Love, Lovely, Loveless
(The Following Afternoon)
I rushed back and forth and left and right for hours, searching frantically in every corner of my closet. It was the afternoon before the night of the date, and it had just occurred to me that this date required something I was missing, and I was determined to find it somewhere in my tiny apartment. I knew the search would be fruitless, but I searched anyway, hoping to find something I could put together. After a couple of hours, my bedroom looked like I hadn't cleaned it in weeks.
I was just about to give up the search when I heard a knock at my door. I answered the door, and there was Raven. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a gray shirt under the coat.
"Uh, hi!" I greeted nervously.
"Good afternoon, Milady," He greeted with a bow.
"You're… a little early," I pointed out, "I thought the play wasn't until tonight."
"Yes, it's tonight," he answered, "But I wanted to make sure we'd make it on time, since I hear women take forever to get ready for anything."
"That's a myth. I always make it on time to my job," then I noticed we were still at my front door, "Why don't you come in?"
"Sure, why not?" He walked in and sat down on the couch. I shut the door and ran across the living room and shut my bedroom door. I didn't want him to catch even a glimpse of the mess in my room.
"You look messy," he pointed out, noticing the condition I was in after all the searching. My hair wasn't exactly the neatest it could've been, and I was still in my pajamas.
"Oh ya," I chuckled nervously, "I can't seem to find anything to wear."
"You went out of your way to try to find something to wear?" He asked with an eyebrow raised, "In mid-afternoon?"
"I wanted to find the closest thing to fancy in my wardrobe," I said as I sat down in the couch next to him, "Unfortunately, I don't own anything that comes close to fancy."
"You know, I figured you'd have this dilemma," he said smoothly as he placed his arm on the back of the couch behind me. "That's why I arranged for you to meet with a friend of mine who owns a shop not too far from the edge of Sector Two, just after leaving Sector Three."
"You mean you're taking me to a place to shop for clothes…."
"You'll have help. She's a fashion expert and said she'd be more than happy to walk you through it and help you pick something."
I sat there and stared at him blankly. I didn't know what to say about it. The question of how he knew I'd have trouble finding something to wear kept repeating itself in my mind.
"Of course if you don't want to," Raven broke the silence, "I could always cancel the arrangement and you could go in whatever you can find."
"Oh no, I'll go," I answered, "I just didn't think you'd actually go through all this trouble for me."
"No trouble at all," He looked at me with a smile on his face, "Don't think anything of it. All you need to do is pick the outfit you like and I'll take care of the rest."
He looked at me with a soft smile on his face. His eyes seemed to glow brighter than usual, but only because of the emotion he was holding back. I could tell he wanted so badly to hold me. I couldn't help but smile.
"I am not forbidden, you know," I said to him, which broke his staring trance.
"What?"
"You don't have to refrain from touching me."
"Oh." With that, he let his hand off the back of the couch and around my shoulders. It felt odd, but only because I'd never had any guy put his arm around my shoulders before. It was also because he was tense about it.
"You don't have to be so tense, either. Relax. I'm not violent when I'm sober, so I won't bite you. Not without good reason, anyway."
He chuckled nervously.
"Well, such beauty makes me nervous," he chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head with his free hand.
I couldn't help but laugh at this.
"What?" He asked wide-eyed as he let his free hand down on his lap. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing," When I finished laughing I asked, "So, when is this little appointment I have with your fashion expert friend?"
"We can go in anytime."
"Well, then I'll go get dressed so we could be on our way."
I got up and went into my bedroom and scrounged around the mess for something simple-yet-decent to wear. I put on a white shirt and some overalls. I scrambled to gather all my clothes together and piled them all on my bed so I could fold them later.
I went into the bathroom and brushed my hair to make it more presentable. I tied it back with a small hair-tie and walked out of the bathroom and through the bedroom and walked out the door.
Raven was still sitting on the couch when I got out of my room. He looked back at me from his seat on the couch.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yea. I'm ready."
"Ok, then." He got up off the couch. "Shall we be off then?"
"We shall." We walked out of my front door and left for Sector Two.
We didn't travel in a chocobo carriage this time. Since the edge Sector Two was just next-door to Sector Three, we only had to walk.
"Gee," I started as we walked down the street near my apartment, "I wonder why there isn't anything truly interesting here in Sector Three?"
"What do you mean?" He gave me an odd look. "Joe's bar seems to be a pretty interesting one."
"No, I mean like a tourist attraction. The Sector One plate has Shinra Park, and the Sector Six slums has that marketplace with all the weird adult places."
"You mean Wall Market?"
"You've been there?"
"Yes, actually," he said with a disturbed tone in his voice, "I went to a place there called the Honey Bee Inn. And I never wanted to go there since."
"Why? What's it like?"
"They have girls there dressed like bees, and there's a room where all these huge muscles guys take baths together…" He looked at me, and noticed I wasn't getting the weirdness in it, "…about twenty huge guys all naked in the same tiny tub."
"…Eww!" I grimaced at the thought. "Ok… What else was at Wall Market?"
"Well, there was the mansion at the very back of the place. It belongs to a guy named Don Corneo."
"I've heard that name before. I think he works for Shinra."
"I wouldn't doubt it. He has strict security on his mansion, and he only allows good-looking girls to enter it. I don't even want to know what he does with them in there."
"Very strange."
"Rich people usually are…" He replied, "…of course they're usually not that strange."
"Well, I never really like the slums anyway."
"Who does?"
"The only part of the slums I liked at all was this abandoned run-down church in the Sector Five slums. And it was only interesting because there was a nice little flowerbed growing in a huge hole in the floor in the middle of the altar. There were dozens of yellow flowers growing there."
"That's really weird, considering plants don't grow in the slums."
"There was definitely something strange about it. But seeing as it was the only plant-life in the slums, I enjoyed it for the moment I was there."
"The slums aren't very pleasant," he added and decided to change the subject, "and thinking about them isn't going to help us feel any better about them."
"You're right." Then we got to Sector Two.
"We're almost there," Raven announced, looking ahead. He started looking for the building as we walked.
"Ah, there it is," he said as he found it and quickened our pace.
We walked for a couple of more minutes before stopping in front of a large building with a huge neon sign next to it that said "Kate Simfamy and Co.: Fine Designs and Fabulous Fashions".
"This is it." He announced.
"Wow, a company name that doesn't have the name Shin-Ra in it!" I said in amazement.
"Yea," Raven replied, "This is one of the very few places in Midgar that isn't owned by Shin-Ra."
We walked through the door into the largest clothes store I'd ever seen. We walked on to the back of the store, where the elevator was. We walked in, and Raven pushed the button for the top floor. The walls and doors of the elevator were see-through, so you could see the merchandise of each floor as you went up.
The store looked much larger on the inside than it did on the outside. There were five or six floors to this building. Each floor was sectioned in half, one side for women's outfits and the other side for men's outfits, and each floor had a different category. I remember the first floor having swimwear, sandals, and other things people would go swimming with. The second floor had mostly fancy undergarments and sleepwear. After that I stopped paying attention to what was in each floor and looked at Raven.
He seemed to be staring off into space, not really focused on anything in particular. He looked like he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked him. Then his eyes were more focused on what was in front of him.
"Nothing much. Just trying to imagine what you'll come out wearing when you're done."
"Well, it'll certainly be something fancy."
"Ya," he sighed. Then he looked back at me, "And I'll bet you'll look beautiful in whatever you choose."
Before I could react, the elevator had come to a sudden halt. The doors opened and we walked out to what looked like the reception to some really important office. To the left, there was the reception desk with two young girls behind the desk. On the right side was a set of chairs meant for people waiting to see the person in the office, which I assumed was Raven's store-owner friend. There were five seats and all of them were occupied. There were also people standing or sitting on the floor waiting for their appointment. I hated to think how long I would have to wait.
We walked up to the desk, and Raven rang the little bell to catch the girls' attention. They didn't looked up at us, but that was when I got a good look at them. They were both wearing identical work suits that were a dull gray color.
"Good afternoon," greeted the blonde on the left with bright red lipstick and light blue eye shadow.
"May we be of assistance to you?" Asked the girl with the dull voice, brown hair, and far too much make-up.
"Yea, we have an important appointment with Kate," Raven said to the girls.
"Look, Mister, you'll have to--" the dull one stopped speaking as she looked up and recognized Raven. Excited, she poked the blonde in the side.
"Ow! What?" She looked up and also saw Raven. She stood up from her seat, "Oh my God! It's Raven!"
"Good afternoon, ladies," then he greeted each of them, "Mina," to the blonde, "Janice," to the dull one.
"Raven, you never come around here anymore," Mina whined, "What happened?"
"I've been distracted."
"Who's your friend, Raven?" Janice asked, "Is she the lucky security guard you told us about?"
"Yes," Raven chuckled, "This is Moira. And she needs Kate's help with something. Will you tell her I'm here?"
"Of course, Raven." Mina sat back down on her chair.
"Don't worry about a thing, honey," Janice said to me, "Katy's a genius. She can make the most horrible-looking people look absolutely fabulous, and that's just with the clothes. Why, I'll bet she could even make President Shin-Ra look good if she had the chance."
"Ya, now if only she'd use those skills on herself," Mina cracked.
I didn't want to know what that meant, so I didn't ask. Mina picked up the intercom phone and pushed a red button.
"Miss Simfamy?" she called and let go of the button. Then a click came up on the intercom.
"[click] What is it, Mina?" An upset woman answered, "I'm in the middle of a meeting with someone very important. [click]"
"I know, Ma'am," Mina answered, "But Raven's here to see you."
"[click] Allen?!" She replied in pleasant surprised. "Well, why didn't you say so?! Just a moment. [click]"
She clicked off, and all of a sudden there was a lot of noise coming from behind the doors. It was apparent that Kate's guest didn't want to leave.
"You heard me! I said get out! Now!" She yelled as the door flew opened and she shoved her guest out of the door. He almost fell over, but he quickly got his footing and stood up straight again. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He had deep blue eyes and blonde hair that was gelled back. He wore white suit pants, a black shirt, and a white trenchcoat.
"Ok! Ok! I'm out!" He brushed himself off and looked back at Kate. "I have more pressing business to attend to anyway. Until next time."
He walked to the elevator. I couldn't believe who I was seeing. Raven shook his head and sighed. Everyone waiting on the seats watched bewildered as he went into the elevator and left. The reception girls didn't seem fazed by it at all. Kate disappeared into her office before I could see her.
"Was that--?" I started, referring to the man who'd just left.
"I hope not." Raven answered before I could finish the question.
We walked into the office door, and it automatically shut behind us. We kept going to the desk. This office was huge. It wasn't nearly as huge as President Shin-Ra's office, but it was certainly large. The desk was normal office-desk size, and it was messy with fashion portfolios with drawings and photos of assorted outfits. Behind the desk sat Kate. She was laid back on her rotating desk chair, swaying it left and right.
She was dressed in all sorts of colors. Her outfit looked like something out of a modern art exhibit. The left side of the coat was royal blue, the right side was bright red, the back was chartreuse green, and buttons were all yellow. The poofy scarf she had tucked underneath was bright violet, and her short skirt was pink. Her plaid pantyhose did not fit with her already clashing outfit, and her bright orange high-healed shoes didn't help much either. She had her hair tied back in a spiky bun with a large black bow. As soon as we were right in front of her desk, she stood up and spread her arms wide open.
"Allen, Darling!" She walked around the desk and gave Raven a big hug. Raven hugged back.
"Uh, hi Kate," he greeted. After a couple of seconds they let go.
"Oh please, Allen honey! Call me katy!" Then she looked over at me. She grabbed my hand and started shaking it. "And you must be the girl Raven's been yappin' so much about."
"Uh, yea. I guess." I answered nervously. I looked over at Raven, and he just shrugged.
"We're gonna get along real great. Um, Miriam is it?"
"Uh, no. Moira."
"Oh ya, Moira. Silly me. I suck at remembering names."
"Well, now that you're acquainted, I have something I want to say," Raven said.
"Why sure, hon. Go right ahead," Kate replied.
"Please say that wasn't Vice President Rufus Shin-Ra you just kicked out the door!" Raven exclaimed pointing out the door.
"Well if I told you that, my dear Allen, then it would've been a lie," She replied. "Of course that was Rufus. He was discussin' business."
"What did he want?" Raven asked.
"He wanted to buy my store and my company and put the name Shin-Ra on it. But I made it clear to him that I wanted nothin' to do with Shin-Ra other than the electric mako power I pay them for. I was about to ask him to leave anyway when you came in."
"Why would he want a fashion company?" I asked curiously.
"Beats the heck outta me," Kate answered, "I ain't no politician. I guess he just wanted another company with his name on it."
"And it doesn't bother you that you booted one of the most important people in Midgar out the door?" Raven added.
"What's he gonna do? Tell his daddy on me?" She answered with snooty smirk on her face. "Don't worry about it. I do this sort of thing all the time."
"Oh well," Raven gave up on trying to reason with her, "I guess I'll just leave you ladies alone to do your thing, and if you need me, I'll be in the lobby." He started walking toward the door.
"What? Raven, wait!" By the time I finished he was opening the door.
"Call me when you're ready, Moira!" He called back with a wide smile on his face as he walked out the door and left me alone with the crazy fashion expert.
I looked up at Kate, who stood there, arms crossed, looking me up and down.
"Uh-huh," she muttered.
"What are you looking at?" I asked.
"I'm getting acquainted with your physique," she said as she went over to her desk, "This makes it easier for me to fit you into something that looks good."
"Why don't we get acquainted with each other?"
"That helps too." She pulled out a tape measure and walked back over to me and started measuring me. "Why don't you start? Ask me somethin'."
"I'll start by asking where you're from."
"I was born and raise right here in Midgar, but not always ontop of this jumbo-sized metal pizza. I spent mosta my childhood in the Sector Six slums. Me and my family lived pretty close to Wall Market."
"How close?"
"Close enough for me to go visit the Dress Shop there almost every day I could."
"Hmm."
"I always thought I could do better than that tacky stuff they had, so I got some paper and crayons and started designing dresses when I was six."
"I guess it paid off starting at such an early age."
"I guess you could say that."
"So, how long have you and Raven known each other?"
"I've known him for more years than I can count."
"Hmm…"
"So how'd he do it?"
"Do what?"
"Oh no, wait. Don't tell me. He got his bartender friend to help him ask you out, didn't he?"
"Uh, how did you know that?"
"Because that's the same trick he used on me."
That didn't make me feel comfortable.
"But of course," she added, "He wasn't exactly serious about me. He only thought he liked me and found out how nutty I was. After that we just became really good friends. But you, darling, I can tell he's head over heals over you."
"Really?" I replied, feeling a little better.
"Ya, hon. You got that spark he's been lookin' for."
"Spark?"
"Ya, you know! That magical feelin' ya get when ya just know this person's the one for you."
She finished measuring me and wrote the measurements down on a small piece of pad paper that was clipped to a tiny hand-sized clipboard. Then she stuck the pencil in the metal pencil slot of the clipboard.
"Alrighty then," Kate said with a smile on her face, "Let's begin."
She turned around and started walking toward the door, and I followed. We walked out the door into the reception room, where there were people still waiting for a meeting with Kate. Leaning on the reception desk and speaking to the ladies behind it was Raven. He looked back at me and waved. I waved back.
"I'll take good care of her, Allen." Kate called to Raven.
"I know you will, Kate." He answered back as we entered the elevator. Kate pushed the button and we started to decend. There was a few seconds of silence before I decided to speak.
"So, how exactly does this work?" I asked curiously, "I've never shopped for fancy clothes in my life. Especially things like dresses."
"Don't worry about a thing, darling," she replied, "There's nothin' to it. Just pick somethin' that looks good, try it on, keep it if it still looks good, and toss it aside if it doesn't."
"But how will I--"
"Know what looks good?" Kate finished my question for me. "That's why I'm here, hon. To help you find what looks good on you."
The elevator came to a sudden halt and the door opened to reveal an entire room of fancy outfits. We got out of the elevator, which immediately shut the doors and went upwards. We walked towards the dresses, and the fitting began.
******** ******** ********
I'd lost count of how many trips to the fitting room we took. Kate would help me pick a dress to try on, I'd go to the fitting room to try it on, I'd stand in front of a set of mirrors that showed what the dress looked like from half a dozen different angles, and then we'd go find another dress for me to try on. There were at least a dozen dresses that I'd tried on and looked at in the mirrors.
We tried several times for several hours. I never knew shopping could be so complicated. There were dresses that looked great on the hanger, but then when I'd go to try them on, it just didn't look right.
One of them was a forest green dress with a large poofy boa made from the feathers of a green mountain chocobo. It was common knowledge that chocobos of any color other than yellow were extinct, so I assumed the feathers on the boa were very old. There were also matching dark green high-heeled shoes with small tufts of green chocobo feathers and a large dark green hat with a green tail feather sticking out of it. I thought it was too fluffy, so we picked a different dress and tried again.
It went on like that for what seemed like forever until we finally found the one dress that worked for me. It was a sleeveless, midnight blue, flowing dress that went down to my ankles with a neckline that went about two inches below my collarbone. There was also a small matching purse also made of the same material. It seemed like an unnecessary accessory to me, but it looked nice. The matching inch-high high-heeled shoes were the same midnight blue as the dress. They were simple high-heeled shoes, but they matched better than many of the other shoes I'd tried on that day.
"Wow! It's perfect!" Kate said in awe of her own work, "I must say, hon, of all the dresses we've tried today, this is definitely the one for you, hon!"
I looked around at the several reflections on the six mirrors that almost surrounded me. I admitted that I was definitely satisfied with this particular dress as opposed to the others. I wasn't a fashion expert but I couldn't help agreeing with Kate. I looked back at her away from the mirrors.
"Is the purse really necessary?" I wondered out loud to her.
"Hey! It's part of the package, honey. Ya either take it or leave it."
"Ok…" I looked back at the mirror and twirled the dress a bit.
"What is it made of?" I asked curiously. "It's so soft and confortable."
"That dress is made of a special fabric we make right here in the store. It only exists among dresses in my company. Believe it or not, the material we use for the fabric is mythiril."
"Mythiril?!" I gasped in disbelief, "You mean to tell me this dress is made of metal?"
"Well, ya and no," She answered, "Ya, because we do use the mythiril metal. No, because we fine it down to an extremely fine threat. Usin' this method, the dresses are more durable, more stain-proof, and last much longer than the average dress."
"Wow!" I replied, "That's amazing! How did you figure this method out?"
"It started during the war a few years ago. During that time, my store had a level with just armor. Some of it looked nice, I guess, but armor was never really my thing. I noticed that of all the metals used in the armors, mythiril seemed to be he most popular. One day I asked a customer why he was buyin' it, and he said that it was the most comfortable. So then I figured, 'why not try usin' this stuff in my dresses?' So after that, I started makin' my dresses with mythiril."
"That is awesome."
"Ya, after I found the way to master threading mythiril, it made a really soft comfortable fabric that looks good, hangs fabulously, and doesn't feel like it wants to eat you alive."
"It also feels stretchy."
"That was a really uncanny side-effect from turnin' it into thread. It makes it so the fabric can stretch almost infinitely. I tried to test a piece of fabric a foot long to see just how far it would stretch. I had two of my seamstresses stretch it out on the factory level of the store. When the test was done, they were both on the walls opposite of each other, and the fabric still seemed like it had a lotta stretch to give. And the factory room is over fifty feet wide."
"I've never heard of such a thing," I replied skeptically.
"Ya, well ya never heard of dress fabric made of mythiril either, but that seems to work out alright."
"Well, do you really think I look good in this dress?"
"I think you do," She answered, "But in my opinion, honey, you've got a natural beauty where you'd look good in just about anything. Heck! A frilled out tonberry costume could look great on you. But it doesn't really matter what I think, sweety. You're the one who has to ultimately say whether or not it looks good. I'm just the advisor."
I looked the dress up and down again in the mirrors. I was really liking the reflections I was seeing. I had never actually been happy to see my own reflection before, but then again I never found a reason to really look at it. I liked the dress I had on, and it wasn't long before I looked back at Kate again.
"I like this one. I'm keeping it."
"Excellent," She replied and turned toward the elevator. "Now follow me."
I got off the mirror platform and followed her into the elevator.
"What about my normal clothes?" I wondered out loud all of a sudden.
"I'll keep 'em safe until after your date. Then you can come back here to pick 'em up, ok?"
Then she pushed a button in the elevator, and we started going down again.
"Wait, why are we going down again?" I wondered out loud.
"We're goin' down to the Make-Up & Jewelry Level," She answered. "Ya can't go on a really fancy date without at least a little make-up and jewelry."
"But I've never worn make-up or jewelry in my life."
"Ya never shopped for a dress before either, doll, and that didn't stop ya, did it?"
"Well, no…" I couldn't argue, she was right.
"Then trust me on this, hon. It'll be great."
Then the elevator stopped and the door opened to reveal a very glittery room full of jewelry and make-up. We walked toward the center of the room, where people were having make-up done and trying on jewelry. I was then immediately rushed onto a nearby chair with a mirror in front of it as various people who worked at that level brought various pieces of jewelry in front of me, trying to see if they looked good on me. Everything was going too fast for me to see anything properly, so after a while I gave up on trying to keep track of what was going on and waiting for it to be over. I thought I could feel some tugging in my hair, but I didn't ask what it was.
After the jewelry people were done, I was trying to look at what they put on me when the chair was turned away from the mirror and to some strange lady with a huge kit of make-up at her side. I looked to her left side and I could see Kate satisfyingly watching as I sat unaware of what they were doing to me. The make-up lady suddenly started applying various products to my cheeks, my eyelids, my lips, and some parts of my face I didn't know I had.
After she was finally finished, the chair was turned around to the mirror, and all I had a moment to look at my own reflection. I didn't recognize the person in the mirror at all. I didn't think it could possibly be me. The make-up wasn't very heavy, which was a good thing, because I didn't much like having so much "stuff" on my face. My lips were a pinkish-red color, and I had a really light layer of rosy peach blush and soft blue eye shadow.
As far as the jewelry was concerned, all I had was a choker and a pair of earrings, all studded with strange light blue jewels that gleamed in the slightest of light. The choker was very a thin two centimeters in the back and got thicker going forward to about two inches thick making it look like a blanket of light-blue jewels on my collarbone. The earrings were in the shape of feathered wings, spread in a way that the tips of the wings were pointed down.
"Those use-ta be blue support materias," Kate said out loud as if she knew I was looking at the jewels.
"Really?" I answered curiously, "What did they used to do?"
"Oh, they were all sorts of support materias. Some of them were cut from All Materias, some from Elemental Materias. Some of them were even from Quadra Magic Materias."
"Quadra Magic?" I was not really educated in materias, because I mostly just used my scythe and the three green Magic materias I had.
"A fighter like you should KNOW this kinda stuff. Ya know, Quadra Magic, the one that lets ya use the same spell four times in a row before your opponent gets a turn? Honestly, I'm a fashion designer and I know this."
"I don't really pay much attention to materias. I just keep my scythe and that's about it. I have three green Magic materias, but I hardly ever use 'em."
"Well, I've found that materia makes the best jewelry. The young ladies like 'em 'cuz they look beautiful, and the magic in the jewels keeps them energized the whole night. I like 'em for those reasons AND that they're easy to cut and shape any way I need."
"So you use mythiril in your dresses and materia in your jewelry?" I asked, getting the facts straight.
"Yup. That's about all there is to it."
"Interesting." I stared at the mirror some more and suddenly noticed that my neck-length hair was smoothed down and seemed to shine and bounce as I moved my head.
"What happened to my hair?" I asked.
"I had a hired hair-dresser come in while the jewelry was being put on," Kate answered, "What, ya don't like it?"
"Oh no, I like it. I just didn't notice when it happened."
"Well, now that you've got jewelry, make-up, a dress, and a proper hair style, you are now officially presentable for your date. Now let's get back upstairs and show Allen whatcha look like, huh?"
"Sounds good to me," I replied getting up off the chair.
We went up the elevator to the waiting room, where half of the people waiting had already left, while the other half were asleep. When we exited the elevator it immediately shut and went down again. On the other side of the room from the people waiting, Mina and Janice seemed bored looking down at their desks not doing much. Raven was nowhere in sight. I found this odd, and apparently so did Kate.
"Where's Allen?" She asked the two receptionist girls.
"He said he had to go get somethin' real quick," Janice answered.
"He left 'bout five minutes ago and said he'd be right back," Mina continued.
"Well, then all we have to do is wait for 'im," Kate looked back at me and we went into Kate's office again. She sat down on her chair and I sat down in one of the two chairs on the other side of the desk.
Ten minutes passed after that before I heard the intercom on Kate's desk.
"[click] Miss Symphamy! Raven's back! He's coming up the elevator this very moment! [click]"
"'Bout time," Kate answered her intercom, "We'll be right out."
We got up and walked out of the office. Almost immediately the elevator doors slid open, revealing Raven, who seemed a bit exhausted, as if he'd just run down the block a dozen times. Although he wasn't panting and wheezing due to the break in the elevator, I could tell he was tired. He was holding a small box in his hand.
"Where'd ya go, Allen? We were wonderin'," Kate asked.
"I had to go get somethin' I forgot," he answered and then looked at me.
He looked like his tiredness was suddenly lifted away, and was replaced by a much better feeling. His face seemed to glow almost as brightly as his mako-green eyes. I felt myself blush seeing him look at me that way. Kate moved aside as Raven and I moved closer to each other. He looked me up and down, mostly down, and seemed to like what he saw.
"You're gorgeous!" He managed to say as he took my hand with his hand that wasn't holding the small box.
"Thank you," I answered. Then I looked at his other hand, "What's in the box?"
"Oh Ya!" He held the box out in front of me and opened it. It was a mythiril charm bracelet with charms in the shape of small scythes. He took it out of the box and placed it around my right wrist. When he finished putting it on me, I lifted my wrist up to look at it. I liked it mostly because it had scythes on it. But it was cute enough to pass of as normal jewelry. I stared at the tiny scythe charms on the bracelet.
"Do you like it?" He asked me, putting the box in his coat pocket.
I stared at the bracelet for a couple of more seconds before looking up at him again. After a couple of seconds of that I rushed over and hugged him, thanking him for the gift.
"You're welcome," he chuckled. "So, Kate, what do I owe you?" he asked looking back up at Kate.
"Not a thing, Allen honey. It's on me."
"You sure?"
"Sweety, I was never more sure of anything in my life. Now go on your date and have some fun."
Raven then escorted me to the elevator, where we waved back and said good-bye to everyone.
"Bye, Kate!" I said, "Thanks for everything!"
"My pleasure, darling. You just take care of yourself, ok? And don't forget to come back for your normal clothes."
"I won't. Bye." And we went down the elevator and out of the store. We were then on our way to the theater to watch the play.
******** ******** ********
Loveless was the saddest thing I'd ever watched. I cried for more than half of it. I hardly ever cried over anything in y life, and this play made me gush until my face was sopping wet from my own salty tears. Raven held me the entire time. He offered me a handkerchief when I started crying, but by the end of the play, it was too wet to be of any use.
At the very end, the sister of the main character had to be separated from her lover, and she was expressing how she felt about him.
"I'll come back," she said, "Even if you've moved on, because I know you'll be waiting."
And with that the play ended, and Raven held me as I cried of the last of my tears.
"Are you gonna be alright?" He asked, concerned.
"That was so beautiful!" I answered, as if his question had not existed. He smiled and helped me to my feet. "I'd never watched anything that made me cry before."
"Really?" He asked. "You cried as if you always cried to this sort of thing."
"The funny thing is I was trained not to."
"Ya, well, live entertainment has a way of bringing unknown emotions out of you."
"Ya, I guess so."
We walked out of the theater and were on our way out of Sector Two when the ground started shaking violently, worse than at Sector One. Raven and I both fell on our butts and immediately grabbed each other.
After a long moment of quaking, there was an especially violent quake that boomed up for a split second, and then the ground slowly calmed back down. When the shaking finally stopped, we slowly let go of each other and breathed a sigh.
"I wonder what THAT was all about?" I said finally.
"Not sure," he answered, "That was worse than when the Sector One Reactor exploded."
"It must be AVALANCHE again."
"Could be, but we probably won't know until tomorrow. It's probably not the Reactor in this Sector because the lights are still on. But hey, let's get outta here."
We got up off the ground and started walking towards Sector Three. After a while, I decided to start speaking what was on my mind.
"The President's probably gonna hold another stupid emergency meeting," I said out loud, "One that I'll probably have to guard."
"More than likely," Raven replied.
"The thing is I'm really tired of guarding the President's meetings. Nothing ever happens and everyone knows that the door has a working lock. So why would they need me to guard a door that can easily be locked?"
"You better not be thinking what I hope you're not thinking."
"If it's to accept Hojo's job offer, too late. I thought of it. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Hojo's lab is filled with top secret research that would probably be way more valuable and worth stealing than anything that ever goes on in the meeting room."
"Well, whatever suits you, I guess," He knew he wasn't going to convince me otherwise, "Just be careful, ok?"
"I will," I answered, grabbing his arm as we walked toward Kate's store. We picked up my clothes and thanked Kate again for her help.
When we got to my apartment, it was late and just about everyone was sleeping. I opened my door and entered and turned around to see Raven, who had a big smile on his face.
"So," He started, "Other than the sudden earthquake, how was your night?"
"It was great," I answered, "Just about perfect."
He chuckled and said, "Well, it seems like earthquakes are a running trend with our dates, aren't they?"
"Geez, I hope not. I don't think I can stand falling on my ass again." I said rubbing my butt.
"Well, we can only hope that it doesn't happen again." Then he nervously edged closer to me as I held onto the door. I was going to ask him what he was doing when my lips were suddenly occupied. It was a strange feeling having his lips on mine, but it felt good, and I found myself shutting my eyes and enjoying the moment. It went on for about five seconds when he suddenly jerked back.
"Uh, I'm sorry," he said nervously, "I shouldn't have done that."
"No, I liked it," I replied stepping out of the doorway and into his arms. "Do it again."
And it wasn't long before we were locking lips again. This time it was better because I was expecting it, and it lasted a few seconds longer.
When we finished we could only stare at each other's eyes. His eyes were glowing brighter than usual, and he had that same tender look on his face from when we were at the park. I was suddenly filled with a strange feeling I'd never felt before. It was a strange tingling sensation all through my body, and my heart was pounding at a million miles a second.
Although I didn't recognize this feeling, I liked it. It felt like nothing in the world could take me down, not even the President's meetings. And then suddenly out of nowhere...
"I love you," I blurted out, not realizing what was coming out of my mouth.
"You love me?" He answered in surprise. He obviously wasn't expecting that coming out of me. Then I realized what I'd said, but for some reason I didn't think it was right to argue.
"Yes, I do."
"That's perfect," He answered, "Because I love you too."
I blushed and backed up a few steps.
"What? Is something wrong?" He asked, wondering if he'd done something wrong. "Was it me?"
"No, it wasn't you," I answered, "It just seemed awkward."
"You said it first."
"I know, that why it felt awkward."
"Hmm," he replied, "Maybe you should sleep on it and let it process for a while."
"Maybe."
"Well, in that case, I guess I'd better get going." He started walking away backwards, still looking at me. Then he slowly turned with his eyes still on me.
"Good night, Kind SOLDIER!" I called to him.
"Good night, Sweet Lady!" He called back as he walked away.
When he was out of sight, I slunk back into my apartment, still trying to figure out what had just happened. I just suddenly blurted out that I loved him.
"Do I really love him?" I thought to myself, "Or is it my mind playing tricks on me?"
The more I tried to understand it, the more it confused me, so after an hour or so I simply gave up and went to sleep.
"Maybe I'll have it figured out tomorrow," I thought as I made myself comfortable in my bed. I looked at the pictures on my wall again and slowly drifted to sleep.