There was a knock on the bathroom door. It wasn't Mom's chipper knock-knock-knock, her knuckles bouncing rapidly off the wood. And it wasn't Dad's serious, thoughtful, knock-knock, either. It was more of a tappity-tap-tap, don't-mean-to-intrude kind of knock.

"Go away, Zack," Yuffie called.

The door creaked open half an inch and a small snout appeared a few inches off the floor.

"I know Thorn isn't opening that door by himself!" Yuffie hollered.

The snout nudged the door a bit and soon her pug's entire squashed face was wedged in the gap. Thorn blinked, panted, and snorted, his tongue hanging nearly on the floor.

"Thorn," Yuffie said seriously, "I am not in the mood for a face-licking, whatever Zack may have told you."

The pug grinned wider when she said his name, and as she finished her sentence, he trotted over to where she was lying on the bathroom rug and proceeded to do exactly what he had been told not to. She squealed and pushed him away, which as far as he was concerned was the beginning of the greatest game of all time: try to get to Yuffie's face while she shoves you off.

"Zack!" she yelled, covering her face with her arms. Thorn stuck his nose between her arms and her neck and went slurrrrrrppp along her chin. "I'm busy!"

"You don't look busy," her brother said from the doorway. "You look like you're staring at the ceiling."

"I am staring at the ceiling," she protested. "It's called moping. Nobody is supposed to lick your face while you're moping. It's very distracting."

"Exactly," he said, perching on the edge of the bathtub. "So what are moping about?"

Thorn climbed on Yuffie's chest, making her go, "Oof," and burrowed into her neck.

"You don't want to know," she said. "And what made you suddenly so Mom-like?"

"You mean nosy?"

"I mean cheerful."

"You tell me and I'll tell you," he said.

She peeked over her arms at him. Thorn seized the opportunity and lunged at her forehead, but she managed to block him in time.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "If I tell you why I'm upset, you'll tell me the big secret you've been hiding all summer?"

"Its not a big secret," he said. "But I guess, okay."

Yuffie grabbed Thorn and sat up. He settled down to lick her hands instead.

"Promise not to tell anyone," she said.

"Of course," he said. "Who would I tell?"

"True. But it has to do with Riku."

"Ah," he said, knowingly tapping the side of his head.

"You know?!" she said.

"Know that he likes you?" Zack asked. Yuffie stared at him.

"No, that I like him," she said.

"I was starting to guess that, too," he said.

"Zack, you didn't set up this pretend-dating thing on purpose, did you?" Yuffie asked.

"No way," Zack said, shaking his head vigorously. "I had no idea then. You guys always acted so normal around each other. I didn't think pretend to date each other would be a big deal. Then you had that date and I was like, 'Ooooohhhh, I see how it is.'"

"Really?" Yuffie said, blushing. "It was that obvious?"

"That he wants to really date you?" Zack said. "Totally."

"Stop saying that," she said, shoving his knee. "I'm the one who likes him. And now I've told him I can't do it anymore, that I don't want to be his pretend girlfriend, so I'm sure I've wrecked everything. I'm sorry." She looked down at the fluffy yellow bath mat. "It'll probably make things kinda awkward for a while. Oh, why am I such a loser?" She lay back down, letting Thorn flop over on her stomach. "Why couldn't I just pretend and let him kiss me and act like everything was fine?"

"Because you like each other," Zack said. "I don't know why have to be such maggots about it." Sorry, maggots is my new word.

"Zack, he doesn't like me that way," Yuffie said. "I've had a crush on him forever, but you've seen the girls he's dated! I mean, Selphie Sorrento? She's nothing like me. He'll be with somebody new by next week."

"I don't think so," Zack said. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"But I'm moping," Yuffie objected. He got up and stepped over her, and she followed, rolling Thorn onto the floor. The pug snorted indignantly, shook herself, and trotted after them into Zack's room. As she passed the window, Yuffie saw that the afternoon shadows were much longer, she'd been hiding out it the bathroom for at least an hour.

Zack sat down at his computer and plugged the video camera in. Yuffie flopped onto his bed, covering her head with a pillow.

"Watch this," Zack said. "The night of your date. Remember, when we all came back here with Tifa?"

Yuffie peeked out. The camera was on her and Tifa. They were rolling balls of dough and getting flour everywhere. They were both laughing, with smudges of white on their faces. The camera panned over to Riku, who was pulling raspberry jam out of the fridge. As he straightened up, he looked back at Yuffie and TIfa with a smile.

"Hey, girlfriend, get over here," he said, unscrewing the top of the jam far. "You've got something on your nose."

"Oh, no, do I?" Yuffie said, touching her face and getting even more flour on it.

"Yeah, come here," Riku said with a grin. Yuffie came around the counter and stepped closer to him. The Yuffie lying on Zack's bed could see the look on that Yuffie's face and she thought, Man, can't the whole world tell how much in love with him I am?

Riku leaned forward, studying her face, and then he said, "Yes, yes, there's something. . . right. . . here," and with a studious expression, he reached out and dabbed raspberry jelly on the tip of her nose.

Yuffie shrieked and jumped back. "Riku, you dork!"

Riku was cracking up, leaning on the counter for support. The Yuffie on camera plunged her hands into his hair and mussed it up, leaving streaks of white flour in it. "That'll teach you," she said, giggling and jumping out of reach again.

"Oh my Leviathan," Tifa said in the background. "Zack, stop them before they get so sweet our teeth fall out and we can't eat these cookies."

"Don't worry, it's over," Yuffie said. "Because I won. I'm going to wash my face." She headed out of the kitchen, still laughing.

But the camera stayed on Riku, zooming in as he watched Yuffie go.

Yuffie in real life sat up.

"You see it, too, right?" Zack said.

"Play it again," Yuffie said. He rewound a few seconds and once again Yuffie watched Riku watch her.

He had the same look she'd seen on her own face earlier. The sam half smile, the same starry eyes. Like he wanted to chase after her and hold her and kiss her and perhaps spend every waking minute of the rest of their lives together.

Wow.

Maybe. . . just maybe. . . Riku was in love with her, too.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! I know I did! Even though it didn't feel like Christmas, and I don't know why.

Haha, my older brother got me Crisis Core, and my PSP has been glued to my hands for the past 3 or so hours. I just met Cloud. And Aerith is so pretty!!

Presents to;

Dark Rose Forever

Bonbon the Cat

Kaikai PANTS

Badhraa

Dark Ambition

hikari-kasumi

koalababay

SecretAgent99

Aeris Deathscythe

Warriorcat's Spirit

Meatloaf232

...

P.S. I lied, now there's 2 chapters left.

P.S.S- you know how you have an avatar image thing on your profile? And when you review? How do you change it? Because I'm not liking my Ron anymore.

Thanks!

~Erin