1Okay, this would of been up much sooner, but I had typed it all and went to hit save and it went, 'Access Denied You Do Not have the rights to do this' WTF! I've been putting up the disclaimers!
I don't own, Happy computer?!
"Have I mentioned that I don't get this?" Riku said as they parked their bikes at the bottom of Namine's long driveway. "Tell me again why you're borrowing a book from Namine?"
Yuffie shrugged. "It seemed easier than saying no to her." Well, that part was true. Luckily, Riku had insisted on coming with her; he didn't want to leave her alone with Namine, which she appreciated.
"I guess," Riku said. "Man, her house is huge."
The locked their bikes to the fence beside the driveway. The path up to Namine's front door was made of neat zigzagging bricks and wound around several flower beds before reaching the tall marble columns and gigantic gilt-encrusted doorway.
"Isn't this a little weird?" Riku whispered to Yuffie as they followed the path. "Like they're forcing their guests to take the scenic route and admire the flowers? What if you just want to get to the door already?"
"Maybe it's a test to make sure that you really want to get there," Yuffie joked.
"I'm guessing they don't have many visitors, then," Riku said with a smile.
Yuffie rang the doorbell. There was a long pause, and then the curtain beside the door was whisked aside and a nervous female face- red-haired, big-nosed- peeked out before getting yanked back.
Another pause. The door opened.
The redhead was standing there bobbing and bowing, looking terrified. She was wearing a shapeless maid's uniform and an apron that she kept twisting in her hands.
"Oh, get out of the way, Greta," Naminé snapped, popping out from behind the door. "How hard is it to let a guest in? I mean, seriously. Hello, Riku!"
"Hey," he said, taking Yuffie's hand.
Yuffie felt instantly awkward, as she was sure Naminé had intended. Yuffie was still wearing her bathing suit from earlier that day, with a white T-shirt and red shorts over it. Naminé, on the other hand, was wearing a sleeveless, formfitting white sheath dress that had side slits all the ways up her legs and an oval cutout from her neck nearly halfway down her chest. Her shoes were very high white espadrilles. She looked like she'd just stepped out of a movie. Yuffie glanced down at her sneakers, embarrassed.
"Come on back to the pool," Naminé said. She pushed her sleek blonde hair back and waved her hand, leading the way through the cavernous house.
"I guess her obsessions are genetic," Riku whispered to Yuffie. The whole house was white- white leather couches, white marble staircases, white sild lampshades, white bearskin rugs. The only art on the walls were large black-and-white photographs of Naminé, her older sister and her parents, all in perfect frozen poses with perfect frozen smiles. Yuffie got the impression that if she touched anything, she'd either break it or leave dirty fingerprints all over it.
Naminé flung open the double doors to the patio, whirled around, and cried, "Surprise!"
"Surprise!" yelled the crowd of people gathered outside. There were about thirty people scattered around the pool. Yuffie recognized most of them from school, but she wasn't sure she'd ever spoken to half of them. She wondered if Riku had.
Riku's mouth dropped open.
"Happy birthday, Riku," Naminé cooed. She wrapped her hands around his arm and tugged him away from Yuffie. "Come on, say hello to everyone. They're here to celebrate you! Yuffie can have you back later."
Riku gave Yuffie a baffled look and she spread her hands helplessly. "It was Naminé's idea," she said.
"Of course it was," Naminé said. "I just love throwing parties. And Yuffie didn't have any idea what to do, so I thought I should help." She dragged Riku down the patio steps to the edge of the pool, where a group of sporty types started slapping him on the back and offering him drinks.
Yuffie glanced around and, to her relief, spotted Zack off by himself on a lounge chair.
"Thank Leviathan you're here," she said, sitting on the edge of the chair next to him.
"I can't believe you talked me into this," he muttered, poking the ice in his glass with a small pink umbrella.
"Hey, this is all your fault, Mr. Bright Ideas," Yuffie said. "You're the reason Naminé is out to get me, so the least you can do is show up to one party."
"You should have seen the look on her face," he said with a grin. "When she opened the door and saw me there- I seriously thought she was going to pretend i was invisible and just slam it shut again. But I was like, 'Hey, Naminé, thanks for throwing the cool party,' and walked right in."
"You didn't!" Yuffie said, impressed.
"I did. She kind of harrumphed and waved in this direction. So I came out, got a soda, and I've been sitting here ever since."
"Do we know anyone else here?" Yuffie asked, drawing her legs up on the chaise lounge.
"Depends on your definition of 'know'" Zack said. "For instance, Selphie Sorrento is here."
Yuffie felt a twinge of jealousy. Riku had dated Selphie for four months. She was part Destiny, part ballerina, and all gorgeous but way too demanding, snobby and cold for Riku. Yuffie had never understood why he'd liked her in the first place.
"Really?" she said. "Is she dating Cloud, like Naminé promised?"
"I haven't seen him," Zack said, shaking his head.
Selphie passed them just then, but she didn't bother to glance down and acknowledge their presence. She patted her smooth bun of glossy brown hair and sailed over to Riku, greeting him with a large smile as if she hadn't dumped him only a couple of months earlier.
"I hate parties," Zack said.
"I just hate these kinds of parties," Yuffie said. "Stand, hold a drink, smile painfully, look interested in boring chitchat, comment on the weather, avoid the subject of school, wish desperately that there were any good movies to talk about, shift drink to other hand, wonder how many peanuts one can eat without looking like a ravenous hippo, nod politely, stand some more."
"Speaking of peanuts," Zack said, "check out the table behind us."
Yuffie swiveled around and discovered a low plastic table (white, of course) with three trays of appetizers on it.
"Wow, excellent location-scouting, Zack," she said, snagging a pastry ball that turned out to have sausage in the middle.
"I thought so," he said with a modest nod.
After about twenty minutes, Riku finally managed to fight his way over to them.
"I can't believe you abandoned me like that," he said flopping down on the ground next to Yuffie. He leaned back against her legs. "Do you know how many times I've had to say, 'Yeah, it has been hot this summer, hasn't it?' in the last ten minutes?"
"This will make you feel better," Yuffie said, handing him a crab dumpling.
"Thanks," he said. "And thanks for the party."
"It really wasn't my idea," she said. "I'm sorry for letting you be surprised."
"It's okay," he said. "I've never been to a Naminé McKennis party, but I guess people weren't exaggerating about the food. What are those?"
"Something involving cheese," Yuffie said, passing him the tray.
"Awesome," he said. "If you can make it to the other side of the pool, there are mini hamburgers and tiny French friends to match."
"Just think," Zack said, "if you dated Naminé, all this could be yours."
Which is exactly the point of all this, I'm sure, Yuffie thought. How could she compete with flawless beauty, impeccable fashion sense, and a house like this? Her little cupcakes didn't begin to compare.
"Yeah," Riku said, "but then I'd have to date Naminé."
As if on cue, Naminé swayed her way through the crowd and dropped a large box in Riku's lap. "Riku, darling, here's your birthday present," she purred.
"Oh," he said. "You didn't really-"
"Of course I did!" She crouched beside him, revealing a long slim line of her leg. "Open it at once."
With an expression of a guy who was pretty sure his present was about to explode, Riku hesitantly peeled the glittering gold-and-white wrapping paper off and opened the box.
"Whoa," he said. "Seriously?"
Nestled in the thin folds of crepe paper was a black leather jacket.
"Happy birthday, Riku," Naminé said with a triumphant smile. "It's all the way from Olympus. And very expensive."
"I'll bet," Riku said. Yuffie could tell he was feeling uncomfortable. She wasn't' exactly thrilled herself. It would take her several lifetimes to teach little kids martial arts to get enough money for a present like that.
"How did you get him a present from Olympus?" Zack asked curiously.
Naminé gave him a disdainful look. "We had it in our emergency girt drawer. I think it'll fit you perfectly, Riku, dear. Let's go find a mirror and try it on! Come on, come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled. With a sigh, he climbed to his feet and followed her.
"Riku, darling," Zack said, imitating her, "come into my lair and let me tie you up."
Yuffie saw a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye, but before she could react, a pair of male arms had seized her and swung her up off her feet.
"Put me down!" she protested, shoving Leon's shoulders. He tightened his grip on her and gave her his sly smile.
"Feel like going swimming?" he said.
"No," she said. "Do not throw me in the pool, Leon."
"But don't you want to cool off?" he said, swinging her dangerously close to the edge. "I think I owe you a soaking."
"You do not!" she said, struggling to get down. "We're totally even! Leon!"
"She doesn't want to get wet, man," Zack said.
"What do you know about it?" Leon said, but he put her down. She stepped out of arms reach quickly. "Aw, I'm just kidding around, Yuffie."
"Well, it wouldn't be funny," she said. Yes, he was kind of joking, but she was sure he would happily have dumped her into the pool without even thinking about the fact that she didn't have a change of clothes or that she'd look like an idiot in front of everyone. A wet idiot.
"Have you seen the basement?" Leon asked cheerfully. "It's totally awesome."
"Not yet," Yuffie said.
"I'll show you," he said, taking her elbow. "There's foosball and Ping-Pong and air hockey and Ms. Pac-Man and pinball-"
"Zack, don't you want to come?" Yuffie said, seeing that her brother wasn't standing to follow them.
"I'm going to get one of those hamburgers first," Zack said, apparently missing the significance of her look. Yuffie sighed inwardly. Tifa would of understood! "I'll find you in a minute."
"Okay. Bring me one too," she said. "Soon." Leon gave her a weird look and she added, "I mean, because I'm starving-you know, totally starving."
"Sure," Zack said.
Yuffie reluctantly followed Leon down a few steps to a lower patio paved with sparkling gray stone. A set of glass doors led into the basement, which, to her dismay, was empty. She expected to find other partygoers in there playing the games.
"Isn't it cool?" Leon said, wandering over to the foosball table. He spun a row of players around and then looked up and grinned at her. "Want to play?"
Yuffie felt bad. Leon hadn't been anything but nice to her. Why did she keep feeling uncomfortable around him? Was it because he seemed to like her? Or could it be because she liked him? She tried poking that thought, but her feelings for Leon still weren't anything like her feelings for Riku. Still, here was a cute guy flirting with her. She could at least be nice back.
"Okay, sure," she said, going around to the other side of the table. Leon fished a ball out of the side pocket and dropped it in.
Yuffie wasn't really good at foosball, but Leon was hilariously bad. He basically played by spinning the players around and around as fast as he could. She couldn't help laughing at him, but luckily he didn't get offended.
She was winning 8-4 when a phone rang somewhere in the far corner of the room. Leon spun him players one more time and then announced, "I'm bored. Let's check out Ms. Pac-Man."
"Oh, okay," Yuffie said. She followed him over to the arcade game, which had a place of honor in the center of the room, its back against a column. Just as she got up behind him, he turned and caught her wrists in his hands.
"Yuffie," he said, "why don't you like me?"
She had been about to pull away, but when he said that, she stopped, feeling guilty.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "I do like you."
"But only as a friend-right?"
"Well," she said awkwardly," Leon, I'm-I'm dating Riku." Not to mention I'm secretly on a quest to convince him he's my soul mate.
"Forget Riku," Leon said. "What if he weren't in the picture? Huh? What if you'd met me first?"
"I don't know," Yuffie said. "I mean, I didn't, so- and Riku is- I'm sorry, Leon, but-"
Suddenly the door from the patio opened. Leon dropped her hands like lit firecrackers and sprang away from her as if he'd just been caught stealing diamonds.
It was Riku . . . and Selphie Sorrento.
Cliff hanger! MUHAHAHA! Urgh, I don't like that phrase. Cliff hanger. Hmmm. What am I supposed to call it then? What do you think?
Only six chapters left! Ooo, that will come up fast.
I'll try to get rid of this . . . . . hanger soon. More school tomorrow. Ick.
Maple Candy to:
Warriorcat's Spirit
Treasure Princess
Dark Ambition
hikari-kasumi
brisFH28
SecretAgent99
Lifes.Lover
Seriously, I love you guys so much! You don't know how much these reviews mean to me! Hugs
Erin