Rinoa Heartilly

8:32 p.m.

Friday night and I'm editing photos!

That was the life of a photographer. Rinoa had just finished editing a quick collage of the band. She picked one photo of each of them and stitched them together and then in the middle she stuck in the band's logo. Of course, her watermark, a quick squiggle of an angel's wing with her initials embossed inside, rested at the bottom right corner.

At the top left was the photograph of Irvine, staring so deep and intensely at the viewer. To the right of Irvine was Zell, leaning backwards with his back arched, his fingers blurry and quick across the seven strings, and his head thrown back as he let the sounds possess him. Below Zell was Quistis, her fingers splayed out across her strings as she slapped them. She was looking off camera but Rinoa had managed to capture Quistis biting her lower lip almost hypnotically.

Then, coming full circle, was Squall. Rinoa had caught the moment right before he assaulted the hi-hat with his sticks. The look in his eyes was predatory and extremely sexy. Rinoa admired the passion he exuded when it came to his craft, it was clearly something he took very seriously.

She had met him only two days before, she had not seen much emotion on his face aside from the rare laugh she had managed to squeeze out of him. It was very much apparent that he was not one to wear his emotions on his sleeve. However, when it came to drumming, the passion and the love and the excitement he felt for it was clear as the scar on his face. As an artist, Rinoa couldn't help but appreciate that aspect of him.

She pulled out her phone and texted Irvine for the password for Absolute Lore's social media page.

I.K: Wait, you're done already?

R.H: HAHAHAHA oh you are hilarious! No, I need the password to the page. I have a little teaser photo ready to go =)

I.K: Gotcha.

He sent her the password and she immediately posted the collage onto the page. Beneath, the caption read: Here's a little teaser from Absolute Lore's mini-photoshoot the other day. More to come soon!

Rinoa clicked post and sat back in her chair. She made an audible squeal of delight and clapped her hands. "Holy shit I am so excited!" she giggled to herself.


Squall entered the bar Motley's and pulled up into one of the stools. Even though it was a Friday night, the bar was more so steady rather than busy. He looked over to the large clock on the wall and saw that it was just after ten. He nodded to the bartender who offered him a smile. He had seen her before, he recognized the streak of pink in her platinum blonde hair.

"How's it going, buddy?" she asked while she finished pouring a drink for the customer in front of her.

"It's going," Squall responded.

She nodded and approached him. "What can I get you tonight?"

Squall let his eyes roam over the multitude of glass bottles that sat perfectly displayed across from him. "I'll just get the raspberry wheat homebrew for now," he said. Inwardly he thought about ordering his normal shot of whiskey but thought he would wait to get his beer first.

"You got it," said the bartender as she made her way over to the tap.

A buzzing sounded off from his jeans' pocket. Squall cleared his throat and pulled his phone from his pants. He saw the name across the screen and frowned in momentary confusion. It was Kendra and she was saying that the little teaser picture on Absolute Lore's page looked amazing.

"The what?" he muttered.

"Here you go." The bartender placed a glass in front of Squall and hurried off to cater to another customer before he could say his thanks.

Squall went onto Absolute Lore's page from his phone and saw the photo that Rinoa had put up. "Oh, nice," he said to himself as he sipped his beer. Kendra was right, the photo did look great. Selphie's friend most certainly was talented. Even though he had already known that from his inspection of her photography page, it was a different matter when it came to photos of himself.

S.L: Thanks.

K: No problem! =) It was nice seeing you the other day, sorry we didn't get much chance to catch up. I was at a birthday dinner.

S.L: It's all good.

K: So how have you been? It's been a while =)

Squall sighed and read over the words on the screen. Even though he had heard of the infamous "meaning" behind the usage of smiley emoticons, he knew that Kendra did not use them that way. She honestly just liked them and thought they were cute. In fact, many girls he had come across used smiley emoticons in very harmless ways. He took a few gulps of his drink before he responded.

S.L: I'm good. Just staying busy with the band. You know.

K: I actually heard one of your songs on the radio the other day. I think Rae is now your biggest fan. She like became star-gazed when I told her the bassist was a woman.

S.L: Glad to hear it.

He came to the bottom of his glass and decided he wanted his whiskey shot. "Excuse me? Could I get a shot of Jack and another beer please?"

"Sure thing," said the bartender, giving him a nod of acknowledgement.

K: Your photographer is very talented.

S.L: That she is. She's Selphie's friend.

K: Who?

Squall thought for a moment and then realized that Kendra hadn't even met Selphie, Irvine and Selphie met after Kendra was already out of the picture. Shit, he thought. How long has it been now? His new drinks appeared before him and he signaled his thanks to the bartender.

S.L: Irvine's girl.

K: Someone actually snagged him? Wow, we really are getting old if Irvine's starting to settle down =)

Squall had to laugh at that. It had always been a common thought of the group that Irvine would be the last to settle down with one person. Before Selphie, Irvine was clearly enjoying the rock star lifestyle, groupies included. Squall was actually the first to notice the spark that lit up in Irvine's eyes when he and Selphie had first met. The cowboy had tried brushing it off at first, muttering lame nonsense that she was just another girl and he'd probably never see her again. Sure enough, they crossed paths again a few weeks later and the rest was history.

S.L: Yeah, go figure that the womanizer of the band is the only one in a relationship.

K: =( no lady for you?

S.L: No.

K: Well, I'm sure you'll find someone. Eventually SOMEONE is gonna have the patience to put up with your shit =)

S.L: I'd say the same to you but it looks like someone already is.

K: ?

Squall downed his shot and washed it down with a quick swig of beer. The hell is this question mark? I looked right at you and he had his arm around you. He knew that Kendra was not one to play dumb, she truly was that oblivious. It was one of the things about her that drove him crazy. He didn't feel like he should have to spell it out for someone on a daily.

S.L: The guy you were with at The Red Scorpion, isn't he your boyfriend?

K: No…we're just seeing each other.

"Oh." He sipped on his beer as he stared down at her text. Just seeing each other she said. Squall could only blink for a moment. Sure, he couldn't tell if she was happy about it because she wasn't right in front of him, but she mentioned it pretty casually. And then, those damn dots. He remembered she always had a habit of using those damn ellipses whenever she was trying to figure out what to say or figure out how to word what she wanted to say. Sometimes, when she was angry at him and he would try to get her to tell him what was wrong, she would only respond with "…"

He couldn't think of anything else to say to her so he put the phone down on the counter and finished his beer. A few minutes ticked by before his phone started buzzing again.

K: Are you mad?

Squall looked over the words on the screen. He wasn't angry, not at all. He wasn't upset, he wasn't distraught, he felt…emotionless. So why did that drive him to order another shot? He tucked the phone away into his pocket when the pretty bartender filled his glass.

"Thanks," he said. He quickly tossed the shot glass back and slammed it down onto the counter, empty. "One more," he said. With a quick glance to the clock on the wall that glared brightly at him, he added, "Last one."

The bartender nodded. "You got it." She tilted the bottle in the air and filled the shot. She disappeared for a moment while Squall threw his head back and returned with his tab. With two fingers she plucked Squall's card out of his hand and ran it through. As she handed it back to him, she said, "Did you want to order anything from the kitchen? We're closing it down in about twenty minutes so we're taking last orders."

Squall thought for a moment but that last shot started to make his head turn fuzzy. Shit. "Yeah, I'm gonna smoke and then I'll be back in for a burger maybe."

"Sure thing. See you in a bit."

"Thanks." Squall slid off of the barstool, his hand calmly gripped the counter's edge to steady himself. Yes, a cigarette would clear his head, at least momentarily. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat as he wove through the maze of tables and chairs toward the doors.

Squall stumbled only briefly, quickly caught himself and leaned a hand against his car door. He released a breathy groan as he tried to steady the waves that began to rock within his skull. Shit, he mentally berated himself, lamenting his poor decision of taking that last shot. Or maybe it was the last two shots. Either way…

He straightened himself up and unlocked the passenger door. For a few moments his hands fumbled over the passenger seat as he searched for one of his many lighters that he knew he had in the car he just couldn't remember where. "Goddammit you asshole," he muttered. "I know you're in here." Of course, he only bought simple and plain black lighters, which of course melted in with the faded black—practically considered charcoal now—interior. He had before purchased those spiffy looking Bic lighters that had various designs on them in hopes that it would make searching for the lighters easier, however, designed lighters had a tendency to disappear a lot faster than plain ones.

Finally his fingers grazed over the surface of the Bic and he grasped it in triumph. "Yes!" he shouted, reeling back out of the car to light his cigarette. He had moved so quickly that he lost his footing, only for a moment, but it was long enough for him to nearly fall back onto the person walking along the sidewalk.

"Hey!"

Squall caught his balance and swung out an arm in hopes to keep the other person from falling. "Shit!" Instead of his fingers grasping around the person's arm, they tore a hole in the paper bag she was holding. His jaw clenched in horror as he watched a couple of boxes spill onto the sidewalk. "Shit—I am so sorry!" he said, dropping down to quickly gather up the items. "Sorry, really, I just lost my footing."

"Squall?"

He paused at the sound of his name. The voice was so damn familiar but with the alcohol and the flush of embarrassment diluting his brain he couldn't quite place it. He looked up from the ground, his eyes widening a fraction at the surprised face that stared back at him.

"Uh…hey, Rinoa," he said lamely.

Her lips curved into a smile as recognition filled her face. Then, her eyes narrowed as she took in his appearance. "Squall…" she began carefully. "Are you ok?"

Squall nodded and slowly stood to his feet so as to avoid the spins. "Yeah…yeah, just had one shot too many." He glanced down at the items he had picked up from the ground. "Uh, here." He handed them over, his eyes touching briefly over the little black box of tampons. "Sorry, didn't mean to rip your bag."

Rinoa shifted the bag in her arms so that the hole was closed up by her chest. "Thanks," she said, taking the small boxes and tossing them back into her bag. She glanced down at the car keys that were still placed within the car door. "You're not planning on driving, are you?"

"Huh?" Sqaull jerkily turned and looked at his car as if he had just remembered it was there. Then he remembered the cigarette that still dangled from his lips. "Oh, no," he said, raising the lighter back to his face. "I just came out for a smoke and then I was gonna go back in and order a burger to sober up." He stepped backward so his hip closed the open car door, the keys jangled, metal against metal, and he placed them back into his pocket. "What are you doing out here?"

She jerked her head towards the convenience store across the street on the corner. "I needed a few things." She could see the wheels turn in his head but not quite put it together. Rinoa offered him a smile and lightly chuckled. "I live in the apartments over there," she explained, shifting her arms again so she could point towards the complex that was up the street.

"Oh." Squall followed her direction and gave a slight nod. "So you just walked?"

"Well it's right down the street and I only needed a few things."

"Still, you shouldn't be walking the sidewalks at night."

Rinoa gave him a look and arched her brow in challenge. "Oh, really? Why? Because I'm a girl?"

He turned his eyes back towards her, glazed over with lids lowering. "No, because they need to fix the sidewalks. The concrete's all fucked up and the lighting's bad at night so you can't see where it's all uneven."

While Rinoa shaped her lips into a small 'o' so she could say, "What?" a short cry came from across the street. Both of them glanced over to see a figure pick himself off the ground.

Squall looked back at Rinoa with an amused and crooked grin on his lips. "See? The cracks aren't everywhere, but they sneak up on you."

Rinoa laughed quietly and shrugged her shoulders. "Ok, well, I promise to walk carefully. Like I said, it's just up the street." She began to take a step and then looked back at Squall, almost as an afterthought. "I have coffee at the apartment," she offered. "It's free and it'll help you sober up."

He did love coffee. It was always a weakness to him. Squall lifted his chin in a nod of acceptance to the offer and turned to walk beside her.

"Plus, you can protect me from any of those nasty cracks."

"I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything." The toe of his boot scoffed over uneven concrete and he stumbled for only a moment before straightening himself out. "See?"

Rinoa laughed. "Right, I'm sure it's all the concrete's fault that you can't walk properly. It probably has absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol on your breath."

Squall blew a breath into his palm. "Is it that bad?"

"No," Rinoa giggled again. "But you are sweating, the alcohol's coming out of your pores."

Squall shot her a look of mock outrage. "Good god woman, are you going to complain the entire walk to your apartment? Because I can sober up in my car."

"Oh, but there's no coffee in your car."

He scowled. "You do make a valid point. The coffee better be worth it."

"It may not be considered café extraordinaire but I think it'll do." At the skeptical glare he sent her, she added, "If I throw in that I won't complain about how much you reek of alcohol can we call it even?"

Squall pretended to ponder over it for a few steps. "Yeah, sure," he said finally.


When they entered the apartment, Squall instantly started to glance around and take in the surroundings. For someone who had just moved in barely over a week prior, Rinoa had certainly made it very homey. The faded red couch already had two black throw pillows adorned with dark red bows strategically placed along the corners. The glass coffee table in the center of the living room was decorated with a simple black vase filled with blooming yellow daffodils. She didn't have a dining table, instead the area sectioned off to be a dining area had been filled with very full bookcases. He watched as Rinoa walked into the kitchen and set her grocery bag on the white countertop.

"Nice place," he said, pulling up to the counter and placing his hands along the edge.

"Thanks, I do love it." She busied herself with putting away her groceries and Squall made a move to help her. "Oh, no," she told him, holding up her hands to stop him. "No way drunky, you go sit your happy ass down on the couch. And take off your damn boots. Heathen."

Squall shook his head at her barking orders but did as he was told. He made his way over to the couch and eased back into the cushions as he listened to her set up the coffee machine.

After a few moments Rinoa set down the large and steaming black ceramic mug onto the glass table. "Did you want cream or sugar?"

"No, I take it black," he said. The look on Rinoa's face clearly told him that the very idea was completely foreign to her and he couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction. "When you have gigs that end at one and after parties that go until after the sun rises, and then work later on, you tend to skip the sugar and go straight for the caffeine."

Rinoa shook her head in horror as she made her way back to the kitchen to make herself a cup. "Yeah, no, I could never. I can honestly say that I've had one cup of completely black coffee in my lifetime." She paused and thought for a moment. "Scratch that, one sip of completely black coffee, and that was only because we were out of creamer and sugar." She finished stirring and slowly walked back to the couch. "I wanna say that was during my freshman year of college and the struggle was real. My roommate Dez and I were surviving off of ramen and bread for almost a week."

Squall laughed and reached for the mug. As he lifted it to his lips he looked at the design. Across the shiny black surface were bloody letters that spelled out REDRUM. He smiled and greedily sipped. "Stephen King fan I take it?"

"Possibly." She drank from her own mug that was adorned with an old fashioned cameo silhouette. "I have a tendency to collect books, mugs, and lenses," she said, setting the mug onto the glass.

Squall glanced over to her coffee, his brows frowning. "Shit, would you like some coffee with your creamer?" he commented, referring to how light her coffee was.

"I like it sweet," she admitted as she curled up onto the sofa chair that sat at an angle to the couch. "Don't judge."

"Roommate?" he asked, gesturing towards the double doors in the corner of the living room that were clearly too large for a coat closet.

"Hmm?" She followed his gaze and shook her head. "No, it's a den. Just a small room with no closet. I made it my office. It's where I've been editing all the photos. One day I plan on having a house with my own dark room so I can make my own prints."

"Nice." Squall sipped from his mug. "Thanks for bringing me back here," he said. "You didn't have to."

Rinoa shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I mean, you're not puking all over the place, so that's good. If you were I'd probably roll you out to the patio and leave you there overnight." She sent him a dazzling smile when he glared at her. "What happened? Why'd you get drunk—and by yourself?"

He responded with a sharp laugh and rubbed his hands over his face. "Getting drunk was not part of the plan," he groaned. "I had just got off work and wanted a beer—just one beer—but then someone was texting me and then I started ordering my shots."

"How many shots did you have?"

"Only three, but one right after the other and I haven't eaten in a while so…yeah." Squall sighed and looked over at Rinoa. "I don't feel like I'm going to puke, so you don't have to worry about that."

"So who were you talking to? Were you fighting?"

"No, no fight." He inwardly winced as he realized he had yet to respond to Kendra after she had asked if he was mad at her. Oops. Squall let out a breath and curled his lip into an aggravated snarl. "It was Kendra."

Rinoa blinked. Who? The name sounded familiar. She cocked her head as she thought. She was about to ask Squall who he was talking about but then she remembered the pretty brunette with the most magnificent smile. "Oh! The girl from the bar?"

Squall was staring ahead at the blank television screen in front of him while he sipped his coffee. He simply nodded and set the mug onto the table.

"Everything ok?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, like I said it wasn't a fight. It wasn't much of anything."

"I thought you said she wasn't an ex-girlfriend?"

"She wasn't." Squall leaned back further into the cushions and adjusted his spine. "I mean, she's an ex…something."

"So then what is your story with Kendra? How is she affecting you this way?"

"She and I were seeing each other for a while. She wasn't my girlfriend and I wasn't her boyfriend. But I was seeing only her and she was seeing only me."

Rinoa blinked and tried to understand. "So…you guys were acting like boyfriend and girlfriend but you just weren't calling each other that?"

Squall narrowed his eyes and scrunched his nose at Rinoa's summarized description. While her description was somewhat accurate she had made it sound so juvenile. "Fuck. When you put it like that…"

She chuckled and stretched out her leg to nudge his thigh with her toe. "I wasn't trying to make it sound bad! I was just trying to understand your situation. So, you two were together but didn't have those labels." When Squall nodded Rinoa tapped her lip. "And I take it she wanted those labels."

"I never strayed. I never even looked at another girl. Yet she felt that the only way for us to be completely committed to each other was for us to have these labels." He raked his fingers through his hair as he remembered the hurt expression on Kendra's face the last time they had spoken as a couple. "Now she's "just seeing" this guy. She said it so casually—"Oh, I'm just seeing him," like it's no big deal and that she's perfectly happy with it. Which I think is fine, I want her to be happy. But when she and I were "just seeing" each other she was completely hell bent on trying to get some sort of label from me."

Rinoa nodded as she listened to him. "How long ago was all this?"

"Uh…a little under two years ago maybe?" Then he started to try and think. "No…more than a year, I know that. She hadn't even met Selphie yet."

Rinoa narrowed her eyes as she watched him try to figure it out. He didn't even know? How terrible. "Seriously?" She arched a very judgmental eyebrow. "You don't even know? How long were you with her?"

"Uh…seven months." He said it so matter-of-factly and then didn't edit it afterwards, so Rinoa assumed that to be true. "She and I wanted different things. She knew what she wanted, I knew what she wanted. I just didn't want to give it to her."

That made Rinoa raise her brows. "That's very big of you to say though," she said softly. "Most people would say something along the lines of "oh I couldn't give it to her" or "I couldn't be what she wanted" or something. So you admitting that it was because you didn't want to…it's very big of you."

Squall shrugged. "It's the truth. I enjoyed her company, I liked having her around, she could actually hold an intelligent conversation…I just did not see nor feel the need to put a label on it."

"I can understand that," Rinoa offered. "However, I can also understand her point of view. Sometimes it's nice to know where you stand with someone that you care so much about."

Kendra had said something similar to him when they decided to separate, though he couldn't remember her exact wording. "So I've heard. But I don't understand why a label is needed when where you stand is exactly where I want you—right beside me." He shifted against the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever," he said. "It's all said and done."

"Well…"

He sat up to grab his mug and held up a hand to stop whatever was about to come from Rinoa's lips. "No," he told her, not rudely or with attitude, just…no. "I'm done with this conversation. Nothing is going to come out of it."

Rinoa nodded, he did have a point. He wasn't trying to get back with Kendra nor did it seem like she was trying to get back with him, nothing really would come out of continuing to talk about it. "Ok," she whispered. "Fair enough." She tapped her fingernails along her mug and glanced around. "Did you want to watch a movie?"

He welcomed the distraction. "Absolutely."

"Any preferences?" She got onto her knees and shuffled her way over to her small DVD rack. "I don't have a whole lot…and my taste in movies kind of goes in every direction possible." She turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "Did you want to pick one?"

"Sure." He crawled over to sit next to her and scanned over her collection. His lips curved in a grin as he saw that her DVD collection was incredibly mixed. She had horror, comedy that ranged from romantic/girly to raunchy as hell, Disney, action, and he was pretty sure he saw a porno in there too. His fingers plucked at a movie and he handed it to her. "This one," he said. "I haven't seen that in years."

Rinoa looked at him with surprised eyes. "Really? I had this on while I was packing up my things in Timber." It was Clue, one of the first movie renditions of a game, and it had been one of those movies she loved to have on ever since she was a kid. Plus, she loved Tim Curry.


Squall stretched and pulled his phone from his pants' pocket. When he glanced at the time displayed on the screen he made a grimace. "Shit," he muttered, causing Rinoa to turn her head towards him. "I should probably get going. It's after two."

"Already?" Rinoa lifted the remote and hit pause. On the screen, Tim Curry's character, Wadsworth, was chasing after Mr. Green with an imaginary candlestick. "But we were getting to the best part!"

He laughed but stood to his feet. "Yeah…I know." He did want to stay and finish the movie at least, but then the likelihood of him actually leaving would be depleted. He'd be too tired to walk to his car and then drive home.

"Oh come on, you can at least finish the movie. There's only like ten minutes left," she said, practically echoing his thoughts.

"True, but then I'd probably never leave."

Rinoa shrugged her shoulders. "You don't have to leave," she told him. "You can crash on the couch until morning. Driving tired can be equivalent to driving drunk, you know."

He grinned as he listened to her argument. "It won't be that bad."

"I'm just looking out for you. Honestly, I think it'd be best if you stayed here. I'll even walk you to your car in the morning." When he made no move towards the couch or the door, instead just watched her, she added, "I'll even make you coffee again and maybe even breakfast."

Squall raised a brow. "We've come to bribery now, have we?"

"I do make a mean bowl of cereal," she said with a sweet smile. "And no one puts a bagel in the toaster and flips the switch quite like me. Just saying."

That caused him to laugh out loud before he could stop himself. "You sure do drive a hard bargain."

Rinoa uncurled her legs and stood up from the love seat. "You can't resist a comfy couch. And I will not take no for an answer. I'm just looking out for your best interests!" She disappeared down the hallway for a moment and came back with a blanket with a giant panda printed on it and solid dark blue pillow. "Come on," she urged, practically shoving him back onto the couch.

"Hey!" The back of his knees bumped the edge of the couch and he fell back onto the cushions. His eyes widened in disbelief as she started to drape the blanket over him and tried to push him into a laying position.

"It's ok, I promise I won't take advantage of you while you sleep," Rinoa said with a sarcastic grin. "Although I will make you finish watching Clue with me." She tucked the pillow beneath his head and went back to her chair. She pressed play and looked back over to Squall and giggled at the sight of him wrapped up like a burrito in a panda-printed blanket. "You look absolutely adorable," she said. A thought entered her mind and she started to reach for her purse.

"If you take a picture I am walking out right now."

Rinoa sank back into her seat with a pout but retracted her arms. "You're no fun."