After nearly an hour of their impromptu private show for Rinoa, they all rested along the couches that were set up against the wall. Selphie greedily chugged at her water bottle, overheated from her mad dancing. Those who didn't "understand" rock music always voiced their opinions and would rudely ask her how someone could dance to rock. In her opinion, if there was a beat there was a way to dance! Her dances usually consisted of her rolling her hips and swinging her hair back and forth and possibly even just jumping in place. Either way, whenever they played the music would just grab her, shake her madly, and make her want to move.
Selphie turned and hopped onto the arm rest of the couch. "How'd they come out?" she asked, peering over Rinoa's head to watch her flip through the camera's digital roll. "Ooh! That's a really good one of Quistis!"
The blonde's left hand was cradling the maple neck of her bass while her right hand was in mid-slap over her strings. The way she held the bass against her body was so sensual and seductive, as if she held a lover. Her lips were parted in a breathy gasp and her fringe was a golden blur over her eyes as she moved.
Selphie looked over to the woman in question who was handing a lighter back to Squall. "Hot damn woman!"
Quistis sent her a bashful smile as she sucked on her cigarette. "Why thank you," she said, bowing slightly. "Although I can't say that I ever thought myself as photogenic."
Rinoa glanced up from her camera with an incredulous look on her face. "What? Are you serious?" There had been times where Rinoa came across drop dead gorgeous woman who would just appear stiff and awkward in photographs, but those were very few and far in between. This woman before her, however, could take a fabulous picture even during an asthma attack. "Yeah, no, you are insane."
"She just isn't able to take compliments," Zell commented with a casual shrug. "She's been like that for as long as I can remember."
"Well, start getting used to compliments," Rinoa said. "Because your band is about to blow up and people all over the world are going to see your beautiful face and go nuts about it." She smiled when the blonde woman's cheeks began to flush. "I'm not exaggerating either."
Irvine came over and took the water bottle from Selphie. "Don't compliment her too much, we don't want her head getting all big and full of herself." He sent Quistis a debonair grin before taking a long swallow.
"As long as it doesn't get as big as yours, I'm sure I'll be just fine," Quistis shot back with a sweet yet oh-so-sharp smile. She glanced down at her watch. "I'm gonna head home. I want to get some sleep before my shift tonight."
"Where do you work?" Rinoa asked.
"I'm a bartender at The Red Scorpion." She wagged a brow at Rinoa. "Even though the late shifts kill me, the tips I get are amazing."
"I bet!"
Selphie hopped off the couch and clapped her hands. "Ooh! We should all go tonight!" She turned to Rinoa with a huge smile. "Quistis makes the best Long Island. We can go and celebrate the awesome photoshoot we had!"
"Yeah…celebrate," Quistis said with a twist to her lips. "While I'm working."
Selphie's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "Oh…wait."
Quistis broke into laughter and gave the smaller girl a friendly smack to the ass. "I'm kidding. It's only Wednesday, I'm sure it'll be slow enough where I can hang out at the table without getting bitched at." She placed her hand on the door and waved them off. "My shift starts at six, see you later!"
Rinoa wiggled her fingers at blonde in farewell. Her eyes trained downwards back to the screen on her camera. After flipping through a few shots she landed on the ones of Squall. His arms were crossed over his body to reach towards the left floor tom. His head was facing the right side of his kit, as he was in preparation of moving his beats across the entire kit. The look in his eyes caused Rinoa to suck in a breath. It was so intense, so piercing, his jaw clenched and determined, as if he were strategizing a battle.
A hand gently cupped her elbow and she jolted. Turning her head, she saw Squall right behind her. "Ok, I need to see what's on your back," Squall said, motioning for Rinoa to spin around for him.
She crinkled her nose and lowered her camera. "What?"
"I tried looking at it before but your hair was covering it."
"Oh." The tattoos on her body were not too visible to someone who was standing immediately in front of her. She liked it that way. Her tattoo artist, Raymond, designed it and executed his vision so expertly. She reached behind her head and separated her long hair into two thick sections and draped them over her front so that her back was exposed.
The wings started from her scapula and spread out over the thin surface of the backs of her arms. The last feather reached to her elbows. Squall's brows raised in admiration at the fine art of the details in each feather that was inked into her skin.
"Nice ink," he said.
Rinoa turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Thank you."
"How long of a sitting was it?"
Rinoa lowered her lashes to look at the feathers that extended towards her elbow. "Well, the first shoulder he took longer on," she said, remembering. "I think he was gauging it and seeing what to do. So the second shoulder he was done in like…half the time? Anyways, I think it was about a six hour session. I know after the first shoulder we took a break and ordered pizza."
"Nice. Did you get it when you lived in Timber?"
"No, my first year in college my whole photography class went to the Esthar campus for a seminar. My roommate met another student there who also worked as a tattoo artist and…" She glanced down at the skin ran her fingers down her arm with pride. "As you can see, he is very talented."
Squall nodded, his eyes still focusing on the details of each feather. "Understatement," he commented. "He does wonderful work. Shit, does he still work at a shop or have his own now? I may need to contact him if we ever go through Esthar."
"Oh, you have tattoos?" Rinoa quickly glanced down, her brows furrowing when she saw that his arms were completely bare of any ink. It had seemed that Zell was the only inked up patron of Absolute Lore.
Squall's eyes sparked with a hint of mischief that was gone as quickly as it had come. "It's hidden," he said.
"…where?"
"I'd have to be naked." He managed to completely obscure the laugh that wanted to erupt from him when Rinoa's jaw dropped open. He had become quite infamous for his emotionless poker face and now it was practically second nature to him. Sure, it resulted in people thinking he was a complete dick, but he could live with that. When Rinoa opened her mouth again, he simply leaned in—not too close, but close enough where he could see the flush begin to creep at the apples of her cheeks—and said quietly, "And you'd have to take me out to dinner at least three times to get that far."
Before she could respond, he stepped away and gestured to Zell. "I'm heading out, want a ride to your car?"
Zell turned away from Selphie, who was apparently showing him something on her phone. "Yeah! Sure." He pulled out his own phone from his jeans and looked at the time. "Yeah, I think I'll head to the gym early and do a few workouts before my client shows up. You wanna join?"
Squall shrugged. "I've got nothing to do today." As he and Zell got ready to leave, he waved to the three that remained. "We'll see you all at The Red Scorpion?"
"Sounds good!" Irvine said, draping an arm around Selphie's shoulder. "Rinoa, did you want us to drop you off at home?"
"Huh?" Rinoa turned around to face the couple, her brown eyes still wide and the faint flush still fading from her skin. "Oh, yeah, I guess." She twisted her lips as she thought. "Although I did want to run to the home decor store to see if I could find some stuff for the apartment…"
Selphie perked up at the mention of shopping. "I can take you! Irvine's apartment is really close by so I can drop him off there…"
"Actually, if you're going to do that…I'll just head to the gym with the guys." He herded them out and called out to Squall who had just opened his car door. "I'll catch you later," he said to Selphie, leaning in to give her a kiss. "It was great meeting you Rinoa, I feel really good about this project."
Rinoa smiled brightly. "As do I! Have fun." She waved at the three men who entered into the matte black Jeep Wrangler and then turned away to walk with Selphie to her bright yellow VW Beetle.
"So which store were you thinking of?" Selphie asked as they were buckling themselves in.
"That huge one off of Garden Boulevard…I can never remember the name."
"Got it. I know the one."
Just under twenty minutes later, the girls were perusing the aisles filled with everything and anything that was made for the home. Rinoa had made a beeline to the bedding. "Apparently Caraway got rid of all my sheets so I've been sleeping with one blanket and a naked pillow."
"Aw!"
"Yeah he said he thought he had extra ones but he called last night to say that he couldn't find them…so he told me to buy some and that he'd reimburse me."
Selphie shrugged. "Well, that's good at least. I'll get you a cart."
Not too long after the cart was filled with a thick package containing black and dark blue Moroccan print bed sheets and pillow cases, a few throw pillows, a toilet paper holder (hers had just broken off and rather than just fixing it, she took the whole thing down), a purple bathmat, and a few dishes and glasses. "I think I'm ready! Oh…wait…" Rinoa quickly walked up to a lamp that had a gold spray-painted steer skull as its base. "This too."
"You need a new lamp?"
"No," Rinoa said, gently placing it into the cart. "I just want it." She sent Selphie a grin and pulled the cart towards an open register. If there was one thing Rinoa knew she really had to work on, it was her impulse buying. Moving across the country really helped her put it into perspective. While yes, most of the furniture at her old apartment belonged to her roommate, Dez, a lot of the little knickknacks were all results of Rinoa's constant perusing of thrift shops. Originally she wanted to go to a thrift shop, but she thought that if she went to a home décor store the items would be a bit more expensive and thus she wouldn't be able to buy as much. For the most part it worked…but dammit she really wanted that lamp. It would look perfect beside her bed and then she would post the print she had of one of her old models who was posing with a steer skull. See? I totally needed this, Rinoa justified to herself.
Selphie dropped her off back home and promised that she'd come by later to pick her up to go to The Red Scorpion. It was just after one now, and Rinoa figured she would have some time to upload the photographs she had taken. She may not be able to have any time to edit them today, but at least then they'd be uploaded and ready to go for when she was able.
"Ninety-four pictures?" Rinoa stammered. She only shot for about an hour, and they were not continuous shots. Between shots she found herself just standing and staring, completely in awe at the music that thrashed around her. She had thought perhaps she had taken around fifty, tops. It wasn't uncommon for her to take large amounts of photographs, during a four hour maternity session she found that she had taken close to six hundred. It happens.
She created a new folder on her computer labeled 'Absolute Lore.' Within that folder she made another one with today's date, and then separate folders for each band member. As she began to organize she wondered if she should have separate folders for each member first and then a folder with the date or event, but then she shrugged and decided she could alter it later on if she found it easier.
After a few minutes of sorting and moving files, she stretched her arms high overhead and leaned back against her chair. She let out a breath as she felt her sternum pop. "Ooh," she said, shifting her shoulders to loosen up her muscles.
Rinoa straightened her back and began to go through each individual file. Since they were alphabetical, she went through Irvine's first. That man knew how to work a camera. Rinoa grinned and wondered if he had any prior experience to modeling. She wouldn't be surprised, he was definitely very pretty. She caught a few great shots of him holding his mic so tenderly close to his mouth, his eyes staring straight into the camera as if beckoning the viewer to come closer.
There was even a small folder for Selphie. Inside were only a few shots, perhaps only five, and they mostly consisted of Selphie dancing with her hands up in the air and she eyes closed and teeth biting her lower lip as she let the music consume her. It was a mixture of sensual and innocent movement. Rinoa made a mental note to send a copy to Irvine.
Next was Squall's. Immediately Rinoa noticed she had taken a significantly larger amount of shots of Squall than she had of Irvine. "Uh oh," she said, clicking the back button and going into Quistis' folder and then Zell's. Then she started counting. Irvine had seventeen shots, Selphie five, Quistis had sixteen, and Zell also had sixteen, the interior of the studio had ten, so Squall had… "Thirty?" Rinoa's lips thinned out as she looked over the shots she had taken. They weren't even continuous shots of the same drum roll or song…that she could understand. No, she had clearly kept going back to him with her camera.
"Well…they are amazing shots," she said to herself. "And he definitely does more complex movements…We'll just never speak of this. Yep. That sounds good." Brushing aside the embarrassing feeling that threatened to creep across her skin, she resumed to going through each folder to pick out one favorite. It was always a difficult task, and one that would sometimes take several hours, so she figured it was the perfect time killer until it was time to go to the bar.
Before she knew it Selphie was banging on her door. Rinoa looked over to the clock at the bottom of her screen as if it had insulted her. "What the hell?" It was already six-forty. "Shit!" She closed out the folders and hurried to the door. "Sorry! Totally lost track of time. I was going through the pictures from today."
"How'd they turn out?" Irvine asked.
"Really good! Can't wait to show you guys. Um, come on in, I just want to change real quick."
Selphie closed the front door behind her and then glanced down at the shopping bags that were in the middle of the living room. "You didn't even take your things out of the bags?" she asked, completely in shock.
Rinoa motioned for her to follow to her room. "Nah, I'll get to it later. I want to wash the sheets before I sleep on them. Oh shit, I should probably put them in the wash before I go. Dammit."
"Oh, I can ask Irvine to help. He's really good at laundry. His sheets are always so comfy and soft and never starchy." She retracted back to the living room. "Hey babe? Big favor, can you help Rinoa with her sheets?"
"Huh? Like make her bed?"
"No, she bought some sheets today and wants to wash them before she goes to bed." Selphie dug the package out of the bag and unzipped the plastic.
Irvine watched her and caught on. "Gotcha. Yeah, just show me her washer." He followed Selphie to the washer and dryer unit in the hallway and he quickly assessed the knobs, buttons, and her detergent. "I got this covered," he said, gently pushing her back towards Rinoa's room.
Selphie poked her head into Rinoa's room and found her in the closet. "What are you planning on wearing?"
"I was just changing my top." Rinoa emerged from her closet having changed into a white lace camisole that clung to her like a second skin and a cropped black cardigan. "What kind of place is The Red Scorpion?"
"It's nice. Not super family-oriented but there are times where there's a lot of kids, but it's not all adult-themed either. They brew their own beer there too!" Selphie took Rinoa's hand and pulled her into the hallway where Irvine was just closing the door to the washing machine.
"It'll be ready for you to put in the dryer by the time you get back. We shouldn't be out too late, I have to work in the morning," he said.
Squall and Zell were already sitting down with their beers by the time the three of them arrived. In front of Squall was a half empty tall glass filled with amber liquid and a shot glass still full with his usual fill of whiskey. He was waiting for more food to be in his stomach before he took the shot.
"Which beer did you order?" Irvine asked, pulling out a chair for Selphie.
"The Stinger and my usual," replied Squall. "Zell decided to try the stout tonight."
Zell smacked his lips as he deciphered the taste. "It's not bad. Normally I'm not a huge fan of stout but this one's pretty good. Here, try it." He pushed it towards Squall who took a long sip.
After a moment he tilted his head. "Yeah, not bad."
"Is the Stinger their house brew?" Rinoa asked as she sat down.
Squall nodded. "Yeah, the owner and his wife came up with it a few years ago." He handed his glass to her. "Try it."
Rinoa took a sip and handed the glass back. "It's pretty good!" It wasn't too heady or tart where it made her want to continuously smack her tongue on the roof of her mouth. It didn't leave a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. The aftertaste was almost…fruity, like raspberry.
Quistis came over and leaned her arm on top of Zell's head, ignoring his cries to watch the spikes. "Oh please, they've fallen flat thanks to your sweat from the gym," she shot back. "Anyways, what can I get you? Rinoa?"
"I'm liking this!" she said pointing to the glass in front of Squall.
"The Stinger or the Squall?"
Rinoa blinked. "Wait, what?"
Quistis gestured to the shot glass. "Because the Squall is bitter, harsh, and leaves you feeling disgusted in the morning."
"I always order a shot of whiskey with my beer every time I come here," Squall explained. "It's gotten to the point that everyone at the bar just calls it "The Squall"."
"Oh, I wasn't talking about the whiskey. She'd probably get less headache from that." Quistis gave Rinoa a wink and grinned when the other girl caught onto the joke. Before Squall could retaliate, Quistis waved him off and continued. "The Stinger doesn't do that, the Stinger understands." She then took everyone's order and hurried away towards the bar.
Zell was laughing as he watched Squall simply shake his head. "Oh man," he said. "That was hilarious. God I love that woman. She always gets you good!"
"I know," Squall said, his eyes narrowing as he brought his beer to his lips. "Bitch."
"Hey Squall!"
Squall turned his eyes toward the pretty brunette that approached him. She was tall, leggy, curvy, and showcased a megawatt smile. Squall sent her a nod of acknowledgement as he threw back his head to finish his beer. "Hey Kendra," he said back.
The girl waved politely to the rest of the group, who in turn returned their own hellos. Her eyes paused on Rinoa. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Kendra. You look new!"
Rinoa smiled back and offered her hand. "I'm Rinoa. I'm their photographer."
Kendra's eyes widened and Rinoa took notice of how blue they were and how the thick black and precise line of eyeliner accentuated that blue. "They finally got one?" she gasped. "It's about time! They are seriously infamous for their lack of pictures. I don't know how a band that's been around a few years managed to avoid cameras but somehow they did it."
Rinoa had to laugh at that, she wondered the same thing. "Well not anymore! I got a few great shots today and once I get them edited I'll have them put up on their web page. So keep an eye out!"
"How wonderful!" Kenra said, clasping her hands together in delight. "Well, I look forward to seeing them." She smiled and waved her fingers at the group before turning. "Bye Squall," she said, her smile lingering on him for a moment longer. "It was good seeing you."
He held up two fingers in salute as a goodbye.
It was good enough for Kendra, and soon she was walking back over to a crowded table filled with loud and laughing customers. As she returned to her seat, the man beside her slid a welcomed arm around her shoulders.
Quistis walked up and placed another full beer in front of Squall. "Figured you needed another one," she said, nodding towards the empty glass before him. She then shuffled out everyone else's drinks. "You want another beer, Zell?"
"Oh, no thanks. Still working on this one."
Quistis glanced at her watch. "In a few minutes I'm taking a break. Be back." She cleared off whatever empty glasses were on the table and quickly walked away.
Squall grabbed the beer in front of him, grateful that Quistis had so speedily brought him another one. She had feigned the reasoning to be due to her expertise of a bartender taking note of an empty glass, but deep down they both knew the real reason. She was just sparing his pride by trying to pretend. It was appreciated.
The silence that hovered around the group wasn't quite to the point of uncomfortable awkwardness. It was more so cautious, wary, and from the looks that crossed between the other three at the table, they were waiting and gauging any reaction from Squall. If they were waiting for a loud and brash reaction then they were sorely mislead, as all he did was slowly and calmly sip from his beer.
Rinoa, never one for subduing her curiosity, spoke first. "Ex-girlfriend I take it?" she gently asked. "I don't mean to pry…just curious."
Squall glanced at her over the rim of his glass. He shook his head as he lowered his beer to the table. "No," he answered honestly. "…not quite sure what I'd call her." His…situation…with Kendra wasn't complicated but it also didn't have much a label to it. In layman's terms they wanted different things from each other, so whatever it was that had gone between them hadn't gone very far. However, despite the lack of titles or labeling, their separation had resulted in quite a mess.
Rinoa sucked on her bottom lip for a moment as silence rose up between them. She caught the questioning looks that bounced between Irvine and Zell but did not know enough to decipher it. Suddenly a giggle threatened to pop. "Did she take you to three dinners?"
Squall didn't even have a chance to smother the laughter that snuck out of him. The laugh was so loud and genuine that Selphie jerked in surprise and nearly spilled her drink. "To be honest, I don't think it made it past two," he said to Rinoa.
He saw Quistis approaching them and he nodded at her. "I'll be back," he said, sliding out of the booth with his cigarettes already in hand. "You have your own or you want one of mine?" he asked her.
"Got my own," Quistis responded, hurriedly shooing him towards the patio.
When the two were out of earshot, Rinoa turned to Selphie. "You ok?"
Selphie grinned and nodded. "Yeah, he doesn't normally laugh like that—it shocked me! Did not think he was capable of it." Sighing and waving the incident aside, she reached for the menu. "Did you wanna share a nacho platter with me?" she asked Rinoa. "It's like really big and I don't think I can finish it by myself. I'm hungry but I'm not hungry."
"Sure!" When it came to food, there wasn't much chance of Rinoa saying no. "So, did I open up a can of worms?" she asked with a grimace. "Sometimes I just can't help myself and just start asking questions and then keep talking and rambling and making the situation worse."
Irvine shook his head and Zell gave a reassuring shake to her shoulder. "As I'm sure you've noticed, Squall doesn't talk much when it comes to his personal life. Hell, we don't even fully know the whole story about Kendra. All we know is that she was there and then all of a sudden she wasn't."
"Clearly whatever it was she isn't quite yet over," Irvine commented. When Rinoa and Zell turned their eyes to him, he leaned in and subtlety gestured behind him. "She keeps glancing over to where Squall and Quistis are outside."
Curious, Rinoa took a quick glance to her left and saw that the patio was indeed in Kendra's direct line of vision. Even though Squall and Quistis had their backs turned, it was very obvious as to who was standing outside. Trying to be as sneaky as ever, Rinoa took a brief peek to where Kendra was sitting. Rinoa must have just missed her, because the brunette had her head turned so she could focus on the group at her own table. "Well, I just hope I didn't make a bad impression with my nosiness," Rinoa said. "It's not good for business when you're model doesn't like you."
"You made him literally laugh out loud," Selphie said, her eyes wide. "He can't think you're all that bad." Her eyes moved behind Rinoa and she smiled as Quistis started to round the table.
"Hungry? Did you want to order anything before I head back to the bar?" she asked.
"Yes!" Selphie leaned forward. "Me and Rinoa want nachos."
Quistis nodded and looked at Rinoa. "They are amazing," she said. "I hope you like jalapeños." She looked over to the boys of the group. "Anything for you guys?" Zell and Irvine ordered Buffalo wings while Squall ordered a burger. "Coming up." She turned on her heels and went back to the bar, relaying the order to one of the cooks.
As they waited for their food, Rinoa tried to talk business. "So, where would you guys like to have a photoshoot? Any look or theme you guys want in particular?"
"Let's not talk business right now," Irvine said with a grin. "We are celebrating! Tonight it's all about having fun, thanking our lovely photographer for joining the team, and just being surrounded by great people!" He held up his glass and quickly looked behind him. "Hey, Quistis!" When his booming voice caught her attention he jerked his head to beckon her. She held up a finger, finished pouring a patron's shot, and then came over. "To the success of Absolute Lore!" Irvine said. "Next week we have a show and it will be photographed by our new talented photographer. May our band blow up and reach the ears of hundreds of thousands!"
"Oh, not millions?" Quistis asked.
"Baby steps, doll-face, baby steps."
Irvine's toast had reached the ears of some of the bar's patrons and staff. The staff knew them very well and had heard their songs thanks to Quistis' playlist that she put on full blast while they were closing up. They cheered and held up their hands in the shape of horns in support for their local band.
"Next week Saturday!" Zell cried. "We'll be playing at Strange Vision! Hope to see every last one of you there!"
Rinoa clasped her hands in endearing excitement as she watched the bar turn into an uproar of hoots and hollers. Another bartender actually reached over to the stereo and cranked up the volume so that the CD inside, Absolute Lore, of course, filled the establishment. It was so heart-warming to see how loved this local band was. Even though they weren't famous—yet—they clearly had a lot of fans and had touched so many people.
Squall nodded his head to the beat and tapped his fingers along his thigh as he watched as the bar's staff began to dance around, whip their hair back and forth, and sing along. He couldn't help but smile to himself. This was what music was supposed to do, make people enjoy themselves and bring them together.
A faint movement out of the corner of his eye snagged his attention. He turned his head slightly and saw Kendra beaming at him, her red lips turned upward into that shining smile she always displayed. When she saw that she had caught his gaze, she raised her glass in a toast, which Squall responded with a polite lift of his chin.
