The Summer Crush

Tifa spent most of her vacation time with Rufus. They weren't a couple but they surely seemed like they were. Tifa already knew that what she was feeling wasn't on the same level with how she felt with Cloud. Since she was young and didn't want to think about Cloud, she wanted to have fun. Rufus was the answer to that. A week and a half already passed by and Cloud was supposed to be here soon.

Tifa and Rufus were at the café on the beach.

"Hey, Teef. I'm leaving today. Apparently I have some business to attend to." He said it fast without much disguise in his voice. He sounded like an adult.

"So sudden." She was kind of surprised because he never mentioned going back to work anytime soon. He let her believe that he was going to be there for her whole stay.

"Not really, I had it scheduled since the beginning. Anyways you're familiar with this place now so I hope you don't bump into anyone else so innocently." He paused to look at her. She was looking a little down. "Don't go with the next guy who says he'll take you around."

"Why? I went with you though and you were alright."

"Because he isn't me. I'll get jealous." He looked deep into her eyes and wanted to reach out for her hand but the waiter came by with their drinks and interrupted their moment. Tifa was thankful that the waiter came by because she didn't know how to respond. She was at a loss for words and couldn't even find the simplest way to shrug it off. At the beginning of this, she initially thought that he was joking around with her but just now he had kind of a serious boyfriend tone to his words.

"What time are you leaving?"

"Boat docks in about half an hour."

She spat out her coffee. "Seriously? You tell me half an hour before you're leaving that you're … leaving… You do have commitment issues." She said blankly.

"What's that supposed to mean? Did you age 10 years and become a therapist in the uh last 10 days." He joked with her.

"Why else wait half an hour to tell me? I understand. I'll walk you." She got up and he followed after her. He liked her even more knowing that she understood the person he is. He was amazed at how fast she picked things up and how not attached she was to him. For some reason, it intrigued him more and more.

They reached the dock so Tifa gave him a quick hug.

"Seriously though, don't go falling in love." Like he was the one to speak. She was still young and he was still immature at heart. Love for these two kinds of people would not be real. It would be something a little like love but a lot more like infatuation.

As they were standing close to each other, two other boys were staring at them. Tifa looked up and saw them staring at her. They had to stop seeing each other like this.

"Cloud… Zack?"

Before that all happened, back in Midgar a young blond was packing his things quickly. He just put whatever he found in his closet into his suitcase. He didn't want to waste time. It was summer time and he had a couple of days to spend in Costa Del Sol. A young woman stood by his door way with her arms crossed.

"You're that excited to see her." Aerith said almost with a hint of jealousy in her voice. She wore a long pink dress and her hair was French braided. Beautiful green eyes glistened as she was staring furtively at the blond boy.

"What is that about?" He was confused. Why did she have to act so coldly?

"You replaced me, Cloud, with her."

"You're gonna bring it up again. You ran away from me and Zack. We both liked you but you chose some random 3rd guy. Can't a guy move on?" He shrugged. No lie, Aerith was there to pick him up a few times when he was all but gloomy about Tifa. But he didn't really owe anything to Aerith by any means.

"So… Cloud we should try again. The only reason we didn't work out was because of Zack."

"Have you spoken to him yet? You looked just as mad as I was when Zack was seen tickling Tifa…"

"He's mad at me still." She looked down at her toes.

"We're repeating courses this summer because of you. I don't regret going after you but we weren't meant to be…" He couldn't help but sound cold.

"Well I don't think you being with Tifa is meant to be. Clearly you're confused too." She said just as coldly as Cloud.

"I know, but vacation in Costa Del Sol is calling me Aerith. Sorry. We'll have real talks when I get back. Then you can tell me how stupid it was for me to go to Costa Del Sol and I'll tell you that you really still love Zack." He shrugged.

"Fine, have fun without me. Zack's waiting outside."

"Bye Aerith, take care of my place if you plan on staying here for a bit." She nodded and took his home keys. He ran out the door with his luggage without looking back once.

"But Cloud, I still like you…" She whispered to herself.

In the car, Zack was all excited about Costa Del Sol. He already got his shades on and sped off towards the ferry docks.

"Cloud, we should stay a little longer at Costa Del Sol. Just us two. It'll be fun." Zack cooed.

"Do you have to sound like that when you ask me? It sounds a bit creepy." Cloud rolled his eyes.

"I'm practicing my sexy voice for the ladies there." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Whatever just get to the docks. By the way, talk to Aerith. She misses you."

"She dumped us… both… for another guy. You can be friends with her but I need more time away from her." That was the end of the Aerith conversation. Cloud could tell that Zack really didn't want to be reminded of Aerith. The ride from there was awkwardly silent.

Back to the present. Tifa saw the two figures appearing closer and closer and she looked at Rufus who had a big smile on his face. Did they know each other?

Zack came up to them and greeted Rufus and Cloud followed after him. When Tifa saw Cloud's face, it was really pale but non-threatening, for once. There was no hint of anger or any reaction really. A part of her was happy he didn't go off on them but then another part of her was disappointed, realizing that he did just view them as friends. Then Zack turned to Tifa and bear hugged her and kept his arm slung around her shoulders.

"Zack and Cloud, nice to see you two again. Too bad I can't stay long I have to catch a flight." Rufus started walking off towards the docks. Then he turned around and said, "Tifa, remember what I told you." He started on his way again.

"That's a ShinRa boy for you." Zack commented. Tifa slowly processed his words. No wonder he looked familiar, he looked like his mom. She sighed now she knew for sure that his world and her world were on completely different levels.

Zack let go of Tifa and he went to get his luggage. Cloud then walked up beside her. He wanted to ask how she knew Rufus but he was feeling super sea sick and he didn't want her to notice. So he tried his best to hide it. "How's it been?" But now he's starting to feel the effects of the motion sickness medicine that he got from Zack. Too bad it's an hour too late.

Tifa was surprised again at the way he was acting. He seemed a little awkward because he is not acting like Cloud. He almost looked too happy.

"Yeah been fun. Your parents are waiting for you two."

She signaled to Zack too. But Zack was too excited and ran off ahead of them. She looked at Cloud again and saw him smiling, maybe like an idiot but couldn't disagree that Cloud still looks very attractive. Tifa wanted to fight off the teenage hormones but she couldn't shake it. It has to be Cloud. Unfortunately, all the time spent with Rufus flew out the window. She couldn't get over him and it would break her if she did.