The Last Traces of Childhood
Chapter 5 - The Aftermath
Dear Diary,
What the hell did I just do?! I cannot believe that I went so crazy over Zack and his new bitch that I would go as far as draw blood from my own body! That stupid girlfriend of his! Sighwhat about Cloud? What are we going to do aboutus? Us, ha! It's not we're a couple or anything But I can't help thinking, what if Yuffie was right? Well anyway, I don't know how I managed see myself home; I was shedding more tears than the Niagara Falls has water! I'm glad my parents weren't home so I could be by myself Actually, I wasn't alone for longyou'll never believe what happened shortly after I got home Destiny is really unpredictable, isn't it?
"Why, why, why?" Aeris muttered angrily to herself.
She clutched her teddy bear tightly to her chest and then flung it against the wall. The teenager glanced solemnly at the scar on her knuckles and sighed at the act of stupidity she had performed back at school. Her shaky hand pushed away the hair covering her eyes, and Aeris sat quietly on her bed. She stood up and went to her dresser, pulling out a small square object after opening the top drawer.
The object was a picture of her and Zackback when they were together It was taken last year, a mere 2-D visual of the past happiness. She snarled at it and shred the object to pieces, letting them flutter to the floor. Pictures were supposedly worth a thousand words, but Zack didn't deserve even one single word. Feeling restless, she got up, left her room, and went downstairs.
Where's Mom and Dad? She wondered as she stepped into the kitchen for some water. Fortunately, the house had been empty when she burst through the door after running away from Cloud.
As Aeris reached for a glass in the cabinet, she noticed a piece of paper taped onto the freezer door; she stepped up to it and read the note:
Aeris,
Hi honey! In case you got home early, I left this for you to tell you that your father and I went out with a couple of neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Strife. I hope you enjoyed visiting Zack! Dad and I will see you when we come back tonight, all right? Take care, I'll bring something home for you to eat.
Mom
Aeris sighed in relief at the fact that her parents would still be gone for another several hours. She grabbed a cup of water and went back upstairs to her room. The brown-haired girl set the glass on her desk, and lay back onto her bed. She took out her CD player and slipped the headphones over her ears. Soon, her world was filled with nothing but lyrics and the melody of music; no relationship troubles to worry about there
Ding-dong!
The teenager's ears perked up.
Was that the doorbell? She wondered.
Ding-dong! The noise repeated.
Darn it, I'm not in the mood for company right now She grumbled.
Reluctantly, Aeris took off her headphones and set them on her bed. Sighing, she clicked off her compact disc player and rose from the mattress. She left her room, and slowly walked down the stairs. Not really caring who was at the door, she lazily grabbed the knob, turned, and pulled the door open. Cloud stood in front of her, one of his arms hidden behind him, and a nervous expression was on his face.
"Hi," He greeted her timidly.
Aeris leaned against the half-open door, a slightly annoyed look spread over her facial features. "Yes? Do you need something?" She asked, not bothering to say hello back.
His face grew serious. "Aeris, we need to talk"
Is he here to reject me or something? She wondered.
"Okay," She replied emotionlessly. "What would you like to talk about? My stupidity? Me being reckless? What?"
"No," Cloud said firmly. "Listen, about what happened earlier-"
Aeris sighed. "I guess I overreacted back there." She interrupted him.
"Nah, it was me. Sorry for kissing you against your will" Cloud looked away bashfully.
"It takes two to tango," was her blunt reply.
He glanced at her, his cool blue eyes piercing into hers.
"So what does this mean?" He asked.
"What does what mean?" She asked back.
"Us." Cloud replied.
Aeris frowned slightly. "There's no 'us'," She said finally.
A frustrated look came over his face. "Are you telling me that our kiss didn't mean anything to you?"
"Why should it have?" Aeris taunted.
Cloud raised his free hand up and pushed the door all the way open.
"I enjoyed that kiss," He admitted immodestly. "Besides, didn't you hear what I said back there at school?" Her friend asked, slowly walking into her house and forcing her to step away.
"N-no," She lied.
He grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her closer to him, dropping a bouquet of roses on the floor behind him.
"I told you that I cared about you, Rissy," Cloud reminded her. "Don't tell me you don't know what I meant by that."
"Fine, I won't tell you," Aeris replied, challenging him with her eyes.
"It means that I like you," He said, raising his voice up a notch.
The flower girl laughed loudly, despite the fact that her pulse was beating quickly at what he had said.
"Well, of course," She answered. "If you didn't like me, why would we be friends?"
A low growl came from his throat and he leaned down closer to her.
"Not as a friend," Cloud murmured. "As a girlfriend."
An unexpected gasp came from her and Aeris covered her mouth quickly, her heart pounding faster at the statement he just admitted.
"Y-you're just saying that" She stammered.
"Oh really? I am?" Cloud asked with a harsh chuckle. "Now you know me better than I do, myself?"
"J-just let go of me," Aeris ordered, her body shaking slightly.
"Not until you tell me what you think of what I just said." He replied.
"I-I don't think anything!" She denied.
"You're lying!" Cloud accused.
"Am not! Let me go!" She yelled.
"Then why are you shivering?" He asked tauntingly, lightly stroking her chin with one finger.
"Don't touch me," She said.
A teasing glint appeared in his light blue eyes. "Would you rather I kiss you?"
Aeris turned her head away. "Why would you do a stupid thing like that"
Cloud gently brought her head back to face him, and looked deeply into her emerald green eyes.
"Because I like you, remember? And it's not stupid" He said softly, and brought his face down.
Oh, why fight it Aeris thought to herself.
A soft sigh involuntarily came from the teenage girl as Cloud's lip met hers for the second time that day. She slipped her arms around his neck as he gently settled his hands on the small of her back. The two stayed intertwined for a while, then Cloud reluctantly backed off and asked her quietly, "Do you believe me now?"
Aeris giggled nervously. "Believe what?"
"Are you gonna repeat everything I say?" Cloud asked, mock anger showing on his face.
"Of course not!" She replied. "What do think I am, an idiot?"
"Maybe" He teased.
Aeris chuckled and raised her hand as if to strike him. "Better take that back!"
"Rissy" Cloud started to say and gently took her hand.
"Yeah?" She questioned.
"On a serious note, what does this mean?" He asked her.
She grew quiet.
"I mean, do you have feelings for me?"
Aeris sighed and admitted, "Since the first day of school Even though I had Zack, I was still thinking about you"
She slipped away from his grasp and walked to the stairs. The teenage girl sat on the bottom step and absentmindedly leaned her head against the wall beside her.
"I felt like I was betraying Zack because of how I felt toward you," She said, in a guilty tone of voice. "So I tried to bury my feelings, and pretend everything was normal between us."
A wry smile spread over Cloud's lips as he sat down next to her.
"I was so jealous of Zack," He said with a sigh. "I mean, here you were, pining away for him, and he was there, doing who knows what I felt left outlike I didn't matter anything to you So, when I found out that he was cheating on you, I felt so mad that I wanted to go over to Icicle Inn and beat him up."
"Oh Cloud I'm so sorry" Aeris looked sadly at her friend.
"Don't say that!" He exclaimed. "I'm the one that's sorry."
"Until she became interested in Vincent, Yuffie kept saying we made a cute couple," The female scholar said, a shy grin appearing on her features.
Her companion laughed and replied, "Why don't we show her just how 'cute' we are?"
"So you're asking me to be your girlfriend?" Aeris asked, half-teasingly.
"No, really? You think?" Cloud said, light sarcasm dripping in the tone of his voice.
To Aeris' shock, he got up from the step he was sitting on and stood in front of her. He and knelt down to his knees and took her hand, looking up to the surprised expression on her face.
"Will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?" Cloud asked dramatically, giving Aeris a puppy-eyes look.
She giggled. "Cloud, you're such a dork! Man, if my parents walked in right now, they'd think you were proposing!"
"Rissy, don't tempt me" He warned with a lazy grin appearing on his face, then teased her softly, "What if I was?"
"Don't scare me now!" Aeris laughed, placing a hand over her heart. "You're gonna give me a heart attack!"
"Sowill you?" He asked seriously.
The teenage girl grinned and replied softly, "Of course I will"
Cloud pumped a fist in the air. "Woohoo, I'm getting married-! Er, I mean, Rissy's my girlfriend!"
Aeris smiled. "How did ya ever think up a nickname like 'Rissy'?"
Her boyfriend's face fell. "You don't like it?"
"Oh, no, it's not that!" She assured him firmly. "I think 'Rissy' is cute and a pretty creative name! I just wanna know how you came up with it"
"I took the last three letters off of your first name and added 'sy' to it, that's all," Cloud told her with a wry smile. "I thought you'd sound cute with a nickname that ended with a 'y' or 'ie'.
"Thanks" Aeris said, a warm feeling appearing in her heart.
Cloud glanced at his watch and groaned. "Man, I gotta go home"
"My mom and dad'll be here soon," His girlfriend said, glancing at her own wristwatch.
"Okay, I'll see ya in school then? Hey, on second thought, maybe we could hang out tomorrow?" He suggested.
"Sure!" She replied with a smile. "Would you mind if Yuffie and Vincent came along with us?"
"No problem," Cloud said with a shrug. "You call Yuffie tonight and I'll call Vince, k?"
"All right"
Cloud went to the door, Aeris trailing behind him. He turned around and gave her a quick hug before stepping outside.
"Bye Rissy." He said, waving as he walked away.
"See ya tomorrow, Cloud!" She called.
Aeris slowly shut the door closed and shrieked inwardly to herself. She rushed up the stairs, and into her room. The excited teenager hopped onto her big fluffy bed and grabbed her teddy bear, clutching it to closely to her chest. Then, she picked up the cordless phone from the nightstand next to her and clicked the "on" button.
Heh, I hope Yuffie isn't gonna gloat when she finds out that she was right-the aftermath of me and Cloud's first kiss is our getting together! This is gonna be a really looong conversation She predicted with a wide grin on her face, and punched in her best friend's number.
Preview of chapter 6:
Chapter 6 - The Second Encounter
Dear Diary,
Well, it turns out, my talk with Yuffie wasn't a very long conversation after all! For some reason, I didn't tell her about Cloud and I being boyfriend and girlfriend yetoh well, she found out later, so it doesn't matter anymore. She discovered our new status when the four of us got together on Sunday for our little outing, since she claimed that Cloud and I were being all, "lovey-dovey," Of course, Yuffie called me later that night and begged for details We hung out around Midgar Academy and also went to the park here. Cloud and I got a special spot of our own at this park, teehee Anyway, Tifa's been a real pain since Monday, when we all went back to school. Oh yeah, and the countdown is beginning - only six weeks until school is out! I'll miss Yuffie and Vincent in the summertime; I won't be able to see them very much, since they both live down in Junon Harbor. At least we still have a month and a half together Hey, guess what? I went to my first dance at this school! It was on Friday, and it lasted till midnight, just like my old school. Cloud and I had a great time, except for the Tifa scenario we had to go through