Okay, okay, I know it's been AGES since I last updated! I hope you'll all forgive me! –bows down- I'm trying to write a super-long chappie for everyone 8D

-Chapter Eleven-

It was him.

Oh God.

Oh God.

Oh God oh God.

As I stood stock-still at the entrance of the restaurant, only one thought registered in my mind – Hey, Dad really did hate me!

Which was nice to know.

Well, not really.

But you know.

Nice to know.

"Light-"

A hand poked my back, and I smacked it away. Reno backed up, raising his hands in apology. "Sorry, Princess," he said mockingly, and I glared at him until he turned away. "Jeez, you're just like your brother."

"Thanks," I said dryly. "I'm taking that as a personal insult." I started to brush past him when Tseng grabbed my arm.

"Lightning, where are you going?" Rufus wanted to know. "He's right there-"

"I know, Dad, I saw him," I replied. "I'm just getting the hell out of here before he notices-"

"Lightning?"

God damn it.

I turned around and looked at him. "Yes, that is my name."

"Great." He grinned easily, and took my hand. "Let's go sit down," he suggested, already pulling me along. I groaned inwardly, but let myself be dragged behind him. I glanced down, expecting furrows in the ground where my heels were pressing into them, but I was almost surprised when there wasn't.

Almost.

I still feel like a hooker.

"You look like you're about to pass out," he remarked, eyes dancing as he studied my face. "I mean, under the make-up. Wow. Just how many baskets of the stuff did you get through before you were done?" he teased. I scowled at him, knowing that he knew that I did not wear make-up consciously.

Rufus joined us then, there in the private for-very-important-people-only room. He appeared to have heard the guy's last comment, and said with a smile, "Come on Marcus, you know that she's beautiful."

"Da-ad!" I wailed, blushing bright red. I didn't know which was worse – that Marcus, Noctis's own older brother had heard my dad call me beautiful in public, or that he'd actually noticed.

Which, I realized as I thought about it a little later, was kind of creepy.

But one thing I couldn't get my mind of was why, when Rufus knew that I actually preferred the quieter son over the more promiscuous one, he had chosen Marcus. It was pretty obvious that my birth father was completely oblivious to Marcus's... antics in high-school, but anyone could tell that Noctis was the better child.

Marcus just grinned at me in an appreciative way. "Well of course," he said smoothly. "After all, she is your daughter."

Rufus beamed.

... Well that explained it. Everyone knew that Rufus was a sucker for compliments.

I sighed and slumped in my seat, earning a disapproving glance from the great Mr. Shinra himself.

But whatever. They started to talk, a little too enthusiastically for a college student on Marcus's part, about... the economy? I shuddered slightly to myself. What on earth is Dad getting me into?

He knew that I hated all talk about politics and the economy. Well, hated it because I was terrible at it. What was with the boom part anyway? An explosion somewhere in the world? Sounded a bit weird to me...

A little while later, Rufus was checking his diamond-studded watch. Honestly, I thought diamonds were a woman's best friend...

Guess I was wrong then.

"I'd better go now, since your father appears to be busy," Rufus said with a smile. "I'll catch up with you again, Marcus. Have fun, Light." He stood and lifted a hand in farewell to his daughter before exiting just as the waiter came in.

Wow. Talk about bad service.

But that thought faded when I saw Rufus tip the waiter, thanking him for waiting until he left. "Hope you don't get fired, Steve," Rufus said with a smile.

"Don't worry sir. Boss understands the customers' wishes," Steve assured my father, tucking the money away before walking up to the table with a pad and pencil in hand. "What will it be, sir, madam?"

"Umm..."

"Lightning?" Marcus looked at me with a smile.

"Umm... a salad?" I said weakly to save myself the trouble of picking out a main course. For one thing, I felt too restless to eat, and for another, I felt that if I ate anything heavy in this, it would come off.

The clothes, I mean.

Marcus grinned. "All right. Ceasar?"

I nodded.

The waiter scribbled down our order – my salad and his steak. Marcus wanted to order a champagne until I reminded him that I was still underage, so he changed it to two sodas instead.

When the waiter had gone to give the chef our orders, Marcus turned to me. "Man I hate it when I go out with anyone underage," he grumbled.

I shrugged. "You agreed to this," I shot back.

He shook his head. "Actually, I was just as surprised as you obviously were," he told me. "I didn't know that I'd have to meet and marry my brother's girlfriend."

I flushed. "Noctis isn't my girlfriend."

"Yeah I think I noticed after all the years of living with him," Marcus said dryly. "Besides, I was the one who had to talk him through puberty – my father cracked up whenever it was mentioned." He shook his head, an amused look crossing his face.

I frowned at him.

It wasn't long before my eyes had widened with shock as I realized what I just said. "Wait, I meant that Noctis isn't my boyfriend. I know he's not a girl, I'm not a lesbian!" I exclaimed, just as Steve came back with our drinks. He stopped at the doorway until we both looked around at him.

My cheeks turned bright red, and I ducked my head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marcus lift a hand and beckon to the poor waiter. "Thanks," he grinned at Steve as the latter put the drinks on the table.

"Not a problem, sir," Steve said respectfully, shooting me a curious look. I fixed my eyes on the table, but I caught flashes of movement as Steve left, shutting the door behind him.

We sat in complete and utter silence.

"Well," Marcus said cheerfully, breaking it, "that was awkward, wasn't it?"

I scowled at the table, even though it wasn't its fault.

"You can look up now, Light. He's gone."

"I know."

"So how come you're not looking up?"

"Because the table and I are having a conversation," I replied, my voice muffled. "Right table?"

Marcus laughed. "You're insane."

"In a good way."

"Well yes." He sounded like he was smiling. I dared to glance up to check – and I was right.

But I also noticed something else.

Like the fact that, from the side, he looked like Noctis. They had the same strong features, the same beautiful mouth and exactly the same look of amusement that was almost always there whenever I made a complete and utter fool of myself.

Which was actually quite often, now that I think of it.

But then again...

I found myself completely and utterly mesmerized by him. Because, of course, of his resemblance to his little brother. I know that it shouldn't have been too shocking to me, but somehow I'd never actually thought that they'd look almost exactly alike.

I mean... they could have been twins to me if I hadn't known better.

Well, except that Noctis is just a tad shorter, and he had extremely spiky hair, whereas Marcus kept his sleek and long, tucked behind his ears. He also had more noticeable sideburns... but that was probably because Noctis's hair was longer at the side. And of course, his was blue. And their eyes were slightly different. Noctis's eyes were a brilliant shade of amber – there was no other word for it – while Marcus had... hazel eyes, from what I could tell in the dim light of the restaurant.

As Marcus took a sip of his drink, I felt as though the sun had gone in.

If I hadn't known better... If I hadn't heard my father call him Marcus... And if I hadn't known that Noctis wasn't as cocky as his older brother...

I'd think that I was sitting in the room of the fancy not-romantic restaurant where the waiter called Steve worked with my very own Noctis.

oOo

"So how did it go?"

Serah's bright voice was too loud. Far, far too loud.

I groaned, and covered my face with my pillow. "Go 'way, Serah," I mumbled.

"You were drinking! Oh just you wait 'til I tell Mom," I heard Vanille fume. I almost laughed out loud at her.

"Vanny, you got drunk. At fourteen. It's no wonder Mom banned you from alcohol 'til you're twenty-one," I said through my pillow-shield. "Now go away, I'm tired."

"You have to get up," I heard Serah. Was she standing right next to me or something? Her voice was so loud. It was making my head hurt...

What had happened last night?

All I remembered was studying Marcus closely, noting everything that Noctis would've done, and seeing the sheen of blue in his hair in the flashing light of the club he'd taken me to. I remembered that he had caught me staring at him, and gave me a smile so like Noctis's that I could've cried.

Not that I did.

But I knew he was Marcus... he hadn't reacted when in a moment of not-drunken stupor I had whispered Noctis's name – I remembered that because I remembered feeling so embarrassed; he had just hugged me sympathetically, not even correcting me! I remembered feeling grateful when he offered to take me home, and even more so when he wrapped an arm around me as I fell asleep at his side – the chauffeured car had been freezing.

I blushed now, thinking about it.

But I was not falling for Noctis's older brother. We were just friends.

Right?

Well.

Friends-to-be-engaged, really.

I sighed through the pillow; my idiotic, romance-obsessed sisters took it for a sigh of happiness and started squealing, which started up my headache all over again.

It was only after I threatened them to get out of my room and promised to tell them about my day later did they run out, giggling madly and high-fiving each other. I heard Vanille calling for mom, presumably to tell her about the 'good news'.

I pushed myself upright tiredly, and rubbed my temples. Just how much did I drink?

Too much, probably.

With a sigh, I got out of bed slowly and stumbled to the bathroom. A couple of aspirins and a nice hot bath later, my headache had lessened, if not completely vanished.

When I got out, I found the aforementioned idiotic, romance-obsessed sisters sitting on my bed, faces eager. I scowled at them. "Can't I at least get changed?"

"Sure, go ahead."

I stopped and waited for them to leave.

Nothing happened.

"Um, in private?" I hissed.

Serah shot to her feet. "Oh, right. Oops! Come on Vanny, we'll wait outside." She gripped my other sister's hand and tugged her out of the room. Just as they started to step out of the door, Serah looked over her shoulder to shoot me a stern look. "We'll be right here. Waiting. So don't even think of locking the door and escaping out the window."

"I won't," I promised resignedly with a scowl. "My muscles aren't up to the challenge." They really weren't, but Serah shot me a warning look as she shut the door behind her.

I sighed, and went to my closet to pull out my 'comfort clothes' – a pair of sweatpants and a well worn-in T-shirt. I was just tugging on the last item of clothing – the shirt – when my enthusiastic sisters burst back into my room.

"Okay, you're up and dressed. So, tell us, tell us!" Vanille, on her hands and knees, bounced on my bed eagerly. Serah nodded in agreement; the two of them had the same mask of excitement on their faces.

"There isn't anything to tell-" I started, but was cut off by the older of my younger sisters.

"Oh please! We know you got drunk, but surely there's something you remember," Vanille said in disgust.

As soon as she said that, I remembered what I had been thinking about this morning, and turned into a ripe tomato.

My sisters, unfortunately, saw this before I could turn away.

"She does, she does!"

"Come on Light, we want every juicy detail!" Serah and Vanille were bouncing so hard that I could hear my bedsprings squeaking a protest.

"There's nothing to say," I protested again, but my words fell on deaf ears. When my sisters wanted something, boy, did they want it.

Now I knew why Mom and Dad bought them so many things. It was just to shut them up so they could go on with their lives in peace.

My sisters both shot me looks that clearly suggested that they were thinking, 'yeah, right!' I sighed.

"Well... he bought me lunch."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Don't swear, Serah," I said automatically.

"You do it all the time."

She got me there.

"He decided that we were going on a walk... but then it started raining and we had run for it." I almost smiled at the memory. That was actually quite funny...

Apparently, it was romantic too.

Both my sisters sighed happily. "That's so sweet," Serah gushed.

"Yeah," Vanille nodded rapidly. "I mean, the two of you trapped in the rain with no umbrella... Did he try to kiss you?" she asked eagerly.

"Vanille!"

"Well he should've! It was the perfect time." She seemed even more upset than she should be originally. And shouldn't it be the other way round? Me upset and her comforting me?

Ah, that's right.

I'm not a hopeless romantic.

"We don't like each other that way," I tried to explain, but neither of them listened.

"Yeah, sure. Go on." I scowled at Vanille.

"Go on!" she urged, actually flapping her hands at me.

I scowled at her.

"Well the rain stopped."

"Oh that's so interesting," Serah said in a sarcastic tone. Vanille smacked her. "Let her talk!" she exclaimed.

"Well clearly Serah doesn't want to hear-."

"She does!"

"I do!"

I scowled, my chance to escape having faded away. "Fine. He took me for a dinner afterwards and then we went to a club and came back. Happy?" I crossed my arms, feeling the headache creep back slowly. My sisters nodded, and started firing annoying and embarrassing questions at me.

But then again, it could be worse. It could've been in public.

Resigning myself to a long day, I began to answer them.

Pretty long, right? 8D

Aren't you happy? :)

No?

D:

Oh fine =[

Anyway I'm not quite sure when I'll update, but I promise to do it ASAP! ^_^

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Until the next update!