Lost Memories of My Love
Chapter 6 – Claws
At dinner, Ashleigh kept throwing death stares at Rinoa. Rinoa tried not to take any notice of it. She wasn't going to stoop down to her stepsister's level and try to cause trouble while their family was eating. Seifer found it amusing, and everyone else just didn't seem to notice.
Rinoa excused herself and went to the bathroom.
"Well, I think it's time to leave now," said Caraway. "We'll just wait for Rinoa to come back out..."
"Dinner was wonderful," complimented Sera.
"Yeah, thanks for the dinner, General Caraway!" said all three of Ashleigh's friends together.
"Aren't you girls charming," said Caraway with a chuckle.
"I just want to go outside for some fresh air," said Ashleigh. She abandoned the table and wandered outside. When she stepped out, she felt the cool breeze against her face, a nice change to the somewhat stuffy and crowded atmosphere inside.
A familiar-looking car pulled over.
Oh my god it's him, thought Ashleigh. She tidied herself up a bit and made herself look pretty.
Squall got out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the restaurant, twirling his car keys around his finger carelessly. As he walked past Ashleigh, he glanced at her, but when he saw her wearing the dress, he took a second glance.
Ashleigh smiled and walked up to him.
"Hi," said Ashleigh with a smile.
"Uh ... hey," said Squall slowly. "Do I ... know you?"
"Yeah, I'm the new girl from Garden," said Ashleigh in a cute voice.
"Oh ... right," said Squall. "Hey ... where'd you get that dress?"
Ashleigh giggled. "This old thing? It was just lying around. Why, do you like it?"
"Uh ... yeah, it's really pretty," said Squall, nodding.
Ashleigh giggled again. "Why, thanks."
"Hey, do you know a girl named Rinoa?" asked Squall.
Ashleigh slightly frowned, but then smiled again. "Yeah, I know Rinoa. I'm her younger sister."
Squall stared at her in shock. "You are?"
Ashleigh nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh ... uh ... okay then," said Squall, scratching the back of his head. He decided to ask her about it later. "Say ... do you know where she is?"
"Um, she's..."
"Squall!"
Squall looked over Ashleigh's shoulder, and found Rinoa rushing out the door. The commander nodded at her in acknowledgement, and walked away from Ashleigh and towards Rinoa.
Ashleigh turned around acidly and glared at Rinoa as she came rushing towards Squall.
"You came," said Rinoa happily. She glanced over at Ashleigh, ignored her, and then looked back at Squall again.
Ashleigh folded her arms and went back into the restaurant angrily.
As soon as Ashleigh was inside, Squall said, "You never told me you had a sister."
Rinoa's eyes widened. "How...?" She scrunched her nose to hide her embarrassment "It must've slipped my mind..."
"It slipped your mind?" repeated Squall, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like you…"
Rinoa laughed nervously. "Well … I didn't think it would matter. But I'll tell you anyway. Caraway married some lady and that's her daughter."
Squall nodded slowly.
"Yeah … tragic, isn't it?" Rinoa grinned at him jokingly, even though it wasn't a joke.
"She's ... wearing your dress..."
Rinoa silently cursed at Ashleigh. "Oh, that's not my dress," she lied, not wanting to disappoint Squall. She sounded very convincing, though. "She just thought it was really pretty when she saw it. She looked at it and said she saw one like that in some shop and went to get it."
"She ... went all the way to Esthar to get it?" asked Squall, unconvinced.
"N-no, of course she didn't," said Rinoa quickly, "She told my father to get it. He was heading to Esthar for work the other day, that's all."
Squall nodded understandingly. "Oh, okay then."
"Well, enough about that, let's go have some fun," said Rinoa, not wanting to talk about Ashleigh anymore. She grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the restaurant.
---
Squall dropped Rinoa off back at her house. It was eleven o'clock, but everyone was still awake. Her father was of on a job somewhere and Sera was sitting on the sofa, watching television.
She went upstairs and into her room. Ashleigh was already changed out of Rinoa's dress and in her pajamas. She was lying on her bed, reading one of Rinoa's magazines.
Rinoa set her handbag on her dressing table, grabbed her pajamas from her wardrobe and got changed in the bathroom. She came back and hung her dress up. She began brushing her hair in front of her dressing table mirror.
Rinoa saw Ashleigh get up through the reflection of the mirror, but paid no attention to her. The redhead was giving her a dirty look. She got up and walked to her schoolbag, rummaging through it. She found something … a bottle of ink. Rinoa's stepsister walked back to the bed and sat herself down.
Rinoa began to watch Ashleigh suspiciously through the reflection of the mirror. Ashleigh opened the bottle of ink and spilled it on something that was lying nearby. Rinoa's dress.
Rinoa dropped her brush and ran up to Ashleigh, ink bottle in hand. She looked at the dress Squall gave her, and simply stared in horror. There was a giant black stain on the waistline.
"Why did you do that for!" demanded Rinoa angrily.
Ashleigh continued to spill the ink on Rinoa's dress.
"What are you doing!" yelled Rinoa in horror. "That's not going to wash out!"
"I don't care," said Ashleigh grouchily.
Rinoa snatched her dress from Ashleigh. She ran to her dressing table and started spraying water on the stain, trying to rub off the ink vigorously. It didn't come off.
"Why in Hyne's name did you do that for!" screamed Rinoa angrily.
"So you can't wear that fricking dress anymore," answered Ashleigh simply. "It's ugly. I'm doing you a favour."
"What the hell is wrong with you!" screamed Rinoa. She threw the dress on the floor in anger. "Why are you doing this to me!"
Ashleigh just looked at Rinoa emotionlessly. Then she said, "I. Don't. Like. You." She was just saying that. Truly, she was just jealous of Rinoa. She didn't know why. Was it because she had Squall? Was it because she had a father that loved her so much? Was it because she had real friends who cared about her?
Rinoa rushed towards Ashleigh, blood boiling. She gathered all her bottled up anger and released it all on Ashleigh … she slapped her right across the face. "What the HELL is wrong with you? That dress meant something to me! I don't care if you think it's ugly, it's MY dress!" She continued to slap her stepsister across the face…
Ashleigh grabbed Rinoa by the shoulders. "Stop it!" she shrieked.
Rinoa wriggled free from Ashleigh's grip and pushed her down on the bed. She began slapping Ashleigh furiously, releasing all her anger.
Ashleigh was in tears. She kept on screaming, "Stop it!" but Rinoa just kept on bashing the heck out of her.
The door flung open and Sera rushed in, horrified.
"Stop it! Stop it, both of you!" Sera pulled Rinoa off Ashleigh.
Rinoa glared at Ashleigh in fury. She restrained herself from hurting her any further.
Ashleigh sat up and kept on crying.
"What is going on here?" demanded Sera. She picked up the dirtied dress and stared at Ashleigh. "This is Rinoa's dress. Say sorry to her, right now. This stain won't wash out."
Ashleigh continued crying and hugged her mother. "It was an accident!" Ashleigh sobbed through tears. "I kept saying I was sorry, but big sister just kept on hitting me!"
Rinoa's look of fury disappeared and disbelief took its place. She stared at Ashleigh in disbelief and just kept that stare fixed. You little…
Ashleigh kept on continuing to cry.
Sera's angry look turned to Rinoa. "Is this ... true?"
Rinoa whirled around and stared at her stepmother with utmost look of disbelief. "No! Of course it's not true!"
"She's lying!" wailed Ashleigh, "I swear, it was an accident!"
Sera said nothing. She was unsure of who to believe … but seeing as how she trusted her own daughter more, she decided to believe Ashleigh silently. She just stood up and put the dirty dress down, and walked out of the room.
Ashleigh stopped crying and looked at Rinoa.
Rinoa turned around and clenched her fist, but didn't hit Ashleigh.
The two of them were left staring at each other, with putrid hatred smothered across each other's faces.
---
"Mother, I hate her so much," said Ashleigh to her mother the next day. The two of them were sitting on the lounge, while Caraway was away and Rinoa was still sleeping.
"Why does she have to be in this family?" cried Ashleigh.
"You may hate her but you have to live with her," said Sera.
"Her boyfriend is a SeeD," said Ashleigh jealously. "I don't know what he sees in her."
"A SeeD?" repeated Sera.
"Yes," pouted Ashleigh, "His name is Squall ... or something. She's meeting up with him again. I swear, she is so stuck on him."
"Squall?" said Sera, her eyes widening. "Why, that's the name of President Laguna of Esthar's son!"
"It is?" said Ashleigh, amazed. Then she became green with envy again. "That just makes it worse."
Sera thought carefully. "You said she's meeting up with him today?"
"Yes," said Ashleigh, frowning.
"Well ... why not tag along with her?" suggested Sera.
"I'll look like an idiot," said Ashleigh grumpily. "I want to see him alone. Without her. She's messing my life up, mother! She doesn't deserve Squall!"
"What's she ever done to you?" asked Sera. "She seems like a nice girl."
"Nice!" cried Ashleigh. "Didn't you see the way she was slapping me yesterday? It was so painful! She's a lot stronger than I am, and I bet she would be since she's friends with so many SeeDs! She always leaves me behind as well! She deserted me at the train station on the orientation day. I could have gotten lost! And she didn't want me to accompany me that day. She always leaves me out and never introduced me to any of her friends. I'm miserable because of her."
Sera seemed to be intrigued by this news. "Well, if that's the case, you go on and meet this Squall. I'll make sure she doesn't come along."
Ashleigh brightened. "Really, mumsy?"
Sera nodded. "She doesn't deserve what she has. She is ungrateful. She never calls you little sister or Fury her father and she certainly does not call me mother!"
Ashleigh squealed with delight.
"You're both evil, aren't you?"
Sera turned around and saw Seifer leaning against the wall, eating an apple carelessly. It seemed that he was listening intently to what the two of them were saying, and picked up on it quite easily. He actually knew about Ashleigh and Rinoa's little rivalry going on, and that Rinoa was actually the victim. He chose to remain neutral, finding the two girls' quarrelling rather entertaining.
"Why, you...!" Sera narrowed her eyes.
Seifer snickered. "I'm not deaf, y'know."
Sera stood up in anger and marched right over to him.
"You little swine, why are you listening to personal conversations?" demanded Sera.
"I don't remember you stating anywhere that that conversation was personal," said Seifer with a snicker.
"Ugh! You are so much like your father, you little worm!" shouted Sera.
"Uh ... point being?" said Seifer lazily.
"You won't tell Rinoa, will you?" asked Ashleigh nervously.
"Maybe I will ... maybe I won't," said Seifer with a mischievous grin.
Sera fumed in anger, fury flickering across her eyes, and grabbed Seifer by the ear like a misbehaving child.
"OW, whaddaya think you're doing?" growled Seifer, pissed.
Sera dragged Seifer by the ear to the closet. "I've had enough of you," she said, her temper rising rapidly.
Seifer pulled his mother's hand off his ear.
"Don't touch the merchandise," said Seifer, rolling his eyes and straightening his collar. He thought he was off easy, but he let his guard down.
Sera opened the closet and pushed him in it, slamming the door and locking it.
Seifer began banging on the door, clueless about what had just happened. "What the hell? Let me out, bitch!"
Sera ignored his constant yelling and went back to Ashleigh.
"Now that that's been taken care of," said Sera, "Why don't you get ready for your meeting with Squall?"
Ashleigh grinned. "I will."
