Note: Sorry for making you guys wait! Here is Zelphie once again! And I also want to add again that I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters except those that you guys haven't heard of before. Enjoy! ^^
Chapter 26 – He Said, She Said
Two weeks gradually passed by. The talk of the dance was the only thing that stuck in Selphie's brain for those two weeks she's been going on dates with Zell and accompanying him to the rehab center. Students they meet at the movie theatres, restaurants, etc. mostly went to school in Balamb so Zell and Selphie were able to find out what was happening at the school they missed the most. Many of them were girls their grades mostly girls who, from Selphie's annoyance, confessed openly, had long time crushes with Zell. When they noticed that Zell was already taken, they were even more surprised that it was someone they least expected. Selphie was hurt by this of course, but Zell seemed to be the only one who was annoyed by it the most. After that, he was the one who decided not to talk with the people they knew from school, except for Rinoa, Squall and Quistis.
Selphie took a long deep breath and knocked on the door excitedly. Honestly, she has never been this excited over a dance before. Usually, she didn't care, but now that she had a date to go with, especially if it was her boyfriend, it was time to enjoy it. The flyer she held in her hand was indeed the announcement concerning the dance, given to her by Quistis and Rinoa who visited her once in a while at home. After just a second or so, Zell's Aunt answered the door who didn't seem surprised that she had come at exactly noon at her door. Selphie gave her a smile and as soon as Zell's Aunt opened the door wider for her, she ran inside and to the backyard where she knew Zell was going to be practicing throwing football. When she reached it, she expected him to be throwing the ball in the air and catching it by himself, but she noticed that he wasn't alone. He was passing his football to the two little boys they met two weeks ago, once in a while speaking out some instructions on how to really throw the ball properly. His back was to her so she couldn't really tell what kind of determined face he was holding on to today. Selphie opened the sliding door and stepped out into the cold, winter afternoon. She wrapped her arms around herself and smiled. "Hey guys!"
Zell held the ball in his hand and looked over his shoulder. "Hey Selph!" he replied, continuing to throw the ball back and forth between the boys.
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and glanced at the two boys who were looking at them with blushed faces. "Hey guys! Do you remember me?"
The blond boy whom Selphie remembered at Zane was the first brave boy to nod and say, "Yeah, you're Selphie! We met you before!" He gave a sweet smile, reminding Selphie more of Zell when he was his age and smiled back. She glanced at Trent and smiled too, but he just frowned and turned away. Surprised, she ignored him and turned back to Zell. "Look at this." She handed him the flyer she was holding.
Zell held the ball in his hand and turned to face her, taking the paper she handed him. "What is it?" He looked down at the regular sized laminated paper in his hand and read it slowly in his head. When he was finished, he looked up and smiled awkwardly. "So there really is a dance…" he said. He didn't really want to believe there was one, because the dances he's been to weren't all that great. In fact, he hated most of the dances, because of one particular dance he knew Selphie didn't want to remember. He declines the thought of going to another dance which would remind her again of that time. The bastard who took her to the dance last year drugged her punch to make her feel woozy and vulnerable. Along with four of his friends, he led her out of the building where the dance was held and to his car in the parking lot. Luckily, one of Zell's football buddies saw them and told him about it. The only thing Zell liked about the dance was that he was able to use his tackle skills to someone else other than his opponent in the football field. "You want to go? Are you sure?" He was looking at her worriedly, but Selphie dismissed that look by a smile and a nod. When he looked at her, there was determination and when Selphie was determined at something, he knew she had made her choice.
"I am positive," Selphie said, grabbing his hand. "The other reason why I came here is because I want you to take me shopping for gowns."
Zell lifted up an eyebrow curiously. "Gowns?"
"Yes, gowns…you know that thing girls wear in dances?"
The blond rolled his eyes. "I know what gowns are, but…I thought you already went shopping for that, seeing that you were making this choice long before you told me?"
Selphie shrugged. "I decided to wait until you were okay with it. How long will you be practicing with the boys?" she asked, looking at the two boys who were listening at their conversation.
Zell looked at them. "We've been practicing for three hours now. And…" He glanced at his watch. "It's almost dinner time. I think your moms would be worried by now. We'll call it a day."
Zane nodded and passed the ball to Zell. "Thanks, Zell!" he said.
Zell shook his head and passed it back to the little blond boy. "You keep it. I bought this football just so you two can practice with it at home or something."
Both boys' eyes glowed with excitement. "Really!?" they said in unison.
The older blond nodded. "Really…" he said, smiling.
"WOW! Thanks, Zell!" That was the first time Trent had said anything after three hours of practice. He grabbed the ball from his friend and ran through the gate connecting the backyard and the street. Zane ran after him yelling, "HEY! No fair! I should be the one to keep it!"
Zell laughed. He turned to look at Selphie and suddenly grabbed her hand, startling her. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. Selphie looked up, confused by his action. When he didn't answer, he released her and grabbed her hand and started dragging her back inside. "Aunt Vanessa, we're going to the mall! I won't be back until around nine okay?"
Selphie glanced at him. "Nine?"
He didn't answer; instead he dragged her out the door and into his car. It wasn't until they got to the mall fifteen minutes later did he answer her question. "I figured that nine would be the best finished time for you."
The brunette's eyes widened. "Are you telling me that it takes me four hours to make up my decision about a gown?"
Zell shrugged, still holding her hand as they entered the building. He put his arm around her and stopped just in front of the first store that looked like to have gowns inside. "Well, aren't all women like that? They parade around the mall looking for what they want instead of DECIDING already what it is?" This time, he didn't get a frown from her, but a full punch in the gut that made him say 'Oof!' in surprise. "What was that for!?" he said, annoyed.
"Nothing…" she replied grinning as she walked inside the store.
"Hey, wait up!" Zell called, running in after her.
The store was indeed made for women. Zell noticed that everything in the store consisted mainly of women style dresses, shirt, pants and accessories. The blond looked to his right where he found Selphie already looking through the gown section. She was pulling out gowns and putting them back to its rack, with looks of distaste. Sometimes she would have looks of satisfaction when she noticed something beautiful, but when she glanced at the price tag on them, her look of distaste came back to her. "I like the dresses, but I do not like the prices," she said, pulling out a strapless, yellow dress from the rack. "Look at this." She turned the price tag around to show Zell.
Zell shook his head. "I can't believe how expensive women's clothes are these days."
"They're GOWNS, Zell. Gowns are usually expensive because they're made carefully by professionals and have certain fabrics they use. Fabrics alone are VERY expensive!" Selphie put the yellow dress back inside the rack. She turned to face him. "Let's go to a different store. I smell my purse empty from this one." Selphie looped arms with Zell and led him out of the store.
They walked pass some shoe stores, in which at this point, Selphie ignored…, for now. Zell went along with her comments about some of the dresses she saw and how they weren't 'her' at all. He would agree with her on some occasion and when Zell said the wrong things about a dress she was trying on, Selphie would change back and ignore him for a few seconds before talking to him again. Zell sighed. This went on for five more stores, which annoyed the hell out of him. He has to remember that Selphie isn't to be remembered as the tomboy he knew in childhood, but as a woman. However, sometimes Zell can't help but notice how annoying the woman can be when it comes to choosing dresses and asking for HIS opinion about it.
"SELPHIE! ZELL!" someone yelled. Zell felt his arm being tugged by Selphie as soon as she recognized the voice and the blond had to force his head to look up. It was Rinoa and Quistis, their arms full of shopping bags. From what Zell could see, they were also shopping for gowns. He was afraid to look when he noticed them carrying a shopping bag that came from a shoe store.
"Hey, Rinny! Hi Quisty! What are you guys doing here?" Selphie gave them both warm hugs before stepping back to link arms with Zell. "Are you guys also shopping for gowns?"
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, but I already got Quistis a gown so we went shopping for her shoes and a gown for myself. We were going to go like last week and the week before that but…" She turned to look at Quistis. "Quistis here made TOO many excuses to go to the mall."
Selphie laughed. "What made you change your mind, Quisty?"
When Quistis was about to answer, Rinoa blurted out, "It's because Seifer agreed to escort her to the dance, that's what!"
Quistis glared at her. "You don't need to announce it to the world!" She turned away annoyed, but Zell could see the blush on her cheeks and the smile on her face.
"When did you guys get here?" Rinoa asked, suddenly changing the subject.
Selphie glanced at her watch. "Hm…maybe about forty five minutes ago," she replied. "I still have to buy my gown."
"I can see that. Want us to help you? We have time." Rinoa glanced from Selphie, to Zell and back to Selphie again.
Selphie nodded. "Yes please! Zell's not really helping," she teased.
Zell looked at her. "What!? What are you talking about!? I helped!" When he noticed her wink, he closed his lips and turned away, embarrassed. "Okay I didn't," he mumbled. "But I'm hungry."
"Perfect! You can go get something to eat and in about half an hour, meet us at the entrance, okay?" Selphie gave her boyfriend a kiss and set off with Rinoa and Quistis. Zell watched them leave, still stunned by her reaction. Giving up, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked to the direction of the food court. He was surprised that a day like today (Thursday) would be packed with so many people. Most of them were students, still in their uniforms, all gathered together in a group of three to five people. There was a long lineup at Taco Bell and about five people in McDonald's. The other food places consisted of people coming in to order and leaving to look for a place to eat. It took him only a second to decide where to go. Zell lined up behind a mother and her child in front of Taco Bell. It took a couple of minutes until his turn was up. He ordered two chicken fajitas and a large coke and carried his tray to where the tables were.
"Zell! Hey Zell!" The blond looked up at the sound of his name. There was a bunch of guys he knew from school, one of them, Hemingway Jones, his African-American friend in elementary school was waving at him. He is the best kicker in Balamb. They were all gathered around in two tables, almost at the center of the court. Deciding that he didn't want to eat alone, Zell approached them.
"Hey, Hemingway! How's it going?"
Hemingway moved his chair over and moved one chair beside him. "I'm good!"
Zell sat down beside him and nodded. "That's great! How's the football team?" He looked around at all of them. The blond noticed that not all of them were football players, but students. He recognized all of them, but he didn't really know their names. The only ones he recognized were those from the football team, which was mostly all of them present on the table. There was none of them, four including the ones he didn't know.
Hemingway chose to chew at his food, before answering, "Oh, it's great Zell! But we missed you! When are you coming back?"
Zell looked at him curiously. It seems Hemingway has no idea WHY he was gone from the football team or from high school for that matter. "Um…I don't know."
"Hey what happened man?" came another voice from out of nowhere. Zell looked around and noticed Bryce Windam, an Australian born sophomore staring at him curiously. "You disappeared for four weeks. Coach said you had to take a vacation. Where did you go?"
So that's what he told them, Zell thought. "I went to California for a while to visit my relatives there." He took a bite out of his fajitas. "My… Uncle Fred died." For a minute there, he thought Bryce didn't believe him, but as soon as he nodded, mumbled 'Sorry' and went back to eating his dinner, Zell realized he did.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Hemingway suddenly asked, changing the subject.
"Selphie's looking for a gown and she dragged me along with her," Zell casually replied. That answer was suddenly followed by a loud laughter from everyone around the table.
"So, you're here for at least two hours then?" Bryce said, swallowing his last piece of food. He let out a hoarse laugh and clapped Zell in the back. "Good luck man."
Zell was surprised that they didn't mind him dating Selphie. That's probably why he liked hanging out with his former football team because they respected him a lot. "Yeah…" he sighed. "I don't understand women though. Why DOES it take them so long to figure out what gown to buy?"
"You should be thankful they're taking their time," Hemingway said, swallowing his own dinner down to the last bit before adding, "Because they want to pick the sexiest gown just for you! Last year my girlfriend bought this really hot gown at the Valentine's dance and damn was I swooning until the night ended!"
"But… Selphie isn't like that though. She doesn't care what others think of her, because I know her. I grew up with her," Zell said. He tried to imagine Selphie in a tight gown with a slit on the skirt that showed both her legs. He felt his face go hot.
"Yeah but now that you guys are dating, she wants to make this night special for you!" Hemingway grinned and stole a sip of coke from Zell's cup, before leaning back on his chair and taking a breather.
He didn't know what he meant by 'special' but Zell decided to ignore that comment and continued to finish eating his food.
******************
"Wow! This dress is REALLY cute, Selphie! Look!" Rinoa pulled the dress from the rack and showed it to Selphie. Selphie looked up and blinked. Indeed, the dress was simply beautiful. And that was how it makes it beautiful. It was simple. The gown was sunshine yellow, her favorite color with its skirt sweeping to the ground. There was white floral silk that went around the skirt only and the top attached to the skirt had two clear thin straps. "What do you think?" It took her a couple of seconds to realize that Rinoa was talking to her.
"I think that's the one," she said, taking the gown from Rinoa and looking at it more fondly. "It's….this is the one…"
Rinoa smiled. "Well? Are you going to try it out or what?"
Selphie nodded. "I think I will." She turned and headed for the dressing room, coming out seconds later wearing the beautiful gown. She received a smile from Rinoa and an approving nod from Quistis.
"OOOhhhh you look SOOOOO cute Selphie!" Rinoa squealed, jumping up and down with excitement. Quistis placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
Selphie blushed. This wasn't really her. She rarely wore anything that revealed her skin and if she did, she would find a jacket to match the outfit to cover her bare arms. But she wanted to look nice for Zell. She wanted to see how Zell would react if he saw her wearing something beautiful. She wanted to show Zell that she was a woman now, not the tomboy Selphie he knew in his childhood. "Okay! Next would be the shoes! I say…silver!" Rinoa said.
Quistis shook her head. "No…white," she said, pointing at the white part of the dress. "If those are white, the shoes HAVE to be white."
Rinoa pouted. "Yeah, you're right."
Selphie smiled, and then glanced at the price tag. "Oh…."
"What's the matter?" the dark haired girl asked.
"It's…I can't afford this dress." She turned and went back inside the fitting room, disappointed. "It's too expensive." She closed the door and changed back into her clothes.
"But it's the dress you wanted right?" Rinoa asked, glancing at Quistis.
"Yeah," Selphie replied from the fitting room, with a sad voice.
"Oh, Selphie…" Rinoa said. She looked back at Quistis, but was stunned when she noticed the blond reaching inside her purse and took out her cell phone. "What are you doing?"
Quistis looked at her and said in a low voice, "Just keep her here for a second. I'll be right back." She turned and left quietly out of the store. Curious, Rinoa watched her leave, but did as she was told. When Selphie came out a minute later with a sad voice, the dark haired girl distracted her by saying, "Hey how about we look for more dresses that you will like? I'm sure there's bound to have one with the right price!"
Selphie looked up and did her best to smile. "Sure," she said rather too quietly.
Quistis came back inside the store two minutes later and found them looking at the discount rack for more gowns. Rinoa looked at her, wondering where she had gone off to, but the blond just smiled and gave her a reassuring look.
About ten minutes later, Zell appeared in the store. He found the three girls at the very back of the discount rack. "Hey…" He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed Selphie looking at him with a sad look. "What's wrong?" Of course he already knew what was wrong.
Selphie smiled and said, "Nothing's wrong. I… Well I think we can leave the mall now." Without another word, she walked out of the store quietly. Rinoa was comforting her the best she could while Quistis and Zell stayed as far behind as possible. He watched the two on their own and when he was sure they were gone, he turned to look at the blond. "Where-?" But before he could finish his sentence, Quistis was already standing there, holding the dress. "This is the gown?"
Quitis nodded.
Zell examined it. It really was a nice gown and he even imagined Selphie wearing it. He glanced at the price tag and even though his eyes widened, it only lasted for a few seconds when he realized he had enough money to afford it. However, he was still unsure whether it was a good idea to buy it. "She DID look beautiful in it you know," he heard Quistis replied as if she knew what he was thinking. "And she even looked happy when she found what she was looking for."
The thought of her sad face brought back memories to the time she cried when the bird she took home with her as a pet suddenly died. Zell gave up all his savings to buy himself a new toy by buying Selphie the exact same bird she lost. Selphie was so happy and the toy he was planning to buy did not compare to the smile she gave him. Deciding on that, he took the dress from Quistis and purchased it. He was startled to find Selphie and Rinoa waiting for them.
"What took you guys so long?" Selphie asked, impatiently. When she saw the bag he was holding, she frowned and shook her head. "We're here for a gown, yet you went to buy something for yourself? You'll never change will you, Zell?" Frustrated, she turned and walked off.
The blond rolled his eyes. "And you'll never change will you? You're always jumping into conclusions…" He caught up with her and lifted up the bag in front of her face. "Here, it's for you. I thought you might like it. I don't want to see your sad face."
Selphie looked at the bag, then at Zell, then back at the bag again. "It's…for me?"
Zell shrugged. "Yeah. You seem to like it very much so I thought…hell why not?" He gave a huge grin and kept the bag in front of her face until she took it from him and slowly peeked inside. Her eyes glowed and before she knew it, they were suddenly filled with tears.
"You…" She swallowed hard. "You bought this for me?" Selphie looked up and smiled. Without warning, Selphie wrapped her arms around him, her smile widening. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!"
Zell felt like he could abandon the whole world just to see her smile and that's exactly what he did. He was planning on saving the money for something else, but nothing was worth this. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for an embrace. "Just think of it as my thanks to you."
Rinoa looked at the blond beside her. "Good job, Quisty," she whispered, giggling as she saw Zell and Selphie standing there, with their heads leaned on each other.
"But…" Selphie finally calmed down. She released herself from her boyfriend's embrace and looked up, her eyes still filled with tears of happiness. "I was going to surprise you with this dress…And how did you know this was the one I wanted?" The thought suddenly occurred to her. She turned her head to where Rinoa and Quistis were standing and blinked when she noticed they were gone.
"I guess there's a Guardian Angel watching over you," Zell replied, thanking Quistis quietly in his head. 'I owe you one, Quis,' he thought. He took her hand in his and began pulling her with him.
"Where are we going?" Selphie asked.
Zell glanced over his shoulder at her as he continued to drag her along. "To a shoe store…Don't you need something to go with your gown?" He grinned and for the first time in his life he felt even happier than when he started his first puff of smoke. It was great to see her smile again.
Selphie smiled. Her eyes were on him as clearly as possible and as she opened her mouth, she had no idea that she was saying, "I love you" to him. Zell stopped and turned to look at her with a surprised look. "What did you say?" he asked. Selphie smiled again. "I said I love you."
The blond stood there, dumbfounded, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "I love you too."
GoodGurl: EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!! I wish I had a boyfriend to do what Zell did to Selphie! It makes me happy to see them happy! Heh heh! Next for the two is…the dance!
Chapter 26 – He Said, She Said
Two weeks gradually passed by. The talk of the dance was the only thing that stuck in Selphie's brain for those two weeks she's been going on dates with Zell and accompanying him to the rehab center. Students they meet at the movie theatres, restaurants, etc. mostly went to school in Balamb so Zell and Selphie were able to find out what was happening at the school they missed the most. Many of them were girls their grades mostly girls who, from Selphie's annoyance, confessed openly, had long time crushes with Zell. When they noticed that Zell was already taken, they were even more surprised that it was someone they least expected. Selphie was hurt by this of course, but Zell seemed to be the only one who was annoyed by it the most. After that, he was the one who decided not to talk with the people they knew from school, except for Rinoa, Squall and Quistis.
Selphie took a long deep breath and knocked on the door excitedly. Honestly, she has never been this excited over a dance before. Usually, she didn't care, but now that she had a date to go with, especially if it was her boyfriend, it was time to enjoy it. The flyer she held in her hand was indeed the announcement concerning the dance, given to her by Quistis and Rinoa who visited her once in a while at home. After just a second or so, Zell's Aunt answered the door who didn't seem surprised that she had come at exactly noon at her door. Selphie gave her a smile and as soon as Zell's Aunt opened the door wider for her, she ran inside and to the backyard where she knew Zell was going to be practicing throwing football. When she reached it, she expected him to be throwing the ball in the air and catching it by himself, but she noticed that he wasn't alone. He was passing his football to the two little boys they met two weeks ago, once in a while speaking out some instructions on how to really throw the ball properly. His back was to her so she couldn't really tell what kind of determined face he was holding on to today. Selphie opened the sliding door and stepped out into the cold, winter afternoon. She wrapped her arms around herself and smiled. "Hey guys!"
Zell held the ball in his hand and looked over his shoulder. "Hey Selph!" he replied, continuing to throw the ball back and forth between the boys.
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and glanced at the two boys who were looking at them with blushed faces. "Hey guys! Do you remember me?"
The blond boy whom Selphie remembered at Zane was the first brave boy to nod and say, "Yeah, you're Selphie! We met you before!" He gave a sweet smile, reminding Selphie more of Zell when he was his age and smiled back. She glanced at Trent and smiled too, but he just frowned and turned away. Surprised, she ignored him and turned back to Zell. "Look at this." She handed him the flyer she was holding.
Zell held the ball in his hand and turned to face her, taking the paper she handed him. "What is it?" He looked down at the regular sized laminated paper in his hand and read it slowly in his head. When he was finished, he looked up and smiled awkwardly. "So there really is a dance…" he said. He didn't really want to believe there was one, because the dances he's been to weren't all that great. In fact, he hated most of the dances, because of one particular dance he knew Selphie didn't want to remember. He declines the thought of going to another dance which would remind her again of that time. The bastard who took her to the dance last year drugged her punch to make her feel woozy and vulnerable. Along with four of his friends, he led her out of the building where the dance was held and to his car in the parking lot. Luckily, one of Zell's football buddies saw them and told him about it. The only thing Zell liked about the dance was that he was able to use his tackle skills to someone else other than his opponent in the football field. "You want to go? Are you sure?" He was looking at her worriedly, but Selphie dismissed that look by a smile and a nod. When he looked at her, there was determination and when Selphie was determined at something, he knew she had made her choice.
"I am positive," Selphie said, grabbing his hand. "The other reason why I came here is because I want you to take me shopping for gowns."
Zell lifted up an eyebrow curiously. "Gowns?"
"Yes, gowns…you know that thing girls wear in dances?"
The blond rolled his eyes. "I know what gowns are, but…I thought you already went shopping for that, seeing that you were making this choice long before you told me?"
Selphie shrugged. "I decided to wait until you were okay with it. How long will you be practicing with the boys?" she asked, looking at the two boys who were listening at their conversation.
Zell looked at them. "We've been practicing for three hours now. And…" He glanced at his watch. "It's almost dinner time. I think your moms would be worried by now. We'll call it a day."
Zane nodded and passed the ball to Zell. "Thanks, Zell!" he said.
Zell shook his head and passed it back to the little blond boy. "You keep it. I bought this football just so you two can practice with it at home or something."
Both boys' eyes glowed with excitement. "Really!?" they said in unison.
The older blond nodded. "Really…" he said, smiling.
"WOW! Thanks, Zell!" That was the first time Trent had said anything after three hours of practice. He grabbed the ball from his friend and ran through the gate connecting the backyard and the street. Zane ran after him yelling, "HEY! No fair! I should be the one to keep it!"
Zell laughed. He turned to look at Selphie and suddenly grabbed her hand, startling her. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. Selphie looked up, confused by his action. When he didn't answer, he released her and grabbed her hand and started dragging her back inside. "Aunt Vanessa, we're going to the mall! I won't be back until around nine okay?"
Selphie glanced at him. "Nine?"
He didn't answer; instead he dragged her out the door and into his car. It wasn't until they got to the mall fifteen minutes later did he answer her question. "I figured that nine would be the best finished time for you."
The brunette's eyes widened. "Are you telling me that it takes me four hours to make up my decision about a gown?"
Zell shrugged, still holding her hand as they entered the building. He put his arm around her and stopped just in front of the first store that looked like to have gowns inside. "Well, aren't all women like that? They parade around the mall looking for what they want instead of DECIDING already what it is?" This time, he didn't get a frown from her, but a full punch in the gut that made him say 'Oof!' in surprise. "What was that for!?" he said, annoyed.
"Nothing…" she replied grinning as she walked inside the store.
"Hey, wait up!" Zell called, running in after her.
The store was indeed made for women. Zell noticed that everything in the store consisted mainly of women style dresses, shirt, pants and accessories. The blond looked to his right where he found Selphie already looking through the gown section. She was pulling out gowns and putting them back to its rack, with looks of distaste. Sometimes she would have looks of satisfaction when she noticed something beautiful, but when she glanced at the price tag on them, her look of distaste came back to her. "I like the dresses, but I do not like the prices," she said, pulling out a strapless, yellow dress from the rack. "Look at this." She turned the price tag around to show Zell.
Zell shook his head. "I can't believe how expensive women's clothes are these days."
"They're GOWNS, Zell. Gowns are usually expensive because they're made carefully by professionals and have certain fabrics they use. Fabrics alone are VERY expensive!" Selphie put the yellow dress back inside the rack. She turned to face him. "Let's go to a different store. I smell my purse empty from this one." Selphie looped arms with Zell and led him out of the store.
They walked pass some shoe stores, in which at this point, Selphie ignored…, for now. Zell went along with her comments about some of the dresses she saw and how they weren't 'her' at all. He would agree with her on some occasion and when Zell said the wrong things about a dress she was trying on, Selphie would change back and ignore him for a few seconds before talking to him again. Zell sighed. This went on for five more stores, which annoyed the hell out of him. He has to remember that Selphie isn't to be remembered as the tomboy he knew in childhood, but as a woman. However, sometimes Zell can't help but notice how annoying the woman can be when it comes to choosing dresses and asking for HIS opinion about it.
"SELPHIE! ZELL!" someone yelled. Zell felt his arm being tugged by Selphie as soon as she recognized the voice and the blond had to force his head to look up. It was Rinoa and Quistis, their arms full of shopping bags. From what Zell could see, they were also shopping for gowns. He was afraid to look when he noticed them carrying a shopping bag that came from a shoe store.
"Hey, Rinny! Hi Quisty! What are you guys doing here?" Selphie gave them both warm hugs before stepping back to link arms with Zell. "Are you guys also shopping for gowns?"
Rinoa nodded. "Yeah, but I already got Quistis a gown so we went shopping for her shoes and a gown for myself. We were going to go like last week and the week before that but…" She turned to look at Quistis. "Quistis here made TOO many excuses to go to the mall."
Selphie laughed. "What made you change your mind, Quisty?"
When Quistis was about to answer, Rinoa blurted out, "It's because Seifer agreed to escort her to the dance, that's what!"
Quistis glared at her. "You don't need to announce it to the world!" She turned away annoyed, but Zell could see the blush on her cheeks and the smile on her face.
"When did you guys get here?" Rinoa asked, suddenly changing the subject.
Selphie glanced at her watch. "Hm…maybe about forty five minutes ago," she replied. "I still have to buy my gown."
"I can see that. Want us to help you? We have time." Rinoa glanced from Selphie, to Zell and back to Selphie again.
Selphie nodded. "Yes please! Zell's not really helping," she teased.
Zell looked at her. "What!? What are you talking about!? I helped!" When he noticed her wink, he closed his lips and turned away, embarrassed. "Okay I didn't," he mumbled. "But I'm hungry."
"Perfect! You can go get something to eat and in about half an hour, meet us at the entrance, okay?" Selphie gave her boyfriend a kiss and set off with Rinoa and Quistis. Zell watched them leave, still stunned by her reaction. Giving up, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked to the direction of the food court. He was surprised that a day like today (Thursday) would be packed with so many people. Most of them were students, still in their uniforms, all gathered together in a group of three to five people. There was a long lineup at Taco Bell and about five people in McDonald's. The other food places consisted of people coming in to order and leaving to look for a place to eat. It took him only a second to decide where to go. Zell lined up behind a mother and her child in front of Taco Bell. It took a couple of minutes until his turn was up. He ordered two chicken fajitas and a large coke and carried his tray to where the tables were.
"Zell! Hey Zell!" The blond looked up at the sound of his name. There was a bunch of guys he knew from school, one of them, Hemingway Jones, his African-American friend in elementary school was waving at him. He is the best kicker in Balamb. They were all gathered around in two tables, almost at the center of the court. Deciding that he didn't want to eat alone, Zell approached them.
"Hey, Hemingway! How's it going?"
Hemingway moved his chair over and moved one chair beside him. "I'm good!"
Zell sat down beside him and nodded. "That's great! How's the football team?" He looked around at all of them. The blond noticed that not all of them were football players, but students. He recognized all of them, but he didn't really know their names. The only ones he recognized were those from the football team, which was mostly all of them present on the table. There was none of them, four including the ones he didn't know.
Hemingway chose to chew at his food, before answering, "Oh, it's great Zell! But we missed you! When are you coming back?"
Zell looked at him curiously. It seems Hemingway has no idea WHY he was gone from the football team or from high school for that matter. "Um…I don't know."
"Hey what happened man?" came another voice from out of nowhere. Zell looked around and noticed Bryce Windam, an Australian born sophomore staring at him curiously. "You disappeared for four weeks. Coach said you had to take a vacation. Where did you go?"
So that's what he told them, Zell thought. "I went to California for a while to visit my relatives there." He took a bite out of his fajitas. "My… Uncle Fred died." For a minute there, he thought Bryce didn't believe him, but as soon as he nodded, mumbled 'Sorry' and went back to eating his dinner, Zell realized he did.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Hemingway suddenly asked, changing the subject.
"Selphie's looking for a gown and she dragged me along with her," Zell casually replied. That answer was suddenly followed by a loud laughter from everyone around the table.
"So, you're here for at least two hours then?" Bryce said, swallowing his last piece of food. He let out a hoarse laugh and clapped Zell in the back. "Good luck man."
Zell was surprised that they didn't mind him dating Selphie. That's probably why he liked hanging out with his former football team because they respected him a lot. "Yeah…" he sighed. "I don't understand women though. Why DOES it take them so long to figure out what gown to buy?"
"You should be thankful they're taking their time," Hemingway said, swallowing his own dinner down to the last bit before adding, "Because they want to pick the sexiest gown just for you! Last year my girlfriend bought this really hot gown at the Valentine's dance and damn was I swooning until the night ended!"
"But… Selphie isn't like that though. She doesn't care what others think of her, because I know her. I grew up with her," Zell said. He tried to imagine Selphie in a tight gown with a slit on the skirt that showed both her legs. He felt his face go hot.
"Yeah but now that you guys are dating, she wants to make this night special for you!" Hemingway grinned and stole a sip of coke from Zell's cup, before leaning back on his chair and taking a breather.
He didn't know what he meant by 'special' but Zell decided to ignore that comment and continued to finish eating his food.
******************
"Wow! This dress is REALLY cute, Selphie! Look!" Rinoa pulled the dress from the rack and showed it to Selphie. Selphie looked up and blinked. Indeed, the dress was simply beautiful. And that was how it makes it beautiful. It was simple. The gown was sunshine yellow, her favorite color with its skirt sweeping to the ground. There was white floral silk that went around the skirt only and the top attached to the skirt had two clear thin straps. "What do you think?" It took her a couple of seconds to realize that Rinoa was talking to her.
"I think that's the one," she said, taking the gown from Rinoa and looking at it more fondly. "It's….this is the one…"
Rinoa smiled. "Well? Are you going to try it out or what?"
Selphie nodded. "I think I will." She turned and headed for the dressing room, coming out seconds later wearing the beautiful gown. She received a smile from Rinoa and an approving nod from Quistis.
"OOOhhhh you look SOOOOO cute Selphie!" Rinoa squealed, jumping up and down with excitement. Quistis placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
Selphie blushed. This wasn't really her. She rarely wore anything that revealed her skin and if she did, she would find a jacket to match the outfit to cover her bare arms. But she wanted to look nice for Zell. She wanted to see how Zell would react if he saw her wearing something beautiful. She wanted to show Zell that she was a woman now, not the tomboy Selphie he knew in his childhood. "Okay! Next would be the shoes! I say…silver!" Rinoa said.
Quistis shook her head. "No…white," she said, pointing at the white part of the dress. "If those are white, the shoes HAVE to be white."
Rinoa pouted. "Yeah, you're right."
Selphie smiled, and then glanced at the price tag. "Oh…."
"What's the matter?" the dark haired girl asked.
"It's…I can't afford this dress." She turned and went back inside the fitting room, disappointed. "It's too expensive." She closed the door and changed back into her clothes.
"But it's the dress you wanted right?" Rinoa asked, glancing at Quistis.
"Yeah," Selphie replied from the fitting room, with a sad voice.
"Oh, Selphie…" Rinoa said. She looked back at Quistis, but was stunned when she noticed the blond reaching inside her purse and took out her cell phone. "What are you doing?"
Quistis looked at her and said in a low voice, "Just keep her here for a second. I'll be right back." She turned and left quietly out of the store. Curious, Rinoa watched her leave, but did as she was told. When Selphie came out a minute later with a sad voice, the dark haired girl distracted her by saying, "Hey how about we look for more dresses that you will like? I'm sure there's bound to have one with the right price!"
Selphie looked up and did her best to smile. "Sure," she said rather too quietly.
Quistis came back inside the store two minutes later and found them looking at the discount rack for more gowns. Rinoa looked at her, wondering where she had gone off to, but the blond just smiled and gave her a reassuring look.
About ten minutes later, Zell appeared in the store. He found the three girls at the very back of the discount rack. "Hey…" He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed Selphie looking at him with a sad look. "What's wrong?" Of course he already knew what was wrong.
Selphie smiled and said, "Nothing's wrong. I… Well I think we can leave the mall now." Without another word, she walked out of the store quietly. Rinoa was comforting her the best she could while Quistis and Zell stayed as far behind as possible. He watched the two on their own and when he was sure they were gone, he turned to look at the blond. "Where-?" But before he could finish his sentence, Quistis was already standing there, holding the dress. "This is the gown?"
Quitis nodded.
Zell examined it. It really was a nice gown and he even imagined Selphie wearing it. He glanced at the price tag and even though his eyes widened, it only lasted for a few seconds when he realized he had enough money to afford it. However, he was still unsure whether it was a good idea to buy it. "She DID look beautiful in it you know," he heard Quistis replied as if she knew what he was thinking. "And she even looked happy when she found what she was looking for."
The thought of her sad face brought back memories to the time she cried when the bird she took home with her as a pet suddenly died. Zell gave up all his savings to buy himself a new toy by buying Selphie the exact same bird she lost. Selphie was so happy and the toy he was planning to buy did not compare to the smile she gave him. Deciding on that, he took the dress from Quistis and purchased it. He was startled to find Selphie and Rinoa waiting for them.
"What took you guys so long?" Selphie asked, impatiently. When she saw the bag he was holding, she frowned and shook her head. "We're here for a gown, yet you went to buy something for yourself? You'll never change will you, Zell?" Frustrated, she turned and walked off.
The blond rolled his eyes. "And you'll never change will you? You're always jumping into conclusions…" He caught up with her and lifted up the bag in front of her face. "Here, it's for you. I thought you might like it. I don't want to see your sad face."
Selphie looked at the bag, then at Zell, then back at the bag again. "It's…for me?"
Zell shrugged. "Yeah. You seem to like it very much so I thought…hell why not?" He gave a huge grin and kept the bag in front of her face until she took it from him and slowly peeked inside. Her eyes glowed and before she knew it, they were suddenly filled with tears.
"You…" She swallowed hard. "You bought this for me?" Selphie looked up and smiled. Without warning, Selphie wrapped her arms around him, her smile widening. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!"
Zell felt like he could abandon the whole world just to see her smile and that's exactly what he did. He was planning on saving the money for something else, but nothing was worth this. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for an embrace. "Just think of it as my thanks to you."
Rinoa looked at the blond beside her. "Good job, Quisty," she whispered, giggling as she saw Zell and Selphie standing there, with their heads leaned on each other.
"But…" Selphie finally calmed down. She released herself from her boyfriend's embrace and looked up, her eyes still filled with tears of happiness. "I was going to surprise you with this dress…And how did you know this was the one I wanted?" The thought suddenly occurred to her. She turned her head to where Rinoa and Quistis were standing and blinked when she noticed they were gone.
"I guess there's a Guardian Angel watching over you," Zell replied, thanking Quistis quietly in his head. 'I owe you one, Quis,' he thought. He took her hand in his and began pulling her with him.
"Where are we going?" Selphie asked.
Zell glanced over his shoulder at her as he continued to drag her along. "To a shoe store…Don't you need something to go with your gown?" He grinned and for the first time in his life he felt even happier than when he started his first puff of smoke. It was great to see her smile again.
Selphie smiled. Her eyes were on him as clearly as possible and as she opened her mouth, she had no idea that she was saying, "I love you" to him. Zell stopped and turned to look at her with a surprised look. "What did you say?" he asked. Selphie smiled again. "I said I love you."
The blond stood there, dumbfounded, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "I love you too."
GoodGurl: EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!! I wish I had a boyfriend to do what Zell did to Selphie! It makes me happy to see them happy! Heh heh! Next for the two is…the dance!