Chapter 4: Going Shopping
The next morning Seifer woke up to the sound of someone persistently whispering his name in a sing-song voice.
"Seifer.....Seifer...."
Seifer thinking it was in his dream, rolled over and threw his arm across the bed. To his suprise it came into contact with something soft and warm.
"Ow!" the voice said.
Seifer opened his eyes groggily and came face to face with Selphie. "Argh!" he shouted with fright and sat up sharply, then cursed as he smacked his forehead on the metal lamp that he had suspended from his ceiling. "Dammit!" He jumped out of bed and ran over to his mirror, leaping over the clothes he had left strewn across the floor as he had undressed. "Aw, thats gonna leave a mark." Seifer muttered rubbing his forehead.
Selphie giggled, her hands clasped behind her head as she watched Seifer, taking in his tousled hair, his toned chest, his finely haired legs and his muscular arms. It was obvious that he had been working out and to be honest he looked like the kind of guy women can only dream about. That vision ended though as soon as Selphie saw the "Thundercats" underpants, but it just made him more endearing to her. It showed that he had a vulnerable side too. "Oh well, it will just make your "reputation" more believable, although, I think that if your customers saw those underpants, you'd have a whole different reputation." She winked at him and grinned.
Seifer groaned grumpily running a hand over his face as he stumbled back over to his bed. Throwing himself down onto it beside Selphie, he looked her up and down and raised an eyebrow. "I see your yellow dress dried off well then."
Selphie nodded. "Yep. I thought I'd put it on as we're going shopping".
"I think the hoody and trakkie bottoms would look better." Seifer stated, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling.
Selphie looked down at her dress then back to Seifer, a hurt expression in her green eyes. "Why?"
"Well, no offense, but you look kind of immature in that dress."
"Immature?" Selphie chewed her lower lip. The last thing she wanted to do was look immature around Seifer. She didn't understand though. He liked her yellow dress when he had slept with her those years ago, he had told her so.
"Yea. Just wear the hoody and trakkie bottoms I gave you, then you can change when we get back from shopping." Seifer stated, nodding in encouragement. He hated hurting Selphie like this and it wasn't that he didnt like the dress, but he didn't like the attention that other guys gave her when she was wearing it. It would be different if she was behind the bar wearing it as the guys in the pub knew better than to touch one of Seifer's bar staff, but wearing it out shopping was a whole different matter.
"Ok." Selphie nodded. "You get dressed and I'll go get changed. Then shall we go shopping?"
Seifer nodded and ruffled Selphies hair before standing up and walking to the bathroom. Selphie looked confused for a second as to why Seifer was behaving so strangely, but she knew that he probably had a good reason for it, he usually did and she wasn't going to press him. She would just go shopping with him and get some new clothes, then she would start her new job. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to work with Seifer in this kind of environment and she was very excited about it. First things first though, shopping!
"Wow! You got a motorbike?! That is so cool! I've never been on a real live motorbike before!" Selphie exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement as they stood outside the pub.
Seifer laughed "As opposed to an imaginary motorbike?" He waited for Selphie to catch onto his joke, but as she stared at him with a confused expression on her face Seifer rolled his pale blue eyes. "Yea, it's mine. Now lets get this over and done with." He climbed onto the black Harley Davidson and patted the seat behind him, motioning for Selphie to climb on.
Selphie grinned from ear to ear as she climbed on behind Seifer. "I've always wanted to ride on a motorbike. You know, feeling the wind blowing in my hair. It looks so exilirating!"
"Well, the wind won't quite be blowing in your hair I'm afraid Selph." Seifer said, reaching for two helmets. He handed a metallic dark red one to Selphie and kept the metallic blue one for himself. "Here, put this on."
Selphie pouted. "But my hair looks so pretty at the moment. I've finally got it the way I want it and you're asking me to put that big ugly helmet on!"
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Your hair looks the same as it always did Selph. It hasn't changed at all."
Selphie's eyes widened. "Of course it's changed! It looks prettier, don't you think so?"
Seifer growled "Ok, yes it does look prettier, but it won't stay pretty if we have a crash and you're not wearing a helmet. In fact you'll be lucky to still have a helmet, if we crash at the speed I travel."
The colour drained from Selphie's usually rosy cheeks as she contemplated crashing on a motorbike. Maybe it would be wise to follow Seifer's advice after all. "Ok, I'll put the helmet on." she conceeded. "But only because I want to!" She added quickly, putting the helmet on.
Seifer chuckled and nodded as he fastened his helmet and started his motorbike. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
When they arrived at the shopping centre Seifer parked the motorbike and climbed off with Selphie.
"Right, I'll meet you in three hours beside this water fountain. Ok?" Seifer asked, resting a hand on Selphies elbow.
Selphie's green eyes widened. "Aren't you coming with me?"
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no. I hate clothes shopping. I'm just gonna go down to the arcade for a bit. There's a new fighting game I wanna try out. Go buy some outfits and why don't you wear one when you meet me, so you can get out of those clothes you hate so much." He handed her £300, knowing that Selphie could buy some good outfits with that amount of money.
"But Seifer, how will I know what to buy?" Selphie asked, looking behind herself at the huge shopping center that loomed menacingly.
"Selphie you are nineteen years old. I'm sure you've been to a bar before. Just buy some outfits like the barmaids wear. You'll be fine." Seifer explained.
"But I don't wanna go alone." Selphie whined.
Seifer groaned in frustration. "Selphie, why can't you just try to act mature. Just this once? You're nineteen for hyne's sake!" he said testily as some people were stopping and staring at the scene that Selphie was making. Seifer hated making a scene, he preferred to just blend into the background.
"You're one to talk Seifer! You're twenty one, yet you're leaving me to go play some stupid games in an arcade!" Selphie shouted, stamping her foot.
Seifer grinned and shrugged. "Yea well I'm just a big kid. I never said do as I do, I said do as I say." He tilted her chin up with one hand and winked at her before walking away, calling back over his shoulder "I'll see you in three hours. Have fun Selph."
Selphie couldn't help but smile. Seifer always managed to get her angry so easily, but it seemed even easier for him to calm her down again. He always made her feel special, and that was how she felt as she watched him walk past all the girls that stared at him adoringly, not even stopping to smile at them. To those girls it would seem like he was being rude, but Selphie knew that Seifer didn't like that kind of attention. He wasn't interested in it. But funnily enough, he never seemed uncomfortable when Selphie flirted with him. Sighing to herself, she turned and walked inside the shopping centre.
Three hours later, Selphie had brought lots of new outfits that could be mixed and matched. She had even put on one of her new outfits like Seifer had suggested. It was a pair of pale denim hipster jeans and a tight lilac t.shirt that said "More than a handful" across the chest. Selphie wasn't sure whether she should buy it, but the shop assistant had insisted that she looked 'hot' in it, and Selphie supposed that 'hot' was how a barmaid was meant to look like. She had seen the film Coyote Ugly and felt that her clothes were on a par with theirs, which made her slightly nervous but also giddy with excitement at the same time, as she had never dressed in this way before. The most adventurous thing she had ever worn was her signature yellow dress and that wasn't exactly daring, it was more practical really as she never broke a sweat when fighting in it. Smiling to herself, proud of her shopping choices, Selphie walked over to the water fountain and sat down, crossing one leg over the other on it, the way she had seen women do it in the movies she had watched with Squall, Seifer, Irvine and Quistis at the orphanage.
When Seifer arrived at the water fountain he was shocked to find that Selphie was already there and surrounded by a group of five teenage lads. They looked about eighteen and were much taller that Selphie, who was giggling nervously as she wasn't sure whether she liked the boys being this close to her. Seifer folded his arms across his chest as he watched, not wanting to treat Selphie like a child by getting her away from those cretins, but also making sure that none of the boys overstepped the boundary from being friendly, to sexually harassing. The lads were regulars at Seifers bar so he knew them pretty well, but he also knew that they were at the age where they still believed that when a girl said no she usually meant yes.
"So, your names Selphie then?" One of the lads said, grinning lopsidedly at her in a way that Selphie supposed would have made other girls weak at the knees, but as she had seen that grin one too many times on Irvine, she wasn't impressed, or affected by it at all.
"Yea, that's right. I'm just waiting for a friend." Selphie said, looking at the floor nervously.
"Oooh, right. Well I'll stay with you to keep you company." The lad who had grinned at her, sat down and draped an arm round Selphie's shoulders.
"Yea, we all will." a slightly shorter lad, with brown spiky hair said, winking at his friends.
"Um, it's alright, really, I'm-"
"So, more than a handful eh?" The lad next to her interrupted, looking from Selphies face to her chest and back again.
Seifer, who had seen Selphie's new top, knew what the lad was hinting at, so he stepped forward and broke through the group of lads. He sat down next to Selphie and kissed her on the cheek. "Yea, it's more than a handful Charlie, and you have my authority on that alright?"
Charlie looked alarmed and removed his arm instantly from around Selphie's shoulders. "Uh, ok Seifer. Sorry man. I didn't realise she was with you."
The other lads in the group also started apologising profusely.
The corner of Seifers lips lifted into a smile. "Yea, she is with me. She's my new barmaid so, you guys had better make sure you give her lots of tips when you come for your drinks tonight, to make up for the way you have just been lechering over her."
The lads nodded and apologised to Selphie before scuttling away, their faces bright red with embarassment.
When the lads were out of earshot, Selphie and Seifer burst out laughing. Selphie leaned her head on Seifers shoulder, trying to catch her breath. "Oh, Seifer. Their faces! I don't think they had ever been so embarassed in all their lives!"
Seifer nodded, still chuckling, "I know. I told you I had a reputation." he winked. "They're harmless really. They just have no idea how a lady likes to be treated."
"And you do know do you?" Selphie joked.
Seifer stood up and reached a hand down to Selphie, pulling her to her feet and walking over to the motorbike with her "As a matter of fact I do." He grinned and climbed on. "Now, lets go back home and I'll introduce you to the bar staff."