A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for being here, here's another chapter, I'm having so much fun with this story, hope you are too! Let me know! :)
Focus
Sunday had been a slow day, no party, no dinner, no pen girl - correction there, no Aerith, he was allowed to say her name now, what was done was done - nothing much to do except go through that damn contract Shinra wanted him to sign. He tried reading the endless pages full of tiny lettering terms, but his mind kept ignoring his need for concentration. Best thing he could do was pass the contract on to Zack so he could read it and then sum it up it for him, it was his kind of thing after all.
Cloud woke up early Monday morning, the sun wasn't up yet. Tired of rolling over on his bed sulking over some undisclosed desires about a girl, he got dressed and went running before work to free his body from any tension that had built up during the weekend caused by the events of Zack's party. He felt the need for a vacation more than he had ever felt before, but since that was only possible during summer, he headed to work after he took a shower. For a while his mind was clear of any thoughts involving her. He needed the distraction.
Cloud sat on his chair back at his office. Everything was quiet as he was the first one there, even after the good forty five minutes he spent running earlier. Alone in silence, his mind ended up steering towards a certain lawyer girl he had met a few days ago.
Being jealous of me and Zack. Her words echoed through his mind.
"Jealous..." he sighed, leaning his back down against his chair. He wasn't going to admit he had been, but then again, what had been all of that fretting about the other day? All he knew was this girl had occupied a great deal of his thoughts these past few days, too much for his liking. And then there had been the thrill of her leaning against his back when they rode his bike. He could still feel the tingling touch of her body, his stomach sent a small electrical shock through his body making him shiver.
He groaned, ran his hands through his hair while resting his elbows on his desk. He picked up his pen, tapped it on his desk and started chewing on its cap absentmindedly, an addiction he had picked up in college.
The plastic in it is bad. Her voice again, he let go of the pen in a jolt.
Damn it. Get out of my head.
Then his eyes landed on the flower-shaped chewing gum she had given him the other day. He had forgotten it on his desk under his monitor. He stared at it for a moment. Pink, she was always wearing something pink, the soft color of that paper around the gum. He wondered for a moment if he put the gum in his mouth it would taste like her.
He stared at the piece of candy for a while, just wondering, he felt his cheeks getting hot at the image of her lips. He played with the small gum with his fingers first, then he carefully unfolded its wrapping paper and placed the damn thing in his mouth.
He had only barely felt its sweet mellow taste in his tongue when someone knocks on his door and opens it almost instantly. It was her.
"Hiya!"
He sucks air in with the startle and chokes on the gum in his mouth. Coughing violently, he spits it out quickly to his hand.
"Hi" he said in between coughs, beating on his chest to try and calm the will to cough.
"Oh are you okay?" She asked while closing the door behind her.
"Yeah..." his voice was hoarse. "Sorry." He cleared his throat and disposed of the half-chewed gum in the waste bin. He straightened up on his chair, ran a hand through his hair. After a whole day without as much as seeing or hearing her, he almost thought that moment he was dreaming of her somewhere in the middle of the night in his sleep. What was she doing there so early in the morning?
"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here so early." She said, the playful smile on her lips, the one in which the corner of her eyes wrinkled in amusement looking at him.
"No, not really." He said cooly. Damn it.
"I came to say good morning to you!" She beamed and slowly wandered around his office, taking in every detail with her curious green eyes. It wasn't too big but it was spacious enough to have a couch against the wall, a wooden desk where he sat with two black leather chairs across if he needed to receive people, which almost never happened. There were a couple of shelves with some adornments, a math trophy of a contest he had won in high school, his framed college diploma and something that caught her eye as she lingered around it longer, a digitally-made picture of a huge rectangular sword standing half stuck on the ground. She stared at it for a moment but payed it no further attention.
"You came all this way just for that?" He asked, an eyebrow lifting. What was it with her?
"It's not like that... all the way here. We're only three floors apart. It just takes an elevator ride." She rolled her eyes and then they landed on the wrinkled paper of the gum she had given him. "Oh I see you gave up on the pen."
"What?" She pointed to the wrapping paper in front of him. "Oh that." He glanced at the waste bin on his feet. "Yeah... do you have more of those?" Seriously Cloud?
"I do!" She exclaimed cheerfully, her hands clapping in excitement. "I'll bring more next time!"
"Next time?" He asked, his blue eyes flickering over the happy look on her face. "Aren't you going to ask me what you needed to ask me now?"
"Oh no, didn't bring my notebook. I'll drop by some other time for that." She waved her hands nonchalantly. "Like I said, I only wanted to come say hi. You did say I could meet you."
"I never said that." He crossed his arms to his chest, looked up.
"Pretty sure you gave me that impression." She snickered. "Well anyway, I'll come by some other time. See you around Cloud." And with that she exited his office, closing the door carefully behind her. The silence overwhelmed him. The smell of her intoxicating presence wafted through the office after she left. Flowers with notes of strawberry. He exhaled deeply. Now he was guessing the smells of perfume...
She always left him in a roller coaster of feelings he was not used to, completely out of his comfort zone. His forehead fell on the wooden surface of his desk with a thump. He was never going to get work done if she kept popping up on him like that, he hoped she wouldn't make a habit of it. It was bad enough she never left his mind.
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"Hey!!" Zack greeted him cheerfully, pulling out a chair from the table to sit next to his blond friend. They had agreed to have lunch together on their usual cafeteria as Cloud felt the need to talk to Zack. He gave up trying to work as he was getting nothing done after trying hard to concentrate unsuccessfully. Having enough of his office space, he went up to the cafeteria early to wait for his friend.
"Hey..." Cloud breathed, his shoulders were hunched and his smile was weak.
"What's the matter? You look down." Zack patted him on his back.
"You're the one who is always extra excited." Cloud glanced at him for a second and his gaze fell back down on the plate of food he had barely touched.
"Ah you know me." Zack shrugged.
"I'm just tired from the weekend." Cloud continued, stalling a bit to what he really wanted to ask Zack.
"I know right? We had so much fun." Zack grinned, his eyes were sparkling with joy. "So, what's up?"
"Nothing... forget it." Cloud turned his face away, he sighed, no need to bother Zack with his problems.
"Come on!" Zack landed a hand on the blond's shoulder while sucking from a package of orange juice through a straw he was holding with the other hand. "I've known you since forever, you still think I can't tell when something is wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with me..." Cloud looked back at his raven haired friend, his forehead creased while his face reddened.
"Ok, suit yourself then..." Zack gave up and kept sucking on his straw, looking away from Cloud and scanning the cafeteria for people he knew.
"Just..." Cloud breathed. Zack's blue eyes darted towards the blond again, his lips quirking up.
Cloud was regretting it already before asking: "How do you know a girl is interested in you?"
Zack's eyes widened instantly, round blue orbs sparkled in surprise while his whole face lit up, his mouth fell open, causing the straw to dangle between his lips.
"Don't make a scene out of this." Cloud scowled before Zack said anything. "It's just a question."
"Just a ques-?" Zack was over the moon. He almost jumped off his chair in excitement. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to ask me something like that?"
"Forget it." Cloud argued, crossed his arms to his chest, shut his eyes close and buried himself against the chair.
"No no no!" Zack shook his head. "I won't make a scene. I want to help you. I truly do." Zack was beaming. "Listen, you know a girl is into you when she gives you small signals, like, the way she smiles at you."
"What if she smiles to everyone?" Cloud looked at Zack, his shoulder lifting.
"Yes, but when she likes you she has a different kind of smile, a smile meant only for you. You'll know, you have to pay close attention to her." Zack was seriously enjoying this conversation. His lips pursed, his blue eyes glowed.
"Sorry I asked." Cloud rolled his eyes. He had no idea nor intention of analyzing smiles any time soon.
"No, seriously. Then, you can tell because she wants to spend time with you."
Cloud straightened up on his chair, his mind traveling to this morning with her unexpected appearance at his office room.
"And there's this whole body language. She wants to touch you, she gets near you because she wants to be close to you, she'll laugh at your jokes and make up stuff to do with you." Zack leaned closer to Cloud. "Are you following?"
"Yeah..." Cloud looked the other side, avoiding eye contact while feeling his ears burning. This was the kind of conversation he was definitely not comfortable about having with Zack, but he had no one else to talk to about it so it would have to do.
"One question though." Zack hesitated for a moment, he licked his lips. "What does Tifa have to say about this?"
"What about Tifa? What does she have to do with this?" Cloud's brows lifted, he shrugged.
"Doesn't she have a say in it, if a girl is interested in you?" Zack blinked.
"Why would she have any say in that?" Cloud exhales, getting annoyed with the turn the conversation was taking.
"You know... because of what you two are." Zack's eyebrows waggled.
"What are we?" Cloud frowned. He didn't understand what he meant.
"You know what you are." Zack insisted.
"Seriously, stop talking in riddles, just get to the point, what do you mean?" Cloud's foot started tapping the floor impatiently under the table.
"Don't make me say it, you know what I mean." Zack pulled back against his chair.
"Just say it already."
"Better not."
"Come on, just say it!"
"Cloud."
"Zack!"
"Fuck buddies, you're fuck buddies ok? You're best buddies who occasionally do it!" Zack's voice shrieked for a moment as he said it.
"Are you insane?!" Cloud placed a hand on the back of his friend's neck and pulled him slightly down, looking around as some heads turned their way around them. "Keep it down! God!"
"You made me say it!" Zack snickered.
"We're not... that!" Embarrassment seared through Cloud, his face turned crimson red, his brows snapped together. "Seriously.. why did I come to you? I asked you a simple question, you had to deviate from the topic!" Cloud shook his head hopelessly.
"Because deep down you know I'm the only one who can help you." Zack's chest puffed forward, he undid the buttons in his white shirt collar exposing his collarbone. As if Zack had his own gravitational circle around him, some of the girls in the closest tables started looking his way, smiling at him.
"You're not helping much." Cloud sighed.
"So, who is she?" Zack asked, resting his elbows on the table, his chin on his palms. Something about the smug smile on Zack's lips was very suspicious to Cloud.
"No one, I was just asking for no reason." Cloud replied nonchalantly.
"Right." Zack nodded unconvinced. "You'll tell me if you fall for a girl won't you?"
"Sure." Cloud answered. But after that conversation, he felt like he wasn't going to tell him anything about girls ever again.
"Well, since you asked for my advice..." Zack started.
"I didn't." Cloud shrugged.
"Giving it anyway. Just remember to always be you. Girls don't like it when guys try too hard. I'm sure she'll like you for you." Zack studied his blond friend. He looked dismayed, dark circles under his eyes, his body curled down and he realized Cloud was finally starting to know what it was to really like someone. "Cheer up buddy." He landed a hand on his shoulder. "Falling for a girl is supposed to be something good."
Falling for a girl... Cloud pondered about those words long after his friend had left him. Could that be it? Could explain a lot of things happening with his body he couldn't control. But so soon into meeting her? He shook his head, it wasn't happening. He had to put an end to it. If all this stressing was what it took to fall in love, he wasn't having it.
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It was late when Cloud finally shut down his computer, night had already fallen outside. He rubbed his tired eyes and sighed in relief his day was finally over. Because he didn't do much in the morning he had to stay longer to finish some reports he was asked to write about the functioning of the President's database server.
His phone vibrated against the wooden surface of his desk.
"Hey! You still in the building?" Zack messaged him.
"Yeah." Cloud typed back.
"Could you come to my office? I think my computer broke." Zack replied instantly.
"I'm not a computer technician." Cloud sighed, he really just wanted to get home in peace.
"Come on up already! Don't be such a pain." Zack replied. For a moment Cloud wondered if he should just ignore his friend, he waited a few minutes, maybe he would give up and leave it for tomorrow.
"I'm telling Aerith you want her if you're not here in two minutes." He read Zack's message. His eyes widened. "I think I saw her pass by."
"GOING UP ALREADY!" Cloud typed eagerly in alert.
"Goddamnit Zack." Cloud's brow twitched as he stood up.
The legal department floor was almost empty that late in the day, at least that's what it seemed like as Cloud crossed the open space part of the floor heading towards Zack's closed office. He could only make out a few bended heads in the middle of the vast extension of desks.
Zack's office was all the way back, his light was on but the curtains on the window to the open space were drawn.
He knocked on the door and heard his friend's voice from inside.
"Your computer better be bleeding electrical circuits you moron." Cloud walked inside his friend's office to be met by a pair of bright emerald green eyes staring at him.
Goddamnit Zack!
"Oh wow! Twice in a day!" Aerith stood up from her chair as she saw him enter. Her radiant smile made his heart flutter.
The feeling didn't last long. Cloud shot a glare towards his friend who mischievously snickered from behind his desk.
"I don't know what happened! I was working and then it just went black! It just doesn't work anymore!" Zack shrugged.
"I'll tell you what is not working anymore." Cloud muttered under his breath as he reached for the computer, anger creeping up on him.
"You know what, I'll be right back." And Zack darted out of his office leaving the two of them alone.
Cloud kneeled one knee on the floor where the computer core was and pressed its on button, he noticed Aerith approaching him on the other side of the desk in between them as he did. The computer made no evidence of turning on and as she got closer he pressed the button over and over impatiently, not really realizing what could be the problem.
"Am I distracting you?" She asked, noticing the frown on his eyebrows and his tensed lips. He looked up at her, her hair was half tied in a pink ribbon, the cleavage in her white buttoned blouse allowed him to see some skin on her chest as it breathed up and down in gentle lifts. He averted his eyes elsewhere and swallowed.
"No." He simply replied standing up, his fists clenched at his sides. He sighed in frustration as he finally understood what the problem of Zack's computer really was. He glanced at her again, blue eyes glinting under the yellow light of Zack's desk lamp. From the window, the city lights sparkled languishingly in the night as they stood there looking at each other. He had no intentions of engaging with her at that hour, he had made it clear in his brain that he was not going to indulge himself in thoughts about getting to know her. He had spent part of his day thinking his life was good as it was and this girl was already destabilizing his routine and his focus more than she realized.
"Hey Cloud." Her voice was soft, light. His blue eyes searched hers. "Want to go out with me on a date?"
Fuck his focus...
"Yeah."