Chapter 12

I stare at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is still spiky but it's a little less unruly than normal. I've abandoned my normal clothes for a plain dark blue button up shirt and a pair of black slacks. Zack said this was semi casual. Does this count as semi-casual? I don't know. I sigh and leave the bathroom.

It's Wednesday night. In ten minutes Zack is going to pick me up then we're going to go get Tifa and Aerith for the double date. I'm nervous as hell. I don't know why I even bothered to dress up. It's not like Tifa's going to suddenly swoon at my feet just because I look a little nicer than normal.

I wander restlessly around my apartment. Let's see keys, phone, wallet; no not the phone. I'm leaving it here in case Mr. Coates decides to call me on some disastrous whim.

He's been giving me hell all week. Ever since that day Rufus Shinra decided to flood us with deliveries. Apparently not answering my phone is one of the worst sins I can commit. He already demanded I work tonight but I flat out told him no and that nothing would convince me otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if he called anyway.

A knock sounds on my door and I groan. I'm not ready for this. I open it and Zack comes in with a grin.

"Hey man," He looks at me in the button up shirt and slacks. "Wow, you actually dressed up?"

I glare at him. He's one to talk, he's got his usual girl catching outfit on. The black short sleeve button up and slacks that he manages to pull off almost every night.

He laughs. "I didn't think I would ever get you to ditch your delivery stuff."

"I'm going to go change." I glare and turn to go to my closet.

"Man," He sighs. "You look fine, don't worry about it."

I turn back to him and continue to glare.

"Seriously, loosen up. It's just a date."

"Maybe to you." I mutter. Just a date may mean something to Zack but this is going to be my first date in a really long time. It's important to me.

"Relax, I've got it all planned out." He grins, "You all set?"

"Yeah," I shrug and walk out the door. "Where are we going?"

He follows me out and we walk down the hall. "The Mythrill Mine." I give him a puzzled look and he elaborates. "It's a neat little restaurant and jazz club in Edge."

"Jazz club?" I ask doubtfully. Edge huh, that means it's a classy place. Everything in Edge is classy.

"Gotta show that I'm cultured." He grins. "Aerith is a different kind of girl."

"Oh, so she's not a tramp." I say as we approach his car.

He glares at me over the roof. "Not every girl I date is a tramp."

I smile to myself and get into the car. It's nice to be the one giving shit for once. "Ok not all of them," I admit once he's in the car too. "Just ninety five percent."

"This one is different." He presses his lips together and starts the car.

He pulls out of the parking lot and heads towards the Seventh Heaven. I'm enjoying picking on Zack but I'm actually a little concerned about him. He doesn't get defensive over girls. But then there's never been a girl to refuse him this long before.

I spend the drive listening to stories about incompetent security guards. Zack can always make a story interesting and he sees a lot of weird things in his line of work.

"But seriously. He had the kid pinned to the ground for twenty minutes. It took me that long to convince him that the kid hadn't stolen anything." He finishes as we pull into the parking lot.

I shake my head and get out of the car. "I don't know how you can stand it. I would strangle some of the people you work with."

"It's not so bad, I get a laugh out of it." He shrugs and we walk in the bar.

It isn't packed inside but there are quite a few people here. Zack and I make our way to the bar.

"Hey boys." Johnny says with a smirk. "Don't you two look handsome."

I cringe a little. Don't get me wrong, I don't care what sex he's attracted to but please, please make him stop hitting on me. He hasn't been as direct about it since I told him I was straight but it still makes me uncomfortable.

"Tifa's upstairs getting ready." He grins. "She should be down soon."

"How are you doing?" Zack asks friendly as always.

"Oh you know." Johnny waves a hand in the air. "Same as always, still can't get a date."

"Really?" Zack asks surprised. "I wouldn't think it would be hard for you."

Good lord this is awkward. I'm standing in the middle of a conversation in which my womanizing best friend is talking to a gay man about getting a date.

"Oh, I have no problem picking guys up but they never want to commit."

"Sucky," Zack continues the conversation but I tune it out.

Tifa just came down the stairs. I am utterly speechless. She's wearing a black blouse and a mid length red skirt with a few ruffled layers. It's just the same shade as her eyes. She looks amazing.

"Hey," She smiles at me. "You look good."

"Hey," I swallow and try to think of some way to tell her how good she looks without sounding like an idiot. I fail. "You too."

"Tifa," Zack cuts in before I can recover. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks." She blushes and looks down. Damn, maybe she does like him.

"You all ready to go?" He asks her.

"Just let me get my purse." She says and darts behind the bar.

I shoot a glare at Zack but he doesn't notice. I know he wasn't actively trying to sabotage me but his reactions to girls are automatic. Still I wish that it had been me to make her blush.

Tifa comes back with her purse. It's huge and more like a bag. It looks like she's got a ton of stuff in it.

"You call that a purse?" I joke quietly with her.

She shrugs and smiles, "Yeah, anything else is just too small. I never have what I want."

I smile back. "Ready to go then."

"Yeah," She turns to Johnny. "Remember, no serving to drunks just because their cute and we close at one tonight."

"Yes Tifa, I'll be good."He rolls his eyes at her. "You three have a good time."

"We will." Zack waves at him and we walk out.

"So where are we going?" Tifa asks as we get into the car.

I open my mouth to answer but Zack shakes his head. "It's a surprise."

"A surprise?" I ask and give Tifa the front seat.

"Yeah," He smiles then leans over his seat to whisper to me. "Girls like surprises. It doesn't matter what it is they'll just be happy about the surprise."

"I heard that you know." Tifa smirks at him.

He waves a hand in the air. "Yeah well you're not the one I'm trying to impress."

"Then you can tell me where we're going." She points out.

"No way, you'll tell Aerith." He grins at her and starts the car.

"No I won't." She protests. "I've never met her."

"Yes you will. It doesn't matter if you've met her or not. Girls are thick as thieves. If I give you the chance you'll ruin the surprise."

"That's ridiculous." Tifa scoffs. I sigh and lean back in the seat. There's a good chance they'll bicker like this the whole way.

"Maybe so but it's true. I've seen it happen before."

"For you maybe," She sighs. "But you see, I'm not like the girls you know."

"Still not telling." He says smugly.

She glares at him for a moment then turns to me. "You don't think that do you?"

I freeze, this is dangerous turf. I know what Zack is talking about although I don't think that girls do it on purpose.

"Yes he does." Zack glances at me in the rearview mirror. "He's seen it happen too.

"No he doesn't." Tifa objects and stares at me. "What do you think?"

Oh hell, what do I say. Yes girls will gang up on guys, especially if it's embarrassing but saying that would be a bad idea. I don't want to start the night with my date being mad at me.

I finally shake my head. "I'm not answering that."

"See," Zack calls triumphantly. "That means he agrees with me."

Tifa narrows her eyes at me for a second then turns away. "Fine, you're both impossible."

"Why do you want to know so badly?" I ask.

She shrugs. "Because you two won't tell me. I hate it when people won't tell me things."

I give her a funny look from the back seat. That's weird, she never gets annoyed when I refuse to tell her about something. She always backs off and says she's sorry. Is she just hiding it or does she tolerate me for some reason.

Zack pulls the car into a parking spot right in front of a small flower shop. The sign proclaims that it's Gainsborough Flowers in a script like writing. It's almost dark now and the door sign says it's closed but the lights are still on inside.

"Come on," Zack says with a grin and gets out of the car. "I'll introduce you guys."

Tifa and I follow as he leads us into the shop. The inside is a riot of flowers. There's hardly enough room to move around. A pretty girl with long brown hair and green eyes is standing behind the counter. She's got a pale pink sun dress on and a large pink bow in her braided hair.

"Hi Zack," She smiles.

"Aerith," He grins and takes a few steps forward. "You look fantastic." He makes a motion to kiss her hand but she deftly pull her hand away as if she doesn't notice.

"Thank you," She turns to us and offers a hand to Tifa. "I'm Aerith."

Tifa smiles and takes her hand warmly. "Tifa, it's nice to meet you."

"You too." Aerith turns to me. "And you?"

"Cloud." I shake her hand.

"So Aerith," Zack smiles and puts an arm around her shoulder. "Ready to go?"

She steps back and foils his attempt. "Yeah, just let me tell mom I'm leaving."

She smiles and goes through a door behind the counter. I have to smile; it all makes sense now. Zack is so hung up on this girl because she is almost totally immune to his charms.

Zack sighs and stares after Aerith dejectedly, Tifa and I trade smiles. This is great. I've never seen a girl dodge Zack as adeptly as Aerith is.

She comes back out after a second and I watch Zack quickly change to his suave attitude. "All set?" He asks.

"Yeah, Where are we going?" She smiles and gets to the door before he can open it for her. In fact she holds it open for all of us.

"Don't bother asking," Tifa sighs. "They won't tell us. It's supposed to be a surprise."

Aerith giggles and locks the door. "You sound like you already tried."

"The whole way here." Tifa smiles.

"What's wrong with surprises?" Zack asks.

"I'm just curious." Tifa smiles and gets into the car. Zack and Aerith take the front seats which leaves me and Tifa in the back. Let's just hope this isn't awkward.

"So what do you do?" Aerith asks Tifa as Zack starts the car and takes off.

"I'm the head bartender at the Seventh Heaven." Tifa answers.

"That must be fun." Aerith smiles. It looks like she and Tifa are already making friends.

"I enjoy it."

"Is it a rowdy place?"

"No, it's mostly a dance club but there will always be angry drunks."

"Ooh, dance club?"

"One or two nights a week. We don't get enough business to make it every night."

"Sounds interesting. I might have to come by sometime and you?" Aerith turns to me.

"I work for a delivery service." I tell her.

"Which one?"

"Midgar Package Express."

"I've never heard of it." She frowns.

"It's a pretty small company." I shrug.

"What do you do there?"

"I'm a delivery boy." I answer and Tifa giggles, so does Aerith. Yeah, yeah, delivery boy. It's so funny. It wasn't my decision for that to be my official title. God damn you Coates.

"So," They finally stop giggling and Tifa turns to Aerith. "Do you do anything other than work at the flower shop."

"Not really," Aerith shrugs. "It's just my mom and me so I don't get much free time."

They continue talking. I just lean back with my arms crossed and stare out the window. At least that was all the embarrassment I'm going to suffer for the moment. They keep talking, Zack interjects an opinion every once in a while and subsequently gets smacked by one of the two. Generally Tifa, I don't think Aerith is that comfortable with him yet.

I don't say much for the drive. I don't want to make a fool of myself and honestly I don't think I could add much to the conversation at this point. God save me from my stupid mouth.

Nurrg... Another short chapter, I'm sorry. This totally wasn't all that I had planned for this chapter but I'm going to have to put the rest in the next one. It is currently three thirty in the morning and I just got back from a freaking insane bachelorette party (not the good kind of insane). I also have to get up in like four hours to support the bride to be through her various bride-zilla moments before her wedding. Subsequently I just haven't had much time to write. The whole point is that I wanted to make this chapter longer but I didn't have time so I'm giving you this to tide you guys over. I just feel real guilty if I miss my implied deadline. I know it's silly for me to feel that way but I do.

In other news, SQUEE! With that last chapter this story broke fifty reviews. I love you all so much.

MyFinalFantasyVII and goatgod glad to have you both reading. Thanks for the review and if you didn't already know I update every other day(with exception to annoying circumstances) so you don't have to wait long.

typical when I first plotted out the chapters there were 32. However I have already had to make various scenes more than one chapter so it's probably 32+. I have no idea how many it's really going to be because I keep getting random ideas in the middle of chapters.

EpicPopcorn I know that the meeting with Rufus was a little anti-climatic but there will be more about that later. Also glad you checked out the song, it's one of my favorites.

Big thanks to all my other regulars. xoxphi, Eledin, ClotiNotCleris, Shari Joy Rose, and Sacred3. Once again I adore you people.

Song for this bit - I Feel it All by Fiest

I'm going to bed now. Sleep is a wonderful thing. Talk to you all on Wednesday.

P.S. I didn't do much editing on this because my eyes don't want to focus right now so please be nice about grammar crap.