Author's Note: I apologize for the very long delay. I never meant to put off writing for so long. But alas, I did. Dreadful of me really... thank you andrine, lendmemoni, and Raine for reviewing the last chapter from months ago. Yes, Zell being her date was very unexpected, wasn't it?

Standard disclaimers apply

Zell was nice to me in the car, but the conversation was still kept to a minimum. Or... rather, I kept the conversation down to a minimum. He tried to get to know me a bit better, but short answers were all I was willing to give.

"So..." he tried again. Every few minutes after an awkward silence he'd start up a new conversation. And only about 5 minutes had passed by in the car. I think he was trying to get to know me, but of course, my stupid gut feelings kept me from talking. "Who was your last boyfriend? I mean... a pretty girl like you can't have been single all this time..." he said. His cheeks flushed, but his eyes were still fixed on the road.

I cracked a smile, and even blushed a bit (although he probably didn't even notice). His boy-like blush reminded me of Squall and how shy he was.

Stop thinking of Squall! I shook my head to snap out of it. "Um... no one you'd know." I directed my eyes toward him to see if he was watching me. His eyes flickered over for a moment, but then switched back to the road.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Well..." Well he only lives all halfway across the country, I told myself. I answered him, "He lives kind of far. Not around here."

"Really? Oh, back home huh?" his eyes shifted from the road to me again. "Would it matter if I asked why?"

Because he's a stupid, arrogant jerk that didn't care for me one bit. My eyes narrowed. They didn't stay for very long though - I knew I was in a car with a stranger who would probably think I was mental had he noticed.

"I...um..." I paused. How was I supposed to say 'no' without being rude? "Maybe some other day, Zell." I gave him a faint smile and returned to staring out the window.

A few moments later, we turned into the crowded parking lot of an Italian restaurant. From the outside, it didn't seem too large, but once we got into the restaurant, it seemed to be quite filled. It was a completely different story from the parking lot. The parking lot was pretty full, but we were still able to find a place to park that wasn't the back of the parking lot. Inside, there were still a dozen people without reservations waiting to be seated, and every table at the restaurant was filled. Selphie would've been impossible to spot because of her short figure, but thankfully Irvine was considerably taller and always wore his trademark cowboy hat. With all the people though, even he was hard to find. Zell seemed to know exactly where he was going though, so I walked behind him silently.

Surprisingly, we got to their table quickly. They smiled brightly as they spotted us, and waved to us even though they were only two feet away. Zell pulled out a chair for me and gestured for me to sit. I mumbled a quick 'thanks' to him before sitting down. He sat down across from me and next to Irvine. He whispered something in Irvine's ear while bent over. Irvine nodded, and Zell grinned widely, rubbing his hands together, seemingly excited.

"We got here ages ago, didn't we Irvy?" Selphie asked him, a giggle in her voice. "What took you so long? Don't tell me you got lost, Zell!"

"Of course not!" he spat back, glaring. Evidently he didn't get the sarcasm. "I got there perfectly on time. And she was ready. We just happened to take a while to get to the restaurant, that's all." He mumbled for a while longer about it, with a few distinguishable words such as "show offs" and "always too damn excited for dates." I kicked him gently under the table to get him to stop.

"You don't need to get pushy, I was joking," Selphie told him sternly. "Anyway, we ordered for you, just like you told us to."

His ears snapped up. "Now, are you sure you ordered it right? What if them come out only 3 of them or something?

"Zell, relax. They won't," Irvine said, patting Zell's shoulder. I stared at them confused for a minute, before turning to Selphie for a conversation.

Dinner went by quickly, and we left. I started to feel better about Zell. He didn't seem all that horrible during the dinner (although I did find it unusual that he was eating hotdogs at an Italian restaraunt, and scary that he could intake so many of them), and Selphie and Irvine got along with him great. Something irked me about his politeness... it seemed almost like he was being too polite, trying much too hard to impress me. But then again, I could've just been thinking too much.

Selphie pulled me aside as we walked out of the restaurant. "Well?" she whispered to me, as we followed the guys to the car. We distanced ourselves away from them to converse, and every so often Irvine turned back to make sure we were following.

I looked at her waiting to finish her sentence. It never came. "Well what?"

"Well what! What do you mean 'well what'?" she made it sound like what she was asking was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well? How is Zell?"

"I don't know - ask him!"

"What?" she stood there with a confused expression on her face. I started to walk off, but she held me by my elbow and pulled me back. "No! I meant as a date! Rin!"

"He's..." I paused, not knowing what I thought about him. I glanced at her again and sighed. "... nice. There, are you happy? Can we go?"

"No."

"What!"

"Define to me this... nice." She tapped her chin with a slim pointer finger, squinting at me in a very Selphie-ish way.

I slumped over. "Wha - Selphie...!"

"Come on Rin. All you have to tell me is what you thought about him," she said. She was looking at me with a goofy grin.

"Doesn't nice work?" I mumbled before taking a deep breath and starting to talk. "He's a nice and polite guy; gentleman; funny; has a strange obsession with hot dogs..." I cut off shaking my head at the thought. Selphie still looked at me. "What now? Please don't tell me that wasn't good enough?"

"... did you have a good time tonight?" That glint was in her eye...

"Fine, you win..." I stuck out my tongue. "I had a good time tonight with my date." She looked at me strangely, and I knew exactly what she wanted. I giggled a bit before getting right in front of her face and saying, "That yooouuuu picked out. Thank you. Now are you happy?"

"Very." She said simply, with a big grin on her face. We laughed and continued walking after the boys who were a great deal further ahead of us because of our pause in the middle of the parking lot.

"So... do you like him?" her eyes lit up, hoping that I did.

"I don't know yet..." I said airily. I really wasn't sure. She started to open her mouth to fight back some more, and I was ready to talk back to her, but then Irvine called over to us.

"You girls gonna be staying at this restaurant all night or can we go home?" he asked, tilting his cowboy hat and winking at us (or rather Selphie - I think). Selphie giggled shyly and blushed ever so slightly. She waved goodbye to me and skipped (skipped! somehow in a dress) to Irvine's car. I walked over to Zell's car slowly and waved to Irvine and Selphie as they drove out of the parking lot.

Zell truly was a gentleman. He had the car door opened for me and shut it carefully after making sure I got in safely. He had the heater turned on in the car to make sure I wasn't cold, and frequently asked me when to turn it off. He asked me during the ride if I enjoyed the night with him. I could only smile politely and nod. He was extremely nice, and had wonderful manners. I did enjoy myself... but for some reason, I wasn't attracted to him in that way. I did like him - it wasn't that I didn't like him. It was just... it felt like I had already decided I only liked him as a friend. I liked him I probably would've liked a brother if I had one - being an only child, I never really knew what loving a sibling was like, but I could imagine it felt like that. The way I liked and cared for Zell was in no way like the way I cared for Squall. Not a single bit...

But then again - look how Squall turned out...

The moving scenery out of the window stopped. We arrived at the apartment complex already.

"That was fast..." I mumbled to myself. Zell heard me.

"Well... they do say time flies when you're enjoying yourself," he said with a smile. I smiled back and nodded. He ran over to my door quickly, and had it open for me before I even had my seatbelt off.

"Thank you," I said softly, a small smile lingering on my face. I suppose this relationship wouldn't hurt... it could work...

Again, being the gentleman he was, Zell walked me up to my door, making sure I was 'safe' (as he said). I laughed at his protectiveness. What could happen to me at an apartment complex? Once at my door I told him goodnight and was just about to go into my room. He told a hold of my elbow before I could even step foot into the room. I turned my head towards him and began to ask what was wrong, but the words never came out. I was swept into him and he pushed his lips into mine.

I struggled, pushing his arms and body away from mine - but he was too strong. He didn't budge and held me in the sickening lip lock.

Well at least Squall never did this!