AN: First of all, thanks again for your reviews and continued support, guys!
Regarding the idea I've mentioned before, I've read your positive feedback to it, but still, I've thought this through again and came to the conclusion that it'll be best to change it. I just wasn't satisfied with it anymore at all, partly because of the points Benevolent Contradiction mentioned in the reviews but also for other reasons. Anyway, the topic of how Fang will move to Bodhum will only really become important again in the next chapter or the chapter after.
And now I don't want to keep you from reading any longer. Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Fang was happy. The band had just finished discussing the matter about whether or not to take some time off and stay in Bodhum a little while longer and much to her delight, everyone had agreed to stay and take two or three weeks of vacation.
Now that was settled and she had extended her time to reach clarification about if Vanille really was what her heart truly wanted or not. Knowing that she had at least another two weeks to find this out, she felt considerably more at ease.
She sat down on her couch in the hotel room before her glance fell on the phone that stood on the desk to her right. Maybe I should call her right away and ask her out again, she thought and for a moment that seemed like a good idea before her doubts kicked in.
But maybe it's a bit early, I mean the date was Saturday, that's only two days ago!, Fang inwardly reprimanded herself. But then again she didn't know, it could also be that Vanille already eagerly awaited her call.
She really didn't know. But one thing, on the other hand, she did know very well: Fang Yun wasn't one to back down from something, and most certainly not a stupid phone call. Yes, it was just a call. She wasn't afraid of that now, was she?
Fang shook her head before getting up and going to get the phone. No, she wasn't afraid of calling her, of course not! She really tried to convince herself of that and it even worked somehow until she held the phone in her right hand and the small piece of paper with Vanille's number in her other.
She looked down and saw that her hands trembled. The brunette bit her lower lip. Okay okay, maybe I am afraid, she admitted, walking back to the sofa with the phone to sit down. But why, actually? What could possibly go wrong? Vanille wouldn't turn her down should she ask for another date, would she?
Honestly, Fang didn't know. She had the feeling Vanille had enjoyed the date just as much as she had but her perception could be wrong.
Fang leaned back in the sofa, trying to calm her excited breathing. Guess there's only one way to find out. And with that, she pulled herself together and dialled Vanille's number.
After only a few seconds, she answered the phone. "Hello, Vanille Dia speaking, who's there?", Fang heard her cute voice asking politely. But she also noticed the slight nervousness in her voice, so the girl probably had an idea who she was talking to.
"Hey Vanille, it's Fang", the brunette started a bit uneasily, feeling her own nervousness getting to her. "I- ... I'm calling because I wanted to ask you out, ya know. I mean, if ya like", Fang explained while nervously fidgeting with the paper still in her hand.
But she immediately felt much better as she heard something that sounded like an excited squeal in Vanille's background. Fang grinned slightly.
"What was that?", she wanted to know and there was a short silence, as if Vanille couldn't find an appropriate answer.
"Ehm ... that was Serah, actually. I've put you on speakerphone and she obviously got all excited as she heard you asking me out again.", Vanille finally explained.
"Alright, I see", Fang chuckled a bit. That was really cute, and it warmed her heart to know that apparently Serah really supported the whole thing.
"So, what's your answer, then? Are ya in?", she asked the redhead while stretching on the sofa.
"I'd love to", Vanille answered a bit shyly and it made Fang smile broadly as she lay down on the sofa and stared at the white ceiling.
"How about tomorrow at eight? I could come and pick ya up at home if ya like", Fang offered her.
There was a short pause again before the girl answered. "That would be great, yes. Where do you want to take me?", she asked curiously and Fang heard some background noises again but she paid them no heed.
"That will be a little surprise", the guitarist answered with a hint of a devilish smile on her face. If Vanille was anywhere near as curious as Fang thought then this answer would probably slowly but steadily drive her insane.
Vanille giggled quietly. "Alright! I'm already excited! And I live on 555 Dysley Avenue, by the way. Do you know where that is?"
"I'll find it, don't worry.", Fang reassured her. "So, then see ya tomorrow at your place, alright?", she asked the girl again for confirmation.
"Yep! I'm really looking forward to this, Fang", Vanille stated happily.
Fang found herself smiling fondly at this. "Me too, really. Have a good night and sweet dreams, Vanille"
"You too, good night!", Vanille answered before hanging up.
Fang's smile widened almost painfully as she put the phone on the coffee table and lay on the couch again, her gaze firmly focused on the ceiling. She felt great.
It seemed like just this short but undoubtedly sweet phone call with Vanille had made her entire day perfect.
The enormous effects the girl had on her emotions were definitely something she still had to get used to. And even more so she finally had to fully accept them into her life. She still noticed herself fighting these emotions a bit, not fully willing to give in to them yet.
Fang turned on the couch so she was now lying on her side, facing the big windows of her room. It started raining outside and she watched the raindrops fall against them. The rain's sounds had a calming effect on her as she just lay there for a little while longer, completely enjoying to just watch and listen to the rain.
Her thoughts, unsurprisingly, were completely with Vanille. She had really agreed to see her again and Fang found herself smirking when she remembered that she had not told her where she would bring her to surprise her.
At least that was what she had said to the girl. But it had actually been a shameless lie. In fact, she had no idea yet. But she would find something wonderful tomorrow, and with that thought she contentedly closed her eyes and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of the raindrops pattering against the windows.
What a sight. The warm midday sun shone down on the vast beach before Fang and made it all look even more beautiful. The sound of the ocean, or more specifically, the waves, reached her ear as she inhaled deeply, taking it all in.
"It's wonderful, Fang", she heard a familiar voice on her left comment on the scenery. She turned her head to see that it was Vanille, who had a dreamy smile on her face.
Fang couldn't help but smile herself as she took the girl's soft hand in hers. They continued walking down the empty beach, feeling the warm sand on their feet.
No words were said but none were needed. It would've just disturbed the wonderful silence that was only filled with the sounds of the sea anyway.
And slowly, Fang noticed herself losing contact with all of this, the images in front of her blurring piece by piece until she opened her eyes, finding herself back on the couch.
And she smiled to herself as she realised that it had all been a dream. Once again. But she wasn't sad, on the contrary. Her heart was still filled with the wonderful emotions she had felt in the dream and for a moment she just gave in and dwelled on it.
When she turned on her back, with the beautiful images from her dream still in her mind, an idea hit her.
Bodhum was a beach city! Why not go and see the beach with Vanille, then?
It seemed like a perfect idea, especially if it would turn out just as romantic as in her dream.
She stretched her arms and legs before getting up and glancing at the clock on the nightstand. She was surprised when she saw that it was only 7.13, but then again she had fallen asleep much earlier than usual.
She decided to start the morning with a hot shower before she quickly dried her hair, put on some clothes and took a cab to the beach. She had to know where she wanted to take Vanille, of course, and as she wasn't familiar with Bodhum, she scouted the area a bit before returning to the hotel for her much-deserved breakfast.
By that time, the others were already up and so they ate together, talking about this and that.
After breakfast, Fang and Hope spontaneously decided to go and play some games together on the console the young man always took with him wherever they toured. Cid and Sazh weren't in the mood to join so they went to the city centre instead.
"I win!", Hope exclaimed. They were currently playing a fighting game and the man had just won round one.
Fang chuckled. "That was only round one out of three, let's see how ya do next round, boy", she smirked confidently.
After some more minutes of playing which had been accompanied by numerous curses on both sides, it loudly sounded "Player One wins the match" from the TV.
Hope softly hit his thigh with a balled fist. "Damn, for once I thought I'd beat you in this and then you still manage to bash the shit out of me", he spoke in frustration.
"Aw come on, I think you were pretty good. Maybe next time you do win", Fang smiled and patted him on his shoulder.
"By the way, let's not forget how criminally good you are at that racing game, you almost always win there", she reminded him which drew a small smile from the man.
"Yeah, you're right.", he nodded. "You wanna play a round?"
"Sure, why not.", Fang answered and leaned back in the couch while the man stood up to change the disc.
As he sat down again, something came to his mind. "Fang?"
"Yeah?", the guitarist turned her head to look at the man.
"You know, I haven't asked the others yet but I had the idea that we could maybe go out and enjoy the nightlife of Bodhum a bit tonight. What do you say? You're in, aren't you?"
Fang gulped. From the way Hope asked her she could see that he already assumed she would say yes. And he had all the right in the world to think so because normally, Fang was always in for some fun.
And she would love to go, if she hadn't already asked Vanille out for the evening. But how should she tell Hope this? She didn't want to tell him and Cid she was seeing a girl just yet, but what was she supposed to tell him instead?
"I- uhm ... I'm afraid I'm already otherwise engaged, ya see..", she tried to buy herself some time to find a plausible excuse why she had no time.
Hope's eyebrows arched in surprise as he focused his gaze on Fang. That was unusual for her. What else could she be doing tonight? She hadn't mentioned anything as far as he could recall.
"Oh", he spoke, the confusion evident in his voice. "So what are you doing tonight, then?", he wanted to know.
Fang's throat became even drier than it had already been for the last moments. Just tell him something, anything!, she reprimanded herself harshly while desperately trying to find some good excuse.
"I'm goin' to the beach, ya see", she finally said. Ha, and that's not even a lie!, she revelled inwardly.
Hope's face lightened up. "Ah, the beach! Yeah, that's actually also a pretty good idea, we could go there as well!", he suggested, completely oblivious to Fang's facial expression which had changed to a mix of panic and horror the moment he had spoken out his suggestion.
Not. Good. At. All. Do something, and now!, it screamed in Fang's head. But what? There was no way she would get out of this now without telling the young man the truth about why she wouldn't quite be able to take the band with her.
Fang sighed. Seems like I'll have to put my cards on the table now, she inwardly conceded.
"Hope, I think I have some explainin' to do as to why I really won't be able to bring you guys to the beach tonight", she started, putting the controller that was still firmly in her hands on the table before her for now, the game completely forgotten for the moment.
Again, surprise was evident on the other guitarist's face as he did the same with his controller. "Okay ... I'm listening, I guess", he said, completely unsure of what Fang could want to tell him. But he got the impression that it must be rather important as he looked back at Fang's now quite serious facial expression.
"Well, the reason why I have no time to do somethin' with you guys tonight is..", she started, her breath quickening as nervousness overcame her. Telling them doesn't mean acknowledging it's all serious business with Vanille, does it?, the fear inside her anxiously asked the one thing she was so afraid of.
No, she wasn't scared of telling the guys. The only thing that did frighten her to no end was to let go her fears of being close to someone, of letting someone truly inside her heart.
And that was the point: By telling Hope and Cid that she was seeing someone she felt that she was admitting to herself that the thing she had with Vanille - whatever it was - was serious and meant something to her. And this, obviously, was just another step of letting the cute girl behind her strong thick barriers and into her heart.
"Fang?", Hope asked suddenly and she only noticed now that she'd totally lost herself in her thoughts about all of this.
"Oh, sorry Hope.", she apologised with a faint smile.
"You ... haven't finished your explanation, I think", he reminded her self-consciously. It seemed that Fang's uncharacteristic behaviour irritated him too.
"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right..", she started again before firmly fixing her gaze on the coffee table in front of her, not wanting to look him in the eyes now.
"The reason is that I'm seein' someone", she finally pressed out despite her fears still raging uncontrollably inside her.
"You mean like ... a date?", Hope asked confusedly. Fang dating someone? It seemed like a strange idea, almost like a paradox. As long as he'd known her, everything she'd been doing was sleeping with girls for just one night, dropping them right after.
"Actually, yes. It's a date.", she confirmed with a nod before raising her gaze again to look at the man beside her. Hadn't she been so nervous about the whole thing she surely would've laughed about the funny expression on his face. It just screamed that all of this apparently didn't make any sense at all to him.
"Seriously? I mean, this seems so ... unlike you.", he almost stammered, confused.
But maybe- he scratched his chin. "Or are you just 'dating' her for the usual business?", he winked with a faint shy smile on his lips.
Fang smirked knowingly as she immediately understood what he meant by this. But she shook her head. "No, I'm not just seein' her tonight because I wanna bang her, Hope."
She folded her hands in her lap, a smile that was barely even there on her lips. "Actually, it's not my first date with her. She was the reason why I was out on Saturday, ya know.", she explained and Hope nodded understandingly.
"So it's, uhm, more than just sex with her? I mean, if I may ask this...", he wanted to know.
Fang glanced down at her hands in her lap, then nodded. "Yeah. If it were just sex, I would've already screwed her, you can be sure of that", she laughed.
Hope smiled. "I guess so", he replied with a little snicker of his own. "So you mean this is a more serious thing for you, then?", he wanted to know.
The brunette sighed. Did he absolutely have to ask this now? I'm still tryin' to figure this out myself!
"If only I knew, Hope. To be honest with ya, I'm still figuring out what this is with her. It's all so new, the feelings I have for her and everything. It terrifies me", she admitted, momentarily surprised at her own openness towards the man.
But on the other hand, she didn't really care right now. He knew about there being a girl in Fang's life now anyway, so she might as well just talk about the difficult situation she felt herself being in.
"I guess I understand what you mean. But you know what? I think you should just go there tonight and see what happens. Maybe you'll know what this all is for you afterwards", he shrugged his shoulders, smiling kindly.
He didn't see himself exactly as some kind of expert for these kinds of things, but he tried to help his teammate anyway.
"Yeah, guess you're right about that.", she nodded. "But now let's finally go on playin', yeah? Come on, let's have some fun", she suggested, already picking up her controller again with a smirk playing around her lips.
And Hope could only smile and shake his head at Fang's reaction before taking his own controller from the table.
After all, she would find her way. She was a tough woman, and if he knew one thing about her, then it was that she would figure this out for herself sooner or later.