Author's Note – Okay, it's late and I need to go to bed, but just because everyone is so kind with their reviews, I'll post this chapter now and the next one later tomorrow.
Chapter 8
Sunday Morning, March 30
In the morning, the five of us piled into Barret's truck and we proceeded to Junon.
On the way, Marlene and Denzel sang songs in the back seat and every once in awhile they'd ask me to sing along. As I sang, Cloud looked at me with an amused look on his face, like he thought I sounded silly or something singing the childish songs we knew when we were growing up in Nibelheim.
After awhile the kids fell asleep and it was quiet in the truck cabin. Sitting between Barret and Cloud in the front seat was less than comfortable as the truck bounced over the endless bumps on the desert road between Midgar and Junon.
I glanced at Cloud. He was staring out the passenger window, lost in his own thoughts. I reached for his hand resting between us on the seat, slipping mine underneath his. He turned his head toward me and hesitantly threaded our fingers together. I leaned closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder as I closed my eyes.
A couple hours later we arrived at the dock in Junon. Marlene and Denzel took turns hugging us before Cloud and I got out of the truck.
"Bring me back some seashells," Marlene cried out as she stuck her head out the window.
Barret met us at the back of the truck to retrieve our bags. Barret amicably slapped Cloud on the back. "You two behave yourselves." He walked back to the door. "Pick you up on Friday."
Cloud and I exchanged a glance as the truck pulled away. Behave ourselves? I didn't think we made it obvious to Barret that there'd be any hanky panky going on. But then again, when had Cloud and I ever gone away, just the two of us? We had once gone to the Gold Saucer, but we weren't alone. Marlene, Denzel, Barret and Yuffie were with us. We shared two rooms; guys in one and girls in the other. Cloud and I going away alone was a novelty, not only to me but to everyone else.
"Wait here," Cloud said as he slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses. "I'll get us tickets on the next boat."
As Cloud walked away, I sat down on my suitcase and watched him. Wearing a black teeshirt and tan cargo pants that looked two sizes too big, he could easily pass for an older teenager. I envied his youthful appearance. Maybe it was the Jenova cells in him. The only dead giveaway that he wasn't as young as he looked was the huge sword strapped to his back. He had insisted on at least taking Apocalypse…just in case…
He walked up to a ticket window on the side of a small structure. After digging into his pocket for some gil, he handed it to the employee and accepted the two tickets handed back to him. He walked back in my direction, already looking like he was on vacation, I noted with a smile.
In all the years I had known Cloud, I always thought he was fairly attractive, but again, in a brotherly way. I never actually felt any physical attraction to him until lately. He was HOT! I mean, seriously…It made me wonder why he hadn't ever pursued a relationship with anyone before. I was pretty certain women probably bent over backwards to get his attention. In fact I had seen it plenty of times at the bar, whenever he helped me serve drinks on a busy night. But Cloud was always the gentleman and never took advantage of the flirtatious invitations thrown his way. At least not in front of me.
Cloud slipped the tickets into the pocket of his teeshirt as he stopped in front of me. "The boat doesn't leave for another hour." He glanced around and paused at something across the street. "Wanna grab an early lunch?"
I got up enthusiastically. "Sure."
Cloud took his duffle bag and propped it on top of my suitcase. He extended the handle and wheeled it along behind him. I picked up my toiletry bag and together we walked across the street to a diner tucked away in the midst of the materia and weapon stores.
Inside the diner, a waitress led us to a booth in back where there was room for our bags and Cloud's sword.
"Something to drink?" asked the waitress as Cloud and I slid into opposite sides of the booth.
"A cola, please," I replied.
"Yeah, same for me," said Cloud.
"Be back in a couple minutes." The waitress set two menus down and walked away.
We each picked up a menu and glanced over it. After a few minutes we decided the only thing that sounded good was the cheeseburger.
After putting the menu down, I folded my hands and looked at him with a smile. "Are you going to eat with those sunglasses on?"
Cloud quickly removed them, with a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I forgot I had them on."
The waitress walked up and placed our sodas on the table. "Ready to order?"
"Yeah, we'll both have cheeseburgers," replied Cloud.
"Fries or onion rings?"
"Fries."
She smiled at Cloud, making eye contact with him. "It'll be up in about ten minutes."
After she walked away, I tried to suppress a smirk, but failed miserably.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Nothing. It's just the way she was looking at you."
He gave me a curious look. "What was wrong with the way she was looking at me?"
"Just that little smile at the end. Very suggestive, don't you think?"
"No, didn't seem suggestive to me." Then he smirked. "You're jealous."
"Mildly," I said honestly.
"Good. Now you know how I feel."
"What do you mean?"
"You wanna know how many times I held myself back from starting a fight with every guy that was checking you out when you weren't looking?"
I decided to humor him. "How many times?"
"Probably a bazillion."
I remembered hearing Denzel use that word a couple of times. Either he got it from Cloud or Cloud got it from him. "That's not even a number."
"Sure it is."
"How many zeros are there in a bazillion?"
He scratched the back of his head, the way he normally did when he wasn't sure about something. Then he counted on his fingers and when he was done he triumphantly looked up at me with a boyish smile. "Eighteen."
I smiled back at him. He was trying to impress me, just like he had always done when we were younger. And only now was I realizing how adorable that was. "So what stopped you from starting any of those bazillion fights?"
"I didn't want you to get mad at me for beating up the customers."
I gave him a thoughtful look. "Well, you're right about that. I probably would have gotten mad at you."
"If any of those creeps tried to touch you, though…there would have been no stopping me."
I smiled again. Since when did Cloud develop such a chivalrous side? Or did I miss seeing that, too, all the years I ignored his subtle playfulness with me?
When our food came, Cloud poured an enormous amount of hot sauce on his burger while I just added some ketchup. I had a mind to ask him if it burned at all coming out the other end. But maybe that would be getting just alittle bit too personal.
We ate in companionable silence. Sometimes it was nice to just be together without having to worry about what to talk about. We had been through so much throughout our lives that quite often words weren't even necessary…just the familiarity of each other's presence was enough to satisfy us.
As I watched him take huge bites out of his burger, I couldn't remember the last time we had been alone like this where I could observe him closely. There were always too many people around for me to take notice of him. And in our AVALANCHE days, it had been impossible to pause for a moment to breathe while we were chasing after Sephiroth. Back then, I knew he had developed somewhat of a crush on Aerith, too. I even silently rooted for him to go for it, but again there just hadn't been any time. Now I was glad he hadn't gotten romantically involved with her because her death would have been far more difficult for him to get over.
Almost a whole week to ourselves. It was too good to be true. No thoughts about getting up early to make breakfast for the kids. No customers to walk to the door when they had too much to drink. No worries, no hassles…just the beach and each other.
"Are you gonna eat your fries?"
I smiled and shook my head, watching Cloud grab a handful of my fries and transferring them to his empty plate. How could he eat so much and not gain a single pound?
Yes...just the two of us…alone. There probably wouldn't be a dull moment.
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