Chapter 3
There was an awkward silence in the hospital cubical as Rinoa sat on the bed and Nida sat silently beside on a chair. He looked up suddenly. "Rinoa I'm really sorry about all this, it was my fault, I shouldn't have been so stupid by putting that bag in the hall way"
Rinoa sighed to herself wondering how many more time he would have to apologise to her. She turned to him seeing him looking at her a little nervously, like a young child that had done something terribly wrong and was in trouble. "Don't worry about it," she said feeling a little sorry for him by the way he was acting about the whole incident. "I'm okay."
Nida looked down at the floor and started fidgeting with his hands, getting impatient; he sighed and stood up " I hate these damn hospitals, there so slow. You'll probably bleed to death by the time any doctor gets here"
Rinoa arched an eyebrow at his last comment, not wanting to cause any more trouble she kept quiet and nodded her head in agreement with him. The hospital in Balamb was a lot slower than the hospital she was used to back in Deling City.
"If they don't come within the next five minutes I'm gonna go complain" Nida said looking at his watch.
Rinoa let out another sigh, sensing that Nida was uncomfortable being here, she said, "You know Nida you can go if you want to, your father looked like he could do with some help back there at the hotel"
He shook his head as he returned to his seat " I promised my farther that I'd stay with you, and anyway, my mum will be there to help him out"
The door to the hospital flew open and in came a doctor. Rinoa put her head in her hands as Nida began complaining about the long wait.
"…And another thing," he continued. "She could have been here dying here and by the time you would of got your lazy asses down here she could have been dead."
The doctor looked down at Nida, secretly amused by his sudden outburst. "Well I'm here now and if she had been dying I'm sure you wouldn't have helped by stopping me treat my patient."
Before Nida could say anything else the doctor pushed him out the cubical. "Stay out and let me do my job. Come back when you've calmed down," the doctor said before turning his back and walked back to Rinoa. Nida scowled at the doctor but knew he could do nothing about it, so slowly walked off silently cursing to himself.
Rinoa looked up at the doctor. "Thanks for doing that, he was really starting to ann - Squall?" she said startled as she looked into the doctors deep ethereal eyes and the unique scar that ran with a gentleness down his face.
He simply looked at her. "Hi Rinoa, it's nice to see you again," he said, his voice as casual as always.
"Squall, what are you doing here?" she said still in shock.
"I work here. Shouldn't I be asking you what you're doing here?"
"I just came here today and…well typical clumsy me already got injured."
Squall stepped closer to her as he placed two gentle fingers on her forehead, inspecting her wound. "Looks nasty."
He picked up some equipment from nearby and began to clean the wound. Rinoa just sat there in complete amazement, she wondered if she had always though he was this attractive.
"Does Seifer live here?" Rinoa asked, she knew that Seifer and Squall envied each other when they were younger.
Squall nodded his head. "He works here as
well but he's a psychiatrist."
Rinoa smiled to herself. It was true what her friend had told her.
"It doesn't sound like the Seifer I used to know." Rinoa said, trying to imagine Seifer as a psychiatrist.
Squall nodded his head in agreement, his eyes still focusing on Rinoas injury. Squall dropped his hands to his sides. "You're free to go now."
Rinoa touched her head gently to find a bandage now covering the wound. "Thanks Squall," Rinoa said feeling a little sad that she had to leave Squall so quickly.
Squall turned to a medical cupboard fastened to the wall and brought out a small white box. "You might get some bad headaches, if you do take one of these and it'll clear up. Squall said handing them to her. Rinoa took them from his hand and stood off the bed.
"Squall can we see each other again sometime?" she asked turning to Squall. "You know, catch up on the old days and stuff."
Squall nodded his head. Just to talk,
usually he would have made an excuse or just said no but he found himself drawn
to her. Somewhere deep down inside him he opened up to her. "I finish work in a
few minutes, if you want to wait for me outside the reception I'll walk you
home."
Rinoa smiled. "Alright then, see you in a bit," she said before walking out the
room.
~*~*~*~
Rinoa looked up at the stars in the sky as she waited for Squall on a bench outside the hospital. Since she came she had only really thought about seeing Seifer again, but what if it was a waste of time coming here? She didn't really know what she was doing here. Coming to see Seifer was what she had told herself, but deep down she knew it was just an excuse to get away.
Rinoa thought to her home back in Deling City. Her and her father. They had had problems in the past but everything was sorted out now. Just as things seemed to be getting back to normal she saw a new problem arose. The problem came in the form of Nina Richardson, her father's new girlfriend. Ever since Rinoa first met her she hadn't liked her, and Nina seemed to feel exactly the same about Rinoa. Nina envied the closeness of Rinoa and her father and tried to separate them constantly. This had been going on for almost a year. Rinoa needed an excuse to get away for a while.
Rinoa snapped from her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Squall standing over her.
"You okay?" he asked.
Rinoa nodded her head and stood from the bench. "I'm fine."
"Where's that annoying person who was with you when I first came in?" Squall asked looking around.
"Nida. He's gone back because I made up some lame excuse to get rid of him," Rinoa said smiling.
Squall stuck his hands in his pockets. Since finishing work he had changed from his blue scrubs to some scruffy blue jeans and a black T-shirt. He looked at the ground feeling her eyes looking at him.
"Nida, huh?" he finally said. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"
Squall lifted his head up to see her face again. Rinoa shook her head, with a small giggle. "No, he works at the hotel I'm staying at."
They both started to walk through Balamb together. Neither of them said much but Rinoa didn't mind, she just enjoyed spending some time with an old friend. Back when she was at school with him he was never much of a conversation starter, he was more of a listener though you could never tell if he was actually listening. At school it didn't seem to bother him being alone, he was always lost in thought. As she looked over at him she realised he was just the same old Squall.
The pair turned into a new street, stepping from a shadowy path to a brightly illuminated street. Small squares of light shone from the windows of the hotel. They both came to a stop as they stood outside the hotel, during this mild night. Rinoa looked up at Squall and smiled. "Thanks for walking me to my hotel."
Squall gave her a nod. "How long are you staying in Balamb?"
Rinoa shrugged her shoulders. "It depends."
"On what?"
'Depends on what' she asked herself. 'If my Dad and Nina show they really care about me and want me back? If Seifer still wants to keep in contact with me? Or maybe Squall…'
"Squall could you do something for me, please?" Rinoa said, changing the subject quickly. "Could you let Seifer know I'm here?"
Squall nodded his head. Rinoa opened the entrance to the hotel, before stepping inside she took one last glance at Squall.
"Goodnight Squall," she said before entering the hotel.
~*~*~*~
Squall lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure of the time, he wasn't really bothered either as his mind was somewhere else. His mind thought back on Rinoa. What was she doing here? Although he couldn't admit it, he was glad to have seen her again. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was.
When he was in school he never wanted to be like a human and stayed by himself, he never really had any friends. He was completely the opposite of Seifer, who seemed to fit in straight away and became instantly popular. Seifer never looked back on being a mutant, but Squall stayed believing that one-day he wouldn't have to keep his secret away from everyone. That one-day he would be free of all prejudice.
Sometimes he wished he was invisible, he ended up staying against walls like it was some sort of shelter away from everyone else. Always staying as close as he could to the wall whenever he walked down the hallway of the school. In class he would sit at the back. It was his way of getting away from everyone. Even the teachers didn't like him. They would know when something bad was going to happen to him, but they just simply turned their backs until they had finishing bullying Squall.
It made him so angry he'd feel sick. He heated the way everyone treated him. Then she came along, he didn't know why but one day she just started talking to him. Although he never really spoke to her that much, everyday she'd be there talking to him. Secretly he was afraid, the reason he never talked to her that much was because he knew if he got to know her better he would fall in love with her.
Authors Note: Phew! Finally written that chapter up! Just for future reference, Squall has the same powers as Max if you watch Roswell. Wahhhhhhh!!! Its going to be the last ever episode of Roswell on Thursday for those of you who have sky one and live in England please watch it even if you don't usually watch it. Nobody watches it, am I the only one?!
Thank you to Phoenix Blade, Dark Raion, Renegade Seraph, Embodyment of the inferno, Exile87, Ethrial and Quisty878 for reviewing my story so far. It really means a lot to me ya know. THANK YOU!!!!!
