Chapter 23: Dinner with the Dare Devils
Cid continued to speed off with Aeris in Zack's comforting arms behind him and Shera's seat.
Aeris had fallen into a peaceful, dreamless sleep, with her head resting against Zack's chest calmly.
Zack had fallen asleep as well with his head resting on top of hers with his arms wrapped gently around her thin body.
Shera watched them silently as she started to drift herself and Cid reached out to her shoulder, softly placing his black-gloved hand on it, gently shaking her.
"Don't you go to on me, we'll be there in 15min you gotta be ready to jump out and wake the two up." He told her, trying hard not to yell and it seemed she understood him because she quickly turned her head as he shook his own at her. As Shera watched the two peaceful sleepers in the back, Cid gazed off towards the horizon of the solid calm ocean towards the softly colored setting sun in awe.
"When's the last time you ever saw a sunset like that?" He whispered as the engines began to run smoothly to Shera.
She could only smile and shake her head slightly at his question.
"I haven't seen anything more beautiful in my life really." She gently told him, her voice pure and sincere.
"Yeah." he started, his voice deepening and comforting as he softly turned his gaze to Shera's, her face being lit up warmly by the suns dimming rays.
But as she looked to him with the same look upon her faze, he quickly shook his head and cleared his throat before he spoke again.
"Hmph. yeah. beautiful." He grunted at her and it swiftly caused her turn her head to the side in shame, with a frown falling over her lips for what she had done. Her thin hairs from her bangs swayed back gently against the wind and Cid noticed her depression was starting to grow again and decided to speak up again.
"So.uhhh." He started again only this time he kept his own sight lowered towards the front of the plane. "Where's the dress you're going to wear later?" He finished up shyly.
"Oh.umm. hold on, I know I have it somewhere." She said as she lowered her head towards her feet and began to search for her bag.
Her fingers gently brushed against the plastic of it under her seat as she swung them around looking for it.
"I think this is it." She told him as she got a firm hold on it and pulled it up and then laid it gently on her lap. Shera quickly got her hands on the knot and untied it carefully, then separated the plastic from it.
"Yup, this is it." Shera quickly informed him as she slipped her hands under the soft deep blue velvet strapless dress and lifted it to her face so she could examine it.
A deep cost line then came into Cid's view and he released his gas pedal slightly and started pushing the buttons to slow the speed of the plane, tilting it down slightly as well as he headed towards the darken coast.
Shera turned back to face the two once more and noticed Aeris stir and then tighten her grip on Zack's sweater, trying to bury the side of her face deeper into him. Zack slowly rubbed his head against hers as well, after taking in a deep breath and releasing his grip her shortly and then tightened it back around her.
"Psst." Cid started towards Shera, tapping her on the shoulder slightly to make her turn around.
"What is it?" She whispered to him in confusion as she watched him reach over and pull over a belt and tied it around himself.
"Put on your belt, I have a better way of waking those two up." He told her looking to her with a wide smirk across his face. Shera's eyes lit up quickly, as she realized what he was planning to do. She reached over and took her belt and pulled it across her lap and then reached to hold tightly to the side of the plane and held to the seat with her other seat.
Cid chuckled a bit as he watched her panic and then turned his head towards his controls and gripped them tightly then shot them forwards.
Aeris immediately awoke as she felt the sudden dive downwards. Cid was laughing madly and Zack suddenly awoke, his eyes almost looking to see if they're about to fall out of his head as they plunged towards the sea.
"CID!" Shera screamed as she looked to see how close they were getting.
"What?" He asked her as he smiled looking over to her and then quickly yanked back on the controls, making the plane level with the ocean, inches from touching it as it blew it around with wings of his plane.
"This is fun!" He screamed as he turned the plane to the side and started going in sharp circles, skidding the plane's wings against the water, making a perfect circle.
Zack then began to break into a mad laugh as he held to Aeris tightly. She was basically going into a huge panic, clinging to his shirt with her nails digging into his skin.
"Hey, calm down." Zack told Aeris as he loosened his grip and moved her slightly to his side so she could feel the water against her as it sprayed towards the side.
As he moved her Cid turned more sideways, letting a huge blast of water pour over all of them.
Cid spit some of the water that got into his mouth out over his side of plane, and lifted one of his hands quickly to wipe the water from his eyes.
"Yes! This feels so good! I haven't had this much fun since I was kid!" Cid screamed, continuing to laugh and then he turned the ship back over so it was parrell to the water and then went lower to it so his ship acted like a boat along the waters.
Aeris lifted her hands to her bangs and pulled them back to the sides of her face and out of her eyes and started giggling to herself as she looked to Zack who was now soaked.
Shera had her hands tightly around her dress to keep it from getting wet and as Cid pulled back so they were straight again, she hurled it back into her plastic back to keep it from getting wet. Cid pulled his wet cigarette from his mouth and flicked it to the side into the ocean and then shot up into the air in a perfect right angle towards the sky.
The wind pushed fiercely around all of them like a huge blow dryer and Cid then pulled so they flying straight again but kept his speed the same as he curved over and headed back to Costa Del Sol.
"Whew! That gave those beachers something to cheer about! Just watch, we'll get a ton of stuff outta doing that huge stunt show for them." He told them chuckling to himself still as he slowed his speed and headed down towards the grassy plains next to the small town.
He pushed in a small button and his plane's wheels gently folded themselves from underneath and hit the ground gently, causing it to bounce until they finally touched down and started skidding towards the town.
"Uhh. Cid?" Zack started noticing that they weren't slowing down very much as they skidded closer towards the town's wide-open main street.
The smiles of all of them except Cid vanished from their faces as concern arose as their expressions as they all noticed that Cid was playing chicken.
"Cid, come on, slow down." Shera begged and Aeris's eyes lit up as she watched in horror as he continued to go the same speed.
"Cid! Come on!" Zack yelled as he held to Aeris and looked to Lucrecia thinking to jump if he didn't stop.
But Cid didn't stop, he kept going but suddenly, he turned and headed for the sidewall of the city, which made them all start to panic even more. Zack quickly wrapped himself around Aeris, burying her face into his chest and shielded the back of head with his arms as well as his face.
Shera ducked and turned to force her head into the cushion of the seat and wrapped her hands on the back of her head, preparing for a fierce impact but Cid suddenly yanked the controls to the side, making it go sideways.
Quickly thinking, he jumped up and grabbed the lever at the top and pulled it towards him and the plane's engines suddenly shut off and the plane slammed to a stop, inches from the wall.
Dust trailed around them as Zack slowly began to release his grip from Aeris and Lucrecia began to get up from her spot, squinting through her glasses to see where they were.
Aeris lifted her head from Zack's chest and the wind began to clean the dust from around them. She stared in disbelief at how close the large white brick wall was from her.
They all looked to Cid and he looked to each of them, staring them all deep in the eyes of their disbelieved faces.
"What?" He asked them as he grabbed the side of the plane and stood up, leaping over the side. They all continued to stare at him as he reached back in and grabbed his own clothes that he had gotten himself for that night.
"Well hey! I just gave you all a free shower. Come on! Can't have I have a little fun?" He asked them, shrugging to them and taking in a deep breath. All three of them still stood perfectly still looking to him without blinking.
"O.k. fine. forget it. I'll meet you guys in front of the restaurant at nine o'clock tonight ok? For now, lets just get a hotel or something." He told them after lifting his right hand out to his side and flicking it out at them and releasing a loud sigh.
As he left their sight, Zack turned to Aeris, noticing she was still clinging to him. Her nails had dug deep into his stomach and the pain was starting to rise.
"Ow." He whispered as he gently let go of her and lowered his hands to his hands to hers and began trying to pry them off. Aeris finally got the hint to let go as he began trying to pull her hands back and quickly let go of him. He released a deep breath in relief and looked to her shaking his head with a smirk across his face.
Shera looked as if she was about to have a heart attack and drop dead right then and there in her seat but she quickly shook off her shock and jumped out her side and headed after Cid to help him out with getting a room followed by Zack and Aeris.
Aeris held to Zack's hand as they traveled into the now dark town and noticed several people running up to Cid and crying out to him how good a show he had put on for them and he was sure looking as if he was really enjoying all that attention.
Zack rolled his eyes and Aeris bit her lip as she watched Lucrecia trying to make her way towards Cid through the thick crowd of people.
Only stopping for a moment to watch, Zack looked to Aeris and then pulled her over towards the hotel and let his hand fall to the knob.
Twisting it quickly, he entered, closely followed by her and headed over towards the counter. He reached into his pocket with his free hand then and yanked out a small sack of money and dropped it on the desk in front of the manager.
"We need a room." He told him, still out of breath from the sudden act of boldness from Cid.
The manager slowly nodded to him but his eyes were focused on the sack of gil that rested in front of him. He calmly leaned over and grabbed the top and untied it, then tipped it slightly and poured the money into his hands.
Quickly counting it, he figured it was more then enough and looked up to Zack as he reached behind him and pulled a key that was placed on the side by itself.
"Been awhile since I found a person with this kind of money to pay off for a room." He said as he handed it towards Zack.
He snatched it out of his palm and tossed it up in front of him and caught it, gripping it tightly.
"Well, there are plenty of others that have that kind of money, you just have to wait for the people that live in Midgar, Rocket Town, and Junon." he told him as he gave him a quick smile and started back up the stairs and out the door.
"Where are we going now?" Aeris asked him softly noticing most of the rooms were inside that area actually.
"Over here. It's a special room." He told her, winking quickly to her as he spoke.
Aeris giggled to him and looked to the ground and then to the two bags of clothes for both him and her.
"I don't think that'll happen tonight." She whispered to him and looked around towards the room they were headed towards.
"That's what you think." He mumbled to himself.
"What?" She asked curiously and he quickly got rid of his smile to hide what he was thinking.
"Hmm? I didn't say anything." He told her quickly to avoid getting caught.
"Oh. thought you did, sorry." She explained slowly and then turned her gaze towards the room.
"Is that our room?" She asked him, pointing slightly up at it.
"Yup, that's it, just wait until you see the inside! I've stayed the night here before, by myself of coarse." He told her as he made his way up the side steps and reached for the knob.
Zack let go of Aeris's hand and held to the knob with it as he flipped the key so it'd go inside the hole in it. After turning it, he pushed the door open and reached to the side for the switch.
The lights suddenly flashed on and Aeris's mouth dropped slowly and a gasp escaped her lips as she looked to see that it was even more majestic and well put together then Cid's home was. After he closed the door behind him, Aeris looked to see the contents inside, her face locked in shock at everything she saw as she made her way around the room.
It's crystal windows and glass china that filled around the rooms. Leather couches were to her right and a bright clean white kitchen was on her left. In front of her was a deeply brown polished oak door that matched the wooden shiny oak walls.
Zack walked with her over to it and quickly turned the knob of that door, swinging it open to reveal a room that was almost exactly like the hotel room they were in, only the sheets were a loving bright red and it had a two oak dressers to each of the sides of the bed and a deep black carpet flooded the floor, giving it a beautiful texture.
He then came up behind her and slipped his hands onto her waist, leaned over gently and began kissing her neck gently.
Aeris smiled a bit and placed her hands over his, leaned back a little bit and closed her eyes.
He then slipped them in front of her stomach and started to pull the buttons from her dress apart. She quickly lifted her hands and gripped his, straightened herself up and shook her head at him smiling.
"We have to go to dinner, remember?" She told him softly as she turned to face him.
"Ah, we can't have a bit of fun for, like, ten minutes?" He whined playful as he tried to pull from her grip but she only tightened it shaking her head at him.
"Well, no, it would be shorter then that, we wouldn't even be half undressed by the time we have to go." She told him gently and he sighed as he finally gave up and let go of her.
"Well. there's always. after dinner." He softly told her as snatched his bag from her hand and took it over to bed. He pushed down the straps to his pants off his shoulders and yanked his shirt over his head and through it to the ground.
"Yeah, but you're probably going to be to tired." She told him as she walked over and sat on the other side of the bed and started to button the rest of her dress.
"You'd be surprised." He told her as he pushed his pants the ground after flipping off his shoes and socks and pulled out the blue jeans from the bag and slipped them on quickly and then reached for his shirt.
"Hmm is that so?" She asked him as she pulled her wet red jacket back and then slipped the dress from her shoulders. As she reached into the bag she slightly giggled at the clothes that Shera had given her. As she slipped on the bright red shirt and pulled on the jeans she noticed they were both very tight fitting.
"Yup, that's so." He told her as he reached inside the bag and pulled out the tennis shoes and brand new socks. He sat back to back with Aeris now as he pulled them one and tied his shoes. Aeris had fixed all her clothes on now and as she lifted her hands to her hair she noticed it was still soaked from their daring plane ride earlier. Zack turned to her and his eyes lit up as he watched her stand up and pull the wet bow from her hair and flick it to the floor.
"Damn." He slipped out as he watched her ass as she walked away towards the back bathroom.
As she shut the door to fix her hair and other stuff, he turned to look at himself, hoping the white shirt looked just as good on him. He knew he had to do something to get her with him tonight now that he'd seen her like that.
He sat there for a moment as he pulled his knees up to his face and leaned into his opened hands, looking to the floor in deep thought.
As the door to the bathroom swung open, he turned to face her, now with her hair dried and unbraided. It was flowing straight back behind her. She smiled and giggled at him as his mouth dropped in disbelief. Aeris then smirked at his own looks as he stood up and walked over to her, examining her looks. She wore no make-up but looked much more beautiful without it to him. Her tight red V shirt really caught his attention though. It was cut to deep into her chest, probably half way he guessed.
"Wow." Was all he could say as he opened up his mouth to speak and she chuckled at him again as he pulled her to him in a tight embrace. Looking over her shoulder he noticed she seemed to have all the perfect curves dressed like that. He knew Cid would probably get a kick out of what she looked like as well and then he suddenly had an idea.
He looked to the ceiling mouthing the words "Thank you." Towards them with a wide smile spread across his face in a devilish way.
Soon they pulled away and Zack wrapped his right arm around Aeris, pulling her with him out of the apartment's door.
A cool breeze rushed over both of them as they stepped outside into the deep black night sky flooded around them. Aeris watched as the stars softly glimmered around them and Zack looked to see where the restaurant was.
"Hey, we're suppose to go over there." He told her as he reached over and pointed towards the door smiling behind her.
"Ok, lets go then, Cid's going to be mad if we're late." She quickly told him as she started off and reached out, grabbing Zack's hand that was once at her side and yanked him down the stairs with her towards the restaurant's door.
Zack reached out as he stumbled clumsily with her and reached out to the handle. Gripping it tightly he calmly pulled it open and noticed that a man and a young beautiful looking woman were standing to the side.
"Hey!! We've been sitting here for like fifteen minutes now!" The man yelled and both Aeris and Zack quickly recognized that it was Cid and Shera. He was dressed in much cleaner blue jeans this time, his hair wasn't untidy anymore, it was instead combed to the sides like a rich person would have down to his hair and he worn a deep navy blue shirt on top that was collared with a lighter fabric.
Shera didn't look like herself at all. Instead of her white lab coat, she wore her beautiful velvet royal blue dress that flowed to her ankles. She wore sandaled high-heeled shoes and her hair was pulled back behind her head. She had quickly gave it several crimps though because it looked very wave. She reached over and gripped most of it and pulled it over her left shoulder though and looked to the floor blushing at what she was wearing.
"We would have been quicker if she hadn't taken her time actually." He told them as he looked to Shera rolling his eyes at her playfully, but chuckled to himself as he made his remark.
"S- Sorry. I'm not use to wearing these kind of things." She explained quickly not lifting her gaze from the floor and Cid shook his head and then looked to Zack then to Aeris and back to Zack again, giving him a curious look.
"So umm. what took you two so long? Hmm?" He asked with a smirk on his expression as he narrowed his eyes on Zack.
"Oh umm, nothing, we just got changed and Aeris fixed her hair." Zack told him and Cid shrugged at him looking to the ceiling.
"Mmm hmm. well whatever, let's get a table." He told them as he reached over and tapped Lucrecia so she'd follow him as he made his way towards the counter.
"How many sir?" The man behind the counter asked calmly.
"Four." He told him as he looked back towards the others quickly.
"Ah, yes, well, this way sir." The man quickly said as he reached over and grabbed four menus for them.
All four of them started after the man towards a table that was placed in the middle of the room. Aeris and Zack quietly walked over to the chairs and pulled them out gently so they could each sit in them.
The man came over to each of them and placed a white menu in front of each of them. After smiling to all of them, he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a thick white notepad.
"So what you all have to start out with?" He asked calmly as he snatched a small sharp pencil from behind his head as he waited for their answers patiently.
"Water will be fine." Aeris answered gently as she nodded to him and looked to Zack quickly.
"Same," Cid told him and looked to Shera as she nodded her head in agreement and then they all looked to Zack.
"Same as them." He quickly answered looking nervously around the room, which caught Aeris's eye quickly.
"Very good." The servant man told them as he finished writing up their waters and then turned towards the kitchen to fetch them.
"What's wrong?" Aeris whispered to Zack as she watched him silently shake, seeming to be very nervous now.
"Umm. nothing, I'll be right back." He quickly told her as he pushed back the chair and stood. After pushing it back in, he started after the waiter and Aeris looked to the table in shame thinking she had done something wrong.
Cid watched as Aeris took in a deep sigh and stared down at the white-laced tablecloth in shame.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Aeris." He softly explained to her as Shera reached over to her side since Aeris was sitting next to her and placed her hand gently on her shoulder in comfort.
"I'll go see what he's up to." He told her, smiling gently to her and chuckled a bit at her.
"Who knows, he may just have to use the can or something." He joked as he pushed his chair back and started after Zack after sliding his chair back in carefully.
He made his way towards him pacing himself, as Zack chased after their waiter. Then he stopped as he saw Zack reach out and tap the man gently on the shoulder and then slightly whisper something into his ear.
Cid listened in hard to hear what they were talking about and a smile washed across the waiter's face as Zack continued to tell him what he wanted.
"Hey.umm. you know that girl I'm with? The one with the red shirt, do me a bit of a favor and you know. kind of slip a drink into her water, I don't want her to be tired tonight, if you know what I mean." Zack explained as he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a flask that he had in there for the longest time.
"Here, put this in it, just make sure, you give it to her only, I don't need it and the other two are fine without it." He finished up and the waiter lifted his hands and took the flask from them filled with the drink that Zack had stored away and then headed off towards the kitchen to get their drinks.
Satisfied, Zack then turned around and started back but stopped as he spotted Cid behind him. He quickly looked around nervously and Cid let out a light chuckle to him and shook his head gently.
"Well. I didn't expect that from a person like you, seems like you got some man in you after all under all that skin." Cid told him playfully as he went over to Zack's side and tapped him gently against the shoulder.
"So what kind of drink did you have in there?" He asked as he circled him and then met eye to eye.
"Well it was. uh. a bit of Vodka. don't tell Aeris, please!" Zack begged after he burst out his answer to Cid.
All Cid could do was laugh harder as he heard Zack tell him what he had planned to have spiked in her drink and then he lowered and shook his head again.
"I won't tell her, as long as you promise to make sure that she absolutely doesn't go mad and then suddenly have to get sick. It's a real pain in the ass when you're fucking real hard and then just have to puke." Cid joked as he started to turn and head back to the table. Zack started after him as Cid through his arm in front of him as a signal to follow after taking one last look behind him to scan for their waiter.
As they reached the table and retook their seats, Shera suddenly spoke up looking to each of them carefully.
"Well. you guys weren't here so we ordered for you, I hope you don't mind." She informed them and then both Cid and Zack nodded in agreement that it was all right.
Aeris was silent with her hands gently laid out on the white-laced table in front of her, Zack reached out and sweep his hand over hers and then grasped it from it's back in comfort for her.
Quickly in surprise, Aeris looked up at him and he kissed her gently from the corner of the table in front of the other two and then smiled at her calmly.
"You ok?" He asked gently as he watched her grand emerald eyes start to glow again in happiness.
"Yes, of coarse, never better." She said swiftly to him as she smiled back and then lifted her other hand, and placed it over his.
Soon afterwards they were interrupted by the waiters return. He had another man beside him, holding a large plate up with his right hand as he walked towards the other side of the table. Their regular waiter looked to Zack as he lifted one of the glasses of water and winked at him quickly before placing it down gently in front of Aeris.
Zack could see the bubbles of the thick alcoholic drink swarming around the bottom and trying to take over the top and then he looked back up at the waiter and nodded to him in appreciation of what he was doing.
Soon the other waiter started placing down the plates of food before them as well, filled each with the same, steak and potatoes. Zack considered this his favorite and tried to refrain from drooling for he just wanted to dive right into his plate and devour it into his stomach. He hadn't had a decent meal in weeks and this was too much for him now.
Aeris softly giggled as she watched Zack's reaction to his dinner and then looked to see the other two were already starting to chop up their steaks and eat their tiny pieces.
"You can eat now." Aeris told him playfully as she poked him gently with her fork to get his attention.
"Oh uhh yeah, ok cool" He quickly told her as he lifted his knife and twirled it between his middle, pointer and thumb. He then slammed his fist gently on the front of the fork, making it jump up and twirl as well in mid- air and caught it with his other free hand to show off.
Aeris softly laughed at his foolishness and then reached out to her water and brought it to her lips. Cid caught her out of the corner of his eyes as she started to try and take a sip from the glass and smirked as she started swallowing the cool liquid.
Quickly noticing what he was doing, Aeris turned to face him and he swiftly turned his head to his plate and started eating again. Shrugging off what had just happened, she then started to eat herself, as well as started feeling light headed.
Zack watched as she dazed a bit and nearly fell over a few times and then wondered how much Vodka had been placed in her water. He might have even killed her, he wasn't sure; he just knew that she was either dying or officially drunk.
"You ok?" He asked and she looked up from her food with a huge smile now spread as her expression and dimmed eyes like she was ready for anything.
"Yup! Just fine!" She yelled and then a hic-up escaped her mouth. After slowly thinking about it, she lifted her hand to her mouth as she jumped and another one emerged from her throat.
She lifted her glass then and chugged the rest down, bits of what didn't go passed her lips steamed down the sides of her neck and Zack sat there wide eyed and amazed as he licked his lips at her as he watched and Cid quickly caught site of him staring at her relentlessly.
"Well umm. you guys done?" He asked quickly, raising his hand to the back of the chair ready to get up.
"Hmm? Oh umm yeah, ok." Zack told him as fast as he could as he continued to watch Aeris, not breaking his glance from her, for even a second.
"Well then umm. lets go then." Cid told them all as he reached inside his blue-jeans pocket and grabbed several pieces of gil and lifted it towards the center of the table. After dropping it in the middle as a rather large tip he stood, and Shera followed his motions.
They watched as Zack didn't seem to move and Aeris continued to chug the final drops down her throat.
"Come on." Cid beckoned as Aeris lifted her napkin and started wiping away what remained of the water with vodka from her cheeks after placing the glass back down.
Zack soon after stood and walked over behind Aeris and lifted her up gently from her seat, only to have her fall forward onto his chest in dizziness.
Shera stared curiously at the two as Zack then started to lead her after them and towards the door. Cid stopped and turned to both Zack and Aeris before they pushed the glassed doors out though and winked to Zack and spoke.
"Well, we'll be seeing you then, probably in the morning bout. hmmm. say bout noon? Does that sound good enough for you two?" He asked as Aeris stumbled again at them and fell back against the wall to rest.
"Better make it 1pm." Zack told him swiftly as he reached over and pulled Aeris over to his side so he could balance her.
"Alright then. sound good to me." Cid quickly agreed and then moved out of the way of the door to let Zack and Aeris pass through and head back to their hotel and then he and Shera followed afterwards.
As they reached their own hotel, Cid stopped as Shera lifted her hand to his shoulder and looked to him strangely as she spoke.
"Did Aeris seem a bit, well, not like herself to you?" She asked calmly hoping he would know what was going on.
"Well, that would be Zack's fault. That wild boy couldn't contain himself so he had the water slip vodka into her water." Cid told her, chuckling under his breath as his thoughts started to swarm his mind about what he had just said. Shera's eyes widened in surprised as Cid finally opened the door to their room and then walked inside, locking it behind them as Zack and Aeris continued to make their way towards their own hotel.
Cid continued to speed off with Aeris in Zack's comforting arms behind him and Shera's seat.
Aeris had fallen into a peaceful, dreamless sleep, with her head resting against Zack's chest calmly.
Zack had fallen asleep as well with his head resting on top of hers with his arms wrapped gently around her thin body.
Shera watched them silently as she started to drift herself and Cid reached out to her shoulder, softly placing his black-gloved hand on it, gently shaking her.
"Don't you go to on me, we'll be there in 15min you gotta be ready to jump out and wake the two up." He told her, trying hard not to yell and it seemed she understood him because she quickly turned her head as he shook his own at her. As Shera watched the two peaceful sleepers in the back, Cid gazed off towards the horizon of the solid calm ocean towards the softly colored setting sun in awe.
"When's the last time you ever saw a sunset like that?" He whispered as the engines began to run smoothly to Shera.
She could only smile and shake her head slightly at his question.
"I haven't seen anything more beautiful in my life really." She gently told him, her voice pure and sincere.
"Yeah." he started, his voice deepening and comforting as he softly turned his gaze to Shera's, her face being lit up warmly by the suns dimming rays.
But as she looked to him with the same look upon her faze, he quickly shook his head and cleared his throat before he spoke again.
"Hmph. yeah. beautiful." He grunted at her and it swiftly caused her turn her head to the side in shame, with a frown falling over her lips for what she had done. Her thin hairs from her bangs swayed back gently against the wind and Cid noticed her depression was starting to grow again and decided to speak up again.
"So.uhhh." He started again only this time he kept his own sight lowered towards the front of the plane. "Where's the dress you're going to wear later?" He finished up shyly.
"Oh.umm. hold on, I know I have it somewhere." She said as she lowered her head towards her feet and began to search for her bag.
Her fingers gently brushed against the plastic of it under her seat as she swung them around looking for it.
"I think this is it." She told him as she got a firm hold on it and pulled it up and then laid it gently on her lap. Shera quickly got her hands on the knot and untied it carefully, then separated the plastic from it.
"Yup, this is it." Shera quickly informed him as she slipped her hands under the soft deep blue velvet strapless dress and lifted it to her face so she could examine it.
A deep cost line then came into Cid's view and he released his gas pedal slightly and started pushing the buttons to slow the speed of the plane, tilting it down slightly as well as he headed towards the darken coast.
Shera turned back to face the two once more and noticed Aeris stir and then tighten her grip on Zack's sweater, trying to bury the side of her face deeper into him. Zack slowly rubbed his head against hers as well, after taking in a deep breath and releasing his grip her shortly and then tightened it back around her.
"Psst." Cid started towards Shera, tapping her on the shoulder slightly to make her turn around.
"What is it?" She whispered to him in confusion as she watched him reach over and pull over a belt and tied it around himself.
"Put on your belt, I have a better way of waking those two up." He told her looking to her with a wide smirk across his face. Shera's eyes lit up quickly, as she realized what he was planning to do. She reached over and took her belt and pulled it across her lap and then reached to hold tightly to the side of the plane and held to the seat with her other seat.
Cid chuckled a bit as he watched her panic and then turned his head towards his controls and gripped them tightly then shot them forwards.
Aeris immediately awoke as she felt the sudden dive downwards. Cid was laughing madly and Zack suddenly awoke, his eyes almost looking to see if they're about to fall out of his head as they plunged towards the sea.
"CID!" Shera screamed as she looked to see how close they were getting.
"What?" He asked her as he smiled looking over to her and then quickly yanked back on the controls, making the plane level with the ocean, inches from touching it as it blew it around with wings of his plane.
"This is fun!" He screamed as he turned the plane to the side and started going in sharp circles, skidding the plane's wings against the water, making a perfect circle.
Zack then began to break into a mad laugh as he held to Aeris tightly. She was basically going into a huge panic, clinging to his shirt with her nails digging into his skin.
"Hey, calm down." Zack told Aeris as he loosened his grip and moved her slightly to his side so she could feel the water against her as it sprayed towards the side.
As he moved her Cid turned more sideways, letting a huge blast of water pour over all of them.
Cid spit some of the water that got into his mouth out over his side of plane, and lifted one of his hands quickly to wipe the water from his eyes.
"Yes! This feels so good! I haven't had this much fun since I was kid!" Cid screamed, continuing to laugh and then he turned the ship back over so it was parrell to the water and then went lower to it so his ship acted like a boat along the waters.
Aeris lifted her hands to her bangs and pulled them back to the sides of her face and out of her eyes and started giggling to herself as she looked to Zack who was now soaked.
Shera had her hands tightly around her dress to keep it from getting wet and as Cid pulled back so they were straight again, she hurled it back into her plastic back to keep it from getting wet. Cid pulled his wet cigarette from his mouth and flicked it to the side into the ocean and then shot up into the air in a perfect right angle towards the sky.
The wind pushed fiercely around all of them like a huge blow dryer and Cid then pulled so they flying straight again but kept his speed the same as he curved over and headed back to Costa Del Sol.
"Whew! That gave those beachers something to cheer about! Just watch, we'll get a ton of stuff outta doing that huge stunt show for them." He told them chuckling to himself still as he slowed his speed and headed down towards the grassy plains next to the small town.
He pushed in a small button and his plane's wheels gently folded themselves from underneath and hit the ground gently, causing it to bounce until they finally touched down and started skidding towards the town.
"Uhh. Cid?" Zack started noticing that they weren't slowing down very much as they skidded closer towards the town's wide-open main street.
The smiles of all of them except Cid vanished from their faces as concern arose as their expressions as they all noticed that Cid was playing chicken.
"Cid, come on, slow down." Shera begged and Aeris's eyes lit up as she watched in horror as he continued to go the same speed.
"Cid! Come on!" Zack yelled as he held to Aeris and looked to Lucrecia thinking to jump if he didn't stop.
But Cid didn't stop, he kept going but suddenly, he turned and headed for the sidewall of the city, which made them all start to panic even more. Zack quickly wrapped himself around Aeris, burying her face into his chest and shielded the back of head with his arms as well as his face.
Shera ducked and turned to force her head into the cushion of the seat and wrapped her hands on the back of her head, preparing for a fierce impact but Cid suddenly yanked the controls to the side, making it go sideways.
Quickly thinking, he jumped up and grabbed the lever at the top and pulled it towards him and the plane's engines suddenly shut off and the plane slammed to a stop, inches from the wall.
Dust trailed around them as Zack slowly began to release his grip from Aeris and Lucrecia began to get up from her spot, squinting through her glasses to see where they were.
Aeris lifted her head from Zack's chest and the wind began to clean the dust from around them. She stared in disbelief at how close the large white brick wall was from her.
They all looked to Cid and he looked to each of them, staring them all deep in the eyes of their disbelieved faces.
"What?" He asked them as he grabbed the side of the plane and stood up, leaping over the side. They all continued to stare at him as he reached back in and grabbed his own clothes that he had gotten himself for that night.
"Well hey! I just gave you all a free shower. Come on! Can't have I have a little fun?" He asked them, shrugging to them and taking in a deep breath. All three of them still stood perfectly still looking to him without blinking.
"O.k. fine. forget it. I'll meet you guys in front of the restaurant at nine o'clock tonight ok? For now, lets just get a hotel or something." He told them after lifting his right hand out to his side and flicking it out at them and releasing a loud sigh.
As he left their sight, Zack turned to Aeris, noticing she was still clinging to him. Her nails had dug deep into his stomach and the pain was starting to rise.
"Ow." He whispered as he gently let go of her and lowered his hands to his hands to hers and began trying to pry them off. Aeris finally got the hint to let go as he began trying to pull her hands back and quickly let go of him. He released a deep breath in relief and looked to her shaking his head with a smirk across his face.
Shera looked as if she was about to have a heart attack and drop dead right then and there in her seat but she quickly shook off her shock and jumped out her side and headed after Cid to help him out with getting a room followed by Zack and Aeris.
Aeris held to Zack's hand as they traveled into the now dark town and noticed several people running up to Cid and crying out to him how good a show he had put on for them and he was sure looking as if he was really enjoying all that attention.
Zack rolled his eyes and Aeris bit her lip as she watched Lucrecia trying to make her way towards Cid through the thick crowd of people.
Only stopping for a moment to watch, Zack looked to Aeris and then pulled her over towards the hotel and let his hand fall to the knob.
Twisting it quickly, he entered, closely followed by her and headed over towards the counter. He reached into his pocket with his free hand then and yanked out a small sack of money and dropped it on the desk in front of the manager.
"We need a room." He told him, still out of breath from the sudden act of boldness from Cid.
The manager slowly nodded to him but his eyes were focused on the sack of gil that rested in front of him. He calmly leaned over and grabbed the top and untied it, then tipped it slightly and poured the money into his hands.
Quickly counting it, he figured it was more then enough and looked up to Zack as he reached behind him and pulled a key that was placed on the side by itself.
"Been awhile since I found a person with this kind of money to pay off for a room." He said as he handed it towards Zack.
He snatched it out of his palm and tossed it up in front of him and caught it, gripping it tightly.
"Well, there are plenty of others that have that kind of money, you just have to wait for the people that live in Midgar, Rocket Town, and Junon." he told him as he gave him a quick smile and started back up the stairs and out the door.
"Where are we going now?" Aeris asked him softly noticing most of the rooms were inside that area actually.
"Over here. It's a special room." He told her, winking quickly to her as he spoke.
Aeris giggled to him and looked to the ground and then to the two bags of clothes for both him and her.
"I don't think that'll happen tonight." She whispered to him and looked around towards the room they were headed towards.
"That's what you think." He mumbled to himself.
"What?" She asked curiously and he quickly got rid of his smile to hide what he was thinking.
"Hmm? I didn't say anything." He told her quickly to avoid getting caught.
"Oh. thought you did, sorry." She explained slowly and then turned her gaze towards the room.
"Is that our room?" She asked him, pointing slightly up at it.
"Yup, that's it, just wait until you see the inside! I've stayed the night here before, by myself of coarse." He told her as he made his way up the side steps and reached for the knob.
Zack let go of Aeris's hand and held to the knob with it as he flipped the key so it'd go inside the hole in it. After turning it, he pushed the door open and reached to the side for the switch.
The lights suddenly flashed on and Aeris's mouth dropped slowly and a gasp escaped her lips as she looked to see that it was even more majestic and well put together then Cid's home was. After he closed the door behind him, Aeris looked to see the contents inside, her face locked in shock at everything she saw as she made her way around the room.
It's crystal windows and glass china that filled around the rooms. Leather couches were to her right and a bright clean white kitchen was on her left. In front of her was a deeply brown polished oak door that matched the wooden shiny oak walls.
Zack walked with her over to it and quickly turned the knob of that door, swinging it open to reveal a room that was almost exactly like the hotel room they were in, only the sheets were a loving bright red and it had a two oak dressers to each of the sides of the bed and a deep black carpet flooded the floor, giving it a beautiful texture.
He then came up behind her and slipped his hands onto her waist, leaned over gently and began kissing her neck gently.
Aeris smiled a bit and placed her hands over his, leaned back a little bit and closed her eyes.
He then slipped them in front of her stomach and started to pull the buttons from her dress apart. She quickly lifted her hands and gripped his, straightened herself up and shook her head at him smiling.
"We have to go to dinner, remember?" She told him softly as she turned to face him.
"Ah, we can't have a bit of fun for, like, ten minutes?" He whined playful as he tried to pull from her grip but she only tightened it shaking her head at him.
"Well, no, it would be shorter then that, we wouldn't even be half undressed by the time we have to go." She told him gently and he sighed as he finally gave up and let go of her.
"Well. there's always. after dinner." He softly told her as snatched his bag from her hand and took it over to bed. He pushed down the straps to his pants off his shoulders and yanked his shirt over his head and through it to the ground.
"Yeah, but you're probably going to be to tired." She told him as she walked over and sat on the other side of the bed and started to button the rest of her dress.
"You'd be surprised." He told her as he pushed his pants the ground after flipping off his shoes and socks and pulled out the blue jeans from the bag and slipped them on quickly and then reached for his shirt.
"Hmm is that so?" She asked him as she pulled her wet red jacket back and then slipped the dress from her shoulders. As she reached into the bag she slightly giggled at the clothes that Shera had given her. As she slipped on the bright red shirt and pulled on the jeans she noticed they were both very tight fitting.
"Yup, that's so." He told her as he reached inside the bag and pulled out the tennis shoes and brand new socks. He sat back to back with Aeris now as he pulled them one and tied his shoes. Aeris had fixed all her clothes on now and as she lifted her hands to her hair she noticed it was still soaked from their daring plane ride earlier. Zack turned to her and his eyes lit up as he watched her stand up and pull the wet bow from her hair and flick it to the floor.
"Damn." He slipped out as he watched her ass as she walked away towards the back bathroom.
As she shut the door to fix her hair and other stuff, he turned to look at himself, hoping the white shirt looked just as good on him. He knew he had to do something to get her with him tonight now that he'd seen her like that.
He sat there for a moment as he pulled his knees up to his face and leaned into his opened hands, looking to the floor in deep thought.
As the door to the bathroom swung open, he turned to face her, now with her hair dried and unbraided. It was flowing straight back behind her. She smiled and giggled at him as his mouth dropped in disbelief. Aeris then smirked at his own looks as he stood up and walked over to her, examining her looks. She wore no make-up but looked much more beautiful without it to him. Her tight red V shirt really caught his attention though. It was cut to deep into her chest, probably half way he guessed.
"Wow." Was all he could say as he opened up his mouth to speak and she chuckled at him again as he pulled her to him in a tight embrace. Looking over her shoulder he noticed she seemed to have all the perfect curves dressed like that. He knew Cid would probably get a kick out of what she looked like as well and then he suddenly had an idea.
He looked to the ceiling mouthing the words "Thank you." Towards them with a wide smile spread across his face in a devilish way.
Soon they pulled away and Zack wrapped his right arm around Aeris, pulling her with him out of the apartment's door.
A cool breeze rushed over both of them as they stepped outside into the deep black night sky flooded around them. Aeris watched as the stars softly glimmered around them and Zack looked to see where the restaurant was.
"Hey, we're suppose to go over there." He told her as he reached over and pointed towards the door smiling behind her.
"Ok, lets go then, Cid's going to be mad if we're late." She quickly told him as she started off and reached out, grabbing Zack's hand that was once at her side and yanked him down the stairs with her towards the restaurant's door.
Zack reached out as he stumbled clumsily with her and reached out to the handle. Gripping it tightly he calmly pulled it open and noticed that a man and a young beautiful looking woman were standing to the side.
"Hey!! We've been sitting here for like fifteen minutes now!" The man yelled and both Aeris and Zack quickly recognized that it was Cid and Shera. He was dressed in much cleaner blue jeans this time, his hair wasn't untidy anymore, it was instead combed to the sides like a rich person would have down to his hair and he worn a deep navy blue shirt on top that was collared with a lighter fabric.
Shera didn't look like herself at all. Instead of her white lab coat, she wore her beautiful velvet royal blue dress that flowed to her ankles. She wore sandaled high-heeled shoes and her hair was pulled back behind her head. She had quickly gave it several crimps though because it looked very wave. She reached over and gripped most of it and pulled it over her left shoulder though and looked to the floor blushing at what she was wearing.
"We would have been quicker if she hadn't taken her time actually." He told them as he looked to Shera rolling his eyes at her playfully, but chuckled to himself as he made his remark.
"S- Sorry. I'm not use to wearing these kind of things." She explained quickly not lifting her gaze from the floor and Cid shook his head and then looked to Zack then to Aeris and back to Zack again, giving him a curious look.
"So umm. what took you two so long? Hmm?" He asked with a smirk on his expression as he narrowed his eyes on Zack.
"Oh umm, nothing, we just got changed and Aeris fixed her hair." Zack told him and Cid shrugged at him looking to the ceiling.
"Mmm hmm. well whatever, let's get a table." He told them as he reached over and tapped Lucrecia so she'd follow him as he made his way towards the counter.
"How many sir?" The man behind the counter asked calmly.
"Four." He told him as he looked back towards the others quickly.
"Ah, yes, well, this way sir." The man quickly said as he reached over and grabbed four menus for them.
All four of them started after the man towards a table that was placed in the middle of the room. Aeris and Zack quietly walked over to the chairs and pulled them out gently so they could each sit in them.
The man came over to each of them and placed a white menu in front of each of them. After smiling to all of them, he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a thick white notepad.
"So what you all have to start out with?" He asked calmly as he snatched a small sharp pencil from behind his head as he waited for their answers patiently.
"Water will be fine." Aeris answered gently as she nodded to him and looked to Zack quickly.
"Same," Cid told him and looked to Shera as she nodded her head in agreement and then they all looked to Zack.
"Same as them." He quickly answered looking nervously around the room, which caught Aeris's eye quickly.
"Very good." The servant man told them as he finished writing up their waters and then turned towards the kitchen to fetch them.
"What's wrong?" Aeris whispered to Zack as she watched him silently shake, seeming to be very nervous now.
"Umm. nothing, I'll be right back." He quickly told her as he pushed back the chair and stood. After pushing it back in, he started after the waiter and Aeris looked to the table in shame thinking she had done something wrong.
Cid watched as Aeris took in a deep sigh and stared down at the white-laced tablecloth in shame.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Aeris." He softly explained to her as Shera reached over to her side since Aeris was sitting next to her and placed her hand gently on her shoulder in comfort.
"I'll go see what he's up to." He told her, smiling gently to her and chuckled a bit at her.
"Who knows, he may just have to use the can or something." He joked as he pushed his chair back and started after Zack after sliding his chair back in carefully.
He made his way towards him pacing himself, as Zack chased after their waiter. Then he stopped as he saw Zack reach out and tap the man gently on the shoulder and then slightly whisper something into his ear.
Cid listened in hard to hear what they were talking about and a smile washed across the waiter's face as Zack continued to tell him what he wanted.
"Hey.umm. you know that girl I'm with? The one with the red shirt, do me a bit of a favor and you know. kind of slip a drink into her water, I don't want her to be tired tonight, if you know what I mean." Zack explained as he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a flask that he had in there for the longest time.
"Here, put this in it, just make sure, you give it to her only, I don't need it and the other two are fine without it." He finished up and the waiter lifted his hands and took the flask from them filled with the drink that Zack had stored away and then headed off towards the kitchen to get their drinks.
Satisfied, Zack then turned around and started back but stopped as he spotted Cid behind him. He quickly looked around nervously and Cid let out a light chuckle to him and shook his head gently.
"Well. I didn't expect that from a person like you, seems like you got some man in you after all under all that skin." Cid told him playfully as he went over to Zack's side and tapped him gently against the shoulder.
"So what kind of drink did you have in there?" He asked as he circled him and then met eye to eye.
"Well it was. uh. a bit of Vodka. don't tell Aeris, please!" Zack begged after he burst out his answer to Cid.
All Cid could do was laugh harder as he heard Zack tell him what he had planned to have spiked in her drink and then he lowered and shook his head again.
"I won't tell her, as long as you promise to make sure that she absolutely doesn't go mad and then suddenly have to get sick. It's a real pain in the ass when you're fucking real hard and then just have to puke." Cid joked as he started to turn and head back to the table. Zack started after him as Cid through his arm in front of him as a signal to follow after taking one last look behind him to scan for their waiter.
As they reached the table and retook their seats, Shera suddenly spoke up looking to each of them carefully.
"Well. you guys weren't here so we ordered for you, I hope you don't mind." She informed them and then both Cid and Zack nodded in agreement that it was all right.
Aeris was silent with her hands gently laid out on the white-laced table in front of her, Zack reached out and sweep his hand over hers and then grasped it from it's back in comfort for her.
Quickly in surprise, Aeris looked up at him and he kissed her gently from the corner of the table in front of the other two and then smiled at her calmly.
"You ok?" He asked gently as he watched her grand emerald eyes start to glow again in happiness.
"Yes, of coarse, never better." She said swiftly to him as she smiled back and then lifted her other hand, and placed it over his.
Soon afterwards they were interrupted by the waiters return. He had another man beside him, holding a large plate up with his right hand as he walked towards the other side of the table. Their regular waiter looked to Zack as he lifted one of the glasses of water and winked at him quickly before placing it down gently in front of Aeris.
Zack could see the bubbles of the thick alcoholic drink swarming around the bottom and trying to take over the top and then he looked back up at the waiter and nodded to him in appreciation of what he was doing.
Soon the other waiter started placing down the plates of food before them as well, filled each with the same, steak and potatoes. Zack considered this his favorite and tried to refrain from drooling for he just wanted to dive right into his plate and devour it into his stomach. He hadn't had a decent meal in weeks and this was too much for him now.
Aeris softly giggled as she watched Zack's reaction to his dinner and then looked to see the other two were already starting to chop up their steaks and eat their tiny pieces.
"You can eat now." Aeris told him playfully as she poked him gently with her fork to get his attention.
"Oh uhh yeah, ok cool" He quickly told her as he lifted his knife and twirled it between his middle, pointer and thumb. He then slammed his fist gently on the front of the fork, making it jump up and twirl as well in mid- air and caught it with his other free hand to show off.
Aeris softly laughed at his foolishness and then reached out to her water and brought it to her lips. Cid caught her out of the corner of his eyes as she started to try and take a sip from the glass and smirked as she started swallowing the cool liquid.
Quickly noticing what he was doing, Aeris turned to face him and he swiftly turned his head to his plate and started eating again. Shrugging off what had just happened, she then started to eat herself, as well as started feeling light headed.
Zack watched as she dazed a bit and nearly fell over a few times and then wondered how much Vodka had been placed in her water. He might have even killed her, he wasn't sure; he just knew that she was either dying or officially drunk.
"You ok?" He asked and she looked up from her food with a huge smile now spread as her expression and dimmed eyes like she was ready for anything.
"Yup! Just fine!" She yelled and then a hic-up escaped her mouth. After slowly thinking about it, she lifted her hand to her mouth as she jumped and another one emerged from her throat.
She lifted her glass then and chugged the rest down, bits of what didn't go passed her lips steamed down the sides of her neck and Zack sat there wide eyed and amazed as he licked his lips at her as he watched and Cid quickly caught site of him staring at her relentlessly.
"Well umm. you guys done?" He asked quickly, raising his hand to the back of the chair ready to get up.
"Hmm? Oh umm yeah, ok." Zack told him as fast as he could as he continued to watch Aeris, not breaking his glance from her, for even a second.
"Well then umm. lets go then." Cid told them all as he reached inside his blue-jeans pocket and grabbed several pieces of gil and lifted it towards the center of the table. After dropping it in the middle as a rather large tip he stood, and Shera followed his motions.
They watched as Zack didn't seem to move and Aeris continued to chug the final drops down her throat.
"Come on." Cid beckoned as Aeris lifted her napkin and started wiping away what remained of the water with vodka from her cheeks after placing the glass back down.
Zack soon after stood and walked over behind Aeris and lifted her up gently from her seat, only to have her fall forward onto his chest in dizziness.
Shera stared curiously at the two as Zack then started to lead her after them and towards the door. Cid stopped and turned to both Zack and Aeris before they pushed the glassed doors out though and winked to Zack and spoke.
"Well, we'll be seeing you then, probably in the morning bout. hmmm. say bout noon? Does that sound good enough for you two?" He asked as Aeris stumbled again at them and fell back against the wall to rest.
"Better make it 1pm." Zack told him swiftly as he reached over and pulled Aeris over to his side so he could balance her.
"Alright then. sound good to me." Cid quickly agreed and then moved out of the way of the door to let Zack and Aeris pass through and head back to their hotel and then he and Shera followed afterwards.
As they reached their own hotel, Cid stopped as Shera lifted her hand to his shoulder and looked to him strangely as she spoke.
"Did Aeris seem a bit, well, not like herself to you?" She asked calmly hoping he would know what was going on.
"Well, that would be Zack's fault. That wild boy couldn't contain himself so he had the water slip vodka into her water." Cid told her, chuckling under his breath as his thoughts started to swarm his mind about what he had just said. Shera's eyes widened in surprised as Cid finally opened the door to their room and then walked inside, locking it behind them as Zack and Aeris continued to make their way towards their own hotel.