"All you need is a leg cramp to jump start your day."
-Kiros to Laguna-
Young and dashing-the 27 year old Galbadian soldier Laguna Loire was never a fan of fancy lounge bars and classy hotels. But it was in a classy hotel where he would meet the love of his life.
It started with Kiros' simple proposal that would change his life. "I think it's time we quit going to cheap bars and go for something high class."
Laguna snorted. "High class my ass. It's too expensive."
"Oh come on," Kiros cajoled him. "Where's the harm in it? Besides, have you been to The Galbadia Hotel? They serve the best drinks in the City. Even General Caraway patronizes it!"
"I don't care." Laguna replied and turned away from him and continued to clean his machine gun.
Kiros wasn't ready to give up. He had an ace up his sleeve-He knew what pissed off Laguna, and if it was necessary, he was going to use it against him. Laguna was never the guy to back away from a challenge. It was a weakness, or a trait, that Kiros knew, and often , he dropped the bomb on Laguna. "You're just scared of women, aren't you?"
As expected, he flushed and stopped whatever he was doing. "Of course not!" he raised his hands in the air and pointed a finger to Kiros. "Me, Laguna Loire, afraid of women?"
Perfect. He bit the bait. "Then prove it." Kiros challenged. "Tonight at seven o'clock at The Galbadia Hotel."
Laguna pinched his nose, and act Kiros found endearing despite they were grown ups. "Challenge accepted buddy."
"Accepting your challenge was a mistake."
"You can't turn away now buddy."
High class. Posh. Classy. Laguna could feel his insecurities bubbling up. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Relax, Laguna. It's just damn hotel.
"The women don't bite." Kiros joked.
"I told you I'm not scared of the ladies." Laguna replied.
"I dunno why you're scared of them. A woman is a woman. Did you have your heart broken by one?"
Laguna's frowned. He refused to answer that question, because he refused to remember what happened when he was a young lad of 17 about to propose to his first love.
He refused to remember the young boy who mustered all this strength and confidence to confess to his love.
He refused to remember when she cruelly laughed and threw his gift on the ground.
He refused to remember as she trampled and broke his gift, his own heart broke and was trampled as well.
He refused to remember how his broken and trampled heart cried with hurt and shame.
Great. Just another of those moments when he spaces out, engrossed in those thoughts. Sighing, Kiros asked for a bottle of beer.
Kiros didn't need to ask; Laguna's face was animated and expressive. Some girl had probably ditched him and broken whatever confidence he had.
But good friends-like him-helped their friends recover. And Kiros was a good friend. He was going to help Laguna recover.
If Laguna would just look at the lounge pianist...
"What's that song?" Laguna murmured, broken from the trance of his past heartaches.
"It's about time you stopped living in your past, reliving whatever happened to you." He gulped the served beer." Music soothes the pain. Lovely music, isn't it? The lounge pianist is very good."
"Lounge pianist? Where?"
Kiros pointed to her direction. "Right in front of you, Laguna. Are you dense? I can't believe you never noticed her."
Everything went slow motion for Laguna when he stared to the direction Kiros pointed. Yes, how was he so dense as not to notice someone like her?"He never believed in love at first sight. But he knew he was captivated.
As she bent her head, Laguna had a glimpse of the shoulder length hair that cascaded over her fair shoulders.
"Quite a looker, huh?" Kiros remarked. He looked at Laguna and slapped his temple. Ah, great. It's just him and the pianist. I and the others don't exist. Just like some romantic movie.
Laguna was looking intently at the pianist...then their eyes met. He gasped for breath. Holy! What enchanting eyes!
He heard his heart beating and throbbing. Sweat covered his forehead, despite The Galbadia's cool air-conditioning.
"This is sweet." Kiros told the bartender. "Looks like we have a lovestruck loverboy."
"What's her name Kiros? I need to know her name!"
"How am I supposed to know, loverboy?"
The bartender laughed and taking pity in Laguna, answered his question. "Her name's Julia Heartilly, young man. She's quite young, 22 years old. Sir Hugo discovered her in a music store last year and managed to convince her to play here. I've heard she's played in other lounge bars too."
"psst, Laguna, why don't you approach her after?"
"and do what?"
"You know." Kiros giggled. "Talk. Get to know each other, unless…"
"Unless what?"
Dangle the bait, Kiros. "…unless you're scared."
Laguna shot up. He bit the bait again! "Of course not. I'll prove it!"
Julia was still playing when Laguna approached her.
You can do this. Say a simple hi. No one died from a simple hi, right?
Every step was dreadful and he perspired more. You can do this, go Laguna.
He imagined what he was going to do. He'd clap, say hi and congratulate her. Standing a few meters away, Julia's head was still down. He gulped. This was it, the moment of truth. A moment interrupted when he suddenly felt the muscle of his lower right leg twitch and moved as if it had a life of its own.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Mother of Tonberries... why did his right leg cramp at this moment? He didn't want to admit it. But like any good Galbadian soldier fighting a lost battle, he made a quick u-turn and returned to his table. Retreat, retreat!
Kiros and the bartender witnessed the entire spectacle and laughed when Laguna struggled to return back to the table.
"Your friend has guts." The bartender murmured.
"But has terrible leg cramps with women." Kiros added.
They both laughed aloud, much to Laguna's irritation.
*Authors Note:
I decided to update once a week. Hopefully, this will allow me more time to write the succeeding chapters without worries.
I had fun writing this chapter. Come to think of it,I'm just filling the plot gaps of FF8 (providing a narration on how Julia met caraway; what happened between caraway and Julia, etc). It's the same way as I did with a previous Wild Arms 2 fanfiction. With Antenora's story, I took the backbone (revenge for her fallen country and family) and wrote a detailed history what happened to her. I still follow the game's narration of events, yet adding some things to make things clearer.
Yet it's still fanfiction. :)
Next chapter: Will Laguna finally muster the courage to approach Julia, Or will she take the first step?
Stay in tune for next week's update!