Rinoa's eyes brightened when Squall approached her in the lounge area just outside the front of the venue. "Great show," she said, handing him his pack of cigarettes he had asked her to hold.
"Thank you," he said, taking the pack and slinging his jacket around her shoulders.
"It's not that cold," Rinoa said, but still accepting the jacket. She stroked the warm leather sleeves fondly as she watched him pull a lighter from his back pocket. "I really liked that first song you played," she told him.
He gave her a smirk and bumped his knee into hers. "I knew you would. It's a classic."
"That's what Selphie said."
She glanced back towards the venue's entrance and wondered where she had disappeared to. After the stage was cleared, Irvine came to Selphie and the two looked to be in very deep conversation when Squall beckoned Rinoa outside.
"Can you see anything when you're onstage?" she asked. "Like the crowd?"
Squall shook his head. "Can't see much of anything when I'm up there," he said. "The lights are more so on us than the crowd." Gingerly his fingers brushed over hers as her hand rested between them. "I look for you sometimes," he told her softly. "Sometimes I hope to catch you dancing…or maybe even balancing along the bar to get the most perfect shot." His other hand brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled, exhaling the smoke through his teeth. "But I never see you." His fingers laced with hers and she gently squeezed. "But I know you're out there. I can…feel you."
Rinoa squeezed his hand harder and leaned in to give his earlobe a quick nibble. "I'll always be out there," she whispered. "Feeling your music, your beats…and I'll never get tired of it."
"What a night!"
Squall turned his head and nodded as Quistis slowly walked up them, her hands cupped around her cigarette as she protected the lighter's flame. When it was finally lit she lowered her hands and shoved the lighter into the waistband of her shorts. "Man…I'm still all tingly!" she said with a bright smile. She looked down to where Squall and Rinoa's fingers were entwined and she let out an adorable squeal.
"Shut it," Squall said, gently kicking the side of her boot.
"Don't poke the lion," Zell warned.
Quistis shrugged her shoulders. "But it's so much fun," she purred. "It's just so strange seeing him look so…human now that our sweet angel Rinoa's come along."
That made Squall frown and scowl at her even more. "The fuck was I before?"
The blonde gave another shrug of her shoulders. Then, a dangerous glint sparkled in her aqua eyes. "I dunno, maybe a fungus of some kind."
Before Squall could respond, Zell spun Quistis around and gave her a swat to the ass. "I got you bro," he said to Squall with a wink. Then, to Quistis: "You're a feisty one tonight!"
She couldn't stop laughing even as she rubbed her now throbbing ass cheek. "It's too much fun pestering him!" She sent Rinoa a glittering smile.
"It is fun teasing him, isn't it!" Rinoa laughed.
Quistis chuckled and continued rubbing her ass. "Goddammit Zell," she muttered. "You got it in such a way…I'm probably gonna have a handprint on my ass for like a week."
"Aw, it wasn't that hard, love," he said, bending over to pick up her cigarette she had dropped. "I'm sure it'll be fine by end of tomorrow night." He handed her the stick and looked back over to Squall. "Finish up your cigarettes," he said. "We got a pregnant lady coming out."
Wordlessly, Squall and Quistis took long hits from their smokes and crushed them beneath their boots. In an attempt to be polite, they exhaled in the opposite direction of Selphie and then winced when the wind shifted and sent the smoke right towards her.
"Sorry!" Quistis squealed, clamping her hands over her mouth. Immediately she stepped forward and tried to wave the smoke away.
"It's fine!" Selphie laughed.
"Get away from our band baby," Quistis hissed to the smoke.
Selphie tried not to fall over from giggling. "I think they're safe," she said.
"They?" Zell's jaw dropped open and snapped his gaze to Irvine.
The cowboy's eyes were equally as large and he looked down at Selphie, who now looked as if she would piss herself from laughter.
"No!" she gasped. "I just said 'they' because I didn't know if it's he or she yet!" She patted Irvine's chest. "I promise, there's only one in here." She looked over to Rinoa and grinned. "Ugh, could you imagine?"
Rinoa shook her head with passion. "Oh hell no. I could not." She looked at Selphie's tiny frame and winced. "I know women's bodies are amazing and capable of practically anything…but…oh honey. If this kid takes after Irvine you're gonna have a long and lean little baby in there!"
Selphie's smile dropped and she turned and smacked Irvine in the chest, right where she had gently patted before. "Damn you!" she said.
"My bad! Blame my parents and their genetics."
"Hopefully they take after me," Selphie said, her voice now low in a groan. "Goddammit."
"Maybe the baby won't take after Irvine height wise until they're toddler age?" Quistis offered. "One of the girls at The Red Scorpion, Gina, she's about your frame and her husband is like six foot five. Their son was small at birth, perfect weight and length, but when he was almost two he was in like the ninety-eighth percentile for height! The kid's like six now and is like the tallest in his class—completely towers over all the other babies in kindergarten."
"See?" Rinoa said to Selphie. "I think baby's gonna take after you while baking." She looked at the bandmates and wagged her finger at them. "Ok, no more scaring Selphie! Onto the next topic!" She turned towards Squall. "What're your plans for next week?" Rinoa asked.
Squall lifted his shoulders in uncertainty and leaned back against the brick wall. "I don't think we have any shows planned. Irvine was talking about Seifer wanting to do some video footage but I don't know if that's been confirmed yet." He took a cigarette from his pack and paused, remembering Selphie.
"Still waiting for a text back," Irvine commented. "Once I hear back from him, I'll let you all know what he says."
Rinoa shook her head and lightly took the cigarette from his fingers, brought it to her lips to keep away from him. "Not band related," she said, speaking around it.
He shook his head. "No…I don't think so. I mean, Ellone and I might have some plans because…" Realization dawned its head and he ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh." He gave Rinoa a wry grin. "Oh yeah. Something about my birthday, I guess?"
Zell guffawed and wrapped his arm around Quistis's shoulders. "Did you forget about that, buddy?"
"It's not like I do anything major."
"Well, we're changing that this year!" Selphie announced. "Rinoa and I were tossing some plans back and forth and we were wondering if maybe we should do like a little family potluck!" She looked over to Zell. "I took the initiative and talked to Ma," she confessed. "She's all for it!"
"Yay!" Quistis clapped her hands in excitement. "That sounds perfect!"
"It falls on a Thursday this year but I think that it'd be perfect! No shows lined up, if that thing with Seifer goes through we can make sure we do it a few days before or do it over the weekend," Irvine offered.
"Selphie said she'll make her ceviche!" Rinoa said.
A pleased smile came upon Squall's lips and he nodded in approval. "Sounds amazing." He looked over to Quistis. "Could I request that pineapple upside down cake you've made in the past?"
Quistis blew him a kiss. "For you? Anything."
Zell pointed at Irvine. "Tomahawk steaks?"
Irvine shot a fist into the air. "Oh hell yeah! We'll use that special seasoning I got from Diablos! Oh man…it's gonna be awesome. I'll make some chili…" He paused as he thought more of the menu. "And some potato wedges smothered with bacon bits."
"What are you going to make me?" Squall asked Rinoa.
"Oh, I'll bring the liquor. Especially a bottle of Jameson just for you! You know I can't cook that well," she laughed.
"Hey, you can cut peppers like a pro," he said. "Give yourself some credit."
Rinoa smiled at his compliment, her insides warming at his endearing words. "Thank you," she said softly. "But it doesn't take much to cut a pepper. That's like adulting 101."
"Maybe you just need some more lessons," he told her lowly, his right hand creeping behind her back and sneaking beneath her shirt, lightly trailing over her spine.
"Is it getting steamy out here, or is it just me?" Zell asked Quistis.
The two blondes jumped back to dodge Squall's sweeping boot and erupted into an uproar. "Now who's poking the lion?" she shot back to Zell.
Irvine chuckled and gave Squall's shoulder an affectionate shake. "It'll be great," he said. "Maybe you can do a fruit salad," he suggested to Rinoa. "If you can cut up peppers then you can cut up a bunch of fruit."
"I'll think about it," she told him with a grin. While he wasn't wrong, Rinoa knew that, given her history, she would probably just buy a premade one at the grocery store.
"You do that!" Selphie hopped on one foot with glee and bent down to give Rinoa a tight squeeze. "I'm gonna head out," she said. "My bed is calling my name and I'm helpless to resist." She waved her goodbyes to everyone and Irvine escorted her away.
"Think they'll make it?" Rinoa asked Squall, placing the cigarette back into his mouth.
When the cigarette was back in between his lips, he lightly poked the filter with his tongue, tasting Rinoa's raspberry lipgloss. "There's love there," he said, lighting it. "He himself said he'd crawl on his belly through glass and fire to prove himself to her. I believe him."
"He's making an effort," Quistis nodded. "Even though fatherhood scares the shit out of him…he knows Selphie and that little bean will be worth it." She made an affectionate squeal within her throat and squeezed Zell around the waist. "I can't believe there's gonna be a little squirmy, wormy, itty bitty little kiddo coming next year!"
"It's going to be adorable," Rinoa agreed. "I can't wait to snuggle the little guy. Or girl. Whichever."
Zell and Squall shot each other looks. "Don't either of you get any ideas," Zell said.
That was when Quistis and Rinoa broke into near hysterics. "Absolutely not," Rinoa promised. "Love kids. Love holding them and bouncing them in my arms and snuggling them…but I'm always grateful I can pass them off back to their parents!"
"Same. I don't think motherhood is in the cards for me. I don't even want a dog!"
"I would love a dog!" Rinoa told Quistis. "But that's still a big ol' heap of responsibility that I just cannot commit to at the moment."
"I hear that! Ma talks about getting a dog sometimes," Zell said. "But she's retired and is home all day so it makes sense for her. If we weren't in a band and going on tours then it'd be a different story for me. I always feel like one of these days I'm going to walk through the front door and there will be a little barking fuzzball waiting to greet me. Probably a Pomeranian. She thinks those little twerps are the cutest."
At Squall's house, he dropped his keys onto the kitchen counter. He watched as Rinoa tossed her purse onto the couch and made her way into the kitchen. She looked so beautiful, so stunning…so delicious.
Before a word came from those luscious lips of hers, he slid his arms around her waist and spun her around, lifting her feet from the ground. A throaty chuckle rumbled against his throat as he lowered her onto the bed. Her legs hooked around his hips, bringing him close to her as she placed kisses along the stubble that stretched across his jaw.
Soon his hands were roaming beneath her tank top, slipping beneath her bra so that he could cup her breasts. As he kissed her deeply, he rolled her nipples between his fingers, swallowing the moans she produced.
When he had her fully unclothed, she clawed at his shirt, peeling it away from him. He wore nothing beneath. She smiled fully when her palms skirted over the bare and warm flesh of his back. Gingerly she ran a nail over the raised scars that adorned the back of his shoulder.
Carefully he lowered himself to his knees and pulled at her legs, bringing her hot center to the edge of the bed and a mere breadth away from his tantalizing mouth. She let her head drop back and let his mouth take her.
As his tongue danced circles over her clit his fingers plunged into her, stroking and massaging. She speared her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer, pulsating against his fiery kisses. She gasped and muttered to herself, making raunchy commands as he worked her.
Before she got to her peak, Squall stood and his hands went to his belt. "Turn around," he commanded.
She did as she was told, turned and got onto her hands and knees, practically mewing in ecstasy as he positioned himself behind her. Without warning, he slammed into her, his hand bracing upon the center between her shoulder blades to push her down into the mattress.
"Ohmygod—Squall!" she shouted, her voice breaking as she was overcome with the waves of pleasure that washed over her nerves. Just like the steady pulse of his drums, he thrust into her with a beat that quickly took her over the edge.
"Take it," he growled into her ear, his teeth catching her earlobe, then the slope of her neck. His tongue traced over the detailed feathers imprinted in her back.
She bit down into her bottom lip and begged him to go faster, harder. As he complied, she reached her hand down between her legs stroking herself in circles to bring her to her high. As she came, she bucked her hips and swore profusely.
As his thrusts picked up the pace he lowered his lips to slant over hers. He kept his hold onto her until she became a shuddering, whimpering mess.
August 19th Sunday
Rinoa twirled the sugar packet between her fingers nervously. Her coffee had certainly cooled down by now, but she just couldn't bring herself to sip yet. She glanced at her phone. It was barely even five minutes till eleven, he wasn't late, but she had been sitting there for a good ten minutes already and attempting to organize her thoughts.
Squall had texted her when he arrived at the studio, expressing his displeasure that he was there and not rolling around in the sheets with her. Her response was equally remorseful.
"Miss Heartilly!" Laguna waved at her and extended a hand to her as she stood. "So nice to see you again." He sat in the booth across from her and smiled warmly at the server who approached. "Coffee please," he said.
"Cream and sugar?" the server asked.
"No thank you."
Rinoa smiled at the server and watched him leave. Her heart pinched at Laguna's coffee order and she glanced down at her own mug, a perfect combination of cream and two sugar packets. "I can't do it black," she said, nodding at the coffee mug the server now placed in front of Laguna. "I know some people like it black so they can actually taste the coffee but…I need a bit of sweetness."
Laguna chuckled and took a quick sip. "I used to just use sugar," he admitted. "But…wife's orders. I need to cut down on my sugar intake so I've been on a sugar-free or significantly sugar-less kick for the last two years. Diabetes ran on my mother's side of the family—nothing too life endangering, but once I turned fifty a few years ago Yalena insisted I cut back."
"I'm just assuming, but I think she might just want to keep you around for a while." Rinoa grinned widely at the boyish grin that spread across his face.
"Yes…can't imagine why. I'm sure I annoy the shit out of her at times!"
Rinoa sipped at her mug and cleared her throat. "So, you said you were here on business. What do you do?"
"I'm a writer," he told her. "Mostly journals on scientific and biomechanical engineering. My focus is on aviation units within the military."
"Oh wow."
"Well, it helped that I was in Galbadia's army so my knowledge was firsthand and quite extensive, if I'm to be humble."
"Bet you did a lot of traveling," she said, thinking back to her father being gone days at a time after her mother's death. He always made sure he was never gone more than a week. "Where was your favorite place that you've traveled to?"
He thought for a moment, slowly sipping at his coffee. "Probably one of the first few places I went. I was young then, maybe around twenty-one or twenty-two…but I was brought in to help out this director for a movie being filmed up on the mountain tops over Trabia. There's this location that has this steep waterfall that breaks down into a lake that then eventually feeds into the ocean."
Rinoa vaguely knew about the place. She'd heard that it was a fairly popular filming location.
"Anyways, me and a couple other guys were hired to help out with the mechanics of this dragon. It was for this fantasy movie…some up and coming knight originally supposed to defeat this evil sorceress but instead they fall in love when he rescues her from a dragon she was supposed to be sacrificed to." He shrugged, his eyes turning dreamy as he thought back to the past. "It was an amazing experience."
"I think I remember that movie!" she said. It was an older movie, closer to thirty something years old, but it was considered a cult classic. However, Rinoa couldn't say for sure if she had actually watched the entire thing. "I don't think I've seen it, fully," she admitted.
Laguna laughed. "In all honestly? Neither have I," he whispered. "It is, however, one of my wife's favorite movies. She's a few years younger than me so I think it came out when she was around seventeen or eighteen. Can't say that I'm bummed that it gained me a few extra points with her!"
"I might have to watch this movie now."
"Think I saw it on one of those streaming services the other day," Laguna said. "It's campy I'm sure, but my wife loves it. I know I've sat down with her to watch it but I also have a habit of falling asleep during films. I only helped make the dragon and my skills were far from perfect at the time but…I think we did a pretty good job making it pretty believable. Especially since this was before CGI was considered decent."
"What a story," Rinoa murmured. She shook her head and tapped the tabletop. "Ok! Sorry! Speaking about true love…let's talk about your upcoming shoot! Now, I know you said that your anniversary is in October but when were you thinking about scheduling? Like a month before? Two months? Next week?"
"Well, my wife mentioned that she would like to have them taken, printed, and hung up in our living room before the actual date of our anniversary, October eleventh." He winced as he took inventory of the checklist his wife had given him.
"That's definitely doable. Now…I was thinking maybe on the beach. Let's put Yalena in a gown with a long train that could drape over the water…Oh, it'll be so romantic!" She could just picture it now: Laguna would be standing ankle-deep in the water, one arm around Yalena's waist while his other hand twirled a piece of her blonde hair…her dress, perhaps a deep navy blue, spilling out along the surface of the water as she stared up at her husband with stars in her eyes.
Her phone vibrated, interrupting her thoughts. She had forgotten to place it back into her purse. "I'm so sorry," she said, picking it up to move it aside. Squall's name flashed along the top of the screen, signaling a new message, and she froze.
Laguna picked up the sudden shift of apprehension in the air. He tried not to make it obvious, but his smile fell a degree and he busied himself with his coffee. "Please," he motioned to the server when he approached for a refill. When the server had gone again, Laguna looked at Rinoa. "Everything alright?"
Rinoa's body thrummed with anxiety; her heart raced as she tried to pinpoint a single coherent thought. None were coming. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Do you need to go? We can meet up another time." He tilted his head.
"No, no I…" Rinoa turned the phone off without opening up the messages and placed it into her purse. "I just…I'm so sorry, Mr. Loire, I need to come clean about something. There's a…conflict of interest," she said.
Laguna shifted in his seat as he tried to listen. "How so?"
"Just under twenty-seven years ago you and your squad went through a town called Winhill," she blurted out.
Laguna glanced away for a moment before looking back at her. His eyes were clouded at the memory, at the sudden change in topic, at the abrupt resurgence of his past. "Yes."
"You stayed at a bar called The Wishing Star."
He nodded, his brows starting to frown. "Yes."
"You um…you met Raine?"
Laguna made a noise within his throat and managed to release a pitiful chuckle in an attempt to hide his discomfort. "Yes. Are you trying to say that you're our love child?" Suddenly he stopped. "Wait, how old are you?"
"Twenty-five, and no, my dad is General Caraway." She rapidly shook her head and tried to stop herself from rambling. "No! Sorry. But…you do have a son."
Rinoa watched as the color drained from Laguna's face. "What?"
She felt her face become hot. Tears started to sting at her eyes. A lousy drop within her stomach made her second guess herself. She never was well-versed in how to drop a bomb on someone's life. "His…his name is Squall."
Almost immediately Laguna faltered. "Squall…" he repeated.
"Yes, does that mean anything to you?"
Laguna swallowed, his throat slowly jarring up and down with the movement. "That was my father's name," he whispered. "The night I met Raine was the anniversary of his death. My squad and I had had a successful training and we thought it fitting to give a small toast."
Rinoa bit her lip, shaking but determined to continue. She had gone on this far. "His birthday is coming up soon. August twenty-third."
"August…" he murmured, his eyes traveling downward as he mentally counted backwards. "I was in Winhill mid-November I believe," he said softly, as if to himself.
"This is him." Rinoa pulled out a small print of Squall from the notebook in her purse. It was one of the first headshots she had taken of him, back in front of the dilapidated orphanage on the beach. He was staring straight into the camera, his blue eyes piercing deep into the viewer. A waft of smoke slithered upwards from the tip of the cigarette that dangled through his lips, partially open in a wry smirk.
Carefully Laguna took the photograph between his fingers. "My god he looks just like Raine." He returned the photograph and scrubbed his fingers over his face. "My apologies, but…how did it come to this? How did you figure this out? Was…was he trying to find me?"
Rinoa clamped her lips together. "No," she whispered.
"Does he even want to find me?"
Rinoa shook her head and let out a shaking gasp. "I stupidly asked my father to look into what military factions had gone through Winhill around November of that year. Squall has no knowledge of his father other than what was told to him by his older sister, Ellone, and even those bits are fuzzy because she couldn't remember."
"Elle," Laguna said softly, thinking back to the little girl running around the back of the bar and picking up peanut shells. "She didn't remember me?"
"Just that you were military and had long black hair." She swore to herself and covered her mouth. "I never should have asked Caraway," she muttered. This was a huge mistake. She thought that she could get through this meeting. It seemed easy enough at first, the ability to carry on a conversation with Laguna as just a regular client. But with Squall always at the back of her mind and then his name popping up in a text message…she found she couldn't carry on the facade any longer. She dug her grave, made her choices—terrible and idiotic they may have been—and it wasn't even the end. There was still a certain blue-eyed drummer to whom she still had to confess.
"I'm sorry…I just…" He crinkled his brows and slowly cleared his throat, bringing her back out of her thoughts. "I'm not entirely sure why this is…uh, coming up now."
"Conflict of interest," she said, repeating her phrase she had said to Squall. "I just don't think I'd be able to start working on this project for you if I didn't tell you the truth. As I mentioned I can refer you to my amazing coworkers who have exceptional portfolios." She pressed her lips together and swallowed the large lump that had formed within her throat. "Squall doesn't know that I'm doing this," she told him. "So, I can understand if you want to continue on with your life as if this conversation never happened."
Laguna gave her a slight smirk but his eyes spark with a flame of ire. "With all due respect, Miss Heartilly, but this is not a conversation that someone can just 'walk away from.' I'm sure you thought of the consequences of your actions prior to this."
"Not long enough," she admitted.
"What are you going to tell…" He swallowed. "…Squall."
Rinoa shook her head again. "No idea," she whispered. "Again, I'm more than happy to refer you to my partners at the studio. They are more than qualified to give you and your wife an amazing portrait package, but I just…I can't."
"At least, not until you tell Squall."
Rinoa bit her lip again. "I don't when that will be," she admitted. "I wanted to make a mention that there was a possibility of finding his father but then I met you at the wedding. I knew your name because of my father's resources but I swear I didn't try to find you."
"A fated meeting," Laguna said.
"If you want to go that route," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I'm so sorry," she repeated. "I honestly don't know what I expected to come of this conversation."
Laguna nodded and reached into his wallet. He produced a few bills and gently placed them on the table. "I don't know what the next step is," he told her honestly. "The only thing that I do know is that I need to talk to my wife." Slowly he stood to his feet and gave her shoulder an awkward pat. "You, on the other hand, need to talk to Squall. Holding something like this in…it'll do damage to you. It's clear to me that you care for this boy but from what I'm hearing it appears that you went behind his back."
She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut to keep in any tears. "Yes."
"He won't be pleased."
"That's putting it lightly."
"He still deserves to know, Rinoa."
She knew that. She knew what had to be done. But all she could think about was the terrible thing she had done. The betrayal that Squall would see. The grave she had dug for herself that awaited her.
