A/N:
Hi guys! Glad I could come back so soon :D
Another special thanks to all my reveiwers from last time! You guys all deserve chocolate or something else equally delicious :)
Disclaimer: I own none of FF13, but I do enjoy writing about it
This one's a little bit of a cliffhanger by the way...
The silver haired boy blinked at her sudden exit, a little surprised. "Is she okay?"
Snow just scratched his head and turned to the refrigerator, grabbing another beer for himself. "Eh…you know Lightning. Always has to run around doing something. She's probably just checking out the logistics."
"Logistics? For what?"
"Where you're staying." Snow sighed, "Apparently Dajh is too big now to fit in the guest room with Sazh, so he's going on the couch. And the only other room in the house is the baby's… which I wouldn't exactly recommend."
Hope waved it off, "Don't worry about it. I'll leave after the party." That might have been for the best anyway. The quicker I can get away from Lightning the better. Hope could already feel himself starting to crack, something he couldn't afford to do at all. The thought made him start to guzzle his beer. He wasn't really too accustomed to the taste, not really being a heavy drinker at all, but it did have some sort of calming effect.
"Alright…but you'll have to tell Serah. She had all kinds of plans for the weekend." Snow took another swig from his beer. "Help me with this cake, will you? Once NORA gets here, the party will begin."
That was weird.
It was the only thing she could say about it. The only thing she could let herself think. Lightning turned the corner of the banister on the second floor, heading straight to where she knew her sister would be. "Sorry I'm late."
Serah was placing down Eira quietly on the changing table, "Don't worry about it. You usually never are. Long line?"
"Yeah…a little." Lightning watched her sister briefly before retreating back to the white rocking chair in the corner. She just sat there nervously. The thoughts running through her mind were…not welcomed. They seemed practically disturbing, but at the same time…
"What's wrong, Claire?"
"Nothing," She huffed a little too quickly.
Serah didn't turn but reached to grab a clean diaper. "I think I know you better than to listen to that. Did something happen when you were out?"
"No, nothing happened, Serah. Don't worry about it."
The younger sister shrugged, "If you say so." She picked up the freshly cleaned baby and placed her into her aunt's arms. "Did you see Sazh and Dajh? I was just going to set up the guest room for them."
"No, I didn't. How are they?" Lightning's blue eyes were focused downwards at the small baby laughing in her arms.
"They look great. Dajh certainly grew up a lot. I can't believe it. I didn't think that much time passed."
Lightning scoffed, "Neither did I."
"I thought you didn't see them." Serah's confusion turned into a smile, "Oh! You saw Hope, didn't you?" She took advantage over Lightning's lack of response. "He looks good, doesn't he? I didn't think he'd grow so tall."
Lightning nodded, feigning distraction with the baby.
"It's so strange." Serah laughed a little bit, "Here I am with a baby, Hope's an adult…time does past so quickly. It seems like Snow proposed only yesterday."
He's an adult now? Lightning nodded and rested the soon to be napping baby on her left shoulder. He was just fourteen the last time I saw him… "I feel old."
Lightning wasn't really sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. She didn't think her sister would suddenly burst out in a loud fit of laughter at that comment. Serah finally calmed down after what seemed to be 5 minutes of perpetual amusement. "You're 25!"
That's right…I'm seven years older than him. "It's just. You're married with a baby. The kid can drink alcohol…"
"Well, he's not really a kid anymore."
Lightning ignored that, "And I'm still living in the same house exactly as I was four years ago." Her blue eyes glanced back at her sister, who suddenly appeared sad. Lightning stood up from the rocking chair, still cradling the baby, and walked over to Serah, "Is something wrong?"
Serah just shook her head, "You're so good with Eira." She held out her hands for permission, and Lightning obliged, carefully passing the baby on to her mother. "I didn't know though."
"What?" Lightning crossed her arms, a little confused. " What didn't you know?"
"That you were lonely."
NORA did eventually get there, cueing Snow to turn on the stereo and break out even more alcohol and food. They actually had a pretty nice spread. There was an assortment of appetizers from small quiches, to potato puffs, and, of course, the less classy canned cheese on crackers. Hope didn't feel like eating anything. He didn't really feel like doing anything either. Lebreau and Gadot were talking with Sazh, Dajh was amusing himself in front of the TV, and Snow and Serah were talking with Maqui while setting up more dishes on the kitchen counter.
Where's Lightning?
It was a perfectly innocent question. He hadn't seen her since she left to find Serah, and now Serah was downstairs again without her. The question was perfectly reasonable, not obsessive in the least. I'm not obsessed with her.
Just because all his thoughts started and ended with images of her didn't mean anything. Her happiness being his sole concern in the world couldn't possible mean that he was obsessed. Nope. No way. He was definitely not obsessed with Lightning Farr-
"Hope!"
He turned eagerly to see Sazh walking towards him, "Hey Sazh, um, enjoying the party?"
"Yeah, it's nice catching up with them." Sazh crossed his arms and leaned back on the wall Hope was also standing against, "Have you seen Lightning?"
For some reason, Hope suddenly became defensive. "What makes you say that?"
Sazh narrowed his eyes at the boy and scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I don't know. I just haven't. No need to get angry there."
"I'm not…"
"I guess you haven't seen her then. Must be the reason for all that pent up frustration you got going on."
Hope gulped a bit, afraid of what exactly Sazh knew about him. He tried to remember their adventures together, but nothing exactly led to the conclusion that Hope may have a slight crush on her. Sazh wasn't there at the Gapra Whitewood (which was a good thing because it probably wouldn't have been that good of memory if he had been). Sazh didn't see how she hugged him when Hope told her Operation Nora was over. Or how she was the reason he was able to defeat Alexander and not quit. There was no way he could possibly have any idea. So then what is he talking about? Hope let his curiosity get the better of him, "Frustration from what?"
"Well, Hope, I was a teenager once. I know what it's like to have a crush on someone who doesn't…"
Hope froze. "…What?" Even his voice sounded icy.
"Hey, kid. I don't mean to lecture you or anything. I just want to let you know that you're not the only one who goes through this."
He feigned confusion, "Go through what? What are you talking about? I'm not frustrated. I don't have a crush on anyone." Hope self consciously lowered his voice to an exaggerated whisper. "Especially…you think I…and Light…"
"It's really okay, Hope. I may be old, but I'm not stupid." Sazh laughed a bit at this, "You're really wound up about this, aren't you?"
Hope ran his hand through his silver hair, "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" He couldn't believe how easily he gave up on the charade, but a part of him was tired of hiding it. Maybe Sazh can help me. And he's right...I only have a crush on her.
"Sure, kid." Sazh turned and yelled to Dajh, who was sitting happily on the couch, "Hey, son. I'm going to go upstairs and show Hope some of our photos. You'll be okay?"
The young boy nodded his head, too distracted by the TV to pay them much attention.
"So I'm basically screwed."
"Look, Hope…"
The teenager fell back on the guest bed, his hands grasping at the shorter ends of his hair. "I'm stupid. This whole thing is stupid!"
"You sure you still like her?" Sazh asked, a little concern tinted in his voice.
"Yeah…I mean, how could I not? She looks just as beautiful as she did four years ago." Hope sat up at that, "Wait, that isn't the right thing to say at all, is it? What should I do? Tell myself she's old? That there are other girls out there my age that I should be dating?"
Sazh nodded, "Yeah…you could try that."
"I have tried that! Nothing works! And I knew I shouldn't have come here…it only got worse. Now that I've seen her… I only remember things better. All I want to do is spend time with her now, see if she's changed, if she's happy, if she'll give me…"
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on there." Sazh held up his hands, distracting Hope's thoughts, "Do you actually think you have a chance?"
The immediate response in Hope's head was, of course, no. In his mind, no one deserved a chance with her. Especially him. But why especially me? His green eyes flashed at that idea. I don't know what she thinks. "I…don't know."
Sazh sighed and held his head in his hand, "Okay…I think well, the first thing you gotta do is figure out if you want to tell her."
"I want to tell her." The extreme sincerity in his voice surprised both him and Sazh. "I mean, I have to. I can't go on just thinking about it. I need to take action." A sudden phrase just came back to him, "I just have to."
"Well then," Sazh sat next to him on the bed. "I think the first step is admitting it to yourself first."
Hope blinked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it'll be easier to say to her the more times you say it, right?" Sazh stood up again and gestured for Hope to follow. He walked Hope over to the door, where the full length mirror hung. "Just say it slowly to yourself."
Hope turned to look at Sazh, more out of discomfort from the image in front of him than actually confusion. "…Do I have to?"
"Hey, I can't force you to do anything." Sazh backed away from Hope and sat back down on the bed. "But how are you gonna tell her if you can't even say it out loud to yourself?"
He did have a point there. Hope sighed and brushed his hair back. He tried to imagine himself alone, without Sazh there, but that wasn't helping. Then he tried to picture nothing at all, but that was also useless. He then imagined that Lightning was standing there, right in front of him, with that faint smile of hers, and the words finally began to come out. "Lightning Farron…" He stopped, realizing how stupid that sounded, "Light, I think I love you."
Serah had only asked her to put on new sheets. That was it. She shouldn't have distracted herself with the baby. She shouldn't have distracted herself with a lot of things, but her she was, putting in sheets later than when she was supposed to only to hear…
What did I just hear?
The voice was unmistakable. She could recognize it anywhere. She trained herself to know his voice just in case he ever called for her or needed her when he wasn't in plain sight.
But what he said…that wasn't right.
Lightning blinked and closed her eyes, testing herself to see if she understood the words correctly. Did he just say…
She turned from the door and dropped the clean sheets haphazardly on an open chair next to the guest bedroom. The words were still entrenching her brain, making her feel slightly dizzy. Did Hope just say he loved me?
A/N:
:D Thanks guys for reading! And please review! It'll mean the world to me, and a happy writer means a productive writer!!
-ASX