300 AF

Noel woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. He took a bath and ordered some breakfast to be brought to his room. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later someone arrived with a platter of delicious food. Then he realized he was famished. He hadn't eaten anything yesterday. He had no problem finishing all of the eggs, bacon, and french toast.

After breakfast, he got dressed and decided to do some job hunting. He bought a newspaper from the supermarket and sat down on one of the benches in town square. He searched through the back sections, where the jobs and houses and apartments were. He came across quite a few jobs. He could be a store clerk, a security guard, or a farmhand. The only thing that he could picture himself doing was being a security guard. He was strong, tall, and he could fight if he had to.

The salary was 600 gil per week. Not bad, he thought. And he only had to work four days a week. Even better, he thought. And he got to pick his own hours. He kept that in mind as he looked for an apartment for a decent price. He found a listing for a one bedroom apartment, which would cost him 500 gil per month. He decided he'd call to set up a tour.

He went to the Security Headquarters so that he could find out more information about the job. He walked up to the front desk. "Excuse me? I saw a job offer in the newspaper and I was wondering if it was still available," Noel said politely.

"Yes, please follow me this way for an interview," the woman said. An interview? Noel had never been on one. In his days, there was no need for that. He'd been a hunter. He never worked in an office or anything like that. Noel took a deep breath as he followed the woman down a long hallway. Noel had no reason to be nervous. He was a good speaker, a smooth talker. He could handle it.

The woman knocked on a door, went inside, and came back out a few seconds later. She simply said, "He's ready to see you now," and walked away. Noel nodded and went inside the room. The man motioned for him to take a seat in front of his desk.

"Good morning," Noel said as he sat. "My name is Noel Kreiss."

"Mr. Kreiss, why do you want this job?" he asked. Noel looked at his desk. The nameplate read: Nomu Shinra.

"Well, Mr. Shinra, I think I'd qualify… I'm strong; I can fight if you need me too."

The man studied him for a long time. "Okay. I'll tell you a bit about the job… For two weeks, you'd have to go through training. You'll still get paid the same amount of six hundred gil, but training would be from nine am to three pm. After training is complete, you'll get to choose your hours. What hours would you like, Mr. Kreiss? It would be for six hours per day?"

"Nine to three would be perfect. And it's four days a week, correct?" Noel said. The man nodded and scribbled on a piece of paper. "I think Monday through Thursday should be sufficient."

"Great," he said while rummaging through a box behind his desk. "Report here on Monday at nine am. Don't be late. And here is your uniform."

"Great. Thanks," Noel said and walked out of his new boss' office. Piece of cake, Noel thought as he strutted out of the building. This new job was perfect and he'd found one on his first day in Bresha! How awesome was that? He had the whole weekend to enjoy the great news.

Now he had an apartment to worry about. He went back to the inn to call the number he'd found in the newspaper. A woman answered and he asked her a few questions, scheduling an interview for the following day at noon.

Everything was going so well. He hoped that the apartment would be in decent shape. Hopefully there wouldn't be chipping paint or rodents running around.

Then he thought of Demi. He wanted to tell her his great news. He picked up the phone and called her number. "Hello?" she answered in her sweet voice.

"Hi, it's Noel," he said.

"Hi, how are things going?"

"Well… I got a job as a security guard for the Academy. And I have an appointment tomorrow to see an apartment."

"That's great! We should celebrate… There's this club around the way. I could take you there. We could both use some fun."

"Sounds good."

"I'll meet you in the square at eight. Don't be late!" she said before hanging up. Noel didn't even need to ask her on a date. She pretty much did that herself. But he wasn't sure if he should call it a date or not. Maybe she only wanted to be friends. He couldn't be too sure. Demi was a tricky girl.

At eight, Demi was waiting for him. Noel had on a pair of black pants and a grey button up shirt. Demi had on a miniskirt, heels, and a halter top. Noel stuck his arm out and Demi grabbed onto him.

"You look lovely," he said as they walked.

"You're not so bad yourself," she teased. Noel smiled.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"To that building right over there," she said, pointing in the distance. When they reached the building, they went inside. The large room was filled with young people. There were people dancing, people drinking, and people socializing.

"This place is amazing," Noel said.

"C'mon. Let's get a drink," Demi said, leading him to the bar. They took seats and a bartender approached them.

"Who's the lucky guy?" she asked Demi, smiling.

Demi laughed and said, "This is Noel… Noel, this is my friend Eira."

"Nice to meet you," Noel said and shook her hand. He turned to Demi. "What do you drink?"

"Shots," she said.

Before Noel knew it, he and Demi had each had three shot glasses. Noel didn't really drink too often, so he was definitely drunk. They got up to dance. The room was spinning and he was having a great time. The music was blasting.

Then that's when things started getting better. Demi leaned in and kissed him. He could taste traces of vodka on her tongue. Her mouth was so warm… So inviting. So they had a makeout session in the middle of the dance floor. Noel didn't plan for their first kiss to be quite like this one. Not when they were both pretty drunk.

They both staggered out of the club around one. At that point, the alcohol was starting to wear off on Noel. He couldn't say the same for Demi. He picked her up and carried her. She showed him where she lived, a cute little house around the town square. He placed her gently on her bed and pulled the covers over her. She started whining when he tried to leave.

"Don't go," she said.

"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep, okay?" he said. She fell asleep almost immediately. Noel went over to her and kissed her forehead. Then he went back to the inn, his temporary home.