Chapter 3

Rinoa's Plan

Holding her breath, she knocked on Squall's door. She heard deep breathing and then footsteps. "Oh crap! I think he was asleep!" She shifted her feet around nervously. After a few more seconds, the door opened. There stood Squall with his usual black pants on and the white shirt he wore under his jacket. The shirt was kind of tight to where she could tell he had very well defined muscles.

He looked out of his door at her. Rinoa smiled up at him. "Hey! This afternoon I umm…found something that belongs to you. I figured you might want it back. So, can I come in?" She gave him another smile.

"Fine…" He opened his door wider and she walked in. He shut the door and stood against the wall. "Why did you wait till eleven fifteen at night to tell me this?" Rinoa sat down on his bed.

"Well, I had other things on my mind and forgot about it. When I got back to my room I remembered. I was going to wait till morning, but I couldn't sleep. That's why I decided to give it to you now!" Squall stared at her with an empty expression.

"I'm waiting." He said.

"Waiting? For what?" Rinoa asked confused.

"Whatever it is you said belongs to me."

"Oh yeah, right." Rinoa's face flushed a little. "I can't believe I just did that. I'm so stupid. I forgot that I had his ring!" She thought to herself. "Here you go. It's a ring. Rinoa pulled it out of her pocket and held it over to him. He grabbed it out of her hand and put it on his nightstand. "The least you could do would be to thank me!"

"……Thank you…"

"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Rinoa smiled. She was doing a great job so far. He was talking. "So, where did you get that ring from?" Squall looked at her for a few seconds before replying.

"No where…I made it."

"Wow! Really? That's incredible! It looks awesome!" At this reply, Rinoa saw a small smile form on his face. Rinoa swung her foot back and forth on the side of his bed. She gazed around his room. He had the same size room as her but the comforter was black and silver. In the corner of the room was his sword. "So, is that what you use to fight with? It's a really big sword!"

"It's not a sword…it's a gunblade."

"Hey! I saw that on the cover of a magazine the other day. It was in "Weapons Monthly!"

Squall was a little surprised at her interest in everything. First asking about his ring and now his gunblade? It was kinda weird, but nice at the same time. He'd never really had anyone to talk to about all of this.

Rinoa stretched her arms above her head and yawned. "Well, I better go get some sleep. Thanks for the company. I'll be sure to stop by again. Goodnight Squall!" Rinoa waved goodbye and closed his door behind her.

Back in her room she pulled the covers up close to her face. "Wow. My plan worked a lot better than I thought! I got him to talk and open up a little bit more." She thought to herself.

The next morning she woke up early from the sun's rays beaming through her curtain. She went to the cafeteria for breakfast and then left for the training center. When she arrived she saw Squall finishing off a group of six grats with one hit. She ran towards him, a smile on her face.

"Hey Squall! What's up?"

"…………"

"Yeah well, anyways, that last move you did was awesome! I wish I could do that!"

"Thanks…"

"You're welcome. Hey…I was just wondering if maybe you would want to you know, eat lunch with me today." Squall was startled by this question. It was totally unexpected.

"Well, I uh….I guess so, I mean, maybe."

"I guess so maybe?" Rinoa said laughing. "Does that mean yes or no?" He was quiet for a few seconds.

"Sure…" He said as he began to walk off.

"Hey, can't I talk to you for just a little bit?"

"You can at lunch." He replied

Rinoa smiled. "It's a date then!" Squall stumbled a little bit when he heard this. Before he could comment Rinoa had already run off.

"Great…" He said to himself. "Did she really mean a date? Like a date, date?"

At lunch Rinoa sat down at a table with grilled chicken and a potato. She was looking in every corner of the cafeteria for Squall. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that date comment. It might have scared him away." She took those words back as she saw him sitting alone at a table on the far right of her. She got up a walked toward him.

"Hey! It's time for our lunch date!" Squall who was drinking water suddenly choked.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a concerned look.

"Fine." He said quickly.

"So, Squall…what level are you at?"

"62."

"62? There's no way! That's so high! I'm only a 54. You must be good." There was an awkward silence for about one minute. "Hey Squall? I have a question. How come you never told me you were a commander of the Garden?"

"It wasn't important. Besides, how did you find that out?"

"Well, when I was trying to figure out whose ring it was it said Commander Leonhart on it so all I had to do was see who had that last name. It must be really hard. You must get stressed out and lonely."

"Well…" Squall's answer was cut short as Zell ran up to the table.

"Whoa! Did I miss something? Are you actually talking?" He stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Without waiting for Zell's answer, he stood up and walked off.

"Thanks a lot Zell!" Rinoa rolled her eyes and began to stand up.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to see him socializing with my own two eyes. Besides that, why are you talking to him? Huh?"

"Well because I…I…" Rinoa could feel her cheeks turning red.

"Oh man! Don't tell me! You like him don't you? I can't believe this! Why him? He never talks to people and tries to ignore you!"

"Hey! I didn't say I liked him liked him. He's a good friend, that's all. Besides, I'm sure if you just gave him more of a chance he would talk to you more, too!" With that said she walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Zell standing there watching her walk away.