Chapter Five: My Best Friend's Play
By PasifikStar
Author's Note: This is a boring filler chapter. Sorry for lack of everything - I'm just very tired right now.
All Standard Disclaimers Apply: I do not own Final Fantasy or it's characters.
"Lights!" Selphie shouted. Zell flicked a switch from the control area and a the stage flooded with light. "ACTION!!"
"Somehow I can't help but think that she's getting a little too into this director roll..." Quistis mumbled as she stood in the wings next to Seifer.
The taller blond nodded. "What gave you that idea?" he asked casually as they walked out on stage. Selphie was sitting in the director's chair, wearing a barrette and holding a megaphone in her hands. Situated on her lap was the script.
"IRVY! MY LATTE!!" Selphie shouted into the megaphone just as Irvine arrived holding a cardboard tray with steaming liquid in foam cups.
"AH! Selphie!" Irvine winced as he nearly dropped the cups. He stumbled to her side and Selphie put the megaphone down.
"Oh...hehe," Selphie smiled weakly. "Never mind. Thanks!" She reached over and took a cup from Irvine and lifted it to her lips. "Ah...good stuff." She placed it back on the tray as she lifted the megaphone up with her other arm. "Action!"
Quistis took a deep breath and began to walk towards the center of the stage. "Hey! Hey, wait a second!" Seifer's voice called behind her. Quistis stopped in her tracks, her hands fists at her sides as she waited for Seifer to catch up. He stopped a few paces behind her. Seifer frowned as he stared at her back. "What's your problem? I wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"Doing anything WRONG?" Quistis nearly growled. She whirled around and sent him a killer glare. "You practically humiliated me in front of the other board members!"
"What are you talking about!?" Seifer asked, sounding annoyed. "All I did was act like I was your boyfriend-"
"Yeah, exactly!" Quistis snorted out. "You were supposed to just remain quiet and stand by my side tonight! Not parade around and...and smooze like you're God's gift!"
"Hey, I was paid to-"
"Yeah, I know!" Quistis grumbled. She turned around and shook her head. "I never should've let her talk me into an escort for tonight...now the entire board thinks that I'm seeing YOU!"
Seifer looked insulted as he walked forward. He grabbed Quistis' arm and looked at her directly in the eyes. "Well, you're no prize yourself!" Seifer snorted. "You have one hell of an attitude problem, you know that? Do you want to know why everyone there seemed really interested in you tonight? It's because I was there to loosen them up! Other wise they would've stayed away from you because you're nothing but a ice queen!"
"What the are you talking about-" Quistis began, but Seifer dropped her arm and stepped back, still looking annoyed at her.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Seifer snapped. "You know what they really think of you! That you're a cold hearted ice queen. You were frowning the entire time! And every time someone came to talk to you, you'd snap at them."
"Listen, I needed to be this way to get where I am today-"
"And where is that?" Seifer asked, loudly, almost mocking her. "Living alone in a high rise? Never having anyone to talk to? Is that where? Being alone!?" he asked incredulously.
"No!" Quistis growled back as she took a threatening step forward. "I'm the ONLY female member of that board! Do you know how hard it is to be a woman in the business world? If I didn't act like this, I wouldn't be where I am today!"
"So what? You become the roll you play?" Seifer scoffed. "What happened to you? When your friend called for an escort, she never said you were the she demon you are."
"Rina's known me since we were children, she sees me differently-"
"So what happened to you, huh?" Seifer asked, cutting her off once again. "What made you like this?"
Quistis glared at him maliciously. "You'd never understand." She turned her head to the side and looked away from him.
Seifer took a deep breath and walked closer to her. His hand reached down and lifted her chin up. Her blue eyes looked deep into his green ones. "Understand what...?"
Quistis swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes. "Nothing a gigolo like you will ever get." she hissed. She pulled away from him and headed for stage left. Seifer was left standing there, shocked at what she said.
"All right, my little beast..." He said as he slowly began to walk backwards towards stage right. "We'll see if this beauty can tame you."
He disappeared into the wings and Selphie lifted the megaphone. "Good job!" she shouted. Irvine winced next to her. "But Seifer! Be a little louder next time! I microphone wasn't picking it up!"
"That's because SOMEONE turned it off!" Seifer shouted from the wings. "Chicken-wuss!? What's all that about!?"
"Ugh..." Selphie rolled her eyes and looked down at the script. "Okay...let's move on to the next scene..."
"Selphie!" a voice shouted to the side. She looked up and saw Xu running towards her. "You just got a message from Rinoa."
"Oh! Cool! What does it say?" Selphie said as she hopped off the director's chair and met Xu. The other young woman handed her a stack of paper.
"She faxed those over..." Xu informed her.
"It's sheet music," Selphie said, confused. She looked at the top sheet and read the note. "Oh...the background music for their dance! How cool is this!?"
"Yes, and she also said by phone that she'll be back soon," Xu said. "In two days."
"Great!" Selphie said. "I hope their Deling trip was good."
Laguna watched his enemy carefully. Come on...you know you want to... he thought to himself as he pretended to read over a document.
Across from him, Kiros stood up. "I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." he said. Laguna nodded and waited for the taller man to leave. The door clicked close.
Now's my chance! Laguna dropped the pen and paper and opened the window behind his desk. He looked around and began to climb out on to the ledge. The wind rushed by him as he flung himself on to his back. He swallowed as he looked down. Why'd my office have to be this high?
Pasting himself against the wall, he began to maneuver to his left. Inside his office, he could hear the door open. "What the...? Laguna!" Kiros shouted. The door slammed close and Laguna smirked.
Never under estimate the powers of Laguna Loire! Just as he began to chuckle to himself, the window to his left was flung open and slammed right against him as a maid opened it to let in the breeze.
"Have you see the president!?" a rushed voice that belonged to Ellone asked from within the room. The maid said she hadn't as Laguna lost his footing and fell.
"These ones," Rinoa said as she showed Squall the white parchment that was so bright it was almost blue. "I want these ones."
Squall looked over from the stack of sample invitations he was already bombarded with and nodded. "That's fine."
"Fine?" Rinoa asked with narrowed eyes. "JUST FINE?"
Squall looked around nervously, his eyes barely peeking from the mountain of samples. "I mean...they're perfect. I like the embossed letter and the lace around it."
Pleased with his answer, Rinoa nodded and smiled. "Great! I'm glad you were paying attention."
Squall merely nodded. He never knew there were so many kinds of invitations in so many different styles with so many different fonts. But after hours of hear Rinoa debate, he began to get the idea. "So...is this it?"
"Just about," Rinoa said as she began to dump the rejected samples into a box at the side of the table where they were seated. "Now...how about we go get some dinner?"
"Sounds good," Squall nodded. Sounds EXCELLENT. Hyne, I'm starving! I thought you'd NEVER pick out the invitations... His mind screamed. Rinoa stood up and he followed behind her. "Where are we going?"
"I was thinking we could have dinner in the city tonight," Rinoa sighed. "We leave tomorrow, I kind of want to spend a night out with you before we return on Balamb."
Squall nodded and followed behind Rinoa as they headed towards the foyer of the mansion. One of the butlers was already standing by the door, holding up Squall's casual black leather jacket. "The limo is waiting, young mistress."
"Thank you!" Rinoa said with a brilliant smile as he opened the door. Ahead of them, the sun was setting against the Deling City skyline. A black stretch limousine was parked in front of the mansion, the usual chauffeur waiting with the door open.
"Where to, young mistress?" the chauffeur asked as Rinoa and Squall headed into the back.
"Take us downtown and have the house call Deling Sky to make reservations for two." Rinoa ordered coolly. Squall sat down next to her in the back of the limo.
"Yes, young mistress." The door closed and Rinoa leaned against Squall's left arm as she put her arms through his.
For the last few days, Squall found himself getting used to the now painfully obvious class differences between him and Rinoa. The charismatic young author wasn't called 'Princess' for no reason. She had been attending private schools, given formal dance and music lessons, etiquette lessons, voice lessons, everything lessons. She had grown up with the privileged and socially elite.
He had grown up in a house by the sea with a man who had assisted a sorceress in almost taking over the world, a girl whose obsession decorating parts of the Garden disturbed him, a man whose love of hot dogs was on the verge, if not already, a fetish, a man who kissed his gun at night, and a woman whose actually IN LOVE with the man who assisted the insane sorceress.
My Hyne...it's like a loony bin... Squall's eyes dilated.
"Squall?" Rinoa's quiet voice asked from where she was sitting next to him. "What's the problem, baby? You look tense."
"Hmm...oh nothing," he assured her gently. His hand rose and gently placed itself a top one of hers. "I'm just a little tired."
"Well, we're almost to Deling Sky," Rinoa told him. "They serve practically anything, so you can have whatever you want." She said as she leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose.
Squall felt his face grow slightly warm at the feeling and he squeezed her hand. "What if I want you?" he asked casually. Rinoa blushed. He'd been getting more and more forward lately...and she liked it.
"You'd have to wait until tonight..." she whispered in his ear. She paused slightly and pulled back. "Actually, you might want to wait until we're back in the Garden."
"I figured," Squall replied, slightly deflated. "Where is the restaurant?" he asked as he looked outside their tinted windows and noticed that they had entered the downtown district.
"It's at the top of the Deling Tower," Rinoa replied. "Top floor and over looks the city," Squall's eyes narrowed slightly. The 'expensive' light went off in his head. Rinoa seemed to know what he was thinking. "Don't worry, I have it covered!"
Squall turned to look at her. "Rinoa, I can pay for dinner." He told her proudly.
"Squall, don't be silly," Rinoa countered with a slight frown. "This is my home town and you're visiting! I'm going to pay."
"You're MY fiancee and I should be treating YOU out. I'm going to pay." he insisted. Rinoa rolled her eyes.
"Squall, it's a five star restaurant-"
"I know."
"Gourmet food-"
"I know."
"Appetizers start at fifty-"
"WHAT?" Squall exclaimed. Rinoa smirked, knowing she had won.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'll be using this!" She lifted up her black purse and unzipped it. She pulled out her wallet and took out a sleek blue and silver card.
"Galbadian Express..." Squall said, reading the name.
Rinoa nodded feverishly. "I thought daddy cut off the card when I ran off with the Forest Owls," she explained as she looked at the shiny card. "But the other day he said to use it in case of emergencies and that it was never cut off."
Squall frowned. "So your FATHER is paying for this."
"Yes!" Rinoa chuckled. She gently rubbed his arm. "Don't worry, he likes you! He won't get made for our using the card."
The climb back up to the palace had been quite a task. Especially with a bruised left side. However, all his persistence paid off as Laguna slipped into one of the empty bed rooms. He tip toed to the door way and listened. He heard foot steps run past.
"Have you seen him?" Kiros asked.
"No, I've checked all of the downstairs!" Ellone gasped.
"Keep looking!" Kiros insisted. Ellone agreed and they seemed to split up. Laguna opened the door slightly and peeked out. Ellone just turned the corner as Kiros ran up the stairs. Laguna needed a place to hide. A place where no one could find him until Squall and Rinoa picked him up. But WHERE?
Just as he was about to step out, a small flurry cat went past him. "Squally-poo!" Laguna gasped. He quickly covered his mouth as his cat ran in and went to hide under the bed. Laguna raised an eyebrow. Hmm...
"Bye, daddy!" Rinoa sighed as she leaned up and hugged the General tightly. She smiled as she pulled back and received a warm kiss on her head.
"Remember," the General told her sternly. "You can always-"
"Come back home...I know, I know..." Rinoa sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm not coming back...I love Squall!"
Her father merely let out a grunt as Squall finished lifting out all their luggage from the trunk. There were more now, as Rinoa had brought along some things from her mother's chest to show the other girls. Also, they had picked up the 200 invitations to the wedding.
"You!" Squall winced and nearly dropped Rinoa's make up bag on the curb as her father turned around and eyed him suspiciously.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Squall replied automatically. He struggled to keep all the bags in check.
General Caraway took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. "If Rinoa's heart breaks. You will be the next thing broken. Understand?"
Why does it feel like I'm talking to a Mafia don...? Squall's mind asked. He nodded. "Sir! Yes, sir!"
"At ease!" Caraway barked. "Now check in my daughter's things!" Squall nodded and began to slowly drag several cases of luggage towards the check in counter. Rinoa was already there, getting their tickets. "And Leonhart," Caraway whispered in a low voice. Squall's body stiffened. "The next time you eat at Deling Sky, make sure you tell them that I sent you. I won't have to be charged. Expect a bill in the mail."
Squall nearly dropped all his things. "Yes, sir!" he sighed loudly one last time before the General gave a nod to his daughter and got back into the limo.
Rinoa helped Squall drag some of their things, or rather her things, towards the check in counter. "What did he say?" she asked sweetly.
Squall shrugged. "Same old threat."
"Anything else?"
"No," Squall assured her. Rinoa gave him a suspicious look, but bought his argument. As soon as all the luggage was checked in, she gave him her ticket. "Why are we leaving a day early? I thought you sent a message that we were supposed to arrive tomorrow night."
"I'm going to do a little recon work," Rinoa said deviously as Angelo sat down next to her. "I want to see how Selphie is doing with the play."
Go figure...I bet the stage is on fire... Squall thought disdainfully. "I would be worried, too."
"It's not exactly the play I'm worried about."
"AHHH!!!" Irvine nearly dropped Exeter as he was cleaning it's barrel. He looked up from what he was doing and immediately stood up from his chair. "NOOO!!!"
"Selphie!" he shouted as he ran through the doors of his dorm room. He raced through the half empty hall way and down the hall. He quickly turned the corner and saw Selphie sitting on the ground, tears in her eyes as the script laid in front of her. Close by was a foam cup that had fallen and spilled all over the clean floor of the halls. Irvine skidding to halt, nearly knocking over Quistis, who had arrived at the same time he did. "Selphie! Selphie, what's wrong!?"
The green eyed brunette sniffled as she looked up at Irvine. "My...my..." she stammered. Quistis knelt down and felt Selphie's head and then checked her arms and legs.
"You feel all right...what's wrong?" Quistis asked.
Selphie sniffled and looked down at the script in front of her and at the liquid that was cooling on the floor. "My latte..." she whispered.
"Uh-huh? Did you get burned?" Irvine asked worriedly. Selphie shook her head.
"No..." she whimpered. "Zell got me a mocha instead!!"
Quistis immediately dropped Selphie's arm. "You've got to be kidding me..." she mumbled as she shook her head and began to walk away. "Someone call the janitor!" she ordered to a group of cadets who had stopped to watch.
"Why, Zell!?" Selphie cried out dramatically. "Don't you know the difference!?"
Irvine shook his head and picked up Selphie's script before helping her stand up. "Darlin', are you all right?" Selphie shook her head. "It's just a latte...listen, where's Zell? We'll find him and tell him to get you a latte." he assured her softly.
He handed her the script and Selphie took it and rolled it into a tube in her hands. "It's not just the latte." she whimpered. Irvine's eyebrows furrowed.
"Then what is it? Are you too stressed? Rinoa's coming back soon-"
"No!" Selphie exclaimed. "I can't do this!" she said. Irvine looked at her, confused. "The others are not working with my VISION!"
Irvine's eyes squinted. "Eh?"
Selphie gripped the script in her hands tightly as she raised it over her head. "They're just not going along with it!" she exclaimed. "Seifer isn't getting down the attitude I thought would work for him! And Quistis isn't being bitchy enough! And Nida...don't even get me STARTED on what's wrong HIM!"
Irvine lifted his fingerless gloved hand and felt Selphie's forehead. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm FINE!" Selphie shouted. "That's it! We're calling midnight practice!"
"WHAT!?" Irvine gasped, his eyes wide. Midnight practice was sort of like an emergency rehearsal session with the main characters. During the rehearsals for 'Gunslinger', Rinoa had used the three hour, midnight to three in the morning, rehearsal session to punish the actors who were slacking off. Primarily him.
After one grueling session where Rinoa made him rehearsal nearly all his scenes by himself the whole night, he finally gave in and began to concentrate more on the play. The angry glares and annoyed remarks from the other actors, as they were dragged into midnight practice, also played a part.
"Irvy! Where's my megaphone!?" Selphie said, turning to him immediately.
Irvine winced. He had gone partially deaf from it and had paid Raijin some money to 'accidentally' drop it over the edge of the Garden. "Um...I think it broke, Selphie," He told her weakly. "I'm sure that you can use-"
"Don't worry! I have a spare!"
"Your voice - A SPARE!?" Irvine gasped. DAMN!! Selphie clamped her tiny hand around Irvine's wrist and began to drag him towards the quad.
"NIDA!!!" she screamed. "MIDNIGHT PRACTICE!"
Irvine bit his lower lip. Please, Hyne...let Rinoa and Squall come home soon...
Quistis frowned and looked up from her desk as the knocking seemed to refuse to die down. She took off her glasses and put them over her script as she stood up and walked towards the door. "OPEN THE DOOR!" Someone shouted desperately.
Quistis pressed a button and the doors slid open. Seifer had been leaning against the door and as soon as it slid open, he fell through. Quistis let out a yelp as she stepped aside, allowing him to fall flat on his face. "Seifer-"
"Close it! CLOSE IT!" Seifer ordered as he dragged himself off the carpet and crawled into her organized room. Quistis nodded and slid the door closed. "Now lock it!"
"What? Seifer, what is going on!?" Quistis asked as the six foot blond man stood up and dusted off his coat.
He took a step forward and put his arms around her shoulders, quickly enveloping her into a hug. "Thank Hyne..." he gasped out breathlessly. "I thought she already got you."
"What?" Quistis pushed him away and frowned. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Seifer, what is wrong?"
"Selphie called Midnight Practice," Seifer explained, stressing each word. Quistis' eyes went wide.
"What? WHY?" she gasped. "We've been doing everything she told us to. No one is slacking off-"
"I don't know WHY," Seifer said as he fell back on her bed and put his arms behind his head. "But all of a sudden, she comes pounding at my door telling me to meet in the quad because we're having the Midnight Practice."
"So why are you here now?" Quistis asked as she sat down at her seat and crossed her legs. "Aren't you supposed to be at the quad?"
"I made a run for it," Seifer smirked. "She's insane, Quistis...high off power. She has to be stopped."
Quistis rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic when it's not necessary to be," she replied calmly. "Selphie is just not used to being in charge of directing like this. She's just giving it 110%."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "QUISTIS!" Selphie's voice shouted from inside. "MIDNIGHT PRACTICE in the quad! And have you seen Seifer? I want to talk to you two about your recent decline in acting!"
"WHAT," Quistis hissed. She narrowed her eyes and was about to stand up and head over to the door when Seifer leapt off the bed and held her down. He shook his head and put his finger to his lips, as if telling her not to make a sound. "Why not!?" she hissed in a low voice.
"She'll know you're here..." Seifer replied in a low, hushed tone. Quistis looked at him like he was insane.
"Ugh!" She shoved him away from her and headed for the door.
"Quistis, no!" Seifer cried out. She put her hand against the control panel and the dorm door opened.
"Ah-hah! You're in here, too!" a voice shouted energetically. Seifer swore and dropped his head as Selphie skipped in, megaphone in one hand, script in the other. "I have great news! Cid said we can have the ball room to practice for AS LONG AS WE WANT!"
"Selphie, how long is this going to take?" Quistis asked. "I have papers to grade and a test to create for my blue magic class."
"Don't worry, Quistis!" Selphie said as she beamed a smile. She looked at her watch. "It's 11:58...we'll be out of there in no time!"
"Ahh...it's good to be back!" Rinoa said as she stretched out from the taxi ride. She put her suit cases down and looked up at the Garden looming in front of them. The train had arrived sooner than expected and Rinoa and Squall had arrived back at the Garden before the sun even rose. She turned around and smiled at Squall as he dragged several suit cases around him. "Let's put these away and get some rest."
"Good..." Squall agreed. They entered through the gates and quickly headed into the Garden through a side door using Squall's faculty key card. "Take the service elevator...it's faster." he stated.
Rinoa nodded and turned the corner. However, Angelo, who was unleashed, continued to walk forward. Rinoa frowned and whistled. "Angelo! Come here, girl! Let's go home!" Angelo stopped in her tracks and continued to look down the hall.
She whimpered slightly and looked from Rinoa and back down the hall. Squall stopped behind Rinoa and frowned. "What's wrong with her?" he asked. He let out a low whistle of his own. on! Come to daddy...!"
Angelo continued to stand hesitantly where she was. She whimpered some more and kept eyeing down the hall. Rinoa frowned and looked at Squall. "You think something is wrong?"
Squall nodded and put their bags down. "Let's check it out," he said as he neared her. As he passed by her, he took her hand reassuringly in his as they walked down the corridor. "Shh..." he whispered as he raised his hand.
Rinoa's eyebrows furrowed as she listened. "WAKE UP!! NO ONE is going to BED until this scene is OVER!!" a voice screamed into what sounded like a megaphone.
Rinoa's brown eyes flew open as she looked at Squall in alarm. "What the hell is that?" Squall asked with a frown on his face.
"I don't know...but I have a guess!" Rinoa dropped his hand and ran forward. Squall quickly ran after her. As they arrived closer to the ball room's closed doors, Squall charged ahead and threw the doors open. Rinoa slid in and skidded to a stop next to him.
Her eyes went wide as she and Squall stopped in their tracks, their eyes scanning the vortex of confusion in front of them. Selphie was on her director's chair, wearing a barrette and baggy director's puffy pants. She gripped a megaphone in her hands as her bright green eyes had an almost tyrannical glow. In front of her, Seifer was yelling about how tired he was as Quistis rubbed her head as if she had a migraine.
Zell was slumped against a column in the corner, his head tilted to the side as he let out a quick snort in his sleep. Irvine was sitting on a chair next to Selphie's, his head tilted over the back of the chair as dull eyes, blood shot, stared into empty space. Nida was desperately trying to talk Selphie into letting them go to sleep. Fujin and Raijin seemed to be debating if they could jump off the balcony and land safely on the ground.
As soon as the doors had opened, a loud boom echoed through the room, waking everyone who was asleep up and getting the attention of the few that were awake. "Rinoa!" Quistis gasped, almost as if she had seen her savior.
"Oh thank Hyne!" Seifer shouted tiredly. He looked over at Selphie with a glare. "Your reign of terror is FINALLY over!"
Selphie frowned and lifted up the megaphone to scream right in Seifer's face. Before she knew it, it was yanked away and she turned to find Rinoa standing behind her, an extremely displeased look on her face. "What is going ON." she demanded.
"Uh...Rin..." Selphie said, her eyes darting across the room nervously. "I...I can explain."
Before Rinoa could open her mouth once again, she felt two arms glomp on to her. She turned and saw Zell hugging her from the side. Tears were practically in his eyes as he looked up at her. "Thank you..." he whimpered with large doe like eyes.
Rinoa's eyes widened and she quickly turned to Selphie. "Off the chair," she ordered. The bubbly brunette's head lowered as she slid off the chair. Rinoa pried the thankful blond off of her as she sat back on the chair. "Hat," she stated. Selphie handed her the dark red barrette on her head. She put it out quickly. She lifted up the megaphone. "Selphie! Quistis! Seifer! Irvine! Zell! In front of me NOW!"
Almost immediately the five people in question lined up. "I-" Seifer began, but Rinoa shot him a stern glare. He turned his head away quickly.
Coolly, Rinoa lifted the megaphone to her lips once more. "The rest of you may leave!" she ordered. Within seconds, the entire ballroom was empty except for the seven of them and Angelo. She turned to Squall. "Honey, take Angelo and our things upstairs. I'll see you in a bit."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" he asked. Rinoa nodded. Reluctantly, he whistled for Angelo and then looked at the others. "I will speak with you all tomorrow afternoon about this." Squall warned, referring to the added stress on his fiancee. The others nodded as he and Angelo left.
Rinoa turned back to the group. "Seifer - report."
"At midnight today, Selphie rounded up the entire cast for Midnight Practice, which we felt was unnecessary. We have all been pulling our part. For the last few days since you and Captain Puberty left to visit 'daddy', Selphie turned into a control freak." Seifer replied.
"I am not a control freak!" Selphie argued. Rinoa held her hand up.
"Wait your turn," She said. "Quistis - report." She acknowledged the female blond. Quistis nodded.
"Selphie has been giving us more and more time to practice on stage and it has been wearing us out. She called Midnight Practice, which is strictly for punishment on us although we have nothing to be punished for. Also, she has been making us redo parts of the play we have already been over with you." Quistis added.
Selphie pouted. "I just want to make it good..." she added.
"Irvine, Zell," Rinoa said, turning to them. "Is this true?"
Zell nodded and Irvine looked hesitantly at Selphie and then at Rinoa. "She's been making me get up at dawn so I can get her lattes from cafe in town. The other day, Zell got her a mocha instead and she freaked out."
"I did not freak out!" Selphie gasped.
"You threw it at me!" Zell yelled defensively. "I thought you were going to scold my tattoo off!"
"Oh, Hyne..." Rinoa ran her hand down her face and put her megaphone down. "Selphie, I'm back - you're demoted to assistant director-"
"But-"
"No, buts," Rinoa said. "All the orders for my wedding have already been put in except the cake and brides maids dresses. The wedding outlines have been planned, decorations ordered, and while we were in Deling, we registered ourselves at several bridal registries. My wedding is just about set. On the train ride back, I had written out all the outlines for my next story. My next book will be ready soon. All I need now is to finish this play."
"Does that mean you're in control again?" Zell asked earnestly.
"Yes, Zell, I'm going to be in control again," Rinoa sighed. "Selphie, you're also being reassigned to my wedding decorating committee."
Selphie's eyes lit up. "SWEET! Balloons and everything?"
"Balloons, streamers, lots and lots of flowers...the works," Rinoa assured her. Selphie's face took on a devious look. "It's all ready planned out, so just have to follow the guidelines. Selphie?"
"Hehehe..."
"Anyway..." Seifer said as he rolled his eyes. "Can we go to bed now?"
"How far have you gotten?" Rinoa asked.
"Act 5, Scene 4." Quistis said, looking over her script. Rinoa nodded.
"Go to bed, get some sleep," Rinoa said. "Next practice will be Monday night."
"It's Friday!" Selphie gasped. "Won't that be too far from now?"
"NO!" everyone shouted. Selphie cowered.
Rinoa rubbed her head. "Monday night, we'll do a complete run through. I'll give you edited schedules there. Dismissed!" Rinoa ordered.
Zell ran off, leaving nothing more than a cloud of dust behind him as Irvine and Selphie trailed behind. Rinoa looked over at the two blond leads and raised an eyebrow in question. Quistis took a deep breath. "Never leave her in charge again."
"I thought she would be able to handle herself well considering she over sees all of the Garden Festivals." Rinoa explained.
"Why do you think she has problems getting people on her committee?" Seifer asked incredulously. Rinoa smirked and nodded.
She hopped off her chair. "I guess so. Well, I'm going to bed. Quistis, I want to have lunch with you tomorrow."
Quistis nodded as she watched Rinoa head towards the door. "About what?" the blond asked.
Rinoa smiled brightly as she looked over her shoulder. "Being maid of honor."
"LAGUNA!!" Kiros' voice rang through the Presidential Palace as Laguna cowered underneath his massive bed. He laid their quietly on his stomach, as still as a cat, as he watched his double doors fly open.
He saw Kiros' boots walk in, along with Ellone behind him. "Uncle Laguna!" Ellone called out. "Uncle, stop hiding!"
"You're not a child, Laguna!" Kiros began a rather familiar lecture. "Now stop hiding and do your work!"
Like hell I will... Laguna thought to himself with determination. I only came back because they made me...
"Laguna..." Kiros' voice was reaching that warning tone.
"Maybe we should check the other wing now?" Ellone asked. Laguna watched as she turned around and headed out the door. Kiros let out an annoyed sigh and headed out after her. The double doors closed. Laguna counted to one hundred and then slowly crawled out from under his bed. He looked around nervously and then tip toed to the door.
Silence. Letting out a sigh, he opened the door slightly. "Gotcha!" a voice shouted as two burly arms were wrapped around him. Kiros smirked proudly as Ellone stood to the side and shook her head. Ward had a firm hold on the smaller man. "Let's go, Ward!" Laguna let out a shrill scream.
"NOOOOOO!!!"
Quistis was on cloud nine. She smiled brightly as she practically skipped down the corridor. SHE was going to be Rinoa's Maid of Honor. Not Selphie. Not Fujin. Not Xu. HER. She giggled to herself slightly as she headed towards Squall's office, where she was supposed to meet Rinoa and talk for lunch while Squall was at a meeting with Cid.
"Is it because of the play?" a whimpering voice asked as Quistis turned the corner. Quistis froze and quickly took a step back. She peeked around the corner and saw Selphie standing there with Rinoa. The taller girl ran her hand through her hair.
"No, Selphie," Rinoa said. "I could only pick one girl for Maid of Honor. And I choose Quistis."
"Why not me?" Selphie pouted. "I thought we were best friends."
"We are best friends!" Rinoa explained. "But Quistis is my best friend, too. It's not like I like you less than I like Quistis, but I spent a long time thinking about this - since Squall proposed - and I decided to go with my gut feeling and go with Quistis."
Selphie looked down. "So I'm just going to be a brides maid?" she asked. Rinoa nodded.
"It doesn't make you any less of my friend, Selphie," Rinoa sighed. "I'm sorry..."
"No, no..." Selphie sighed. "I'm just being a baby about it..." she admitted. She looked up at Rinoa and smiled weakly. "I guess I kind of wanted to be important, too."
"What are you talking about!?" Quistis gasped from around the corner. The two other women's heads perked up and Quistis mentally swore. She shook her head and walked out. "You're plenty important!"
"Quistis!" Selphie said, blushing slightly as they had just been talking about her. She smiled weakly. "Congrats on Maid of Honor."
"Selphie if you want to be Rinoa's Maid of Honor so badly, you can be." Quistis told her.
"No, no," Selphie shook her head. "It was Rinoa's decision. I can't go against it. Besides, I can be Maid of Honor at yours."
Quistis' eyes went wide. She paused for a moment. It would make more since she did technically grow up with Selphie. "True...and then Rinoa can be Maid of Honor at yours."
Selphie's eyes went wide. "That's right!" she said with a beaming smile. "Well, that's agreed then!" Rinoa let out a relieved sigh.
"Well, I was going to just have lunch with Quistis, but since we're all here, why not go to town for lunch?" Rinoa suggested. "We can discuss the designs of the Maid of Honor dress and I can show you the designs I wanted for the bride's maids dresses."
"Sounds good." Quistis said. Selphie nodded energetically.
"We have to call Fujin, too!" Selphie added. Rinoa nodded as Selphie took out her phone. "Should I have her meet us there or at the garage?"
"The garage." Quistis and Rinoa chorused. Selphie nodded and lifted up the phone to her hear.
"Fujin! We're having a wedding lunch in town! Can you make it?"
"And that's why you should be happy that both Selphie and Quistis are orphans." Squall said as he slid a bridal magazine across the conference table where they were sitting around. He tapped one of the advertisement pages where a man stood in a tuxedo.
"This it?" Irvine said as he looked at the tuxedos. "So...do we rent them?"
"Yeah, the number's on the bottom. They just need your measurements." Squall explained.
"Rinoa should have them from our costume fittings," Seifer said as he looked over the black suits with the baby blue accents. "What about you? Renting or buying?"
Squall's eyes narrowed slightly.
"RENT?" Rinoa screamed. Her eyes burned with anger as she seemed to loom forebodingly over Squall as he sat in his chair across from her at the Caraway mansion during dinner. "THIS IS YOUR WEDDING! YOU ARE NOT RENTING A TUXEDO FOR YOUR OWN WEDDING!"
Squall swallowed slightly. "We...um...already bought it." he explained.
Zell let out a whistle. "Man...how much are these going to cost?" Zell said. "Do we have to pay for them?"
"Yeah."
"But it's not even our wedding!" Zell explained. Squall shot him an annoyed glare.
"Do YOU want to tell RINOA that you're not willing to dress correctly for her wedding?" Squall asked coolly. Zell opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked down.
"No..." he mumbled. She'll eat me alive...
"You already saw what happened last night," Seifer said with a smirk. "Got Selphie in check like that." he said with a snap of his fingers.
"Thank Hyne you two came back early," Irvine chuckled. "This is the first day I've been able to sleep in without Selphie coming in to make me go get her latte."
"Is that why you two came back early?" Zell asked. "To check up on us?"
Squall shrugged. "I don't know..." he rubbed his chin. "But I feel like we missed something..."
Laguna sat in front of the massive oak desk, whimpering as he signed his name on a document for the billionth time. He sniffled as he looked around him. Ward was on one side, reading a magazine. To Laguna's left was Kiros, who had practically hand cuffed himself to Laguna to avoid any more 'disappearing acts'.
"Kiros..." Laguna said pitifully. "My hand is tired."
"Write."
"But-"
"WRITE." Kiros demanded. Laguna's head fell as he took another sheet of paper and began to read it over.
Rinoa...Squall...? Laguna sniffled as he wrote his name once again. WHERE ARE YOU!?
Next Time: They finally retrieve Laguna and then accidents arise as Laguna and Selphie conspire to get the rough draft of Rinoa's latest book. Will they succeed or will Squall catch them breaking into his room?
