Chapter 3
Aerith miserably cleaned the glasses at Tifa's pub the next morning. Tifa looked at her worriedly.
"Aerith? Are you ok? Your lip looks a bit red today." said Tifa.
"What? Oh. Yeah. I'm fine, I accidentally hit it yesterday," said Aerith quickly.
"Oh ok…huh…oh hey look! There's Zack!" said Tifa pointing at a black haired man walking in the pub, he spotted Aerith and Tifa and waved enthusiastically. He ran up to take a seat at the counter.
"Hey ladies! How's life treating you?" he asked cheerily, grinning at them.
"Fine." said Tifa happily.
"Good." Aerith lied. Zack looked at her, it's almost like he knew what was wrong, he frowned and then turned to Tifa.
"So Zack, want anything to drink?" said Tifa. "Just water, I'm not really much of a drinker," said Zack winking at Aerith.
"Ok then," said Tifa turning her back on them. Zack turned to Aerith.
"Hey, what happened to your lip?" he asked pointing at her red lip, she covered it with her hand.
"Oh, I just hit it accidentally," she answered hastily.
"You sure? That's a bit of a hit then…" he leaned closer to Aerith. "Look if there's anything, anything at all that you wanna tell me, go ahead, I mean, we were lovers in the past would you say?"
"Heh, kinda…but it's nothing, really Zack," said Aerith.
"Ok then, how about we meet up at the Church after work then, I haven't seen you in ages Aerith, I've missed you," said Zack taking hold of Aerith's hand and squeezing it.
"Um. Ok then," said Aerith shyly.
"Great, see you then!" said Zack happily, he drank his water and exited the pub. Tifa giggled at Aerith.
"He likes you."
"You mean he use to like me," said Aerith.
"No, I mean he STILL likes you," said Tifa.
"He can't, he's with Cissnei!"
"Didn't you hear what happened to her? She was away on some mission in the Turks and that mission went wrong, terribly wrong that she got killed, she was trapped in a building that was gonna blow up in five minutes, none of her colleagues had noticed that she was left behind, and when they realised, it was too late. Zack was devastated, and this happened about a year ago, I'm glad to see that he's better, but something tells me he still misses her, obviously," said Tifa.
"That's awful!" said Aerith horrifically.
Tifa looked at the time, "Well we better get back to work then," she said going off to deal with a costumer.
*************
Aerith gazed at the cut on her lip in the bathroom mirror, she touched it gingerly, wincing at the pain. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. If Cloud ever found that book…would he maybe….even possibly….kill her?
Aerith shook that thought away. She was thinking stupidly, of course Cloud wouldn't kill her, what the hell was she thinking? She glanced at the clock. 7:30, she should get going. She promised Zack she'd meet him after work. Cloud wouldn't be back till about half ten. That'll give Aerith plenty of time to hang around with Zack and be back before Cloud comes home. Aerith gave one last glance at the cut and exited the house.
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"Took your time didn't you?" said Zack cheerily as he saw Aerith enter the church, scrutinizing the flowers, she turned to look at Zack and smiled.
"Sorry, I was making a few adjustments to some things…." said Aerith, her finger gently rubbing the cut. Zack frowned.
"Looks sore."
"Huh?"
"The cut on your lip…it's painful isn't it?"
"A bit."
Aerith didn't want Zack asking questions about the cut, she wanted to forget about it for now. After all, it did remind her of what Cloud did.
"Well, anyways, Aerith. How are you and Cloud these days?" said Zack, aware of the two being together.
"What? Oh…oh it's ok I guess," said Aerith. She must have pulled a face whilst saying it, because Zack was frowning again.
"It's bad isn't it?" he asked curiously.
"No, no! Don't be silly of course it isn't!" Aerith snapped, she bit her lip, accidentally sinking her teeth on the cut. She winced, beads of blood appearing from the wound she made. Zack rushed up to her.
"Hey! Look what you did now silly," chuckled Zack, he produced a tissue from his pocket and handed it to Aerith. She shyly took it and dabbed at her bloodied lip. Zack's eyes were filled with worry.
"Aerith…" Zack began, he cleared his throat and scratched his head, trying to pluck the courage to tell her. "…are things…going well with you and Cloud?"
Aerith paused, she had to fight back the urge to just break down in tears.
"Yes, everything's ok…really," said Aerith, staring down at the flowers.
"Well, if you say so," said Zack sadly. He knew something was bothering her, he could tell by the sad look in her eyes.
If only he could get her to tell him what was wrong…
Sorry about the chapter being so short, I hope it's good enough though. R&R please ^-^
