Chapter 2

AN: So, having received so many continuation requests, I will! This is dedicated to all you lovely reviewers; you make me so happy! Especially Ashayu and Anya Urameshi because I love you both and you rule. If you're happy and you know it, do the Caramelldanse! *caramelldanses*

Andrea: um… seeing as she doesn't actually entirely know what pocky is and given that she hasn't had any caffeine and doesn't get high of sugar… what the hell is wrong with her?

Leccy: You know you love me really. Me no own, you no sue, cos if you do, Mikey will get you. ^^

Oh my God I completely left Vivi out of the last chapter!!! Ohnoes I love Vivi! *hugs* I'm sooooorry!!!! I might rectify the last chapter to include him, but I doubt it. I'll just add him in now and probably come up with an excuse.

Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine you know the drill

Hayner's POV

As we left the sandlot, I just knew Olette was gonna start asking questions, being the nosy female she is. I mean that entirely affectionately, of course. She's like a little sister to me, but boy does she need to learn something about keeping her nose out of other people's business. But on this I can't really blame her for those curious looks; I mean, I just kissed Seifer! For more than twice the time limit of the dare! I mean, man, I could understand if it was just a few seconds over three minutes, but eight? How on earth could that have taken eight minutes? It was over so quickly… No, I am definitely not thinking about how good it felt! Not at all. Certainly not. Argh, goddammit! But really… where the hell did he learn to kiss like that? Ok, I admit it, it was… nice. No, scratch that, it was great. But… why? I mean, I hate him. Don't I? Don't I?

"Umm… Hayner?" Oh, crap, now with the questions. I freeze and turn to grin falsely at her.

"Yeah?"

"You look like a maniac." Pence informs me cheerfully. Great. That guy really knows how to give compliments.

"What was with the make-out session?" Olette asks. Damn her, why's she smiling like that? What's that look supposed to mean? And now I'm panicking. Just wonderful, Hayner. Yes, I talk to myself. Don't tell me you haven't. No big deal.

"Uh… what?" yup, best bet: play it dumb. It's failed me so far, why should I change it now? Maybe that's why.

"You and Seifer." She says slowly. Dammit, Olette, please just for once in your life gain a short attention span and the ability to be fascinated by dust particles floating in the air. No such luck, I guess.

"Um… what about it?" I can hear the sound of sarcastic clapping coming from the general area of my brain that tends to be smarter (also more suicidal) than the rest of me. Oh, great going, Hayner. A nervous laugh always seems so unsuspicious. Shut up, brain! If you have no useful suggestions, then… just keep quiet.

"Hayner." She sighs. "Stop playing stupid. You know what I mean. You guys were kissing for nearly ten minutes and you wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't interrupted."

"…" why is it that my brain never supplies anything useful to say at the right time?

"And afterwards, you just sat and stared all gooey-eyed at each other." Olette continues.

"We were not 'gooey eyed'!" I protest; Yes you were. Dammit, brain, shut up! Or tell me something mildly smart to say.

"You so were, man!" Pence adds his two cents. Let's just pass the frickin' collection plate around, shall we?

"And he held your hand!" Olette points out. Yes, thank you, I had worked that out for myself. He had nice hands… Wait, what am I saying? Besides, why past tense? Unless some randomer came out of the blue and decided to steal them or something he probably still has nice hands… Grr, why can't my thoughts stop running away with me? From me. Whatever. The fact that Seifer's frickin' gorgeous is not the point. I don't think. Ever. Shut up, stupid brain! Yes, I call myself stupid sometimes. Almost everyone else has at some point, so why not me? "I mean, come on, Hayner; sure, making out with your worst enemy when you only had to kiss for a few minutes is weird enough, but holding his hand? Yeah, people do more than kissing even if they don't 'like' each other, but you never hold hands unless you like each other. Call me weird, but it's true."

"Well maybe… he likes me!" Damn, was that supposed to be a protest or a frickin' epiphany? Wait, what? Maybe Seifer does like me… Nope, I am definitely not gonna go down that route of the highway… But what if he does? "What if he does…?" Speaking my supposedly private thoughts is an absolutely wonderful idea, stupid fuzzy brain. Note the sarcasm.

"You should kiss him again to make sure." Oh great, thanks Pence.

"Yeah, and get my teeth smashed in, no thanks."

"You're actually more worried about that than actually kissing him again?" The Hell?... Oh yeah… I'm supposed to hate him. No. I do hate him! What's that look for? I do!

"What? No! It's just… kissing is temporary and having no teeth is permanent. I've never been all that fond of soup." Well at least Olette's laughing.

"But… you do like him, right?" Pence…

"Please, guys… just let it go. I'm too tired to talk about this kinda stuff right now."

"Fine. We'll talk later, mkay?"

Well, it's not long-term but at least I'll get some peace for now. I nod and sigh. I'm too confused to make sense of today yet. And yes, I still can't get the feeling of Seifer's mouth out of my head; my lips feel weirdly tingly whenever I think of it, which right now is most of the time.

"See ya. Pray for less heat tomorrow." I wave and they continue down towards where they live. As I turn down into the side street that leads to my home, I silently thank whatever gods are out there that they didn't comment on that embarrassing moment at the end of the dare game.

"Hiya Hayner." What the- I whip round to see it's only Vivi. Ok, relax. And why am I feeling disappointed? It's not like I was hoping it would be anyone else. At all.

"Oh… hi, Vivi. Missed ya today, huh?"

"Yeah, I was at my nan's – it was her birthday today. But don't tell anyone, cos I don't want Rai and Seifer to think I'm a wuss." Jeez, must he always be such a suck-up? Ah, well. He's kinda sweet.

"Ok. Night, Vivi."

"Night, Hayner. Oh yeah, Seifer says 'I did too'. I saw him a couple minutes ago. Dunno what he's talking about. See ya." And that was completely unexpected. I watch him waddle off, struck dumb. He did too?... Does that mean what I think it does? A slow grin spreads across my face. He liked it too.

AN: Go on, flame me. I deserve it. I'm thinking of taking this chapter back and replacing it with a third person one because my first person present tense sucks several things unmentionable. The only redeeming feature is Vivi finally makes his appearance. Sigh, I think I should actually just stop doing first person ever again, unless I can stick to the past tense. Which for some reason I find impossible. So, sorry for the crappiness of this chapter; I may change it soon, if I can. If I can work out how to use the poll thing, then I'll probably have a vote to see if I should change it to third person or leave it or rewrite it or whatever. Suggestions are useful for this kinda thing. So I'll be back, because, to coin a phrase: you haven't seen the last of the phantom yet!