Workings of a Happily Ever After, The

by Nona Mae King

  Chapter Three

  Orders

  tap-tap-tap "Sally? You ready to go?"

  I hopped toward the door as I slipped into my last tennis shoe. "Coming, Zell." I opened the door--he looked as hot as ever in jeans and a dark blue Balamb t-shirt--and greeted him with a smile and a kiss. "Let me grab my purse." I grabbed it up from my desk and slung it over my shoulder before stepping out into the hall beside him and locking my door.

  "You want to see the dorm-room Squall's reserving for us?" Zell asked, his tone sounding very much the little boy with a secret.

  I looked at the time. "Okay. We've got a few minutes." I smiled at him as he led me down the hall deeper into the dormitory. "You better not be procrastinating just because you don't want to pick the invitations."

  "No. Swear. I just want to show you. It's huge! It's almost as big as Ma's apartment."

  "Really? Wow. That would be so great."

  "Dude. Tell me about it! It's even got a little kitchen, with enough room for a table, so we'd be able to have dinner at home and not wait in line at the cafeteria!"

  I stared at Zell's excited expression, slack jawed. "A. . . a kitchen?"

  Zell nodded, eyes twinkling. "And the bedroom is huge! We'd be able to get one of those bigger beds and still have room for some kind of fancy-frilly make-up table for you. And it even has a big bathroom, with two sinks! I swear it must have been Cid and Matron's old room."

  I flushed, desperately trying not to imagine the bed, and continued to smile at him.

  "Here it is." Zell pulled a key-card out of his pocket and unlocked the door. "Close your eyes," he said as he opened the door and again took up my hand.

  I closed my eyes, giggled, and then followed after him into the room that would be our new home. Zell went around behind me and rested both hands on my shoulders to push me further into the room.

  Finally, he said, "Okay."

  I opened my eyes and gasped. "Oh my goodness!"

  Zell came to stand beside me and grinned. "Tell me about it."

  Sure. The rooms were empty, the floors were bare, and the apartment was nowhere near as big as what I knew a house would be, but the minute I opened my eyes I could see Zell and me living as a couple in this apartment.

  I saw where the couch would go on the wall to the right, a television mounted on the wall across from the coffee table. I could see the bookshelves on the adjacent wall, and the flower pot that would be on the very top, requiring me to always stand on a chair or a step-stool in order to water it. I could see our computer desks on the opposite wall from the couch and beside the bookshelves, facing each other so as to minimize required space and so we could poke fun at each other while we worked.

  I could see the dining room table with the flowers in the center and the placemats waiting for our dinner or lunch or breakfast. I could see the counter-top paraphernalia in the kitchen, and all the magnets and reminders that would be on the small fridge. The dishwasher filled with clean dishes that Zell always forgot to unload. The breadmaker I always meant to use...

  I could see it all.

  I reached out and hugged Zell's arm, tears blurring my vision as I kept seeing different possible scenes from our life there. Married. A permanent couple. "I love it," I choked out.

  "Come on," he said as he pulled his arm out of my clasp and grabbed my hand. "You've got to see the bedroom. I'm telling ya, it's bigger than my whole room."

  I giggled, stumbling along behind him as he hurried through the living room and the kitchen/dining room to turn left into the bedroom. I blinked several times, again seeing the placement of the bed, the vanity, the dressers, the bedside tables.

  "See? Huge! And the bathroom is there on the right, and there's a walk-in closet on the left." Zell pulled me up against his chest, his arms wrapping around me as he tucked his chin onto my shoulder. "Being married is gonna rock. Big time."

  I flushed and giggled as I freed myself from his grip and turned to face him, still holding his hands. "I hope you're not saying that just because you get a bigger apartment."

  Zell advanced, his eyebrows wiggling as his boyish grin grew mischievous. "Heheheh. Wanna see?"

  I tugged my hands from his grip and held them out. "Zell. No."

  He sounded a maniacal chuckle and pulled me close, ignoring my reminders of our trip to town for the invitations. Instead, he lightly kissed my lips between each protest, which grew feebler with each kiss, and rested his hands on my hips as he continued to step forward until my back was against the wall.

  I sighed and wrapped my arms around his neck, encouraging a deeper kiss that made me feel more woman than shy ex-librarian. Zell drew me closer, his arms completely surrounding me in that embrace and ‘circle of arms' I never thought could feel so completely wonderful. When I was with Zell, I felt as sexy as Janine.

  Zell kissed me softly along my cheek until he nuzzled his lips against my neck. I shivered and tightened my arms around him. Then Zell exhaled deep and said, "Damn," in a gruff voice I'd heard before. And if I wasn't such a prude, or so drunk with love and his kiss, I would have repeated the word. Instead, I just feebly nodded.

  "Tell me again why we can't elope?" he asked, his lips caressing my neck as he spoke.

  "...parents..."

  And it took a lot of brain power to get that much out. I wanted to elope, badly. My hormones were going nuts, my imagination was haywire, and I wanted to be with Zell more than I cared to admit. I mean, I think the Sally Regal in love with Zell Dincht had crammed the shy 'library girl' into a box.

  Please tell me that's normal.

  "Right." Zell kissed my neck once, twice, three times before putting his hands on my hips and pushing back. He cleared his throat--face, neck, and ears very red--and sent me a lopsided smile. "Ma'd toast my butt if I eloped. ‘Course, we wouldn't have to tell her."

  Okay, is what my love-crazed twin wanted to say while dragging Zell by the hand to the nearest official establishment that could give us our marriage license. But the thought of my parents and my friends surprisingly overwhelmed her insistence and made me tug and drag and shove her back into the closet so that I could think of things other than Zell with his shirt off--I flushed and looked down.

  Zell nodded. "I know. Me, too. Bad."

  My cheeks burned even more red as I lifted my gaze to smile up at him. "I shouldn't love you so much, Zell Dincht. It's bad for my health."

  He grinned. "Tell me about it. Our workouts got nothing on the cardiovascular work I just got."

  I giggled a "Zell!" and pushed at his chest.

  Zell cupped my face in his hands and kissed me before taking up a hand and tugging me from the room. "Come on. This place feels a bit too much like home already. We better retreat."

  Home. I sighed, staring behind me with a wistful smile at the images and soon to be made memories as I followed after Zell. He locked the door after us and then led me by the hand out of the dorms and to the main corridor.

  Zell sent me a sidelong glance. "So, you like it?"

  I smile and nodded, squeezing his hand as my step forward nearly became a skip. "It's perfect, sweetie. I saw where everything would go and what we'd do and how much fun we'd have... It's perfect," I said again.

  One side of his lips twitched upward. "Cool. So, do you mind if we sell the property in Winhill to Garden?"

  I blinked and halted, the smile vanishing from my face and eyes. "Huh?"

  Zell's expression grew serious as he watched my face, his hand giving mine several soft squeezes. "I know I said I bought it for us, and I know you want a house built on it and stuff, but I was talking with Squall and Seifer and they said that the council there is making it impossible for us to buy property. Something lame about permits and zoning and crap like that. I told Squall I'd ask you if we could sell ours to them, I've already got the permits to build the house, so they could build the Security Station."

  I blinked again and began biting my lip. "But...
my house?"

  "I know. It sucks. But Squall said he'd try and get a little summer house out of the budget. You know. Build it on the back part of the property by that little forest with the chocobos. He could pass it off as a 'safe house', but he'd only give you and me the key. Well, Seifer, too. Damn it."

  I lowered my gaze, still worrying my lip as I absently squeezed Zell's hand. My house. But Zell was right; Garden needed the property to build their security station. And wasn't that what SeeD was all about? Sacrifice for others? I knew that if Zell and I were supposed to have a house all to ourselves we could make it happen. It was just a matter of timing and persistence. Right now, I knew we needed to focus on the wedding and then getting settled as a married couple. We couldn't do that if we were worrying about building a house so far away. One that we would barely use anyway.

  "Kitten?" Zell asked, tone uncertain.

  I looked up to meet his dark blue eyes and smiled. And, you know what, it wasn't at all forced. "Okay. That's a good idea, Zell, and I'm glad we can help. We can get a real house later. Maybe President Laguna will sell us the one you stayed at before?"

  The expression of relief on Zell's face brightened my smile. "Yeah. Good idea." He gave me a wink as we turned again for the main corridor of Balamb Garden. "He said that he couldn't sell it until he'd had a chance to talk to Ellone, and I guess she's been sailing around the world on that white SeeD ship helping people with stuff. I think he said something about setting up orphanages or delivering medicines or something. I wasn't paying attention. I was just bummed that he wouldn't sell."

  "It's all a matter of timing," I offered. "Maybe he'll be ready to sell when we're ready to buy?"

  "But I am ready to buy."

  I giggled and wrapped my arms around his. "No. You only think you are. With everything that's going on with the wedding and Deling Garden, you're too busy to worry about that."

  "You think?" Zell asked, tone and expression thoughtful. Then he said, "Huh. I guess you're right," and turned to scoop me up and over his shoulder before I knew what happened.

  "Zell!" I squealed.

  He began jogging down the corridor. "We're moving too slow," he said, matter-of-fact. "I promised Rinoa to not be late," he said, turning down the main corridor toward the parking lot.

  "Rinoa?" I asked, momentarily pausing my dutiful pounding of his back to lift my head and look his direction. "She's going to be there?"

  "Yep. We're going to pick out the invitations and then bum a ride with her and Squall--he actually got away from the office today--to pick out the bridesmaid dresses and cummerbunds and crap like that. I guess Rinoa said the special order came in or something."

  My eyes twinkled. "The dresses came in!" I squealed and gave his back several hearty scratches. "I can hardly wait until you can see them. We can't make up our mind between two, and that's why Rinoa wanted to get together with you and Commander Squall. She said that the one I don't pick, she wants to use for her own wedding."

  "The hell ya say! Did Squall finally pop the question?"

  "No, but he and Rinoa talk about it more often now. Commander Squall keeps saying there's something going on that he needs to handle first before he can do anything like that."

  Zell scoffed. "Yeah. I guess I can see that. The only problem is that something's always going on with Garden. If he keeps waiting, they'll be too old to get married."

  I rested my chin into my hand, my elbow resting in his back as my other hand absently rubbed at the area between his shoulder blades. "Rinoa said that she's willing to wait. She's only concerned that he's afraid she'll leave when they ever do get married. I guess Commander Squall has problems with relationships because of being an orphan and losing all the people he cared about." I sighed, and my lips drooped. "Rinoa says he's getting better."

  "Yeah. 'Course, it helps that when they fight about stuff, she comes back and gets him to talk about it. She was always like that. Never let him feel sorry for himself, and never let him forget about all the people that cared about him. It rocked his world the way she wouldn't let him push her away. He'd never had that before."

  "Do you think. . . do you think our wedding might make Commander Squall propose?" I asked thoughtfully.

  "Good question, but I don't know. It might make him think more about it, but..." Zell shrugged. "He's pretty gung-ho about cleaning things up before proposing. I just hope he's not using it as an excuse. He does that sometimes."

  "You think he..." My hand paused its duty of scratching Zell's back. "You think he might really be scared of marrying her?"

  "Not really of Rinoa, but of the whole 'staying with you until we die' thing, sure. Who isn't? I mean, dude, that takes a lot of guts to stick with one person for the rest of your life. People change, and trying to stay in love with 'em through all the crap that can happen? That's scary stuff."

  Stuff I'd never thought about that way. "Yeah," I admitted absently, "I guess it is."

  Zell gave his shoulders a heartier shrug, giving me a jounce. "A little more to the right."

  I giggled and shook my head as I moved my scratching/rubbing hand as requested. "You silly boy."