Birds of a feather

Chp 11

Vanille awoke and stretched out with her arms in the air. She yawned as she did so. She sat down at her vanity and began to comb her hair. She didn't bother to change from her pajamas, there was no point in doing so, it was just her and Nora here at the house.

Her and Hope's old house. The one they bought fourteen years ago when they were 20. She sighed. Those were the days. Back then the housing market was great despite there being a war going on. Its still hard to believe a Marine corporal and a part time delivery worker could buy it. She briefly thought back to before this house. Before this house they lived in an apartment above someone's garage, it was small and rundown. Both 18 and freshly married with Hope going to the Marines and herself about to start college.

Money was tight and school was almost unbearable at times, the war flared up and Hope was putting his life on the line everyday so she could complain about school being stressful.

But despite it all they managed and lived a happy little life. She even managed to stay on at Strife delivery and become an assistant manager at just 23, by 25 she was the full-time manager of the Bodhum branch. Hope kept moving up in rank then he made it into L'cie SMU combat group three. He was even working on a degree so he could get out of the military and be home for her and Nora. Yeah those where good days.

Until she screwed it all up.

And now Hope was gone. No, she could deal with that if it were the case. He had moved on completely and was dating Nora's teacher.

And here she was eaten up by jealousy. At first, she thought it was just a simple girls crush. She saw that Hope was into another woman and got a little green with envy. But it turned out to be pure jealousy at the thought of someone being with her ex…her man.

She still loved Hope. Far more than Claire Farron ever could. She knew Hope would forgive her if she asked and she knew he would take her back in time. She just needed a plan to confess to him that she wanted to make things right.

Luckily, she had been in contact with Hope frequently. It was only a week until Christmas and her mother had yet to set a date for Christmas dinner. Hope wanted to know the date so he would know if Nora could make it to the Farron's dinner on Christmas eve. Any other man would be mad and blame her for sabotage, but Hope knew her mother very well and knew how long it took her to set a date for holiday dinners. Because her mother was the matriarch of the family no one else could make the decision. This was just par for the course with the Dia-Obera family.

She grabbed her phone and headed downstairs to cook breakfast for her and Nora. It was Saturday, one of two days she cooked breakfast. She would cook it everyday if she could but with getting Nora to school and getting herself to work, there wasn't time. She didn't feel bad about it though, neither her nor Hope ate breakfast that often growing up. Sure, they'd grab cereal but that wasn't breakfast so much as a stop gap to say they ate something.

She made her way to the kitchen but stopped to look at a picture of her sister, Fang. Fang had been two years older than her. Her and Hope had gotten along well, always picking on each other. Fang was such a tomboy but could always drop jaws when she decided to do her make up and dress girly. Fang had always said 'If I doll up to often the boys will get use to it. Then who would I wow.'

It was Fang who encouraged Hope to join the military, she herself joining after high school. When the war broke out Fang defected to the Pulse army. It made sense, their parents were from Pulse and both Vanille and Fang spoke with Pulse accents. They both had a strong connection to the motherland and had been several times on vacation and family visits. It still upset their parents though when she joined Pulse. They had no love for the corrupted government that they immigrated away from. She remembered them telling Fang that they loved the land of Pulse but could not support its rulers. They fought severely, she called them traitors and even lashed out at Hope and threatened to kill him if they met on the battlefield.

Fang was killed two years after the war ended. She had joined a resistance group that kept causing trouble after the war. They didn't like that Crystalist occupied Pulse after the war. Fang would talk to Vanille during the war when she could, but she never mended things with their parents before her death. She grabbed the picture and hugged it, she kissed the image of Fang and set the picture back.

She missed her sister.

As she began to cook the simple breakfast of yard eggs and bacon, Nora walked into the kitchen. Bedhead in all its glory.

"Baby, please comb your hair."

"Ok." She yawned and headed back to her room. Her room was downstairs. Actually, all other rooms were, the only thing up stairs was the master bedroom and master bath. The staircase led right to the bedroom door. It was dangerous, one misstep and you'd tumble all the way down. Come to think of it maybe that's how they got it so cheap.

She set the table with paper plates and made them both a plate.

Nora walked back in and sat down saying. "You didn't have to make my plate."

"I know, I just wanted to. Have you been enjoying your Christmas break?"

"Yeah! Its great, everyday is Saturday. I don't even know what day today is!"

Vanille giggled. "Today actually is Saturday. Hey have I ever told you the story about when me and your father broke into the teachers lounge?" She was unsure why she suddenly brought this up.

"Wwwhhhhaaaaattttttt! You two didn't do something like that."

"Hehe. We were a couple of punks back then."

"I don't believe that, but I do want to hear the story."

"Alright sit back and get ready." She began to remember the story as it unfolded and recited it to Nora, leaving out the saucy parts of course.

Sixteen years ago in Palumpolum.

"Hope stop it we'll be late to class again." Vanille said in-between Hope's lips locking onto hers. "They'll talk." She didn't like other students to assume they had sex. She was proud of the fact that they had somehow refrained from sex.

"Let 'em." He said as he ran his hand up and down the curves of her waist. The bell rang snapping them out of their hormonal embrace.

"Come on Hope let's get to class." She beckoned as she walked off.

"Fine." He groaned as he followed behind her.

"And why are you two late?!" Their teacher asked.

"Busy." Was hope's response. Vanille sighed as she took her seat.

"Busy doing what?"

Hope sat down and said "Oh your too young to hear that part." Vanille turned red as the class whooped and hollered. So much for the class not talking.

The teacher yelled above the class. "Mr. Estheim! Do you want to be suspended this close to the end of your senior year!"

"Well." He started but was silenced by Vanille covering his mouth.

"He doesn't want to be suspended; he just doesn't want to see you again." Vanille smiled broadly at her.

"Uhg! The two of you will end up nowhere if you don't grow up!"

"Eh, it'll be alright." She said.

Still fuming the teacher went on a rant about maturity that fell on def ears. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang.

"Vanille come on." Hope grabbed her hand and began the lead her to the second floor.

"Just where are you taking me. Our second class is on the first floor."

"You'll see." He led her up the stairs past the other students. He dragged her all the way down the hall. He stopped in front of the last door in the hallway, the teacher's lounge.

"Hope, what are you planning? If you steal her lunch again, she'll know it was you."

"That's not what I'm here for, they have one of those coke coolers you see in gas stations filled to the brim with glass bottle cokes." He smiled broadly. "I want one, how about you."

She tried to sound disappointed but couldn't hide her smile. "And how do you plan to get in there, they've been locking it thanks to all your antics over the years." She crossed her arms and sighed. "Please don't pick the lock again."

He reached into his pocket and pull out a key. "Me break and enter, nah." He inserted the key and opened the door. They walked into the carpeted room; it was the same for the most part as the last time they broke in. A table near a fridge and two couches on adjacent walls. There was, just like Hope said, a new addition and it was filled to the brim. They walked up to the cooler, there was so much ice in it the air around it was being chilled. Hoped grabbed a coke, opened it, and handed it to her. After doing the same for himself they took a seat on the couch.

"So, you do come in handy." She said.

"Yeah, I guess I have my uses." He shrugged.

"Hope, are you still going to join the marines?"

He took a sip of his coke. "Yeah, I don't see why not. Why? Do you not want me to?"

She bit her lip nervously. "Well…I mean the situation with Pulse is getting hairy. Everybody says a war could break out."

He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him. "The marines are the best infantry there is I'll be fine."

"I know…I just worry is all. The manager at the hardware store likes you a lot. I'm sure if you hire on full time you'll be assistant manager in no time. And I'll still go to college in Bodhum, get a degree and job. We can live a nice worry-free life." She rested her head on Hope's shoulder.

"After I serve my 4 years I'll get a teaching degree. You know better than anyone I want to teach."

"I Know, but just do that now and work at the store."

He kissed her on the head. "Listen, this'll be good for me. I mean I'll get good benefits after I serve my stint. I'm helping us set up for a family, it might not be an ideal way, but it'll pay off in the long run. You still want to get married and have a couple of cute daughters, right?"

She sighed. "…Yeah." She held up three fingers. "But now I want three little girls."

"Deal." He assured her.

"Hope, just be careful if a war breaks out."

"Hey stop worrying. I'm young, dumb, and immortal, I'll be fine."

She giggled to hide her worry. "You're two of those." They sat there in silence wishing that time would stand still if only for a moment.

Vanille looked at Nora and said "So your dad opened the door with the key he 'acquired' and we snagged us a coke. Hehe we got caught not long after, the principal asked Hope 'How did you break in?' and do you know what Your dad said?"

Nora shook her head side to side.

Vanille smiled. "He said 'I didn't break in, I have a key.'" They both began to laugh.

"Why did the two of you act like that?" Nora asked as she giggled.

"Oh we thought we knew everything, turns out we were just young and dumb." She wagged a finger at Nora. "I better not hear about doing stuff like that, I only tell you these stories so you don't act like we did."

"Don't worry mommy, I don't like to get in trouble."

"Good. You keep being a good little girl for us."

"I will and for miss Farron too."

Vanille's heart sank. She wanted to say 'no, not for her. Just me and your father.' But she held her tongue.

Arthors Note:

Thank you for the review Crayon! I think it's really interesting that you work in AOD, keep up the good work. I definitely need to look into a beta reader, because I know what is suppose to be in the story which makes it easier to miss mistakes. So yeah a beta reader would help. I'm glad you like the story I hope I don't disappoint in the coming chapters.