To The Last Rose
Author's Note: Silk... Fake... Same idea. .; Yes, I am finally writing the next chapter! I still have no idea what to put though. x_x I kinda just wanna get straight to the cute ending, but I can't. ::sigh:: Okay. Well, I'm happy with my reviews, so I'll keep my 'fans' happy by continuing! ::skitters off, stage left::
*** Chapter 4 - Purple Rose ***
The next morning, Zell came knocking lightly on Selphie's door. When he received no answer, he pushed the door open and poked his head in to look around. He spotted her still in bed, sound asleep. With a smile, he stepped in and shut the door quietly behind himself. He silently made his way to her bed and sat down gently, one hand reaching out to brush a few strands of hair from her face.
"What are you doing to me..?" he asked quietly as he continued to run his fingers through her hair. Somehow, even as she slept, those strands continued to hold their flip.
She murmured something that sounded a lot like 'no more' in her sleep, but Zell couldn't be sure. With a smile he placed his hands at either side of her sleeping form and leaned over, placing a light kiss to the top of her head. For some reason, he felt unsatisfied, but he couldn't think about it for long when a little groan came from the sleeping angel.
His body jolted upward and he quickly got back on his feet, taking a few steps back. "Ah, I'm sorry, Selphie. I didn't mean to wake you up. I just came in to check on you and I was trying to be quiet..." He looked off to the side guiltily, one hand rubbing the back of his head.
She laughed weakly and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and covering a yawn before speaking. "It's okay, I need to start getting up anyway. Can't sleep through the whole day, right?" She smiled over at him and he felt himself blush.
"Erm... yeah... right," he managed to grumble out before turning to the door. "Well, I just wanted to check up on you. Since you seem to be doing fine I'll just be leaving." He was halfway out the door before he heard her calling out to him.
"Zell, wait! Can't you stick around a little longer? I'm gonna get bored here all by myself." When Zell turned to look, he was surprised to find the largest, wateriest (word..?) eyes in the world staring at him, lower lip out and trembling as if she were going to cry.
He let out a few sounds as if he were trying to think of an excuse to leave, but the face was getting to him and he finally threw his hands up in the air in defeat and came back into the room, making sure to shut the door behind him.
Selphie smiled happily, watching as he sat down beside her on the bed. "So, uh... How've you been feeling lately..?" his sad attempt at a conversation was enough to get Selphie talking again.
"I'm feeling much better, thanks to your care! Yesterday I almost got up and went to the Training Center, but I thought 'nah, don't feel like it' and went back to bed, but that was okay 'cause I had a nice dream. Plus, if I had gotten up and left for the Training Center, then it might have changed everything now and I wouldn't be here talking to you!"
Zell just stared at her. How could one question turn to something else? He sighed and shook his head, his gaze soon falling to the carpet. Silence fell over the two for a few minutes. He could feel Selphie squirm in the silence and opened his mouth to say something, but the growling of his stomach silenced him.
He blushed in embarrassment as Selphie giggled. "You hungry? Alright then, we'll go eat!" She quickly hopped out of bed and went to her closet, opening it and pushing her clothes around. "What to wear, what to wear..."
Zell blinked a few times before standing and walking over to her. "Selphie," he reached over and placed a hand to her forehead. "You still have a fever, you shouldn't be out of bed." Selphie turned around in an instant and hugged him.
"It's okay! I'm getting hungry anyway, and if we're both hungry, then there's no point of staying in here, right? Besides, I haven't been out of my room for a while, I can't stay cooped up in here forever." Her logic always left Zell confused.
She turned back to her clothes and pulled out the familiar yellow jumper. "Alright! Zell, out. You can't watch a lady dress," she held the yellow jumper in one hand and shooed him out with the other, making sure to shut the door once he was out.
Zell just stood there, stupidly staring at the smiley face on the door until it opened again. Selphie smiled at him and hooked her arm into his. "Let's go!" she pointed out towards where she figured the Cafeteria was, as if they were going on a journey.
***~***
The line was pretty short, and soon enough both Zell and Selphie were seated, Zell with his hotdogs and Selphie with a salad and juice. Their breakfast was silent, besides the noise of others that occupied tables nearby. Selphie stared at Zell as he stuffed one hotdog in after the other.
"Erm, Zell... You're gonna choke if you keep eating that fast. And if you don't choke, you're gonna at least get a stomach ache." She glanced around nervously, hoping no one else noticed his monstrous eating habit. Lucky for her, everyone seemed to be busy with their own things.
Soon enough, Zell turned an odd shade of blue and grabbed Selphie's juice, chugging it down and letting out a deep breath. "Gah! I thought I was gonna die!" He put his head down on the table and let out a few more breaths. Selphie laughed and picked up her now empty juice box.
"It's great that you're alive, but now I don't have any juice," she gave a little whimper, and as soon as it came out, Zell was on his feet.
"I'm sorry, I'll go get you another one!" He was already turning to run off, but a small hand resting on his arm stopped him.
"It's okay," she laughed a bit before continuing, "I can survive without it. Remember? I'm already feeling much better, I'm sure I don't need a drink every five seconds."
He stared down at her for a bit longer before nodding. It took a few more seconds for them to speak again. "Erm... You wanna go do something? We could go to the Library, if you want." His eyes turn downcast as he kicked lightly at the ground.
Selphie smiled and stood up, her arm hooking back into his as she started walking off, pulling him along with her. "Alright than, off to the Library we go!"
***~***
As soon as they stepped into the library Selphie felt a shiver run up her spine. Someone was glaring at her. She timidly glanced over to the counter and saw the pigtailed girl staring at her. 'That could be bad...' she thought to herself before pulling her arm out from Zell's.
"I'm gonna go check out the romance section. I'll be right back, okay?" She skipped off to the shelves marked 'Romance' without even waiting for a response. Zell stood there, watching her back for a minute or so before a small hand on his shoulder turned his attention away.
"Zell! You haven't been responding to my messages on the board lately. Is there something wrong?" the girl with the pigtail asked innocently, her hands clasping behind her back. Zell shook his head and pointed over to Selphie.
"I've been taking care of Selphie lately, so I haven't had time to go onto the board." It was a slight lie, given that ever since Selphie had questioned him about his relationship with the library girl he had been avoiding the message boards.
"Aw, well then you should just ditch her. Besides, she looks like she's doing fine now anyway." The girl clung to his arm and smiled up at him.
Selphie frowned at the shelves, hating them for hiding her favorite romance novel from her. With a defeated sigh, she turned to see the library girl clinging to a rather distressed looking Zell. He had this look as if he were pleading for help from anyone, and so at that moment she proclaimed herself as Super Selphie.
She put on her most angered look possible and stomped over to Zell and the Library Girl, her arms closing around Zell's other arm. "Excuse me, but what are you doing?" She practically growled at the girl.
The library girl blinked in surprise at Selphie then held on tighter to Zell. "None of your business. Why don't you go off and play with someone else?" Every guy in the library turned as if there were mental hissing and cat screams coming from the two girls.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. You should take your hands off of my Zell now. He is, afterall, my boyfriend," Selphie deadpanned.
The other girls' eyes widened in shock and she pulled away from Zell to look up at him. He had an equally shocked look on his face as he stared down at Selphie.
"Is-... Is this true?" she stammered out.
Zell didn't move, his mind was still trying to sort out what was happening.
"Yeah, it's true. So move along and tend to your 'customers'," Selphie continued with the most sugarcoated tone she could put on. And with that, she pulled Zell out.
Selphie let go of Zell once they reached the dorm halls and let out a heavy sigh. "I hate being mean to people. It makes me feel so horrible." Her head lowered and she settled with staring down at the ground.
Zell finally snapped out of it and put his hands on Selphie's shoulders. "It's alright, Selphie. Thank you for... erm... saving me," he managed to say to the downhearted girl. She smiled back up at him then turned to her door and opened it.
"It was no problem for Super Selphie! I can take on anything!" She laughed at herself then stepped into her room. "Well, Super Selphie needs rest if she's gonna be perfectly healthy tomorrow. See ya later, Zell." She stepped into her room and turned to smile once again to him.
"Mm, I'll come check up on you later tonight, okay?" He put his hands into his back pockets and smiled goofily at her. She nodded and shut the door before crawling back into bed. She had been doing so much sleeping lately, Hyne knew she'd be wide awake for at least two days straight.
***~***
Later that night Zell came by her room again. He simply opened the door, not bothering to knock since it was never answered anyway. She was sitting up in bed, holding the bouquet of roses he had given her. He cleared his throat for attention, and smiled as he gained it immediately.
"Ah! Zell! I didn't think you'd come by so soon!" She hurriedly put the roses back where they had been sitting and smiled innocently over at him.
"You want me to leave?" He felt hurt at the idea of her wanting him gone, but he quickly shook the feeling out.
"No, no. It's okay. I just wasn't expecting you," she scooted herself over as he sat down in his spot on her bed again. "I'm feeling much better now. You've been so kind, taking care of me and all," she spoke shyly, her gaze locked down on her twiddling thumbs.
Zell smiled over at her and draped an arm around her shoulders. "I have to take care of you. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't? Besides, I owe it to the Garden if their chair of the Garden Festival didn't get better."
Selphie blushed lightly but leaned over and rest her head lightly on his shoulder. Her eyes closed and she let out a sigh. "Stay here with me tonight." She wasn't asking him to. It was more like... ordering him to with kindness (?). Zell felt himself stiffen and he turned his head enough to look down at the top of her head.
"Wh-what?" His voice was shaky and he didn't understand why his face felt so hot. Selphie's eyes opened so she could look up at him and she smiled gently.
"Stay the night with me. It'll make me feel safer... please?" Those puppy eyes were back and he felt his heart warm.
"Alright, alright..." he muttered. She squealed happily and scooted over once again, smiling as she watched him pull off his shoes and lay down beside her. Her arms encircled his left arm and she leaned her head against his shoulder again, her eyes closing as she felt the warmth from his body seeping in through the clothing and into her.
Soon she fell asleep there and Zell found himself staring up at the ceiling, only doing his best to beat down the blush on his cheeks. His heart was racing uncomfortably in his chest and he managed to turn his body enough to face her while still allowing her to cling to his arm.
'Why try to beat it?' he asked himself as his own eyes shut. His right arm shyly draped over her waist and he dozed off as well, holding Selphie's smaller form close to his.
*****************************************************************
Okay, this chapter is gonna give me cavities. o_o; As we can tell, I'm at a writers block. But don't worry! I'll overcome this beast soon! :D So... wait patiently and I'll have the next few chapters coming out. And if we're lucky, the next chapter will be much... much, much, much better than this one was. X_x; I'm embarrassed just to post this one up. Okay, I'm done. Review and give me some suggestions for things that could be in the upcoming chapters!
~o.wa.ri
Author's Note: Silk... Fake... Same idea. .; Yes, I am finally writing the next chapter! I still have no idea what to put though. x_x I kinda just wanna get straight to the cute ending, but I can't. ::sigh:: Okay. Well, I'm happy with my reviews, so I'll keep my 'fans' happy by continuing! ::skitters off, stage left::
*** Chapter 4 - Purple Rose ***
The next morning, Zell came knocking lightly on Selphie's door. When he received no answer, he pushed the door open and poked his head in to look around. He spotted her still in bed, sound asleep. With a smile, he stepped in and shut the door quietly behind himself. He silently made his way to her bed and sat down gently, one hand reaching out to brush a few strands of hair from her face.
"What are you doing to me..?" he asked quietly as he continued to run his fingers through her hair. Somehow, even as she slept, those strands continued to hold their flip.
She murmured something that sounded a lot like 'no more' in her sleep, but Zell couldn't be sure. With a smile he placed his hands at either side of her sleeping form and leaned over, placing a light kiss to the top of her head. For some reason, he felt unsatisfied, but he couldn't think about it for long when a little groan came from the sleeping angel.
His body jolted upward and he quickly got back on his feet, taking a few steps back. "Ah, I'm sorry, Selphie. I didn't mean to wake you up. I just came in to check on you and I was trying to be quiet..." He looked off to the side guiltily, one hand rubbing the back of his head.
She laughed weakly and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and covering a yawn before speaking. "It's okay, I need to start getting up anyway. Can't sleep through the whole day, right?" She smiled over at him and he felt himself blush.
"Erm... yeah... right," he managed to grumble out before turning to the door. "Well, I just wanted to check up on you. Since you seem to be doing fine I'll just be leaving." He was halfway out the door before he heard her calling out to him.
"Zell, wait! Can't you stick around a little longer? I'm gonna get bored here all by myself." When Zell turned to look, he was surprised to find the largest, wateriest (word..?) eyes in the world staring at him, lower lip out and trembling as if she were going to cry.
He let out a few sounds as if he were trying to think of an excuse to leave, but the face was getting to him and he finally threw his hands up in the air in defeat and came back into the room, making sure to shut the door behind him.
Selphie smiled happily, watching as he sat down beside her on the bed. "So, uh... How've you been feeling lately..?" his sad attempt at a conversation was enough to get Selphie talking again.
"I'm feeling much better, thanks to your care! Yesterday I almost got up and went to the Training Center, but I thought 'nah, don't feel like it' and went back to bed, but that was okay 'cause I had a nice dream. Plus, if I had gotten up and left for the Training Center, then it might have changed everything now and I wouldn't be here talking to you!"
Zell just stared at her. How could one question turn to something else? He sighed and shook his head, his gaze soon falling to the carpet. Silence fell over the two for a few minutes. He could feel Selphie squirm in the silence and opened his mouth to say something, but the growling of his stomach silenced him.
He blushed in embarrassment as Selphie giggled. "You hungry? Alright then, we'll go eat!" She quickly hopped out of bed and went to her closet, opening it and pushing her clothes around. "What to wear, what to wear..."
Zell blinked a few times before standing and walking over to her. "Selphie," he reached over and placed a hand to her forehead. "You still have a fever, you shouldn't be out of bed." Selphie turned around in an instant and hugged him.
"It's okay! I'm getting hungry anyway, and if we're both hungry, then there's no point of staying in here, right? Besides, I haven't been out of my room for a while, I can't stay cooped up in here forever." Her logic always left Zell confused.
She turned back to her clothes and pulled out the familiar yellow jumper. "Alright! Zell, out. You can't watch a lady dress," she held the yellow jumper in one hand and shooed him out with the other, making sure to shut the door once he was out.
Zell just stood there, stupidly staring at the smiley face on the door until it opened again. Selphie smiled at him and hooked her arm into his. "Let's go!" she pointed out towards where she figured the Cafeteria was, as if they were going on a journey.
***~***
The line was pretty short, and soon enough both Zell and Selphie were seated, Zell with his hotdogs and Selphie with a salad and juice. Their breakfast was silent, besides the noise of others that occupied tables nearby. Selphie stared at Zell as he stuffed one hotdog in after the other.
"Erm, Zell... You're gonna choke if you keep eating that fast. And if you don't choke, you're gonna at least get a stomach ache." She glanced around nervously, hoping no one else noticed his monstrous eating habit. Lucky for her, everyone seemed to be busy with their own things.
Soon enough, Zell turned an odd shade of blue and grabbed Selphie's juice, chugging it down and letting out a deep breath. "Gah! I thought I was gonna die!" He put his head down on the table and let out a few more breaths. Selphie laughed and picked up her now empty juice box.
"It's great that you're alive, but now I don't have any juice," she gave a little whimper, and as soon as it came out, Zell was on his feet.
"I'm sorry, I'll go get you another one!" He was already turning to run off, but a small hand resting on his arm stopped him.
"It's okay," she laughed a bit before continuing, "I can survive without it. Remember? I'm already feeling much better, I'm sure I don't need a drink every five seconds."
He stared down at her for a bit longer before nodding. It took a few more seconds for them to speak again. "Erm... You wanna go do something? We could go to the Library, if you want." His eyes turn downcast as he kicked lightly at the ground.
Selphie smiled and stood up, her arm hooking back into his as she started walking off, pulling him along with her. "Alright than, off to the Library we go!"
***~***
As soon as they stepped into the library Selphie felt a shiver run up her spine. Someone was glaring at her. She timidly glanced over to the counter and saw the pigtailed girl staring at her. 'That could be bad...' she thought to herself before pulling her arm out from Zell's.
"I'm gonna go check out the romance section. I'll be right back, okay?" She skipped off to the shelves marked 'Romance' without even waiting for a response. Zell stood there, watching her back for a minute or so before a small hand on his shoulder turned his attention away.
"Zell! You haven't been responding to my messages on the board lately. Is there something wrong?" the girl with the pigtail asked innocently, her hands clasping behind her back. Zell shook his head and pointed over to Selphie.
"I've been taking care of Selphie lately, so I haven't had time to go onto the board." It was a slight lie, given that ever since Selphie had questioned him about his relationship with the library girl he had been avoiding the message boards.
"Aw, well then you should just ditch her. Besides, she looks like she's doing fine now anyway." The girl clung to his arm and smiled up at him.
Selphie frowned at the shelves, hating them for hiding her favorite romance novel from her. With a defeated sigh, she turned to see the library girl clinging to a rather distressed looking Zell. He had this look as if he were pleading for help from anyone, and so at that moment she proclaimed herself as Super Selphie.
She put on her most angered look possible and stomped over to Zell and the Library Girl, her arms closing around Zell's other arm. "Excuse me, but what are you doing?" She practically growled at the girl.
The library girl blinked in surprise at Selphie then held on tighter to Zell. "None of your business. Why don't you go off and play with someone else?" Every guy in the library turned as if there were mental hissing and cat screams coming from the two girls.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. You should take your hands off of my Zell now. He is, afterall, my boyfriend," Selphie deadpanned.
The other girls' eyes widened in shock and she pulled away from Zell to look up at him. He had an equally shocked look on his face as he stared down at Selphie.
"Is-... Is this true?" she stammered out.
Zell didn't move, his mind was still trying to sort out what was happening.
"Yeah, it's true. So move along and tend to your 'customers'," Selphie continued with the most sugarcoated tone she could put on. And with that, she pulled Zell out.
Selphie let go of Zell once they reached the dorm halls and let out a heavy sigh. "I hate being mean to people. It makes me feel so horrible." Her head lowered and she settled with staring down at the ground.
Zell finally snapped out of it and put his hands on Selphie's shoulders. "It's alright, Selphie. Thank you for... erm... saving me," he managed to say to the downhearted girl. She smiled back up at him then turned to her door and opened it.
"It was no problem for Super Selphie! I can take on anything!" She laughed at herself then stepped into her room. "Well, Super Selphie needs rest if she's gonna be perfectly healthy tomorrow. See ya later, Zell." She stepped into her room and turned to smile once again to him.
"Mm, I'll come check up on you later tonight, okay?" He put his hands into his back pockets and smiled goofily at her. She nodded and shut the door before crawling back into bed. She had been doing so much sleeping lately, Hyne knew she'd be wide awake for at least two days straight.
***~***
Later that night Zell came by her room again. He simply opened the door, not bothering to knock since it was never answered anyway. She was sitting up in bed, holding the bouquet of roses he had given her. He cleared his throat for attention, and smiled as he gained it immediately.
"Ah! Zell! I didn't think you'd come by so soon!" She hurriedly put the roses back where they had been sitting and smiled innocently over at him.
"You want me to leave?" He felt hurt at the idea of her wanting him gone, but he quickly shook the feeling out.
"No, no. It's okay. I just wasn't expecting you," she scooted herself over as he sat down in his spot on her bed again. "I'm feeling much better now. You've been so kind, taking care of me and all," she spoke shyly, her gaze locked down on her twiddling thumbs.
Zell smiled over at her and draped an arm around her shoulders. "I have to take care of you. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't? Besides, I owe it to the Garden if their chair of the Garden Festival didn't get better."
Selphie blushed lightly but leaned over and rest her head lightly on his shoulder. Her eyes closed and she let out a sigh. "Stay here with me tonight." She wasn't asking him to. It was more like... ordering him to with kindness (?). Zell felt himself stiffen and he turned his head enough to look down at the top of her head.
"Wh-what?" His voice was shaky and he didn't understand why his face felt so hot. Selphie's eyes opened so she could look up at him and she smiled gently.
"Stay the night with me. It'll make me feel safer... please?" Those puppy eyes were back and he felt his heart warm.
"Alright, alright..." he muttered. She squealed happily and scooted over once again, smiling as she watched him pull off his shoes and lay down beside her. Her arms encircled his left arm and she leaned her head against his shoulder again, her eyes closing as she felt the warmth from his body seeping in through the clothing and into her.
Soon she fell asleep there and Zell found himself staring up at the ceiling, only doing his best to beat down the blush on his cheeks. His heart was racing uncomfortably in his chest and he managed to turn his body enough to face her while still allowing her to cling to his arm.
'Why try to beat it?' he asked himself as his own eyes shut. His right arm shyly draped over her waist and he dozed off as well, holding Selphie's smaller form close to his.
*****************************************************************
Okay, this chapter is gonna give me cavities. o_o; As we can tell, I'm at a writers block. But don't worry! I'll overcome this beast soon! :D So... wait patiently and I'll have the next few chapters coming out. And if we're lucky, the next chapter will be much... much, much, much better than this one was. X_x; I'm embarrassed just to post this one up. Okay, I'm done. Review and give me some suggestions for things that could be in the upcoming chapters!
~o.wa.ri
