Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Game of Love ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Reno pulled the Desoto through the well-paved streets of his old neighborhood. Before this unexpected job, there really was no point in him coming back. His dad had retired from The M Box and had taken his step-mom, Jenny, back to the motherland, merry ol’ England, where they have been residing happily since Reno had graduated from college and proved himself a capable adult.He reached into the back seat and fished his cell phone out of his bag, pressing one, then send. The phone rang only twice when the other end was answered by a small voice, “Lucrecia speaking, how can I help you?”“Hey, it’s me.” “Reno ? Where are you?”“Hell, USA. Did you hear about the job?”“Yeah, Elena filled me in. Do you need me out there?”“That would be great. I’m thinking this project isn’t going to come to me, I need a brother-in-arms fighting the battle that is Tifa Lockheart. If you could note-take for me, that would be brilliant.”“No problem.”“You’re the greatest assistant in the world. How much am I paying you anyway?”“For being the greatest assistant in the world? Not nearly enough.” Reno smiled at the shy girl’s uncharacteristic joke. “When can I expect you down here?”“After I finish up the layout we did on Carmen Electra’s wedding? About two days.”“Lovely. Hurry down.”“Okay, I’ll talk to you later Reno .”“Bye.”Ending the call, Reno made the left turn past the laundry mat and pulled to the side of the road, parking the car. He sat a moment, staring down the store at the end of the street. In it now resided the biggest project of his career -- the cover, the story, and the layout. Reno glanced at the clock -- five-fifteen. If the website’s hours were correct, they should have just closed to the public, sparing some unfortunate souls the sight of World War III. With a loud inhalation, Reno gathered his balls and launched himself out of the car. _______________________________________“Nothing new or exciting ever happens around here . . .” Marlene fought to untangle herself from the complex veil that was half-way on the ceramic store model. “Marlene, be careful. You know the rule -- You break it, tear it, rip it, step on it, or breath the wrong way on it; you buy it.” Tifa filed through a pile of papers on the high, cream colored desk. Every so often she would lean down to file something or fumble through a low drawer. “Vincent and Yuffie are getting married and we have a couple months to get Yuffie a million dollar wedding for a few hundred. How much more excitement do you need?”“I don’t know . . . It’s always the same. Always the same faces, same people.” Marlene continued to complain as she dressed the mannequins. “What are you talking about? We have new girls and families in here everyday.”Marlene ceased her work to address her sister, “But they’re all the same girl. The same blushing bride that claims she has the last real gentleman in the world. She says that she’s found her ‘Prince Charming’ and she wants a replica of J.Lo’s wedding. The only thing that ever changes is which J.Lo wedding she wants to rip off.” She paused and pouted her next sentence. “And every time they try on their dress they cry.” This earned a smirk from her sister before she delved under the desk.With that the doorbell clanged and instantly, Marlene’s eyes went comically wide and her voice squeaked out, “On second thought . . . .” Wandering awe instantly physically drew her to the hotness in the low slung jeans and white dress-shirt. Through his dress-shirt, Marlene could make out every individual muscle group on his body -- biceps, triceps, . . . This man was way more fun to identify body parts on than the model used in her anatomy class. Caught up in daydreams of learning about his pectoral region, Marlene slammed into a low table, silently mouthing her pain.The customer’s brows furrowed, “You alright, Kid?”Marlene went dizzy at the low rumble of the mans voice. “Yeah-huh.” she sighed, her heart speeding spasmodically. At her sister’s animal-like tones, Tifa raised her head from under the desk to see what she had squealed and was now making low moans about -- noises her sister should not be making at sixteen years old.Tifa stood up to scold her sister, “I thought I told you to be careful around . . . Reno .”“Lockheart.” “Reno ?” This time his name was said in confusion -- as if “what are you doing here?” was implied in her tone.Tifa didn‘t look much different in his eyes than she looked the last time he saw her in person six years ago -- same long dark brown hair and rubey eyes to match. And of course she had the same nose -- the nose that looked like that when God was sculpting her face from clay, he decided to play Snoopy, pressed on the tip of her nose and went “Meep!” -- forever forming the indentation. Not fancying this the best time to assess her appearance or stall talking about the weather, Reno cut to the chase. “I’m here to make you an offer.”Tifa’s eyebrow arched in confusion of his first words to her in years, “And I suppose it’s going to be one I can’t refuse?”Reno ignored both her joke and her little sister, who he’d seen in pictures, fumbling around behind him. Little did he know the teen was falling all over herself over the fact her sister was being propositioned by a gorgeous man she apparently already knew! She’d have to search through her sister’s picture boxes later for photographical evidence of this man’s existence to show Janice. Reno thought the best game plan would be to start out slow and work his way to the real reason for him being here. “You know what I do?”“Yeah.”“And you know what you do?”“Obviously.” Tifa glanced around the store.“And you can see how,” he proceeded lightly, “in the right setting, our jobs could be connected?”“Get to the point, Reno . I’m starting to think this has something to do with the mob. Do they have English mobs?” Funny how easily they fell back into snarkiness and bitch-mode after not seeing each other for six years. She wasn’t going with the tempo he was setting, so he said “to hell” with his original plan.“Let me photograph you for the cover story about your dream wedding.”He had the sentence out so fast, it took a minute for it to sink in. But when it did, a resounding answer permeated her brain, “No.”“What!?”“I said no.” There was the battle cry.“All you have to do is prance around for a day like one of your little brides and tell me all about what it takes to get Businesswoman Lockheart hot.” This was all out war.“No! I refuse to whore myself out to supposedly well-meaning magazines. I am a wedding retail saleswoman -- not a runway model. You are not the first to tread this area and you all get the same answer.” In the tizzy Reno never failed to put her in, Tifa began hurrying around the store, arranging flowers and fixing dresses all while debunking Reno ’s pros of the situation without looking at him.“You did it for People!”“That had to do with the store, not me personally.”“Millions read the magazine, it’s great publicity.”He thought that halted her for a moment in her daisy arrangement, “How did you get the nickname Re anyway?” She tried to change the subject, moving back across the room.“By helping little old ladies cross the street. Listen, Tifa . . . .” he plowed, following her but remaining the same safe distance away. He kept away from Tifa for roughly the same reason there are signs at the zoo reading “Don’t feed the animals” -- she might go rabid and bite him. She whipped on him suddenly, causing him to retreat quickly, hoping there was a shot for the froth that was coming out of her mouth. “And won’t those millions that read your magazine wander how it could be that Tifa Lockheart-- romance extraordinaire -- can’t find a man of her own? It’s an embarrassment, Reno , and I won’t do it.”“Tifa, you don’t understand . . .”“You want me to model in a replica of my dream wedding, without having a real wedding, or a groom, or have any previous modeling experience?”Reno gauged the question, searching for the booby traps, “Yeah.”“No.”“Come on, we’ll give you one of those poofter male models.” The eggshells Reno had been previously stepping on when he first entered the store were now being violently thrown.“I don’t know whether you’ve noticed or not, but I’m not exactly the kind of girl you photograph on a regular basis.”Reno threw his head back in frustration, “Ohhhh! Don’t flatter yourself! I’m photographing you, not your body!” The whole scene froze. That was the wrong thing to say and he knew it. It was incredible -- Reno could handle any model that was put in front of him. But Lockheart . . . Lockheart was different. That girl got anywhere in his vicinity and he made a complete ass of himself. It was too late to take back what he accidentally implied and had no defense but to drop his jaw at his own idiotic tendencies. “I can’t believe you!”Reno decided it was best to move on. “Tifa, I know we didn’t particularly get along while in college, but I though we could put that all behind us and act like adults!”“Oh! Good, Reno , now I can save many dollars by inviting you personally!” Yuffie popped out from behind the red curtain, waving a clipboard that read “My Wedding” at him.Reno squinted, still distracted by his fight with Tifa. She took the moment escape behind the curtain. “This isn‘t over, Lockheart!” he yelled to the back of the store.“Oh yes it is!” Answered him.Reno sighed and turned to Yuffie, who was impatiently taping her foot, convinced that anything said or thought about within the next two months should only be about her or her upcoming nuptials. “ ‘M sorry, invite me to what?”“My wedding!”“You’re getting married? To who?”The groom-to-be stepped up beside his bride, “Yuffie, haven’t we decided it would be called ‘our’ wedding from now on?”“Whatever,” she answered. “So, will you come? More importantly, will you be Best Man, because I have to make arrangements for tux fittings and I do not want to waste pretty money.”“Best Man?”Vincent stepped up to his best friend, “I was going to ask you myself, but Anya seems comfortable enough in our month-long relationship to ask you herself.”Reno was slightly flabbergasted, but not exactly surprised. He had a feeling those two had been sweet on each other for months. “I’d love to, man.”This earned smiles from the couple and hugs went all around. Confusion furrowed the brow of the brunette as he pulled away from his Best Man.“Reno . . . What the hell are you doing here?”Reno took in a deep breath, looked to where his subject had disappeared -- halted with his answer -- then decided to just tell the truth, “I have no idea.”