Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ New Love ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Just FYI, this past Sunday I turned 20. Woot!

 

Sorry for the delay, but as compensation, this chapter has plenty of Cleris to please you, dear readers. Enjoy!

 

New Love

 

Chapter 6

 

“Why would you want to get to know her?” Cloud asked, a little off-put.

 

“Well you said she's nice, and I don't have the same circle of friends I did a few years ago. Come on, what can it hurt?”

 

“Well it's weird, I mean, you never invited Yuffie to dinner,” Cloud said, leaning back slightly.

 

“That's because I'd met her at the office,” Tifa replied. “I've only said hello to Aeris, but she seems like a nice woman. Just ask her, for me.”

 

“Okay, I'll ask.” Cloud hung up the phone and stood up, pushing open the door to his office. “Aeris?”

 

“Yeah?” she said, typing on her computer.

 

“Uh…Tifa was wondering…if you'd, wanna come over for dinner some night?” Cloud mumbled. Aeris looked up.

 

“Well, sure, I'd love to. When?” she asked.

 

“Um…Thursday?” Cloud said. That would give her tomorrow to rethink her decision.

 

“Sounds good, what are we having?”

 

“What do you like?”

 

“Pasta, whichever kind. If that's not too much trouble, at least.”

 

“No, no, pasta's fine. I'll let Tifa know.”

 

“Great.” Aeris beamed, and Cloud nodded at her, turning and heading back into his office. He sat down and resumed his work before Tifa called, and vaguely registered the muffled sound of a door opening.

 

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?”

 

“Geez, you sound happy to see me.”

 

“Of course I'm happy! What's up?”

 

“Need your opinion asap, girl. Got the dresses in.”

 

“Aw, come on, not while I'm working!”

 

Cloud lifted his head and stood up, opening his office door. A girl about Aeris' age in blue jeans and a puffy blue blouse was standing in front of his secretary's desk. A large bag with something green and blue inside it was in her right hand.

 

“Uh, hello?” he muttered, confused. The girl in the blouse turned to him and grinned.

 

“So this is the cute blonde boss you told me about!” she laughed. Cloud raised an eyebrow as Aeris' face turned red. Cute?

 

“Rinoa!” she hissed. Rinoa rolled her eyes. “Cloud, Rinoa Heartilly, we went to college together,” Aeris explained. Rinoa grabbed Cloud's hand and shook it.

 

“Hi,” she said. “Soooo, you're a guy. You don't mind if I ask you a question do ya?”

 

“Um…no?” Cloud replied.

 

“Great.” Rinoa brought up her right hand, showing off a large clear plastic bag. “Do ya think Aeris would look good in this?” Cloud turned his attention to the dress in the bag. It was a sleeveless dark green with thin straps and a figure-hugging shape, with the torso of the dress decorated with crossing dark blue straps. The material looked like silk or satin, he wasn't sure.

 

“Why?” he asked.

 

“It's the dress she wants for the bridesmaids at her wedding next month,” Aeris grumbled. “Except I look horrible in green.”

 

“Oh please, Rydia doesn't mind it!” Rinoa tossed over her shoulder.

 

“That's because green is Rydia's color, you could toss a green garbage bag on her and she'd make it work! What does Garnet think?”

 

“She's the maid of honor, she helped me pick it out!”

 

“Oh great, I'm overruled.”

 

“So, what do you think?” Rinoa asked, turning her attention back to Cloud. Cloud looked back and forth between Aeris and the dress a few times, then shrugged.

 

“Sure, she'd look okay in it, she looks good in what she's wearing now, what's the big deal?” he said. Rinoa lowered the dress and cocked her head with a grin.

 

“Aaaaaaaaaw, he is cute! Aeris, you said he has a girlfriend right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Damn.”

 

“Rinoa you're engaged!”

 

“So? Until that ring is on my finger I'm technically still on the market.”

 

“Um…can I go now?” Cloud mumbled, feeling out of place between the two women.

 

“Yes, shoo shoo shoo, we've got girl stuff to talk about now!” Rinoa urged, lighting pushing him back into his office.

 

“Are you sure this can't wait until my break, I'm working,” Aeris groaned. Cloud looked down at his watch.

 

“Actually Aeris, your lunch starts in three minutes,” he said. Aeris whirled her head around to shoot him a venomous glare, and Cloud vaguely heard what could be a growl. He visibly flinched.

 

“Goooood, bye bye!” Rinoa closed his office door, and Cloud found himself staring at grey-blue paint. Rolling his eyes, he sat back down at his desk.

 

“Alright the guy is gone, spill it, what's your problem?”

 

Cloud lifted his eyes at the sound of Rinoa's muffled voice through his door. It wasn't his place to eavesdrop, it really, really wasn't…Cloud tried to turn his attention back to his computer. It didn't work.

 

“What problem?” Aeris' voice replied.

 

“You've been against taking party in the wedding ever since I asked you to be a bridesmaid, why? Do you not like Squall?”

 

“You know I think Squall's great…come on, you know Yuna is willing to take my place, just swap her in for me.”

 

“Yeah, except I didn't ask Yuna, I asked you. Aside from Garnet you're my best friend, why is this so hard for you?”

 

“Well…come on Rinoa, I'll go and we'll all go, and I'll end up sitting at our table alone during the whole reception until depression and pressure land me at the bar.”

 

“Oh hello Mrs. Merry Sunshine, so nice of you to join us.”

 

“I'm serious, if I had a boyfriend I'd be all for it, but I don't wanna end up being a wallflower on your big day, I feel bad enough not wanting to take part because of that.”

 

“Well it's still more than a month away, we can find you a date, we know lots of great single guys! How about…oh, how about Zell?”

 

“No.”

 

“Um…Kain?”

 

“I met him through Rydia and we exchanged two sentences. No.”

 

“Oh, I know, Irvine!”

 

“God no.”

 

“Well come on Aeris, there's gotta be someone we know that'll take you. Who do you know that's hot, just think for a second.”

 

“Rinoa…you know that's just not how I approach relationships. I'm not just going to approach a random guy with a cute smile and ask him on a date.”

 

“Why the heck not?”

 

“You know that's not what I want, and I'm sorry but that's just how I feel. You know I have trouble meeting guys.”

 

Cloud vaguely registered some mumbling from Rinoa in his office, digesting this new information a bit at a time. He knew Aeris was single, but he didn't think she let it get to her like this.

 

“Well, alright, we'll worry about the man problem later. Is the dress okay?”

 

“The dress is fine, but green really isn't my color.”

 

“Alrighty then, I'll bring yours over tomorrow and we can sort out the boyfriend problem later. See ya!”

 

Cloud heard the door close to Aeris' office, and a squeak. A moment later, his office door opened.

 

“You said it before, it's my lunch now, so I'm heading off,” she said.

 

“You have trouble meeting guys?” Cloud blurted. Aeris stopped turning back around.

 

“You…overheard that huh?” she muttered. Cloud blushed and lowered his head.

 

“I didn't mean to overhear anything.”

 

“It's okay…yeah, it's not easy for me,” Aeris sighed. “You know me, I'm not anti-social or anything at all like that…the bar and singles scene just isn't my thing. There's plenty of decent guys out there I'm sure, but the problem is most of them are busy being decent and keeping out of trouble so you never notice them.”

 

“Hm…” Cloud mused. “So you mean you've never had a boyfriend, you can't meet anyone?” Aeris shook her head.

 

“Well…there was a guy years ago…” she admitted.

 

“Yeah?” Cloud prodded. Aeris looked up at the ceiling.

 

“Zack and I met in high school. I wasn't a social butterfly back then, still not. Zack wasn't really anything special at first glance, I guess. He played on the basketball team and was a bit of a math wiz but failed history. He just came over to me in the cafeteria one day and asked me out. I didn't know why, but I knew he was a nice guy from all the talk about him, so I said yes.”

 

“So what happened?” Cloud asked, standing up.

 

“Well…I asked him why he took me out. He said he didn't know. He said I was pretty, but there were prettier girls, and that I was smart but he knew there were smarter ones too…”

 

“He sounds like a charmer,” Cloud said dryly.

 

“He did that a few more times, then just shrugged and said `so I guess I picked you because I wanted the whole package',” Aeris finished. “I was so embarrassed, he was almost making me mad and then pulls something like that. He was a charmer, he really was. I rarely got mad at him, and when I did he always did or said something to snap me out of it, and I knew he did it just to bring me back but it always worked.”

 

“Did you love him?” Cloud asked. Aeris lowered her gaze and sighed.

 

“I…I think, maybe I did. I really did care for him, no doubt. He was…my first.”

 

“Yeah, you said he was your only boyfriend.”

 

“Um, no…my first,” Aeris emphasized. Cloud blushed again, and wondered why he was doing that so much today.

 

“Ooooooh….” He replied. “That kind of first.”

 

“Yeah, that kind,” Aeris agreed.

 

“So what happened?”

 

“Well, when we graduated, he went to a university out of state, and I stayed here. We kept in touch of course, he came to visit now and then, and we exchanged a lot of email. Then, he visited a little less, and one day we just ended it. It wasn't like one of us just said `it's over', it just happened. I'm not sure what happened to him, I kept sending him emails, but he never replied…he probably just found someone else…”

 

Aeris bit her lip and closed her eyes. Cloud made a face at the sight, and moved across the office to her. The secretary opened her eyes and looked up at him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a half-hug.

 

“Hey, his loss, right?” he said softly. Aeris smiled.

 

“Yeah…I guess.”

 

“No guess. You're pretty, intelligent and funny. Any man would be happy you call you his.”

 

“You're serious?”

 

“Damn straight. I'm a guy, we kinda know when a girl is a good catch,” Cloud reminded. Aeris chuckled slightly.

 

“Thanks…Cloud.”

 

“No problem.”

 

Aeris smiled up at him, and Cloud moved his other hand up to her shoulder. Her eyes almost glowed neon as she stared up at him, and Cloud found himself unable to look away. Aeris, to his relief or confusion, he wasn't sure which, seemed to have the same problem, her smile slowly fading. Suddenly, her lips moved, but Cloud missed what she said.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Phone.”

 

“Wha?”

 

“Phone,” Aeris repeated, looking past Cloud. Cloud suddenly registered the sound of his telephone ringing, and pulled away.

 

“Um, yeah, thanks um…” he stammered, rushing to pick it up. Aeris lowered her head. Her hair wasn't in its typical braid today, and it cascaded down her shoulders to cover her face. Cloud watched, mesmerized, even as his hand clutched the receiver.

 

“Yeah…I'm gonna…go to lunch,” Aeris mumbled, rushing out the door. Cloud lifted the phone receiver to his ear.

 

“Strife, what the hell is the deal with the paperwork for the Hopkins account? I could get more legible writing from a monkey! Get your ass up to my office and deciode this babble!”

 

Cloud didn't truly listen to Rufus' complaining, his eyes fixed on Aeris' figure moving down the hall away from him.

 

“What…just happened?”