Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII's characters, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's plot, my words.
Note: Most sections in Italics are memories or past events.
Break-ups and Make-ups
Squall slowly paced up and down in the dull innards of his apartment, everything was so dull and monotonous without her, sure she could infuriate him at the drop of a hat but she had a cheerful presence that no other could match. Irritated by his own repetitive movement of his pacing he slumped down into a worn blue chair, considering what to do. Sure the two of them always argued and fell out, it would have been odd if they hadn't… but Rinoa used to always ring a few days later and spill her heart and say how 'out of order' she was or how much she missed him. She hadn't rung and it has been over two weeks since their last dispute took place after Rinoa had stumbled in drunk that night.
He absentmindedly chewed on his bottom lip as his thoughts flurried in his mind, should he be the bigger person and apologize? He must have really pissed her off this time…
She had stumbled through the door and miraculously managed to make it all the way to his small living room before collapsing into a heap on the floor, laughing all the while. Drunken laughter. He could smell the strong aroma of liquor that she wore like perfume. He always hated her when she was drunk; she was more irritating than usual in this state of mind.
"You should have come, it was great!" she exclaimed tilting her head back so that she could see him, sat in the worn, tattered blue chair. He said nothing but the look etched on his handsome features expressed how disgusted he was with her. "God! Your so boring!" she commented and drowsily attempted to sit up. "Oh by the way, I borrowed your car."
"You drove it back here!" said Squall in a tone brimming with disbelief.
"Well how else was I supposed to get home?" she questioned innocently.
"Walk, get a bus, shit anything but drive my car in the state you're in!"
"Oh shut up! Your car's a pile of shit anyway!" She pouted
"That's not the point! You could have crashed or hit someone!" at this Rinoa started giggling again and Squall aimed a questionable glare towards her drunken form sat before him.
"You did hit something didn't you?" He asked, his voice quieter that before.
"Don't worry it's only a small dint, no on will notice!" She said after her fit of laughter had subsided.
"What did you hit?"
"Dunno, a fire hydrant?" a smirk graced her lips; she obviously found this amusing and made no effort to hide it from him.
"A fire hydrant? Are you sure it wasn't a dog? A cat? A small child perhaps!" He hissed.
"Yes I'm fucking sure, okay!" she growled narrowing her dark eyes. "What's with all the hassle?" the smirk materialized on her lips again as if she had just figured the hidden meaning in his questionings "You're jealous."
"Of what?" he snorted at the idiotic implication.
"That I can go out and have a good time. I'm perfectly sociable and you constantly live inside that weird little head of yours!" Squall merely rolled his eyes and set his plane of vision else were instead of on her. "No, wait! Your worried!"
"Well of course I am! You drove my car drunk!"
"Not about that you idiot!" she sighed becoming impatient with his ignorance "You're worried because I went to party alone."
"So?"
"So while I was out having a good time, you're sat all alone wondering, 'did she fuck someone tonight?" That aggravated him, trust Rinoa to say something so completely unintelligent and untruthful at the opportune moment to hurt him, she thought she knew him threw and threw. After a moment of silence, Squall leaned forward and replied,
"No, I knew you would fuck someone tonight, because that's how you get people to like you." Yet it didn't sound as sarcastic as he had meant it, causing Rinoa to think it was a sincere comment, her beautifully brown colored eyes widen in a look of pain and shock before narrowing.
"Fuck you." She said quietly emphasizing the word's syllables. Despite her drunken state she managed to quickly rise from the floor and make her way to the door. Squall hastily rose and went after her.
"Rinoa, wait! I didn't mean it like that." He grasped her arm as she yanked open the door but she was now in no mood to reason with this jerk so she brushed his hand away before exiting and deafeningly slamming the wooden door shut. Squall exhaled loudly in annoyance.
For both of their well-being he decided he'd apologize for what he had said, even if she didn't wish to be with him anymore, it hadn't ended on a very civil note, causing him to feel guilty and somewhat immature. Squall rose from his chair and stretched before he strolled over to the door and retrieved his jacket from the hook attached to its wooden form. He tiredly tugged the item of clothing on before stepping out into the tapered corridor.
Rinoa was a year or so younger than him and was in her last year of college where she studied Sociology, Squall had always thought of it as an easier version of psychology, quickly study a group of people's behaviour instead of focusing greatly on a single person's persona, yet Rinoa did always managed to do this to him for some reason. But being a weekend she would more likely be at work than studying. She worked in a small yet popular coffee shop named, 'Java Hut' it's main customers were mainly students. Rinoa loved working there, as it was more of a social thing than an occupation, yet she had taunted that he'd never understand, as he was ineradicably unsociable.
Squall trudged along the pavement, his mind else were, not bothering to move out of people's way as he had learnt that people would soon move out of his path instead. He was greeted by the warmth and strong aroma of coffee as he entered the café, he always hated coming here the atmosphere was constantly too boisterous for his liking. Maneuvering through the sofas, tables and chairs as well as the odd group of people who inconveniently stood in the way he made it to the counter. Rinoa had just handed a latte in a large cup to another adolescent with her usual cheerful smile. Once the girl had left, her eyes fell upon Squall's form and gave him the most unexpected reaction he had ever witnessed from her.
"Hey, what can I get ya?" She asked in slightly up-beat version of the 'Can I take your order please' expression. He blinked in disbelief did she not recognize him? "Erm, sir can I help you?" she questioned a look of puzzlement flickered across her attractive face.
"Rinoa!" Greeted a male voice.
"Seifer! Heeeey!" with that she instantly lost attention to her bizarre customer and leaned over the counter chattering to the tall, handsome man. "Oh, Maria, can you serve that guy please, I'm going on my break!" The girl who Rinoa had called Maria rolled her eyes at her co-worker's lack of enthusiasm towards her job and then switched to 'have a nice day!' mode.
"Hi, can I take your order please?" she said in a more convincing manner than Rinoa had used. Squall, who was still dumbfounded by her peculiar behaviour towards him, blinked and look as if he'd been disturbed from some sort of deep meditation.
"Erm… it doesn't matter." He mumbled and quickly turned on his heels, he had to get out of this place!
"I-I just don't' get it." He muttered burying his face in his hands out of frustration and confusion. He was in the tiny yet beautifully presentable kitchen of the Trepe residence.
"Are you sure it was the right girl?" questioned Zell who hadn't spoken much since Squall's arrival as he had been preoccupied cooking hotdogs, though he didn't live with Quistis an outsider to this household would have thought differently, he was constantly there. It was a wonder to Squall why poor Quistis hadn't changed the locks on the doors, yet she seemed to able to stomach his open persona. Squall shot him a glare, instantly making Zell wish he could retract his words. Instead he busied himself by adding condiments and fowl looking cooked onions to one of his hotdogs. "Want one?" he offered, hoping the peace offering would cheer his gloomy friend up. Squall looked at the food as if it were poisoned.
"Well why don't you consider it a sign." Said Quistis as she placed a cup of coffee on the wooden table he and Zell were seated at. He placed his hands around the cup, allowing the heat of the liquid to warm his hands as well as create a weak reflection of himself.
"A sign?" Zell managed to say in the midst of devouring his food.
"That he should move on." She informed taking her seat. "I know you two did once like.. maybe love each other but you have to admit you've been arguing a lot lately."
"But still we always made up." Break-ups and make-ups went hand-in-hand in their relationship, sure it got tiresome at times but he'd never really thought it would have taken such a bizarre turn. "I've never seen her like this." He mumbled. Zell shifted nervously, sensing his friend's discontentment and glanced at Quistis, who was sipping her drink. "It was like she didn't even recognize me.." Quistis looked at Zell and could see her friend was having a hard time trying to keep what they knew a secret; Zell was never good at that sort of thing. He silently mouthed the words 'Tell him' to her; she frowned and mouthed 'No' back.
"I'm sure it's for the best." She reassured, Zell rolled his eyes and took another bite of his hotdog to prevent himself from blurting out anything he shouldn't. He didn't like to see people miserable and even though Squall was the miserable type it was very rarely he had ever seen him this down. "I think the reason why everything has become like this is because you two are opposite ends of the personality spectrum," Squall frowned, didn't opposite's attract or did that rule only apply to magnets? "You should find someone more suited to your personality." She smiled kindly. "Someone calm, mature, the same age as you, you know that kind of thing."
Zell abruptly lost interest in his food, Quistis couldn't be more obvious, hinting at such things, and it made him so agitated he didn't wish to eat out of his disgust towards her actions. She had always liked Squall, every since he had introduced the two of them yet this like wasn't the friendship kind, it ran deeper than that; it was the desire variety of like. Luckily Squall was oblivious to her actions and intimations and so the two merely remained friends. However this wasn't the only factor that was irritating Zell, it was the actuality that the same predicament was occurring between himself and the young fair-haired haired woman, he forever craving her and she forever unaware of him. Disenchanted by this, his urge to inform Squall the truth strengthened.
"Squall, this isn't one of her games, trust me.." he said. At this Quistis shot him an Ice Queen worthy glare, comprehending what he was indicating through his speech.
"So what? Her acting this way isn't deliberate?" He questioned his voice embittered and saddened.
"In a way... yeah." The handsome brunette's face yet again had a frown etched upon his fine features. Since when did Zell ever use ambiguity? Quistis remained silent, knowing if she attempted to silence Zell it would only arise Squall's suspicions further. "She can't really help it."
"What are you on about?" He questioned in an irritable tone becoming petulant towards his friend's indirectness. Zell began fumbling around in his pocket.
"Don't you dare!" hissed the girl opposite him she had to stop him.
"Oh come on Quistis! He should know! Its not fair!" Zell angrily retorted to her attempt at intimidation.
"Know what?" Squall exasperatedly sighed, already irritated by their argument.
"Here."
Squall took the folded piece of yellow paper from Zell's outstretched hand. Quistis, defeated, let a lengthy sigh escape her and focused her attention of clearing the mess her so-called friend had made whilst cooking. He opened it and began to read the text printed on it.
'Dear Mr. Z. Dincht,
We at Shin Ra Inc. are contacting you to inform you that your friend, Rinoa Heartilly, has had Squall Leonhart, erased from her memory. This has been done at Rinoa's request and is so that she is no longer affected by these memories and can progress through life as normal once more. Please reframe from mentioning this subject to her as this may cause her to experience confusion and misunderstandings. This is merely requested to be done so that Rinoa may stay content and carefree.
Yours faithfully
Cid Kramer of Shin Ra Inc.'
He placed the letter on the table, his eyes never leaving the bold words written its yellow shaded paper.
"What is this?" he tonelessly questioned still gazing at the letter.
"Everyone Rinoa knows got sent one, Quistis got one and so did Selphie and Irvine… She had you removed from her mind." Informed Zell quietly.
"This is a joke, right?" His voice had found a tone, yet it was one of slight disbelief.
"I'm afraid not…" Came Quistis' voice from the sink she was frivolously scouring at the frying pan, imagining it was Zell's foolish head.
"But why would she do this?"
"It was like I said earlier, she's of an absolutely different persona to you. And being Rinoa, her impulsiveness probably influenced her to go through with it." She informed flatly. "Knowing her she probably did it because it would be a amusing joke to play on you."
A joke? Well he didn't find it humorous. And if it were true, how the hell would she find it comical? She wouldn't recall it. How self-indulgent, she couldn't accept something so she rid her mind of it, it was something she'd do all right.
