Author's Note: This is pathetic. It is now 4:30 AM, and I'm up writing this because I couldn't sleep. Which means, that I won't be able to drive to class today unless I feel like taking out a few other people on the road when I fall asleep behind the wheel. Anyways, enough of my griping.
Disclaimer: Do you really still need this? Okay, I do not own any of the characters in this story except any that are made by me, which are usually pathetically one-dimensional, such as Mr. Siewort, the bio lab TA.
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Chapter Eight: Birthday Girl
Yuffie walked into the biology lab Tuesday morning, finding Squall already there. She began to blush uncontrollably. It was the first time she had seen him since she had awakened in his bed the morning after the Halloween party as she had not gone to her biology lecture the day before. She slowly walked across the lab and sat on the stool next to him, refusing to look at his face.
"How are you feeling, Yuffie?" he asked quietly, knowing she must have had a killer hangover the day after the party.
She furrowed her brows before answering. "Well, physically, I'm fine. The hangover left eventually. Mentally, now, that's another question." He looked at her, urging her to continue. "I feel like a complete idiot right now, if you must know."
"Why?" Squall prodded.
Yuffie laughed softly. "Well, let's see. I don't remember what happened at that party, but according to you, I was pretty wasted. I puked on your shoes, then thought that we...you know..., and now, you're sitting here asking me how I feel. How would you feel, Squall, if it were you?"
He smiled. "Embarrassed. And it's Leon."
"And, I would like to say thank you for getting me somewhere safe instead of leaving me there at that party." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "From what you've told me, it sounds like any guy could've taken me and I wouldn't have even cared."
Squall placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "Hey, don't worry about it. Just buy me a new pair of shoes, and we'll call it even," he joked.
Yuffie grimaced, "About the shoes, I'm really really sorry. I don't have much spare cash, but-"
"Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm still in the marines and need them."
She gave him a sheepish smile before flipping through the lab manual in front of her, going over the lesson for the day. A few minutes later, Mr. Siewort, the TA, walked in, announcing he had the assignments for their lab final. Each pair was to develop an experiment to conduct on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving break, December 2, giving them four weeks to work on it.
Sighing, Yuffie turned to Squall to ask, "Any ideas?"
"No, I was hoping you would have one," he admitted.
"Well, at least we have a month to work on it." They stopped chatting as Mr. Siewort began the lesson for the day, although Yuffie was having a hard time concentrating. She kept going back to the kindness Squall had shown her by saving her from herself Saturday night.
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Looking around the darkened room, Yuffie began to panic. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She walked around, arms held stiffly out in front of her, hoping to find a wall and a light switch.
But, it wasn't a wall she bumped into. Her small hands felt the hard corded muscles beneath the light cotton t-shirt. Moving her hands around the body, she soon felt the leather jacket.
"Squall? Is that you?" she asked nervously.
"Who else?" She swore she could hear a smile in his voice.
Her eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the darkness around them. "Where are we?"
"Does it really matter?" he questioned. Yuffie felt a strong arm encircle her waist, pulling her closer.
"Squall? What are you doing?" She tried to keep the quivering out of voice, but failed miserably.
A light baritone chuckle floated to her ears. "Do you want me to tell you? Or to show you?"
Even in the dark, Yuffie knew her cheeks were a bright crimson. Before she could answer, her whole body came into contact with his, melding together. He stroked her back gently, as one would a kitten before placing a kiss on the top of her head.
Feeling the press of his lips on her hair, she tried to see him with her upturned face. But no sooner had she done that, than his lips came crashing down on hers. Surprised at first, she simply stood there dumbfounded. But hormones soon took over, and she found her mouth responding to his. As his embrace tightened and the kiss deepened, Yuffie's hand somehow made it up to his neck, pulling his mouth even closer if that was possible. Her other hand continued the journey upward into his tangled mane of russet hair.
She felt herself being slowly lowered to the ground, the kiss never breaking until she was laying flat on the floor when his lips began to travel down to her neck, sucking and biting gently. Gasping at the touch of his warm lips on her collarbone, she ran her hands down his back. His mouth soon came back to hers and–
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
Yuffie groaned as she swung her arm around turned the alarm clock off. It just had to go off right then. She felt like taking the thing and throwing it across the room. Closing her eyes, she tried to slip back into the dream, wanting to finish. She had nearly succeeded when her roommate pulled her back to the waking world.
"Yuffie? You're gonna be late," Kairi called from her bed, still hiding under the blankets.
Yuffie opened her eyes to give her roommate a chilling glare. "Damn it, Kairi! I had just fallen back asleep and he was-" she broke off when she realized she was giving away too much information.
The red-head looked at her, "Oh, really? And, who might this 'he' be?" Yuffie didn't answer, confirming Kairi's suspicions. "Could it possibly be Squall?"
"Yes," came the muted reply from the other bed. Sitting up quickly, Yuffie shook her finger at Kairi. "And if dare tell anyone, even Sora, I'll...I'll...well, I don't know what I'll do yet, but you won't like it."
"Wow, Yuffie. Getting so worked up about a dream. I guess that means it can only be one type of dream then, couldn't it?" The red-head laughed at the look her roommate gave her. "But don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're having sex dreams about Squall...unless I run into Squall, that is."
A low growl escaped Yuffie's throat. "DON'T YOU DARE!" With that, she fell back onto the bed and thought about her dream while Kairi began to dress before Sora came to get her for class. Sighing, she herself decided that she had better get up for her biology lab, she really couldn't afford to miss the class.
Reaching the class just in time, she rushed to her stool next to Squall, flushing as she remembered her dream. Forcing the blush back down, she turned to him. "Squall, we do need to work on our experiment. We don't even know what we're doing yet and it's already November 18. We just have two more weeks."
"I know, and it's Leon," he said, sighing. He didn't know why they had procrastinated. Normally, he was the type of person who did the job as soon as it was assigned. But since the Halloween party, he had been avoiding Yuffie, only seeing her during the biology lab. "How about we get together tonight to work on it?"
She thought for a moment before answering; she didn't want to appear eager to be alone with him. "Yeah, that would work. Your apartment?"
He nodded, "Yes, unless you can think of someplace better."
"No, your apartment is fine...there won't be any distractions there."
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Yuffie arrived at Squall's apartment actually on time for once, surprising even herself. He opened the door, shock showing on his face that she wasn't late. "No, Squall. I'm not late," she told him as he opened the door, allowing her entrance into his apartment.
"Leon." He shut the door behind her and sat on the couch. She soon followed suit, setting much closer to him than she had on previous occasions. "So, any ideas?" he asked as she pulled out the biology lab manual.
"No, I was hoping you would have some." Smiling, she pulled out her notebook, ready to write down any ideas they could come up with as they brain-stormed.
After an hour, and still no good ideas for their experiment, Squall asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"
"No, I didn't have time. I was in such a rush to get here on time, that I completely forgot about it," she admitted.
Squall picked up the phone, "Pizza okay?" he inquired as he flipped through the yellow pages of phonebook. "Or would you prefer something else?"
"Pizza's fine, just no onions or anchovies on it. Please, I hate the smell of onions," she begged.
"Good. I don't like onions or anchovies either." He dialed the number and placed the order, giving them his address for the delivery. They went back to brain-storming while waiting for the pizza.
"I've got it!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"What?"
"For our experiment. We can get two goldfish and put them in colored water. One can be in warmer water and the other in colder water," she began.
"And? How's that going to be our experiment?" Squall interrupted.
Yuffie rolled her eyes, "You didn't let me finish. We can dye the water blue, you know, so they'll breath the color in and it will go through their veins. And, then, we can measure the different speeds in which the color reaches their fins."
Squall thought about it for a moment. "Okay, where did you come up with that?"
She grinned. "I did that experiment in high school Anatomy and Physiology. It's really a fairly easy experiment. And it doesn't even hurt the fish, so we don't have to worry about that."
Right then, the doorbell rang, signaling that the pizza had arrived. Squall paid the delivery boy and brought their dinner to the coffee table, stopping in the kitchen for napkins and plates. As they ate, they worked out the minor details in the experiment before Yuffie had to leave. Squall walked her to the door, and decided, that since it was dark, he really should walk her to her car as well.
Yuffie was in a state of shock when she realized that he was actually escorting to the car. As she unlocked the Neon's door, she turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, Squall."
"Leon," he muttered as he closed the car door for her.
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Two days later, Yuffie awoke from the same dream. This time, however, it was not interrupted. With a small smile playing across her face, she arose from bed and took a shower. It was while she was in the shower that it hit her: today was November 20...her nineteenth birthday. She hurriedly dried herself and pulled on a pair of low hip-hugger flared blue jeans and a tight fitting blouse which only just reached the top of her jeans.
She happily fixed her hair before leaving the dorm to check her mailbox at the student center, expecting to find a birthday card from her friends and family. Swirling the combination lock, she was disappointed when she found the box completely empty.
"Well, the mail might not have run yet," she murmured under her breath as she trekked across campus for breakfast at the cafeteria. Once there, she ran into Sora and Kairi, already sitting at a table and eating their breakfast. Yuffie walked over to them and sat down, hoping that Kairi had remembered her birthday.
Kairi smiled at her, "Yuffie? I didn't expect you to get up this early. I mean, today is your," here it comes, Yuffie thought, "off day," Kairi finished, much to her roommates disappointment.
Yuffie smiled and plastered a fake grin on her face. "Yeah, I know, but I couldn't sleep."
"So, Yuffie, when are you leaving for Thanksgiving break?" Sora asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to skip my classes on Monday. And, since, the bio lab has already been canceled Tuesday, I don't have anything then," she explained.
Kairi wagged her finger playfully at Yuffie. "Skipping class? Really, Yuffie, I thought you were better than that."
"I seem to remember a few days when you yourself threw the alarm clock across the room and stayed in bed, Kairi," Yuffie retorted, laughing softly.
Sora grinned at the red-head. "Busted." He got up from the table, taking his and Kairi's trays to the trash. Coming back, he told Yuffie, "We've got to go to class. We don't have the luxury of an off day." With that, he and Kairi walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Yuffie alone at the table.
Sighing, and a little hurt that Kairi had forgotten her birthday, Yuffie ate her breakfast in silence. Finishing, she dumped the rest in the trash and went back to the student center to see if the mail had run yet. But, no, there was nothing in her mailbox. Well, duh, Yuffie...they're going to call you, that's why. At that thought, she rushed back across campus to her dorm, expecting birthday messages on the answering machine, but no such luck.
Yuffie spent the rest of the day sitting in her room, willing the phone to ring. After watching countless hours of T.V., she looked at the clock. 8:47 P.M. Still no phone calls. And, to make matters worse, Kairi hadn't returned either, leaving Yuffie completely alone all day in the room.
Disgusted with the whole world, she decided she would go to Aerith's apartment. At least there she could have sympathetic ear to talk to. But, after arriving there, she noticed Cloud's pickup in the parking lot. Figures, Yuffie thought. Leaving the apartment complex, she went to the only other place she could think of: Squall's.
Squall opened the door to find a very upset looking Yuffie standing there. "Yuffie? What are you doing here?" he asked.
She pushed past him, not waiting for him to move. "I thought we could work on our project. Is that okay?"
"Yeah...but that's not the real reason you're here."
Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Why else would I be here?"
He smiled. "I don't know, but considering you didn't bring any books, I don't think you came here to work on the experiment."
Rubbing her forehead, Yuffie let it all out in a rush. "Okay, you caught me. Today's my birthday and nobody remembered. Believe me, your apartment was a last resort. But Cloud was over at Aerith's and my dorm was too quiet, okay?"
He winced when she said that his place was the last resort. "Alright, calm down. Who wants to celebrate the day you were born, anyway?" He tried to make it come out as joke, but failed.
Yuffie shut her eyes, pushing the tears back, and took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll just leave." She started for the door, but was pulled back.
"No, I'm sorry, Yuffie...I was just joking." Squall hoped his apology worked. She turned around, the pained look in her eyes affecting him. "Don't go."
"Okay," she whispered, wiping away the few stubborn tears that had fallen. She walked to the couch and sat down. Squall was still standing where she had left him, looking down at her. "So, are we going to work on the project or not?" she asked.
Lost in his thoughts, her voice pulled him back. "Oh, yeah, the experiment." He ran a hand through his russet locks. "Let me go get my notes and stuff." Coming back a moment later, he dropped his books on the coffee table and sat down next to her.
She leaned forward to grab his notebook and a pen, but doing so caused her blouse to rise in the back, revealing a small butterfly tattoo with sunburst wings. Yuffie caught Squall staring at it. "You think I'm trashy, don't you?" she whispered, remembering what she wore to the Halloween party and how she had behaved.
"No, I have one, too." With that, he turned away from her and pulled his shirt up in the back, exposing a large lion head spanning across his back.
Yuffie reached a hand out and gingerly touched it. "It's beautiful," she murmured as he pulled the shirt back down and turned to face her. "My parents don't know about mine," she admitted.
"Why not? You're eighteen."
"Nineteen, today's my birthday remember."
Squall smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I forgot. But, anyway, why don't you tell them?"
"You don't understand." She took a deep breath. "I grew up in a very strict household. They expected me to marry a businessman right out of high school and start making babies. They didn't even want me to go to college." She closed her eyes at the memory of the fight with her mother over that before continuing. "So, when I got here, I kind of went crazy. I chopped off all my hair...it was waist-length. I got the tattoo. And, that's why I drank at the party." Unable to meet his gaze, she dropped her head.
Squall didn't say anything for a moment, still taking in all that she had said. Finally, he lifted her face and whispered, "Well, I'm glad you're here, even if they aren't" He lowered his head to kiss her, while she just sat there in shock for a moment before her lips began to respond to his. The kiss deepened before he broke it off. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have done that."
"Why?" Yuffie demanded, angry tears filling her eyes. He doesn't want me, her mind screamed, causing the tears to spill their dams and fall down her cheeks.
Squall brushed away her tears with his thumb. "Don't cry, please. I hate tears."
"Well, quit playing games with me, then. Do you have any idea what it's like to be unwanted," she began. "First, my parents didn't want me. And now... and now, you don't want me."
"But, Yuffie, I do want you," he whispered.
"Then, show me."
With that, he picked her up off the couch, one arm supporting her back and the other under her knees, and carried her bridal style down the hall and into his bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed as though she were a china doll that might break into a thousand pieces. Leaning over, he kissed her again this time with more passion than he had previously shown. His lips soon left hers and traveled down to her neck while her hands tangled themselves in his hair.
"Squall, I've never done this before," she said softly as he continued his assault on her throat.
"I know, you told me at the party," he whispered against her neck.
She shook her head, pushing him away momentarily. "No, I mean, none of this." He looked at her in confusion. "I already told you my parents were strict. But I didn't tell you all of it." Closing her eyes in embarrassment, she went on. "They didn't allow me to date until I was seventeen. And, even then, it was only with successful businessmen they approved of."
Squall's piercing blue eyes gazed deep into hers. "Yuffie, if you don't want this, tell me now," he said quietly, the anger she expected not showing in his eyes.
"I want this," she murmured, pulling his mouth back to hers, realizing that she was giving herself completely to him.
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Author's Note: Okay, there ya go. That's as close to a lemon as I'm going to get since I do know that a lot of my readers are younger. And I don't want to corrupt any young minds. So, I'll leave it to your imaginations about what happens next. Anyways, Read and Review. The next installment should be up by Sunday night, I think.