The Delinquent
I am not the owner of final fantasy 8.
It didn't take Squall long to get over his little spat with Lucas, in fact he seemed almost in exactly the same temperament as he was before he'd seen him. Rinoa thought that it was cool that he could control his emotions like that, unlike her who would still be out there hurling abuse at him had he been a she.
It was actually then, as Rinoa stared at the waitress approaching them with armfuls of plates, she noticed Seifer's absence. He'd been there when they'd first met up and Rinoa was somewhat curious as to what he was up to. It couldn't be good… Rinoa had learnt that from experience…
Flashback
Rinoa grinned as she saw Seifer's car pull up her driveway, he'd told her that he'd be picking her up at 6:30 PM. Basically the only reason he was, was because nobody else could.
Squall was originally going to but he got a double whammy after school detention for disrupting the school during assembly. Selphie couldn't because she had to take her cat to the doctor after school because it was spewing something chronic.
Irvine couldn't because he went to rifle shooting on a Wednesday night. Quistis had to help her father work on a case (he being a Lawyer) and Zell had work at one of his jobs.
He tooted his horn impatiently, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel anxiously. Seifer looked down at his watch and honked once again, not having much patience for Rinoa's slothfulness.
Finally Rinoa exited the house, the usual skip to her walk that was always present. It was something that she shared with Selphie, a little prance at the end of every step. Seifer noticed it the first time he'd seen her but hadn't really said anything. He had a reputation for lack of concern for such things like the way people walked but when you watched people you noticed certain things.
Rinoa opened the door and sat down in the front passenger seat, smiling warmly at Seifer as she did so. Seifer's arrogant behaviour had been easy to get used to and Rinoa now saw the real person that he was. He was caring and passionate about most things and did everything one hundred and ten percent.
"I've just gotta make a quick stop." Seifer announced once he started the car.
He stepped on the gas and fanged it down the street, his music blaring so loud that Rinoa thought her eardrums were going to pop at points.
Rinoa soon noticed all the houses getting shabbier and shabbier and before she knew it she was in the slums. Drug dealers and prostitutes roamed the streets freely here, away from the law and most of the rules.
Not too many police would dare come to this part of town, people didn't really have too much respect for law enforcement here and should anything happen to a police officer the culprit probably wouldn't be found.
Rinoa knew that Seifer lived around here and figured he just forgot something on the way to her house. But instead of stopping at his house he stopped outside another. There was a teenager boy outside of it, one that Rinoa didn't recognise from school. He sat on the steps chewing on his fingernails uneasily and Rinoa could tell just by looking at him that he was clearly hooked on something that he didn't have, you could tell, it wasn't half obvious.
Seifer shoved his hand inside his hoodie pocket pulling out a clear bag with white powder inside it. He looked down at it and back up at Rinoa and Rinoa knew what he was trying to tell her, he didn't need to say anything. This was one of those don't-tell-anybody moments.
He poured some of the contents into a smaller clear bag with a black spider's web stuck on it.
"Can you look after this for a second?" Seifer enquired seriously.
He handed her the larger back with the powder and she took it hesitantly. She'd never really had anything to do with drugs. Ok so she'd smoked the occasional joint at a party but who hasn't?
She knew that Seifer wasn't into drugs either, he was always commenting on useless druggies and things of that nature so it was particularly puzzling to find him having anything to do with them.
"Seifer, whats going on?" Rinoa asked earnestly.
Seifer didn't answer; he just got out of the car and walked towards the restless looking boy.
End flashback
There was no doubt in Rinoa's mind that Seifer had a broken past, one that she was slowly starting to find the pieces of. Occasionally there were little comments passed around that gave some of it away.
Thinking about it though Rinoa soon realised that she didn't really know much about anyone's past and they never really asked her about hers. Even when Lucas had turned up nothing was asked, the only interest anyone had really taken was whether she had a boyfriend.
Rinoa wished she could turn back the clock on that moment and say that she didn't, she was so ashamed of him now. She couldn't believe that she was seeing him in such a new light, she openly admitted that she was a little closed off from him from the start though. It was her fault as much as it was his.
"Where's Seifer?" Rinoa enquired as she sliced into her pancakes.
"He had to pick up his car; he said that he wanted to rally the back roads." Quistis replied, elegantly taking a bite of her hash-brown afterwards.
Rinoa nodded, she couldn't accuse him of anything that she didn't know happened. Not that she would accuse him of anything anyway.
She felt Squall shift beside her and saw the uneasy look on his face, she knew what he was thinking, she knew what everyone was thinking. There was nothing anyone could say; Seifer wouldn't take nicely to everyone trying to lecture him.
She heard the familiar sound of Seifer car pulling up; it was by far the shabbiest car out of the lot. There were dents all over it and Rinoa didn't want to go into how old it would be. It screeched loudly as he came to a halt and it made her wince, she hated that sound.
Once everyone had finally finished all there food they made there way to the beach, Rinoa riding in Squall's car, as per usual.
Once there Rinoa Selphie and Quistis headed straight for the tree's surrounding to get changed. The last thing they need was the prying eyes of there male friends poking around as they removed clothing. That was just asking for trouble.
Once this was over they once again made there way towards the beach, casually setting up towels and any other things that they felt they might need.
The boys were all still mulling around the cars but this was normal, Rinoa had been to the beach with them a fair few times now and that's just what they did.
"Hyne, you'd think they have more to do." Quistis sighed as she sat down on her towel.
Rinoa glanced over at her and felt a little bit of jealousy rise up inside her. Quistis looked breathtaking fully dressed and now in a bikini she looked ever better than most bath suit models.
"Who cares about those jerks?" Selphie exclaimed.
Rinoa nodded, not really wanting to discuss them much more either. She hated when the subject of the boys came up, that usually led to questions about her and Squall, questions that in all honesty she had no idea how to answer.
"I thought that Squall relaxed pretty easily this morning." Selphie continued.
'Didn't you just say you didn't want to talk about them…?' Rinoa thought to herself.
Before anything else could be said Irvine flopped down beside her, he was usually the first to come over, followed by Seifer typically.
As if on que along he came, prowling around eyeing Irvine up dangerously. Seifer was fiercely protective.
An hour later
Rinoa exited the water, she was starting to get cold and you can only get dunked under by Zell so many times before it becomes annoying.
"C'mon Rin, you know I'm only joking." Zell called after her.
"Leave me alone you Neanderthal!" Rinoa yelled.
She heard a loud splash behind her and saw Zell be dragged under the water by Selphie.
She headed towards her towel, grimacing when she noticed another body lying on it.
"Squall get off my towel." Rinoa growled.
He didn't even acknowledge her presence. Instead turning the page nonchalantly in the book he was reading.
"Fine." Rinoa sighed.
She sat dejectedly on the towel beside it, trying to look as pathetic as she could.
He glanced over at her, settling his eyes on her face for longer than he had meant to, he was about to say something, something sarcastic and no doubt offensive but something else caught his eye.
Apparently Rinoa saw it too and she shifted her eyesight straight on Squall. But he wasn't staring at her anymore; he was far too wrapped up in something else.
There, walking along the beach no less than three meters away was a girl who looked out there age. She had deep black shoulder length hair with purple bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a dark blue that seemed to have some sort of glittery affect.
Her small frame had a blue bikini top on with a white see-through fishnet spaghetti strap top on. Accompanying this she had a pair of white baggy pants with a chunky black belt hanging lop sided on her hips.
Rinoa glanced from Squall back to her and back to Squall again. There was no point denying that she was beautiful, there was a sultry attraction there that Rinoa could see a mile away.
"Excuse me!" Irvine called out, running out of the water quickly.
Selphie narrowed her eyes and glared menacingly at the girl, she obviously wasn't going to welcome this new girl like they did Rinoa.
"Irvine Kinneas, I don't believe we've met." He continued, sticking his hand out and grabbing her hand lightly.
"Tracey Starks." She said seductively.
'Tracey…' Rinoa's mind growled.
She could tell that she didn't like her already; there was a home wrecker quality about her that Rinoa already saw.
"Wow…" Squall breathed.
Rinoa's head snapped sharply to her side. She shook her head and denied ever hearing it, thinking that it must've been her imagination.
Squall stared at her body with a wide eyed expression. She was perfection, his own version of perfection. He couldn't take his eyes away from her; she was drawing him in like a fish caught on a hook. He could almost hear the angel chorus chiming behind her faultless figure.
He noticed Rinoa stand and storm off towards who knows where and usually he would've followed her but he didn't want to miss a second of her presence. She could be gone by the time he got back and Rinoa would be around forever.
'I should go…'
He let out a moan and jogged after Rinoa's rapidly diminishing form. Once finally in an arms reach of her he spun her around and gave her the most concerned look he could rap up in such a short amount of time.
"Whats wrong?" Squall enquired.
"Whats wrong? Whats wrong! Could you ogle at that girl anymore?" Rinoa exclaimed.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Squall interrupted. "What is wrong with me staring at some chick?"
"Nothing!" Rinoa yelled. "You can do whatever you want; I'm not the boss of you."
Squall bit his bottom lip in an attempt to stop the words from pouring out; he had an acid tongue and didn't want to unleash it on Rinoa… well not like that anyway.
"Did you see me bitching and moaning when your bitch came to town?"
"I'm not bitching or moaning Squall! I just think that a man such as you should have a little more class than to openly eyeball some chick!"
"That's not whats bothering you." Squall stated. "Whats bothering you is the fact that I'm not going to sit around and pretend that I'm taken by some girl that won't even get over her pig-shit boyfriend!"
"Fuck off!" Rinoa screamed.
"Uhhh, am I interrupting?" Zell asked hesitantly from behind them.
He'd been drawn over when he heard the commotion, everyone had heard the commotion.
"Yes as a matter of fact you are!" Squall snarled.
"Don't take it out on him!" Rinoa countered.
Zell took that as his que to leave; he didn't really want to feel the wrath of both Rinoa and Squall.
"Whats going on?" Selphie asked.
"Well if we're ganna start being honest!"
"Nothing, just an argument." Zell said casually.
"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean!" Squall's voice rang clearly out through the trees.
"Ow!" Selphie squealed excitedly, "a lovers quarrel!"
"You couldn't give a flying fuck about me or my feelings so just stop pretending and FUCK OFF!" Rinoa yelled scaringly loud.
"Don't care about your feelings? From the first day you got here I have done nothing but think about you, if you're that blind that you can't see how sickeningly strong I care about you then I don't know why I've bothered!"
Seifer, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie and Zell all looked at each other with shocked looks on there faces. It looked as though a behemoth had just come along riding a unicycle.
"Was that Squall?"
"Did he just say what I think he said?"
"Oh my Hyne! Oh my Hyne! Oh. My. Hyne!"
"We must've misheard or something, he can't have said that!"
"What a woman!"
I dunno about the end of this chapter, it was pretty random. Originally I was going to have Rinoa involved in a car accident but nah off it; this is supposed to be a romance after all.
Credit goes to my reviewers and readers.
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