Chapter 10: Duvet

And you don't seem to understand

A shame you seemed an honest man

And all the fears you hold so dear

Will turn to whisper in your ear

And you know what they say might hurt you

And you know that it means so much

And you don't even feel a thing

I am falling

I am fading

I am drowning

Help me to breathe

Duvet – Serial Experiments Lain

Aeris wandered back to her dormitory in a state of utter bewilderment. What on earth was she doing? Here she was with a wonderful boyfriend and now she was having feelings for someone else.

Or was she? She was so confused… she was so happy whenever she was with James, but every time she saw Vincent it was like… like her whole body was turning against her mind, like she was out of control.

But Vincent was so cold. So distant, so unlike James. How could she care about two people who were so radically different? But whenever she was with Vincent he seemed to change slightly. He would open up, talk to her, even smile occasionally. It was more than she had seen him do with anyone else.

Aeris opened the door to her room. Tifa was lying on the bed with earphones over her head, reading a book. She said hello but Aeris walked straight past and fell face forwards onto her own bed. Tifa took off the headphones and sat up.

"Ok, what's up?" She said, sitting next to her.

"Everything… ok, Tifa I'm such an idiot…"

"Well, I knew that already." Tifa laughed. Aeris looked up at her with such a look that Tifa immediately backed off.

"OK, OK… I'm sorry. So what's wrong?"

So Aeris told her. Tifa listened carefully before saying,

"That's quite a pickle, isn't it?"

"You're telling me… so what do I do? I've been with James for, what, two months? And I'm already getting bad lusty feelings for someone else."

"Hey, you can't really control who you're attracted to." Tifa pointed out. Aeris grumbled,

"Well, I could have tried harder."

Tifa leant against the wall.

"Well… you've got a choice. Vincent or James?"

"How the hell am I supposed to decide that?" Aeris asked incredulously. Tifa smiled.

"Make a list! All their bad points and weigh them up."

Half an hour later Aeris waved a piece of paper and Tifa. She took it and read it aloud.

"Vincent: Can be cold. Puts himself down too much. Hits on me when aware I am with James. Un-talkative. Not a musician."

She looked up at Aeris.

"Is that all you could think of for Vincent?"

"Yeah… oh, wait until you see James' list…" She threw her another piece of paper. Tifa glanced at it. There was one sentence written on it.

"James: He's not Vincent. Good God Aeris, you've got it bad."

Aeris groaned and fell face forward into her pillow for a second time. Tifa patted her head.

"Tell you what… this might just be a crush. Stay with James. I mean, he's a great guy and you don't want to hurt him for something that might not even be there, right?"

"Yeah… you're right. And I hate you for being right. It's probably just a crush. I mean, Vincent is really good looking and talented. What's not to crush on?"

Aeris sat up and smiled at her.

"I think I'll go see him. James, I mean."

"I think that you should." Tifa agreed.

"OK… so what are your plans for this evening?"

"To sit here and work. Cloud's coming over to help me with Media Productions." Tifa said. Aeris smiled.

"Boy, you two are spending a lot of time together." She said in a deliberately casual voice. Tifa went slightly pink.

"Well… he's good at media."

"Hmm. Well, I'm going to go. Have fun!" Aeris said lightly, leaving the room. That was fun. She really must make Tifa paranoid more often…

James opened the door, looking irritable. Aeris stepped back.

"Um, hi?"

"Oh… hi Aeris. Sorry." He opened the door, letting her in. She went in nervously.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah… just got a lot of work to do."

"Oh… I'll go."

"No! I could use a break." She sat down on his bed. The printer was sending out sheets of paper and James turned off the computer screen.

"So, what's up?" He asked, sitting down with her. She shrugged.

"Nothing much. Just felt like seeing you."

"That's sweet. Want a drink?"

"Um, sure." He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a can of coke. She caught it and snapped open the lid.

"So, what are you working on?"

"Just another hopeful article."

"Can I see?"
"I'd rather not show you. I get paranoid about showing people my writing." James said. Aeris nodded and stretched.

James looked at her thoughtfully.

"Hey, you could help me though."

"Really? How?"

"Well, I'm practising writing interviews, to improve my writing skills. You could let me interview you."

"Are you sure? I'm an extraordinarily dull person!"

"I don't think so. Come on…"

"...Fine. Let's do it." She agreed.

An hour later they were lying on the bed laughing at the ridiculous questions that James was asking her in addition to the more sensible ones. Aeris managed to stop laughing enough to say,

"Well, I would have to say that if I could be a breed of monkey I would be a spider monkey…"

She started giggling again. James, flipped over the notes he had filled making the interview and said,

"I'd better get back to work…"

"Yeah, I'll stop distracting you." Aeris said, standing up. James stood up too and kissed her. She smiled.

"This was fun."

"Yeah… I love you, Aeris."

She felt the smile slide off her face. James looked nervous.

"S-Sorry… I didn't really mean to say that…"

"No… it's fine. I love you too."

"Really?" James said, his face lighting up. Aeris giggled and nodded.

"Really. Now get to work. I want to see your name in the paper!"

"Yeah. If I finish this article in the next hour I can get it to the office. And who knows, maybe it'll be in tomorrow's paper!

"I'll be reading it!" Aeris smiled and kissed him again before leaving with a large grin plastered onto her face.

When she got back to the room she paused at the door. She could hear Cloud's voice inside. Smiling, she waited until there was silence and quickly barged in.

Tifa and Cloud were lying on Tifa's bed kissing. Both of them sat straight up, red in the face.

"Oh my god, Aeris!" Tifa gasped. Cloud jumped up.

"Aeris, I… oh… I mean…"

"It's not what it looks like! I mean, it is, but it's not…" Tifa said, looking like she was about to cry

"I'm so sorry! I know we should have told you but-" Cloud said, staring at her and biting his lip.

"We were going to tell you, but we just never found the right moment."

"You shouldn't have found out this way."

Aeris didn't say anything. She kept her face carefully blank, looking from one to the other as they babbled. Eventually Tifa begged, close to tears,

"Aeris, please say something!"

Aeris couldn't do it anymore. She snorted and burst into laughter. Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances.

"I'll take that as being you're OK with this?" Cloud asked. Aeris gasped for breath.

"I… I knew about you two ages ago! Honestly, you're hardly secret agents!"

"WHAT?!" Tifa and Cloud said together. Aeris crossed to her bed and put her bag down on it.

"I saw you that night outside the cinema!"

"You bitch!" Tifa shrieked, launching herself at Aeris who dived out of the way.

"You let us get all worked up about nothing! I hate you!"

"Hey, you were the ones who felt you needed to hide it from me!" Aeris pointed out, holding a chair in front of her to keep some space between herself and Tifa.

She faced the pair of them.

"I mean, come on. Why wouldn't I be cool with you two?"

"I don't know…" Cloud admitted. Aeris grinned.

"It's fine. It's more than fine. It's great! Both Yuffie and I are totally fine about you two."

"How does Yuffie know?" Tifa demanded. Aeris smiled sheepishly and screamed as Tifa tried to attack her again.

When Yuffie arrived, they sat in Tifa and Aeris' room talking and eating snacks. Cloud asked Aeris to come to his Media Productions class the next day.

"I can show you my film and you can give me tips on the music for it."

"Oh, yeah, Aeris. Have you got any further on that song for us to sing?" Yuffie asked. Aeris nodded.

"I was working on it today. I think we've nearly got it."

"What's it called?" Tifa asked. Aeris noticed that she and Cloud were holding hands and couldn't help grinning.

"'Too Lost In You'. It's sounding pretty good. We have to record the backing track in the music room and then it's ready to sing at the concert."

"Did you decide on a solo yet?" Yuffie asked from the bed, where she was plaiting Aeris' hair.

"Yeah… it's a song called 'Thank you'."

"Aw, and I bet I know who that's dedicated to!" Yuffie teased. Aeris smiled and caught Tifa's eye. The girl looked at her questioningly and Aeris nodded. Tifa smiled and said,

"There's another open mic night on Friday. What day is it today?"

"Wednesday." Cloud piped up.

"So, Aeris, are you gonna join in this time?" Yuffie asked. Aeris hesitated.

"I don't know… I mean, I'm still a bit uncertain about performing in front of large crowds."

"Come on Aeris, it'll be great! You could take one of your old songs and do that for it." Cloud pointed out. Aeris sighed.

"I'll think about it, OK?"

"Better think fast. The spots are filling up fast." Tifa said. Yuffie stretched.

"I think I'll go in for it again."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know… probably a cover, like last time." Yuffie said.

Cloud slapped the floor.

"I forgot to tell you! My roommate, Reeve… his Dad works at the stadium, in the centre of Midgar. Well, guess who is coming to perform in January and guess who has six tickets?"

"I don't know." Aeris said and winced as Yuffie pulled a piece of her hair.

"The Turks! How great is that? Anyway, he asked me to invite you three and there's still a spare ticket… if someone wanted to give it to their boyfriend, maybe…" Cloud said, looking at Aeris wit a grin. Aeris sat up, as did Tifa and Yuffie.

"The Turks? You're joking!"

"I am not, and we are going to see them on January 18th! They're really good seats too!"

"Remind me to kiss your roommate when I see him!" Yuffie said. Cloud laughed.

"Don't. He's really shy. But I'll tell him you say thanks, shall I?"

"I KNEW there was a reason you were my best friend!" Aeris said, poking him in the side. Yuffie giggled and then she glanced at the clock.

"Gawd, is that really the time? We've got music at 9. I'm going home."

"I'd better go too. I'll meet you in Barret's at 12:00? Then we can go over to Media together." Cloud asked Aeris. She nodded. Tifa kissed Cloud and then went into the bathroom.

Aeris cleared away the snacks and then changed into her nightclothes. She took a book out of her bedside table and started to read. Tifa came in and climbed into bed. She looked over at Aeris.

"Thanks for being so cool about me and Cloud."

"Well, you're so damn cute together. How could I not be OK with it?" Aeris pointed out. Tifa smiled and turned out her light. Shortly afterwards, Aeris turned out her own light and went to sleep.

Aeris woke early the next morning to hear a banging on the door. Tifa sat straight upright.

"Who is it? It's 6:30 in the morning!"

Aeris got out of bed and opened the door. Cloud barged in.

"Geez, Cloud, do you know what time it is?" Aeris moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"That doesn't matter, Aeris. Look at this!" He thrust a newspaper into her face. It was the Midgar Today. Aeris scanned the title.

SCIENTIFIC PRACTISES ARE SICK AND IMMORAL

Matthew and Infalna Gast are accused of using their own daughter as a test subject for their cures.

"Oh my god!" Aeris said in disbelief. Tifa looked over her shoulder and gasped. Cloud looked unusually serious.

"Look at the reporter's name." He said.

Aeris didn't want to. She knew what it was going to say. And sure enough, there it was, in black and white.

By James Winters