A/n: Apologies if i offended anyone CoughFloralBlackMoonCough in my last chapter with the whole Zell being a male and him beating up females . . . Anyhoo, this chapters more about the group just having fun . . so . . read on i guess.
"She put on happiness like a loose dress
Over pain I'll never know
"So the peace you had," she said,
"I must confess, I'm glad to see it go."
We're two white roses lying frozen just outside his door
I've made you so happy and so sad,
But which should I be more sorry for?"
-----------------------------------------
Selphie had finally decided it was time she ought to get up and dressed, despite how tranquil she felt resting in Irvine's arms. Walking slowly towards her wardrobe, she winced at how each step sent a faint pain shooting into her stomach and up her side.
Turning around, she looked back in the direction of her bed and a resting Irvine.
Selphie ran her eyes softly over him, taking in every little detail of the sleeping man.
One of his arms was laying above his head, ruffling up his loose auburn hair. The other one was spread out on the bed. It was the one that was hugging her to him before she had gotten up.
The small slivers of sun that had found their way in through the window were now gently playing on his face, illuminating his lightly tanned skin and showing up the fine hairs on his features. His clothes were rumpled due to the amount of times he had moved about, trying to find a comfortable position for sleeping and hugging Selphie at the same time.
Selphie leaned her head against the wardrobe, a small smile forming on her pink lips.
Looking above her bed, to the clock that hung on the wall, she saw that it was getting on for four o' clock. Turning back to her wardrobe, she rooted through her clothes and pulled out a black roll neck jumper with an embroidered yellow chocobo on the front.
Tugging on a hanger, she pulled out her stonewash flared jeans. Glancing back over to Irvine, she wondered whether to change in front of him; after-all, she was pretty sure he was sleeping. After double checking, she went to her drawer and pulled out a pair of black knickers and a bra, putting them on hastily with her robe still wrapped around her.
Still staring intently at Irvine for any signs of life, she dropped her yellow wrap-around nightgown to the floor and bent down to pick up her jeans that she had placed on the end of the bed.
At this moment, Irvine began to stir, making the bed springs creak slightly under his moving weight. Selphie bit her lip as she watched his eyes flutter open and rest upon her semi-clad frame at the end of her bed.
Not having the sense to cover herself up or put on her jeans, she simply stood there whilst Irvine propped himself up on his elbows and smiled, giving her the once over.
"You tryin' to give me a heart attack or somethin'?"
"Oh, um . . . err . . ."
The sharpshooter laughed at her stumbling over her words and lay his head back down onto the pillow, averting his gaze from her to the window.
"Damn, but you're beautiful."
Selphie quickly pulled on her jeans and shrugged on her jumper in a slapdash fashion, snagging one of her silver heart shaped earrings on a knitted thread.
She groaned and thought about the image she must be giving Irvine. Her head was still concealed in the jumper, which wasn't even pulled down over her chest, and her arms were only halfway into the sleeves and stuck in a 'praise-the-lord' position above her head.
"Need some help there, Sefie?" Irvine asked, sounding like he was stifling a chuckle.
Not waiting for a reply, he got up of the bed and walked over to where she was standing.
Oh great, he must be getting an eyeful . . .
Selphie felt his hands pull her arms through the sleeves and then unhook the single thread from its grasp on her earring. She pushed her head up through the roll neck and blushed heavily. Irvine took hold of the hem of her jumper and pulled it down over her upper body slowly, slightly brushing the top of her black bra with his hands as he did so.
Then he smiled at her with a cheeky glint in his violet eyes.
"Irvine Kinneas, that better have been an accident."
"Of course it was. You're forgetting I'm a gentleman."
"And you seem to be forgetting that we've only just got back on speaking terms," Selphie quickly delivered back to him, souring the mood in the room a little.
Irvine hung his head, tendrils of his golden-brown hair hanging over his eyes, exaggerating how downtrodden Selphies words had made him feel.
Even though she knew that he was only putting on the hurt, tearful expression, she put a hand on the back of his head, and somewhat forcefully buried his face into her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
Irvine didn't reply, but coiled his arm around her waist and gave her a tight hug.
---------------------------------------------
Zell had decided to retire to his room, knowing it was the only place he wouldn't run into anyone annoying. That was until Rinoa tapped on the door and told him to open up.
Growling, Zell moved from his place in front of the television and let the ebony haired girl inside.
She stood with her hands behind her back and her head cocked to one side, leaving strands of her black hair to fall over her cheek.
"Hey Zell. Whatcha up to?"
The blonde sighed. He really wasn't in the mood to be dealing with Rinoa. He loved her dearly as a friend, but she had ways of getting on your nerves the instant she started asking questions. Thinking back to when he first met her, she had given off the impression that she was rather unorganized and a little dippy. However, when he had gotten to know her better, he saw that she was the Queen of organizing things she was keen on (such as shopping trips) but not all that good on organizing missions (such as the timber owls farce).
"Rin, did you want somethin' in particular?"
Rinoa flopped down on Zells unmade bed and stretched out her spine like a cat who had just awoken from a deep slumber.
"Fancy going out later? I mean, Squall wanted to stay in and watch a movie with me, but I really feel like going back to that nightclub, because, you know, I think it-,"
"Shut up."
Rinoa sat up and gave Zell a look of utter disbelief, with something that resembled a hint of sadness behind her chocolate coloured eyes.
He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry. I've had a pretty crappy day."
"Oh. That's alright. So, you don't wanna come out? I'll ask everyone else too . . ."
Zell sat down on his bed, next to where the small, porcelain skinned girl had parked herself, looking at him with hopeful eyes.
"Well, I know for a fact Selphie won't go. And if she won't go, Irvine won't go, and if Irvine won't go, then it won't be much of a group, will it?"
Rinoa frowned and tilted her head in a familiar gesture.
"Why won't Selphie go?"
"She got beaten up again earlier on today and-,"
"Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?! I'm always the last to know!"
"Calm down Rinoa. It's not on purpose. But, her and Irvine are on speakin' terms now, so I'm guessing they probably wanna spend some time alone with each other."
Rinoa crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her lower lip out a little, then, in an instant, she perked up and a bright smile appeared on her delicate features.
"I know!! We can all have, like, a sleepover!"
Zell jumped, a little taken back by her sudden change of mood and loud outburst.
"Where? My dorms too small . . . so is everyone's . . ."
"Nope. Squalls got a huge one!"
The martial artist smirked at his friend's choice of words. When she saw this, she began to blush and smacked Zell on the arm.
"I meant his dorm!"
"Sure . . ."
"Hey! Shut up! Anyway, he won't mind . . . I'll persuade him. OHH this is gonna be soo fun! We can watch movies, and eat popcorn and play games! I'm going to go and find the others, I'll page you later okay?!"
Zell laughed at how excited Rinoa was getting. She resembled a little girl on Christmas Eve, full of energy and awash with enthusiasm of things to come.
----------------------------------------------------
Zell must've dozed off, because an odd scurrying feeling in the back pocket of his black combat jeans woke him up with a start. At first, he scrabbled frantically at his trousers, thinking a small creature had crawled into them, but when he woke up a bit more, he realized it was his pager vibrating.
Laughing at himself, still groggy with sleep, he pulled it out of his pocket, and read the message he had just received.
It was from Rinoa, it read:
Sleepovr on 4 2night. Bring sleepin bag n watevr else! Evry1's comin. Knok at Squalls dorm at 21:00 hours. See ya Blondie! Rinoa x-x
Zell raised his wrist up to his face and squinted in the darkness of his room to read his watch. It was already 8:45.
Sheesh, did I really sleep for that long?
Getting up from the bed with a stretch, he yawned and thought about knocking on Selphies door.
Nah, Rinoa said everyone was goin', so she's bound to be . . .
The tattooed blonde sat on the side of his bed with his eyes shut for a minute or two, before pushing himself up and getting his stuff. He tiptoed and reached on top of his wardrobe, cursing at his height whilst feeling around for his sleeping bag. When his hand came into contact with a soft, downy fabric, he grabbed it and pulled it down, shaking it free of any dust that may have collected over the time of it being shoved out of sight.
Next, Zell looked around and grabbed a couple of Rock CD's he had lying about his room.
What the hell am I s'pose to wear if it's a sleep over thing? I sleep naked!
After a bit of thinking, he decided not to bother and just go in the tight white t shirt and black baggy combats he was already wearing.
If it bothers them, then I'll see how they like it if I strip off . . . I doubt any of the other guys wear pajamas anyway. That's a girl thing.
Done with thinking, he walked out and locked up his dorm.
Zell wasn't the first one to arrive at Squalls room. Quistis was already there, which was a surprise, seeing as she never usually went in for Rinoa's crazy ideas of fun. She was dressed in a tight black t-shirt, which showed off an inch of her navel, along with navy jogging pants, the type you change into after being in fancy clothes all day. Her blonde hair was loose around her shoulders, making a change to her usual up do.
"Heyyyy Zell!" Rinoa squealed, running up to him and flinging her arms around his neck.
Quistis laughed, "She did the same to me . . . she's a little tipsy."
Rinoa looked the same; apart from she had taken off her blue cardigan, leaving her in just a small black top, hot-pants and blue arm-warmers.
Zell looked over his friends shoulder and saw a few bottles of alcohol on the floor.
Squalls dorm being large than everyone else's wasn't an understatement. It was at least three times the size of a normal room, and it had a little separate kitchenette and bathroom. It was more like an apartment.
The walls were painted a pale, silvery grey tone with a black freeze around the middle, typical Squall-like colours. A soft white carpet adorned the floor under their feet. In the middle of the room stood a double bed with black satin sheets and a cork billboard above it, pinned with various photos, post-it notes and drawing pins. There was a computer in the corner atop a black pine desk, surrounded by other random items, such as stationary and a telephone. The last thing Zells eyes came to rest on was a 40inch T.V, with a built in video recorder and a huge silver hi-fi system with unnecessarily large speakers next to it.
"Woah, this room is massive! Cid really favours you Squall . . ."
Squall, who was resting atop his bed, simply looked over at Zell and grunted.
Just as he went to shut the door, Irvine barged in, tugging Selphie by her hand, who was holding a white plastic bag full of more alcohol and various snacks.
She was still dressed in the get-up she was in earlier. It was casual enough, and she had brought her pajamas in case she actually got sleepy.
Rinoa greeted Selphie and Irvine much the way she had done with Zell and Quistis.
"Heh, been gettin' her drunk, Squall?" Irvine quipped.
"No, I'm not you."
"Hey man, that was harsh . . ."
"But true."
Both of the men exchanged knowing glances with the addition of a rare smile from Squall.
Rinoa was still hanging onto Selphie, arms around her neck.
"Um, Zell, get her off of me . . . please?"
He laughed and pried Rinoa away from the smaller brunette.
"Hey, Rinoa, there's Squall," Zell mocked, knowing that she would go to him.
"Squuuaaalll!" she screeched, whilst stumbling over to the bed and whacking into the side, causing her to fall on top of said boyfriend. He let out an 'oof' noise, and was about to push her off, when she nuzzled into his neck. Instead, he brought his arms up around her petite stature and hugged her closer to him.
Quistis giggled from her position on the floor. She was laying on her front and had her head cradled on her arms, looking up at the couple on the bed. Irvine had slumped down on the cushions spread around the room next to Zell, who had already popped open a can of beer. He threw one to the cowboy, who caught it swiftly and released the top, causing a small amount of the foaming liquid to spill out onto his white t-shirt.
Selphie walked over to Quistis, leaving the two drinking guys to have a 'man-to-man' talk.
"Hey Quis, you okay?"
"Yes, surrounded by couples though . . ."
"There's always Zell . . ."
Both of the girls laughed and looked over at him. He noticed them and gave a wink, followed by a cheesy thumbs up action.
Quistis wrinkled up her nose and stuck her tongue out at the blonde.
"He's very nice, but . . . oh I don't know"
Selphie adjusted her position so that she was laying on her side, her arm bent and hand resting on her head to support it.
"There's only one couple in here anyway. Me and Irvy . . . we're not dating. We've only just gotten back to being friends."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-,"
"Oh no, that's okay. I wish we were a couple though."
Quistis looked at her younger friends forlorn expression and thoughtfully added, "You never know how tonight is going to turn out, Selphie."
"YO, put a video on already!"
This outburst had come from Zell, who was crawling across the cushioned floor to the two girls, currently looking at him with curiosity.
"It's not often you get to see a guy on all fours . . ." Quistis whispered, which had the girls in fits of naughty laughter.
Irvine watched Selphie giggling, thinking how much she looked back to normal when she was happy. She caught his eye and smiled, which immediately beckoned him over to the group containing her, Zell and Quistis.
"Hey hot stuff," he drawled.
Selphie put a hand on his face and pushed him over onto the cushions behind her and turned to Quistis, who was beginning to titter again.
Rinoa hopped off the bed behind them, making a rather loud thump when her feet came into contact with the floor below her. She deftly stepped over Selphie, but tripped over Quistis' arm, and with her current state of bad coordination; she let out a yelp and fell straight into Zells lap. Making no attempt to get up off him, she leaned over to the VCR and pressed a black button with a white 'play' sign engraved onto it.
--Two movies and a lot of beers later . . .--
"Looky, Zells fallen asleep . . ." Rinoa giggled, still intoxicated, the alcohol still running its course through her veins.
Selphie was half drunk, thanks to a coaxing Irvine. In fact, Quistis was the only one still capable of stringing together a rational sentence.
"OH girls, leave him alone, he looks cute when he sleeps," the blonde informed, sitting cross-legged in the corner, snacking on something that looked like chocolate cake.
Rinoa and Selphie turned to each other and sung in unison, "Quisty loves Zell!!"
Quistis rolled her eyes at their immaturity, but then laughed when she saw them getting distracted by the martial artists sleeping form beside them.
Zell had obviously dozed off whilst the others were still concentrating on the ending of the sappy romance-mixed-with-hammer-horror movie that Rinoa had insisted they watched. He had his head propped up on one of the many scattered cushions and his arms were resting across is stomach, his hand clutched together loosely with the fingers entwined. He would've looked rather peaceful, if not for the two girls looming over him and scheming.
Rinoa giggled and prodded Zells stomach lightly, making him let out a small whimper, not that far off from the noise a scolded puppy would create.
Selphie stifled a laugh and said, "Let me have a go."
She hovered a hand above his face and lifted up one of his eyelids gently. Underneath, a sky blue eye could be seen rolled back in sleep, flittering occasionally.
Irvine was sitting with Quistis, watching the two girls acting like pre-teens with a new toy they had just been given. Mostly though, he was observing Selphie. He was in half a mind to go over there and drag her back to his room for 'midnight activities' but he knew that was wrong: one-because she was drunk and two- because she looked so carefree and happy, it would be a shame to disturb her.
Rinoa was now in fits of uncontrollable laughter, which was only encouraging the small brunette next to her.
"DO both eyes!"
Selphie did as she was told immediately. Holding both of Zells eyelids up at the same time proved to be quite the task for a drunken lady to complete. In doing so, she must've woken the sleeping form below her, as suddenly, both of his eyes spun forward and focused on her.
Both of the girls screamed and fell backwards. Zell moaned and rubbed his face.
"The hell?" he mumbled groggily.
Quistis laughed at the shocked twosome, watching the victim of Rinoa and Selphies antics sit up.
He homed in on the still-laughing Quistis and questioned her.
"Why didn't you stop them? I was having a good dream . . ."
"I tried . . . kind of."
Selphie started up again, whilst crawling over to into Irvine's lap.
"NO she didn't, all she said was that you looked cute asleep-,"
"Which you do, Zelly-boy," Irvine piped up, deciding to tease him.
"Shut up!" The blonde cringed at his nick name, which was started up by none other than Rinoa, along with her latest 'fashion' of calling him 'Blondie'.
Whilst all this was going on, Squall was in the small kitchen making him and Rinoa coffee, in a vain attempt to try and sober them both up. Secretly, he also wanted to get away from the entire group. They were too noisy for his liking at the moment.
Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he sighed. It was 2:00 am. Normally at this time, Squall was either in bed asleep, or lazing about on top of the bed with Rinoa. A yelp from the other room drew his attention back to the present. Glancing in through the open gap which allowed him to see into his living area, he saw (to him) something that resembled utter chaos. Rinoa was being tackled by Zell, scattering empty drink bottles and popcorn everywhere in the process.
If there was one thing Squall despised, it was mess. But this time, he decided to just let it go and block the group out yet again. Leaning back into the side of the countertop, he sipped at his hot coffee and closed his eyes.
Back in the room, Selphie had calmed down and was snuggled in between Irvine's legs, head on his chest, his strong arms wrapping themselves and his old tan duster around her.
Everyone had generally relaxed. Rinoa had gone into the kitchenette and brought out a grumpy looking Squall, who soon cheered up when he realized people were settling down and not making a mess.
Zell had moved next to Quistis. He tucked his legs under her spread open sleeping bag whilst they continued talking quietly about each-others latest romantic conquests.
Irvine shifted under Selphie, causing her to look up at him with those all too familiar crystalline green orbs.
He smiled down at her gently, stroking her hair with one hand and wrapping the other tighter around her waist.
"You really are the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on, Sefie."
A small smile played upon her dusky pink lips as he kissed the top of her head. For once, she could be sure that she would sleep well wrapped in his arms with the lingering feel of his kiss atop her head and his loveable words gracing her dreams . . .