I can't believe this is the last chapter!!!! *wails* I'm sorry to say this, but this chapter is pretty corny. But I love corn. XD
Yuffie would have jumped back inside, but Thorn and Alanna were already galloping over and climbing on Riku with enthusiastic yips.
"Hey, guys," he said to them, tugging on their ears. His cute smile made her want to gallop over there and climb on him herself. He looked up at Yuffie. "Going for a walk?"
"Um- yeah," she said. What could she say- no, they weren't? The dogs put the leashes on themselves?
"Can I come?" he said, standing up and sort of awkwardly slouching against the porch railing.
She looked down at the leashes in her hands, blushing. Wouldn't he rather go inside and hang out with Zack?
"I guess, okay," she said. She handed him Alanna's leash, and their fingers brushed as he took it from her.
The dogs scrambled madly down the porch steps, yanking Yuffie and Riku along behind them. They turned left out of the gate and the pugs led the way down the street, snorting and panting and sniffing at everything.
After a moment, Riku said, "Want to hear something funny?"
"Sure."
"After you left, I saw Leon's dad picking him up. Leon said he wanted to quit tennis and switch to lifeguard training, and his dad started yelling at him that this is what he'd signed up for, that they'd paid for a tennis racket and lessons, and dagnabbit, he was going to stick with the whole program for once and not quit when things got tough like he always did. They were still shouting at each other when they pulled out of the parking lot."
Yuffie couldn't hide her smile. "Poor Leon."
"Poor Leon! I'd say he deserves it for what he did to you."
"He didn't really do anything to me," Yuffie said. "I wasn't interested in him. I don't care that much about what he said. I know he's one of those guys who let girls like Naminé yank them around and tell them what to think."
Yuffie smiled again. "Not like you."
There was a pause, and then they both started to say something at the same time.
"Go ahead," Riku said, but before she could, Thorn lunged at the bushed as Alanna sprinted into the park. The leashes tangled together and around Yuffie.
"Thorn, get back here," Yuffie said, tugging on him.
"Whoops," Riku said. "Here." He unwound his leash and lifted it over Yuffie's head. For a moment, his arms reached around her, and she closed her eyes. If only. . .
"Let's set them loose," Riku said. She opened her eyes to find him kneeling next to Alanna. "That'll solve this tangling problem.
"Okay," she said, pulling Thorn closer so she could unclip his leash.
They herded the dogs into the fenced dog run and then shut the gate. Thorn ran to the other end and then back while Alanna sat and looked up at them, panting.
"Can we sit down for a minute?" Riku said. He pointed toward the fountain.
Yuffie nodded. She didn't trust her voice enough to speak. She suddenly remembered something. . . something she'd said two weeks before. Had Riku remembered it, too?
They sat down on a bench where they could still see the dogs. The sun was setting, turning the sky and the clouds pink and gold and purple. The drops of water in the fountain sparkled as they caught the fading light.
Riku took a deep breath. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out something, and put it into Yuffie's hand.
It was a small red origami whale. On the side facing her, he had written, Yuffie. . .
She turned it over. The other side read, Will you be my girlfriend. . . For Real? She looked up in surprise and found Riku's blue-gray eyes only a few inches from hers. He reached over and took her free hand.
"Before you answer," Riku said, "I want to tell you how sorry I am about the last couple of weeks. I didn't know Naminé would be so awful to you. I'll get you a new necklace, an even better one, I promise. I didn't know how horrible she could be." He looked down at her hands, running his thumb over her knuckles. "And I didn't know I'd end up falling for you."
Yuffie opened her mouth, but he put his fingers on her lips to stop her. "I'm crazy about you, Yuffie Kisargi," he said. "I think I always have been, but maybe I was too dumb to know it. I want to do all those things for you that I never wanted to do for my other girlfriends, like buy you flowers and call you every night and tell you you're beautiful and stuff."
"But- really?" she said. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"I guess it kinda caught me by surprise," he said. "It took my a while to figure out that I really liked pretending to date you. And when I thought about anybody else dating you- like Leon- it made me feel all weird and mad and crazy inside. Is that dumb?"
Yuffie shook her head, remembering how she had felt when he'd started dating Selphie.
"And I'm sorry I kissed you at the pool," Riku said, "But I swear it wasn't because Naminé was watching. I forgot she was there- I forgot anyone else was there. You have no idea how cute you are in that bikini, Yuffie. And I'd been wanting to kiss you for days and I guess. . . I guess I kind of forgot we were only pretending. But I'm sorry if you hated it."
"I didn't hate it," Yuffie said, looking down at his hand holding hers. "That's the problem- I liked it too much, and I thought I wasn't supposed to."
"Then perhaps I'm not sorry," he said. They smiled at each other.
"So," he said, "maybe I've been an idiot up till now, but I kinda thought maybe you were feeling the same way about me."
"Yes," she said.
"Yes, you feel the same way, or yes, I've been an idiot?"
Yuffie laughed. "Both," she said. "But I like you like that."
Her heart was beating so fast and so loudly, she was sure he could hear it. Riku touched her face. The look in his eyes said, I can't believe how much I like you, and, I've wanted to do this forever. Then he leaned in and kissed her
And this time, it was absolutely real. . . and absolutely perfect.
And that's the end!!
I had so much fun writing this. It really was a blast.
And thank you to my reviewers! Without you I wouldn't have written a second chapter! I can't believe I have around a 100 reviews for this! It's insane! I would like to thank my reviewers for the reviews, favorite stories, story alerts, and so on.
Thanks to:
Apple-blossom-tea
sallygrimreaper
Kaikai PANTS
Badhraa
Knight of Dreams
SecretAgent99
Emerald Moonrose
koalababay
hikari-kasumi
Ink
Bonbon the Cat
saia-kirr
xx1yuna1xx
Atomsk-sama
Meatloaf232
...
Angel Aliera
Lots of you people want me to do a sequel. Sounds interesting. But on what? Like how would it go and such?
Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
~Erin