Chapter 29: Anything But Ordinary
Sometimes I get so weird
I even freak myself out
I laugh myself to sleep
It's my lullaby
Sometimes I drive so fast
Just to feel the danger
I wanna scream
It makes me feel alive
Is it enough to love?
Is it enough to breath?
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
Is it enough to die?
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be
Anything but ordinary
Please
Anything But Ordinary – Avril Lavigne
Tifa and Cloud arrived home a day late. Aeris was in her room reading when Tifa fell through the door. Aeris jumped up to help her with her things.
"Have fun?"
"Yeah, it was great! Cloud's taking his stuff home right now. How about you?"
"It was interesting." Aeris settled for saying.
They went to the café to meet the others. Yuffie, Reeve and Vincent were already there.
"Look whose back!" Aeris said as they sat down. Cloud arrived shortly afterwards and they exchanged stories about their various holidays.
Tifa had just finished a very amusing story about a diving board and a kebab when Yuffie said in a would-be casual tone,
"So… no secrets kept in YOUR holiday?" She looked at Aeris who rolled her eyes. Tifa and Cloud perked up.
"What happened?"
"Aeris vanished for a day and she won't tell me what happened!" Yuffie whined. They all looked at Aeris.
"What, I'm not allowed to have secrets?"
"NO!" They said as one. Aeris looked indignant.
"OK then, no secrets. Say, Cloud, Tifa, when did you get together? Oh that's right, I wouldn't know because you kept it secret for several weeks! Yuffie, you didn't tell us about being Lady Yuffie Kisaragi or that you and Reeve were going to the dance. And you expect me to just spill out everything out to you guys?"
No one said anything. Cloud eventually smiled.
"Wow. No one makes you feel quite as guilty as Aeris does."
They laughed at that. But Aeris could tell that they were all dying to know what was going on.
It was a week later when Aeris got a phone call. She and Tifa were in their room and as the phone rang she picked it up.
"Hello, Aeris Gainsborough speaking."
"Aeris, its Elena."
"Oh, hi! What's up?"
"Are you busy this afternoon?"
"Don't think so. Why?" Aeris said curiously.
"Because we're going to the studio and we spoke to our producer, Mike. He wants to meet you."
Aeris sat straight up as though she had been poked with an electric rod.
"What?"
"Mike Lucas. He wants to meet you."
"Are you kidding?"
"Nope. What do you say?"
"I say what time shall I be there?"
"In an hour's time. Bring your lyrics book."
"OK! See you soon."
"Bye babe."
Aeris stared at the receiver in dumb awe. Tifa was watching.
"Who was that?"
"That was Elena. Their producer wants to meet me…"
"Oh my god! That's fantastic, Aeris!" Tifa squealed. Aeris laughed.
"I know… I can't believe it!"
"YOU can't believe it?! I have a famous roommate! Well, I guess I do actually, but this will be for a totally different reason! I'm so happy for you!" She hugged Aeris tightly. Aeris struggled to breathe.
"Um, oxygen becoming an issue."
"Oops, sorry."
Aeris opened the door to the studio. The receptionist looked up.
"May I help you?"
"Um, I'm supposed to be meeting someone."
"What's your name?"
"Aeris Gainsborough…"
"…Oh, yes, I see. Go through that door, take a left and it's the first door on your right."
"O-OK. Thanks."
She knocked on the door and heard several voices say,
"Come in!"
The Turks were inside and they all said hello loudly. Aeris sat down.
"Having a good holiday?" Reno asked.
"Oh, yeah. Went to Wutai last week."
"I LOVE Wutai! It's beautiful." Elena said, sitting down beside her. She looked at her watch.
"Mike's gonna be here any minute. We showed him 'I'll be there for you' and he LOVED it."
"You're kidding."
"Elena doesn't kid about anything as important as this." Tseng promised.
The door swung open and a ma with dark hair, wearing jeans and a leather jacket walked in.
"Hi guys. Just got out of a board meeting, had to run most of the way here. Ah, this is the infamous Aeris Gainsborough?"
Aeris stood and shook hands with him. He smiled at her.
"Great to meet you. So you're the girl who wrote 'I'll be there for you'?"
"Yes."
"Wow… have you worked with other artists before?"
"No."
"Aeris was at our concert and Marlene introduced us. Then Aeris came to our lyrics meeting a while ago and that's when we got the song." Elena explained. Mike nodded and they all sat down.
"OK, Aeris, the reason I wanted to meet you today is to talk to you about the song. You know these guys normally write all of their own stuff? Well, we want to do 'I'll be there for you'. But obviously, we need your permission, and we need to write up a contract. But there's more to it then that."
"There is?" Aeris said nervously. Elena laughed.
"Mike, you're scaring her!"
"I'm trying to be nice, El. Leave me alone." Mike told her. He turned to Aeris, "According to Marlene you're a singer."
"Well, I sing sometimes. At concerts at university and I've done a couple of open mic nights. Why?"
"We want you to sing the song with us!" Elena burst out. Mike looked at her in irritation.
"El, I wanted to tell her!"
"Sorry Mike."
"But first I want to hear you sing. If your voice doesn't go with Elena's we might have a problem. Would you mind singing for us?"
"Right now?"
"Good a time as any. Pick any instrument you want, sing something. It can be a cover or your own work."
Aeris looked around and went to the piano. She felt extremely nervous. She was used to playing for crowds now, playing for her friends. But for a group of artists and their producer. No pressure there!
She took out the music for 'Your Song' and played it once through. As usual, when playing for other people, once she started to play she felt far more relaxed. She knew she could do it and just… sank into the music. Once she had finished, Mike stared at her.
"And you're not represented?"
"No."
"Well I think you can safely say that you will be. So what do you think? Do you want to do the song?"
Aeris smiled.
"I'd be an idiot to say no."
"Excellent! Let's get practising." Mike said enthusiastically. He looked at Aeris. "I've been a bit presumptuous and I've written up a draft contract. Why don't you read it through?"
She scanned the paper. It seemed extremely complicated. Mike laughed at her.
"Basically, it says that you've agreed to let us use your song, and, since you're also performing, you'll get 45% of the money. Another 45% is split between this lot and the rest goes to the company."
"Oh. I don't see why you couldn't have just put that down." Aeris said, laughing. Mike handed her a pen.
"Want to sign?"
She scribbled her signature on the dotted line. The Turks all applauded and Reno put an arm around Aeris's shoulders.
"Now we've got you in our grasps. Let's get to work."
They practised for several hours and then Mike suggested she come in the next day to record the song.
"There's a whole load of stuff we need to do. Photo shoots etc; there'll be some interviews to do as well, as well as other publicity stuff."
"Wow… that's intimidating." Aeris said nervously. Did it always go this fast? Not that she was complaining. She had just gotten the chance of a lifetime! What did she have to complain about?
Elena looked at her watch.
"Damn, I'm late. I'll see you later Aeris." She said, dashing from the room. Aeris stood up.
"I'd better go too."
"OK, we'll see you tomorrow at 9. Ask at the front desk, they'll tell you where to go."
"OK, great. Thanks so much for this, Mike."
"No problem sweetheart. I'm going to be honest though. You're gonna make us a lot of money!" Mike laughed. Aeris smiled, and waved goodbye to the others.
Cloud was in the café when Aeris called in. She sat down and said,
"Guess who has just signed a contract to write and perform a song with The Turks?"
"Ooh, is it the blonde girl from Good Morning Midgar?" Cloud joked.
Aeris looked at him and his jaw dropped.
"Oh my god, you're serious?"
"100%! Cloud, I'm going to do a feature with The Turks!" She said, unable to hold in the excitement any longer. Cloud kissed her head.
"My little girl's all grown up!" He cried. Aeris laughed and pushed him away.
Cloud looked at her for a moment.
"OK, I'm going to ask this while you're still in a good mood."
"What is it?" Aeris said, taking a bite from his sandwich.
"Whatever it was that happened in Wutai… are you OK? I gather that what happened was pretty major. I know you wouldn't hide something from me unless it was seriously big." He said in a serious voice.
Aeris instantly felt guilty. This was Cloud. Cloud. Her best friend since she was a tiny child. The one person she could always, always depend on, no matter what.
He watched her with his sincere blue eyes. Aeris took a deep breath.
"I'll tell you what happened."
"Aeris, you don't have to-"
"I want to. But you can't tell anyone. Not yet. Not anyone, not even Tifa. Only Vincent knows so far, and that's because he helped me."
Cloud nodded.
"OK, I promise I won't tell. What happened?" Aeris bit her lip and then said,
"I… I found my father."
It took a second to sink in. Then the impact of what she had just said hit him.
"You found him? Your real father?"
"Yes. He's living in Wutai. Vincent had his telephone number and I looked him up one day and went to see him."
"Oh my god, Aeris… what happened?"
"Well, he told me what had happened, why he left. The he figured out who I was and went into total shock and I left. Then, the day before we came home, he came to see me and we spent ages just… talking. We're going to call each other, get to know each other a bit."
"I can't believe it." Cloud said, numb with shock. Aeris smiled.
"You think you can't?"
"I mean, wow. After all this time…"
"I know."
They sat in silence. Cloud looked at her closely.
"You haven't told your parents, have you?"
"No. I don't know how they would react. Besides, I barely know him. I want to find out more about him before I let him into every aspect of my life."
"That's probably wise. You don't know what kind of person he is."
"That's what I thought… but it's incredible!"
"Aeris." She looked at him, "You have to slow down. You might end up getting hurt."
She looked at him and then smiled.
"I know. We're just going to call each other and get to know each other."
"OK. Good." Cloud said.
They sat drinking coffee without speaking for a few minutes. Then Cloud pulled a slip of blank paper from his pocket and a pen.
"Here, sign this."
"What is it?"
"Aeris, I'm your best friend, right?"
"Well, obviously!"
"So I want the very first Aeris Gainsborough autograph." Aeris laughed and signed the slip of paper.
"Here you go."
"Thanks. Wonder how much I can get for this on E-Bay." Cloud said, examining the paper. Aeris hit him.
"Cloud!"
"Sorry! I was just kidding!"
"No, wait a few months. Once the single's out, it'll be worth much more!"
Cloud laughed and said,
"OK, I'll wait for a while." Aeris giggled.
"Good. Now, I am going to go and find Vincent. I have to tell him about the song!"
As expected, Vincent was extremely happy. He smiled and kissed Aeris, hugging her tightly.
"That's amazing, Aeris."
"I know! I just can't believe it… it's like my life is becoming absolutely perfect!"
"I think we should celebrate." Vincent said. Aeris smiled,
"Good idea. What do you suggest?"
"Why don't we have the others over for a meal and you can tell them? I know you've told Cloud."
"I asked him not to tell the others. I wanted to tell them myself."
"Perfect. You call them and I'll get some shopping."
Aeris went to the phone as Vincent left. She dialled Yuffie's number and got the answer phone.
"Hey! This is Yuffie Kisaragi. I'm not here right now so leave a message and I'll accidentally delete it while drunk! Thanks!" Aeris smiled and waited for the beep.
"Yuffie, its Aeris. Can you come over to Vincent's tonight at about 7:30? Bring Reeve too. Thanks and see you then!"
She dialled her own room number. Tifa picked it up.
"Tifa speaking."
"Only me."
"Hey Aeris. How'd it go at the studio?"
"I'll tell you tonight. Come over to Vincent's at 7:30, oh and tell Cloud."
"Will do. See you later."
Finally she dialled the number of the café.
"Barret's. How may I help you?"
"It's me, Aeris."
"What's up?"
"Can you come to Vincent's tonight at about 7:30?"
"I think so. Might be a bit late."
"No problem. See you then."
She smiled to herself and sat down at the piano. As she played an old song, she looked out of the window.
Life was good.
And it just kept getting better. When they were all sat around the dinner table, Aeris cleared her throat.
"I've got some news."They all fell silent watching her.
"Um… I was at the studio, with the Turks today. They want to record one of my songs, and have me sing it with them." She blurted out.
Silence.
And then uproar. Yuffie and Tifa hugged her tightly, Cloud beamed proudly, Reeve congratulated her loudly and Barret cheered in his booming voice. Vincent sat opposite her, his characteristic smile on his face.
"Aeris, you're incredible!" Yuffie screamed. Aeris grinned.
"I know… it's all happening so quickly! We're recording it tomorrow!"
"Just don't forget us when you're famous." Reeve said. Aeris shook her head.
"I could never forget you guys. Cloud's my oldest friend, Tifa's my roommate, Yuffie's my singing partner, Barret serves me my daily dose of caffeine and you tell my fortune! How could I possible forget you?"
"What about me?" Vincent asked. Aeris stared across at him.
"And as for you… never happen." She said quietly.
As they tidied away the food, Barret said,
"Have you told Marlene about this? She'd never forgive you if she found out from someone else."
"I'll call her tomorrow. Better ring Mom and Dad too." Aeris said. They sat down in the living room and chatted until past midnight.
Aeris lay in bed that night, thinking about the next day. She knew she should be sleeping, but she was too hyped up.
"Aeris?" She rolled over. Vincent was looking at her.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Too excited." She whispered, smiling. He smiled gently and put his arms around her. She huddled up to him.
"You're going to be amazing." Vincent told her. Aeris nodded.
"Thanks. I love you."
"I love you too. Now go to sleep."