AN: Here's the next chapter for you, guys!
Also, I'd like to inform you that due to a reviewer pointing out that I've quite ignored the fact Fang's famous in many parts of the story (and the consequences this has for her everyday life), I've made some changes to several chapters to take her fame into account more. It's neither too much nor too major, just some small details added here and there, or a small situation. I think this was necessary to make the story, and Fang's life as a rockstar, more believable. Thanks go to FalconTytus for pointing this out!
You can find changes in the following chapters: 4, 7, 9 and 10.
As I said, it's nothing too major, for example in Chapter 4 it's simply two sentences stating that Fang's accompanied by bodyguards on her way to the first date and gets picked up after by the band's chauffeur. So I think you don't really need to read the chapter again for this. In chapter 7 you'll find that the beach is cordoned off now so that their second date goes without interruptions by fans/paparazzi, and Fang also makes an effort before on her way to Vanille to successfully shake off any pursuers. Chapter 9 has a situation added between Fang and a paparazzo, and I took the slap out of it because I didn't find it fitting anymore. Finally, in chapter 10 they are greeted by a crowd of fans and reporters as they return to Eden. This is what I changed in a nutshell, for those of you who want to get an idea if they want to/need to read the chapters in question again. It's not necessary but of course helps a little understanding Fang's life as a rockstar and getting into the atmosphere.
As always, you can tell me in the reviews what you think about these changes I made and of course also about the next chapter. And now, enjoy! :)
Chapter Eleven
Vanille awoke when she heard Fang stirring and getting up beside her in the morning. She sleepily opened her eyes.
Her gaze was still a bit blurred but it quickly became clearer and she could see Fang walk towards the bathroom, not noticing her.
Only a short distance from the door, her girlfriend stopped, however, and turned to the wardrobe to her right, opening it and looking for clothes.
Vanille couldn't help but stare - Fang stood there now with her back to her and only in her black underwear.
The girl hadn't had the opportunity when they'd prepared for bed to take in the sight as she'd already lain down and closed her eyes while Fang had changed, so it seemed she was eager to make up for that now as she wandered Fang's muscular body with her eyes.
She was truly beautiful, Vanille couldn't - and wouldn't - deny that. Staring a little longer, she wondered how it would feel to touch her body, all of it. Not only what they'd done so far.
The girl couldn't help but imagine how it would be to stroke her breasts or how different it might feel to touch her bottom not only through her jeans like last time but when it was only the naked, soft flesh.
Vanille was quickly drawn out of her sexual fantasies when all of a sudden, Fang turned around.
"Good morning sweetheart! Like what ya see?", she said with a suggestive wink, smirking widely.
Vanille immediately blushed a deep red and helplessly dragged the blanket over her head in embarrassment.
"I- I ... ehm ...", she stammered from under the blanket which muffled it a bit and made the whole thing look rather comical.
Fang chuckled as she put her clothes on the bed before crawling on the mattress, poking Vanille's little form softly through the blanket that covered all of her.
"Oh come on, love, nothing to be ashamed about! I certainly don't mind you starin', on the contrary", she said while lying down beside her girlfriend, propping her head on her hand.
"You should just take care that your eyes don't fall out in the process", she added impishly.
It seemed this didn't really help to make the girl feel less embarrassed as she only whimpered desperately and turned away from Fang while covering her ears under the blanket.
Fang found herself chuckling yet again at the cute reaction of the girl before her. However, she found it was time to get her girlfriend out of her blanket cave again and as she'd probably not achieve that through continuing with her cheeky comments, she tried something else.
Leaning forward with a devilish smile playing around her lips, she quickly lifted the blanket, snaked her hand under it and attached it to the girl's hip. Then she started tickling her.
"Hey!", she heard Vanille's muffled protest as the girl helplessly wound, trying to get out of Fang's grip. But there was no use, the brunette was just the stronger one of them.
"Hahaha- Faaaaang- haha- stooop!", she managed to press out between waves of laughter.
"I'll stop if ya come outta there, love", Fang said, not letting up the tickling for one moment. Oh, she was enjoying this.
"Okay, okay, hahaha, I- I give in!", Vanille laughed breathlessly and thank Etro, Fang stopped finally.
The girl lifted the blanket from her head and turned around to Fang while still trying to catch her breath. The tickling had really exhausted her.
Fang smirked. "As I said, it's alright to look. This is all only yours now, so of course you can stare as much as ya like"
A big part of Vanille had hoped Fang wouldn't go back to the embarrassing topic. The girl couldn't help but feel uncomfortable all over again and seeing no other way to avoid further embarrassment, she tried to turn away from her girlfriend again as she felt her face become hot with an impending blush.
But Fang noticed and caught her by the wrist. "Ah, ah. You stay here, love", she said calmly and quickly drew her into a tight hug.
After some moments, Vanille began to relax again and Fang stroked over her back gently. "Okay?", she asked the girl in her arms.
Vanille nodded. "Okay", she agreed and they slowly broke apart again.
"Good.", Fang said with a faint smile before getting up again, picking up her clothes in the process.
"Then I'll go and take a shower now", she said and disappeared in the bathroom.
Soon after, the girl heard the water flowing and decided it was time to get up finally. When she glanced at the clock she was surprised that it was already eleven thirty.
She quickly changed into some comfortable clothes, namely sweatpants and a t-shirt, then sat down on the bed and waited for Fang to finish showering so she could go and brush her teeth.
It didn't take her long. Vanille found herself staring for the second time this morning as Fang came out of the bathroom wrapped only into a towel that barely covered her bottom and breasts.
She smirked when she caught her staring, and this time, Vanille did not avert her gaze in shame.
She even had to smirk a little herself when she saw that the brunette held her clothes in her hand. It was clear as crystal that she could've just put them on in the bathroom, why else should she have taken them inside with her?
But apparently, Fang had had another idea - she wanted to tease her.
"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?", Vanille voiced her thoughts while pointing at the clothes in Fang's hand as the brunette came closer, still smirking.
"Maybe, maybe not ..", the guitarist only replied with a wink before putting down the clothes.
"You wanna watch, darlin'?", she teased her yet again, gesturing that she wanted to change now.
"I was just waiting for you to finish so I could brush my teeth. I- ... I better go now!", Vanille quickly replied in embarrassment and practically rushed inside the bathroom to hide the emerging blush on her face at the dirty thoughts Fang's 'offer' had evoked in her.
This was just still very new and unfamiliar to her, especially these thoughts that kept getting more frequent since they'd shared this particularly lustful kiss she'd interrupted out of fear.
The fear was still there, but she noticed it was slowly becoming weaker and being replaced with desire and want more and more - the feelings that, it seemed, were only now really unleashed from within her as she started feeling more and more secure and at ease with Fang while her trust in the woman grew stronger steadily, step by step.
Meanwhile, she had finished brushing her teeth and went to the kitchen to find Fang, humming contentedly.
She stopped when she reached the kitchen and saw her girlfriend quickly hiding a sheet of paper, which made Vanille arch her eyebrow in question.
"What was that?", she asked, irritated as to why Fang hid the paper from her so quickly. Or did she just imagine that and the brunette had just coincidentally put it away just the moment she'd reached the kitchen?
"Oh, nothing, love. Just another fan letter. Some of them are quite stupid, annoyin' even, ya know", Fang quickly responded, forcing a smile on her lips as she turned and opened the fridge. "Sandwich?"
Vanille arched her eyebrow again at this strange reaction. She wasn't quite sure if Fang had told her the truth, her answer had just seemed so ... odd. But the girl couldn't put her finger on what actually bothered her, and so she dismissed it for now, calming herself. Surely, everything was alright. And even if not, Fang would tell her if it was something important. Right?
"Anything specific you wanna do today?", Fang asked as they ate their sandwiches.
"Why don't you show me some interesting places here in Eden?", Vanille suggested, curious to learn about Eden's popular places.
She'd read a thing or two about some of them in a women's magazine and had been amazed at the time - perhaps Fang would take her to one of these fancy places.
"Hm okay, we can do that. I'll show you around a little bit", Fang agreed and they finished eating before changing and leaving the apartment.
They took the elevator down to the basement where the underground car park of the building was and Fang led Vanille to her car.
"Wow", it slipped the girl out when they stopped in front of a fancy sports car.
"How could you afford something like that?", she wondered, scratching her head as she got inside.
"Actually, I couldn't. I'm paying it in monthly rates, to be honest. It would've been a bit much to pay everything all at once.", Fang admitted before buckling up and starting the engine which roared loudly.
"I see.", Vanille nodded. "So where do you plan to bring me?"
"I thought the Eden Central Park is a good first place to show you, especially since the weather's so nice today. I think you'll love it there", she smiled as she drove the car out of the underground car park.
After some minutes of driving through the traffic chaos that was so normal on a Saturday afternoon in and around Eden's city centre, Fang parked the car in a car park near Eden Central Park and they went there together.
Judging from the fascinated expression on Vanille's face, Fang had been right to assume she would love it in the park.
And truly, it was a great sight, as they stood in one of its entrances and had a nice view on the wide grass fields before them, the trees here and there that were all surrounded by people enjoying the shadow they provided, and there were small ways leading you through the big park.
"I didn't think it was such a ... a big park when you told me about it", Vanille said in awe as they began walking down the way, holding hands.
"Yeah, it's really large.", Fang agreed, "But it has to be. As you can see, quite a lot of people come here especially on a sunny weekend. So, they kept expanding the park more and more to make room for additional visitors", she explained.
"That's cool! We have parks in Bodhum as well, but not anything anywhere near as big as this. But then again, many people prefer going to the beach to visiting parks", Vanille reacted and immediately, images of the usually crowded beach of Bodhum on a nice summer day came to her mind.
"It's different, I guess. Here, the people are happy to have the park because there's not much left of good old Mother Nature anywhere else in the city. In Bodhum it's not that way, especially because of the beach - that's at least the impression I had"
"Yep, pretty much correct, I'd say!", Vanille agreed happily.
"So, you wanna see some cute ducks? There's a large lake here in the park not even far from our position", Fang suggested with a smirk. She had a feeling Vanille was the type of girl who was fond of animals, and hell, even Fang herself adored the ducks of Eden Park.
"Ducks? Fang, I absolutely love ducks! How did you know?", Vanille giggled excitedly.
Fang chuckled. "Ah, just a hunch."
Shortly after, they reached the lake and went closer to watch the ducks. Vanille felt like a young child all over again and a big smile plastered her face while they just stood there and watched the animals swim in the lake.
"This is so very cute, you know! Sometimes I wish we had a small pond at home with ducks in it, just so that I could watch them every day!", Vanille exclaimed when they slowly left the lake again and wandered about the park.
The statement warmed Fang's heart. It made her feel good to see Vanille having a good time herself and she smiled widely as they took in the beautiful scenery of the park a little while longer before leaving it eventually.
By now, the wonderful afternoon had made Fang forget about the alarming letter she'd received only this morning. At least for now. But she knew she'd have to take a minute later to quickly call Sazh and tell him about this, without Vanille becoming suspicious.
It was already late afternoon now, and as they were getting hungry, Fang decided to take Vanille to her favourite sushi restaurant.
Lucky for her, Vanille liked it just as much as she did, though it was hilarious for both of them at first as she desperately tried to use the chopsticks properly. But with some instructions from Fang, she learned quickly.
"So, anything else you wanna do today?", Fang asked as they approached her car.
"Honestly, it was a great day and I'd really like to do some more but right now, I'm feeling so totally exhausted!", Vanille said regretfully.
"No problem. There are still more than enough days to explore the city and have fun", Fang responded while helping Vanille get in the car before getting in herself and starting the engine.
They drove home in a comfortable silence and as they were back in the apartment, the first thing Vanille did was taking a long shower. This was a perfect opportunity for Fang to make her call, and so she did, quickly informing Sazh of the letter, trying to hide the concern she felt about this.
Surely, she wasn't one to be easily concerned by anything - far from it - and if this were the first time, she would just dismiss it with a chuckle, not taking it seriously. But this had happened before. And now, she did take it seriously. She didn't think it was a joke or anything like it anymore.
Sazh felt the same, and he told her they'd have to figure something out as soon as they would meet again on Monday.
With that, they quickly ended their call because there wasn't really much they could do now anyway. Fang then started playing her guitar some so as to clear her mind of the topic.
When Vanille was done showering, she quickly dried her hair and she was just about to put on her clothes when a smirk came to her face. Oh no, it's time to tease back a little.
And with that, she wrapped herself in a towel that left just enough of her body exposed. She dropped her clothes on the bed for now before walking through the living room towards the workroom from where she could hear Fang practising.
She opened the door and entered with only a hint of a devious smile on her face.
Fang immediately stopped playing when she saw Vanille entering, coming to a stand a few metres away from her.
The brunette had to admit, the sight of her girlfriend wrapped only in a small towel had caught her a bit off guard as she only stared blatantly for a moment.
But she quickly recovered and a smirk found its way on her lips as she realised the game the girl was playing. "Payback time, huh?"
"I guess so", Vanille replied, her devious smile widening a little as she slowly walked towards Fang, stopping when she stood directly before her.
Fang blatantly stared at her once again and Vanille tilted her head a little, still smiling, though cuter now.
"When will you stop playing? You know, I thought we could watch a little TV - there's this romantic movie starting in an hour!", Vanille suggested happily.
"In an hour? That's fine, darlin'. I'll finish in, let's say, about fifty minutes, okay?", Fang asked while putting her hands back on the guitar that hung before her secured with its leather belt.
"Okay! Then I'll dress and call Serah now!", Vanille exclaimed with a giggle before leaning forward quickly and planting a soft kiss on Fang's lips. Then she left the room without another word, followed by the brunette's hungry eyes.
After dressing, she sat down on the couch in the living room and called Serah. As expected, her best friend picked up quickly.
"Vaniiiille! I've practically been dying for your call! How was your day?", the younger Farron almost screamed into the phone and you could hear Snow chuckling in the background.
"I actually do believe that, Serah.", Vanille giggled.
"And the day was great! She showed me Eden Park and after that we went to a sushi restaurant - you should've seen how ridiculously funny it looked when I tried to use my chopsticks, Serah! That was hilarious", Vanille told her friend happily while leaning back in the couch a bit.
"Sounds fun! Snow and I also had an awesome day together, you know, we went to the beach and now we're at his apartment and will probably go to Lebreau's later.", Serah told her friend while wandering about the room casually.
"Ah and by the way, Lightning wanted to know if you're doing okay.", the younger Farron added after a second.
"She could've called you herself, actually ... but I guess she doesn't want to appear as the mother who always checks every five minutes if her children are fine", Serah giggled a little and glanced over to Snow who had a grin on his face himself but remained quiet.
Vanille smiled. "You can tell her that I'm perfectly fine, really. We're having a great time together. Maybe I should also take some photos for you guys!"
"Yeah just what I suspected. I'll let Light know so that she can sleep peacefully tonight", again, Serah found herself giggling despite herself, gesturing to Snow as she left the room for some privacy.
"Soooo ... how was your first night with her?", she then went on to the question that had been on her curious mind for quite some time now. Her voice had a suggestive tone to it, leaving no doubt about what she was implying.
And Vanille, being herself, couldn't help but blush a little at the question. "Uhm ... w-what do you mean?", she tried to play dumb.
"Oh come on, Vanille, don't take me for an idiot! You know very well what I mean!", Serah responded, frowning a little.
"How was the sex?", she then asked bluntly when Vanille didn't reply directly.
"Actually ... there wasn't any", the redhead blurted out quickly, feeling a bit uncomfortable. What would Serah think about her now?
"Oookay ... Well that's surprising, I would've bet that you guys would've done it the first night", Serah admitted, followed by a little sigh.
"So, what's the problem? Don't want to?", she inquired further, not willing to let the topic go.
"I don't really know, Serah. There've been some ... uhm, how do I call it ... 'exciting moments' but we didn't go further.", Vanille tried to explain the situation.
"She... she doesn't push for anything, you see, so I guess it would be my turn to start something. But I feel I'd be too shy for that, to be honest", the girl went on further, verbalising her thoughts.
Serah smiled, finding the whole thing extremely cute. And it just screamed Vanille. It was just so like her to be too shy for, well, for anything.
"I understand, I guess. But you know, Vanille, I think first you should get clear if you really want it and if so, well ...", Serah tried to explain what she had in mind, gesturing around wildly in the process.
"Well if you want it, then just start something, somehow. Actually, it doesn't matter how you go at it, because normally she should understand quickly what you want and then it'll just develop naturally, believe me", she told her friend, remembering her and Snow's first time together.
She was aware of the fact that it would be even a little harder for her best friend, though, as she had no experience yet but sooner or later, Vanille would probably just make a move, just as Serah had suggested.
"Oookay. I guess I get what you mean.", Vanille responded, feeling a bit uneasy. Even though Serah was her best friend and they told each other basically everything, it was still strange to talk about sex with her. But then again, it had never been much more than a side issue, mostly.
"Alright, then. I'm sure you'll do whatever's right for you!", Serah replied and nodded as Snow hesitantly came in, pointing at his watch, obviously telling her it was time to leave for the bar.
"Anyway, Snow's letting me know we should better leave for Lebreau's now, so... I hope you guys have a nice evening and we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay. Enjoy your evening and bye, Serah", Vanille said before hanging up.
She sighed as she put the phone on the coffee table. Just when she was about to dwell on the things she'd just talked about with her best friend, however, Fang's playing stopped.
So Vanille switched on the TV and zapped to the channel that would be showing the romantic movie in a few minutes.
Moments later, Fang entered the room and sat down beside her. As the movie started shortly after, they didn't talk much.
And though Vanille was wrapped up in the movie, she noticed how her thoughts kept bouncing back to her talk with Serah every once in a while. Even though it had been quite an uncomfortable topic for her, she felt that her best friend's words had given her more self-confidence to make a move.
Just as if she had needed someone to tell her what to do.
AN: I've always thought about Serah as the type of best friend who literally wants to know everything, and she surely doesn't mind asking bluntly when her curiosity gets the better of her, haha.
Anyway, you see where this is heading. Next chapter will have some sexual content in it. I will put another clear warning before the chapter again so that everybody knows and people who don't want to read it see and can skip it.