Life's Lessons on Stress

by Nona Mae King

  ~*~

  "Zell, you will never believe who I just met!"

  Zell looked up from grading the quiz papers and grinned. "Hey, kitten." He stood and met me halfway into the office to give me a tight hug. "Perfect timing. I needed a break." He kissed me on the cheek and then pulled back to lean against his desk, still holding my hands in his.

  I smiled at him. Since our 'vacation' in Winhill we made a stronger effort to keep things a little more calm? We still soaked in the tub together, but usually with Selphie or Val or one of Zell's friends. We went out to dinner, but always at a public restaurant or with Ma. We occasionally walked on the beach, but not as long as we used to. I mean, the beach held a lot of special memories for us, and that usually made the hormones run a little higher than usual.

  We tried not to kiss with a lot of passion, either. We kept it as simple as possible. And you know what? The "backing off" actually made me love Zell even more. Why? Because we had to find different ways to show the other how much we cared. Doing special things like a flower delivered to the office, a poem sent via email, a simple 'hi, I love you' sent over IMs on break. Things like that.

  It was mushy and romantic and I loved it.

  Zell gave my hands a squeeze. "So, who'd you meet?"

  "Remember Quistis said she was going to start part-time at the T.V. station?"

  "Yeah. Doesn't that start this coming Monday?"

  I nodded. "I met her."

  "The replacement?"

  I nodded again. "Her name's Janine Larabie--She stood up to Seifer!"

  Zell blinked with a "Wha?"

  "I know! She had his mug and came in to the office with it empty--I guess he told her to bring him more coffee after dumping it on him--and said 'no' and then gave him a hard time--"

  Zell laughed. "Slow down, slow down! I can't understand you!"

  I giggled. "Sorry."

  "Okay, so, she dumped coffee on him? On purpose?"

  I shook my head. "No. I guess they collided in the hall somewhere. She got him good, too. He had to change his shirt and his slacks."

  Zell laughed. "I bet he was pissed."

  "Oh my gosh. I've never heard him swear like that before."

  Zell guided me to lean up against the desk beside him, releasing one of my hands while still smiling over at me. "Then what?"

  "Well I guess he ordered her to bring him more coffee, but she came down to the office with only his empty mug and told him 'no' and then asked if Death would be painful; you know his mug says 'Death is answering 'no''."

  Zell howled. "She's not making any friends."

  I shook my head, eyes wide. "But Seifer looked amused."

  Zell sniggered. "Figures. Not very many people stand up to him besides Fujin and Marshal, but they've known him forever."

  I smiled. "I got to give her all her new Garden information. Janine's really nice, Zell. And funny, too. You'd like her. Oh! And she's a gunblader like Commander Squall and Seifer. It's a really pretty gun, too. She made it herself."

  Zell's eyes widened. "Dude! You're kidding?"

  I smiled at him as I shook my head, eyes crinkling at the corners. "I'm serious."

  "A girl gunblader! That rocks! I'll have to tell Squall and hit her up for a sparring session. You mind?"

  My eyes widened as I straightened and turned toward him. "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! She said that she wanted you and me to help her come up with a new Limit Break."

  Zell grinned. "Cool! Sounds like a killer replacement. Way to go Quis!"

  I giggled. "See? Told you so."

  Zell drew me close into a tight hug. "Quiet you, or I'll take steps."

  I wrapped my arms around him and sighed.

  "You like her, huh?"

  I nodded against him. "Yep. She reminds me of you and Fujin and Quistis all rolled up into one funny person."

  "That's good. You need more friends."

  I would have been happy with just Zell, but it made me feel wonderful that he cared. Zell always looked out for me like that. I pulled back and smiled up at him. "I'm working on it."

  Zell kissed my nose. "I know."

  I giggled.