now that Squall was gone. "I should go visit her later…" He thought out loud.

"Visit who?" The small delicate voice startled Zell and made him jump out of bed.

He stood there staring at Rinoa's face in confusion trying to put all the pieces together. "Shit!…Fu-" Catching himself he silently cursed to himself from then on. He couldn't believe what he did. That meant he betrayed his best friend in the worst possible way. Had he even liked it? If he did, that would make it even more unexplainable. He looked around and saw his boxers on the floor and put them on.

As he was dressing Rinoa asked, "Where are you going?"

Now Zell was starting to panic as well as being angry and frustrated, making him stutter. "We- don't go telling people about what we did. This isn't- will never be- right. I didn't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have done this…"

"You're right. I didn't know what I was thinking either. Maybe it was just from- or it could be a- oh hell, I don't know! I-I'm sorry Zell. I really am…" She slowly got out of bed and started to change too.

That some things are better left unsaid…

"Well, we can't do anything about this right now except to lie. It's going to be hard, but we can't let anyone find out about this. Promise me, okay?"

And don't it make you sad about it…

Rinoa quickly thought about this. There really was no other way. They were both going to have to act like nothing happened and live life the way it came. But it would hurt to lie to all of her close friends about something so serious as sex. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she looked back at Zell. "…I promise…"

Spring rolled into summer and summer into fall. Nobody had suspected anything about Zell and Rinoa. They were all coping the fact that Squall was not with them and never would be. But one chilly evening, when Rinoa was walking down the sandy beach of Balamb, she spotted something out in the blue-green sea.

"What is that?" Rinoa thought. Ships didn't usually come in to dock this late at night. Normally she would've just ignored the ships and continue with her walk, but something about this one was different. She ran towards the information building that held a daily schedule of in and outgoing ships. Carefully she scanned the list of ship names and times. Finding nothing about this ship she ran back and hid behind a building just in case this ship had something she wasn't allowed to see.

When the ship docked she waited for about five minutes but nothing happened. Rinoa was about to leave when she heard a very familiar voice.

"Yeah. I'm going now to Balamb Garden. Thanks for all your help!" The guy who had just spoke wore a black cloak that was tightly wrapped around him. His hood was pulled up over his head and it was dark already so that Rinoa couldn't tell who it was. She had a deep feeling that it was Squall, though. Her heart raced at the thought of him being back.

A deep rough voice answered back. "No problem, Leonhart."

She knew it! It was Squall! She didn't care how he got back, but that he was finally home. Rinoa ran as fast as she could from her hiding place and enclosed her arms around his body. "You're finally back…" Silent tears of joy fell and landed on his jacket.

"Rinoa?! Is that you?" Squall pushed back the hood to reveal his blue-gray eyes that sparkled with excitement in the star-lit sky. He ran his fingers sensually through her hair. "I missed you so much… You don't know how much I love you…" Rinoa was about to speak but he silenced her by placing his lips over hers.

Rinoa lightly sucked on Squall's lower lip before speaking; their lips still barely touching. "Where have you been? Everyone thought you were…" Rinoa thought she could say it, but she realized it still made her upset.

"Shhh… Let's go back home. I have lots to talk about."

"So you were lost with other people and they claimed you dead? Couldn't you sue them for that? You had us all worried! But didn't you have tracking devices on you or something as a safety precaution?" Selphie re-capped after Squall told everyone what had happened.

Squall looked around the lounge room, glad to see his friends were okay. Rinoa was comfortable in her position- snuggled up next to Squall. Irvine and Selphie shared an armchair while Quistis was on the couch and Zell leaned against the couch on the floor beside Quistis' legs. It was odd to him that Zell was quiet and not joking around at a time like this. Maybe he should go talk to him later. Hugging Rinoa tighter he answered Selphie's questions.

"It wasn't their fault, Selphie. We did have trackers, but my group had to abandon our gear, including our trackers during a fight. So, we had nothing left afterwards but our instincts, I guess you could say. It took us awhile to get back because we had no maps or anything. I'm just thankful we all made it back." Squall turned to his left and lightly kissed Rinoa on the top of her head while watching Zell out of the corner of his eye. He tried not to show his puzzlement when the blonde just stared at Rinoa and him, then immediately looked away.

Before anyone got to say anything, Zell asked to be excused. Since they were all excited about Squall being back, they just waved him off and continued their conversations.

Squall wanted to make sure that his best friend was okay. The rest of them ignored Zell like nothing was wrong with him. Had something happened to Zell while he was gone? Quietly he told Rinoa he'd be back, then slowly followed Zell out of the Quad.

Zell headed outside and sat down on one of the benches positioned next to some foliage. He buried his head into his hands after looking up into the starry sky. Since he was too deep in thought Zell didn't hear Squall come up and sit next to him.

Keep messing with my head…

'What could I do? Just sit here and let Squall get hurt unknowingly? It wasn't right! I should have never been with Rinoa or even listened to her… I have to tell him… somehow. Even though Rinoa wasn't supposed to say anything, I can't just let my best friend not know something as serious as this…' Zell kept running the same thoughts and reasons through his head, trying to find some sort of reasonable answer to help with his problems. Should he tell Squall? It was the right thing to do, but it would hurt Rinoa badly too. But, after-all, it was her that triggered the decision… but it was him who went along with it…

"Hey, buddy… you okay?"

Zell tightened his grip on his head as Squall's soothing voice startled him. Gradually Zell lifted his head and sat upright to face Squall. Concern filled all the features of Squall's face when Zell didn't answer but just looked at him with a pleading look.

"Um… Some things happened… w-while you were dea- gone." Zell struggled to find the right words.

Squall's eyebrows narrowed, sensing this was some powerful news- and not necessarily good. For comfort Squall put an arm around Zell and squeezed his upper arm. "You can tell me anything… you know that."

It was hard- hard not to do the right thing when you promised another not to tell. Zell swallowed and looked straight into Squall's eyes. "It has something to do with… Rinoa…"

"She's okay, though, right? You promised me to take care of her while I was gone…"

Zell took in a deep breath knowing that this was the only time he could do it. "Rinoa… had sex-"

At the word 'sex' Squall jumped up and shook Zell. "Who's the bastard?!…"

Zell couldn't believe what was happening. He hung his head loosely between Squall's tight grip on his shoulders to hide the tears running down his cheek. He was ready for what Squall was going to do to him- ready to die.

With some other guy…

"…Me…"

A/N: How'd you like it? If you like this story, please tell somebody about this! I would love to hear more feedback whether it's good or bad. (I like people pointing out my mistakes or giving suggestions. ^_^) Thanks for reading so far and don't forget to review! I also noted that there wsn't much lyrics used in this chapter- oh well, I'll make it up in the next one.