Tifa felt disoriented when she woke up the next morning, the unfamiliar movement of the cruise ship causing her to have a fretful night's sleep, and as she stretched and yawned, she was momentarily shocked to realize she had been comfortably cuddled with someone. Reno woke up when she started moving, and reacted out of habit to a female body next to him. Tifa's eyes bugged out as she felt Reno's lips on hers while his hands started fondling her, and her stiffening up woke him up fully.
"I…uh…" Tifa wanted to say something when they quickly separated, staring embarrassingly at the other's red face, but a wave of nausea hit her, and she bolted for the bathroom.
Reno frowned as he listened to her retching. He was going to take a cold shower to deal with his own stiffening, but now he felt sick himself as he realized the only single attractive woman on this whole stupid cruise was the one he had foolishly gotten pregnant. Why couldn't this be a swingers cruise?! He felt even sicker when he remembered his parents were also aboard as passengers, and it was bad enough knowing what kind of sex games they already played. "Don't tease me like that again." Reno pouted when Tifa finally emerged from the bathroom.
"Tease?" Tifa felt herself feeling angry and concerned at the same time, since Reno looked as green as she felt. "You're the one that kissed me!"
"It was an accident." Reno told her with faked indifference. "Have you really never shared a bed with a guy before?"
"That's none of your business!" Tifa exclaimed, her cheeks burning again. "You can go to breakfast yourself, I'm staying by the bathroom this morning."
Reno was next in line at the breakfast buffet before it occurred to him that he had been bossed out of his own cabin, and he might have thought better of Tifa if he knew that she was having a thought occur to her as well, while lying in their bed while waiting for the morning sickness to fade. She was thinking that despite everything, it had been enjoyable to wake up to his advances.
"Would you mind going to dinner at the Captain's table with me tonight?" Tifa asked Reno during their lunch at the pizzeria on board. Her pregnancy cravings now demanded two personal pizzas, one with ranch dressing instead of tomato sauce, with green beans and chilis, the second one with barbecue sauce, mushrooms, bacon bits, apple slices, and extra cheese.
"Why don't you want to go alone?" Reno asked, wondering if he would ever be able to look at pizza the same way again as she attacked her meal like she hadn't eaten in two weeks.
"Because I don't want everyone asking me about you and I'm not going to face your parents on my own." Tifa said, her mouth half-full of a small bite from each pizza.
"I'll go, if we don't have to sit together." Reno's appetite vanished as he watched her take such delight in eating the pizza slices she had sandwiched together.
"Sure, that's fine." Tifa said, though she felt a little hurt that he didn't want to be near her. At least she was learning more about him like she wanted, even if wasn't all complimentary…he was such a slob! "Are you going to finish that?" she asked him.
"You can have it." Reno slid his meat-lover's personal pizza over to her, wondering if he should tell her she had ranch dressing and barbecue sauce all around her mouth like badly smeared clown makeup.
"Thanks. And since you know more about formal dinners than I do, would you mind going with me to the boutique after this and help me pick out a proper dress?" Tifa liberally doused his pizza with the parmesan cheese in the shaker before she took her first bite.
"Uh, sure." Reno agreed, surprised by her request and was more than a little flattered that she valued his expertise on something. But he'd definitely make sure she wiped her face off before they left.
"So which of these do you like?" Tifa held up two dresses in each hand.
Reno looked them over. "You'd look hot in red, but you'd blend in too much with the Valentine's Day themed décor around here. Black also works for you, but it would just blend in with your hair and stand out too much on this ship. I'd like to see you in green, but that still wouldn't work here. Now this…" He took the cream-colored silk Wutaian dress from her. "This will flatter your coloring and make you stand out just enough. Go try it on and see how it feels."
"Okay." Tifa reluctantly took it back from him and gave him the other three to put back as she headed to the dressing room. She had only picked it because it was in her size, but it really wasn't her style, and she wasn't used to high collars. She slipped it on and opened the door enough to peek out and see that he was there before she came out, feeling way too self-conscious. "I guess it feels okay. Should I get it?"
"It's perfect." Reno nodded with approval. "You'd look even better if you put your hair up."
It was Tifa's turn to feel flattered as Reno complimented her, and she was glad he could be a nice guy, first giving her his lunch, and now helping her find a dress. Plus he agreed to go to the formal dinner with her, even after admitting he hated them. "I'll buy it then."
"It's time to go or we'll be late." Reno told Tifa that evening. "Captains don't appreciate tardiness."
"Fine. Is this okay?" Tifa stepped out of the bathroom after putting her hair up like he had suggested.
"You're beautiful. Can we go eat now?" Reno almost begged, feeling the effects of missing lunch.
"Yes, let's go." Tifa nervously took a deep breath and headed out the door with him.