A/N: Woohoo! Look who wrote a chapter and not her cheat sheet?! All hail me! Anyways, please review when you're done and tell me what you think. Thanks!

Chapter 8: Lounges and Robberies Squall's POV

So, I guess the demand of 'Squall's Attention' going up because I'm requested back at my hotel with the hour and Rinoa wants to talk to me. I wonder why

"I need to talk to you. It's really important." She started.

"But I need to go back to my hotel room. I have a call to take…" I replied. She looked at me with pleading eyes and I really did want to give in but I couldn't. I just couldn't because Selphie said it was really important and I somehow trust that ball of energy called Selphie. Yeah, she's just a little to hyper to keep still.

"Ok… Well, then can I talk to you later? Like sometime tonight?" She asked more pleadingly.

"I guess. Where do you want to talk?"

"Well, um, can you meet me at the Deling City hotel? In the lounge?"

"Um… Sure. What time?"

"9:00 sounds good."

"Alright. I'll see you then." I said and waved as I got into my car.

I sped out of the parking lot and down the streets only to see her waving at me in my rearview mirror.  What the hell is up with the water today?

The emptiness of the parking lot greeted me as I drove up to the hotel. Where about fifty cars went in the span of ten minutes, I don't know; but, as long as they weren't here, it was fine by me. On a second glance, I realized that I had over-looked Selphie's lone car in the desolate area. 

I parked the car, pulled out the steering wheel safety guard, got out, and locked it as I placed the tire clamp on. A guy can never get too protective of his car, right?

I strolled over to the front doors of the hotel and walked past the receptionist and to the elevator. I wonder how she would have reacted if I were some sort of criminal rather than a guest at this hotel… Would she shriek like a mad woman or just go about her affairs like she did just now?

The elevator dinged upon its arrival and inside, an elderly couple stared at me intently… Had they never seen a teenage boy before? Or was it my suit? I don't know but it was kind of scary. Besides, weren't they supposed to get off the lift at the ground floor or do they enjoy going up and down the elevator shaft all day?

I push my designated floor and proceeded to look anywhere else besides the couple. Until they started to talk to me.

"Why're you here, sonny?" The old man asked me. What? Was it a crime to stay in a hotel below the age of 57?

"I'm here on a business trip." That's right. Let's play it the vague way.

"Oh really? What kind of business? I'm in the entertainment business… If you know what I mean…" He said as he wagged his eyebrows at me. Ewww! Horny, old... Man. That's the only appropriate word to describe him.

At that moment, the woman turned around and gave him 'The Look' and slapped him across the face and as if I was too young, she said, "Not in front f the kid!"

Eww! Dear God! Why do you insist on making me go through such torture? I hoped to god that they would not get frisky in the elevator and looked for a "Speed up" button as I replied, "I'm in the racing industry."

Yup. Like I said, the luck of a squirrel on a freeway.

"Really? Would like to race against me sometime soon?" and still, he persisted to wag his eyebrows. Really gross. Did someone fall of the fence between straight and gay and land on the wrong side? I don't know about you, but I'm still on the straight side, thank you very much.

"Um… I can't. This is my floor." And I got off… Only to be followed by the "active" couple.

"Are you sure about that? I mean; I know that I can beat your punk ass anytime, any day, anywhere! I'll even race for pink slips!" Jeeze! That guy's been watching The Fast And The Furious way to many times. "You can even use the back seat of my car for a little fun if you want too!" He called after me only to get slapped in the face once more by his wife.

"Frank! That was the place where we first-" She started to scold him only to be cut off by Selphie popping out of the hotel room and called out

"Squall! Where've you been? Your presence is demanded on the phone!" Thank you Selphie!

"Hey, son, you do know how to get into her skirt, right? Or do you already have a relationship with someone because we can keep a secret, you know?" He said once more as he wagged his eyebrows once more with a horny smile.

'Um... I need to take that call. I'll se you around sometime." Like never! Good God! All right, I've learned my lesson! Stop being a prick!

I walked over to the bed to see that the call was on speakerphone.

"Selphie, I thought that you said in an hour." I looked at her.

"I heard wrong. It was really the half hour. Sorry."

"But it hasn't been half an hour either!"

"Cut it out, you two." I heard Billings boom over the phone only to be followed by the "Yeaaah!" from Irvine and Zell in Centra.

"Now quiet down, everyone. We have a very important situation on our hands. Over the weekend, someone has robbed an Estharian bank and the culprit has gotten away. Fortunately, they left enough clues for forensics to work with." Billings lectured.

"Ok, well, what's that got to do with us?" I asked curiously.

"Well, what it has to do with us is that the bank that they robbed was where we keep all our funds. All of them. The robbers got away with all the money and funds that were within that building." Billings continued.

"Well, doesn't insurance cover that?" Selphie asked.

"Yes, it does, if they can prove that it was no one from our company that stole the money. So far, five of our employees are amongst the suspects."

"Ok… So what does that mean?" Zell asked.

"That means that, James, is this line secure?" and some shuffling was heard and then, "That means that for the time being, Coke is currently on hold. We cannot write any more checks until the results of the robbery come in."

"Okay. At least we know where we stand." Irvine said to fill in the silence.

"So, in order to maintain a somewhat stable stance, we need you all to win at least first and second and to give us the check so that we will not be bought out. If Coke is bought out, your racing contracts are terminated and you would have to race for whoever buys us out and not be paid for the next three years. Those are the terms of the buy-out policy amongst major corporations that no one ever knows about. We are asking you to give us the checks in an act of desperation. Of course, we will pay you all back with interest."

Once again, the line was silent. I still seem to have the luck of a squirrel on a freeway. I was so excited about my first multi-million dollar signing and this was how it was turning up. Just great. This can't be happening to me. I mean, for a brief moment in time, I had a sense of where I was going in life and all of a sudden, it had to leave. Maybe I should look for that number for a truck driving school. It wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan.

Selphie sat across me, not even moving. That was a rare thing because ever since I had met her, she didn't stop moving… Until now. She just sat there, staring blankly out the window behind me, trying to process the impact of the information that was just given to us. It was a hefty sum to process and no one knew how to respond to what to was just asked of us and I know that from experience.

Down in Centra, nothing could be heard. The only sounds came from Billings who nervously shuffled his papers and made piles of papers to keep himself occupied as he nervously waited for our answers.

It would seem that one by one, our answers made their way out of our throats and heard.

"Sure."

"Okay."

"Alright"

And the only one left was myself. I was still confused. I didn't know what to say because this decision was probably one of the hardest ones to make. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little selfish here but I think that it can go unsaid that I was some kind of a moron.

"Fine."

I think I need to go get drunk. Now.

A/N: Hey! How was that? I mean… I didn't switch the POVs at all and it still turned out to be a healthy sized chapter. And I want to say thank you to all the encouraging reviewers that reviewed (great show of intelligence there, Ekika. Real smart!). They made me want to actually write this chapter. Thank you! Anyways, do the Good Samaritan thing and review please?