Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.
Chapter IXAfter all the evil little children left we were finally left at peace. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I would have thought it to be. Kids always seemed as annoying little buggers that just wouldn't leave you alone but at the party … it didn't seem to bother me that much. Almost as if I had matured overnight … hah … that's a laugh. Anyways, they may have not driven me insane but they sure were an exhausting bunch.
I was lying on the couch, my head in Rinoa's lap. I had the strong belief that she was sleeping or else she would have been bitching about the fact that Stu was the spawn of the Devil. He had tried to hit Mikey's crotch with the baseball bat (that was supposed to be used as a piñata beater). Well, Mikey had been making fun of him and you know how seriously kids take things sometimes. Rinoa had made me intervene … great, 'Yeah, go ahead Squall … go stop that kid who's swinging a baseball bat … go put your pride and joy at stake.' Had I gotten a smack in the cherries, she would be the paying party when we come down to the facts.
The funny thing is that she actually recognized Stu as a 'spawn of the devil' for trying to do such a thing. She, who had admitted to me that the first time a guy made a move on her she had knocked him a good kick between the legs. Well, it took some doing to get her to admit it but I had guessed it before hand. But wouldn't that make her a 'spawn of the devil' as well? I surely think so.
Stu bobbled in the room in excitement, "I wanna watch
Finding Nemo!" He bounced up and down around the couch, "Come on, come on! Let's watch Finding Nemo! Come ON!"
"Stu … we're really tired right now." I replied, half dead.
"Ohhhh come ON!" He jeered happily skipping along, "Come on, I wanna watch the movie, I wanna watch the movie! Please? Pretty please? It's my birthday, come on!"
"Shut up." Rinoa snapped, her eyes still closed, "Or I'll arrange it … permanently."
"Stop being mean!
Come on! I wanna watch the movie."
Stu started tugging on my pant leg, "Please Squall? Tell Rinoa the Meany to put the movie on."
"Stu, the DVD machine is in the basement … Mikey and Cynthia are in the
basement. Now, I know that you don't
know what the real use for a basement is but I do and just leave them
alone. You soon will know, young
grasshopper." Rinoa replied knowingly.
"I'm going to go see what they're doing!" Stu cried out and ran out of the room.
"10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 …" Rinoa counted down monotonously, " … 2 … 1 … 0."
"GET OUT, YOU LITTLE DUMBASS!" Mikey's voice screamed from down the basement stairs, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
"I hope they kill each other." Rinoa concluded with finality. She repositioned her hand from the couch to my chest and I felt my head dropping off her lap as she stretched out on the couch, alongside of me, "Hopefully, mom and dad won't even notice."
"Hopefully it won't be too messy. Poor Joan." I replied and wrapped my arm around her waist, "Hopefully they won't come up and complain to us." I heard footsteps thunder up the stairs and into the family room, "Never mind then."
"Chain him to the freaking bed or something and keep him there! He's such a nosey little idiot!" Mikey screamed at us. I wasn't sure why he was pissed at me or his sister because I was innocent, and for once … she was too.
"Mmm …" Rinoa replied absent-mindedly, probably with her eyes closed as well.
"Ew, Mikey's got cooties now!" Stu chanted out, "He's going to grow warts … eeeeeewwwww!" Stu pranced around the room happily and Mikey must've smashed him against the wall because there was a loud crash that made me open one eye. I had been right. "Ow …" The younger brother sniffled, "MIKEY HIT ME!" He wailed loudly.
"Do it again, Mikey." Rinoa mumbled her encouragement, "Do it until he shuts up."
"Don't … your sister is just joking-" I tried putting in so that there would be no murders in the Caraway household.
"Actually, I was totally serious." Rinoa cut me off.
"I'll tell mommy!" Stu wailed louder and louder, "AND I'LL TELL EVERYONE IN THE WORLD AND THEY'LL TAKE ME TO A FAMLY THAT'LL LOVE ME!"
"No one can love YOU!" Mikey shouted, "No one can freaking give a crap about a stupid, nosey little bugger! EVERYBODY HATES THOSE!"
"Ok, I think that's going a little far." Rinoa said soothingly to calm the raging tyrannies before they consumed the house entirely, "I love Stu … it's just that I presently want to throw him down the stairs. Same to you Mikey. So why don't the both of you leave Squall and I alone and go do whatever it is that you usually do. Mikey, go put on Stu's DVD with the PS2 upstairs and you can return to your girlfriend and resume your activity."
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Mikey yelled out.
"I'm like, really not." Cynthia's voice came from somewhere
inside the family room. I hadn't even
heard her come in
"Ok, whatever … I don't really care.
Just … go away, all of you." Rinoa yawned. They must have found that a reasonable solution since they did
leave (out of the corner of my eye, I saw).
"Wow …" Rinoa said after a while, "It's quiet. That was the first time I've handled them in a mature way. I think I deserve an award." She concluded.
I couldn't help smile, "Ready to have kids?" I already knew the answer to that question but I still felt like asking … just to piss her off.
"I already have one … you're the biggest baby on this planet." She replied. Oh, shock … usually the answer would have been a snappish 'No, dumbass.'
I smirked and her hand descended to my navel. She actually fell asleep, her head on my shoulder. I soon followed after in an unimaginable bliss.
***
"Hellooooo?" A voice called out and someone lightly slapped me in the face. I opened my eyes and saw Julia looming above me, "Wouldn't an actual bed be more comfortable than a couch?" She asked, amusement clearly shown in her eyes. She seemed to want to add, 'And out of the watchful eyes of James Caraway.'
"Wha-what time is it?" I asked looking around, taking notice that Rinoa's head was still on my shoulder.
"Midnight … we just came back by cab. Cynthia's mom came hours ago, according to Mikey who is asleep. If you can wake her up, I'd suggest going up."
"M'yeah." I yawned, "Thanks."
"No problem, you're staying tomorrow … right?" She asked as she was going to
leave the room.
"Until what time? What's tomorrow?" I asked, a bemused expression spreading across my face.
"My parents and James' parents are coming over to wish Stu a happy birthday. They're probably coming over to have supper." She answered me and smiled, "They're very interesting people. Anyway, I'm going up to bed. Good luck." I looked at the sleeping angel beside me.
"Rinoa …" I murmured and tapped her on the arm, "Rinoa … wake up."
"Mm … just a bit longer." She whispered and shoved her face in my arm.
I sighed, "Rinoa, let's go to bed upstairs, come on." I pushed her slightly in vain. "Come on, I'm not carrying you up there." I groaned and pulled away, getting up from the couch, "Let's go."
"How can you eat baloney … it's gross." She mumbled in a near incoherent manner.
"Kraft Dinner's gross too but you don't seem to care." I replied, temporarily forgetting the fact that I was talking to a sleeping person, "Come on, I'm not going to carry you."
"I don't want to get up." She mumbled and whined and turned around.
"I'm going to leave you here." I threatened.
"Shut up, you're disturbing me." She moaned and curled into a little ball, fetal position like.
I didn't notice that Caraway was leaning in the doorway, laughing at me. When I did notice however, I was slightly embarrassed. He smiled at me slightly, "Don't look at me. I'm not helping you. Good luck though." Then he left me to deal with Sleeping Beauty.
"Rinoa!" I snapped, now getting very, very annoyed. I mean, come on! I had been trying for fifteen minutes to know avail! I scooped her up in my arms, bride-in-the-groom's-arms style on the first night of marriage. She wrapped her arms around me and I then realized that she'd been playing with me all along. She just didn't feel like walking up the stairs and knew I wouldn't leave her there.
I turned off the light and started walking up the stairs, "You're a goddamn pain in the ass." I muttered.
"Oh, I love you too … my wonderful boyfriend sent from the Heavens. You're a real gentleman … you're perfect." She said sweetly and snuggled in the curve of my arms.
"Only for you." I replied and I took her to her room, setting Princess Heartilly down on her bed. "Will I have to change you into your pajamas too?"
"You wish." She replied and rolled off the bed. It's easy for me to get into my sleeping wear. All I have to do is take off my jeans and boom, I'm in my t-shirt and boxers. She opened her drawer, went into the bathroom down the hall, got changed and came back. Her trajectory seemed to have tired her more because she crashed down on her side of the bed and mumbled, "I didn't even hear my parents come in … you know if Joan's back?"
"No …" I drew her closer to me and held her like that.
"I hope Mikey didn't forget to lock up his stupid mink because if I feel something crawling under the covers in the morning I'm going to scream so loud …" She trailed off and fell asleep in mid-sentence.
I feel asleep with the thought that I was going to meet more of Rinoa's family tomorrow. I had never met Rinoa's grand-parents before. I imagined that the Caraway grand-parents would be distinctly different than the Heartilly grand-parents. Well, duh. Julia and James were distinctly different people.
Julia was fun-loving, prancing, skipping type thing. She joked around and was always looking for ways to be amused. Kind of like Rinoa. Caraway was serious, snappish type that didn't find silly things to be amusing, rather annoying. Now that I think of it … kind of like me.
Sabam: Eh, no comments. Review. Warning: I'm not going to update next week
unless I feel like it. I haven't been
feeling like writing lately and since some haven't been feeling like reviewing
I thought it was ok to slack off. So
see you when I see you.