Blonde Ambition
And lots of pairings…
- Amaranthos –
Part 3: Adventures
Chapter 26: Golden Cabana
Day 3 of no friends.
It wasn't all bad though. With the advent of Cloud my life had alot more beat, which would otherwise not be. I wasn't sure however I would see him at school tomorrow. I couldn't expect that Cloud and I were forming a bond and it was going to become stronger.
In fact, some part of me didn't want that. With Cloud in my life, things only got even more topsy turvy. I had the fight to think about, Sephiroth – who was off the planet, and now Cloud. My emotions were already stirred into confusion; Cloud would only make me more vulnerable not to mention, I have no idea what I'd do if 'we get too close'.
Last night I went to bed around 2, thinking about Cloud. Long ago I use to stay up and think about him and how I felt for him. But with such a packed day yesterday, I couldn't help myself into thinking about how I got onto his fenrir, we screamed, we laughed. We did everything together. We made candy, darn it. I shouldn't be thinking about him this way. He has a bloody girlfriend and it's not acceptable to go back and to tear myself apart just because of what I felt for him.
But I'm crucified to my emotions. I'm rendered useless and vulnerable. It confuses me that I have no will of my own to tell him off or rather… I have no will to shut that part of me that desires nothing more than to be with him. To make it more of the irony, I'm stubborn – I want to know what will happen today, tomorrow, everyday… I want to feel adrenalin again, to feel like I'm screaming, and the wind's in my hair, like the sun is beaming on my shoulders and we're both riding away to wherever… I don't care the place, because everything is wonderful with Cloud.
That excitement I've longed for… it's finally here.
I frown. I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. I knew what was right… and what was right…I didn't have the guts to do. I didn't want to break off my feelings for Cloud. I couldn't bring myself to tell him off – that heck, what we were doing is obtuse to even his relationship. But how could I, I was the pushover… I just …don't know what to do.
Placing on my brown leather jacket. I placed on my aviators and grabbed the keys for my fenrir and made my way out the apartment. School was calling, and so was my wild will…
The day went by rather slowly. Not much people talked to me today. Recess was the absolute bore of the century. Without Yuffie and Shera… I was the most alone person there was. I sat down observing everyone. Gosh, when did I become so bored?
First off… I had no idea where Cloud was. But he was nowhere. Maybe he finally realized that what we did yesterday was wrong. At least now I wouldn't have to say it, but then why was I still upset? Shouldn't I be happy it's in the memo now? Nooo, there's no way pleasing me. Gahh!
So recess was boring. School was boring. I had two frees today so it became extra boring. I decided I would start my research for my Physics papers. That went as blah as could be, but at least I got something done. When it came to Sephiroth…
Sighs.
I saw him at the beach. He was practicing feverishly for the competition and in someway I wanted to walk down the steps and say hi, but things between us didn't look so good. In fact, they look as dull as could be.
My life was sucking, my entire social status was fail. My friends – fail. My school – always fail. My grades – thankfully they weren't at fail yet, but everything else was.
People make college sound so liberating, almost cool-like, what they don't know, is that there'll be days like these to come and they bite the grind hard.
Now it was lunchtime and I was alone again. I had to buy lunch today since I got up too late to make lunch. No biggies, I thought until I saw the line and then I saw her in the line.
Shera…
Since when does she buy her own lunch?
Immediately I turn from the line and head to a different little eatery. Realizing, I just lost my appetite for the food on campus, I begin ascending the stairs. Placing on my ipod… I realized I had to get out a little bit.
On the top stair sitting with a black jacket on was Cloud.
He looks up, "you know you're a very hard person to find…" he starts..
I blink. I didn't think I would see him today. What an irony. "Am I?"
"I've been looking for you all day…" he pauses, "but alas I know you're alive" he smiles…
"Yeh… I was trying to get something to eat…gah all the eateries are full" I retorted.
"Hmm… that sucks" he replies…
"Yeh, and I'm starve today, surprisingly" I stick out my tongue.
"Hmm…wanna catch something outside of school?" he asks, in a new voice…
"Outside?" I ask…
"Yeh… I'll take you to this awesome place in the old town… its incredible.." he starts…
And it sounds great that he's suggesting that we go eat 'together' and honestly I would like nothing more than to throw my arms around him and say with all assurance, yes, yes, a thousand times. But it's still wrong to do this behind Aerith's back, isn't it?
"Cloud…" I start…
He blinks and looks at me. For a minute I study his eyes…and I think to myself, if I said no right this minute, Cloud would have understood that we couldn't have been friends to go amazing places without girlfriends knowing. Not to mention, I would be so lonely if he left.. he was the only person I interacted with and that has to be unhealthy to bottle up myself - and not speak to anyone.
Shaking my head… I said, "let's go!"
My mother once told me, life is an irony… so be an irony..
Why not surprise myself, just this once and see what could come out. Surely my life sucked at a pathetic level, did I need to make it suck some more?
We both ran to the car park and then I looked at Cloud quizzically.
"Should I go with my fenrir as well?" I asked…
"Nah, it's just for lunch…" he said..
We mounted his fenrir and he starts the engine and off we leave the campus with many of the normal faces staring at us confused.
We exited the compound with Cloud racing through the lunch time traffic. As usual, traffic had compacted and people were everywhere. But Cloud was seasoned to such situations and he knew exactly how to maneuver in such traffic. We ascended the same steep hill and it was fantastic looking at the view of the ocean at midday. The water was bluer and more inviting.
"The water looks amazing… I almost wish I could jump in" I joked…
"There's this place in town… a little higher, Rocky Bay… it's the ideal beach lover paradise. It's kind of risky getting to the jump off point, but I guarantee it's worth it. Most of the people that go there are guys from the different universities… and during week it's abandoned. Awesome place… maybe one day you'd like to go… that's if you got guts" he says…
I laugh… "don't egg me on…" I tease
He laughs… we enter the old town as Cloud calls it, and we pass the Candy Emporium - speaking of…
"That candy cane was fantastic…I ate the entire T in my name already and I broke the I by accident" I sniffed… "precious candy..too good to waste"
We laugh.
We go through what seems like a tunnel and through the other side we emerge. There's this clear road and for a minute I swear I'm in Santorini…experiencing a different land. The long roads, of faded grey with blasting bright sun illuminating the path and the ocean that's next to us…seems to be too much of a wonderful thing. I pull off my helmet. I shake my head… the wind immediately sets my hair into a frenzy, flying everywhere. Cloud turns to his side and observe my actions.
"Glad to see you're finally breaking free"
We take some sharp corners and Cloud takes them nicely, easily and seamlessly. I can tell he races, just by the way he becomes more aerodynamic to his vehicle. It doesn't take too long to get where we're going – it's a place near the sea. The road is rocky, and Cloud takes his time getting down. We go into a paved car park where Cloud parks his fenrir. We then approach a building, the name 'Golden Cabana'
The place was almost like a huge cabin, with gazebos sporadically arranged on the grass. It was an outdoor experience… and there was one that was close to the beach itself. Cloud seem to know this part of town really well. He must have taken Aerith all over.
The owner comes out and greets us. An old man probably in his late fifties, greets us. He shakes our hand.
"Hey Mr. Shero. How are you?" Cloud starts…
"Fine fine… and who is this lovely lady?" he asks…
I blush, "this is my good friend from school – Tifa Lockhart." The man shakes my hand.
"A pleasure to meet you. Ahh, you too must be hungry..come in, help yourselves…"
We enter the building and the ambience is incredible. There are palm trees, soothing piano music playing. And the place is beautifully decor. Cloud and I approached a huge buffet.
"Pick anything you want. It's on me…" Cloud states…
"Cloud…I can't. You bought me the candy yesterday and now lunch today. I can't.." I said…
"Tifa… please. Not today… it's on me" he smiles warmly.
How could I fight with that?
I nod. We both go through the food and Cloud is so funny. He makes me laugh so hard with the expressions of the food. He tries something called Wild Musk Mushrooms.
"Think they put the stink and musk of a man in the mushroom?" he asks, inspecting it.
I giggle. "Cloud… that's gross…"
He takes up a piece of the mushroom and tries it. Then he immediately spits it out. He sticks out his tongue.
I laugh so hard. Cloud certainly was energetic and expressive with food.
"That is horrible. Never eat it"
I took some fruits, some Spanish wild rice and some chicken kebabs. Cloud thought we should sit inside, but for some reason I didn't want to. I instead pleaded with him for us to sit in the kazebo near the ocean. He agrees and we both made our way to the gazebo. I place down my food and stare at the ocean. Incredible.
"This is so beautiful Cloud" I stare into the distance…
"It sure is" he whispers…
I smile turning to him. And there's this look in his eyes that I've never seen before. It makes me almost blush. Dumbly, I turn away and sit down. Cloud orders drinks, a fruit punch for me and an orange juice for him. It came with cute umbrellas and fruits.
"Cheers…" he lifts his glass up, I lean my glass against his…
"This place is fantastic Cloud…" I started…
"It really is something. My dad knows Mr. Shero very well. He's like my father's childhood bestfriend. When they were constructing this place, I use to come here everyday and help out. It was kind of annoying since I was a teenager and I wanted to hang out with my friends, but it was actually kind of fun. Mr. Shero's sons would come by and at times when we were bored, we would go surf. It was excellent. My mom she would bring lunch, and we would surf the entire afternoon. This place is like a second home." he said…
"Wow… you sure know the people on this side of town." I start…
"I do. This is the old town, and I love it. I grew up here and everything I know I've learned from the generous folks in this town. Tokyo is great, don't get me wrong, but as soon as I'm done with my master's I'll head back here." He says…
"M-Masters?" I asked…
"Yeah…wait, you thought I was doing a degree?" he laughs… "nah… I'm doing my Master's in Civil Engineering. I actually thought you knew" he replies…
"No.. I – I didn't know" I lowered my voice, somehow feeling really small.
He snickers, "I'm just kidding, I'm doing my degree in Civil Engineering" he messes with me.
"You're a dork.." I laugh..
"I know… sorry"
"So… what does Aerith think about this place?" I ask.. figuring it's not a bad idea to talk about her.
He goes silent for a minute. He takes a sip of his juice and retracts into his seat.
"I've never brought her to this part of town before" he starts.
I felt like coughing my juice up. He said what now?
I got first dibs? Somehow, as much as I'm celebrating, it's also a bad thing.
"She doesn't like the old town. She hates it. She's an urban city girl who has a somewhat rich girl mentality. This is too much of old Japan for her" he explains…
"I see." I pause to look at the ocean, "I think she'd like it though… it's beautiful here. I wouldn't mind coming here to live, just to wake up everyday and see the ocean" I close my eyes and breathe in the salty air… "would be wonderful" I whisper off…
I open my eyes and Cloud just intently focuses on me. His bright blue eyes haze and articulate and they almost seem to me swooning me. Like a hazy fire his eyes speaks to me and there's something so calming, and attractive about the way he stares at me.
I blink back, turning from his gaze.
"So would I. I plan to come here and live some day. Build a big house…lots of land and ocean. My dream really…" he says..
I smile.
"So what fun things do you do on this side of town?" I ask..
"Ohh shoot, loads of stuff. I surf, I swim, I eat like I'm crazy. I practice martial arts, I shop… I go into town and visit these really cool places. I try to bring people from school into the old town, but they all think its so lame. Heck…I avoid ever telling them about it, anymore" he explains.
"Aww. People are so unappreciative. Don't worry, I think this place is fantastic. In fact… if you wouldn't mind, could we go into town sometime? When you're not busy, of course" I politely asked…
He laughs, "I..would much oblige." He smiles…
I return the smile.
A waiter comes with the bill. He reads the figure and places in the money. The waiter leaves and with that Cloud and I take our leave. Back on his fenrir we go, and up the hill.
Lunch was coming to an end, and soon the bell would ring back at school. We had to go back. Even though I didn't want to.
To be continued…
Authors Notes: This chapter was actually longer but I had to cut it because it was not uploading. I'm sorry I didn't update earlier, the rain basically destroyed my internet connection. I was down for nearly the whole week. So sorry guys...
And i really appreciate the nice things you guys are saying about this world I created... thank you. Cookies, candies and sephiroth-dollies for everyone...