"If your body matches what your eyes can do you'd probably move right through me on my way to you."

-Paralyzer, Finger Eleven

Tifa tilted her long-stemmed margarita glass around in a circle, watching the brightly-colored slush swirl and coalesce, until it was so mixed that it was just red slush, and she yawned. If Aeris saw her, she'd throw a fit, tell her how 'jumping' the club was, and probably drag some gorgeous and interested guy over, like she always did, only to have Tifa blush and decline his advances. Every guy Tifa had ever met in a club was interested in just one thing -and it was never a committed, long-term relationship ending in the words 'happily ever after'.

And that was what she wanted.

Was it so much to ask?

Apparently, she snorted, looking around at the sweaty, smelly drunks milling about her, and she edged a little further into the booth seat she was 'guarding' on behalf of her friends, pretending to all the world that she wasn't just trying to hide from it. Sighing, she picked up her drink and gulped the remains of her bellini in a single gulp and slammed the over-sized glass down on the table.

"Niiiice." She nearly choked when her bouncy, bubbly best friend slid back into the booth next to her, followed by her sometimes-boyfriend, Zack. The two had been seeing one another for almost two years now, and if you listened to Aeris, it was just for fun...they weren't really in love, but they don't have anything else to do. But if you caught a glimpse of him looking at her...you just knew. It always made Tifa melt when she saw that look, that pure, sweet adoration on his face, and jealous. No, she didn't want Zack, he was clearly in love with Aeris, she just wanted a guy to look at her like that, to love her the way that Zack loved Aeris. Oh, Aeris loved him, too, but that was harder to see; mostly because Tifa was pretty sure Aeris was in denial about it. Tifa rolled her eyes at her.

"I think I'm gonna go." She announced, and poked Aeris in the arm brutally. "I'm a bit tired...and I have that... thing, in the morning." That sleeping thing. Tomorrow was Saturday, and since she didn't have to work until the evening, she knew what she was going to be doing.

"But you can't leave yet! You haven't even met anyone yet!" Her large, pale green eyes widened like a wounded rabbit's, and Tifa steeled herself. She was not going to let Aeris have her way...again.

"I never meet anyone. Every Friday night, you make me stay out until they turn the lights back on and throw everybody out, and every Friday night, I go home alone. I really don't think your fool-proof plan to find me the love of my life is succeeding, darling." She said plaintively, and made shooing motions to get Aeris out of the way so she could escape. Aeris, unfortunately, wasn't budging.

"But you haven't dated anyone since-" Tifa's breath caught at the implication, and Aeris stumbled over her words, leaving Zack looking confused until Aeris took a breath and continued, "-since you and Rude went out in high school." Tifa sighed with relief; at least Aeris was keeping her promise to never mention that again. "We-ell...unless we count your prom date-"

"SHUT UP! I was desperate and there was no one else and I know it was a mistake and you PROMISED NOT TO MENTION IT EVER AGAIN!"

"Oh relax. I'm not, I swear. Anyways. We need more drinks. Zack..." Slyly, she looked over to her raven haired boyfriend, but before she could even begin cajoling him into playing fetch for her, Tifa had vaulted over the table. Aeris silently cursed the high school track team.

"I'll get your drinks, but then I'm leaving. And no, don't look at me like that, because you're not making me feel guilty tonight. No way." Tifa ignored her pout as she turned on her heel and walked up to the bar. She ignored the looks she got on the way, and yes, she knew that if she didn't want slimy guys eying her up all the time, she probably shouldn't wear high heels and miniskirts, but damned if she wasn't wearing the clothes she was comfortable in. And, astonishingly enough, anything became comfortable if you wore it every night for work...well, maybe not high heels, but even Tifa knew better than to wear patent leather with sneakers.

As she approached the counter, she became vaguely aware of a pair of eyes following her, but ignored them and stepped up to the bartender to place her order. One daiquiri, one screwdriver, and for her? "...and one sex on the beach, please."

"Y'know, Costa del Sol is just gorgeous this time of year. Fantastic beaches. I'd love to take you there." A liquidy smooth voice in her ear had her rolling her eyes.

"Haven't changed a bit, have you, Reno?" She replied before casting an unimpressed set of doe-brown eyes towards him.

"Nah, but would you still love me if I had?" She had to chuckle at that one, eyes still on him as she picked up her glass and downed it in one go, with the practiced ease of an expert...she could only carry two drinks at a time, anyways. Unprepared to hear her answer to that, Reno continued. "So, as I was saying, there aren't beaches anywhere in the world like Costa del Sol. Really, you haven't lived until-"

"Until I've been throughly intoxicated and dragged off to a musty hotel room, breathy descriptions of white sand and blue waves being whispered in my ear while you get your nightly fix of sex without strings?" She gave him her very best 'not amused' expression, and picked up the drinks for her friends and started back towards the table. She heaved an audible sigh as she caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of her eye, following on her heels. He'd never known when to quit. And he'd probably have Aeris on his side if she got back to the table with him still in tow. Glancing towards the dancefloor, a sly grin swept her face, a plan forming.

Pausing at the table only briefly, Tifa set the two drinks down in front of Zack and Aeris -who were currently twined around each other like a pair of snakes, and didn't show signs of coming up for air any time soon- rolled her eyes, and half-shouted over the music, "hey, I'm gonna dance a bit. See you in a few."

She twirled off to the dancefloor, expertly navigating her way through the crowds the way only a waitress could, aware that her trailing redheaded annoyance was still following, probably hoping he could cop a feel on the dancefloor, but Tifa had other ideas.

Grabbing a hold of the first unattached guy she saw on the dancefloor, Tifa spared him hardly a glance other than to confirm that it wasn't Reno, and the blonde hair alone confirmed that. She pulled him further into the crush of the crowd, and paused only to take his hand more gently, and bring it around her waist. She kept him behind her, though, pressed her back against his chest so she wouldn't have to look at him...if she couldn't see him, maybe it would be easier to pretend he was someone she might have a future with, rather than just one dance.

Slowly, sinuously, in contrast to the loud club music pounding around them, they danced. Or, she danced and he kept his hands around her hips or waist; remarkably well-behaved for a man in a club, she noticed. Maybe she'd grabbed a gay guy. She twitched her hips and let her hands flow over her body, touching the man behind her only sparingly, only enough to give Reno a clear picture that he wasn't getting any. She could feel hard abs when she let her body flatten against his, and that made it easier to pretend, too easy, almost. She could almost convince herself that the guy behind her wasn't a total stranger, that he was someone she wanted to touch her...someone who she could love.

Her hands glided over the larger, rougher hands at her waist like water flowed in a river, not sure if it was actually her moving them or the cocktail of alcohol and adrenaline pumping through her veins. She could feel his breath tickling her neck, uncomfortable in an all too pleasing way, and she felt her eyes close as she moved sensuously, no sense for the music blaring around her.

She didn't know how long it'd been when she noticed that the dancefloor was slowing emptying, only a few others lingering to enjoy the last few songs the club would play before closing. Almost unwillingly, she felt her body turn, still contained in the cage of his arms, the stranger, the one who she'd picked to avoid having anything to do with Reno. The one who she felt oddly drawn to, without ever having seen his face. Slowly, she lifted her eyes past the black collar of his shirt, over the pale collarbone, up the flawless skin of his throat to the seemingly perfect jaw, lips that begged to be kissed, and finally, to rest on a set of blue eyes so piercing she felt sure they could draw blood. There her eyes locked, like a deer caught in the headlights, she felt certain defeat washing over her like a wave and she didn't do a thing to stop it.

"Hey, Tifa! Zack's going to take me home now...are you good?" Shattered from her own little world, Tifa looked back over her shoulder to her best friend, smiling smugly less than a foot away, yet still shouting to be heard over the heavy bass. Tifa heard the hidden note there...did she need to be rescued from her mystery man, or would she maybe have someone of her own to go home with tonight? Glancing back at his too-pretty face once again, she looked away, and nodded at Aeris.

"I'll come too." She replied, pulling away from the arms that had once seemed more like a cage, now limp and easy to break away from, and she walked alongside her friend, off the adrenaline-driven dance floor and back into a world where things made sense, and where good girls didn't randomly dance with whoever they happened to grab first! As they stepped out of the hot club and into the evening breeze, Tifa felt sanity wash over her...and, while it felt good, there was a certain something she missed about being pressed up against a hot, blonde guy that made her sigh.

"He was pretty smokin'." Aeris commented idly as she got into the cab, missing the scandalized look on Zack's face as he held the door open for them before climbing in after Aeris. She sat in the middle, of course. "What, did he have B.O. or something?" Of course the self-proclaimed matchmaker extraordinaire would interrogate her. She sighed again, but for a different reason this time.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to meet anyone worth dating in one of these places!" Tifa answered, a hint of frustration coloring her voice. "I want a nice guy, Aeris. Someone who tells me I'm pretty and wants a relationship. Not one of these sleazeballs who're just looking for a good time!"

"Hey, nice guys can go to clubs, too." Zack interjected, sounding slightly hurt by Tifa's assertion.

"Yeah, if they're dragged there by their insane girlfriends." She looked pointedly at Aeris, who didn't even have the courtesy to look abashed.

"You don't seem to be having a lot of luck in that department, sweetie. Anyways, he didn't look sleazy." It was always so difficult to distract Aeris once she'd sunk her teeth into something.

"He...wasn't. He just...I don't know, I didn't even talk to him!"

"You LIKE him!" Aeris waggled her finger in Tifa's face knowingly, all but screaming her inference.

"HOW can I like him when I didn't even talk to him?!" Tifa asked incredulously, wondering where exactly Aeris had left her sanity, and where she could buy her some more.

"Bah. It's all in the chemistry, sweetie, and trust me, from what I saw, there was chemistry there, all right."

"So now I leave my love life to my hormones? I'm sorry, Aeris, honey, but that has 'bad idea' written all over it."

"And the non-existent love life is a better idea? No, I'm not hearing it. Tell me you got a number." And with that, the discussion was over...Aeris was kind of commanding that way.

"No."

"Gave him yours?"

"Definitely not!" Aeris groaned in frustration, but then took a deep breath, steeling herself.

"Finding him in the phone book will be something of a challenge, but for you, my dearest darlingest best friend, I will brave the horrors of the yellow pages."

"Um, Aeris?"

"Yes, Tifa?"

"What would you do if I told you I never got his name?" And then Aeris began to weep, tears of annoyance and frustration, all over Zack's new shirt as he patted her back soothingly.

Tifa climbed out of the cab, ignoring the pained screams of anguish Aeris threw at her as she made her way up the front steps to her apartment building, smiling as she pushed open the door and heard Zack soothing Aeris, telling her how there were many more fish in the sea, and Tifa couldn't help but wonder how those two lunatics had managed to find one another in this big old world they lived in.

And if they'd managed it...well, why couldn't there be hope for her?

A/N: AU, obviously, and possibly a oneshot? I'm not sure if I want to continue it or not. It just kind of came to me while listening to music.