by PrettyGothGirl
All Disclaimers Apply
Summary:Cid has arranged for Rikku and Gippal to spend some quality time together... Part Six: The next night, Gippal isn't so sure about being around Rikku... he's paranoid.
A/N: Once again, Lost in Space! Hee.
Gippal eyed Rikku warily. His eye more on the cup in her hand than upon her. She leaned against the bar and watched the club without seeming to notice that his attention wasn't in the same place hers was.
He didn't want to be drenched again. Being drenched once was bad enough, but twice. He shuddered. It'd been fucking freezing. Ice melting everywhere and she'd disappeared by the time he'd gotten his wits together. He didn't even know what she drenched him for. His technique wasn't that bad. He hadn't deserved icy cold water dumped over his and ice that had managed to make it all the way down into his boots before he had gotten dry again.
She set the glass down next to her elbow. He reached out and moved it out of her reach. Rikku's eyes sparkled as she grinned. She knew exactly why he was doing this. He glared at her for a moment and then looked over the tables and dancers. She leaned over, brushing her breast against his arm and dragged her water back next to her elbow. Damn it. She did shit like this on purpose just to drive him up the wall. Without looking, he picked her water up and put it on the other side of him.
She went up on tiptoes and set her lips next to his ear. "Paranoid?"
He shuddered at the sound of her voice directly into his ear. It did funny things with his entire body. And they were Rikku's lips painted a candy red looking sweet and delicious. "No." He muttered. Deny. Deny. Deny.
She adroitly reached around him and picked it up. "Good." She rocked back onto her heels and returned to her position at the bar. She took a sip and he kept his eye on her again. She sucked a piece of ice into her mouth and he had to bite the inside of his cheek. Shit, she was being mean. Didn't she know what actions like that did to a guy? He shifted and looked away.
The water returned to the bar and he pushed it behind her back with his finger. She looked over at him face full of amusement. "You are paranoid."
"I am not."
She tilted her head down just a little bit and looked at him through her eyelashes. "Uh huh." Rikku was getting some sort of malicious amusement out of this. He could tell. He just didn't know why.
He sucked his cheeks in and turned away. "I'm not. It's not paranoia when you're right."
Her eyebrows rose and she smirked. "Right about what?"
He clenched his jaw. Oh, great, she was going to drag it out and they were going to have a fight. "Just leave it alone."
She rolled her eyes and turned away, but there was some sort of satisfaction in the set of her shoulders, in the tilt of her head. She knew precisely what he was talking about and why he was being paranoid and it made her happy.
He was going to throttle her, turn her over his knee and tan her bottom. "You started this." He muttered under his breath. He didn't expect her to hear him in the club.
She turned her head and smiled sweetly. "So, I regularly dump glasses of water over your head?" Her eyes narrowed and glittered. He glanced down and saw her hands clench.
Oh shit. She was pissed. How in the Farplane had he managed to miss that?
Girls. Noooo. They just couldn't come out and tell you they were mad, scream at you at the time. They had to wait and do something petty and cruel days, weeks, months afterwards. His eyebrow ticked. "Not usually."
"Well, there you have it." She hissed and turned away so fast her hair whipped into his face.
It was a no win situation. He could claim his innocence and have her snort, deck, dump more water over his head or whatever her preferred reaction of the moment was and still not know what made her mad. Or he could continue to say she was at fault and have the same reaction. He just couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong recently. He'd been perfectly nice to her, hugging her, kissing her. Hey, she'd been responding too. She had no reason to be mad at him.
"Says you." Rikku glared at him quickly.
Oh shit, he'd said the last aloud. He growled. "Well, you don't."
Her expression turned icy. She picked up her glass and stalked away from the bar and across the room. He stared after her a moment. What in the-? He followed after her and sat down across from her when she sat in a booth, putting her legs up on the cushion so he couldn't sit next to her. Rikku ignored him. She glared off into the crowd and didn't even look at him.
His anger flared and then died away in the face of her indifference towards his company. It wasn't fair. He liked her. He genuinely, truly liked Rikku and she was pissed off at him and wouldn't tell him why!
He had to fix this. He had to fix it fast. They were working together and if Rikku was mad at him all the time, how was he supposed to make them into something beyond working partners? Like, a couple, he wanted to be a couple. Hewanted to hold her hand and take walks under the stars and cuddle next to her as much as possible. His heart hammered as panic set in. He couldn't lose this early! His palms felt damp. He wasn't going to lose.
No. He wasn't going to give up. He wanted her. She wanted him. The way she kissed him back and the way she touched and teased him constantly. She had to want him. Just, what could he do to get it on the right track again? It wasn't like she was giving him any clues. He could only think of one thing off the top of his head. Apologize. He swallowed. He hated that. He would rather eat nails than admit he was wrong. It was Rikku though.
"I'm sorry, Rikku. Whatever I did, I'm sorry." He tried to make it sound sincere. Damn it, she already had him wrapped around her little finger.
She turned her head and sighed. "It would be nice if you knew what you were actually sorry for."
"You could just tell me." He scowled and looked at the battered table.
"And then how would you learn anything?" She sounded tart.
He sighed. He should've known. Girls always had to do things the hard way. "It'd be faster."
Rikku snorted. He picked at the flaking veneer. They sat in silence for a few moments. He heard the glass hit the table. "Next time, I'll try to be more reasonable." She said.
He looked up. "More reasonable?"
Her bottom lip jutted out into a pout. He wanted to kiss it and make it go away. He couldn't, there was a table between them. "I don't like being reasonable. I'll try though." She said.
He reached over and put a hand on top of hers. "You could, I don't know, scream at me at the time I make you angry."
She looked at their hands and met his eyes. "Maybe."
He smiled and rubbed her thumb. "Maybe?"
She flushed and looked away. "It depends on who's around."
"Hey, I'll tell them I told you to yell at me."
She smiled. "Really? You'll defend me."
"Yeah, really. It's a lot better than having ice in my boots and sloshing home."
Her smile turned into a grin. "Put into that light…"
He scowled. "Yeah." He raised his eyebrow. "So, does this mean if I kiss you, you won't dump your drink over my head?"
Her head came up and she giggled. "Maybe."
He stiffened. "Maybe?!"
She giggled more. "Life's an adventure. You'll just have to take the risk."
"That's cruel."
She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. "Oh well."
"What if I dumped my drink over your head?" He pointed at her.
"You don't have a drink."
"I could get one."
Her eyes danced. "Well, I'd be all wet." She tilted her head. "And then you'd have to do something about it."
Options exploded in his brain and his cheeks heated. He swallowed hard. Rikku burst into laughter. She was mean. He scowled, if she was going to bethat way. He stood, walked around the table, picked her up and sat down the way she had been settling her in his lap. She leaned her head back and kept laughing. He leaned down and kissed her just to shut her up.
It worked wonders. He even remembered to push the water out of her reach.
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