Chapter 9: Quality Time with Friends

The two stayed for a long while, small chit chat. Rinoa came in the room by noon. "Hey! I got you some lunch. The hospital food must be awful for you." "Cool. Mickey D's!" Marianne smiled as Rinoa handed her the bag. A double cheeseburger and fries, with a medium Coke. "Thanks Rinoa," she smiled, as Rinoa smiled as brightly and asked how she was feeling. "I'm getting there. Should be out of here soon." Marianne told her.

Marianne shared her fries with Squall, as the two girls talked.

"How's everyone at the Holiday Inn?"

"They're doing just fine. We're always thinking about you. Seifer wants to know if you enjoyed the books…"

"Oh, tell him thanks a bunch for them. I've been searching forever. I finished reading them all, whenever I got bored, or when I couldn't sleep."

"I'll let him know!" Rinoa smiled and patted her arm.

Rinoa turned to Squall smiling. "How've you been?" She asked Zell the same. "I'm cool." Zell. Squall replied, "I'm fine. Quistis is fine, back at her house with Marianne's mom." "Oh, and when you're all done…" Rinoa turned to Marianne, and pulled out some nail polish from her bag. "Cool!" she chirped, thinking it was indeed really cool to spend some girl time with her.

This surprised her, but Marianne never knew Rinoa and her would really bond. I guess she had forgotten of how sweet she was. Rinoa smiled sweetly in between her and Squall. She seemed very happy for the both of them. "Yo, Marianne! Can I have a few of those fries?" Zell asked as she let him take a few. Never wiping that cute smile off of her face. Squall admired that smile.

After Marianne had finished her burger, she had enough fries, and let Zell have the rest. "Woohoo!" Zell beamed, causing the others to laugh. "You're such a food maniac." Marianne joked as Zell nearly choked on a fry in his mouth as he laughed too. "Which ?" Rinoa asked, showing her the few small bottles of nail polish. "Hmm… Sky blue, with the silver glitter stuff on top." Marianne picked as Rinoa opened the sky blue shiny polish first. Her three friends smiled down at her. Rinoa sat on the side of the bed, with Zell sitting next to her, snacking on the last of the fries. Rinoa started to paint Marianne's right little finger as she, Marianne, and Zell chatted. Squall sort of joined in, but was mostly quiet and just listened.

Rinoa: "Still having those nightmares sometimes?"

Marianne: "Yeah. I mean, what Squall and I went through… It was like a trip to Hell and back!"

Zell: "I hear you man!"

Marianne: "Squall has the nightmares too… We were both pretty terrified of that Blade Slater dude."

Squall: "Yeah…"

Marianne: "One of the scariest experiences of my life."

Rinoa: "Well, it's over."

Marianne: "Yeah, basically."

Rinoa had painted the middle finger of Marianne's right hand by now with the sky blue nail polish. "Well, Slater's probably just a big junk heap now," Zell assured Marianne. "At least he won't be after the two of you anytime soon." "What a psycho… The bot even destroyed its own creators within the superior intelligence." Marianne commented about the bulky red robot Squall and her battled against over two weeks ago. "Mad scientist psycho," Zell agreed. "Squall, you said he wanted to experiment on you two." Marianne shivered a little, which caused Rinoa to pause before painting all five fingernails on her left hand. "He was most interested in the reproduction process. Oh hell no. I SO did not want to go through that." she said. "Squall, surely you didn't want to be forced into... You know… And I only believe in that kind of thing after marriage." The other three looked at Squall, who shook his head and answered her question. "No way. That's just torture!" "Amen," Marianne agreed.

Rinoa quivered a bit too, letting the thought sink in. "How horrible that would have been!" "Let's move on," Marianne suggested, after a moment of silence.

Marianne: "This blue stuff is NICE!"

Rinoa: "Yeah! I think I'll put some on too, with the silver, not the glitter, but make a pattern on my hands."

Zell laughed. "Isn't it cute Squall? Girls and makeovers?" The two guys laughed. Rinoa and Marianne laughed with them. "It's a girl thing. We can't help it!" Marianne teased, sticking her tongue out at him. Zell laughed some more in reaction. Rinoa saw Marianne stick out her tongue and giggled. When Rinoa was all done with Marianne, it was vice versa. Marianne began painting Rinoa's nails in return. "My tuuuurn!" Marianne said, causing them all to laugh. The chit chat continued as Marianne painted Rinoa's nails…

Zell: "Hey, we should throw a party or something when Marianne's all better."

Marianne: "Hey yeah!"

Rinoa: "That's a great idea!"

Squall: "…That sounds cool…"

Marianne: "Why not do so at the St. John Vianney Parish Center? There's big space for a small crowd to dance and party at."

Zell: "Cool! Alright…"

Squall: "You know Calvert County better than us anyway."

When Marianne was all done with Rinoa's nails, she asked, "How do they look?" Rinoa smiled. "Good." she said. Zell made a face as Marianne returned it. The two were acting like children. Squall shook his head, smiling as Rinoa laughed.

Soon, Marianne announced that she was feeling a little sleepy, signaling that their time had to come to an end. Rinoa was the first to go. "Thanks for lunch and everything. It was fun! Oh, and don't forget that message to Seifer!" "I won't forget sweetie," Rinoa cooed as the two hugged each other goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I'll bring Seifer along." "Cool."

Rinoa hugged her one last time, and waved goodbye, slowly exiting the room. Marianne watched her go. Then she turned to hug Zell goodbye. "Thanks for the laughs, and the tunes." she giggled as Zell gave a few good pats on the back. "I'll drop by again soon. Get well. Rest up. We love ya girl." Zell replied, smiling as they released. "Byeeee!" Marianne chirped in a high pitched voice (just like Selphie). Zell laughed. "Later!" He began to hit the play button for the Hoobastank self titled album to play again on her walkman as he showed off his funky dance moves before leaving the room. Marianne clapped, laughed and cheered. "Woohoo! Get down wit ya bad self!" she laughed towards Zell, who stopped and laughed too, waving goodbye, making her laugh by the way he slid across the floor. It would have been hysterical if he crashed into someone or something, but Marianne wasn't that lucky this time.

Squall couldn't help but laugh too. They looked into each others eyes for a moment. "I guess it's my cue to leave too," he said, standing up out of his seat. "I guess," Marianne said. She sat up, wrapping her arms around him for the longest time. "I never got to thank you for everything when I was still… you know." Squall hugged her back, not saying anything, letting her kind and gentle words seep right into him. It was clear that he really liked her now. "I hope the nightmares won't come anymore…" she said. "But I just got a feeling that they'll be hanging around for a while." They released as Squall moved some of her hair back from her face. She smiled softly, as he returned the expression the same way. "You're just something special," he said.

After a slight pause of small affection, he said, "Get some rest." "Do me a favor and take those books home for me, will ya? I'll just hang onto my mail to look over for later." Squall nodded. "Sure. I don't mind at all." He gathered up the Dinoverse and Sixth Sense books into his hands. "I'll see you later." he said, sounding really promising. "Bye…" Marianne said, smiling. Squall stopped at the doorway to take one last look at her. She really looks a little better, he observed, and flashed Marianne a smile. She did a cute little wave to him as his grin never faded. He watched her close her eyes, then left the room. Marianne opened her eyes back up for a second, realizing again what was going on. She sort of frowned, afraid of getting heartbroken. Would Squall even do that?

She laid down comfortably on her hospital bed, her eyes open, just thinking about Squall. She knew there was a definite thing between them now, but how long was it going to last? The sad thing was, for the past seven or eight years of living in her world, she was hurt from mostly guys who were really dorks to her in the end. Not like in nerds, but more on the jerk side. Nah, Squall wouldn't be that way. He was never like that to me really. Why am I troubled by it? Is it because of the last time I was "in love?" But that wasn't even real. It was a net relationship, but still… Squall seems as like that Andrew coward from Greece who used to be just as sweet… That's why I'm bothered about it. I'll tell him tomorrow. Alone. It'll be our secret… It's just something stupid I did. I'm over it. I've been over him.

Marianne looked up at the ceiling, just before yawning. She let her thoughts finish first before going to sleep. I've been over that Andrew jerk for over two years now. He never met me in person, like Squall did. That's the big difference. Still, I'm a little nervous and afraid of it happening. I don't want to go through life with a shattered heart all over again. That would be hell…

No bad dreams haunted her as she slept, besides, they only came by at night…