Disclaimer: I only own Jay and Casey, no one else, although I wouldn't mind owning Seifer. Oooooh...
Author Note: A big thankyou to Yuffie Leonheart - Casey is ace isn't he? He's based on my ideal fella. swoon Gotta love Jay as well though. He's a big dope.
Also, thankyou Hikari Heijin - I know I made Irvine a bit evil at the beginning, but I have a bit of a "I HATE IRVINE!" campaign going on in my head. Crazy I know, but I'm a bit of a Seifer lover. Gotta love the bad boys!
Chapter 7: An Argument and a Punch Up
As soon as the last punter left the pub, Selphie shut the door, sighing in a pleasant state of tiredness. Stretching up on tip toe she tried to reach the bolt to slide it across. Cursing, she squirmed, not managing to get any closer to it, due to being too short. Suddenly two large hands closed around her slender hips and lifted her up off the ground. Selphie gasped and looked down, then smiled as it was only Jay. After sliding the bolt into place, Jay set Selphie back down on the floor and smiled down at her.
"Thanks Jay. I'd have probably been there all night." Selphie giggled, resting a hand in the back pocket of her pale denim jeans.
Jay nodded, rolling his eyes. "It's ok. It's usually the job of the big bouncer to lock up though, not the tiny barmaid." He winked to show he was joking.
Selphie laughed and poked Jay in the chest. "Hey! I'm not that tiny!"
Jay laughed "Yea, you are. It suits you though. You're cute. I can see why Seifer likes you." He tilted his head to one side, as if contemplating this fact.
Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Seifer likes me?"
Jay looked around shiftily and noticed Seifer approaching, holding two glasses and a bottle of malibu. He had leapt over the bar and had a questionning look in his blue eyes as he walked over to them. "You know he likes you, so do something about it. You're killing him. Oh and next time you wanna reach the bolt, use a chair to stand on little hobbit." He chuckled and walked away, leaving an open mouthed Selphie staring after him.
"I'm not a hobbit the cheeky bugger!" she muttered shaking her head to herself.
"I don't know, I always thought you looked a little like Frodo." a deep, sarcastic voice said behind her.
Selphie spun round to see Seifer leaning casually against one of the booths. His white shirt was half untucked, and two buttons were undone, revealing some of his tanned chest. Seifers hair was tousled, looking like he had run his hands back through it at various points of the evening and he had a slight smile on his face which made the laughter lines on his eyes stand out. He basically looked downright gorgeous and Selphie had a job to keep from gasping in adoration. Instead she bit her lower lip and reminded herself that this was just Seifer, the moron she had known since she was a little kid. "I don't look anything like Frodo! You know I hated him in the films." She laughed as she walked closer to him, resting both hands in the back pockets of her jeans, in an unconsciously flirtacious stance.
Seifer chuckled. "I know you hated Frodo. I'm just winding you up Selph. I was wondering if you wanna have a quick drink with me to celebrate you surviving the night alive and unscathed." He waved the glasses and bottle of Malibu enticingly towards Selphie.
"Well, I'm not too sure about that" Selphie said seriously, looking down at the floor.
Seifer put the bottle and glasses down on the table of the booth with a clatter and stepped forward to rest his hands on Selphies elbows, his eyes staring into hers. "What do you mean? You're not hurt are you? Did one of the guys get out of line? Why didn't you tell me?" he stammered.
Selphie tilted her head back and started laughing, causing Seifer to watch her mesmerized. When she stopped laughing she said "No, I'm not hurt Seify. I'm just not sure whether we should be drinking Malibu, when you know as well as I do, that you would rather drink horse piss than that stuff." She smiled teasingly, moving out of Seifers grasp, causing his hands to brush her slender stomach, bringing an inward groan to Seifer. Bending, Selphie picked up the bottle and glasses, before walking back to the bar.
Seifer shook his head as he followed her, his eyes hypnotized by the movement of her hips. "You had me worried there Selph." He said, leaning against the bar as Selphie got a bottle of tequila.
Selphie grinned as she set up some shots of tequila. "I know I did. It's nice to have someone worry about me. Now drink." She handed a shot glass to Seifer and held one for herself.
Seifer smirked "I can still drink you under the table Selph. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."
Selphie matched his smirk and said "I'll be the judge of that now shut up and knock it back."
Seifer raised an eyebrow in amusement and clinked his shot glass against Selphie's before they both licked salt off their hands, downed the firey liquid and sucked a lime.
By the time they had done this, ten times, Selphie was drunk as a skunk. They had since moved to a booth and Selphie had her head leaning against Seifers broad shoulder. "Your turn" she mumbled, tipping some salt onto his hand and held a lime waiting.
Seifer nodded and licked the salt off his hand, knocked back the tequila shot and leaned forward to suck the lime in Selphie's hand. Selphie had moved the lime to her mouth though and raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him. Seifer quickly put a hand on the back of Selphie's head pulling her into a kiss as he sucked the lime in her mouth. When he had finished sucking the lime, he transferred the lime to his own mouth, but kept his mouth against hers for a little longer than necessary.He then leaned back in the booth, removed the remains of the lime from his mouth, flinging it into an ashtray, smiling triumphantly.
Selphie leaned back breathlessly on her end of the booth. "Thanks" she breathed, her chest heaving as she struggled to recover the breath Seifer had stolen from her.
"No problem." Seifer shrugged as he studied her drunken figure, now slumping across the table, her flame red hair spilling across it to hide her pretty face. After a few moments of silence Seifer cleared his throat then rested a hand on her shoulder pulling her up to face him. "Mind if I try it again without the lime?"
Selphie shook her head wordlessly, her green eyes glazed over as Seifer gently rested his lips against hers. Within seconds, his lips had dominated hers and were able to manipulate them in any way he pleased. Selphie wasn't complaining though as she leaned weakly and to be honest, rather drunkenly against him, her hands clinging to his shoulders for support. Eventually Seifer broke the kiss off and ran a hand over his face tiredly. "We're both very drunk."
Selphie nodded in agreement and giggled, before resting her head back against the booth and closing her eyes, thinking about the kiss they had just shared. Even in her intoxicated state she couldn't help but wonder if Seifer would put the kiss down to a drunken whim in the morning.
"Selphie?" Seifer interrupted her thoughts.
"Mmm?" Selphie murmured.
"Why did you leave Irvine?" he blurted. This question had been bothering him since she had arrived as he sensed that there was something she wasn't telling him.
Selphie's green eyes opened wide with the shock of Seifer's sudden question. "Uh, it wasn't working out." She stammered, avoiding eye contact with him as she stared at the table.
Seifer shook his head. "Come on Selphie. I know you better than that. Tell me what happened."
"It's a long story Seifer." Selphie said, playing with the empty shot glasses nervously. Considering she had been so drunk a few seconds ago, this question had certainly sobered her up.
Seifer rested both his hands over hers, stopping her frantic fiddling. "I'm not going anywhere Selphie."
"Really?" Selphie raised an eyebrow staring him in the eye with a ferocity that made Seifer shudder way down in his soul.
"What do you mean? Of course I'm not going anywhere."
Selphie pulled her hands out from under his and rested them on her thighs. "Well, you disappeared pretty quick after we slept together that time, so I wondered whether this was gonna be a repeat performance." She said sarcastically.
Seifer looked confused, his hands resting on the table where Selphie had let them drop. "I won't be going away from here cos this place is mine Selph and I had to leave that time because you had a life with Irvine-"
"What do you mean I had a life with Irvine?! It was a shitty life and the whole of Garden knew it, yet did they do anything to help me? No!"
Seifer's blue eyes widened as he saw Selphies distress. "I thought you were happy with him-"
"If I was happy with him I wouldn't have slept with you!" Selphie countered, her green eyes glaring as she clenched her tiny hands into fists.
"Well, you could have followed me before, like you've done now! You didn't have to stay with him!" Seifer growled, becoming angry now.
Selphie stared at the table, chewing her lower lip in silence. If Seifer had taken the time to look at her face he would have seen that her green eyes were glazed with tears that were threatening to spill at any moment, but he was too incensed to notice.
"See! You were always very good at dealing out the honesty Selphie, but when someone does the same to you, you clam up! You suddenly turn up out of no where and turn my world upside down. What am I supposed to do let alone think?!" Seifer cried, his face flushed with anger. In his mind he knew that Selphie probably had a very good reason for coming to him, but at the time he didn't want to hear it. He hated the way his emotions were controlled by the flame haired girl, even though she didn't realise it.
Selphie looked Seifer in the eye as the tears spilled down her cheeks. Glaring at him she stood up quickly, her thighs whacking the strong wooden table, making her wince with the force of her movement. "You know what Seifer? Maybe I shouldn't have left Irvine, but the fact that he killed our baby may have swayed my decision, just a tiny bit!" she quickly walked over to the bar, leapt over it and walked through the doors leading to the living quarters before Seifer could even stand up.
Seifer sat in stunned silence for a moment, his blue eyes wide, then he jumped to his feet, knocking the empty Tequila bottle to the floor, smashing it. He cursed but did not stop to clear it up as he followed Selphie. When he reached Selphie's door, he didn't bother to knock, but barged straight in instead.
"Seifer! You should knock!" Selphie cried, jumping to her feet from where she had been sat on her bed, hugging a teddy bear. She was still holding the teddy bear close to her chest as if hiding behind it. The picture of a woman holding a teddy bear nearly bigger than her, would have brought a smile to Seifer's face if he had not been so angry and determined to find out what happened to a baby he had never even heard of ten minutes ago.
Glaring, Seifer grabbed the teddy bear from Selphie's hands and flung it onto the bed, watching it bounce off and hit the floor. This violent movement made Selphie back up against a wall. She quickly sunk to the floor, her knees bent up to her chest, her hands raised as if to protect her from an oncoming fist. Seifer raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Selphie?" he said, squatting down to her level.
"Don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me! I'll go back to Garden if thats what you want, but I can't go back to Irvine. He'll hurt me too! Please, I'm sorry, oh so sorry." Seifer watched, horrified as Selphie rocked back and forth sobbing.
"Selphie? Selphie! I'm not going to hurt you. Come on honey. Tell me what happened." He attempted to gather her into his arms, but Selphie squirmed out of his grip.
"No. Irvine was always nice when he wanted something, then he would hurt me afterwards. You'll do the same." She shook her head.
"Ok, ok Selphie. I won't touch you, just please tell me what he did to you." Seifer pleaded as he sat on the corner of Selphie's bed watching her stare at the floor chewing her lower lip.
Selphie took a deep shuddering breath. "You remember when we slept together that time?"
Seifer nodded wondering how on earth he could forget that night when it had been so great for him. He did not speak though as he was afraid that if he did Selphie would hesitate and not tell him the rest of the story.
Selphie noticed Seifer nodding so continued. "Well, you got me pregnant. Don't ask me whether I'm sure it was your baby because contrary to many beliefs I did not sleep with Irvine. I think thats what annoyed him so much. The fact that I had been seeing him for a few months and would only let him kiss me and then out of the blue I go all the way with you. He said he had wanted to be the one to 'steal my innocence' I think was the way he put it. The problem was, he had asked for my innocence so many times, but I was not willing to give him it, then I'm with you one night and I give it away as freely as someone might give a leaflet for some upcoming tourist attraction. I wasn't even going to tell him that I had slept with you, but when you left the next day without even saying goodbye, I felt he had a right to know." Selphie stopped to take a few breaths, brushing a strand of red hair savagely behind her ear.
Seifer continued to watch her. "I did try to say goodbye to you Selphie. I gave Quistis a note to pass on to you saying that I was leaving and that I wanted you to come with me. She promised me that she would give it to you." Seifer was confused.
Selphie shook her head laughing bitterly. "Oh Seifer, you know Quistis fancied the pants off of you. Why would she give me a note that would result in her never getting the chance to be with you?"
"I'm sorry." Seifer breathed. "I didn't think."
"Well, Irvine did think. And let me tell you, what he thought about me and you sleeping together was not pretty. He actually put me in hospital a couple of weeks later when I had worked up the courage to tell him."
Seifers eyes narrowed in anger. "He did what?!" he growled, his hands clenching into fists.
Selphie smiled sadly. "Oh don't worry Seifer. He came to visit me in hospital and was really apologetic. Thats when the shit really hit the fan though because while he was apologising to me and saying that he loved me, the doctor decided to come in and inform me that I was pregnant. Irvine didn't actually lose his temper with me then, but I could see it bubbling just beneath the surface waiting for the chance to be set free. Instead of hitting, kicking and punching me, all things he had done before, he just told the doctor that he was the father of the baby. The doctor believed him of course and told me that I could go back to Garden that day with a broken arm and bruised ribs."
Seifer winced as he imagined the pain Selphie had gone through, but he had another question to ask. "Why did you let him lie about being the father?"
Selphie thought for a while then said "Well I suppose there were four reasons really. One because I was afraid of what he might do to me if I told the truth, two because he promised me that he would look after me , three that I had to have a father for the baby otherwise Garden would have chucked me out as they don't accept fatherless babies...." She hesitated and wrung her hands together.
"What was the fourth reason?" Seifer asked, not liking any of the reasons she had given. He didn't understand why she didn't just come and find him. He would have taken care of her and their baby. Standing up, he ran a hand over his handsome face.
"I needed someone to support me and you weren't there-"
"Well why didn't you come and find me and-"
"Cos I thought you didn't want me! I couldn't stand facing you and telling you that I was pregnant with your baby. If you had asked me if the baby was yours it would have killed me!" Selphie cried, jumping to her feet and glaring up at Seifer angrily. She knew that Seifer had the right to know all this but did he have to make it so damn painful?
"FOR HYNE'S SAKE SELPHIE!!!" Seifer roared, making Selphie back up fearfully til she hit a chest of drawers. Seifer was more mad with the turn of events and that fate had been so cruel to them, but he released it instead on the one person who had been more affected by it all than he had.
Seifer and Selphie both stared at the floor for a few seconds, each one blaming the other for the events that had come to pass. Suddenly the door knocked.
"Seifer? Selphie? You alright?" It was Casey.
"We came to see what the shouting was about. Whats happened?" Jay added.
Seifer looked to Selphie who was staring at him. As Seifer didn't look as if he was about to say anything, Selphie picked up a denim jacket she had brought with Seifers money and flung open the door, causing Jay and Casey to jump back quickly. Selphie looked from one anxious face to the other and smiled slightly, her green eyes full of tears. "Don't worry guys. I'm just leaving. It was nice to meet you both." She turned to Seifer who was looking at her with wide blue eyes. "Oh and Seifer, I will send the money for these clothes to you in the post." She quickly spun round and barged out of the room quickly, crashing into first Casey, then Jay as she stuggled to pull on her denim jacket in her temper while walking along the landing, down the stairs and out of the door, causing it to bang loudly with the force she used.
Jay and Casey looked at each other, stunned, then looked at Seifer.
Casey leaned against the door frame folding his arms across his chest as he raised an eyebrow at Seifer. "So, what did you do to her?"
Seifer glared at Casey. "What do you mean what did I do to her? You should be asking her what she has done to me!....and to our baby." he mumbled the last part as he sat down heavily on the bed.
"What?!" Jay cried. Casey already knew about the baby though, he was just wanting to see if Seifer would be honest with them about what had happened.
"You heard me". Seifer growled.
"Well, I'm sure that whatever she did, she did it because she thought it was the right thing. I don't know Selphie that well but she doesn't seem the type to do things maliciously." Jay reasoned, sitting beside Seifer and looking at Casey imploringly motioning for him to support Seifer too.
Casey shook his head though, not feeling any sympathy for Seifer as he had been listening in on the conversation while Jay was downstairs playing on the pinball machine. "Do you want her to come back?"
Seifer looked up, stunned out of his thoughts. "What?"
"You heard me Seifer. Do you want me to get her to come back? It would probably be better for you both to talk this through when you're not so drunk." Casey reasoned sensibly.
"I don't want to talk this through and she wouldn't want to come back anyway." Seifer said, running a hand through his blonde hair.
"I'm quite a persuasive fella Seifer and if you don't want to talk about it thats fine, but it's been a long time since we've seen you this happy, ain't that right Jay?"
Jay nodded mutely.
"And it's obvious that the person responsible for your happiness is Selphie, so I think it would be a good idea for me to get her back." Casey said firmly, staring Seifer in the eye, challenging him.
Seifer shrugged. "Do what you want Casey. She owes me money anyway."
Casey pointed a finger accusingly at Seifer. "I will go and get her to come back Seifer, but don't even think about pretending you only want her back here cos she owes you money. You're better than that, and so is she."
"Really I'm not so sure she is anymore." Seifer said dismissively.
Within a second Casey had stepped across the room and punched Seifer in the eye. Jay jumped to his feet and Seifer sat stunned, holding a hand tentatively to where he had been punched. After he had recovered he got to his feet and squared up to a very angry looking Casey.
"Nice one Case. What the hell did you do that for?" Jay cried, looking from Seifer to Casey.
"He deserved it Jay, and he knows he did or he would have hit me back by now. Isn't that right Seifer?" Casey raised an eyebrow at Seifer, daring him silently to hit him.
"I'm not ready to forgive her yet Casey. I need to sort it all out in my head. I do want her to come back though. I love her. I'm still pissed off with her though!" Seifer said admitting defeat. He didn't want to hit Casey, especially when he knew that he had deserved it. Seifer didn't like Selphie right now, but he also knew, now that the alcohol was starting to wear off, that Selphie probably had an explanation for everything and he wanted her to come back so he could hear it, and because he adored her.
Casey grinned. "Thats good enough for me. Now get out of her room before she comes back."
"Screw you Casey!" Seifer called good naturedly as Casey walked down the hallway.
"No thanks Seifer. You're not my type." Casey laughed.
Seifer looked at Jay. "You knew he was going to hit me didnt you?"
Jay smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I did."
Seifer smirked slightly. "Why didn't you hit me? You're bigger."
Jay smiled and stood up, walking to the door. "I'm still afraid of you and I don't have a big brother called Laguna to come and kick your ass if you decided to hit me back. Thats why." He walked out chuckling.
Seifer shook his head laughing softly, before remembering what had gotten them into this situation in the first place. "Oh Selph... Don't give up on me. I'll probably understand soon." He yawned, looking round the room, breathing in the sweet scent of the flame haired girl and walked out.
Author Note: A bit of a crazy chapter I know, but hang in there. Sorry about the tequila slammer scene, my mind got a little carried away. Hehe. Read, review and I'll continue people. Tell me what you think!