It's me again! I wrote the next two chapters rather quickly today, but i think they turned out rather well. I'm really fond of chapter XIV actually, because you can just imagine how it happened...Keep reading to find out what i mean!

13. First Step Toward Popularity

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Tidus said quietly into his phone as it rang. He was calling Yuna to ask her if she wanted a ride to Rikku's party. He also wanted to straighten things out with her a little bit because things were a little awkward between them. "Come on, Yuna—"

"Hello?"

"Yuna!" Tidus said a little too happily into the phone as she picked up.

"What do you want, Tidus?" Her tone was icy, causing his smile to fall slightly.

"Hello to you as well."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," she apologized with a sigh. He lied down on his bed as he listened to her speak. "I've just had a weird day."

"Yeah, tell me about it," he agreed as he put his hand under his head, once again forgetting that he hit the hell out of it this morning. The impact resulted in him having a splitting headache all day, plus with Yuna thoughts running through his head, it was terrible. Once again, he couldn't concentrate at blitzball practice, and Wakka got on his ass about it. He literally told Tidus, 'get laid this weekend, ya? You need it.'

"Anyway, I'm kind of in a hurry, so can you make this fast?"

"What are you doing?" He playfully asked her as he sat up. She's cold again...He thought with a sigh. She needs to watch the mood swings...

"I'm getting dressed," she said simply as a smile broke out on Tidus' face.

"Oh, does that mean that you're naked?" He asked her as she giggled. Finally, she's lightening up...

"I'm in my bra and underwear if you wanted to know," she replied in a flirtatious tone as visions flew through Tidus' head.

"Niiiiice," he said as she giggled again. "Anyway, I did have a point to calling you."

"Oh? What would that be?" Her tone changed from icy to flirtatious to friendly in the matter of thirty seconds, causing Tidus' head to slightly spin. He felt that she needed to hold up signs with the mood she was in so he could keep up.

"I was wondering if you were going to go to Rikku's party that she's having tonight."

"Oh," she said with a sigh. As much as she wanted to go, she had already talked to her parents and they told her 'no way, not under any circumstance, forget it.' Although they were rather adamant on their answer, she was still working on them to see if they'd change their minds. "I'm not sure if I can."

"Your parents still pissed about you being late last night?" He asked as she sighed in reply. "I'm really sorry about that by the way. I didn't mean to spoil your weekend."

"No, it's okay, you didn't spoil my weekend," she stated.

"Can you...sneak out?" He suggested to her as she gasped.

"Sneak out! Are you nuts! I've never done that before in my life and I would feel way too guilty!" She lowered her voice slightly so her parents couldn't hear her and sat on her bed. "Besides, if I would go over Rikku's I would probably want to spend the night because she told me that's what most people do."

"Yeah, I'm going to spend the night," he said in a silent way of hinting that she would sleep with him. She wouldn't get a choice in that…He couldn't help the mischievous thought that entered his head. "Could you maybe ask your parents again?"

"Okay, hold on a second so I can throw on some clothes and walk downstairs," she said as she put her phone down. Tidus tapped his fingers against his leg and after a few minutes she came back. "Um, they said I could go. I have no idea what changed their minds."

"Really! Sweet!" Tidus said as he stood up and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times to make sure that it looked okay and fixed his necklace. "So, I'll pick you up in like an hour?"

"You're going to pick me up?" She was touched at his generosity.

"That's why I called you," he said to state the obvious. "Anyway, I'll see ya then okay?"

"Okay, I just need to change and put on some makeup." She said as she ran to her closet to pick out something to wear. "I'll talk to you later."

They exchanged good byes and Tidus threw his hands in the air. YES! I'll be with her all night, and who knows what a little alcohol will do...He ran around his room to get dressed, he was still in his boxers from his shower after blitz practice, and to do his hair. Two nights in a row where you have to get dressed up for a single girl. What in Yevon's name is going on with you, Tidus?

Tidus drove over to Yuna's house and saw that there were extra cars in the driveway. Oh shit…he thought as he took the key out of the ignition. Are her parents home? Do I have to meet her parents? How do you say 'hi, nice to meet you, I saw your little girl half naked last night?' Tidus tried to calm himself down by smoothing out his shirt and running his hand through his hair as he walked up to the door. He softly knocked, hoping that he didn't knock too softly. He was just about to knock again when a man opened the door.

"Hi. I'm Yuna's father, Braska," the man said as he reached out to shake Tidus' hand. Tidus was nervous and figured that was an odd way to answer the door, but gave Yuna's father a firm handshake anyway. "You must be..."

"I'm Tidus," He said simply as he looked up to see Yuna standing at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a really short red dress that had a really low cut top that showed a lot of cleavage. His jaw slightly dropped when he saw her, but he had to remember that her father was standing three feet away from him so he regained his composure. "Hey, Yuna. You look great."

"Thanks," she said as she walked down the stairs. She turned to her father and said, "I'll be back later on, okay?"

"Okay, be a good girl." Yuna was slightly embarrassed as her father kissed her on the cheek before she left with Tidus.

"I will be, daddy," she said as Tidus held the door open for her and started to walk toward Tidus' car.

"It was nice to meet you, sir," Tidus said as he shook Braska's hand before following Yuna. When he heard the door shut, he couldn't help but give Yuna a close look from her back all the way down to her tiny red heels. "Damn, woman, you need to stop doing this to me."

"What are you talking about?" She stopped walking and looked back at him. As he caught up to her, his gaze followed the top of the dress and fixated on her cleavage.

"You need to stop wearing outfits like that," he said as he smiled and looked in her eyes.

"Why? I love this dress," she said as she looked down at herself. Okay, the cleavage is a little much, and I'm still shocked my father didn't yell at me when he saw me as I walked down the stairs...She thought and then looked up at him. He had on his wonderful smile again; the one where looked her in admiration. That look always made her blush and become nervous.

"Yeah, I like that dress too," he confessed, opening the car door for her again. "A lot." He had to refrain himself from saying, 'it would look a hell of a lot better on my bedroom floor,' but those were just his hormones coming into play again.

"Well, thank you," she said, completely knowing his reasoning for liking it so much. She watched him walk around to the drivers side of the car, and she could see her father peeking out of the curtains by the front door to see if Tidus opened the door for her. She had to roll her eyes and hope that Tidus didn't notice him there.

"All right!" Tidus said as he started to back out of Yuna's driveway. "Off to Rikku's we go!"

"Yep," Yuna said with excitement. She wasn't about to tell him that this was her first high school party that she's ever been too that involved boys and alcohol. She also wasn't going to tell him that if he is expecting to have sex with her tonight, it most certainly wasn't going to happen.

By 10:00, Rikku's party was in full swing. The music was blasting all over the house, alcohol was being distributed, and everyone was just having a good time. Rikku absolutely adored her parties that she threw, so she sat down on the couch with Gippal and admired everything that was going around her. She was drinking rum and cokes, and by now had already had a few in her, so she was starting to loosen up. There wasn't any sign of Tidus yet, but Rikku wasn't worried. She knew that Tidus always liked to be fashionably late and make an entrance. She giggled as Gippal leaned over and started to kiss her on her neck, and then saw the door open. It was Tidus...and Yuna.

"Tysh, E teth'd ghuf ra fyc kuehk du tneja fedr ran, (Damn, I didn't know he was going to drive with her)" Rikku muttered toward Gippal and stood up. It took Gippal a minute to realize that Rikku was moving, so he almost lost his balance. Rikku happily walked over to Tidus and Yuna who tried not to give her an appalled look at her outfit. Rikku was wearing a tiny brownish-green skirt with the sides of her yellow thong hanging out and what looked like a yellow bathing suit top. "Hey guys."

"Hey Rikku," Tidus said as he looked around. He noticed that the cheerleaders were all over the blitz players and he wanted to get on that action as soon as he could. He wasn't at the party with Yuna on a date; he just wanted to give her a ride because he was sure she didn't know where Rikku lived. It was a nice friendly gesture. But how friendly of a gesture would it be if I were to go hang out with the guys and get drunk without her? He thought to himself.

"Booze is in the kitchen, the study, the living room, dining room...basically everywhere," she said with a smile and held up her drink. "You do drink, don't you Yuna?"

"I have before," she lied as she looked at all the drunk people. This is not my scene…she thought to herself as she looked up at Tidus. He was enjoying every minute of this, and Yuna wasn't sure if she was going to last another minute.

"Alright, awesome. Come on you guys," Rikku said, stumbling as she led them toward the kitchen. "What do you guys want? We've got beer, rum, vodka, and my personal favorite; frozen margarita mix. I have the ice cubes and everything ready, so I just need someone to make it, that's all."

"Give me a beer," Tidus said as Rikku handed him a bottle from the table. Rikku looked over at Yuna for her response.

"Oh, just a coke," she said when she saw some bottles of coke lying around. Rikku poured her about half a glass of coke, then filled the rest of the glass with rum. Yuna tried not to show her disgust as Rikku handed it to her, but it was quite obvious. The liquid in the glass was almost clear from how much rum was put into it. Yuna thought that she was going to be sick just by looking at it.

"Hey, Rikku, don't make it that strong." Tidus took the drink from Yuna's hands and handed it to Rikku. "Here, I'm sure you could handle this."

"Thanks, I'll be around, okay?" Tidus nodded to Rikku as she stumbled off toward the living room to find Gippal again. Yuna absorbed the environment around her as Tidus poured her a drink.

"Here," Tidus said as he handed Yuna another glass. "This one won't kill you."

"Thanks, I'm not a fan of alcohol," she admitted as she took a sip. She made a face when she tasted the rum mixed in and looked up at Tidus. "Did you spike this?"

"Yes, but there's not a lot of rum in it, I promise you," he said as he took a sip of his beer. "I won't let you get trashed, okay?"

"Okay," she said as she saw Tidus eye his teammates. "Hey, I'm going to go mingle. You can go talk to your blitz guys, cuz I can see you eyeing them all."

Tidus chuckled as Yuna attempted to take another sip of her rum and coke. He could tell that she was not enjoying it, but he knew that after fighting to drink one, she'd be able to drink more without tasting it. "All right, have fun."

"You too," Yuna said as she watched Tidus leave. This isn't a date, Yuna...she reminded herself as she walked into the dining room where Paine and a bunch of people were sitting. This is a chance for me to meet more people...right?