Seifer blinked his eyes open, and pushed back a wave of nausea. He remembered the previous night, and looked around for Jez. Not seeing her anywhere, he stood - a little too quickly, for his head spun. He staggered out of the dorm room where the party had been hald, and went off to his own room, checking in on Jez on the way. She wasn't there, but her room-mate was. She'd gone to the library. Now that he knew she was okay, he continued his staggering back to his own room, to have a shower and get changed. After, he looked in the mirror, and smiled. He looked pretty good for someone with a serious hangover after a serious bender. He blinked as he remembered the last action he'd made before he'd gone to sleep, and paled.
I didn't... He put his head in his hand. I did. No wonder she left!
Well, there was othing for it. He had to go and apologise. Although he desperately wanted to feel her lips on his again, he knew it was too soon. He'd have to move more slowly if he didn't want to scare her off. He walked over to the library slowly - fast movements hurt his head. He smiled at the Library assistants, trying not to laugh at the one who fancied Zell. She must be as much of a moron as he is... He saw Jez at the back of the library, head down, writing. He stood tall, smoothed his hair back, and walked smoothly over. He then noticed that she was asleep, pen in her hand. He smiled, amazed at the affection he felt for her, then shook his head his weakness. Slowly, Almasy!
He shook her gently. Her head snapped up, and she looked around guiltily. When she saw it was only Seifer, she smiled sheepishly.
"You okay?" He asked, and she nodded.
"Yeah. I don't get hangover's, but I'm tired as hell." She yawned as if to illustrate the point, and rubbed her eyes, and tried to focus on the computer screen.
"Um, Jez?" She looked at him blearily. "Look about last night..."
She waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, man. Things happen when ya drunk." She rolled her eyes. "Beleive me, I know all about it." She looked as if she were contemplating uncomfortable thoughts, then shook her head to clear it, and stared at the computer screen. Seifer looked at it and saw she was doing the prerequisite paper for the class tomorrow.
"Want some help?"
She smiled at him. "I'd love some." There's that word again, thought Seifer, then switched his attention to her work. It didn't stop him thinking, though. So she thought it had just been a mistake, his kissing her. well, it had, but he still wanted to do it. Give it time...
***************
Jez pulled at the skirt of her Balamb Garden uniform. The shortness of it made her a little uncomfortable, though for once she was glad she was short. It would be really ridiculous on a tall girl. Adjusting the ribbon of the jacket, she took a deep breath and walked into the classroom. Feeling a slight bit of panic at seeing so many people she didn't know, she smiled weakly. It became real when she saw Seifer at the back waving for her to sit next to him. Sitting next to him, she gave him a releived smile.
"I was just getting nervous," she said, smoothing her hair back and smiling at him.
"Don't worry about it," he assured her. "Everyone'll love you."
"Ya think?" She asked with a grin and raised eyebrows, obviously unconviced. Seifer noded, then put a finger to her lips as Quistis walked in. With amusement, Jez noticed that once they had progressed to the level of SeeDs, the girls got to wear longer skirts. Quistis smiled at Jez, and beckoned for her to come to the front. With a small grimace, Jez did so. Quistis put a hand on her shoulder, and introduced her to the class.
"This is a new student, transferred from Galbadia. Jez, would you like to tell us a little about you?" Jez looked wide-eyed at Quistis for a moment, but the taller woman's look of encouragement gave her courage to speak.
"Um. My name's Jez Loire, and I'm from Timber, originally. I'm Squall's cousin, I guess you all know him. I fight with katana's and I'm adept in several martial arts. I came here 'cause I wanna be a SeeD, and you guys all seem much cooler than most of the guys in Galbadia." With a grin, Jez bowed and went back to sit next to Seifer. "I swear I've never been so embarressed," she hissed at him.
"You were great," he whispered back, and then they both sat back to listen to Quistis' lecture. Afterwards, Seifer took her down to the cafeteria to meet his posse.
"I suddenly feel even smaller than usual," smiled Jez as she shook Raijin and Fuujin's hands. She then sat down at the table, and turned to Seifer. "So what else is there to do here? There's the training centre, the library, the cafeteria..."
"There's the Garden Festival too. Selphie's organising it, ya know?" The big man, Raijin smiled down at her, and Jez was glad of his warmth - it almost counteracted Fuujin's coldness. Almost.
"Oh, I met her. She's Zell's friend." Jez suddenly became aware of a garnet eye on her, and turned to face Fuujin.
"ZELL?"
Ignoring her strange way of talking, realising it was just a ploy to get her freaked, Jez smiled. "Yeah, Zell. Seifer knows him, I guess you do too? He's... I met him at the party in Esthar. He's a great guy." A soft smile spread across Jez' face as she spoke, then she looked up, feeling much calmer - she noticed that Fuu seemed a lot less severe too. "I met my cousin, Squall, for the first time too."
"Squall's ya cousin?" That was Raijin again, and Jez smiled. She felt good in this little group, now that Fuu seemed to have relaxed a little.
"I'm in need of a sparring partner, if you're interested," Seifer interjected, and Jez smiled at him.
"Really?"
"Everyone else has either heard of my rep or has trained with me before, so as you haven't had the chance to do either, I guess you might agree to be mine?" Seifer smiled at this girl that he was so attracted to, ignoring the glare from Fuu.
Jez merely smiled at him, bracing a leg on her chair. "I'd love to! I was getting a little worried that everyone would already have partners, and I'd be the left one out! I'm glad-"
"Hey, Jez." She turned to see Irvine, and smiled at him. "You wanna come meet some people? I thought, since you're new and all." Irvine gave her his most charming smile, and Jez shook her head at him.
"You know that doesn't work on me, Irvine."
"Not anymore, but I bet Zell's would." Jez missed the look and tension that passed between Irvine and Seifer, and stood, smiling.
"It would, at that," she smiled down at Seifer. "You wanna meet up and practise later? I'll go with Irvine and meet you at 16:00 hours? Need to mingle, don't you know." With a wave, Seifer watched her go with a frown.
"ZELL'S," mused Fuujin. Seifer shot her a hard glare.
"I know. But not for long." Noticing her eyebrows raised a fraction, he explained himself. "I like her, and no way am I gonna let a loser like Dincht have something I want." He looked over at where she was shaking hands with some of Irvine's girly friends. "No way."
************
Jez wandered into the training centre. She and Seifer had just finished their training, getting into working as a team for their SeeD training. It had been two weeks, and they were really getting in tune with one another. Seifer was an excellent fighter, and she had decided to use her Ergheiz rather than her katana's, as Seifer's Gunblade meant they already had a blade in their team, and it seemed pointless to have another. She found working with him easy, as he compensated for his weaknesses and she for his. Their fighting styles were very different, but also complemented each other, her's balletic, and his forceful. There was no doubt they'd ace the physical tests.
Seifer had asked her to meet him inside the centre after she'd showered and changed, and she wondered why. She jumped as Seifer's hand went down on her shoulder.
"Seifer! You scared me!" She smiled at him and shook her finger, scolding him.
"That was the plan. Then I could save you, my damsel in distress." Jez laughed, and Seifer watched as her shiny hair moved as she did, and had to tear his gaze away as her lovely green eyes opened.
"I don't need saving." She paused for a second as she looked around to see if there were any indications as to why he'd asked her to meet him. "So where are we going?" She blinked as he took her hand wordlessly and led her across the little bridge she'd noticed previously. Her curiousity peaked, she followed him - and what she saw took her breath away. The Garden was lit up against the night sky, and was possibly one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. It looked like a castle out of a fairy tale, or some beautiful alien creation.
"It's amazing," she breathed.
"Thought you might like it," Seifer smiled, leaning against the fence and looking at her. She really was beautiful. She wore a long, flowing skirt and a vest top, and he could see her tattoo's better than he could in the outfit she wore to fight in. They were quite like Zell's - grudgingly, he would admit he liked Zell's tattoo, if tortured with red-hot pokers - and they graced her arms and shoulders like a lover's fingertips. He noticed that they disapeared under her top, and for a few seconds he longed to see just how far they went. He could see only her profile at the moment, and it was perfect. Then she turned to face him, and looked even better. "People come here after curfew, to chat, or it's also Garden's Lover's Lane, as it were."
Jez giggled, and looked around. "It's deserted, tonight." A faraway look came in her eyes, and anger overcame Seifer, for he knew she was thinking about Zell. "I wonder when they'll be back off their mission," she pondered aloud, then smiled at Seifer. "Irvine's going crazy missing Selphie." She leaned back in a similar pose to Seifer's, and he watched her every movement intently. "When he was at Galbadia, he was such a womaniser. But I think he's fallen this time. Selphie must be a special girl."
Seifer stayed quiet. He didn't know the bubbly girl well enough to reply. Jez looked down at her watch, and stretched. "I better go to bed," she told him. "We have to be up early tomorrow. Coming?"
Spending a few moments looking at her, Seifer smiled sadly. "I think I'll stay here a while longer."
She nodded, then stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. Seifer closed his eyes, taking in her fresh, fruity-floral scent, and enjoyed the feel of her skin against his. "Thank you for showing me this," she said, and waved at him. "I'll see you tomorrow." She walked away, and Seifer watched her. With a sigh, he put his head in his hands. He really needed to stop spending time with her. It wasn't doing him any good. He was just getting angrier at Zell and falling harder for Jez with each second he spent with her. But maybe... He decided he would have to at least try to ask her out. She enjoyed spending time with him, he could tell that. Maybe with Zell gone for so long, she might be interested in him?
*************
A week later, the two of them were in the training center, working on defeating the T-Rexaur together. Their instructor was impressed how well they worked together. Jez tended to just use her gloves when fighting alongside Seifer - using her won weapons, the katana's, seemed a bit pointless when he had his gunblade. If they faced an enemy that was strong against blades, they'd be screwed. Since she was trained in several martial arts, it seemed a sensible idea to use the gloves.
Seifer had just finished his Fire Cross, and the beast wasn't down yet. She grinned at him, and launched into her own limit break. Seifer noticed it was very similar to Zell's, tho it looked far more impressive. She finished with A Different Beat and the T-Rexaur fell the the ground with a loud thud. Seifer smiled and Jez punched the air in victory. They both turned to the instructor, who smiled and nodded at them.
"Very good. You'll get your results in class, so make sure you're there!" With that, he walked off, scribbling furiously on his assessment sheet.
Jez winked at Seifer. "We kick ass, buddy."
"He smiled. "You mean I kick ass, and you take the credit!"
"Hah!" She swung at him, only half in jest, and he ducked away from her fist. He pushed her gently.
"We gotta get cleaned up and then get to class. I want to know what I've got!"
They split up as they went to their changing rooms, and Seifer smiled as he undressed and turned the shower on. He was liking Jez more and more as time went on, and he was sure she liked him too. They worked brilliantly together. He was sure that if they were on the same Squad in the SeeD exam, they would pass. He winced, and prayed they would be. Failing was starting to get embarrassing, despite his comments otherwise.
Other than that... Jez got more beautiful every day, and she was the only thing he talked about. It caused endless teasing from Raijin, and some funny looks from Fuujin. But he was in her classes, her training partner, and they'd ate together every day. He was going to ask her if she wanted to go out this weekend. He desperately prayed she'd say yes. It still wasn't time yet to try and kiss her again - though he desperately wanted to - but he loved her company.
Wandering out of the shower and wrapping one towel around himself whilerubbing himself down with another. He heard a knock on the door, and a familiar voice asked if it was okay to come in. When he said it was, Jez poked her head around the door and smiled. She handed him his watch.
"You left this in my bag, remember?"
He grinned at her. "Yeah, I remembered. I was hoping you'd walk in on me having a shower, so you can see how much of an Adonis I am."
She laughed and smiled at him, the sexiest smile he'd ever seen, and he had to struggle very hard to control himself. "I still can, honey." She turned around as if to leave and let him get dressed, but he called out, encouraged by her flirting with him.
"Jez? You wanna go out tonight?"
She turned, and smiled. "Hey, that'd be great! I'll ask Irvine and Rinoa if they wanna come. See ya in a minute!"
Seifer kept his grin plastered on his face until she left, then glared at the door. That hadn't gone quite as he'd planned. He wanted them to be alone together. He sighed. Well, it was done now. He was determined to get close to her.
End Part 2