~ahem~
“Sure I do. Now grab your suit, shy girl. I don't want Seifer or Raijin stealing my time in the spa.”
I bit at my lower lip as I turned for the dresser to retrieve my swimsuit. It was a cute pale lavender one-piece my mom had made for me. I also grabbed the long t-shirt I always wore over it. Zell chuckled, cuing my flush. I wrapped the swimsuit up in the t-shirt before facing him. Like usual, he smiled.
Zell crossed his arms. “You’re not really going to wear the t-shirt, are ya?”
I cleared my throat as I lowered my gaze to the accursed thing, picking at it with self-conscious tugs. “Y-Yes. Why n-not?”
Zell chuckled again as he shook his head. “Rinoa’d be leaping at the chance to wear a skimpy thing for Squall.”
Words and defenses by the millions melted under the red of my cheeks. I could only clear my throat again.
“Geez, Meg. Relax.” He grabbed hold of my hand and tugged me toward the door. “Guessin’ what you look like under those creepy uniforms is kinda fun.”
And the thought of him gauging me under my uniform in addition to how short the skirts were in the first place had my eyes widening as I gaped at him. “Zell!”
“What?” He laughed. “Hey, you’ve got to admit that Xu and Quis are the only ones that look any good in them. Wait.”
Zell stopped in the hall outside my room and faced me, holding my arms out to each side. Then he intensely scrutinized my frame and build while I began to wish I could melt into the floor. I wasn’t wearing the SeeD candidate uniform, but that didn’t stop him from using his imagination.
“I take it back,” he finally said. “You look damn good in them, too. I forgot.”
I pulled my arms out of his grasp. “For heaven sake,” I complained. “Stop teasing me!”
Zell grinned, putting fists on hips as he leaned slightly forward. “And how are you gonna make me?”
Several ideas popped into my head. I flushed and turned away, moving toward the infirmary with a clearing of my throat.
Zell jogged up to walk beside me. “I think I like the second one,” he confessed between laughs.
I sunk my head lower. “Second one what?”
“The second idea.”
“Uhhh no.” I didn’t even want to admit what ‘the second one’ was.
Zell laughed and nudged my arm. “Please? I’ll be your slave for a week.”
Tempting, but...“no.”
“Aw.”
I couldn’t help but smile over at him, and then I reluctantly laughed. “Silly boy. You don’t even know what it was and you’re willing to do it?” I shook my head as I looked away.
“What was it?”
I sent him a quick glance. “Can’t remember.”
Zell laughed harder. “Wuss.”
But I really didn’t think Zell would have been able to handle the not-so-shy Sally Regal. If there was such a person. “No, I’m not,” I said softly.
Zell’s laughter faded. Then he wrapped an arm around me. “I know, Sally. Don’t sweat it. I just like teasing you because you’re pretty when you’re red.”
So I flushed. “Thanks.”
Zell chuckled. “No prob.”
“Isn’t this cute.”
Zell looked over his shoulder a moment before we stopped and faced the voice.
Sub-Lt. Cmdr. Seifer Almasy, Head of Garden Network Security, leaned against a garbage bin tossing a large gold coin into the air while dressed in his usual grayish white trenchcoat, military pants, and navy vest with the pale cross on the front.
Commander Squall had pushed Seifer through the entire SeeD training and then made him Chief of Security upon graduation, giving him a starting rank of 15! I think it had been because of his year of bodyguard work with not one single casualty. Even I was impressed, especially considering some of the people he had been hired to protect: politicians, celebrities, and rumored gangsters.
Then Commander Squall had given Seifer a promotion to Head of Garden Network Security after the Gardens had been linked via a secure Network, which included all inter/intra-Garden communications, on a scrambled frequency and a secure firewall to the external Internet.
That promotion had raised Seifer to rank 18 and the title Sub-Lt. Commander. Since then, he’d been promoted to rank twenty, though I didn’t know all the details why. I'd started wondering if it bothered him that Zell out-ranked him. After all, he was level 22. Wait. No. He had just received a rank promotion to 24 after a mission to the Esthar Research Facility.
I think.
“Hey, Seif. How’s it going?”
Seifer didn’t say anything. He just kept tossing the coin in the air while smirking at us. “Have you met my girlfriend Sally?” Zell asked with a slight motion toward me.
I could tell Zell really tried to be civil. Seifer moved those smirking eyes to me. “Hi,” I said in a pinched voice. Zell’s arm still surrounded my shoulders. Thank Hyne.
Seifer looked back over at Zell. “Quis told me, but I didn’t believe her.” Seifer shook his head and straightened, moving away as he chuckled. “Chicken-wuss with a librarian.” He barked out a laugh.
Zell frowned after him.
I watched his profile. “Zell?” I asked timidly.
Zell looked back over at me and grinned. “We better hurry up.”
I blinked up at him. “How do you do that?”
Zell urged me toward the infirmary again. “Do what?”
“Let it all go like that? It’s like water off a turtle shell.”
Zell shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t worry about it. Seif’s always been that way. Why should I let him get to me like I used to? Not worth it.”
I adjusted my hold on my t-shirt and swimsuit as I stared down at them. “That’s kind of what it’s like for me. The opposite, I mean.”
“What?”
I took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “I let what everyone else thinks get to me. I worry about it all the time.”
“How come?”
I looked over at him. Zell watched me very closely. “I don’t know. I guess I want everyone to like me. I don’t like having enemies, or making people mad, or hurting people’s feelings, or making them uncomfortable.”
“Sally, that’s not your job. You’ve got to be yourself. If you stress about how everyone else is going to take what you do or say, you’ll be 100 by the time you’re 20.”
I sighed and looked away. “I know, but, like I said, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
“So don’t,” Zell told me as he gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze. “They’ll let you know if you do. Then you can apologize. But you shouldn’t stuff everything just so someone you don’t even know can have an easy life. They wouldn’t do it for you, and they probably don’t care you’re doing it for them.”
“I’ll try.”
Zell gave my ponytail a gentle tug. “You’ve got to stand up for yourself, Sally. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. And I’m going to keep pushing boundaries until you do.”
“OK,” I whispered, still not raising my gaze from the floor.
“Come on, Sally. Stop stressing and just relax. Remember in Timber and Balamb? You had a blast.”
I smiled as I nodded, glancing over at him. “I did.”
Zell grinned. “See? You were being yourself and having a lot of fun, too. Just do that.”
I nodded again. “You’ll have to keep reminding me, Zell. I always forget.”
“Sure I’ll remind ya,” he said with another squeeze to my shoulders. “What are friends for?”
I rested my head against him. “You and Selphie are my best friends,” I whispered.
“But I get the fringe benefits.”
I pushed away with a laugh and a gentle slug to his side. “Zell,” I scolded.
Zell grabbed at me. I shrieked and dodged toward the Infirmary at a run. “No running in the halls, candidate Regal,” he called after me.
I smiled and slowed to
a dutiful walk, Zell falling into step beside me to take hold of my hand. “You better watch it, candidate, or I’ll keep you after class.”
My smile widened. “You’re not my Instructor.”
Zell snapped his fingers. “Damn. Forgot.” He glanced down at me. “Well, don’t make me take steps.”
I giggled and sent him a sidelong glance. “Me?” Though it was fun to see what he would do.
Zell grinned and reached out to hold the door of the infirmary open for me. I passed by, reluctantly releasing his hand. “Why don’t you go get changed? I’ll make sure Doc knows we’re here and check the temp of the water.”
I nodded and stepped behind a curtain. The t-shirt and swimsuit were tossed onto the bed and then I set to stripping and changing while debating with myself whether or not to wear the t-shirt. The swimsuit was a modest one, my mom had seen to that, but it was flattering in all the right places. She’d seen to that, too. It wasn’t frilly, but it wasn’t boring either. It was simple. It covered everything while showing only what needed to be shown.
I flushed as I adjusted the straps, staring at the t-shirt.
“Did you fall in?” Zell asked, sniggering.
I giggled. “No.”
Then the smile vanished, and I bit my lower lip and put my hands on my hips. I knew it wouldn’t be a big deal if I wore it. Besides, the minute it got wet it would be as if I wasn’t. I sighed. You know you’d even wear it at home, Sally. You’re modest. You always have been. ‘Don’t sweat it.’ I smiled, gave a shrug, and then slipped into the t-shirt.
It was a simple one that covered my butt and said 'beach bunny' across the front. It was cute. I liked it. It was 'me'.
I slipped past the curtain to the sound of a whistle. I smiled and flushed as I moved toward the far end of the Infirmary. Zell sat comfortably within the bubbling water of the spa, his arms draped along the fiberglass walls. Shirtless! I gulped and lowered my gaze.
“Model it, Meg. Come on. You know you want to.”
My lips twitched in a smile before I stuck my tongue out at him. Then I climbed the steps on the side, noticed how quickly Zell moved over to make sure I didn’t fall in, and carefully submerged my feet into the steaming water.
My eyes widened. “Yow. That’s hot.”
“Seriously? Let me check again.” Zell leaned over and checked the thermostat. “103. That’s about normal.” He looked back over at me with a reassuring smile. “Give it a second or two. We’re supposed to wet ourselves down first. I always skip that part.” Zell motioned for me to come a step further in.
I did with a cringe and an “ow ow ow ow.”
“Stay right there. Let me get a bowl.” Zell reached over behind the spa and picked up a metal bowl. He submersed it under the water. “We’ll wet you down a little first. Maybe that’ll take off the shock.” Zell brought up the bowl full of water and then stood and moved closer. “Here. Lean over the tub a little more. I’m gonna dump this over ya.”
I did as I was told, closing my eyes and holding my breath.
“Here it comes,” Zell warned.
Then the water cascaded over my head and down my body. I sucked in a breath, but it wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be. My feet, on the other hand, were stinging and felt pink, if that was possible.
“You OK?”
I nodded, wiping the wetness from my face as I smiled over at him. “That was kinda weird.”
Zell grinned as he set the bowl aside. “Come on. Give it another shot. Maybe that helped.”
“OK.” I stood and stepped the rest of the way in. The water was still hot, but not as burning as before. “It did.”
Zell sat back down, still smiling. He gestured at me. “Come sit over here.”
I sat down on the bottom step instead, the water bubbling up to my chin. “I think I’ll stay here for a bit.”
Zell laughed. “Figures you’d stay close to the exit. You think I’m gonna dunk ya.”
I sat on my hands. “That’s not it.” I watched my legs float up until my toes peeked out of the water. “I’m just….” trying to get used to the idea that I’m really here with you. In a swimsuit. In a spa. Hanging out. Laughing. Teasing. Just relaxing and being...me. It hadn't happened before.
There sounded a slosh as Zell moved to sit beside me. His legs and toes floated up beside mine. “Just what?”
I blew at some foam and gave a slight shrug. I wasn’t sure how to 'just say' some things. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. I didn’t know what I wanted to say or how to say it. I stared at his cute toes, kept feeling his gaze stray to my face, and released a slow sigh. “To tell the truth, I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to think about anything.”
Zell chuckled. “Quis says I do that all the time.”
I giggled and moved my gaze to him. Zell’s face glistened with perspiration and spa water, and his normally spiked hair was slicked back away from his face. Zell looked so different while still being Zell. Still smiling. Still taking things as they came. Still as accepting as ever. Still teaching me more things than I thought he could teach.
Zell grinned. I smiled back at him. “Can I have that back-rub now?”
Zell’s grin melted to another chuckle. “Sure. Let’s move over here.” He moved to where he had sat before. I followed. “Turn around and sit yourself right here in front. There ya go. Now just relax and breathe easy. There ya go.”
I closed my eyes with a deep exhalation of breath, listening to his anecdotes of classes as a candidate with a smile and a very vivid imagination.