Rinoa sighed as she walked down the halls of the Garden, silently wondering why all of the others seemed so excited about today. It was only the twenty-third… No major celebrations for the nation…
She was passing Quistis' classroom, making her way to check up on Squall's dorm, when Zell's voice drifted out the slightly open door.
"… I don't get it… Why didn't Squall like it this time…?"
Rinoa paused, unsure if she should be listening in on this when Quistis spoke, "What do you mean "this time"?"
Quickly making sure no one was around, the dark haired woman peeked inside, seeing Zell – with a depressed look on his face for some reason – sitting in front of Quistis' desk in such a way that Rinoa could only see his upper half. The teacher herself was standing next to him, frowning slightly.
"I did this before for him, and he liked it then…" Zell responded, managing to look even more depressed.
"Maybe you did something wrong this time…?" Quistis asked before covering her ears as Zell began to cry out loudly.
"No no no!" He pouted for a moment. "I practiced a bunch of times – over and over again until my arms really started to hurt and my hand was cramping up." Rinoa blushed brightly. He wasn't really taking about… that… was he? And with Squall of all people…! "I thought it'd be perfect this time…"
"Let me see it," Quistis suddenly said and Zell gave her an odd look.
"Ok…" Zell fumbled with something in his lap and Rinoa's face darkened even more, her feet rooted to the spot. Was he really…?
Quistis looked down and frowned. "It looks ok…"
"Of course it looks ok! I worked really hard on it!" Zell cried indignantly.
Quistis bent over, her head disappearing for a moment and Zell yelped before yelling loudly, "What are you doing, you… you dominatrix! Don't touch that – it's Squall's!"
Quistis reappeared after a moment, sucking lightly on the tip of her finger before announcing, "It's too bitter."
"What do you mean "it's too bitter"! Squall said it was really sweet last time!"
That was it – Rinoa couldn't take it anymore. She picked up her leaden feet and bolted down the hall, her face such a dark red it was a wonder she hadn't passed out yet from too much blood.
Quistis glanced towards the door curiously, asking, "Was that the Rinoa-bot?" Silently she cursed Zell and his stupid, catchy nicknames.
"Don't you change the subject, you dominatrix! What do you mean "it's bitter"! It's frosting – it's supposed to be sweet!"
The teacher sighed and glanced at the partially eaten, Griever-shaped cake in Zell's lap. "It's too bitter because you added too much food coloring to the frosting. That's probably why Squall didn't like it."
Zell pouted. "But when I tried to make just a little, the black was either too red or too green… So I had to use a lot to make it dark enough for it to pass off as silver…"
Quistis rolled her eyes. "Next time, why don't you just use white frosting for Squall's birthday cake? Then you won't be able to mess it up too bad."
Zell leapt to his feet, clutching the box the cake rested in so that it didn't fly off. "Why you… You dominatrix!"
Bleh… too tired to say anything except that I don't own anything mentioned in this fic and that the "Rinoa-bot" is actually an inside-joke with me and my girlfriend. So, good-bye for now.