"A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world."

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Selphie found herself fiddling with her hair and straightening her dress hem as she walked down the hallway to classroom 1F.

Turning the corner nervously, her stomach lurched upon seeing Irvine leaning against the wall, one leg pushed up on it, hat down over his eyes in his trademark stance.

She almost spun on her heel and ran off, but she forced her legs to move one step at a time towards the man who had changed her life.

Irvine lifted his head at the sound of resonating footsteps clicking on the floor. He glanced up at Selphie, who had now stopped about a foot away from him, with her hands held behind her back.

A small smile played upon Irvine's face, "I thought you'd never come. Wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't."

He bent down and picked something large up from his side. It was his guitar covered in its brown leather case.

Why has he brought that old thing?

Selphie glared at him, thinking of what she heard in the dorm hallway.

Bastard. He thinks I don't know. He thinks he can just screw around with other girls, then come and meet me and try to resolve things? Huh. Fat chance.

"Are you okay Sefie?" His deep voice snapped her out of her bitter thoughts.

". . . . Fine, thanks. Are we going?"

"Yup."

Selphie could've sworn she saw his hand reached out to slip in hers, but he must've stopped himself at the last moment, because she never felt it happen.

In silence, the two made their way towards the entrance of Balamb garden. The small blossom orchard was in the middle of the forest, off a little to the left. Irvine led the way, in case they stumbled upon any beasts dwelling in the vicinity.

They soon came upon the orchard. All the trees were in full blossom. Pink and white petals tinted with cerise adorned the ground and floated in the air every time a slight wind kicked up around them.

Irvine chose an apple blossom tree in the middle of the other surrounding ones. He sat down on the ground, his back against the tree, and patted next to him, signaling for Selphie to join his seated position.

She cocked her head and looked all around her, remembering the last time they had come here. It looked practically the same, and Irvine had chosen the same tree, and done the same patting action. But he'd pulled her onto his lap back then. Pulled her onto his lap and given her the most toe curling kiss in the world.

I wonder if he's brought Celia here, she wondered with some resentment, as she walked over to the tree and carefully sat herself down beside Irvine.

"So, how you been keepin'?"

Selphie turned her head to the right and looked at him intently, just stopping herself from drowning in his violet tinged eyes.

"Do you remember the last time we came here?"

Irvine picked up some cherry blossom petals from the ground, looking at them carefully as they slipped through his fingers and fluttered downwards.

"Of course I do. I'm not some heartless bastard."

"Could've fooled me . . ." Selphie mumbled under her breath.

The cowboy turned his head and glanced at her with a half-smirk on his face.

"What was that, missy?"

"You haven't exactly been Mr. Nice to me lately-,"

"Whoa, hold on there!" Irvine interrupted, "At least I've made attempts to sort this whole fucked up mess out-,"

"Oh, so that's what this friendship is to you? Huh, pretty sick friendship if you ask me."

Irvine sighed whilst taking his hat off and running his hands over his hair.

"Look, I didn't ask you to come here so we could have an argument. Another argument. I just wanted to talk, y'know? Without any slangin' matches in between."

There was something in his words that made Selphie feel needlessly guilty.

"I'm sorry. I . . . I'm just so messed in the head right now."

"I think we all get like that once in a while, Sef."

She felt like crying at the understanding tone in his voice, and could almost forget that this was the man who had caused her all this unnecessary pain to begin with. Almost.

You still have to ask him about Celia, you know . . .

Selphie frowned at herself. Irvine must've noticed because he looked at her with questioning eyes, curiosity hidden somewhere in the depths of all that indigo.

"What happened to us, Irvine?"

"Well, that's what we're here to talk about . . ."

Neither of the teenagers seemed particularly eager to start off the conversation, but Selphie had so many questions that needed answering, she found it impossible to sit in silence. She shuffled around a little before she spoke up.

"Right . . . Um . . . we have to answer any questions that we ask each other truthfully, and we go in turns, okay?"

"Okay, who's going first?"

". . . I will . . ."

It was almost like the little games they used to play frequently with each other, mixed with teasing looks and playful flirting. Apart from this time, it wasn't a game.

"Did you like Celia like you used to like me?"

Irvine began to fiddle with the flora on the ground again, then he opened his mouth to speak.

"No. I've never liked anyone like I like you."

Selphie noticed he didn't use past tense. Her heart gave a little skip in her chest, making her breath catch for a moment in time.

Does he still like me?

"My turn . . . Will you show me your cuts?"

Selphie thought this rather an odd question, and would've usually gotten angry, but didn't. She began to roll up the sleeve of the blazer top of her SeeD uniform, which she had slipped over her dress before going to meet the man she was sitting next to.

Irvine didn't give any visible reaction when faced with the wounds she had inflicted with such hatred upon herself. He did reach out and stroke them though, much like he had done a few days back at the beach.

Noticing the fresh score in her arm, he asked when she had done it.

Remembering their rule, Selphie stated, "It's my turn to ask a question, not yours . . ."

"Okay . . ." Irvine let his fingers trail down her arm before coming to an end on her small hand, which was resting on the petal covered ground. Selphie simply let him keep it there.

"So, um, do you still . . . talk . . . to them?"

Irvine began to fiddle with Selphies little finger absentmindedly.

"Who?"

Who do you think, dumbass?! This was what she wanted to scream at him, but somehow kept herself calm and responded, "Celia, Nichi and Amber. Do you still speak with them?"

"Only when they pester me. I don't exactly make a point of talkin' to them."

An uneasy silence hanged in the air yet again, being broken only by the sound of natures elements.

Selphie tucked a stray piece of chesnut coloured hair behind one of her ears, as Irvine began to ask his next question.

"So . . . have you ever fooled around with Zell?"

"No. Nuh-uh."

"K. Has he ever tried anythin'?"

Selphie was aware that it was her turn to ask something, but she let it lie.

"No. He's not a testosterone case like you."

Oopsy.

The sharpshooter either didn't understand what she meant, or chose to ignore her crass little remark.

"You did more than 'fool around' with Celia and her friends, didn't you?"

Irvine was obviously uncomfortable with this question, as he removed his hand from Selphies and brought it up to the back of his neck to play with his pony tail.

"You have to answer, we agreed."

"I know . . ."

"Well then . . .?"

"Yes, I did more than just fool around."

Selphie knew that she was going to hear this, but it still made her slightly mad upon hearing him speak those words.

"So, when was the last time you screwed her?"

"That's two questions."

"YOU had two questions last time, remember? So answer me."

"Sheesh, you're impatient."

"Answer!"

"Fine! The last time I screwed her, as you so nicely put it, was three days ago."

"Liar . . ."

"Wha?!"

"I heard you fucking her in the hallway after I'd read your message."

"Huh? NO way. I think I'd have more decency than to do someone in the hallway."

"NO, I was in the hallway, YOU were in her dorm."

"Whoa, wait up. I wasn't anywhere near Celia's dorm at any time today. I went toclass with Zell, then after I caught up with Squall and headed straight to meet you."

"Yeah, uh-huh, sure. Oh you forgot to add that you were blowing Celia's mind in between. Oh great sex God Irvine Kinneas. Slut."

Irvine pushed himself up against the tree, so he was towering over Selphie in a rather menacing way.

"Look, I wasn't doing anything with her! Why the heck are you sayin' all this?!"

Selphie also got up and folded her arms protectively over her chest. She was still much shorter than him, but didn't feel as threatened by his height as she did when she was sitting.

"I heard you two at it! I was walking back to my dorm, and I heard her!! Oh Irvy, harder harder! So don't bloody lye to me!!"

Irvine looked puzzled. "You heard that? Maybe she was masturbating . . ."

"Oh yeah, because we all think of you when we do that," Selphie retorted sarcastically.

"Seriously, I wasn't any where near her! Man, I'm confused."

"Look, just stop lying! You . . . you liar!"

"I'm not lyin'! Ask Squall . . . Yeah, go ask him. He was with me up until 2 minutes before you came along!"

"Fine, I will ask him! He won't cover for you, because he hates love cheats!"

"I'm not a love cheat."

"Are"

"Not"

"ARE!"

"NOT!"

The quarreling teens put their backs to each other, both in a mood due to the conversation. It was Irvine who finally turned around to sort things out.

"Sefie . . ."

Selphie turned around slowly and faced the so called 'love-cheat'.

"I really didn't want to argue with you today, but seein' as we already have done, can we go back to talkin' now. Nice, calm, no-jumpin'-to-conclusions talkin'? We can go find Squall later and sort the other thing out . . ."

Selphie sighed before unfolding her arms and settling back down on the ground amongst the petals. Irvine soon followed.

After five minutes of yet another troubled silence, Irvine decided to pull out his guitar from its old leather case. Whilst he was twanging various strings and tuning up, Selphie asked something she could never find the answer to herself.

"Irvine . . . Can we ever go back to being the way we used to?"

The cowboy stopped fiddling with his instrument, put it down and looked Selphie deep in her eyes.

"I don't know if we'll be the same. Whether we're as one or apart. Maybe we can make something better than what we had before. But do to that, we're goin' to have to go through a lot of pain and tears in sorting out where this friendship stands at the moment."

Selphie angled her head to one side in thought. She didn't always understand Irvine. Sometimes, he could be so full of bullshit; it'd be coming out of his ears. But other times, he'd seem like the most sensible person on the earth. Like a wise man with answers to all the problems in the universe.

Without thinking about her next action, she snuggled into Irvine's side, inhaling the scent of his soft duster. He smelt exactly how she remembered; like flourishing pine trees and mulberry wine, mixed with a fresh smell of wild berries.

As soon as she realized what she was doing, she quickly jerked away and mumbled an apology.

Irvine simply smiled and placed his arm around her shoulder, easing her back into the position she was in.

"Don't say sorry for feelin' comfortable Sef."

Selphie did feel comfortable, but also a little edgy tucked into the side of him. It mimicked how they once were together, and although it was nice, it made her feel rather sad.

Once again, her mind wouldn't let her enjoy this simple moment.

I wonder if he was like this with her . . . ask him.

"Irvine . . ."

"Hmm?"

"Were you like this with Celia? Did you ever bring her here?"

"No and no. This is our place, even if we are fightin' like cat and dog."

"Why did you sleep with her . . . and . . . why an uncountable number of times?"

Selphie leaned off him, pulling away reluctantly from her perfectly fitted space under his arm. She looked into his eyes as he answered, making him tense up a bit.

"Well . . . I, urm . . . Okay, you said to tell the truth, so I will. She was there after we had that massive argument about a month back in your dorm. I guess it was the one that started it all off . . . She just happened to see me storm out of your room and we got talkin'. She wasn't as horrible as everyone said . . . at first. Then, she got real bitchy and only wanted to scr- . . . I mean . . . mess about. Then the whole pickin' on you club started . . ."

Selphie frowned, "Club? They had a club? A-pick-on-me club?"

Irvine looked rather awkward, as if he hadn't meant to let this piece of information slip.

"Well . . . yeah."

Slumping back onto the trunk of the blossom tree behind her, she asked, "Were you part of it?"

"No . . . It's just one of their stupid little girl things, they'll get over it and start pickin' on someone else soon."

Selphie felt another mood swing arising in her.

"If they're such stupid little girls, why did you sleep with them in the first place? All of them."

"Sef-,"

"Did you think you could do it behind my back? What if we'd been going out and we had that argument? Would you still have stormed out and shagged them?"

"Selphie . . . Stop it."

"Did you do it to annoy me? They've made my life a living hell. You knew that, and you still kept going with them. Even after my botched up suicide attempt . . ."

Selphie felt Irvine's hand try and snake into hers, to try and calm her down.

"Sefie . . ."

That hand has been on Celia and the others . . . doing Who-knows-what.

She yanked her hand away from him, in an action similar to that had she been scolded by something hot. Getting up from the ground, she smoothed out the back of her dress and looked down at the man sitting on the floor.

"Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me."

Selphie realized that sounded rather harsh, and saw the hurt behind Irvine's eyes. For a moment, she felt satisfied with herself, but then she couldn't bring herself to look at the upset caused by a few simple words. Her words.

"I'm going to find Squall and get the truth . . . don't wait up."

Selphie walked out of the woodland area fast, leaving behind a cowboy still resting against their blossom tree, with his guitar out beside him and a rather dejected expression on his face.

A/N: In case you're wondering about the argument that 'started it all off' it'll be included in the next chapter . . Thanks for all the reviews so far . . .