The fans became a mass entanglement of deafening screams and the venue was filled to the brim of harmonious chaos. Rinoa placed two fingers into her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Around her the energy was infectious. Rinoa felt her skin tingle and vibrate, her heart felt like it was going to explode with joy.
She clutched the camera close to her breast and hurried through the crowd. Earlier, Fujin had asked Rinoa if she could snap a photograph of all the bands together on stage with the crowd behind them. She came up to the back stage door and stood in front of a bouncer she hadn't yet met. "Hang on, I got it here," she said, reaching into her pocket for her back stage pass. "Shit! I have it I swear! Aha!" She held up the pass that boldly stated ABSOLUTE LORE and he nodded at her to let her by.
"You with the band?" he asked, closing the door behind them.
"I'm—"
"The band is with her," Squall said, circling an arm around Rinoa's shoulders and herding her towards the rear entrance of the stage.
Rinoa giggled and snapped a few shots of the several band members scrounging and scuttling across the stage, filling in at the front. Zell hoisted Quistis up in his arms bridal style, laughing loudly when Quistis leaned in and planted a giant red-stained kiss to his temple. "This was the best tour ever!" he shouted.
Fujin let out a howl and pulled Irvine onto the ground to kneel beside her. "Say cheese!" she screamed.
"Squall, get in there!" Rinoa laughed, shoving him away from her.
He gave her a slight grin that sent a ripple of heat vibrating through each of her nerves. Then it was gone and soon he was in with the crowd, his arms crossed over his chest as Gregor angled his elbow to rest upon Squall's shoulder.
Everyone let out scream and raised their arms, smiling for the camera. The crowd behind them lifted their arms as well, their hands in the shape of horns and loudly boasted their enthusiasm. Rinoa continuously clicked on her camera.
Finished, she raised her camera high above her head like a trophy. "Got it!"
The band members turned away, facing the crowd. Together they took their final bows and waved their farewells to their adoring fans.
Afterwards, all the bands gathered around the bar. Quistis had her arms looped around Rinoa's waist. "What a rush!" she laughed, tucking a strand of blonde behind her ear. "Did you enjoy the show Rinoa?"
Rinoa turned around in Quistis's arms and gave her a kiss to the forehead. "Yes! You guys were fantastic! How do you feel?"
"I feel great! Exhilarated!" Quistis squeezed Rinoa and then reached towards the bartender. "Margarita please!" she requested.
"Coming up gorgeous," said the man. He looked over to Rinoa. "And for you?"
"Um…I'll have a Long Island," she decided. She hopped up onto the barstool and arced back and forth as she waited.
Fujin danced towards her and slammed her fist onto the counter. "Goddamn!" she shouted with a wide grin. "Rinoa, girl, thank you so much for coming out and photographing our show! Much appreciated!" She leaned in to give her a deep embrace.
"Of course! I had so much fun today! Thanks for having me," Rinoa said with a wink.
"Oh, any time. I really can't wait to see what you've come up with. You have done such a phenomenal job with Absolute Lore's web page and social media."
"That she has!" shouted Zell, looping an arm around Fujin's shoulders. "We've been sending her pictures that we've taken off of our phones and she uploads them to the page for us."
Rinoa chuckled. "Well…most of them anyway. Some of them I don't post."
Fujin's brows rose in intrigue. "Oh really? What kind of pictures did you send her that she couldn't possibly post onto the internet?" She jabbed Zell in the ribs with her elbow. "You little stinker!"
Zell only gave a wide-eyed innocent stare while Rinoa nearly doubled over laughing. The bartender arrived with her Long Island and she turned away, drink in hand. She probably should have mentioned that the photos she didn't post were mostly due to them either being too blurry or that they were random shots (like the time Zell sent her a picture of his shoe that he thought he had lost the night before or the time that Quistis sent a shot of Irvine and Squall passed out on the floor together with their shirts off) but where was the fun in that?
"Hey, if you need more photos get some from Hans and Royce!" Zell called to Rinoa. "Hans is always on his damn phone and Royce got some good shots of Quistis running around with the crowd the other night when we stopped for dinner afterwards at that 24 hour diner."
"You rang?" Hans crooned, swinging around the bar so smoothly that he lined up with Rinoa in one motion. "Hello gorgeous," he smiled.
Rinoa laughed and gave him a playful shove. "Watch it Casanova," she quipped. "You spill my drink and there will be hell to pay."
"Hans, stop hitting on our Rinoa. She's way out of your league," said Zell, pointing a warning finger at him.
"Shit, all I said was hello!" Hans grinned, holding up his hands in surrender. "But, seriously, I heard Zell say something about you need photos from me and Royce?"
"He was saying that you guys had taken some pictures of the Absolute Lore members that I could possibly use for their website!" Rinoa said. "If you didn't mind sending them to me of course."
Hans shrugged and motioned for her to follow him away from the bar so he could sit down at one of the tables. "Hell yeah! I've a bunch of shots here on my phone. A lot of them I haven't had a chance to post myself yet." Hans pulled his phone from his jeans and grinned. "Here, this one was from our show the other night." He waited for Rinoa to sit down before holding his phone out in front of them.
"What a great picture!" Rinoa gasped, smiling brightly at the picture of Esteban and Squall flanking two teenage boys. One of the boys had a drum stick in his hands, the smile on his face so wide and ecstatic that Rinoa assumed that the stick had come from one of the drummers. "This is really sweet! Send these pictures to my email so I can put it up on their page!"
Hans just handed the phone to her. "There's not a whole lot, but go ahead and pick whatever pictures you want!" he said. "Most of the pictures are of the band…"
Rinoa swiped to the side and choked on a giggle at the next picture: A very busty blonde who was impressively balancing a full beer stein inside her cleavage. She clamped her lips together and slowly turned her head to Hans. "Hm…"
"…uh ok there shouldn't be anything worse than that. No nudes in there. Or dick pics. Promise."
Rinoa started to hand the phone over. "I don't know…I don't want to run the risk of it!"
"Rinoa, Rinoa I promise. I mean, you gotta admit, that chick had skill. I had to take a picture of it." He shoved the phone back towards her. "Just send whatever pictures you want. Hey, there's Royce, I think he had some good shots on his phone too. Be right back."
With a laugh Rinoa continued through the phone's camera roll. Most of the photos were as Hans had stated, photos of the bands but mostly Djin Theory. She came across a stunning picture of Quistis and Fujin standing in the middle of the lit up street of the boulevard. Quistis had one fist held victoriously high, a cigarette dangling from her cherry red lips, while Fujin stood beside her with her lips formed into a scream and her middle finger aimed at the camera. "Bombshells!" Rinoa giggled.
"Going through Hans's photo roll?" Royce said with a teasing wince. "Oh man, is that dangerous!"
"Hey!" Hans responded to the little remark with a quick elbow to the gut. "I'm not that bad."
"True, I think the blonde with the impressive balancing skills was the worst of it!" Rinoa laughed. "I was just looking at that picture of Quistis and Fujin in the middle of the boulevard. I'm so amazed you were able to get that shot! Even in the middle of the night that street's usually busy."
Hans nodded as he thought back to that night. "Yeah, we had to time it just right with the crosswalk and shit. No idea how we managed, we were pretty tanked."
"Well it came out great." She continued swiping and tried not to laugh aloud when she came across a photo of Irvine making an attempt to pose seductively across a pool table. The immediate picture after that was of him doubled over laughing, clearly not able to hold the pose for long. "Royce, what kind of pictures do you have on your phone?" she asked, looking up to see him scrolling through his feed.
"I got this really funny one of Quistis," he said. "In here somewhere. Hang on."
Rinoa chuckled and looked back down to Hans's phone while Royce continued to search for the photo in question. She shook her head as she listened to the two men go back and forth about their feedback about the show. Then she came across a photo that caused her breath to still.
There was Squall, staring straight at her, his blue eyes wide and hollow as if he were caught in the middle of alarm and bewilderment. Around his neck were slim, feminine arms. Painted across his lips were streaks of lipstick the color of blood. Even though the face of the woman clutching to Squall was not visible, the shock of silver hair peeking out just behind his shoulder made it obvious.
Rinoa felt the color drain from her face, felt her heart fall into the pit of her stomach. What am I looking at? She tried to recover quickly and swiped through a few photos so that Hans would not catch her staring.
Perfect timing too, because he had chosen just that moment to sit back beside her. "Show her! Show her!" he was saying to Royce.
"Found it!" Royce held the phone to Rinoa's face, showing her a picture of Quistis at a grocery store holding a tomato shaped like a perfectly round ass beside her own rump for comparison.
Rinoa giggled and handed the phone back to Hans. "That is so cute!" she managed to say without falter. "Send that to my email."
"Did you find some good pictures?" Hans asked, tucking his phone back into his pocket.
"Sure did!" Rinoa replied, reaching for her drink. She glanced around and found Squall deep in conversation with Gregor. As if feeling her gaze, he turned, his blue eyes finding hers. He sent her a slight grin, to which she responded with a small raise of her glass.
Then Fujin approached them, laughing and flicking her silver hair with those long claws of hers. Rinoa swallowed. Her stomach clenched and in her chest she felt a small pain that she couldn't quite figure out. I feel like I'm going to puke, she thought. She threw back the rest of her drink and gave the two men surrounding her a quick pat to their shoulders. "Well, I should be calling it a night," she said.
"Early flight back tomorrow, huh?" Royce asked.
"Yeah. You know how it is! Great show you guys, can't wait to post the pictures later."
Squall made another round through the bar. He spotted Zell coming out of the restroom and approached him. "Have you seen Rinoa?"
Zell nodded towards the bar. "A few minutes ago. She said her goodbyes."
"What?"
Zell paused, his brows frowning as he searched Squall's expression. "She didn't…? She said she was going back to the hotel because she's got an early flight tomorrow."
Squall turned away and started to head towards the exit. Rinoa's flight wasn't until the mid-afternoon. He was supposed to drop her off at the airport no later than one o'clock. So why did she leave the bar when it was just barely after midnight?
"Squall, you ok?"
He looked back over to Zell who seemed concerned. "Yeah…yeah," he muttered, downing the rest of his drink.
Zell reached over and gripped Squall's bicep just above the elbow. "Dude, what just happened?" he asked. "Did…did she just leave without telling you goodbye? Aren't you staying with her tonight?"
"That was the plan." Squall frowned. Did something back home happen?
"You think something happened with her dad and she has to leave sooner?" Zell asked, almost as if reading Squall's thoughts.
"Fuck." Squall pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. "No messages, but if she just left then she should be at the hotel." He handed Zell his empty glass and brushed by him.
"Let me know if everything's alright," Zell said.
Squall pushed open the door and found Rinoa in the center of the hotel room, her hand hovering over her bag in the midst of packing. She stared at him with her brown eyes large and wide. Her movements didn't appear to be rushed or hurried, instead she seemed to be just calmly folding her shirts.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Huh?" she responded.
"Why are you packing?"
Rinoa swallowed and lowered her eyes, focusing a lot of attention to the shirt that she was now re-folding. "Well I'm leaving tomorrow," she said.
"I know that. Why are you packing now?"
Rinoa placed the shirt into her bag and picked up a pair of leggings. "Well…I have an early flight."
Squall narrowed his eyes. From the way she was talking and now avoiding his gaze, he gathered that this was not about her father. Something else was wrong. "You don't have to be at the airport until one."
"I know," she said, turning her back towards him as she placed more clothing into her luggage.
Squall inwardly growled and ran his fingers through his hair. "Ok…what is going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Something's bothering you. You left without telling me and you told everyone else that you have an early flight to catch. Now you will hardly look at me." He came up beside her and tried to catch her gaze. "You were going to leave without telling me goodbye?"
Rinoa pressed her lips together.
Her silence stabbed into his gut. Yes. She was. He had the feeling that if he hadn't noticed that she was gone she would have packed her bags and slipped out of the hotel without a trace. She was avoiding him. "Did I do something?"
Rinoa swallowed and slowly pulled her hands away from her bag. "What am I to you?" she asked softly.
"What?"
She shyly tucked her hair behind her ear and turned towards him, her eyes still trained to the ground. "I know…I know that we agreed to talk about this when you returned to Deling but…something's come up and I feel that I would like an answer now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Fujin."
Squall frowned. "What about Fujin?"
Rinoa finally looked up, only for a moment, and Squall saw the hint of annoyance hiding behind her eyes. "I saw the picture of you two," she said.
Squall exhaled and pinched the scar between his eyes. "Fuck…Rinoa, that wasn't…it's not what you think."
"You guys have a history," she was saying. "And you've been spending a lot of time together so I can understand that maybe some sparks have rekindled. You're only human! It's just…I'm having a hard time with being ok with it."
"No, Rinoa, nothing happened. It was a misunderstanding—"
"I mean, you're a grown ass man you can do whatever you want…or whomever."
"Rinoa!" he shouted, trying to get a word in through her rambling. "Nothing happened. She kissed me. And Hans's dumbass came in at the wrong time and took a picture because he thought it was hilarious."
Rinoa didn't say anything but her eyes narrowed as if she didn't believe him.
"Fujin was confiding in me with something. She was upset. She kissed me and wanted more but I was not going to give it to her." When Rinoa continued to stay silent he felt his blood heat up with aggravation. "Look, if I wanted to get with Fujin that night I would have," he growled.
"Oh, yeah?" Rinoa barked back. "So why didn't you?"
Squall let out an exasperated groan and clutched his temple. "Exactly what I fucking said!" he snapped. "I didn't want to! I've no desire to, I don't look at her that way, what more do you need? You have no reason to be upset right now."
"That's the thing, Squall," she said softly, her voice breaking so subtly. "I know that I've no reason to be upset. You're not mine." A sad smile touched her lips and she took in a shuddering breath. "But I've been yours…for a long time now I have been yours."
Squall only stared, his brows knit into a frown as he stared at her. His lips were slightly parted as if he wanted to say something…but no words formed. Slowly he blinked as he watched her. He never wanted to make her cry—never intended to make her cry, yet here she was, standing before him on the verge of tears to the point where she was practically shaking. She was fighting herself, was biting down on her lip to keep the tears in. He found that he would very much rather have her be yelling or shouting. Seeing her cry—because of him—nearly shattered his heart.
Carefully he reached for her, his fingers gently brushing over her shoulders, awaiting permission to touch her. When she didn't pull away from him he pulled her to his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please, please don't cry. I'm sorry." He kissed her hair and held her tight, his eyes closing as he breathed her in. "There is nothing going on between Fujin and I."
Rinoa sighed against him and curled her fingers into his shirt. "I'm sorry I'm making such a big fuss," she sobbed.
"No," he murmured against her hair. "You should never apologize for being upset. Quistis did tell me that I should have told you about it. I just…didn't. "
"Quistis knew?"
"She was walking with Hans. She saw us. Nearly ripped my head off for it."
Rinoa stifled a laugh. Inwardly she made a mental note to hug the shit out of Quistis.
"How did you know?" Squall asked, his fingers sweeping through her hair. "How did I make you mine?" Gently he trailed his lips over her forehead.
Rinoa wound Squall's chain around her finger. She knew exactly when she fell—hard. She had been attracted to him before, of course, had felt the little flutterings of butterflies whenever he would send her that smirk, but it wasn't until that night when she knew that he took hold of her heart.
"It was…that night," she murmured, her lashes lowering as she felt her cheeks warm.
Squall's brows furrowed as he waited for her to continue. That night? he wondered. There were so many nights they had spent together, and even though he felt that each of them were pretty special despite their simplistic nature, he couldn't recall him doing anything too extraordinary to make her fall for him.
Rinoa softly ran her thumb over the pendant that dangled from the chain around his neck. "That first night that you came back from tour," she said lowly. She lifted her eyes to meet his and offered a tiny smile. "When you got back into town early?"
He blinked as he remembered. He recalled sitting in the van, his gaze aimed outside as he was counting down the miles until they were back in Deling. Since his apartment was right by the off-ramp he was the first person to be dropped off. "Yeah," he whispered. "I got into my car and saw you."
"You were exhausted," Rinoa chuckled. "You told me that you didn't even go into your apartment…that you just got into your Jeep and came to my place."
The corner of Squall's lips melted into a pensive grin as he watched how happy that had made her. She was smiling fully, her lashes lowered back down so her gaze was aimed at his necklace, and her cheeks were rosy from the memory.
"I mean, I figured that I wasn't just "some girl" to you," she was saying. "But when I saw you at my doorstep it showed me that I meant something to you and that you had some kind of feelings for me. We may have not known exactly what they were at the time, but…it just made me feel so special knowing that I was the first person you wanted to see."
"You mean a lot to me."
Rinoa chewed her lip and moved her hands upward so her fingers clasped behind his neck. "You mean a lot to me too," she whispered. "I'm not trying to be possessive but…I find that I'm really not too keen on the idea of sharing you with anyone. I thought perhaps I could be since we both have very busy lives but…" She shook her head and nervously giggled. "Can't do it."
"I understand the feeling." His arms came around her waist. "I definitely do not like the idea of sharing you. The thought never came to mind. You were wrong earlier, you know."
Rinoa lifted her head, her brows kitting together in confusion. "Which part?"
"When you said that I wasn't yours." His fingers roamed over her spine, one hand slithering upwards to grasp the back of her skull, tugging her head backwards so their eyes met. "Because I am. I go to bed with you on my mind and I wake up every morning wishing your face was the first thing I see."
Rinoa felt her heart swell, couldn't help but utter out a squeal of pleasure at Squall's words. He is mine, she thought. And I am his. She raised onto her toes and pressed her lips firmly to his mouth.
"There's something you have to understand," Squall said, pulling away slightly. "I'm not one for public affection."
Rinoa smirked. "Yes, I've kinda gathered that."
"So if you're expecting all that mushy shit on your facebook or a woman crush Wednesday…yeah I don't do that."
"I feel that couples who do that on a daily are hiding something," Rinoa admitted.
"Or holding hands or matching t-shirts."
"You and I own a lot of black. Us matching is bound to happen somehow."
Squall nodded. "Touche. I'm just a very private person Rinoa, and I like to keep it that way. As long as I have you knowing that you're the only one I see then that's enough for me. With social media and technology being such a focus point nowadays, it seems a lot of men and women feel their relationship is only justified through tagged posts and hashtags. I don't do that shit. I feel it's beyond unnecessary."
"Just feed me and tell me I'm pretty," Rinoa murmured, darting out her tongue to line his bottom lip.
"Rinoa, I'm being serious."
"As am I!" she laughed. "You show affection for me in a different way. You're not public or obnoxiously loud about it. Besides," she said, coiling a strand of his brown locks around her finger. "The little things you do…like showing up at my door immediately after you come home from tour or taking me to see stars in a place you've never shared with anyone…or, I don't know, write a fucking song for me…that just…" She bit down on her lip and lowered her gaze. "That just makes me fall for you harder. Those things made me melt. Like…I knew there was something between us. I knew that you just don't do things like that for just anyone. But hearing you say that you did those things because of the reasons I thought you did them…just hearing you say it aloud solidifies my assumptions. And…it makes me really happy." She scrunched her nose. "Does that make sense?"
Squall nodded. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes it does. I just want to make you happy."
Rinoa smiled and pulled his face down so it was level with hers. "You do," she murmured against his warm lips. "You make me so stupidly incredibly happy. When I'm with you time just stops."
He crashed his lips down onto hers, his tongue gliding and probing into her mouth as his hands roamed the length of her back, ran over the curves of her ass and pulled her body so tightly against him that she could feel his arousal.
Rinoa pulled back, gasping, her cheeks flushed. She spun around and shoved her bag off of the bed, leaping onto the mattress and pulling Squall down hard on top of her. Swearing and moaning his name, she rocked her hips against his body. Her hands snaked their way up beneath his shirt, her nails gently pinching at the nipple ring.
Unable to stand it, Squall tore at his shirt and then reached for hers. He had to feel her skin. Had to feel her heat. Had to taste every inch of her. "Off," he demanded, his eyes darkening with desire as he watched her pull her shirt over her head and undo the snap of her jeans.
When he had her naked and spread open for him atop the bed like a feast, he licked and kissed her mouth, his fingers plunging deep inside her with a strumming rhythm that brought her over the edge with the most beautiful scream. Her moans were like music to his ears. Her scent and taste so addicting. "You are mine," he breathed into her ear.
Squall began to move himself between her legs, ready to push inside her, but Rinoa used her legs and arms to push him off of her so that he landed on his back. With a sly grin she ran her nails down the surface of his chest. "Let me," she whispered. "Please, let me."
He panted and groaned as she took his length into her mouth, swirled her tongue and pumped her hand around him. She crawled over his hips, positioned herself and lowered onto his length, gasping and biting into her lower lip. Her nails dug into his chest, scraping over the hard muscle. "And you are mine," she moaned. He pulled her face towards his for a kiss, his hips pulsing and rising to meet her.
His fingers threaded through her hair, tugged at the roots to expose her neck so he could bite down onto the sensitive flesh. She cried out and dug her nails into the sheets, fingers curling into a tight fist.
Squall rolled her over onto her stomach, driving into her from behind, his arm encircling her waist to keep her body tightly aligned to his. His other hand cupped her jaw, his tongue trailing down the slope of her neck, his teeth gently nipping at her earlobe. He panted against her burning flesh, felt his heart thunder madly within his ribcage as he watched Rinoa squirm and writhe beneath him.
There was such a fierceness in the lovemaking between them tonight. All their emotions now out in the open, coming together in a beautiful, violent, heated passion. In the back of his mind he wondered if he was being too rough. But then Rinoa shoved him onto his back, straddling his hips again with such fervor, and clamped her hands over his wrists to pin them into the mattress. He would not break this girl. She was not the little porcelain doll she sometimes appeared to be. She was fiery. She was steel draped in lace. As she undulated over him, her movements so liquid and erotic, she looked like heaven on earth.
And she was his.
A/N: Hellooooooo my darling readers! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys like it too! If I didn't get a chance to personally write to the reviewers of the last piece, my bad! Been really busy with school and personal life doings. But thank you readers, reviewers, followers, all of you! xoxoxox
