Words: 2,012

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

After spending some time within the coffins of a steamy and very much locked bathroom comfort, it was time to face the music… quite literally. The guys had decided to have a night in with some beer and the girls that had come over for the shoot that Rinoa had scheduled for the day. Luckily there weren't many of them, just Fuijin and Quistis, along with the rest of the crew, which sadly did not include Nida because he was working another one of his long shifts at the hospital.

Rinoa stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a crop shirt and low riding shorts, black knee high socks covering her feet.

The music and chatter wasn't as overwhelming as she thought, compared to the suffocating feeling she got once Squall looked at her with his apologetic glance, which to her looked more like a pity stare.

"You're finally out!" Selphie screamed at her friend and launched herself at her, locking her arms around her and kissing her cheek.

Rinoa forced a smiled and tried her best to cheer up, taking Selphie's beer and taking a long sip from it. "Whoever came up with this get together?" She asked as she moved to settle in between cushions on top of the sofa.

"Quistis insisted…" Fujin chimed in, "Something about spending time with Zell to go over some Garden stuff and whatnot."

Rinoa eyed her and how comfortable she had gotten around Seifer and sighed a discontent sigh. It seemed like everyone here had a couple of sorts and she was the only one by herself… But then again, there was also Squall sulking at the corner, so it wasn't all that bad.

Zell came out with a board game, cleaning the space in front of the sofa and placing it there on the floor, "Okay everyone… Here's where the real fun begins!" She could hear everyone's ooh's and aah's as they all circled around and took their places around the game, looking up to see Squall sitting on her opposite side of the sofa, or more like slumping while he held a beer in limp fingers. "Ok! This game has charades, scattergories, stunts and rules… Since we're drinking, let's also incorporate drinking to the penalties. Not only will you go back the amount of spaces indicated, but you will also chug whatever is in your cup for the same amount of time. Got it?" Everyone nodded.

"Not only that, but we will be assigning numbers to each player, remember them, for it they come up in the game you and another person will be doing the stunts together." Irvine added as the game started by him assigning the numbers.

Rinoa looked at Zell, who had started the game by rolling a three and moved his characters three spaces, landing in color yellow and picking a card in said color.

"Stunts: Pick a partner and froggy leap each other five times. If not accomplished or decided to skip go back one space." He eyed the room, looking for a partner and his eyes locked on Rinoa. "You!" He pointed at her.

"Nope! Not a chance in hell! I'd rather drink than agree to do this." She said as she got ready to reach for her drink.

"Oh, Come on! Don't be such a party pooper." Quistis yelled as Irvine and the others took their time to cheer her up.

"I don't think I am buzzed enough to do this." She muttered as Seifer handed her a beer.

"Just chug half and your problems will be solved." He winked at her and she couldn't help but to sigh in annoyance.

"I'll have the camera ready!" Selphie exclaimed and Rinoa found herself taking a deep breath and chugging more than half the beer.

"Ugh! Ok! Let's do this!" She yelled standing up and clapping, shaking her extremities and lolling her head side to side to get ready as Zell jumped to his position and ducked down.

"Let's do this, Rin!" He yelled.

Rinoa took a deep breath and backed up, steading herself and running, placing her hands on Zell's back and leaping his back, stumbling and landing in front of him while giggling like an idiot. "Oh, Hyne, this is harder than I thought." And she realized the whole room had burst into a fit of laughter as she looked around, spotting Squall smiling and she couldn't help but to feel the knot that had formed on her chest this morning easing.

By the fifth turn of the stunt Rinoa had almost failed and had the room in tears, it was Zell's turn who just jumped over her without a problem, but she could barely stand due to the laughter, so once Zell had regained composure he helped her back to the sofa and they carried on with the game and the laughter.

Three turns into the game and Rinoa rolled the dice once again, "Red. What's red?" She yelled as the room continued laughing about previous random things the game had made them do.

"Scattergories," Squall replied handing over a red card facing down.

"Thanks!" She chimed, looking at the card and smiling, pink starting to settle on her cheeks, "Okay!" She cleared her throat and everyone's eyes were on her, "Things you can find in the trunk of a car."

"Luggage." Zell yelled as he grinned and took a sip of his beer.

"A change of clothes." Quistis followed.

"A football." Fujin.

"Shoes." Selphie.

"Spare tire." Irvine.

"Goddamit," Squall muttered as he looked at Irvine who couldn't help but to laugh. "Pass." He sighed and slumped into the sofa and took a sip of his beer.

"Tools." Seifer said as he slumped next to Squall.

Now everyone was looking at Rinoa, "Umm… Shoes?" She replied with a shrug of her shoulders and smiling sheepishly.

Selphie let out a noise of what in her book seemed to be a buzzer.

"What?"

"It's a repeated answer! I'd said shoes before."

"No you didn't." Rinoa replied as she shook her head.

"Yes, yes she did." Squall butted in while he stretched in his place of the sofa.

"Ok, what's the penalty?" Zell asked, standing up and moving to grab another round of beer for everyone.

Rinoa sighed and looked at the card, her eyes moving from line to line and slowly growing wider. "Umm… can there be a penalty for not wanting to agree with the penalty?" She asked as the whole room burst into laughter.

"Oh come on, it can't be that horrible." Seifer chimed in and took the card from her, reading and cackling. "Oh, this is golden." His eyes moving to Rinoa who was pouting and blushing on the opposite side of the sofa, his hand moving over to Squall and handing him the card.

"Okay…" He sighed, "The penalty for not paying penalty would be to go back to start." He looked at his position in the game board and gave it some thought. "Screw this, I'll just take my shirt off." And he complied, his hands moving to the hem of the cotton v-neck and pulling it upwards and off his torso.

Rinoa gulped as she saw his shirtless form, and then she found herself taking a deep breath. "We should've just played strip poker… This is so much more embarrassing." She muttered, taking her crop top off. "Ok, let's continue." She finished as she tied her hair up in a top knot.

Another round of beer and another turn of the game and it was Seifer's time to roll the dice, this time his character stopping on purple. "Rules!" He said as he took a sip of his beer, "Okay, it says: Whoever was assigned number three and seven have to go seven minutes to heaven, or until it's one of their turns. If players do not comply to the game rule they have to remove a piece of clothing from their upper bodies." Seifer paused and placed the card facing down on the board game, "Hmm, so who is it?"

"I'm number seven." Squall replied standing up, "Obviously, I can't pay the penalty." He reached for his beer and started walking towards his room.

"And who's number three?" Fujin asked.

"That would be me…" Rinoa sighed as the room started laughing out loud. "Talk about awkward…" She said standing up and joining Squall by the frame of his room's door. "Seven minutes?" She asked aloud as Zell nodded at her.

"That or until it's your turn, whatever comes first." Selphie chimed in and she knew they all had the intentions of milking this out.

Today was a day that Rinoa had found herself sighing a lot, Squall shut the door and allowed his back to slide down the coldness of it, until he sat on the ground. He bent his leg, bringing his arm to rest on it and taking a sip of his beer. "Make yourself comfortable." He said to her as he motioned her to sit.

She looked around and decided to just sit down on a spot next to him, her eyes wandering around the room and then coming back to fix on her bottle of beer.

A moment of silence that was so thick it was almost palpable a few deep breaths and scratches of heads and Squall had decided it was enough, "Look, I'm sorry about this morning." He looked down on her, the hair falling all over the place from the messy bun, the freckles on her shoulders and the mounds that were her breast peeking over the black and blue lacey balconette bra as he caught himself blushing and rushed to take another sip of his beer.

"Mhm. It's okay. I was out of line, too." She mused and sat down closer to him, "I've been meaning to ask you… Who are the people in that picture?" She pointed with her chin to one of the frames on his bookshelves.

"My father and my sister… Laguna and Ellione."

Rinoa tilted her head and looked from the picture to Squall, "Laguna… Like Laguna Loire president of Esthar, Laguna?"

Squall nodded his head and smiled, taking another sip of his beer as she whistled. "Whoa, talk about crazy…"

"Hmm?"

"My father is General Caraway," She admitted and Squall couldn't help but to snort.

"Seriously? That crazy general?" She nodded and both of them looked at each other and continued laughing, they didn't know why, the subject wasn't funny, but for some reason their laughter continued increasing to the point of hysterics.

Rinoa tried to compose herself and took a deep breath, letting her back hit what she thought was the wall until she felt his hot breath on her shoulder, his lips feathering her skin as his torso kept shaking due to the laughter. All of a sudden she became hyperaware of the hotness in the room and the lack of moisture on her mouth, the smell of his breath, and the shivers that were currently running up and down her spine, the goose skin on her arms and the closeness that she had closed between them, their mouths inches away until he cleared his throat when he heard the group screaming.

"Ah, I- I'm sorry. I- I don't know, I mean, I-"

"No, not like this." He replied to her.

"Excuse me?" She said as she stood up, cleaning her legs and extended her arm for him to reach, "What was that."

He took her hand and stood up, "I said not like this."

"Not like this what?" She questioned.

"I won't kiss you like this." He replied.

"Am I that unkissable?" She asked with a giggle.

"No! No, that's not what I meant." He shook his hands, "Just not under this circumstances," He said as he places his hand on the doorknob and he opened the door and stepped outside, "Also… I think you're very kissable." And with that he disappear into the screaming party, leaving Rinoa dumbfounded and awe struck.

This has to have been the most confusing day ever.

A/N: I made it back! It's been almost a year since my last update, but I'm back. I can't believe it's taken me so long. It was a hectic year, but I'm back, I'll try not to leave for long this time, I promise!