Second chappie... two chapters in one day. I've got two more serious Zeris ideas on the back burner right now, so the quicker I get through this little plot, the quicker I can start those.

Reminder: Zack is 22, Aeris is 17 (which isn't considered pedophilia, people! 16, as I have said, is legal in Midgar!), Cloud is 16 and so is Tifa, and Sephy is the big 3-0.

Disclaimer: If you're reading this chapter, you read it the first time. I don't own FFVII. Not earning anything from this, either.

Edge Street Strip Mall Chapter Two Dillemmas

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All day on Thursday, Aeris couldn't sit still in the shop. The rest of the strip mall was quiet, but the shop was crazy - at least to Aeris. Her mother was driving her nuts with her constant suggestions on what to wear (it got annoying after her eighth idea), there was a rather large funeral tomorrow and the arrangements were huge, and with the handsome black-haired boy being only thirty yards away, Aeris couldn't keep her thoughts straight.

"Aeris," Elmyra stirred her from her reverie - the fifteenth time that day, her mother was counting - "That should be blue, not green."

"Sorry"
Her mother only smiled. "You know," she pulled her stool next to her daughter's, "I was worse than you when I went on my first date."

Aeris sighed. "If it's possible."

"It is," her mother reassured, "and trust me, I paced so many times my mother thought I was going to wear a rut into the floor. It rained that night, and we ended up watching a movie in the living room with my parents."

"Ouch." Aeris shuddered. "I don't know too much about the dating scene, but that has to be bad."

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"Mom, this isn't too short, is it?"

"Way too short for a first date," her mother concluded. Aeris threw the dress back into her closet, with Tifa pulling out the next one. The older one held it to her chest, shaking her head.

"Tifa, why did you get me this dress again? It shows too much!"

The other girl huffed in protest. "I outgrew that dress two years ago!"

Aeris dove back into her closet, mumbling "No, no, no, hideous print, definitely not, that's funeral wear... not a color I look good in..." and tossing them to the bedroom floor behind her.

"What about this one?" Elmyra held up a long pink spaghetti-strapped tank dress, buttons down the front. "I've never seen you wear this."

Aeris turned, laughing nervously to herself. "That's because... well... I kind of..."

"Bought it without permission," Tifa finished for her. "I was with her, she used tip money and five gil we found on the sidewalk. Don't worry, it's not too revealing," the young bartender reassured her best friend's mother. "It's not something I would wear."

Elmyra gave a sigh of relief. "Thank heaven," she waved her hand at her daughter. "Go ahead, try it on! I want to see if it looks good on you!"

The brunette turned around, slipping her current dress over her head, and buttoning the pink number up, leaving it unbuttoned from the knee down. "How do I look?"

Her mother sighed, and Tifa gaped. "You got that dress almost a year ago, but you fit it better now."

"I never would've thought to put you in pink," her mother commented, "All that white, it was almost abnormal to have you in that color."

Aeris looked herself in the mirror, sliding on a pair of comfortable secondhand brown boots, and Tifa handing her a red denim bolero with silver edges on the sleeves. "What?" Tifa mumbled, "I can't get the damn thing buttoned up anymore! I was gonna see how it looked on you anyway."

"It complements your hair," Elmyra said, approving.

"Damn, girl, I'll be suprised if he doesn't jump you!" Tifa surmised, earning a deathglare and a simultaneous 'Watch your mouth!' from both mother and daughter.

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"And would you care to tell me why you want to borrow my good cologne?" Angeal asked incredulously, eying Zack warily. "You only wear it for Christmas and for - god, Zack, I told you that you can't sleep with every girl you meet!" The elder almost threw himself into one of their kitchen chairs, bringing a can of beer to his mouth. "No, you can't just borrow my cologne for sex."

"Angeal," Zack whined, "it's not for sex, I swear! I'm going on a date with this really beautiful girl-"

"Yeah, haven't heard that one before," the older man muttered, returning to his sactuary-in-a-can.

"And she's a florist, too." Zack smiled as Angeal almost spit out his beer. "Yeah, I know. She works in the flower shop in the same strip mall as us. And trust me, she's not like the... girls-"

"Sluts," Angeal interjected.

"Girls," Zack stated again, "that I usually date."

"You mean, 'knock boots with.'"

Zack huffed. "You're incorigable."

Angeal snorted into his can. "Holy crap, we need to report this to the main office uptown - Zachary Fair now knows a big word!"

"Oh, shut up."

The man finished off his can, pulling the tab off and tossing it into a plastic cup on their counter, chucking his can into their recycling bin. "Alright."

"Yes!" Zack exclaimed, fist thrusting upward into the air, darting upstairs to Angeal's bedroom to get the bottle of musk that the ladies loved. "Oh, and can you get me a can, while you're up?"

Angeal sighed. "And you say I'm incorigable."

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Can you tell I'm rather fond of shorter chapters? I spent more time on the girls, thinking that it would be more appropriate to do. Girls tend to freak out about a date more than guys do, how right am I? Personal experience. I still spazz out right before a date. Hell, I get antsy if he's more than three minutes late .

Ja ne! Kitteh ../"