By: Southwest Eggroll
Chapter Six: Wonderful Vacation
Helluva cool but you men are the same,
The way he licked his lips and touched my hips,
I knew that he was slick.
--- 'You Make Me Sick' Pink
SELPHIE WAS SITTING ON A table in the Quad two weeks later, a notebook in hand, and she was crossing out things that had already been done, writing things that needed to be done, and checking off a list of things she had on her to-do list for that day. She still hadn't designed the tickets, and there was a little less than two-and-a-half months left until the Garden Festival. There was still a number of things that needed to be completed, but Selphie was sure everything would make time. Between Pilot, herself and Seifer, that work had gotten done wonderfully.
Pilot. He was such a fun guy, and he had taken Selphie out on another ice cream date to Balamb. They managed to get nine scoops before it fell over, and Selphie settled on the same cone she did the previous time. Fortunately, there were no interruptions, and Pilot walked Selphie to her dorm, leaving her with a goodnight kiss-on-the-cheek. Selphie flipped over a page and wrote PILOT. She decorated it with hearts and cute little squigglies.
Seifer. Selphie stabbed her pen into the notebook. It created an indent, and Selphie ran her fingers over it. She was tired of his attempts to get her in the sack, but since the time Selphie ended up sleeping in his bed, they hadn't said one word to each other. Selphie didn't know exactly why it bothered her, but she thought it had something to do with her heart. You see, it had this terrible habit of pounding so loudly when someone said 'Seifer' or whenever she saw or thought about him. It was extremely annoying, and it had started that morning, when he kissed her brow. It was a strangely gentle gesture, something she didn't know Seifer was capable of.
When I feel his presence around,
I can't help it- my heart will pound.
My thoughts leave, my mind goes splat,
And all this happens just like that!
Selphie liked it as she thought it, and she scribbled it into her notebook. She was about to write 'About Sir Lapdog' above it, but her heart started that infernal pounding again. She sighed and frowned, feeling like she was waking the dead with her unstable heart. Maybe I should see a doctor? Suddenly, a hand reached for her notebook and grabbed it from behind her. She hopped off the table with a quickness. Seifer was standing with her notebook in front of his face.
"When I feel his presence around/I can't help it- my heart will pound," Seifer read aloud. "You're kidding, right? My thoughts leave, my mind goes splat/And all this happens just like that. Hyne, Messenger Girl, you're one sappy-"
She couldn't stop the insane blushing that crept up her neck. She stammered, "G-give that back, Lapdog!"
"But it's so...romantic. I kind of want to keep it. Maybe I'll share it with Pilot. He'll get a kick out seeing his name decorated with hearts. And this poem to him-" Selphie let out a sigh of relief. If Seifer ever suspected the poem was about him, she'd never live it down. "-would really put the icing on the cake."
"Yeah, so I wrote a poem about Pilot. What?"
"Ever write one about me?" Selphie wanted to die right then. Seifer approached her, got dangerously close.
"What would I write about? Oooh! I know! 'Seifer makes me sickly green/I want to blow him to smithereens!' Heeeey...that was pretty good."
Seifer glared and shoved her notebook back at her. "So I thought you weren't talking to me," he said.
"I'm not. You stole my notebook first."
He chuckled, and then walked a few steps away, his back turned. He moved so he was facing Selphie again; he was biting his lip. He's nervous about something...Seifer? Nervous? Must be something big. Maybe he's...no, he's not! Is he? He wouldn't- I mean, not after the poem.
"Look, this isn't working very well, us not speaking to each other," Seifer said coolly. He wasn't quite meeting Selphie's eye, rather her eyebrow. "I'm....sorry about the whole 'hitting on you' thing."
It wasn't what Selphie had expected; she was darn surprised, and she let him know it.
"What?"
"I'm apologizing, Tilmitt," he said.
"WHY?" she replied, looking at him like he had suddenly grown an extra head.
"Because it's not working. Every order you give me has to go through Pilot since you won't speak to me. And I can't stand that guy. He's so...so...self-righteous."
Selphie snorted. "Teehee...Okay-dokay. Apology accepted. But from now on, we respect each other's personal space. Woo...I can't believe you actually apologized to me. I need to start carrying around video cameras..."
He shrugged and casually brushed one hand on the other. "What needs to get done today?"
"Right. We have to design tickets and start printing them out. After that, we have to hang some streamers around." She settled into a chair and looked down at her notebook.
"Do we have streamers?" Seifer asked, suddenly very business like.
Selphie stared at him before answering, "No. Pilot and I will probably make a trip to Balamb later and pick some up."
"Oh. Another date with Plane Guy," Seifer replied.
"Does that bother you? But then again, it doesn't matter if it does, 'cause it's my life and not yours! Booyaka!" she said hyperly, and with a smile. She pulled a sheet out of her notebook and made a rectangular shape on it; it was the template for the ticket.
Seifer gritted his teeth. "There's something not right about Mr. Pilot."
"Oh, you mean he's so self-righteous?" Selphie replied meanly. She didn't want to discuss her relationship with Pilot with Seifer. He was asking too many questions that didn't concern him, and as nice as Selphie was trying to be, she couldn't help it if some things came out a little on the bitchy side.
"No. He's just different. The fact that I've never seen him around Garden is one thing," he pointed out, looking over Selphie's shoulder.
"Seifer, I appreciate your concern, but I think I can handle Pilot on my own."
She turned around and smiled at him. He smirked back at her, gave her a once-over that made her heart start pounding again, and then said, "I'm sure you can. The way you threw me on the bed the other night..."
She jabbed a finger at his chest. "You said you were gonna stop that."
"Stop what? You're touching me. Hmm...I think the tickets should be light red, dark red text. Does Garden Festival have a slogan yet?"
Selphie narrowed her eyes at him, removed her finger and shrugged. "Peace! Love! Happiness!"
"Pretty much your anthem?"
"Right!"
"How about we put that sideways, like so..." He put his arms over her shoulders, placed his fingers on the sheet of paper and moved them down the length of the ticket. "This way, it will say Peace! Love! Happiness! here, and then Garden Festival on the opposite side. Information can go right here...And then stick some kind of flower-child design here to fill the empty space."
Selphie was focusing, but barely. Seifer wasn't wearing his trench coat, as it was still being dry-cleaned, and Selphie was enduring the sensation of his finely muscled arms over hers, skin against skin. Her heart was pounding again, and she wondered if Seifer could hear it? She was mortified as she thought What if he can feel my pulse?! She processed what he had suggested.
"Wow. That's perfect. I'll get Alecksa, my computer friend, to design it on her PC, and then I'll send them to Namia to get printed out! Awesome, and I thought it was gonna take forever," Selphie said. She regretted being so sour to him before. She thought designing tickets was going to be a pain, but Seifer's idea had proved to work just right. She smiled at him.
GARDEN HAD AN AIR OF aloofness about it lately, one that made Selphie hope for the speedy arrival of the Festival to get the place back in motion. Everyone had one reason or another to be rude, or completely uncaring, and that irked Selphie to no end. Garden Festival would put some dearly needed excitement back in the air. She half-skipped, half-walked to Pilot's dorm and knocked. She waited, and there was no answer.
"Pilot! It's me, Selphie!" she shouted through the door. Someone came out of her dorm to see what all the noise was about. Selphie put on an official look. "SeeD business ma'am, please step back inside your dorm." The girl nodded, wide-eyed, and closed the door. Selphie giggled, and just then the dorm opened up. Pilot was in a rolling chair. He waved to Selphie, gave her a warm smile and rolled back into his dorm to his desk.
"Hey Selphie, whatcha' need?" he asked jovially, putting his pen to paper and scribbling a few notes.
She walked in and looked around. His dorm was absolutely immaculate. She couldn't see one wrinkle on his bed sheets, and his open closet was in size-order. This kind of neatness made Selphie unbelievably clumsy, so she clasped her hands in front of her and stood away from things.
"Wooow. Your dorm is really...neat."
Pilot laughed. "Yeah...I get bored a lot, I guess. I'm just in the middle of an exam paper. You know the drill."
"Exams? Mega-bummer. Then I guess you can't steal away for a day to go on a trip to Balamb with me? We could go get the streamers, spend the night in the hotel...Thought it would be nice."
Looking sadly regretful, Pilot shook his had at her. "I haven't had a spare moment since they started a week ago."
"Bummer. And yet you've still been finding time to work on the festival with me and Seifer?"
"Well, once I make a commitment..."
"Teehee, thanks a lot, Pilot! You have no idea what your help means." He beamed. "I'll go ahead and letcha' get back to your paper."
"Yeah...hey Selphie, thanks for stopping by. It's always a good thing to see you."
Selphie resisted the urge to glomp him. She walked out of his dorm and shut the door quietly, reveling in the fact that some guys could be so unbelievably sweet. Selphie practically floated to Seifer's dorm. The Traitor!! had been wiped off, but there was still a vague trace of it. The door was slightly open. When Selphie knocked, it slowly opened on its own. She stepped inside.
"Seifer?" His dorm was the exact opposite of Pilot's. Pens and crumpled pieces of paper were thrown everywhere, socks and shoes were scattered around, and his bed was a big mess of sheets. Things were hanging out of his drawers, and his closet was not organized in anyway Selphie could tell.
No one had answered her call, so Selphie figured he might be in the bathroom. It was a weekend, and Selphie hadn't seen him anywhere else in Garden. The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar. She pushed it open.
He was sitting with his back against the wall, between the toilet and the tub. His head was between his knees, giving Selphie the impression he was asleep. He was wearing black slacks, even though his upper half was bare. She whispered his name. He didn't move; he was asleep. She crept over to him and placed her fingers on his arm. Almost instantly, Seifer was to his feet in a defensive position. Selphie was startled, and she jumped back.
"Messenger Girl? What're you doing here?" he asked in a raspy voice.
"I came to ask you a question. Why were you sleeping in your bathroom?"
"You came here to ask me that?"
Selphie crossed her arms. "No! I just wanna know..."
He shrugged and rubbed the upper part of his left arm with his right hand. Gooseflesh covered him. "I...guess I just fell asleep. What did you need?"
"Will you come on a trip to Balamb with me?" she asked, giving him a hopeful look. "To get the steamers? We could stay the night, too! Be a nice vacation...Whaddaya say?"
"I thought you were going with Pilot," Seifer replied.
"Yeah, but he can't make it. So, come with me?"
He scratched his chin, eyed Selphie and then nodded. "Yeah, why not."
"DO YOU ALWAYS WEAR THAT jumper?" Seifer asked as Selphie was driving to Balamb.
"Do you always wear that trench coat?" she replied, looking at him through the corners of her eyes.
"Yeah, until a Little Messenger Girl nearly ruined it," he said.
"Teehee, sorry. You still haven't gotten me back, you know," she said.
He shrugged. "Ah, you know me, I'm not one to hold on to childish grudges."
She laughed, "So that means you're still thinking about your revenge?"
"Yep."
IT WAS RAINING IN BALAMB, and Selphie thought it was a sign of ominous times. Neither of them wanted to get wet, so they checked into the hotel first thing and stayed there. They were sharing a room with two big beds. Selphie jumped onto hers, throwing her bag down beside it. She hopped a few times then landed softly on her bum.
"Gosh, I love hotel beds. They're so comfy compared to Garden's," Selphie commented. She stretched, giving Seifer the impression of a cat.
"Yeah, the Garden beds are squeaky, too," he pointed out.
Selphie laughed, "Only yours. If you weren't so hard on it..."
"What are you implying, Tilmitt?" he asked, a smirk gracing his features.
She rolled onto her stomach and took out the directory from the drawer in the nightstand. Selphie flipped it open to the room service page.
"Mmm! Look at all this food. I'm starving! What about you? Hmm...I'm gonna order some stuff. What do you want?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Anything with noodles."
"Noodles?"
"Yeah, I like noodles."
"Noodles," Selphie repeated. "That's strange."
"Why?" he asked.
"I figured you'd like something...ya know...like raw meat. Not noodles."
"Raw meat? What the heck gave you that idea?" he quizzed, an eyebrow raised at her.
Selphie shrugged. "You always gave me the tough guy impression. Raw meat seems tough guy-ish to me! Howz' about some fettucini alfredo? Zell told me it's really good from here. And if he thinks anything besides hotdogs is good, it must be."
Seifer nodded.
"I'm gonna have...Ya know what? I'm gonna have fettucini alfredo, too! And a banana split." Selphie called in an order for two fettucini alfredo plates as well as two banana splits. The hostess cheerily told her it would be up in a minute. Selphie bounced to the window and looked out. Rain was pouring, and pouring, and Selphie laughed.
"That's so weird. Over here, it's raining and at Balamb Garden it's just peachy-keen," she said.
"I haven't had a vacation in a while. This is nice," Seifer told the ceiling.
Selphie flopped onto the bed. "So what does the Sorceress' Knight do for fun?"
He regarded her with a raised eyebrow for a moment. Seifer shrugged. "Haven't had much fun lately. I guess...I don't know."
"Don't know? Okay, what does Seifer do for fun?"
He was going to tell Selphie that there was no difference. Because there wasn't, right? Seifer was the Sorceress' Knight, and there was no way he could ever escape that. He was silent for another minute, but words spilled from his mouth. "I used to go clubbing a lot. Balamb doesn't have any night clubs, but I would take trips to Dollet and Deling City on weekends, while I was still a student at Garden. Night life in Deling is wild."
"Sounds awesome. Like it would be a lot of fun."
Seifer sat up and looked at her. "You'd probably like it. Kind of wild, kind of dangerous, a lot of fun."
"Story of my life!" Selphie exclaimed. "Ya know, you're not so bad once you drop the Sex God act."
"Sex God?" Seifer chuckled. He laid back down on the bed, shoulders shaking. He raised an eyebrow and smirked seductively at her. "It's not an act," he said solemnly.
The seriousness in his tone caused both of them to laugh, and laugh, and laugh, until someone knocked on the door. A young boy in a suit pushed in a cart piled with steaming plates. Selphie bounced up, exclaiming that it smelled delicious. The boy left, and Seifer and Selphie pulled chairs up to the cart and ate right off it.
After trying some of his food, Seifer nodded. "The Chickenwuss was right."
"Why do you call him that?"
"You were there, weren't you? You were the Messenger Girl."
Selphie nodded, but said, "I know why, but...He hates that name. Honestly, do you call anyone by their real names?"
"Yeah...just about everyone," he said to Selphie.
She shook her head as she put a forkful of alfredo covered noodles in her mouth. "Not any of the Orphanage Gang...I'm Tilmitt or Messenger Girl. Zell is Chickenwuss. Squall is Puberty Boy, or sarcastic Commander; Quisty is Instructor, with that mocking tone in your voice, and Irvine is Cowboy or Yee-haw. And you call Pilot Plane Guy. What's with that?"
Seifer considered her words. He shrugged and took a bite of his food. "Damn. You've got me all figured out, huh?"
She snorted. "Not as much as I wish I did."
"Why?" he said, putting his fork onto his plate. It made a small cling! that made his statement seem harsher than it was meant to be. "I mean, I'm just your hired help, right?"
Selphie leaned forward. "Why would you say that? You're-"
"One of you? No, no, that's where you're wrong. We went to the same orphanage, and there, the likenesses stop. I'm the Sorceress' Knight. You are a SeeD. We're on opposite sides."
"Are you still loyal to Ultimecia, after she's dead?" Selphie asked curiously.
Seifer smirked. He laughed, "Now that would be stupid. I'm not loyal to Ultimecia..."
"Then you're no longer the Sorceress' Knight."
"But I am...I chose to become the Sorceress' Knight when I followed Matron into that portal. I made that decision, and no one, not one damn person is going to let me forget that. Everywhere, people either hate me, or fear me, because to them, I will always be the Sorceress' Knight. And if the world can't forget, how can I?"
Selphie tilted her head. "When you started working with me, I never thought of you as the Sorceress' Knight. You were just Seifer Almasy, notorious pervert and lazy jackass."
He laughed aloud. "Lazy jackass?"
"Well, you wouldn't hang up the lights...Hmm..." She paused. "Seifer, no one is as bitter as you seem to think. Most people think you were brain washed, so they sympathize with you-"
"I don't want sympathy," he replied curtly. "And I wasn't brain washed. I made every decision on my own."
"See? The world won't forgive you because you won't let it...If it makes any difference...I forgive you."
Seifer swallowed. He watched Selphie blink and take drink of water. He shrugged and studied his plate. Quietly, he started, "After the whole conflict was over...Raijin and Fujin went back to Garden. They were practically begging me to come with them, but I couldn't face anyone. So I lived on the streets. I tried to get a job...but everyone remembered me as the Sorceress' Knight. No one saw me as Seifer fucking Almasy. Not one person I met afterwards called me 'Seifer' or even 'Almasy'. It was always lapdog-" Selphie winced. "-or traitor. The fact that some people were still fucking afraid of me made me so...mad. Even now, it makes me want to puke- just knowing that I'm going to go down in history for the fucked up things I did. But then again, what else is there to remember me for?"
Quietly, Selphie answered, "The awesome Garden Festival you're helping create."
"Not willingly. I was forced into this, remember? So even if I did start to enjoy working on it, it would be written down as forced work."
"Have you? Started enjoying it?"
He smirked and shrugged. "It gives me something to do."
"Aw! Face it- you like Garden Festival!"
His expression softened, and Selphie thought she saw a lecherous glint in his eye. "Not so much the Garden Festival, rather, the Little Messenger Girl heading it up."
Selphie beamed at him. She sighed, "Yeah, you're not so bad, once you get past that-"
"Sex God act? I told you, it's not an act." He leaned forward and grinned devilishly at her. "I can prove it."
Instead of replying, Selphie got a spoonful of ice cream from her melting banana split. She grinned to catch his eye, then flipped the spoon at him. Whipped cream and ice cream landed right on top of Seifer's nose.
"Melt that, hot boy!" she shouted, jumping up from her chair and running. Seifer, got up, cleaned his face off, and glared at Selphie.
"You're asking for it," he said, before taking off after her. He ran around the bed, but Selphie jumped over it and speeded out of the room. Seifer followed her. When he got out into the hallway, she was no where to be found. There was only one exit, so he walked down the stairs, just in time to see a yellow blur speeding out of the hotel. Seifer jogged after her. He peeked outside the window near the doors. Selphie was hiding just outside the doors. He guessed she planned on scaring him. Resisting the urge to laugh right out, he strolled out of the door like he didn't have a care in the world.
Selphie pounced on him from behind. Of course, Seifer was expecting it. He did a tricky little move with his feet that landed Selphie on her back on the floor. Within seconds, he was straddling her. She screamed.
"Waaaa!" she said. "What was that for?"
"Melting yet?" he asked, leaning over her.
Yes- whooooooa! Did I just think that? "Bite my nunchaku!" she laughed.
"Was that an offer? 'Cause it sounded kind of lecherous to me," he replied, tickling her sides.
Between giggles, Selphie cried out, "No! No, only....teehee! Ahhh! Stop that!" She was laughing insanely, unable to control herself. Seifer was having a fine time of it, too. He was furiously tickling her, showing no mercy and ignoring the tears streaming down her cheeks. Selphie put her fingers to his sides and tickled violently.
He wasn't nearly as ticklish as she was, but the act distracted him and Selphie managed to kick him up, delivering a knee to his groin. Seifer grunted, grabbing at his crotch.
"That was totally uncalled for!" he shouted.
"Was it just me, or did your voice sound a bit high?" she asked playfully, propping herself up on her elbows.
"Owwoooww..." Seifer grunted. "I don't think I'll be able to have kids anymore..."
Selphie laughed, "Some might consider that a good thing, teehee!" She paused. "Why didn't we get the streamers?"
"We didn't want to get wet," Seifer replied, sticking his tongue out and catching rain in his mouth.
Gosh, maybe it's just me, but I *adore* Selphie and Seifer together! New favorite pairing, woop woop! Please review, I wanna know how I'm doing! I'm afraid I got out of character in this chapter...That's my biggest fear. I started getting comments complementing my characterization, so now I'm even more worried...Please tell me how I did with this one!
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