"The best thing to do is just ignore him." Shera concluded her list of Reno's quirks as they both heard him and the woman start up again. "We didn't tell you what kind of a neighbor he is because we really wanted that apartment rented. Don't be surprised if he brings a woman over every night now. Like I said, just ignore him. He won't bother you if he can't get a rise out of you." Shera got up off the couch and patted Aerith on the shoulder. "Good night, and it wouldn't hurt to get some earplugs." she said as Reno's woman got even louder, then Shera left.

Aerith picked up the phone and dialed her parents' number. "Mom? Could I come home for the rest of the weekend? I know it's late, but…thank you, Mom, I'll be there in about half an hour."

Aerith was pleased to find her bedroom at home untouched, and hurriedly curled up with the stuffed red animal she got when she was five, sleeping better with the familiar sounds of nothing but overnight trips to the bathroom.

"Were you that homesick, Aerith?" Ifalna asked her daughter the next morning at breakfast. "What are the other tenants like?"

Aerith blushed before answering. "There's two college students, an artist, a video game tester, a couple who run the building, and that's who I've met so far." She was going to take Shera's advice to heart and pretend that Reno didn't exist.

Monday morning after breakfast, Aerith went back to Midgar Commons. When she reached her apartment door, she stiffened as she saw Reno's door open, and then her jaw dropped when Elena came out, looking very happy as she turned around to face Reno's apartment.

"Will I see you…Boss!" Elena squeaked out when she caught sight of Aerith in her peripheral vision.

Reno stuck his head out and caught sight of Aerith staring at them. Smiling wickedly, he stepped out and took Elena in his arms, kissing her passionately while he fondled her. "I'll call you." he told Elena as he released her abruptly, going back into his apartment and closing the door.

"Will you need me for deliveries today, Miss Faremis?" Elena walked over to her boss, trying unsuccessfully to pretend she was there for work.

"What were you doing with that man?" Aerith asked her icily.

"I came over yesterday, but you weren't here, and Reno told me that he never got a response from you on his housewarming invitation, and wanted to know if I'd accept in your place." Elena smiled as she looked towards Reno's door. "And you did tell me once that it's really bad form to never respond either way to an invitation, so I accepted to make sure he wasn't offended."

Aerith frowned. "I'll need you for deliveries tomorrow. I'll see you at 10am sharp tomorrow morning." She unlocked her door and went in, hurrying to check her plants. The events of the party's aftermath had totally erased their care from her mind. Hurrying around her apartment, she opened the blinds and curtains to let in light and watered her exotic flowers. "I'm sorry, my little ones." she said during her guilt-ridden pampering of them. "I didn't mean to neglect you, you're my only real friends I can count on."

A knock on the door interrupted her, and she made a note to ask for a peephole in the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me." Cloud said. "Can I come in?"

Aerith reluctantly opened the door. "How can I help you?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay, we couldn't get a hold of you yesterday." Cloud explained.

Touched by the thought that maybe the plants weren't her only friends, she invited Cloud in for some tea.

"You were gone for a while, what happened to you?" Tifa asked Cloud when he came back to their apartment.

"Aerith invited me in for tea." Cloud was smiling.

Tifa frowned. She didn't mind Cloud having a thing for Aerith, since she had no claim on her childhood friend, it was Rufus getting all hot and bothered about Miss Prude as a new 'painting subject' that she found extremely upsetting. "Why don't you ask her marry you?" Tifa asked. If Aerith lost her halo and wings, maybe Rufus would forget about her.

"She wouldn't accept yet, because we haven't know each other long enough. She'd be the perfect wife for a future successful lawyer always in the public eye though. No one could ever make her seem to be anything but perfectly proper." Cloud replied.

"Don't wear out your wrist dreaming about your future." Tifa snapped as stormed into her bedroom and slammed the door, unable to tolerate another man telling her how perfect Aerith was.

Cloud stared at Tifa's closed door in confusion, then shrugged and sat down to watch the legal channel on television. He noticed Aerith didn't have a television, just a lot of plants, and he hoped he could invite her over to watch court cases to see if she found it interesting or boring.

Reno woke up when his alarm clock went of and smelled something funny, and after getting out of bed and checking his apartment, he realized it was him, so he grabbed his hamper and headed down to the laundromat in the basement. Aerith was doing laundry as well, and he decided he was just going to have one of those days. He didn't have time for a stuck-up prude at the moment, so he decided to ignore her. Reno started emptying his hamper into the washing machine. Once he had almost a full load, he took off the clothes he was wearing, except for his briefs, shoving them down in the washing machine. His boxer shorts also needed to be washed.

Aerith shrieked when she saw Reno start undressing. "What are you doing?" she cried out.

"I'm not advertising for you, so just relax. As if you know how." Reno grabbed the laundry soap that Cid and Shera kept for him in the cupboard and dumped some in and started his first load of clothes, then sat down in one of the chairs. He put his feet up on his washing machine, and grabbed one of the magazines also left there for the tenants to read.

"It's not proper for a man to undress in front of a lady." Aerith managed to get out eventually, stuttering her first few attempts.

"Spare me, especially when your damned virgin eyes have already seen all this…you know, the night you called the cops on me!" Reno countered as he idly flipped through pages of the magazine.

Aerith felt her face turning red, and she grabbed something out of her laundry basket, throwing it at him before she knew what she was doing. "It wouldn't have happened if you weren't such a fucking pervert!" She shrieked again in dismay as she realized she had used a bad word, clapping her hand over her mouth.

Reno stood up and took the lacy white panties off his head, examining them. "Not bad…have you showed Cloud these yet? I guarantee you'll know what a fucking pervert is then."

"You're an asshole!" Aerith blurted out, her facing turning red as she cursed again. She hurriedly stuffed her clean laundry into her basket and was about to leave to get away from him when a pair of pink panties landed in her basket.

"Those are considered more in style than your white ones." Reno smirked at her. "And I love it when women talk dirty to me."

Aerith was about to throw them back at Reno when Cloud walked in. "I hate you!" she screamed at Reno before rushing to the elevator, leaving Cloud staring after her.

"What did you do?" Cloud glared accusingly at Reno.

"Me? I just tried to give her some fashion tips. Women!" Reno innocently shrugged and sat back down in his chair, grabbing a different magazine as he wondered why he had never met a prude before that was ugly. Maybe the attractive ones know they can get away with it, he mused.