Chapter 5: Them and Us
---Djose, Rikku's apartment---
Rikku sat legs crossed on her 'Flan Azul' colored carpet, an empty teal storage bin parked in front of her. Pictures and letters surrounded her in a messy circle as she sorted through all of her memories with Gippal. She figured the quicker she took care of this, the quicker she could get on with her life. Dwelling on the past may have been something that Yuna once fancied, but Rikku wasn't having it. There were countless items she had to fit in this bin, many stupid stuffed chocobo dolls and ton berry items, like the keychain Gippal won for her at the Luca fair a year ago. He wasted all his gil on the silly trinket but he would've done anything for her then. "Wonder if he does that stuff for Paine?" She pondered, holding the tiny lantern-holding creature in front of her as it swayed side to side. Dropping it in the bin, she sighed and looked at the blue clock on her canary colored walls. It was just about six o'clock in the evening and her stomach was grumbling.
"So hungry." She whined to herself, clutching her belly. "I haven't eaten anything since this morning. I really need some food." She hopped to her feet and stepped over the mess she made, heading for her kitchen. Opening the old fridge door, it creaked and the light inside flickered on. Much to her chagrin there was only a stick of butter, an old gallon of milk and a few pieces of bread that had seen fresher days. "Guess I need to go shopping or something." She grumbled, closing the door. Most of the time she stayed with Gippal at his apartment and he always had food in his fridge. She couldn't remember the last time she actually shopped for food. Buying new clothes and nights out at the clubs took precedence over buying things for her to eat. "I think I'll order out tonight, now where's my wallet? Oh, and I need the comm. Sphere." She made her way to the wall by the sink where it hung from a wall jack.
She picked up her comm. sphere to place an order to 'Chocobo Charlies' when it rang in her hand. She clicked the 'talk' button and spoke into the receiver.
"Hello?" She said happily, twirling the curly blue cord between her fingers. A girl's voice chimed on the other end of the line.
"Hey Rikku, it's Yuna! How are you doing?" Yuna asked, sunniness in her voice. Rikku took a seat on her white wooden bar stool and rested her elbow on the island in her kitchen.
"Yuna! How are ya? Haven't spoken to you in a while, what's up?" She picked up a pen that was lying on the island and began doodling little flowers on an opened envelope, listening to Yuna tell her about the recent happenings in her life. It's been three years since the eternal calm was restored and the two didn't see each other as often as they used to. Still, Yuna tried to call whenever she could, keeping the strings of friendship from fraying with the passing of time. Rikku partly listened, her mind wandered somewhere else and Yuna picked up on it right away, smart as she was.
"Rikku, is something the matter? You seem awfully quiet." She noted. Rikku snapped out of her daze and answered her cousin.
"Well, I've seen better days, I guess." Rikku said, resuming her doodle bouquet on the envelope as she spoke.
"Do you care to elaborate, cousin?" Yuna pried, trying to get her to cough up her info. Rikku sighed deeply and told Yuna about Gippal and Paine. She also mentioned the club and Baralai saving her from a potentially bad hangover. The hardest part for her was telling her about the hurtful words she and Paine exchanged on the docks in Kilika. Yuna listened carefully, taking in every word like it was sacred testament. When Rikku was finished, Yuna herself sighed on the other end of the line.
"Wow, Rikku that's some story." She replied. "I'm sorry things aren't going so well for you right now. But who knows? Maybe things'll turn around with you and Gippal right?"
Rikku admired Yuna's never-ending optimism, but she had other things on her mind besides getting back with Gippal. "I don't know, Yunie." She said, placing the pen on the island's surface and putting her fingers to her hair, twirling the braided strands subconsciously. "Maybe I won't. I mean if we did get back together who could guarantee me that he won't dump me again?" Rikku added, speaking within the bounds of reason. "I don't think I want to go through that a second time." Yuna reluctantly agreed and was about to voice her opinion when Rikku's sphere beeped loudly in her ear.
"Oh, seems I have another call." Rikku said. "Could you hold on Yuna? I'll only be a second." Yuna approved and Rikku pressed the flash button.
"Hello?" she answered. There was an empty pause on the other end before the voice cleared his throat and spoke.
"Could you come over here? I could really use a friend right about now, I fear I'm going to do something bad if I stay here alone." It was Baralai and he sounded pretty destitute, his tone was shaky. Rikku became worried and clicked back over to Yuna.
"Yunie, can I call you back? I have to go out for a while." Rikku asked, walking toward the sphere unit. Yuna said her goodbyes and Rikku clicked the receiver back to Baralai.
"Will you come?" he asked, "We can order some pizza or something. I just don't want to be here by myself."
Rikku smiled to herself on the other end of the line. "Finally gonna get to eat, I'm starved." She thought to herself before answering Baralai.
"Sure, I'll be over in ten. Hang in there till then." She said and hung up the sphere. Heading towards the door and grabbing her purse, Rikku switched off the light and closed the door, securing the lock.
Rikku opened the door to her cherry red hover roadster and sped off to Luca where she hopped a ferry to Kilika. She was rather excited because she never really got to know Baralai. She and Paine didn't spend much time together anymore like her and Yuna so there weren't any double dates or anything. Everyone was still in the 'touchy feely' stages of their relationships and didn't make time to go out together like they promised in the beginning. Some things just got lost in the shuffle of daily life and their friendships kind of took a spot in the bottom of that deck. Rikku knew he was feeling as badly as she was so she felt compelled to want to help him through this. In a way, it helped her to deal with it as well, this not being an easy thing to go through alone.
Parking the roadster behind his black hover in the driveway, she locked the doors and made her way up the walk. The screen door was open and Baralai waved her in from the kitchen. He was getting out plates and glasses, the pizzas sat on the counter in front of him. He smiled when she walked in. His hair wasn't spiked up, it was hanging loosely about his face. He wore a sky blue silk top that clung to his frame with a nice pair of beige khakis and no shoes.
"Thanks for coming Rikku." Baralai said, gratefully. "I know you don't know me very well, but I wasn't sure who to call and you offered so…"
Rikku waved him off with her hand. "I'm glad you called. Were in the same boat, I don't really want to be alone either that's for sure."
Baralai picked up the pizza boxes and put the plates on top of them. "I thought we could eat in the study in front of the fire. I love being in there, it's my favorite room. Could you get the glasses? And do you like red wine?" He was rambling again, and Rikku giggled at his awkwardness.
"Sure, sounds good, and Baralai, don't forget to breathe! Really, you are too funny." She commented, picking up the glasses and grabbing some napkins off the counter. He blushed as the two headed down the hallway to the door on the right that was his study. She stood in the doorway, looking about the room in amazement. It was dimly lit by the combination of the crackling fire and the silver sconces hanging on the brick wall of the fireplace. The beige curtains were closed, the burgundy ties hung from the hooks on the sides. There was a fuzzy burgundy blanket covering the black marble floor in front of the fireplace. He put the pizzas down on the floor and headed to his liquor cabinet, taking out a bottle of red wine. He looked at her puzzled as she stood there like a statue, her mouth opened in awe.
"Are you coming in?" he asked, snapping her out of her daze. She shook her head and closed the door behind her. Making her way around his leather sofa, Rikku plopped down onto the blanket and handed the glasses up to Baralai. He filled hers first and gave it back to her, then he filled his own and sat down to her right.
"Are you hungry? 'Pizza Paragon' makes a great pie, Paine and I ordered these a lot." He said, growing solemn as he opened the box. Rikku looked over at him sympathetically and smiled.
"It's all right ya know," Rikku assured him. "You guys just broke up today, you're not going to forget right away." She took a slice out of the box, the cheese clinging to the other slice unwilling to separate. She grabbed the cheese with her hand and put the cheese in her mouth and sauce stuck to her chin. Baralai grabbed a napkin and wiped the sauce off for her. She blushed slightly and chuckled.
"Thanks." She said nervously. He stared at her; his brown eyes were soft and friendly. They ate their pizza and drank their wine. As the evening went on, and the wine was being consumed, their tongues loosened and they began to talk about things. She told him about her life in Bikanel, and home with Cid and Brother; He told her about Bevelle and his progress at the temple. He also told her a little about his life growing up as a maester's son and his free spirited mother.
"So." Baralai began, leaning against the couch, his legs stretched before him. "What was it like being 'Gippal's girl'?" He asked, now leaning his elbow to the couch, gazing at her.
"Well," she began, tilting her head back and staring at the cathedral like ceiling. "It was…interesting. He's really funny, he was always trying to make me laugh, which he did, although it doesn't take much for me to laugh though." Rikku took another sip of her wine and set it down to her left. She then focused her eyes on him.
"What about you? What was it like to date the stoic Dr. P?" she queried, hiccupping a little bit. She covered her mouth as he started to tell her.
"Hmm…she wasn't always like that…stoic, I mean. I got to see a much softer side of her sometimes. I really loved it when she smiled. Her eyes would shine with this light that had endless possibilities. Did that make any sense? I may have had too much wine." He said uneasily, letting out a small giggle.
The two laughed and looked at each other nervously as silence formed a cloud around them. Rikku sliced through the silence, speaking at last.
"Did Paine tell you why she chose Gippal over you after all this time?" she wondered, picking up another slice and inhaling it quickly. He shook his head and poured himself another glass of wine.
"Not really. She just said she didn't mean it. How about Gippal? What excuse did he give you?" Baralai asked back, his eyes grew heavy from the amount of wine he drank. She bit her lip and crinkled her nose as she looked up to ponder the question.
"He said he wanted someone more mature." She replied, scratching the back of her head. "I guess Paine was the maturity he needed. I hate when people assume I'm so immature. Here I thought I grew up and I'm still getting accused otherwise." She lowered her head, staring at her knees, a frown crowing her face. "It's frustrating."
"If it means anything, I don't think that." Baralai said, lifting her chin over to his direction with his hand. She liked that his hand felt so soft, not like Gippal's calloused, over worked ones. She looked him in the eyes as he continued. "I think you're really mature. How could you have helped me today dealing with Paine? Don't let others tell you different." He took his hand away from her face and stacked the empty pizza boxes on top of each other. Then, she looked back at him and smiled.
"What?" he asked, a hand to his chin as he leaned on the chair, his gaze to her again.
"Thanks, I really needed to hear that." Rikku admitted, adjusting to her knees. "Maybe it was a good thing we got dumped. We would have never gotten to know each other this way, and I'm having a lot of fun." Baralai continued to look at her, a smile widening on his tanned face.
"Yeah, me too. Hey, I have an idea." He said, pouring Rikku one more glass of wine and topping himself off as well. He then sat up onto his knees and faced her, his glass raised.
"Screw dating. It's highly overrated. I say we stick together and make a pact never to fall in love ever again! What do you say?" He suggested. She sat up as well, lifting her glass up to meet his.
"That sounds great! We could keep each other company! Who needs dating? Gippal and Paine can have each other! To us, and to watching out for each other." She declared, and they clinked their glasses together and leaned up against the couch side by side, watching the fire crackle before them.
They spent the rest of the night talking again, enjoying each other's company until they passed out, her head resting comfortably on his left shoulder and his head on top of hers, the sweet smell of the pears from her shampoo filled his nose as he slept.