leaves."
"We stopped by to tell you that Sally passed the Fire Cavern with flying colors," Zell said as he again leaned against the counter. My mom raised her eyes to meet Zell's gaze. "Beat Squall's score, too. That's good. Real good."
My mom wrapped me up in another hug. "Good for you, Sally. I knew you could do it."
Warm fuzzies had a field day. "Thanks, Mom." I pulled back. "Where's Dad?"
"Sick puppy. Had to take some medicine out for the little guy."
"It's not bad, is it?"
She shook her head. "No. I think he just ate something that didn't agree with his tummy."
"Poor little squirt," I said with a slight pout.
The door of the shop opened and closed, the bell ringing another cheery tune, and my mom gave me a regretful look. "Come and spend a little time here for lunch, Sally. I'll close the shop for an hour."
"OK, mom."
She looked to Zell, reaching out to take his offered hand again. "And it was nice to meet you, Zell. You're to come, too."
Zell grinned. "Don't mind if I do. I'm getting hungry."
My mom laughed, and then she left to help the family that had come in. I turned toward Zell to give him a smile as I leaned against the counter beside him. "She's offering food. Mom must like you."
Zell gave me a serious look. "Moms always like me. I'm adorable."
I giggled as I shook my head. Yes, you are. Painfully so. "Come on then, Mr. Adorable. Let's go see if Zone's in town."
He followed me from the shop to the platform directly across from the stairs leading to the train station. "We could wait here, I guess," he offered.
"Not very exciting, especially since we don't know if they're even still here." I looked around. "Then again, if Watts and Zone are here, the best way to get them to notice us would be to sit and wait for them. Right?"
"Sounds as good a plan as any."
"Again, not very exciting."
"Hey, after Sorceresses and Seifer and saving the world, a little boredom's fine with me," Zell said with a smile. He ascended the stairs of the platform to sit on the far side where the train parked. I followed behind and sat beside him, adjusting my hands in my pockets as we dangled our legs over the side.
"Yeah. Excitement's overrated." I released a deep breath only to find a smile permanently fixed on my lips. I looked over at Zell and, after a moment, he met my eyes and smiled, too. "Thanks, Zell, for suggesting this. It'll be nice to spend some time with mom and dad, if he gets back in time."
He gave me a nudge. "Hey. No prob."
You have no idea what a problem I have. But the expectation to tell him how I felt was beginning to become a kind of addiction. Sick soul that I was, I liked it. "If my dad gets back before we have to leave, he'll more than likely want to throw the ball around with you."
"An athlete? Way cool," Zell exclaimed. He punched his flat hand with a fist. "I've been wanting a chance to play something forever."
I laughed. "What's the matter? Don't your friends play with you?"
Zell made the most adorable pouty face as he shook his head and slumped his shoulders a bit. "They say I don't play fair."
My thoughts and heart did so many things at once that I think it dredged up some unknown courage. Next thing I knew, my hand had gone to his back to give him a collection of encouraging rubs as I tilted my head to watch his profile. "Aw. Well, maybe my dad and I will play with you a bit before we head back. OK?"
Zell lifted his head with a grin, but we heard a shout from behind before he could say anything. We both looked.
"Yo, Zone!" Zell greeted as he leaped to his feet.
I followed suit more slowly, embarrassed that my enjoyment of our situation had been seen and interrupted. The boys exchanged firm shakes and slugs to the arm.
"What're you doing here?" Zone asked as he looked from Zell to me.
He didn't recognize me. Of course, it'd been a while since we'd seen each other.
"We're plotting," Zell said with a mischievous smile. He made a gesture over his shoulder at me. "Sally and me wanna get a good prank going on Quistis. We're hoping you'd help."
"Quistis?" Zone's ears tinged pink. "Nah. Leave me out if it."
"Aw come on," Zell pressed. "It'll be a great excuse for you to chill and come with us to Garden."
Zone shook his head. "I'm telling you I don't wanna be involved."
Zell slugged Zone on the arm again with a wide grin. "Come on, man. You're wild about her, so you might as well do what you've wanted to do and go along with it. I'll be sure to tell her you wanted nothing to do with it. I'll tell her I forced you on pain of death."
The flush of Zone's ears spread to his face. I decided to come to his rescue. I put a hand on Zell's arm, grabbing his attention. "Zell, if he doesn't want to do it, we shouldn't force him. We can do a different prank." Or none at all. Quistis mad wasn't exactly a very healthy sight.
Zell made a face. "Tch!" He shifted his gaze back to Zone and stretched out his arms. "Come on, dude. What's the big deal? We're just going to plot a little date between you two and not tell her. Then we're gonna make her show up in the cafeteria, where you'll be with the candlelight dinner, and have a big--"
"Are you nuts?" Zone interrupted with wide eyes. He winced and wrapped his arms around his middle. "Ow-ow-ow. Man!" He straightened after another second or two to give Zell a nearly terrified look. "No way. Forget it."
"Why? It'll be a riot. Can you imagine the look on her face when she sees all--"
"Forget it," Zone insisted again.
Zell crossed his arms and glared. "Geez. What a wuss."
"Zell," I whispered, giving him a slight shove. Great. Is that what he's going to call me when I finally tell him? "Come on. Give him a break."
Zell lowered his arms to his sides after giving me a sidelong glance, and then he sent Zone another friendly slug on the arm. "Sorry, dude. Of course you don't hafta do it. I just thought it would be kinda funny."
"Having her hate me the rest of her life? Yeah. A riot."
Zell reluctantly smiled. "Yeah. I guess she would, wouldn't she? Oh well. I'll just figure something else out."
"Fine. Just leave me out of it."
Zell shook his head. "You've really got to send her an email or something, Zone. Sheesh. She's never gonna know unless you say something."
My face flushed, and I looked down at the ground. Listen to him, Sally.
"I know, I know," Zone said as he ran a hand through his black hair. "I just--she's just so gorgeous."
Zell made a face. "Yeah. Whatever." He looked over at me. "How much time before lunch? We got time to hang out at the pub with Zone?"
I self-consciously cleared my throat as I looked down at my watch. "Yeah. We've got about an hour."
"Cool." Zell changed his gaze back to Zone, tugging his arm as we started toward the pub. "Come on, dude. Let's drown your worries in soda and chips."
Zone reluctantly smiled as he followed beside us. I didn't hear much of Zone and Zell's conversation on the way to the pub, or even in the pub. I was busy trying to orchestrate how to tell Zell the way I felt without having him call me a wuss. I inwardly groaned and shook my head. I should've told him when I had the chance.
I felt a tug on my ponytail and looked up. Zell gave me a warning look as Zone droned on about Quistis and her wonders of mind and body and a bunch of other things. Then Zell pointed a finger at me with an ‘I'll take steps' expression.
I leaned against the counter of the bar with a timid smile.
Zell gave my chin a gentle cuff before looking back over at Zone. I fought back the warm fuzzies. You really think he's going to call you a wuss, Sally? He'd be too shocked and amazed that you got over your shyness, stepped out of your shell, and actually told him! He'd probably agree to go out with me once just to celebrate, and I absolutely refused to worry about anything else that could happen after that.
After all, Zell was still threatening to 'take steps'.
Zone was eventually p
ersuaded out of the 'depths of despair' regarding his crush, but Zell didn't push the prank again. I figured he probably already had a better idea for one and he'd fill me in on our way home from Timber. Then my watch beeped the hour, Zell and Zone and I bid each other farewell, and we left him—Zone--in the pub as we made our way back to my parents' pet shop for lunch.
"I've got the perfect prank."
I looked over at him with a wide-eyed expression. I couldn't believe I'd actually called it. "You're kidding."
Zell shook his head as he met my gaze with a mischievous smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows. "Wait until you hear it. It'll be a riot."
I smiled. "I don't think I want to know. I'd rather be an innocent bystander."
"Coward."
I laughed and gave him a push. "I am not a coward."
"Then you'll help me," Zell said as he pushed back.
"And put my life on the line so soon before graduation? I don't think so."
"See? You're a wuss."
My hand lashed out to cuff him upside the head before I realized what I was doing. I stopped walking and shielded my mouth with my hand as I looked over at him with wide eyes. "Zell, I-I'm sorry."
"Tch!" Zell laughed and grabbed my arm to pull me into step beside him. "What? You think I'm china? I'm not gonna break with a little smack like that." He tugged me closer, wrapping an arm around my neck to pull me against him and give me yet another knuckle-rub. "Take that."
"No, not again!" And I couldn't think past the warm fuzzies and floating clouds to get out of it. Instead, I attacked his side with that infamous tickle-wiggle of the fingers. "Leggo!"
Zell flinched away with a laugh, rubbing at his side with a feigned scowl as I