Yes, the last chapter was pretty corny (and well, lame), but I think you'll like this one better.
"It's very pretty," Yuna commented, taking a sip from her wine glass. Even though it was the glass for it, Rikku was pretty sure her cousin was drinking a cocktail without any alcohol. After all, she was looking out for that baby.
Around the table, they all were sitting comfortably. Rikku made sure to find a spot on the other side of the table from Gippal, just to make sure he didn't do anything. She didn't trust him after that morning. On each side of her were Tidus and Baralai. How she wound up there was beyond her, but then again, Gippal had Yuna and Paine on either side of him.
The former summoner was commenting about the ring around Paine's left ring finger. Unlike her own, the band had gems imbedded into it, with a larger flat stone at the top. Since hers was the regular kind, a silver band with a gemstone standing out almost a centimeter from her hand, she made a comment about the custom made one.
"I couldn't wear my other one with gloves," Paine replied calmly. She nodded to her fiancé. "He insisted I have another one more fitting."
"Two rings?" Rikku asked, her brow wrinkling. She gave Baralai a grin with a smug. "That must have been expensive."
"Oh, Lai here has lots of stings he can pull," Gippal said before taking a sip of his beverage.
The praetor gave his friend a look. "On the contrary," he said. "I spent so much money the first time, I got a discount."
Yuna blinked. "Really?"
He rocked his head back and forth. "Somewhat. I had to pay for the mold and design of course," he said. "And the gems themselves. The service and making them were free."
"I take it that wasn't too much," Yuna commented.
He thought a moment. "Somewhat."
"Where's your other one?" Rikku asked, looking over to Paine, leaning forward to look at her friend.
Paine simply put down her glass and reached for her bag on the table. She unsnapped it and took out a small chain, with a ring attached. She passed it over to her and the blond looked it over. It was a large, rectangular stone, which was the color of her eyes and cut so that its edges refracted lots of other colors onto the table. The band was thicker, smooth and of fine quality. It was something that Paine would wear; it just looked like her.
She looked over to her. "Very pretty," she said. "Pick it out yourself?"
Her fiend shook her head, and then looked to Baralai. She nodded with understanding. He knew her that well did he? But then, seeing that he was discreetly holding onto her other hand under the table, she understood. They were really good together.
"Tidus insisted on buying me another engagement ring," Yuna said, breaking up the silence. She smiled. "Couldn't talk him out of it."
"Another?" Rikku asked.
"I don't remember a first," Paine said, leaning her chin on her hand, her elbow on the table.
Tidus straightened, coughing a little to hide his blush. "I wouldn't consider the first an engagement ring," he mentioned quietly, looking away.
His wife waved it off. "Don't be silly," she said, taking out her purse as well.
She went through it until she found what it was she was looking for. Then, she handed it over to Rikku. The ring had a symbol on that she recognized. Tidus wore it quite often on his clothes, and he had it on a necklace that he wore quite often. But, the thing was that Yuna had been wearing this before his return—if that's what you wanted to call it. How could he have given this to her before he proposed to her…
Then it hit her and her eyes widened. "Oh," she said. "This one. It's nice."
Gippal laughed shortly, drawing everyone else's attention. He had a grin on his face, looking at her cockily, like usual. "That was an, 'I just figured it out and can't tell anyone, oh'," he said.
Her eyes narrowed and suddenly the table jumped, as did he with a hiss. He winced, pain striking in his eye for a moment. Yuna almost choked in mid-swallow when it happened and she looked around.
"What just happened?" she asked, holding onto the table. The other three were surprised as well.
"Oh nothing," Rikku replied with a sweet smile. "Gippal only had a leg spasm, right?"
He gave her the same look. "Every time I'm kicked in the shin, of course."
Tidus snorted a laugh, but then was silenced with his wife's glare. "What?" he asked innocently, then shrugged as if he'd done nothing.
Paine rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine, before exchanging a glance with her fiancé, who was smiling with amusement. Rikku looked away from Gippal innocently and shrugged. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before sipping from her glass as well. "Why would anyone do such a thing?" she asked.
In mid-sip, Paine seemed to choke while looking in her blond friend's direction. She started to cough into her napkin, the others looking at her as her eyes started to water. Baralai placed a hand on her shoulder, while she put one of her own on her chest.
"I'm fine!" she managed to choke out. "It just went down the wrong tube."
When she was breathing normally again, she patted her lips with her napkin before placing down on the table. "But, you'll have to excuse me. Rikku, could you come with me please?" Paine smiled with a sweetness that was almost scary for her.
Seeing it, Rikku was almost startled. She leaned back and blinked. "Um…are you sure I should come? I mean—ow!"
Without warning, Paine had stood and grabbed her by the arm. She pulled her up to a stand, tightly gripping her arm and not letting go. Smiling at those at the table, she started to lead the blond away. "We girls like to do this impairs," she explained. "We'll see you in a moment."
With that, Rikku was unwillingly dragged to the restrooms, leaving the others with shocked looks on their faces.
"Ow, geese, Paine, what's your problem?" Rikku hissed, as she was pushed into the bathroom.
Her older friend nodded to the people leaving with a smile, before letting go of her and going over to look in all the stalls. Once she made sure that they were all empty, she came over to her with an intimidating look. "Okay, where did you get it?" she asked.
Rikku felt her eyebrows go up, and she looked around for an answer. "It?" she questioned.
"Yes, it," the warrior replied, arms crossed over her chest. "Where did it come from?"
Again, Rikku looked around, trying to see if she missed something. "Paine, I have absolutely no clue—ow!"
This time when she grabbed a hold of her, she took a hold of the back of her neck and her wrist. Then, she dragged her over to the mirror that was above all the sinks, and bent her over slightly. Snapping her neck back so she could see a certain part that wasn't visible when her hair was down.
Again, she winced. "Ow, Paine, you're hurting me!"
"Where did it come from? Who gave it to you?" her friend hissed, shaking her slightly.
She had no clue what she was talking about. "What in Spira are you—?"
"Would you just look at what I'm talking about!"
"What!"
"Look at your neck!"
In the mirror, her neck was in perfect view. So, without moving her neck, she looked into it out of the corner of her eye. And there, what she saw was absolutely horrifying. There, in the shape of an oval right below her ear and back some was a mark on her skin. The skin had darkened, almost red.
And when she saw that hickey, she almost thought she'd faint. How did she not see that before? More importantly was that she knew the answers to the questions Paine was asking and didn't want to answer.
"Should we order?" Gippal asked.
All three of Baralai, Tidus and Gippal were sitting at the table. Yuna had left only a little after Paine and Rikku, leaving the three to sit there with nothing but their glasses. But, being as they were, they had little to talk about.
Baralai was the one to answer the question. "It would be best, and polite, if we waited. I think we can hold out a little longer," he said.
Tidus nodded. "I can wait."
Gippal agreed. "Just asking," he replied, looking around the restaurant a little bit. "Nice place, this is."
"Yup," Tidus replied.
Baralai had nothing to say to that one. Tapping his fingers on the table, Tidus didn't say anything more. Gippal was almost out of something to say, but he wasn't about to break down to twiddling his thumbs. He looked between his two friends and then laughed. "The house coming along okay?" he asked Tidus.
His blond friend nodded. "Yes," he replied. "It's very nice, and is wonderful with all the improvements in the village. It'll improve the business we get down there."
The other two nodded. "So, how's work?"
The second Rikku was about to say something back to Paine, the door opened and they stood and turned, stepping away from each other. Yuna walked in with a wrinkled brow. "Did I miss something back at the table?" she asked, pointing to the door.
Paine almost growled before she went over and locked the door. "What's going on, anyway?" Yuna continued.
"Rikku has a hickey," Paine replied dryly. "She won't tell me who gave it to her."
Her cousin's eyes lightened up. "Oh!" Her hands clasped together with joy. "Who did it?"
Rikku rolled her eyes. Leave it to Yuna to find it a happy thing. "My money is on Gippal," Paine said. She shrugged. "It's the only one she saw after this morning. It wasn't there when we came for a visit."
The blonde's jaw dropped. "What?" she asked. "I didn't even know it was there until a moment ago!" She waved her hands around trying to prove her innocence.
Yuna looked to Paine. "Was that why you choked at the table?" she asked and the albino nodded.
Rikku held her face in her hands and growled. "What am I going to do?" she asked, shaking her head.
Her cousin sighed and put her hand on her hips. "Well, let me see," she said, coming over and lifting up her hair. "Oooo, good technique, and held on for about three minutes," she said, looking over to Paine with an evil smile. "You should learn to use cover-up on this."
"Oh and you speak from experience?" she retorted sarcastically.
She smiled. "Of course," she said. She went through her bag and found a small container of the stuff. Then she handed it to her with a giggle. "Maybe I should give this to you. You may need it more than me."
Rikku looked around for another answer. "Why?"
"Well, you live with him, right?" she asked.
"I didn't say it was him!" she hissed.
"We walked in on them this morning at noon and they were getting coffee and still in their pajamas," Paine pointed out, as she came over.
Yuna smiled as her jaw dropped. "Oh…you have got to be kidding me."
Paine shook her head.
"We didn't do anything!" she exclaimed. "I am a virgin and we sleep in separate beds!"
"You do?" they both asked, completely shocked.
Her friends had gone completely crazy. They actually thought that she was sleeping with Gippal. Okay, she was living with him and he was attractive. Not only that, her father was setting the two up, but that didn't mean she had gone to her friends' level.
The two looked at each other. "What are we going to do with her?" Yuna asked. She went over and took the cover-up back. "Here, I'll do it."
With her finger, she applied it over the mark and soon it wasn't as noticeable as before. "That doesn't explain who gave it to you," her cousin went on. "You could just say it and get it over with."
"We won't tell him," Paine commented. "It's not like he doesn't know, I mean, if he gave it to him."
"When did you do it is what I want to know?" Yuna said, putting the makeup inside her cousin's bag. "You said you were shopping all day."
"I was. I think I set Brother up with someone," she said, groaning and rubbing her temple.
Both their jaws dropped. "Oh, my," Yuna said, covering her mouth. "That's…interesting."
"Someone was dumb enough to actually like him?" Paine asked.
"Well, she was nice enough. She did my hair and nails," she shrugged. "I didn't even mean to. Brother's a lot better than her old boyfriend too."
Yuna raised an eyebrow, but Paine cut her off. "We still haven't gotten the name of this mystery 'kisser' of yours," she said, pointing to her. "And we're not leaving until you say something."
Rikku sighed again, but then paused when she heard a noise. It was a buzzing, an almost ringing. They looked around to see where it was coming from and finally, Rikku went over to her purse and took out her communicator. She pressed the button to answer it, but as soon as she did, she heard yelling in Al Bhed on the other side.
She didn't hear much, but it was definitely Brother and he was having a nervous breakdown. He was yelling so much she couldn't even put the receiver to her ear. "Brother!" she shouted at it. "Calm down! What's going on?"
His voice became softer, but he ranted in Al Bhed more. When she put it to her ear, she made sure to listen carefully. "Yeah, yes," she said. "Wait, what? You did what!" she asked. "And then what happened?" Her eyes widened. "Is he alright?"
"Who?" Yuna asked, coming over. "Who is it?"
"Okay. You're where? Okay, I'll be there in a few," Rikku said as she hung up. She looked up. "Pops' fainted," she said.
Yuna gasped. "Why?"
Rikku closed her eyes and swallowed. "Brother got married."