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

I apologize for the late update. The last couple weeks, I've been settling into my first job, and unless they fire me (which I hope they don't), that means updates may become a little more erratic. However, I pride myself on updating at least once a month, so I promise you that you won't wait any longer than that.

 

New Love

 

Chapter 4

 

“You told her the bachelor party story?”

 

“Yup,” Cloud nodded, bending over and measuring the shot. He jerked his cue forward and knocked the five ball into the side pocket of the pool table. Standing and smirking at Cid and Barret on the other side of the table, he moved over and lined up the next shot.

 

“Wow, you've known `er a week and she's got ya more tightly wrapped aroun' her finger than Tifa does,” Barret said. The three were clustered around the pool table of a bar a few blocks down from Cloud's apartment with Tifa. Once Barret had gotten married and Tifa had moved in with Cloud, the three had made a pact to meet for pool and drinks every Saturday to ensure they never strayed too far apart. They had met in college, Barret and Cloud had been students, Cid a younger instructor. Younger was relative, he was still ten years older than them.

 

“No way,” Cloud replied, shooting and missing the twelve ball. Cid took the cue and looked for a shot. “I am not wrapped around her finger in any way.”

 

“You know `er for a week and tell `er that story, you've known Vincent for three months and haven't told `im a thing,” Barret said. Vincent was a client of Cloud's that had become friends with him during negotiations. They spoke now and then, but Vincent was the quiet type and usually didn't have much to say.

 

“Well Vincent's not that type of person, if I told him that story he'd just look at me like I was an idiot.”

 

“Ya know what I mean,” Barret insisted. Cid aimed and took his shot, sinking the ten ball.

 

“Ya know, this is fascinating, but there's one key aspect of this new secretary you haven't shared,” Cid said, taking the next shot.

 

“What?”

 

“Is she hot?”

 

“Cid, she's way too young for you,” Cloud rolled his eyes.

 

“Fuck off, I'm only thirty five!”

 

“And she's twenty five.”

 

“It could still work!”

 

“So, is she or not?” Barret asked, getting them back on track. Cloud thought for a moment.

 

“Yeah, I guess she's hot,” he shrugged.

 

“Scale of one to ten?” Cid asked, missing his shot.

 

“Um…seven and a half?” Cloud muttered.

 

“Shit, now I gotta meet this woman,” Cid grinned.

 

“Why are we talking about my secretary anyway?” Cloud asked.

 

“Because you brought `er up,” Barret said, taking the cue from Cid.

 

“I did?”

 

“Yup, talkin' about how she pulled your ass outta the fire.” Barret reminded, leaning over to shoot.

 

“Well it was sweet of her, Rufus would have chewed me out more than usual if he had found out, and she took the risk for me. I'm just sitting there telling her the bachelor party story and the next thing I know she's covering for my screw-ups.”

 

“I still can't believe you told her that story…I'm surprised she hasn't disowned ya for it, her or Tifa,” Cid grumbled. “What did Tifa think of that anyway?”

 

“Um…not sure,” Cloud said. Cid and Barret looked up.

 

“What, ya tell your secretary the story, but not your girlfriend?” Cid cried.

 

“Well it's embarrassing.”

 

“Not embarrassing enough to tell your secretary.”

 

“Whatever. Let's just play.”

 

Barret missed his shot, and Cloud grabbed a second cue from the wall and took his own.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

“See ya!” Cloud waved as Cid and Barret drove off. They lived within a few blocks of each other, so Cid gave him a ride. Cloud's apartment with Tifa was a few blocks in the other direction, and he had opted to walk that night. Whistling softly as he started down the sidewalk, Cloud enjoyed the night. Cool, a little humid, and a soft breeze with a bright moon. The streets were mostly quiet, there weren't a lot of lowlifes around the neighborhood and people stayed out of trouble. He stopped at the curb at a stoplight and waited for it to change.

 

“Cloud?”

 

Cloud turned his head. Aeris finished walking across the street in the other direction. She had seemingly abandoned her skirt and blouse combination to don a pair of blue jeans and a light red blouse under her matching jacket. A small pink tulip had been tucked into her hair.

 

“What are you doing here?” Cloud asked, surprised to see her outside the office.

 

“I was just visiting my step-mother,” Aeris replied, turning and gesturing down the street she had come from. “How about you?”

 

“I live around here,” Cloud said. “Just down at the apartment complex down there.” He pointed, and Aeris followed his finger.

 

“Oh.”

 

“So you were visiting your mother?” Cloud asked. The light changed, and he began walking. Aeris followed him across the street.

 

“Step-mother. My real mother died when I was a kid. Dad got shot in a drive-by when she was pregnant.”

 

“Oh…sorry,” Cloud muttered, looking away.

 

“It's alright. I miss them, but Elmyra was as good a mother as I could have hoped for. She taught me to love flowers.” Aeris lifted a hand to brush against the tulip blossom stuck through her hair.

 

“Flowers?” Cloud asked, looking up at the blossom.

 

“Yup, she has a gorgeous garden in her backyard, grows all sorts of flowers. I loved playing there when I was a kid. It's still nice, but now I come around to help her take care of them more than to run around the grass giggling.” Cloud smirked at the mental image.

 

“There was one time, I was just eleven years old. Have you ever been down Robin street, seen the old broken down church?” Aeris asked.

 

“I've heard of it,” Cloud nodded. There was a dilapidated old church down the one street, a preacher had been caught stealing money from the church funds and a particularly fanatical worshipper set fire to the building with him inside. That, so he had heard, was over twenty years ago. The church had long since been abandoned, the people of the community didn't bother with it, and the city didn't want to tear it down because there was really no point in rousing so much ire from the religious groups just to put up a new house. So pretty much everyone was content to let it collapse into its own foundation one day.

 

“I went wandering in there one day. It was horrible, there were mice everywhere, it was dusty, most of the stained glass windows had shattered or become caked with dirt. There were empty beer bottles and garbage and half-eaten food from the keggers and homeless people that had come through, and the pews were rotting away. It was so depressing, because you could tell it had once been so beautiful…” Aeris sniffed slightly. “It looked so ghastly, the first time I went in there.”

 

“What did you do?” Cloud asked softly, not liking the watering eyes she was blinking away.

 

“I went back to Elmyra and showed her the church and asked if we could have someone fix it. I didn't want it to stay that way, but she told me the story of how it burned down and said no one wanted it anymore. Too many bad memories were connected to it. So I decided if no one else wanted it, it could be mine then.” Aeris smiled as she continued. “I got a ladder and cleaned all the windows, I moved the pews back into position, even the ones falling apart. I got half a dozen trash bags and cleaned up the garbage, I took a broom and a dustpan and swept the old floorboards and carpets. Elmyra wasn't all that keen on what I was doing, but it kept me busy for a couple weeks. Every day I'd come home from school, finish my homework and head off to clean the church. I had to bathe every night because I came home so filthy.”

 

“When I was finally finished, two weeks later…it was lovely. Oh sure, it was nothing like what it had probably used to be, but it was still far better than what it had been. I showed Elmyra again, and she just smiled and told me “you know this makes it yours now, right”. I didn't really get it at the time, what she meant. But I kept going back, I would play in the hall, bring snacks and read. I eventually started exploring more than just the main hall, and found a few things to take back there. Pictures, carpeting. I haven't really done anything more than visit since I graduated high school, and I know college kids and homeless people still go in there. But, in a very real way…it's my church, you know? I may not own the official deed, but it's mine, in every way. I love that place.”

 

“It sounds great,” Cloud admitted.

 

“It is. You should go over and see it sometime,” Aeris said, looking up at him. Cloud looked back, and she smiled.

 

“Is this your place?” Cloud turned his head to see his apartment complex. He had been so engrossed in her story he hadn't noticed how far they had walked.

 

“Yeah…see ya Monday then?” he asked.

 

“Sure,” Aeris nodded. Cloud turned and headed up the stairs to the front doors. “Wait, hold on!” he stopped and turned as Aeris walked up to him, pulling the tulip from her hair and pulling a stray strand of brown hair from its stem. “Here, for Tifa,” she said, holding it out to him. “Rules of courtship state a man has to bring his girlfriend a flower when he's out late at the bar.”

 

“There are rules for courtship?” Cloud asked, taking the flower.

 

“Yup, all women know them.”

 

“What about men?”

 

“You break those rules, and then we get to yell at you for it.” Cloud rolled his eyes as Aeris hopped down the steps back to the sidewalk. “See ya!” she waved, walking down the street. Cloud waved back and looked down at the flower, twirling its stem between his fingertips. He shrugged and headed inside, unlocking the door and heading to the elevators. An old woman with a cart and a teenager pumping his head to the sound of a headphone speaker in his ear were waiting with him as the doors opened.

 

The three rode the car up, and Cloud got off on his and Tifa's floor. Unlocking the door of the apartment, he headed inside and locked it behind him. The TV was on, and as he entered the living room he noticed Tifa asleep on the sofa. He watched the TV, one of those crime shows, CSI or Law and Order or something. Tifa watched them, he wasn't interested. Leaning down, he picked her up and moved down the hall. Tifa shifted in his arms and slowly opened her eyes.

 

“What are you doing?” she murmured sleepily.

 

“You fell asleep, just moving you to the bed,” Cloud replied.

 

“Mmm-kay,” Tifa turned her head aside and let out a soft sigh as Cloud entered the bedroom and lay her on the bed and blankets. Turning to leave, he looked down and remembered the flower Aeris had given him. Smiling at the memory of her “rules of courtship”, he turned back and placed a kiss on Tifa's forehead, laying the tulip on the nightstand beside her. Tifa murmured something indecipherable as Cloud left the room, closing the door behind him.

 

Heading back to the living room and sitting down on the sofa, he grabbed the remote and called up the guide function for the TV. Flipping through the digital pages, he quickly found nothing but talk shows, informative programs and general crap. Sighing and turning the TV off, Cloud leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Tifa had had the right idea. At least he took her into the bedroom, although in her current position there was no room on the bed for him.

 

Yawning, Cloud remembered the small flower Aeris had given him for her, and smiled as he drifted off.