The early morning sun shone brightly through the uncovered window. Rinoa growled and put up an arm up to shield her tired eyes from the painfully bright rays.

"Why do I always forget to close those darn curtains!?" she silently scolded herself.

She tried to will her body to rise from the comfortable queen sized bed, but her endeavor only resulted in her temporarily dozing off again.

After a vicious inner struggle between her wanting to get up and the sweet temptation of the fluffy comforter, she managed to bravely crawl off of the bed. She peered into the large mirror rested above her dresser and cringed at the chaotic shape her mass of raven locks had formed. "I think I'd send Medusa off screaming!" she thought with a little laugh.

Quickly she set off to take a shower and get ready for the day.

A while later she was steadily making her way down the ornate oak staircase. She was glad she was wearing sneakers, as the hike down that thing in heels was killer. She was dressed in jeans and a dark blue sweater; her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She headed towards the dining room, hoping to be able to get a quick breakfast. Once closer she noticed the door was slightly ajar, and what she heard from inside the room made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Yes Mr. Gillespie," she heard her father Caraway say, "I think that'd be a great day for young Gillespie and Rinoa to meet." There was a slight pause and he began talking again, but that was all Rinoa needed to hear.

She stormed out the Caraway Mansion.

Morning Deling was always very peaceful and cheery; a major change from the night, but all Rinoa saw as she walked was red.

"The man just doesn't know when to stop!"

She took long, angry strides, not really thinking of where she was going.

"He's always just intervening with my life and feeding me orders by the mouthful! Why I oughta just-"she felt her face slam into something hard.

She opened her eyes and saw that she just ran into a man's back. Immediately she began stammering incoherent apologies.

"Watch where you're going!" The man said sharply.

He turned around and she felt she could just faint and die.

It was the singer from last night's concert.

At first he looked irritated but then he focused on her face and his blue-gray eyes widened in what looked like surprise.

Rinoa felt butterflies flutter around her chest. Did he remember her?

"I'm really sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention." She told him nervously.

"Oh, that's alright." he said. He paused a moment and she hoped that he'd mistake the red in her cheeks as a result of the collision with his back.

"You," he said, "You're that girl from the concert aren't you?"

"He remembered me!" Rinoa joyfully acknowledged.

"Yea, I was there." She replied with a grin. "Your performance was amazing!"

A small smile graced his face. It was so small someone might not have noticed it, but Rinoa did.

"You think so?" he said slowly, as if he doubted the praise.

Rinoa smiled and nodded.

A thought suddenly rushed through her head. What if she never saw this guy again? She might never get another chance to talk to him. She wanted to know more about this fascinating person.

"I was just about to go get some coffee…would you like to come along?" she asked.

Before she knew it, she was bracing herself for his rejection.

"Sure." He replied simply.

She could've jumped for joy at that very instant. It took a lot of effort not to.

"There's a coffee shop just a bit down the street." She told him.

"Well, let's go."

They were seated at a booth in a small cozy coffee shop. So far she had learned that his name was Squall Leonhart and that he'd just recently moved to this part of town.

She held her steaming Styrofoam coffee cup between her hands, letting it warm her chilled fingers.

"Have you been performing long?" she asked Squall, who sat opposite from her.

"I've been writing lyrics since I can remember, but I only started actually performing once I was 15. Me and my band started playing at small gigs, we had to sneak into bars to get to most of them." He said, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Wow, at 15? I remember around that age that I wanted to be a singer."

Rinoa's mind drifted off into reminiscence of that time.

"I had wanted to be a singer just like my mother. She would've supported that idea if she hadn't passed away before that. My father was infuriated. He told me that the idea was ridiculous and that I should forget it right away."

There was a short silence. Rinoa was mentally bashing herself for telling him that. He probably didn't even want to know. As soon as her thoughts came to mind, right away they'd run out her mouth.

To her surprise he nodded his head in understanding before saying,

"I don't think it's ridiculous. I think you'd be a great singer."

Her cheeks flushed.

"Thank you," she said with a smile, before adding "But for all you know I could be a horrible singer!"

He gave that rare small smile of his. "I don't think so. I have a hunch that you'd sound great, but you'll have to prove it to me someday."

She put her finger to her chin dramatically and furrowed her eyebrow to pretend that she was giving it very important, and serious thought.

"Hmm…Maybe If your lucky…"

He chuckled. "Hopefully I will be."

"It must be so fun…" Rinoa said offhandedly.

"What is?" he asked her.

"Oh, to be in your own band!" she corrected bashfully. "You can go and play wherever you want, and when you perform, it must feel so liberating!"

His lips curled into a small smile. "It's wonderful to perform on stage, but it's a hard lifestyle."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We're not that popular yet, so we don't really make that much money. It's hard to find a place to stay, and sometimes, we don't even have a place at all."

For most people, that would've made the idea seem less attractive, but to Rinoa, the thought of wandering around like that sounded adventurous.

He must've saw her eyes sparkling with dreams of adventure, because his smile grew brighter. It made Rinoa's heart race. To witness it felt almost heavenly.

"Does that sound exciting to you?" he asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, "Well I don't really get to do much, you see, I have a really strict father. He doesn't approve of anything!"

Rinoa wasn't about to tell him that her father was the General of Galbadia. Talk about a mood killer. It was hard to get friends, especially guys, when they knew you came from such a rich family with a father that had so much power. She wasn't about to blow this.

Rinoa could've sworn she saw a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

"Do you do everything you're told?" he asked.

"No, I don't-!" she exclaimed before flushing with embarrassment. He had purposely riled her up.

He chuckled, pleased with himself.

"You know what Squall?" she said, putting her hands on her hips in a haughty manner.

"What?"

"You're a Meanie!"

He grabbed at his heart with one hand and made an expression of shock.

They both burst into laughter.

Suddenly there was a small beeping noise.

Squall took out a black pager from his pant pocket and peered at the small screen. After seeing the number, he looked at it as if it was the most loathed thing on earth.

"Seifer's calling me." he said.

Rinoa frowned. "Who's that?"

"He's in the band, he's the guitarist. He said to come right away."

"Oh, I see." Rinoa said sadly. "You have to go."

"Yea, I'm sorry."

She did her best to smile. "It's okay. C'mon, I'll walk you outside!"

They walked outside the coffee shop. The sky had darkened significantly since they had gone inside.

Squall stood awkwardly, wondering what to say.

"I'd drive you home if I could," he said, "But I walked here."

"It's alright. I only live a little bit away from here."

"I'll see you around?" Squall asked.

"Sure thing!" Rinoa responded, smiling.

Squall smiled back. "Later then."

"Bye!" she said with a wave before she began walking in the direction of her home.

Squall followed suit.

"Stupid Seifer!" he thought. "Right when things were going good…"

A sudden realization stomped over him in combat boots.

"I forgot to ask for her number!"

He looked back to the path she had taken, and found she was no longer in sight. Too late.

He could've punched himself. He felt like such an idiot.

"Hopefully I'll see her again."

A smile crept on his face as he remembered their conversation. He had felt so comfortable around her; it felt as if he could confide anything to her. This was a totally alien feeling to him. It was just as terrifying as it was exciting.

"She has such a brilliant smile. It could light up a whole room."

And he had felt so blissful when it was aimed at him.

"Could I be falling for her?"

His pager went off again. Sure enough it was Seifer.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm coming!" Squall grumbled.

Rinoa had arrived at the Caraway Mansion some time ago. She didn't even remember her rage at her father; she was floating on Cloud Nine. The house staff couldn't help but to return her beaming smile as she passed through the halls. Originally, she was planning on heading straight to her room, but she was inspired by a new idea.

Looking around, to make sure no one was watching, she crept into a room only a few doors away from hers. It was a large room that had a huge grand piano positioned directly in the center. The walls were lined with tall bookshelves crammed with a variety of sheet music. An elaborate granite fireplace was placed against the only empty wall in the room. This had been her mother Julia's piano room. As a child, Rinoa had often come in here to listen to her mother's enchanting music. She'd beg her mother to sing and sing until she finally was tired enough to go to sleep. These days the room was always enveloped in a lonely silence. Ever since Julia's death, Caraway ordered for the room to be untouched by anyone. Still Rinoa took to sneaking in whenever she could find the time. To her it felt as peaceful as a church.

She seated herself at the small piano stool and uncovered the beautifully polished ivory keys.

"Mom, I met this new guy. I think you'd like him." She whispered.

She always believed that she could feel the presence of her mother in here. She thought that if her mother's spirit could be anywhere, it wouldn't be at that crowded, dusty, cemetery, it would be here.

Her fingers lightly caressed the smooth ivory keys. She pressed one of the keys and the shrill pitch resonated throughout the room. It was too great of a temptation not to play.

She brought her other hand up and began to play her favorite song: Eyes on Me.

She knew the melody by heart and soon found herself singing the words.

The song was about to head into the chorus when the sudden click of the door made her slam down on the keys in fright.

Caraway was standing in the doorway, a scowl on his face.

Rinoa hastily tried to cover up the keys, her shaky hands fumbling with the case.

Caraway walked up to her.

"What do you think your doing?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to come inside for a while-I didn't mean to start playing!" Rinoa exclaimed, while trying to gather her frightened wits in order to come up with a decent explanation.

"I head about what you did today."

Her gathered wits must have dropped and shattered on the floor.

"What?" she asked.

"The maid told me."

She still didn't understand. "What are you talking about?!"

The scowl remained on his face.

"She saw you at the coffee shop with that rock musician."

"So what?" Rinoa asked in an annoyed tone. Why did he care?

"Don't you understand, Rinoa?" he said, "You can't be seen around with some impoverished musician. You know how quickly word gets around in this city. What if the Gillespies hear about this?"

Rinoa was far past fed up with this whole Gillespie thing.

She focused her glare on the soundless piano, she was too angry to even look at him.

"I don't care what the Gillespies think."

Caraway frowned. "One day, Rinoa, you'll see the good of what I'm trying to do for you, but Rinoa," he said, "Don't you understand how important our reputation is? You can't be seen in the company of some uneducated street scum."

There it was again. Rinoa thought bitterly. He had said 'our reputation'. Our, our, our. But really all he meant was, my, my, my. Rinoa was losing her composure. It was hard to keep her cool when she could feel every pained stomp the man was inflicting on her battered heart.

"How can you be so self-involved, father? Don't you even care about what I want?!

And don't you talk about Squall that way!! I don't like any of this-," salty tears began cascading down her face in small waterfalls. "I hate the Gillespies! I hate-I hate YOU!"

She looked up just in time to see his figure towering over her, one arm moving towards her face. Her mind could barley register the brutal strike on her cheek.

Caraway pulled back his hand, shocked as if it had been possessed.

In a forced calm voice, he said to her, "Don't you dare speak to me that way. I don't need this from you."

But Rinoa wasn't listening. She was still lost in the initial shock. She didn't even notice his noisy footsteps or the quiet click of the door.

The empty silence of the room was broken as the distressed woman erupted into tears.