Dear Readers:
Like I said in the previous chapter, I am trying my hardest to update this whole story. I hope you all will send me reviews telling me how you like the changes!
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, nor will I ever.
Surprise, Surprise!
Throughout their morning they talked mostly about books and a little about what happened three months ago. When they finally finished talking, Paine stood up and started to undo her pants. Baralai couldn't help but sit there and stare as her pants were slowly untied and pushed down towards the white sand, revealing her black bikini bottoms. She reached down and pulled her pants completely off her feet and placed them on the sand. She softly touched her creamy, white legs as she stood back up. When she reached her shirt, she pulled it over her small round breasts in a torturous manner and then finally over her head. "Are you going to take your shirt off?" Paine asked him without looking.
"Huh? What?" Baralai was too busy thinking about the way she pulled off her clothes to understand what she had said. When he finally comprehended what she said, he stated, "Oh! Yeah! Sorry!" He stood up and slipped his sandals off his feet as Paine turned around. When she did she saw his tight little butt sticking up. Grapping his shirt at the shoulders he slid it off inch by inch revealing his broad shoulders and tanned skin.
As he pulled off his shirt Paine noticed how hot it really was on the beach. She saw his muscle tense in his shoulders as he pulled the shirt over his head. He dropped his shirt and shifted his whole body to see her. She gasped when she saw his whole body. "What? What's wrong?" He reached out and took her arms in his hands caringly. She was speechless by not only his act but his body as well.
It took her a few seconds to get a hold of her self and to be able to actually speak again. "Umm...nothings wrong! It's just...well...never mind." She knew if she told him that she had a reaction to his body like that it would go directly to his head and she would regret that. "Ready to go?" was all she could manage to get out at that particular moment. She hoped that getting him in the water would help her think less of his body.
"Yeah, let's go!" Baralai started to run down the beach towards the surf, but then stopped and turned around. "Are you coming?" It took Paine a second to catch up with him and they both hit the water at the same time. They threw themselves into the water and swam out a ways from shore. Paine allowed herself to float just a little ways away from Baralai. "So Paine, what are you going to do tomorrow?" He hoped that she would want him to join her in whatever she's doing, but decided that it was asking too much of her.
She was marveling the colors above her head, so she took her time answering. "I don't know. Why do you want to know?"
Well, since we are friends now I thought we could get together and maybe have dinner." He knew it was farfetched, but he had to try. It was the least he could do.
"Dinner?" She lost her concentration and dropped into the water, going beneath the surface. When she came up she gasped for air and pushed her hair out of her face. "Dinner is for people who are dating. We are friends Baralai and not any more than that. This evening won't be happening for a while again. Understand?" She saw the disappointment in his eyes, but she just wasn't' ready for anything more than friendship and she wasn't even sure she was ready for that. She was just giving this a chance. She didn't know if how long it would last if it would at all. Sometimes she enjoyed being the barer of bad news, but she hated the look on his face. "What?"
He looked at her if she was about to shoot him. "Nothing, nothing at all!" He turned away from her so she couldn't see his face. If she did, she would have seen the tears in his eyes that he dare not shed.
"It is something! Don't lie to me! Just because our friendship is new doesn't mean that I can't read you. I just wanted to tell you that." Paine decided to shut her mouth. It always gets her into trouble like the time when she was three. When she had gotten mad one day, she had told her mother that she was fat and ugly, although she wasn't. She had gotten a big whooping and then got one from her father as well, but that wasn't the last time it got her into trouble. She hadn't learned her lesson yet!
They floated there for quite a while just staring at the clouds and the sunset. Neither of them said a word and it was getting quite awkward. Paine suddenly quit floating and looked over at Baralai. "I think it's time to go home Baralai." She didn't see the look on his face since she was already swimming to shore, but it was one of extreme sadness. He knew he could just stay in this one spot forever with her, but it would never happen. He was beginning to think he would never have a chance to be more of a friend to her.
He swam to shore after her and got there right after she had put her clothes on. He just reached for his shirt and sandals and pulled them on. They were quiet while they walked, but Baralai had to ask something. "What did I do wrong?" This time he didn't turn his face away from hers, hoping she would see how bad she hurt him.
She did see it and although she didn't show it on the outside, she regretted what she said for some reason. "Nothing, its just time that we got home. I have things to do tonight and I am sure you have things to do too."
"As a matter of fact I don't have anything to do. Today is Friday, which starts the weekend. I have the weekends off while Nooj and Gippal take care of things. So please don't assume things. Maybe I can find something better to do than be around you." He turned and started walking back to town. He didn't look back because he knew she wasn't following. He didn't mean to say it so meanly, but he said it and he wasn't going to take it back. He meant it and that's it.
She watched him leave in disbelief. How could he talk to me like that? That's what I am supposed to do! She sank down into the sand and sat there for another ten minutes thinking about what he did and said. It hurt, what he said, but she was beginning to see what her words and actions did to others. If they hurt as bad as it did to her, she regretted ever doing any of it. Well...most of it! She stood up to go and took one last look at the ocean. Her eyes went to the spot where they floated staring up at the clouds. Her head fluttered for the first time in her life and it scared her. She turned and walked to the village. Before she stepped into the village, she said aloud, "I think I just met my match!"
Baralai had stormed away from her angrily. He knew why though, but that still didn't give him enough reason to. She still pushed him away after she finally gave in to being his friend. "Friends don't do that." He mumbled to himself.
"What did you say buddy?" A voice asked from the right side of the path which was kind of hidden from the point Baralai was at.
"Who's there?" Baralai stepped closer to the voice and came around the rock. He looked around quickly and noticed that it was Gippal and Rikku, a fairly new couple that made him jealous. "Oh it's you Gippal! What are you guys doing out here? It's almost dark!" He looked around at what they had brought and from the look of things it was getting a little heated before he rudely interrupted. "And does Cid know you are out here with him?" He looked at Rikku, posing the question.
"Hey Baralai, lay off will ya? We hardly get any time alone!" Gippal had gotten up and placed his right hand on Baralai's left shoulder. "Anyway, I saw you walk off with Paine this afternoon!" He whispered in his ear.
"What are you guys saying over there?" When the guys turned around to look at Rikku, they saw a pout on her face. "Why do guys always insist on keeping things away from me?" She turned away and ignored them by picking up a book she had brought along.
"Great! Now she won't talk to me for the rest of the night and it's your fault Baralai!" Gippal gave him a mean look and walked towards Rikku. He reached out and touched her shoulder but she shrugged away.
Baralai decided to leave them before he made it worse. It seemed like everything he did tonight made someone's life worse. He didn't know how he did it, but it happened. As he walked the rest of the way to the village thoughts began surfacing in his head. Why doesn't Paine see that I like her more than a friend? Am I that bad of a person to be around? So many thoughts, in fact that he couldn't keep up with them all. He decided to leave it alone for a while.
When he made it to his house he went inside and slammed the door hard. Someone in the kitchen dropped something, which startled Baralai. "That's twice tonight! Who's there?"
"Sorry Baralai! It's Nooj. I just had to get away from LeBlanc. I thought you wouldn't mind if I slept on your couch tonight." Nooj had a sandwich in one hand, a bag a chips between his arm and his chest and a drink in the other.
"Sure make yourself at home! I am going to bed and don't ask!" He took off his shoes at the door and headed upstairs. This was the not the best night of his life like he wanted it to be. Taking off his clothes, he plopped into his bed. The much wanted sleep wouldn't come, so he laid there staring at the ceiling thinking of the beauty he left at the beach when he got angry. "I wonder if she's ok! I shouldn't have left her like that!" He mumbled. He decided that sleep wasn't going to come like he had wanted; he got up and went downstairs. The television was on and a Blitzball game was playing.
"I thought you were going to sleep." Nooj looked up in surprise.
"I thought so too! Who's winning?" He sat down on the loveseat and grabbed the bag of chips out of Nooj's lap.
"The Luca Goers! Who else would be winning?" They sat in silence watching the game.
The rest of the evening went as a blur for Paine. All she remembered doing was sitting in her living room staring at the wall, for what reason she didn't know. When she finally snapped out of it, she decided that she had to talk to him. Since she was on a mission, she forgot her shoes in her house. The fact of making her way down the street to his two story home, proved to be a bad thing for her in the dark. She made it there finally and knocked.
It was half way through the first half and there was someone at the door. "Who would come here this late at night?" He got up and opened the door in his underwear not caring who saw.
"We need to talk!" Paine looked down at his lower half and was slightly embarrassed she came late. She walked into his house uninvited and noticed that Nooj was sitting on the couch looking up at her with a surprised look on his face. "Oh you have company!"
"Yes I do! What do you want to talk about?" He said it rude enough to hurt her. He saw it in her eyes, but didn't take it back. She hurt me today!
"Can we talk in private?" She pleaded with him with her eyes.
"What do you want to talk about?" He saw it, but decided not to give in just yet.
"Tonight, that's what!" She started to walk towards the stairs and he grabbed her arm.
"I didn't say we could! And we are in the middle of watching a game right now, so if you want to talk you have to wait until it's over." He pulled her towards the love seat, sat down and pulled her down next to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her even closer.
She gave him a look, but didn't dare smack him in front of Nooj even though she wanted to. She didn't say he could touch her and she didn't even like Blitzball. Now she was stuck watching it, because she had it in her head that she had to make what she said right. "This could wait until tomorrow?" She hoped he would say yes, but the look on his face told her otherwise. So she just shut up and watched the game.
The game had three overtimes which put the time to be about two thirty in the morning when it was over. Nooj stood up and stretched and then sank back down onto the couch. Pulling up the blanket to his shoulders he managed to get out Good night' through a long yawn. Baralai took a hold of her hand and pulled her from the couch and towards the stairs.
The closer and closer they got to the stairs, the more Paine thought it was a bad idea to come her. He was taking her to his room and being in his room might prove to be a bad thing. Each step added to her fear. She didn't know if it was a fear of him or a fear of not knowing what was going to happen, but it didn't matter. She didn't like either.
When they made it to the top of the stairs, he let go of her hand and went to light a candle. She saw that he had machina lights but didn't use them. It didn't calm her fears, but just made them worse. "Paine!" He said her name with a deep seductive voice that reverberated through her body and made her whole body shiver.
"Baralai, I don't think..." He moved towards her quickly and cut off her sentence with a kiss, a kiss that deepened further. Too far she thought, but she liked it. "No!" She pushed him away and stepped back. "It was wrong for me to come here!" She didn't wait for him to say anything. She ran down the stairs, opened the door and slammed it, which sent Nooj jumping up off of the couch. Her lips burned with passion as she ran away from his house and hers as well.
Baralai didn't move for a few minutes. He was still processing what happened in his head, which was rather hard in the shape he was in. When it finally sunk in, he decided to just let her think on it for a night. He had felt her give in to him and he knew he wasn't imagining it either. He blew out the candle and lay down in his bed. He drifted off to sleep thinking about how good it felt to have his lips on hers.
She ran until she couldn't run any more. She couldn't see around her so she didn't know where she was. The feel of his lips were burned onto hers and she wasn't sure if it would ever go away. How can I face him tomorrow? She stood up fully again and squinted to see which way to go home. All of a sudden she saw a darkness that reached out and grabbed her. Before she saw what it was she felt it smack her on the head and she was out cold.