Lina shut the door to her room and started down the hall to room seven, sporting a dress blouse and jeans--not so much of a contradiction these days. As she approached she knocked on the door with the back of her hand--three raps would be all it took to get a response. Soon enough she heard, "Just a minute!" from the other side of the door. She giggled--Zell.
"Sure, but we might be a little late," Lina called back. After just a bit more fumbling around, the door opened and Zell stumbled out with his hair in a mess and his cheeks red like he'd been running miles prior to opening the door. "Hey handsome," Lina greeted him playfully, then smoothed out his hair for him. "You ready?"
"Um... Yeah sure," he said, chuckling. "Actually, I was taking a nap and I woke up like five minutes ago." Lina laughed and they left the Dormitory. They walked towards the front gate, Zell joking about he'd missed his alarm for half an hour ago. As they reached the front gate, giggling and laughing, they realized that the rest of the group had been waiting for them all the while. Rinoa, blue attire all in a set with dark black hair and brown eyes similar to Lina's greeted them.
"Hey Lina, Zell," she said. She checked her watch then informed them rather playfully, "you're just about a minute late..." Lina giggled and nudged Zell in the side tenderly.
"Yeah," he chuckled, catching Lina in his embrace the second time she went for a nudge. "That would be my fault. I ... uh... didn't really check the time and yeah." The two of them leaned against the railing, Zell circling his arms around her waist with his back to the metal bars and Lina leaning against him, hands on top of his and trying to talk to Rinoa with a goofy smile on her face. Rinoa puffed once, then went off to search for some affection from Squall as if to get some revenge or something to match up to that.
"HI!" Selphie called out from afar, running up closer to the small lot of them. They were the last couple--her and Irvine. Speaking of which, he wasn't trailing too far behind, packing his shotgun to his side while he ran. Selphie was first to arrive, bouncy brown hair and happy-go-lucky personality alike. She waved vigorously at all of them, excited for their little reunion. Irvine finally caught up, huffing and puffing.
"Howdy there, ladieesss and gentlemen," Irvine said, tipping his cowboy hat at the girls and nodding to the men--it was in his ladies' man nature. He saw Lina and Zell cuddled together in the corner and winked at them, just for the sake of it--yes, also in his nature. Rinoa came back seconds later dragging Squall behind her by his wrist, pulling him along to the group. Quistis, who'd previously been standing off to the side, admiring the beautiful scenery Balamb Garden had to offer, stepped right on in and nodded that yes, she was here and she was ready to leave whenever everyone else was.
"We leaving for some Dinner or what?" Quistis asked the rest of them. They all nodded and walked off towards the closest city--which today happened to be Deling. Walking there in the dark was no trouble for the group--actually it was all more the fun--with Irvine attempting to seduce them all into his horror stories and Selphie giggling every time he'd reached his horrific punch line or climax and ruining its overall intensity. Meanwhile, night had fallen early by the city and the stars were already fairly visible against the pale night sky. Every time Lina looked back up at Zell, he'd be smiling at her--and that just made everything fit together in one piece.
It wasn't so much of a long walk, just a little cruise through a small patch of trees towards the city limits. As soon as they entered it seemed at the stars were no longer visible--Deling had always been a busy city full of lights bright enough to cancel out the natural shine of the stars for just a moment if at all. Their restaurant-- Demure--was located in the center of the city and so on their way over they were able to view the city sights: Caraway mansion in the distance for some occasion lit up but uninviting, the flashing lights of advertisements and signs directing unsuspecting tourists into a dirty pub, and the occasional traffic jam here and there that resulted in loud honks coming from either side--it felt like everyone was always in such a hurry.
They finally arrived, took their reserved seats and let the feast begin. Dinners like these were always great. They'd take up maybe three or four hours, but feel like only one, and definitely was never enough. Of course, the group always met up, but usually it was for work--it was nice to get out once in a while.
After their nice little get together, they headed back, equally content as when they'd set out. When they got back to Garden, everyone settled down and headed back to their dorms. Lina went over to Zell's room and together, they cuddled up on his couch watching television and drifting off into sleep during long commercials.