Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but I can dream, right?

A/N: I know this is kind of long . . . but stick with me here. I came up with this while witnessing a similar event on a roller coaster. Inspirations really just jump out of nowhere sometimes huh? OC. AU.


The Difference between Girlfriend and Girl Friend

Chapter 1: Ms. Cloud?

There is no better place to be than at an amusement park . . . with your best friend's wife (something she should've been doing with her husband by the way). And that's not the worst part. It's far from it.

"Aerith, come on, can we please leave?" I pleaded, but she just continued to laugh. Her hands were clutching her sides as her entire body was hunched over shaking with laughter. I blushed again and growled, the anger bubbling up inside of me, "And stop laughing!"

She took a couple of deep breaths and looked at me. "I can't!" Breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out. "And no, we can't leave yet! Not until we use up all of the money on these tickets! There's no refund you know and I'm not going to waste this great opportunity for research! Besides isn't this fun?"

Yeah, only for you. "You know that excuse is getting old. All you've been doing is dragging me from ride to ride and having so fun embarrassing me. That's your motive isn't it? Admit it already. I know it is."

"Tsk, tsk, Cloud, you should learn to have some fun too you know. And don't squander my good intentions, incidentally, all of this is research, or at least it is to me."

I sighed. "Why, again, couldn't you have waited one more day for Zack to come back to do this with him?"

"Because he's no fun for this sort of thing and you're so fun to tease." She laughed as she skipped around me in a circle. Yeah right. I know you've been planning this for weeks. I'm not dumb. I can see the signs.

"Aerith."

"Yeeeeees?"

I shot my hand out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving. "Stop going around me in circles, its giving me an even bigger headache."

She shook me off and rubbed at her arm thoughtfully. "You could've just told me you know. No need to be so rough."

"I could've just told you huh? Well, why didn't you just tell me straight out that you wanted to have some fun instead of making up that sorry excuse." I accused. Research. Yeah, right.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"So you admit it then?"

"I never admitted to anything."

"Yes, you did."

"You assumed I did, but I didn't really say it now did I? There is a difference. Trust me, I know."

I sighed in frustration, running my hand through my hair. "Aerith, sometimes you-"

"Are so smart is what you were going to say right?" She smiled at me sweetly.

I glared at her. "No, annoying was what I was going to say."

"Awwww, now you're no fun." She pouted. "You know . . ." I tuned her out when movement behind her caught my eye. A couple of guys were slowly making their way towards us. Inwardly, I groaned. I swore under my breath.

"Cloud, what was that?" Pause. "Were you listening to anything I was saying? What are you looking at any way?"

As she made a move to turn around, I grabbed her arm and tried to walk as fast as I could in the other direction. "Hey, Aerith, let's get on that ride okay? Yeah? Let's go!" I glanced back and saw that those guys were still coming towards us. Ugh, why are they so persistent? "Walk faster, Aerith."

"No, you have to walk slower. Why are you in such a rush? What's behind us?" She twisted herself out of my grip and looked behind her. Damn it all to hell. She saw and they caught up.

"Hi, uh, me and my friends saw that you were alone and, uh, you girls look really pretty." I twitched at the word. "And we were wondering if you know, you wanna hang with us for the rest of the day, we're cool with that. T-That is if you're cool with that you know." He laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

Aerith looked at them and then she looked at me and burst out into laughter again. Damn. This is all her fault. Why me?

The guy looked embarrassed and nervous now, "Uh, is there something wrong?"

Still hunched over, Aerith shook her head and gasped, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem so rude, but you should know something first." She pointed at me, took a glance and just started laughing again.

I grimaced and pulled my lips into a tight line. I looked at the guy and said sarcastically ,"Yeah, sure, I'd love to hang out with you." He gulped. "If you don't mind me being a guy!" I practically hissed in his face.

He gasped and sputtered, "Y-You're a g-guy?" His face was white as a sheet.

I smiled and thought, Aerith I'm so going to kill you and Zack after this. "Yeah, ask her if you want to know why." I jabbed a finger in her direction and continued to glare at the stranger. Seriously! How the heck do I look like a girl I screamed in my mind.

Aerith wiped her eyes and smoothed out her dress as she stood up. "Yeah, he's a guy." She looked up at him. "We're undercover, but, uh, I thought I'd have a bit of fun with this at the same time." She grinned creepily. "My masterpiece," she said proudly gesturing at me. "So how would you like to know that you are the . . . one, two, three, four," she muttered putting her fingers down one by one. Then she smiled and held up eight fingers, "The eighth group to hit on him!" She announced.

The guy just nodded jerkily and ran back to his friends as soon as he could with a very, very red face.

As the guys backed away I glared at Aerith and hissed, "I'm not a work of art! You can't just show me off like I'm an art exhibit! Let's go already!"

"But we didn't use up all of the money on the tickets," she whined. I glared at her again, but she was not the least bit influenced by it. "And besides I never acted at you were an art exhibit." She looked away then peeked back at me with a weird grin on her face. "But, you have to admit, you should be." After that she immediately jumped backward a step with her hands held out at me in a defensive gesture.

I groaned and hung my head in defeat. There's no way to get out of this one is there? "This is so embarrassing," I muttered.

"What is? Going to the amusement park with your best friend's wife? Or . . . is it because you're wearing that?" I glared for the third time, the action eliciting another giggle from her. "Or could it be that we were just hit on," she paused for a dramatic effect. "By a bunch of guys!" She snickered and ran away.

I flushed red. I was way too embarrassed to be angry at the same time now. "Aerith! Get back here," I hissed.

"Okay, okay, I'll be nice now. I've embarrassed you enough for one day."

"You mean for a life time," I muttered darkly.

Aerith ignored my comment with a roll of her eyes and continued, "Just one more ride, okay? And then we'll leave."

". . . Promise?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because I've had enough of this place."

This statement was apparently very funny because it threw her into another fit of laughter making me blush even harder. Damn. Okay, breathe, just breathe, think about Fenrir, think about Fenrir I chanted in my mind. Remember, you're doing this for Fenrir!

5 hours ago . . .

"Cloouuuudddd."

"What?" I looked up from the motorcycle ad I was looking at to my best friend's wife who was leaning against the doorframe and flinched. Uh, oh, she has that look in her eyes again . . . that look . . . I shuddered involuntarily, I don't even want to think about what happened last time when she had that look in her eyes.

The last time she had that look in her eyes she took Fenrir away and held it as a hostage while she made me go with her to a lingerie store and to help her pick out *shudder* undergarments. Everyone in the store was staring at me. I barely looked up the entire three hours we were there after she tried on outfit after outfit after outfit and asked me for an opinion. She's supposed to go to other girls for this sort of thing, not a guy. Seriously. And what's worse is after those three hours of humiliation she just left without buying anything and she had the nerve to actually laugh at me once we were outside when this was all her fault.

And the time before that, she sent me to buy groceries. While I was there she sent me a picture of her holding up a pipe and looking as if she was about to swing that thing on Fenrir with the note: Hey, Cloud, if you don't get back in 5 minutes say good-bye to your precious bike! :). Yes you saw right, a smiley face, she actually ended her note with a smiley face! I ended up running out of there with the groceries unpaid and also knocking over a whole bunch of glass jars just to find out that she just wanted to see how fast I could run under those circumstances. It takes at least 10 minutes to get from her house to the grocery store! Not to mention all the expenses that I had to pay for. I even got an earful from practically everyone in the store. My ears rang for a long time after that.

And there was the time before that when Fenrir . . . wait a second here. All of these incidents always seem to involve Fenrir! I always hide all my possessions whenever I stay over, but she's never taken anything else other than Fenrir! Damn that woman. I really have to hide Fenrir better next time.

"Come to the amusement park with me."

"Why? Just one more day and Zack's going to be back. Go then."

"No! It has to be today!"

"But –"

"No, buts, and that's final. Now you're coming with me whether you like it or not! And . . . ." She looked at me with a gleam in her eye. I gulped and pushed my chair as far back away from her as I could. "You have to wear what I've prepared! Follow me!"

She grabbed my hand and dragged me out the living room and into her room. There lying on her bed were two outfits. One was a dress and the other was a . . . dress? They look familiar somehow. . . But, wait. There must be some kind of mistake. Didn't she say she prepared an outfit for me just before? Oh no. Please say that my outfit is in the guest room and that the dresses are both for her.

"I need to do some research so we need to-"

"Um, Aerith? Why are they both dresses?" I asked weakly. Please god, please, please, please!

"Oh." She smiled mischievously. God, why have you forsaken me? "You're wearing this one." She picked up the blue dress and held it out to me.

"W-What? But, but, it's a dress!" I exclaimed.

"I know."

"You-You're not serious about this are you?"

"Dead serious."

"B-But"

"You see, my dear Ms. Cloud." I winced at the name. She's not going to let go of that one is she. "We need to go undercover for this and you as my partner in crime, are going to wear a dress with me so we blend in more."

"B-But won't that catch more attention. I'm a guy!" I sputtered.

"Don't worry about it. You know I got that dress with you in mind." Huh? With me in mind? Wait a second. I remember that a couple of weeks ago she dragged me around the woman's section in the department store looking at dresses and every time she picked one up, she'd look at me! Are these the dresses from that time? Hmmmmm . . . These are the dresses from that time! And if I remember correctly I paid for it!

I stared at her in horror. "Y-You've been planning this for weeks haven't you."

She paused. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't play dumb! These are the dresses you made me buy for you a couple of weeks ago!"

She looked around fingering the other dress. "No they aren't." With that she made a mad dash for the bathroom and shouted once she was inside, "Hurry up and change!"

I blinked in surprise, frozen on the spot. When I recovered, I shouted back to her defiantly, "I'm not going to go out in that . . . that thing!"

"Well, that hurts Cloud, I picked that out especially for you, you know?" She walked out of the bathroom with the dress on and her original clothes in her arms. Wow, that was fast. She finished wearing it already.

I shook my head. "Well, I didn't ask for it. Besides I paid for it so you can't stop me from not wearing it." Please don't say you have Fenrir. Please don't say you have Fenrir. I shut my eyes tightly, praying.

"It's not good to defy me Cloud. Because . . . Mwahahahaha. Unless . . . You want to say good bye to Fenrir forever! You've got no choice"

I groaned and let go of the breath that I didn't realize I was holding. Why do you hate me god? And how did she find Fenrir again? I thought I hid it well enough this time.

She reached into her pocket and held out a piece of paper. "I have hidden your beloved bike and if you don't answer to my every whim. You will never see Fenrir again!" She smiled with glee. "This is the location at which Fenrir is at and I'll give it to you once Zack comes tomorrow!" She smirked at me in triumph.

Wait a second. Don't give up hope she might be bluffing. I smirked. "How do-"

"How do you know for sure if I have it?"

I gaped at her. "How-"

"How did I know that that was what you were going to say?" I continued to stare at her. "Haha, you're too easy to read Cloud. Well to answer your question, because of this!" She took out a photo and handed it to me. When I reached out for the other item she drew her arm back quickly and shook her finger at me. "Nuh uh uh, this," she handed me the photo, "Is all you're getting for now."

I took it from her after a quick glance, I groaned. On it was today's newspaper on the seat of what I know for sure was my bike. I don't want to wear that . . . that thing, but I have no choice. My bike! Damn! I should've been more careful! "Fine," I mumbled.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"Fine," I said louder.

"I still can't here you," she sang.

I gritted my teeth. "I said OKAY!"

"Yay! I win." She clapped her hands in glee. Putting the dress and heels in my hands, she started to push me out of her room. She shut the door behind me. I sighed and turned to walk to the guest room when her door opened and she called after me, "Oh, yeah, that's right I forgot to mention that you have to wear makeup!"

"Wha-!"

"Shhhh, get dressed! We better be outta here by four!" She smiled and shut her door again.

I stared at her door for a while, debating whether or not I should ever come over again. Shaking my head, I looked at the thing in my arms and groaned. As I slowly trudged to the guest room, I resolved to be more careful next time.

Twenty-five minutes later, I was finally able to put on the damn thing. Seriously, how can girls wear this sort of thing so quickly? It took me forever to put that thing on. And how the hell do girls walk in these? I've been standing around for only five minutes and my heels hurt already. Women have it hard . . . But we, men, have it harder if we have to put up with this kind of abuse everyday for more than half our lives. How can Zack live with her? She's the devil's incarnate!

"Hey, Cloud? Can I come in?" Speak of the devil.

"Yeah."

The door opened and she walked in with an armful of cosmetics. She glanced and me and just froze.

I paused. " . . . What? Am I wearing something wrong or something?"

" . . . No . . . Wow. Wow. WOW. Damn, I have a good eye!"

"Huh?"

"I knew you'd look good, but I didn't think you'd look this good!"

"Uh, Aerith, you're not making any sense right now."

"I'll be back!" After dropping all the cosmetics on the bed, she ran out of the room only to come back minutes later with the mirror from the hallway. "Ta da," she announced. "Look at yourself." I did, nothing looked out of the ordinary. I still looked like me . . . Only I was in a dress and heels. She smiled again. Uh oh, it's the look again. "Time to put on your makeup!"

"C-Can we just skip that? Look it's almost four." I said weakly.

"Nope, we still got five minutes. I'll be done by then." She hummed Victory Fanfare as she opened a small box of makeup. "Close your eyes and tilt your head up," she commanded.

The only thought that passed through my mind as she started to rub the stuff all over me was, why me? Oh, and, curse you Aerithhhhh!. And you too Zack, for bringing her into your life!

Now . . .

Yep, so that's what happened. I'm in a dress like Aerith. And we were hit on. Not just Aerith, no. We were hit on by a bunch of guys. Eight times. Not to mention glared at by an innumerable amount of girls.

After another five minutes of laughter later, Aerith finally stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Seriously. I knew you looked good, but this good? I'm a genius! Maybe I should quit my job as a psychiatrist and become a fashion designer instead!"

"Aerith! Can we stop talking about this! It's embarrassing enough as it is!"

She grabbed my chin and turned my face from side to side.

"Hey, hey. Enough of that!" I swatted her hand away.

"Seriously, Cloud. I can't get over how good you look in this outfit," she stated seriously with a hint of playfulness. "Oh well, let's go!" She grabbed my hand suddenly and dragged me toward hopefully what would be the last ride.

Then she stopped and made me almost twist my ankle in the heels. Ouch. She let go of me and looked at me thoughtfully. "We . . ."

"We what?" Please don't tell me she has another "ingenious" plan.

"We ended up catching a lot of attention anyways, huh." She nodded to herself. "Hmmmmm, I thought two girls hanging around was the best disguise. Maybe we should've . . ." She muttered to herself. Okay, so maybe she was doing some research.

"Let me tell you what is wrong with your "ingenious" plan," I said sarcastically.

She looked up at me. "What?"

"Two girls alone, shows that we are 'available'," I quoted with my fingers. Not that I said that I was a girl or anything. "If it was a girl and a guy, people would get the message that we are taken and wouldn't bother us. So if I just pretended to be your boy-"

"Cloud!" She huffed. "I'm married you know! I can't be unfaithful."

"T-That doesn't make you unfaithful!" I exclaimed. "Besides its pretend."

"I still won't do it!" She stated with finality and crossed her arms, looking the other way. I sighed in defeat.

After a short pause she grabbed my arm again and shouted excitedly, "Let's go already!"

Annnnnd, she just had to pick the ride with the most people waiting in line, and apparently . . . the most couples. I guess getting wet was on a lot of couple's minds because from the looks of it, you can't not get wet on this ride. It doesn't matter where you're sitting because you will get wet.

"How many?"

"Two!" She replied quickly. Then she turned to me and said. "I want to sit in the front! Cause you get the wettest in that seat!"

"Okay." Let's just get this over with. We climbed into the log and I kept shifting as I tried to find a comfortable position. This dress constricts my movement so much.

"How many?"

"One."

"Hey, Cloud! Aren't you glad that this ride is being overseen by a girl? This way you won't be hit on-" I glared at her hoping she would get the message and zip it.

"Excuse me ladies, sorry, but can she sit behind you? There are no more seats available for this ride."

I flushed red while Aerith snickered and replied, "Of course she can! Right?" I nodded silently as she elbowed me in the ribs. I scooted forward and griped the bars in the log. "No, no, no, no, no! You can't hold on to the bars, you have to wrap your arms around my waist!" She grabbed my hands and put them around her waist. "Like that!" I blushed and looked away loosening my hands a bit.

The log shifted slightly as the other passenger climbed in and promptly reached for the bars. "Damn it, how'd I miss that? I shouldn't have taken that bet," I heard her grumble under her breath.

That was all I heard before the log was off on the slow ascent. As we reached the peak, I noticed that the girl was gripping the bars so tightly her knuckles turned white. Glancing behind me I noticed that her eyes were closed tightly too, she was obviously really scared. I guess what she said before sort of made sense now.

Aerith on the other hand was giggling in laughter obviously enjoying herself immensely. The wind also kept on blowing her hair back tickling my face. It was rather uncomfortable and what's worse was that the outfit other than being very constricting it was also making it feel way too breezy for my tastes.

As we finally reached the highest and last part of the ride, the girl behind me was still gripping on for her life and Aerith was still giggling in laughter, but halfway down something changed. The girl behind me suddenly let out a small scream and reached out and circled her arms around my waist. I was so surprised at the sudden contact that I let go of Aerith's waist and pitched forward as we splashed down. If I didn't grab on to the bars at the last second I would have crashed into Aerith.

As the log slowly came to a stop, Aerith got out, looked at me and continued on to the exit with a weird look on her face. The girl, on the other hand still did not let go and I realized that it was getting harder and harder for me to breathe. "Ummm, excuse me? Um, you're kind of choking me."

"Is . . . is it over?"

"Uhhhh, if you are referring to the ride, then yes, it's over."

She sighed and let go of me, "S-Sorry, I'm not that good with heights."

I just nodded and got out of the log and was about to walk out to where Aerith was waiting when I felt a tug from behind me.

I turned around and she looked at me. Laughing weakly she asked, "Sorry, but can, can you help me up? I don't think I can get up . . ." I reached my hand out and she grabbed onto it, but because it was so wet she slipped and fell back into the log.

"Lady, can you hurry up a bit?" The girl who collected our tickets asked.

"Sorry . . ." She blushed and tried and failed again.

I sighed and just picked her up. "Whoa!" she cried as I carried her out of the log, down the stairs, and onto a bench nearby. She blushed again and said, "Th-Thanks."

"Your welcome."

Aerith walked over and said with a roll of her eyes, "Cloud, if you're done showing off your manly skills, we can leave as you wanted to before you know . . . unless of course you don't want to anymore . . ."

"No! Of course I haven't changed my mind."

"Really? Because you look kind of . . . occupied."

I was confused for a second until I remembered what I just did. Blushing fiercely, I stammered, "N-No. I'm not." With that I started to walk away when the girl said something.

"Wait a second." I turned around and looked at her. "You're, you're a guy?"

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "How do I look-"

"Clouuuud. You forget that you're in a dress right now." Aerith said in a sing-song voice.

I immediately flushed beet red and muttered to Aerith, "Let's go now." Grabbing her by the hand I walked off as quickly as I could thinking of ways I could perform the perfect crime and bury this whole thing in the back of my mind, forgetting about it forever.


So it came out a lot longer than I expected it would. I was thinking 5 pages tops, but I guess I do always end up writing more than I usually do. Please review and give me advice on anything and any mistakes I made while writing this piece. Your opinion is appreciated a lot.