Chapter Five
The next day, a warm but rainy Sunday, started well for Vanille. She got up, took a long hot shower and went downstairs to find Lightning already up, just as usual.
They talked a little about this and that while the policewoman made them a nice breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon while Vanille took care of the black tea they often used to drink in the morning.
Just as Lightning had finished preparing the meal, Serah sleepily entered the kitchen, but her sleepiness suddenly seemed completely forgotten when she saw Vanille.
"Vaniiiille", she almost screamed which earned her a slightly angered glare from Lightning. "You have to tell me everything about your date!", she demanded whilst sitting down beside the redhead, who giggled.
"First we have breakfast", Lightning ordered and that was what they did, though Serah had a hard time containing herself.
But eventually, she was released from the agonising waiting time when they finished eating and she immediately dragged Vanille upstairs to her room. She slammed the door shut and sat down on her bed beside her best friend.
"So tell me! How did it go for you?", she asked with eyes so big from excitement you could worry they might fall out.
Vanille giggled. She loved how Serah was always so curious to know about everything, it was just too cute. And even more so she loved exploiting this to drive her nuts by just not telling her what she so desperately wanted to know. But not today, today she would tell her right away.
"Well, I'd say it was a quite nice evening, you know", she started slowly, not sure herself how good the evening actually had been, objectively spoken. It had been her first date, after all, she just didn't know how far you have to come in a first date to call it a 'good', or better, a 'successful' date.
"What do you mean by that?", Serah asked, obviously confused by the statement.
"That I've got no idea how far you have to come in a first date to consider it a success, Serah", Vanille almost desperately explained.
Serah grinned. "Ah, I see", she said understandingly and took Vanille's hand in her own.
"Why don't you tell me what happened and I help you evaluate the whole thing, huh?", she suggested with a firm, encouraging squeeze to the redhead's hand.
"Okay", Vanille agreed and started telling her friend about how they had been talking about their lives for the entire evening.
Of course she didn't forget to mention that she'd seen Fang almost staring holes into her breasts as well as the brunette's suggestive comment on her choice of drink and how she had put her hand on Vanille's and had given her a kiss on the cheek after she'd asked for her number.
Serah shook her head in disbelief. How could Vanille even slightly doubt that this had been a successful date? For her, it was clear as crystal: the evening had been fantastic and Vanille was absolutely on the right track.
"Seriously, Vanille, I don't see where your problem is! That all sounds great and damn cute! If you ask me, it was a total success", Serah put her thoughts into words. "I'm happy for you, really", she added with a big smile plastered on her face.
Vanille couldn't help but smile herself. Maybe Serah was right and she had been a bit pessimistic to doubt the success of the date.
But she would know more once Fang did or did not contact her. If she didn't, Vanille would know that it hadn't been as successful as she hoped right now. If she did, however, Vanille could be certain that Fang had liked it at least enough to want to see her again.
Serah, having apparently read her mind, lay her free hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be in touch", she reassured the redhead.
And she really hoped that she was right with this statement. After all, Vanille was eighteen and had only yesterday had her first date. It was about time for her to finally find a first girlfriend, too, and she had certainly upped her chances with Fang last evening.
"I hope so", Vanille replied smilingly. They then spent another few minutes in her room before they decided to watch a DVD and learned for their studies afterwards. Later that day, Snow came by and they played cards together and enjoyed the afternoon.
Vanille had no idea when Fang would call, if she would at all, but the redhead more than hoped it would be soon. She was so nervous about the whole thing, but a call from Fang would blow all her doubts away again and totally make her day.
"So where've you been all night yesterday, Fang?", Cid asked before biting into his bread. The band sat together for breakfast, just like every morning, and Fang hadn't yet told anyone besides Sazh about her crush on a certain redhead.
"Just here and there, ya know. I've been roaming a few bars, enjoying the nightlife of Bodhum", she lied to talk her way out of this.
She didn't want them to know about this, not yet. The date had been great, sure, but she still had her doubts whether this all was right. Was it what her heart wanted? She wondered.
Cid nodded. "I see. You could've asked us as well, though. Don't know about the others but I would've absolutely joined you", he said with a small but friendly smile on his lips.
"Yeah it was all a bit spontaneous, but I'll remember next time", Fang said with a smile of her own and quickly glanced over to Sazh who only smiled knowingly but stayed silent. She knew she could trust him on this, he wouldn't betray her and tell them. And she was glad.
"So, how's the plan for today?", she asked to change the subject. "And how long will we be staying here in Bodhum, anyway?", she quickly added. As usual, she had totally forgotten their schedule. This happened on a regular basis so no one really complained. Not anymore, anyway.
Sazh was the first to speak up. "Nothing major today, we'll practise after breakfast but in the evening we can do whatever we feel like.", he explained before making a thinking face for a brief moment.
"And Bodhum ... well, our tour is over now, and I actually wanted to sit down together with you guys tomorrow to make plans on how we go on now.", he explained matter-of-factly.
"You know, we could take some time off now and relax, that would be absolutely fine, but we could also directly go back to Eden to start workin' on our new album.", he further explained what he had in mind.
"But that's completely up to us - the record company, luckily, isn't pushin' us. Therefore we need to make a decision tomorrow"
Everyone at the table nodded in agreement as Sazh finished. Ever since he had founded the band, he had taken care of the scheduling and management and he did a great job in this position.
They had quickly begun appreciating his organising talents and now completely relied on him when it came to all kinds of organisation and schedules for the band.
He was kind of their leader - he had founded the band, after all - and therefore, it was perfectly normal for everyone as he told them what would be awaiting them in the upcoming days.
The rest of their Sunday went on as Sazh had told them. Fang normally loved practising with the guys but today she couldn't quite focus on it and give one-hundred percent as usual.
Her thoughts just kept bouncing back to Vanille and even more so to the problematic situation Sazh had spoken about during breakfast.
No matter what they would decide tomorrow, she knew sooner or later they had to go back to Eden to work on their album and in case she developed some sort of relationship with Vanille that would most likely sentence it to death anyway as the distance was just too big.
She was sure the others noticed her slightly different behaviour today but nobody said anything.
And for the first time since she'd joined the band, she was happy when the practising was over and she could return to her hotel room and be alone. She needed some time to think, to figure this out, to figure out what to do.
Hell, why had the obvious problem her return to Eden would cause not come to her mind earlier? If it had, maybe she wouldn't even have pursued the whole thing with Vanille in the first place, as there didn't really seem to be a solution to this. But apparently, she'd totally been oblivious to this because of this damn crush flooding both her heart and mind alike.
She couldn't say she was surprised when she heard a familiar knock on her door a few minutes of murderous thinking later. She knew who this was. "Come in", she called and got up from her bed to see Sazh entering her room with a knowing smile.
"Wanna talk about it?", he offered her, coming directly to the point.
She couldn't help but smile at his bluntness. "It might help, yeah", she answered nonchalantly as if she hadn't just spent the last minutes desperately trying to get some sort of order into the chaos that was her emotions and find a solution to the problem their return to Eden would cause.
"So what's the matter? Had a bad date yesterday? Or was it good and now you're concerned about the day we will have to go back to Eden?", he asked while sitting down on the white couch that stood in the room. Fang opened the minibar and took out a bottle of water before joining him.
"The latter, actually. The date was great, well that's what I think at least.", she shrugged. "But I have a feelin' she liked it as well", she added before taking a sip from the bottle.
Sazh only nodded to show he'd understood everything, not wanting to interrupt the woman.
"And I don't know if you're readin' minds or somethin' but yes, I have been thinking about the problems our return to Eden will cause if I go on seeing her and everything, ya know", she explained while making herself comfortable on the couch beside Sazh.
The man smiled heartily. "So I presume you're takin' the whole thing with this girl more seriously now? I mean, if you're worrying about the future this has so much already..", he wanted to know.
Fang nodded. "I've been thinkin' about this a lot and I'm sure I want to go on meeting her and see where this leads us. I got no idea at all if we'll end up together or somethin' but I'm willin' to give this a shot. Maybe somethin' will develop", she shrugged nonchalantly but it belied her true feelings about all of this.
She still had trouble fully admitting it to herself but in her heart, she wanted nothing more than seeing Vanille more often and taking the next step to create a relationship with the girl.
It seemed weird and early after only one date, but that was how she felt deep inside.
Sazh smiled. He was happy for Fang, he truly was. After all the time he had known her, it seemed she finally started listening to her heart and opened up to others more step by step.
Sure, she was still blocking her emotions to some degree, he saw that right now as she sat before him with this strange mix of chaotic emotions and the cool, relaxed attitude she often used as a barrier to protect herself evident in her eyes.
"I see, I see...", he said while stroking his chin and leaning back in the couch.
"Well, ya know I'm sure we can convince the others tomorrow to take some holiday and stay here in Bodhum for some time so that you can find out if the two of you can make it work", he spoke up calmly.
Fang smiled but immediately after frowned a little and went to say something but Sazh beat her to it as he continued. "I know, I know, this doesn't solve the problem that sooner or later you'll have to leave her here and go back to Eden", he said.
"But...", he paused, scratching his chin.
"I think I could try somethin' that would help ya". He made a concentrated thinking face but a smile quickly appeared on his face the moment he saw hope glimmering in Fang's jade eyes.
"Ya see, I got no idea if this'll work and it might be absolutely stupid but I could just try and ask the record label if they have facilities here in Bodhum where we could record our album and everything"
"Ya mean that we would move here and do all of our work here, just like we do now in Eden?", Fang asked to gain more clarity about Sazh's plan.
"Yeah. I know, it's a big step and we would of course have to ask Cid and Hope if they're ok with this as well but as far as I know, they both haven't much that binds them to Eden so I see no problem there. It's just about the record label", he went on while getting up to fetch himself a water bottle from Fang's minibar as well.
When he returned to the couch, he saw a happy smile adorning her face. "That would be so damn great if that works", she said with that glimmer of hope not only in her eyes but on her entire face.
Sazh couldn't help but chuckle. "But first we'll arrange for our holiday here in Bodhum and you go and find out if you even really want her, yes? You gotta really be sure about this before moving to another city for a person. This is a big step, girl, and in this case not only for you but for the entire band", he reminded her in a friendly, a bit parental tone.
"Of course, you're absolutely right. I'll find out if this is right for me first", Fang agreed, nodding.
"But enough with all the serious and all emotional talk for now. How 'bout we invite the others over and watch some movies?", Sazh suggested and he got a reaction typical for Fang as her signature smirk found its way on her face.
"I'm game", she approved. "You ask the others and I let the guys in the hotel bar downstairs know that they can prepare for a busy evening", she winked at her statement and Sazh laughed before getting up to find Cid and Hope.
Vanille sighed while leaning forward in the chair and supporting her head with her hand.
She currently sat in an agonisingly boring lecture beside Serah who looked as if she was just about to fall asleep.
"Man, this lecture is such a pain in the ass", Serah suddenly whispered to her friend.
"Tell me about it", Vanille whispered back while at least trying to listen to what the professor was talking about.
"But we're lucky, clock says it'll be over in three minutes", Serah informed her friend with relief written all over her face.
"Thank Etro, I think a few minutes more and I would've died of boredom", Vanille joked.
These last three minutes, however, again felt like an eternity. Having nothing to do, Vanille's thoughts quickly drifted to Fang, a sensitive topic she had tried to avoid thinking about too much since their date.
It was Monday today and she hadn't called her yet, and even though the date had only been on Saturday, the redhead felt as if her doubts kept growing with every second that passed without a call from the woman.
Curiosity got the better of her as she took out her phone from her bag to check for missed calls. Maybe Fang had tried to reach her during the lecture? Who knew.
But she sighed and disappointment came over her as she saw that she had no missed calls.
Serah noticed and put her hand on Vanille's. "Hey, don't worry. She'll call you soon, you'll see!", she whispered, her voice full of her usual optimism.
"Yeah, I hope you're right..", Vanille self-consciously said. Serah nodded encouragingly and they sat out the last moments of the lecture in silence before it was finally over and they could return home.
For the rest of the day, Vanille tried her best to distract herself from the woman her heart craved but it was a hard task and so every now and then, her thoughts were drawn back to the guitarist and the growing doubts she felt.
When Serah suggested watching a movie and Vanille agreed, welcoming each and every opportunity to distract herself, she had no idea, however, that she would get her call right this evening.
AN: So I tried to use this chapter to explain Fang and Vanille's emotions and thoughts on the date and about each other a bit, as you can see. I know it might be seen as a bit of a filler chapter, but I think it was good and necessary to explain more how they feel about each other now. Hope you enjoyed it :)
Also, I have to admit much to my shame that I only really while writing this chapter stumbled upon the problem for the two that Fang will have to go back to Eden sooner or later. I came up with a solution to this which Sazh suggests in his talk with Fang. However, I'm not too sure about this. The thing is: I'm not certain whether it's not a bit unrealistic and/or a bit ... much if, as a result of going through with the plan, the whole band would move to another city because Fang nicely asks them for it to be able to continue seeing a girl.
So it would be really, really helpful if you let me know in the reviews what you think about this plan to fix the distance problem for the two. Do you like the idea or not? I tend to be very sceptical about my own ideas, so if you guys like it, I will continue working with this idea. But if you don't, well, then I'll try to change it!