Disclaimer: the only thing I own is the storyline....oh and Jeremy Scathe hehehe...everything else belongs to someone else...you know who you are.
Chapter 8: Last Week: Fight, This Week: Tight - Part 1
-
Well I wonder could it be
When I was dreaming 'bout you baby
You were dreaming of me
Call me crazy, call me blind
To still be suffering is stupid after all of this time
- The Day You Went Away (M2M)
. . .
Emily stood speechless, staring thoughtlessly at the outstretched before her. She swallowed nervously, uncertain of what she was thinking and what she was to do. I should probably shake her hand, I mean there's no reason I should let this rift continue…but wait, what is she apologising for in the first place? "What are you apologising for?"
"For acting the way I did earlier. It has been ten years and there's no reason why I should continue to hate you, or anyone for that matter," she said with a quick glance at Squall. "I'm sorry for acting really bitchy and stuff towards you and I hope that we can be friends."
"Me too." Emily smiled as she took Rinoa's hand and shook it. "Apology accepted. I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner."
"It's okay."
Squall went to say something a long the lines of 'what about me?', but Jem quickly shot a look at him telling him not to say anything. "So I'm gonna take Rin home now, alright? I'll be back to pick you up later, Squall."
"Nah it's cool, Jem. I'm getting a ride from Em."
Jeremy glanced at Emily whose eyes were darting here and there nervously. Momentarily, she allowed herself to look him in the eye. "Dad's coming soon anyway since I hafta be home soon, and I suppose he is my cousin so I have that obligation."
His eyes narrowed at her. "Gee thanks, Em. Your compassion, it really warms my heart." He put his hand on his heart for emphasis.
Rinoa watched the exchange in amusement, a small smile forming on her lips. Squall glanced at her fleetingly, catching her expression. He was about to smile back, when her eyes faltered down then up again at Jem before she turned, murmuring, "I'll see ya at school." She let her eyes track back to Squall before she proceeded up the short flight of stairs.
Her boyfriend acted upon the prompt, smiling at them both. "Talk to you later, Squall. Bye Emily."
Emily shot him a shy smile before casting her eyes down, embarrassed. "See ya later."
Jem smiled once more before following his girlfriend.
Squall smirked as they were, once again, left by themselves. "Were you trying to be subtle?"
"On second thoughts, I might not get dad to drop you off," she deadpanned sarcastically.
He slung his arm around her shoulders. "Like you could. Your dad loves me."
"That's because you're his only nephew." Emily waited for a smart remark in return and looked up questioningly at Squall when she got none. "What's up?"
"Huh?"
She frowned. "Why are you staring at the door? Do you want to go in?"
"I'm just thinking," he said as his gaze remained on the door.
"About Rinoa."
"I dunno…its just sometimes I get the feeling that-"
Emily shook her head with disapproval. "Don't go there buddy."
Squall took his arm from around her. "What?!"
"You do not wanna go there," she stated in advice.
He sighed and let his head hang. "I know that nothing can happen cos Jem is-"
"Your best friend."
"Right and that would totally go against the rules. But it's okay that I like her, yeah?"
Emily bit her lip nervously. "To an extent. But don't make it too obvious, please! I don't want Jeremy fighting you on this."
"Why not?" he asked suspiciously.
Her eyes narrowed. "Because if it came down to that, I'm not sure who I'd side with."
"Ouch! That's twice in one night," he feigned pain, screwing up his face. "I'm beginning to regret coming back."
"No you don't," she quickly replied as her cell-phone sounded. Pulling it out of her pocket momentarily, she glanced up at Squall. "You coming or not?"
"Already?"
"Yeah. I usually get dad to pick me up early. That way I don't have to witness things getting ugly, as they always do."
He raised an eyebrow at him.
"You do not want to know what I mean. Trust me on this. You haven't even started school yet. What happens might totally change your opinion of people and most of them really aren't that bad." She shook her head as he merely stood staring at her with a lopsided smile. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him towards the door. "Ugh! Come on. Dad's already out front."
"Fine, fine. But tell me something," Squall shouted upon re-entering the overcrowded, thunderous beats of Irvine's house.
"What?"
"Would you be as willing to go if a certain person, whom shall remain nameless, was still here?"
An icy glare was thrown at him from over her shoulder. "I don't know why I tell you anything."
He caught up with her and slung an arm around her, continuing at her pace. "'Cause I'm your favourite cousin."
"They say that thoughts become things, so you keep thinking that."
"Whatever, Em."
. . .
"So anyway, he was all trying to be sweet and everything and then I was like, 'okay, what's going on here'… Rin? Are you even listening?" Selphie exchanged glances with Quistis as she observed Rinoa who was staring across the crowded playground where he was walking with Jem.
The blonde clicked in front of her face. "Okay, hun, you have got to just go over there and apologise – how hard could it possibly be? Hold Jem's hand if you have to, just do it already!"
Rinoa's eyes narrowed. "Who says I actually want to apologise?"
"Oh come on! Get of it already! You just spent the past class thinking about walking up to him then shaking your head."
"Ugh! I don't want to talk about it. I honestly don't know why the hell I tell you two anything." Placing her fork down in her lunch box, she joined her hands forcefully, smiled and fixed her stare on Selphie. "So what were you saying Selph? The milk boy in the supermarket was hitting on you?"
"Not exactly, but he was being way too nice. I mean, he even followed me into the next aisle where I was meeting back with Irvine and milk boy stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Irvy."
"What a loser!" Quistis squealed. "But he was cute, yeah?"
"Yuhuh! Totally cute! But a loser all the same."
"So that's what you really think of me, Selph," a voice resonated behind the petite, brunette making her turn around.
"Well hello to you, too, Jeremy Scathe. Nice to see you again, Squall!"
"Finally decided to join us, did you?" Quistis put in, glancing at Rinoa.
Squall smirked. "Well it was a huge toss up between here and being a loner – you guys only just won." He gestured with this thumb and index finger.
"So Squall," Selphie chimed in, "I didn't get to see you before you left on Saturday-"
"Yeah you did."
"I did?" she received a nod from him, responding with a giggle. "Yeah, I don't think I was totally with it. So anyway, did you have fun?"
"Uhh," he fleetingly looked at Rinoa who had positioned herself up against Jem. "Yeah I did. I didn't know you guys knew my cousin."
Once again Selphie was a little lost. "Damn…I'm so blonde today! No offence Quisty, everyone knows you're not the typical blonde…but, who's your cousin?"
"Emily Vella."
"I do English with Emily. She's pretty quiet."
Squall kept in a laugh. "Only to those who don't know her." A momentary silence fell on the five seated on the asphalt beneath a tree, their usual lunchtime spot. After a few seconds, another person approached, tossing a packet of chips onto Selphie's lap. He sat down next to her and received a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Irvy! I owe you one!"
"Oh, you owe my much more than that, darlin'. That's gotta be the seventeenth time in two weeks you've swiped my lunch."
"Seventeenth!? Nuhuh! I don't think so."
The rest of the group watched in amusement as an argument ruptured between the two. Somewhere in the midst of Selphie listing all the things she'd done for Irvine, Rinoa tapped Squall gently on the shoulder. Her eyes darted from side to side unsteadily as she quietly put forward to him a proposition.
"If you don't wanna spend two hours on Friday driving down with your rents and my mom, you can come with me. I'll be going after school, though. But trust me you do not want to be in a car with Julia Caraway for two hours. She's a good singer and all, and she knows a lot of songs, but she doesn't shut up and to top it off, she gets motion sickness pretty easily."
As much as he would've wanted to witness Julia Caraway at her best, he just couldn't pass up an opportunity to be with Rinoa…especially if she was the one that offered. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind? 'Cause I could take you up on that."
Rinoa smiled slightly, swallowing nervously. "Yeah I'm sure." Her smile then widened. "But, I get dibs on choice of music."
"Fair enough. I don't mind."
They then returned to listening to the argument as it died down to a simple resolution: Selphie was to buy Irvine a drink after school. When the bell rang, signally the end of lunch, they all stood up and picked up their books. Only then did Rinoa realise what was to happen in a few days time.
Two hours alone with Squall Leonhart…plus two more days after that? Oh God! What have I gotten myself into.
. . .
Quistis and Rinoa walked out of the school gates as the school week concluded. As they continued down the road to where Rinoa lived, Quistis couldn't help but ask the question that had been annoying her all day. "Okay, so I thought you were going away this weekend with Squall and taking today off."
"I didn't tell you?" she replied nonchalantly.
"You're not going anymore?"
Rinoa rolled her eyes at Quistis' evident disappointment. "No, I'm still going. Me and Squall are driving down in about an hour."
"You are?! Wow! You and Squall alone together for a whole weekend! How does Jem feel about this?"
"He's fine with it. Why wouldn't he be? Squall's his bestfriend, he trusts both of us with his life. What the hell do you think is going to happen?"
"Oh like I need to tell you. You have your own imagination, you figure it out."
"Ugh!" Rinoa groaned. "Nothing is going to happen!" Keep saying it Rin, you might start to believe it.
"So who's driving?"
"I am."
"Poor Squall," Quistis snickered as Rinoa turned into her footpath. "Have fun this weekend and I want details!"
"Yeah, like you deserve it. Bye!" The door swung open as Rinoa's keys cluttered against the glass table adjacent to the opening. Passing by the answering machine, she observed a flashing number and hit the 'play' button.
"Hi darling. Just calling from the road. Raine!" Julia laughed. "Stop singing for two minutes! Now Rinoa, we forgot to bring toiletries, so be a sweetheart and take some with you, alright? Thankyou, dear. Raine and Laguna appreciate your offering to take Squall. It'll be a good chance for you two to catch up-"
Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah perfect chance to catch up."
"Now make sure you memorise the map I printed off for you. It's on the kitchen table. Bye sweetheart, I'll see you soon. Oh! And drive carefully! Alright Raine, sing away…"
A beep sounded at the end of the message as Rinoa trudged up the stairs and into her room. Collapsing onto her bed she sighed heavily before twisting to look at her clock.
15:21
Okay…forty minutes until I have to pick Squall up. So I should change, eat and load everything into the car. Right. Sounds like a plan. Rolling over once again, she threw herself onto her feet and started unbuttoning her school uniform blouse. I guess I should have enough time for a quick shower as well…
Emerging from her bathroom in only her underwear, she headed to where she'd laid out her outfit that morning during her packing process, choosing to leave out a pair of jeans and tank top for the drive down. Pulling on the articles of clothing, she then turned to her vanity mirror and started combing her hair, after which she placed the comb into her toiletry bag and began hunting down the other items her mother had wanted her to bring.
Packing her things into her car had proved to be an easy job with her singular bag of clothes and she was soon on the road with a bar of chocolate in her hand, and another tossed onto the passenger seat, as she drove down the road to Squall's house. It didn't take long to get there. He literally lived eight houses away, which didn't really mean much considering their neighbourhood consisted of almost mansion-like houses. Pulling up the driveway of the Leonhart residence, she swallowed her last bit chocolate and exited her vehicle. Rinoa was quick to alert Squall of her arrival with the doorbell, and no sooner had she done so, that he opened the door with a smile.
"Hey Rin, you wanna come in for a sec while I pack my stuff into your car?"
"Yeah sure I guess," she started nervously, ambling in as he stepped aside. "You can put your stuff into the back. I left it open."
"Cool." He started up the stairs before turning back to her. "Hey listen, help yourself to a drink in the kitchen. I'm assuming you still know your way around this house."
Rinoa nodded slowly. "Vaguely. This way?" she asked as she pointed through a door and, receiving a nod from him, proceeded into the kitchen. Although rooms usually seem to get smaller with the progression of age, Rinoa found that the Leonhart residence had gotten no smaller since her last visit at the age of five. Oh God…this place is bloody huge! And a family of three live here…no wonder they seem insane half the time.
As she was invited to, she opened the fridge and thought about taking out a can on lemonade for herself, but decided against it. When she'd allowed the fridge door to close by itself, she observed a cabinet full of photo frames in the dining room. Nervously, Rinoa peeked into the room half expecting a butler to turn up and stop her from entering without permission. When none appeared, she made no hesitation in looking into the cabinet. The topmost shelf displayed pictures of Raine and Laguna's wedding, while the lower shelves were more of family and friends. One picture in particular caught Rinoa's attention. It was of a group of children all in a line, most of whom the identities were unmistakable. From left to right she named them:
Selphie, Quistis, Zell, Emily, someone else, Irvine, Seifer, Squall and me.
Smiling at how cute everyone looked, she still felt a little puzzled at her proximity to Squall in the photo. Her smile turned into a frown as she observed something else and, hearing a shuffle echoing against the marble floor was getting closer, turned to go out the came she'd come in.
"Rinoa, I'm all done."
"Alright then. Come on." With that, she brushed past him and paced towards the front door, not stopping until she was seated in the driver's seat. Squall had dropped behind to lock the front door of his house and while he did so, Rinoa sat with her eyes trained on him, coming to terms with many things she'd forgotten about Squall and their relationship. Aspects of their relationship eleven years ago that were brought back to surface at seeing herself and Squall holding hands. It was then Rinoa remembered how close she and Squall used to be - practically best friends.
How could I have forgotten about something like that?
She put on a small smile as he approached and hopped in, removing the chocolate bar from the seat before sitting.
"You sure you didn't forget anything?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Though even if I did leave anything, we're only gone for two days…so its no big deal."
"Right. Okay." Inwardly sighing, Rinoa backed out of the driveway.
"Can I have this?" Squall asked, referring to the chocolate bar he was holding.
She hesitated slightly. Man! That's my favourite flavour! "Sure, I guess."
"Thanks," he replied with a smile. She's giving me things...that's a step in a good direction...
Thus began the two-hour drive to the seaside resort of 'White Sands'. Both Squall and Rinoa had accepted the fact that this weekend would be full of awkward silences, starting with the drive down. Every few seconds, one of the two would say something, get a response from the other, then the silence would ensure again between them, the radio continuing to play the mix of music Rinoa had burnt on CD earlier that week. This pattern continued for approximately an hour and a half, until Squall got sick of it and decided to be as forward as he could.
"I just thought you should know, Em is really happy about you two being on good terms now."
"Yeah? Well good. I wanted that. She seems like a really nice person."
"She's great. So listen," he started as he glanced at her cautiously. "I saw you looking at the pictures in the cabinet."
She unintentionally swallowed. "You did?"
"Yeah, I had direct sight of you from the front door."
"I see."
"I take it you saw that photo of the whole gang then."
Rinoa nodded, not exactly sure where he was heading. "Uhuh. We were five then weren't we?"
"You were four, that was my fifth birthday. We were pretty good friends back then."
A frown formed on her face. "I guess we were."
"So…you don't have to be weird around me." Rinoa went to say something, but Squall cut her off. "I know we haven't talked in ten years, but come on. If we were friends that long ago, surely we can be friends now."
I know…let me just get used to this! "Okay, yeah I know we were. But I'm still just getting used to this. I'd like to honestly just go back to being best friends and everything, but I think that'll take a lot more time than you think."
Squall smiled. "We were best friends?"
"Practically. You honestly don't remember?" she asked a little more disappointment in her voice than she'd intended
"Nah I do. I'm just surprised you did."
"Well I didn't until I saw that photo…"
"Where we were holding hands," he finished for her. "Scared me too when mom put that one up earlier. So are we friends now or what?"
Rinoa kept her eyes on the road, though they narrowed a little as she held a breath before answering, "Getting there. So how was Esthar? I've heard Jem talk about it a lot, so what were your thoughts?"
"It was okay I guess," he shrugged indifferently.
"Did you have a girlfriend?" Rinoa bit her lip as soon as she'd asked, even though she was curious as hell about it. Wait…I'm not that curious…
Squall laughed at the question, not expecting her to ask it so soon, or as forward. "Well I did, but that didn't last too long…so no, I didn't leave anyone in Esthar behind."
"So that's a good thing…?"
"Yeah it is…kinda. So tell me something."
"What?"
Squall could see that Rinoa had relaxed more since the start of the journey and was pretty sure he was safe to talk freely to her now. "How do you put up with Jem and his video game obsession?"
"I play as well," Rinoa chuckled softly.
"Whoa! No wonder he likes you." No wonder I like you…
"He was surprised as well when he saw my playstation out in the living room."
"That is so cool. Back in Esthar, hardly any of the girls were gamers."
"Yes, well," she started in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'm not your average girl."
Evidently…
They both smiled at each other before drowning back into silence for the remaining twenty minutes. But this time, the silence was no longer awkward. Rinoa felt her smile widen as she felt more comfortable.
If this is what it felt like to be friends with Squall…I don't know how I ever hated him…
A/N-okay! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! Please believe me when I say that I'm sorry for leaving you guys for so long! I swear I had no time! I've had exams and everything bad to do with school and it gets worse, because in two weeks I begin the HSC course (for non aussies: that's the final year of highschool where one undergoes several assessments and exams which make up our final mark and determine what courses we can get into at uni) – heaps complex, but that's it in a nutshell. So anyway…the point being, I don't know how often I can update from now on, but I promise I will try as often as I can…which won't be that much, but hey! Think positive! About this chapter…I really wanted to move things along and get them on the weekend already because that's where all the good stuff happens…kinda, but hey! I really wanna write this bit. So sorry for dragging it out for so long! I hope I didn't bore you all to death. So because I really wanted this chapter out, no responses this time…but thankyou to everyone who R&Red… please feel free to do so again! Also...feel free to drop by my profile page! I usually have a lot of reasons as to my lack of updating there and I update it pretty often...well more often than this fic hehehe.
- - take care and don't forget to R&R! peace out… 3 e.t