Disclaimer: In no way at all do I own the ANY of the characters or places in this piece of writing. They are all from the game Final Fantasy VIII, which I do not own. This piece of writing was created ONLY for the reading pleasure of fans everywhere. I make no profit off of this writing whatsoever, and it is completely fictitious.

A/N: All I own is the idea for this piece of creative writing, so please don't take it.

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Irvine awoke the next morning with a massive headache. Why was he sleeping on a stranger's front porch? He reached into his pocket... no keys. Where were his keys? He thought for a fleeting second that he had been mugged, but then he was struck with the sudden realization of what had happened the previous day.

His heartache hurt, maybe more so than his head, as he recalled the exact moment that he had seen Selphie latch on to Seifer's arm like a giddy child. Then, there was that look on her face when she realized that he was standing there watching him; and Seifer's stupid smirk. He could still hear Selphie's voice echoing in his mind, calling him back as he stormed out of the Garden, saying that she could explain.

What was there to explain? Selphie's actions spoke louder and clearer than anything that she could have said verbally to him. She didn't need to explain anything. Irvine got the message loud and clear; the message that he had failed to make her happy. Irvine put his head into his hands and found it slightly harder to breath.

"Hey there, cowboy." Irvine looked to where the voice was coming from. It was the bartender. "Catch." He tossed a keychain to Irvine, which made a tinkling noise as it flew through the air. Irvine caught it. "How are you feeling?" asked the bartender.

Irvine quickly put on his hat and pulled it down low to cover his stinging eyes from sight. He sniffled and stood up. "I'm-," he stopped to clear his scratchy throat, "I'm all right."

"Are you sure?" asked the bartender. "You were pretty upset last night. I can drive you home if you like."

"No, that's all right," Irvine reassured. "I can't let anything happen to the car. It's a-"

"A rental," the bartender finished the sentence for him. "I know."

"Yeah..." said Irvine, wondering how many times he must have said that to the bartender yesterday.

"Okay then. You drive safe now, and I hope I don't see you at the pub too soon."

Irvine smiled slightly, and watched as the bartender made his way down the road to the pub. Then he picked up his riffle.

"Oh, I see you're awake now," said a man from behind Irvine. "How did you sleep?"

Irvine turned around to see an elderly man folding up the blanket that he had been sleeping under. "Very well," Irvine replied. He thanked the man thoroughly before leaving to his car.

The red sports car, which would cost more money to buy than Irvine could ever hope to have, was parked in a lot outside of Timber. Beside the car was a group of loudly talking females, whom all began to whisper as Irvine got within earshot of them.

"Look at those legs," one girl said loud enough for Irvine to hear. "I'll bet they look even better when he's not wearing those pants."

Normally, Irvine would have made some sort of acknowledgement upon hearing a comment about his body from a lady, but not this day. That was what had gotten him into trouble, and he wasn't about to go and get lucky so quickly this time. First, he needed to collect himself and then he needed to talk to Selphie. That was his plan at least.

Irvine opened the door of his rental and started the car. He was about to step on the gas when someone knocked on the window. He looked over to see one of the ladies that had been whispering about him. She had blonde hair and her chest was ample. Irvine rolled down the window, but avoided looking at the girl again. "Yes?"

"I've been looking for a cowboy. I've got some cows that need milking. Do you think you could help me out?" she added a little pout. "Please?"

"I'm in a hurry," Irvine replied.

"Oh..." said the girl. "It'll only take a few minutes though."

Irvine looked at the lady. Then at her friends, who all tilted their heads to the side and waved 'innocently'.

"Sorry." Irvine rolled the window back up and drove out of the parking lot. This was the exact reason why Selphie had left him in the beginning. Was it so bad wanting to look at other women? He had eyes for everyone, but Selphie was the only girl that he wanted to be with. She obviously didn't feel that was about him, though.

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Zell awoke to an impatient knocking on his bedroom door. He rolled over lazily to look at his clock. 11:08am. The person knocked again. "Ugh!" Zell sat up. Who was knocking on his door at such an early hour? Didn't 'Sunday the Day of Rest' mean anything to them? He kicked his feet out of bed, stood up, and taking a few steps toward the door, fell flat on his face. He looked down at his feet to see that they were still tangled up in his blanket. "This is going to be a bad day," Zell lamented.

There was another knock on the door. "I'm coming!" Zell's voice escalated. He realized that he, himself, was a pretty impatient person, but the person at his door was insufferable! Zell kicked his feet free, hoped up, and jogged to the door. He swung it open to find, "Irvine! What are you doing here?"

Irvine removed his hat, and Zell could see that his eyes were all red and puffy. "I'm sorry for waking you up - I know you like to sleep in on Sundays - but is it all right if I come in? I didn't know where else to go."

Zell stood stunned in the doorway for a moment. "Uh, yeah, sure. Common in." Zell's dorm room wasn't exactly big, and the mess that Zell had lying about didn't help to make the room any bigger, but there was just enough room for Irvine to stand. "Can I get you anything to drink?" offered Zell.

"No thanks," replied Irvine.

"Okay," said Zell, which was the last thing that was said for a very long while.

Judging by the silence, Irvine assumed that everyone already knew about what had happened between him and Selphie, and if she had talked to Rinoa at all, he was sure that the whole Garden was well aware of the fact that Selphie was now with Seifer instead of him. And now, here he sat in the middle of Zell's messy dorm room, placing the entire burden on poor Zell.

But seriously, where else was he to go? Squall's room? The guy was nearly emotionless and had spent far too much time with Rinoa to give him any helpful advice about trouble with girls. Or Quistis? No, he was pretty sure that she had a crush on him, so he wanted to stay well away from her and her influential/authoritarian ways. It was Zell or no one.

Zell walked awkwardly to his small couch and sat down. The old springs of the couch squeaked as he shifted his weight around, trying to find a comfortable position in the eerily quiet atmosphere of the room. "You can sit down if you want," offered Zell. "Stay a while."

With slightly slouched posture, Irvine carefully stepped around objects on the messy floor and flopped down on the squeaky couch beside Zell. He kept his eyes lowered to the floor.

Zell glanced at his friend, and then away. "Uh..." He tried to think of something to say to the guy. Then he glanced back at Irvine; his eyes were still staring at the floor. Zell looked away again. Irvine and Selphie had separated temporarily before because of miner things, but Irvine had never come looking for anyone's help before, and especially not his. The fact the Irvine was in Zell's dorm now, made Zell feel that things weren't going to get better so quickly this time. "So, how have you been, man? Is there anything I can do for you?" Zell finally asked.

Without warning, Irvine suddenly buried his head into his hands and began to shake.

Zell wasn't sure what he should do. He had never been forced to deal with a crying man before. It wasn't that he thought that men weren't supposed to cry - hell, Zell was the biggest crybaby that he knew! But how was he supposed to go about comforting someone who was so upset? Whenever he was upset, Seifer always made fun of him, but from personal experience, Zell was pretty sure that that wasn't the best way to give someone the feeling of being comforted.

He thought that maybe he should just do nothing, and wait until his friend calmed down some. Zell wracked his brains trying to think of a time when someone comforted him when he was feeling low, and then it came to him. Ma! Ma Dincht was the only person that Zell could clearly remember ever having comforted him. She would take him into her arms and rub his back, and tell him that no matter what happened everything would turn out better in the end.

Well, if it had worked on him, maybe it would work on Irvine. Zell reached over and pulled the taller man into an embrace. Irvine didn't resist Zell and leaned willingly into his chest, and Zell rubbed his back, as Ma had always done for him. "Don't worry, Irvine," said Zell, trying to sound as comforting as possible. "No matter what happens, everything's gonna turn out for the best in the end."

Zell wasn't sure how long they stayed that way for, but when Irvine finally pushed away from him, Zell was sure that he had succeeded in comforting the taller man.

Irvine sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Zell, "I didn't mean to be a burden to you."

"Not at all," Zell assured.

"I just- I really need to talk to someone."

Zell nodded his head, even though Irvine still wasn't looking at him. It was his duty as a friend to be of any assistance he could. He placed a reassuring hand on Irvine's shoulder.

Irvine took a deep breath in and held it for a long time. Zell thought that he was gonna pass out, but then he exhaled. "What am I gonna do?" he asked in barely more than a whisper.

The shorter boy didn't know what to say. What could he say? He was inexperienced in the realm of love. He supposed that an apology might be best, but he wasn't sure if an 'I'm sorry' would cut if for Selphie. He had talked to her in person about the situation, and she seemed pretty mad to him.

"She'll never take me back," Irvine went on. "I should have treated her better." He searched the room with his eyes as if looking for an answer that might be hidden somewhere in the mess. "Tomorrow would have been our first year anniversary," he choked.

Seeing Irvine so upset was almost making Zell want to cry. "Maybe she'll still take you back," he suggested, hoping to cheer up his friend.

Irvine shook his head. "I don't deserve to be taken back." He looked away from Zell's staring eyes.

"Of course ya do!" Zell confirmed. "You never actually cheated on Selphie, did ya?"

"No…" Irvine replied, wondering where Zell was going with this.

"See!" Zell stood up. "Selphie may have thought that ya didn't care about her, but in reality, you really did. She just didn't realize it and left you because she must have felt insecure about her relationship with you." Irvine stared up at Zell with a blank expression, and Zell wondered if what he had just said made any sense at all.

"I don't know…" Irvine began, but then Zell interrupted him.

"Just tell her that you're sorry and that you'll treat her better from now on."

"It's not that simple, Zell. What if she doesn't take me back? What if she won't even speak to me? What if she wants to be with Seifer long-term? I don't think I could handle that."

"What if the world ends tomorrow?" Zell retorted. "At least she will know that you are sorry for upsetting her to the extremity of turning to Seifer." Irvine stood up, and Zell knew that he had gotten through to the man because he could swear that he saw the slightest curl in the corner of Irvine's mouth.

"All right," said Irvine, "you've convince me. I'll talk to Selphie about what happened, and see what happened."

"That-a-boy," Zell slapped his friend on the back. "You go tell 'er!" He walked Irvine to the door.

"Thanks, man," Irvine said before leaving.

"Lemme know how it goes, okay?" Zell waved. Irvine nodded and Zell shut the door behind him, but no sooner had he done so when there was another knock on his door. He turned the knob and opened it again to see Irvine.

"I don't know if I can do it…" he said with uncertainty.

"Go on! Get out of here!" Zell shooed him away from his dorm room.

Irvine inhaled and stood up a little taller. "Okay."

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End of Part II.