Well, it's not exactly a quick update by any means, but it's certainly better then the earlier chapters. Hopefully the rest of the chapters should come out on a more regular basis now, although college is just about to start up again, and I have no idea how heavy the workload is going to be this semester. To be honest, I'm also not entirely positive about the exact direction this story is going in. This whole story was really spur of the moment in the middle of writing A Love Lost so I don't have an ending already planned out. Hopefully, over the next few chapters I do have planned out, something will start to clarify. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4 (Part 1): Guys Night

It was around nine at night when Cloud arrived at Rufus' house for the party, and by the amount of cars already parked outside, it seemed like he was the last one to get there. After parking Fenrir, Cloud walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

The house was incredibly nice Cloud observed, as he waited for someone to open the door. It had three stories above ground, and he imagined there was probably a basement as well. Together with the sprawling backyard, the whole property took up half of the entire block. By the light of the full moon, Cloud could faintly see the outlines of a full-length swimming pool, as well as both a tennis court and a volleyball net.

Well, his father is the head of Shinra, so I suppose it makes sense.

"There you are Cloud," Rufus said as he opened the door.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. I had to take care of a few things around the house and I completely lost track of the time," Cloud explained.

"Don't worry about it," Rufus laughed, "you're only like ten minutes late. The real party doesn't even start until about an hour from now anyways."

Confused by Rufus' last comment, Cloud followed him inside to what he assumed was the living room, where he found Zack, Vincent and the three male Turks.

"What did you mean by the 'real party' Rufus?" Cloud asked as he sat down on the sofa next to Vincent.

"That's right!" Reno exclaimed, "Since Cloud's new around here he doesn't know about it!"

"Last year after finals we did this same thing," Rufus explained. "I was just messing around, but Elena was annoyed and made her own party. Halfway through ours, we decided it would be a blast to raid the girls' party, so in the end it turned into one big party with everyone having a great time."

"Sounds interesting, but why don't we just all get together in the first place?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's more exciting this way, they don't really know when we're going to show up," Tseng replied, shrugging.

Reno looked over at Cloud with a wicked grin, "Yup, who knows what we might catch them doing."

"They know we're coming," Zack sighed, "it's not like we're going to catch them naked having a pillow fight or anything."

"We can still hope though!" Reno responded dejectedly. "Oh man, can you imagine the sight of that…"

Rufus rolled his eyes, "Anyways, the drinks and everything are all over at Elena's, I figured we'd head over in a bit, but first I want to hear from Zack and Tseng about what happened during their test. You guys took a lot longer than I expected."

"Sephiroth…" Tseng muttered angrily, clenching his hand into a fist.

Zack took it upon himself to clarify what had happened. "We were on our way to the third room when Sephiroth showed up behind us. He said he didn't want to wait on us to finish the next room, so he proposed we team up and then go our separate ways at the next fork. Tseng said no, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have him help. I knew he was an ass, but I never thought he'd backstab us."

"When we saw all the enemies in the third room, and realized it was a combat challenge, Sephiroth got a wicked grin on his face. He unleashed this massive attack that instantly obliterated everything, except part of it 'accidentally' caught Tseng and I. In the end, we took so long just because we had to recover after being hit by that one move."

"What?!" Cloud exclaimed angrily. "There's no way that wasn't violating the rule stating that you can't sabotage another team!"

"How did Sephiroth not get a failing grade if he did that?" Reno asked, frowning as he cracked his knuckles.

"After we finished, Barret took us aside and told Tseng and I that Sephiroth had apologized. Apparently he hadn't intended to hit us as well, that he'd lost control of the move since he wasn't used to it, total bullshit in other words. Barret did tell us that they'd warned Sephiroth if anything like that happened again he'd be expelled."

"That guy really pisses me off," Cloud muttered, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

"So Cloud, what happened on your test?" Rufus asked, changing the subject. "I heard Aerith got pretty beat up."

Cloud saw Zack frowning angrily, but he ignored it and explained what had happened with the integral and the resulting battle. When they heard about the math error, everyone in the room, including Vincent and Rude, neither of whom had spoken that night, burst into laughter.

"Aerith seems okay with what happened, so I won't take it out on you," Zack said to Cloud, failing to hide his amusement.

"It seems like you've got a bit of competition for Aerith's attention now though Zack," Reno called out. "Before it was only Sephiroth, but we all know she hates him."

"Sephiroth is interested in Aerith?" Cloud asked in shock.

Zack nodded. "He asked her out at the start of last year, I think it had only been two weeks since he'd transferred to the school. She turned him down instantly, without even blinking an eye, saying something like, 'I'd never go out with someone as arrogant as you.' The look on his face was priceless. I still don't plan on letting you have her, however, Cloud."

"She's not yours to give away," Cloud said angrily. "It's up to Aerith to choose."

"Anything going on between you and Tifa, Vincent?" Tseng interjected, attempting to move the conversation to safer ground.

Vincent jumped slightly at the question, looking surprised to be addressed at all. "Oh. Nope. Just friends, she's pretty cool, but we both agreed that even though we're paired up for the tests, we're not really interested in each other that way."

"Things still going well with Elena, Tseng?" Rufus asked.

Tseng nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, it's really great. She's amazing, can't wait to hang out with her tonight."

"Alright, alright, lovebird," Rude teased, surprising Cloud since he always seemed so serious. "How about you boss man," he asked Rufus. "Any girls throwing themselves at you lately?"

Rufus chuckled and shook his head ruefully. "Thankfully that seems to be mostly done with these days, if anything my position seems to intimidate them instead now."

"Anyone you're interested in though?" Zack prodded.

Rufus looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "Hmm, maybe one person comes to mind…" No one asked for more details, since it seemed pretty clear Rufus wasn't going to explain any further.

"How about you, Cloud?" Reno asked slyly, intentionally attempting to rile Zack up again. "Anyone you're interested in?"

Cloud swallowed, glancing at Zack out the corner of his eye. "I mean, Aerith is obviously incredible. It'll be great to hang out with her a bit tonight."

Zack cleared his throat loudly, glaring at Cloud, but not saying anything.

"Why don't we go play some basketball?" Rufus suggested, sensing the rising tension. "It's still a little early, and maybe if we wait long enough they'll give up on us showing and have a naked pillow fight."

Reno punched him on the shoulder jokingly and they followed Rufus downstairs, where they found yet another swimming pool along with a racquetball court and the basketball court.

Since there were seven of them, they broke into two teams of three with Vincent saying he was totally fine sitting out.

"I'm really not a fan of basketball," he remarked, leaning against a wall to watch.

In the end, Cloud, Zack, and Rufus managed to win by a single point. Reno and Rude made an amazing combo, but once Cloud and Zack started working together they quickly caught up to the other team.

As they walked back upstairs to get ready to leave, Cloud asked Rufus a question that had been on his mind for a while. "Why aren't we having the party here? This place is pretty amazing."

"Dad's having a business meeting," Rufus explained. "He said it would be fine if we hung out here for a while, but he doesn't want the distraction of a bunch of teenagers getting drunk and making a ton of noise. Elena's parents are out of town for the weekend, and her house is pretty nice too."

"Elena's place is great," Reno agreed. "She has an amazing bar setup in the living room and there's a hot tub out back on the porch. It's a great party place."

A few minutes later they all left the house and headed for their cars. "Naked pillow fight here we come!" Reno yelled.

"You'd be lucky to even see one of them in their underwear!" Rufus shouted back, and everyone laughed.

Chapter 4 (Part 2): Girls Night

Aerith smiled as Elena opened the door. "That black dress looks great on you Elena!"

"Thanks Aerith, you look beautiful as well," Elena replied, wishing she could wear pink as well as Aerith was able to. "Tifa's already getting stuff ready at the bar, Yuffie said she'd try and show up, but she isn't here yet."

The two girls walked to the living room together, where they found Tifa collapsing onto one of the large sofas as she let out a long sigh.

"Tired already?" Aerith teased as she dropped onto the sofa next to her best friend, leaning over to hug her.

"Just enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasts," Tifa explained, resting her head on Aerith's shoulder. "It's going to be really busy in a few hours."

"I can help at the bar if you want Tifa," Elena told her, sitting down across from them. "I'm nowhere near as good as you are with drinks, but some help should be better than nothing right?"

"Na, that's okay," Tifa replied, smiling to show she appreciated the thought. "I really love doing it, even if it is a lot of work. You Turks are always the worst though," she said playfully. "I've been practicing since last time. This time I'm ready for whatever you throw at me!"

Elena laughed, remembering the last party, before replying, "I'll try and keep Reno in line tonight, it's great to see you so passionate about it though Tifa."

"Hey, there's always Cloud, I wonder what kind of drinks he likes," Tifa mused. Almost as an afterthought she turned to Aerith. "Any idea what kind of drink he prefers?"

"We've been studying together, not drinking together!" Aerith exclaimed in embarrassment, blushing slightly.

Tifa was about to reply when they were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. "Are the boys here already?" she asked instead.

"It's a little early," Elena said in confusion. "Rufus told me they were going to hang out at his place for a while, but I suppose they could have gotten desperate for our company already."

Together the three of them went to the front door, but when they opened it they found Yuffie on the other side instead of the boys.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," she apologized. "My parents threw a fit when I told them I was going to the Senior's party. Apparently they think you guys are gonna get all drugged up and die or something. I had to wait for them to fall asleep before sneaking out my window."

"It's only nine, your parents are asleep already?" Tifa asked, confused.

"They're weird," Yuffie complained, shaking her head and leaving it at that.

As they sat down once again in the living room, Elena continued the conversation from where they'd left off. "So Aerith, how are things going with Cloud?"

"Err, what?" the flustered girl replied. "We're just friends!"

"Friends, huh? Well if you don't make your move soon someone else might grab him before you can. I think I saw Yuffie eyeing him the other day in fact…"

This time it was the younger girl's turn to blush and start stammering. "C-Cloud? I mean sure, he's pretty handsome, really handsome actually, but he's a grade higher than me and I thought Aerith…"

"How are things with Vincent, Tifa?" Aerith asked, trying to change the topic of conversation from Cloud. She wasn't entirely sure where her relationship with Cloud was at. She knew that she really liked him a lot, but she wasn't entirely sure of what he thought of her.

Tifa blinked in surprise before responding. "Unlike you and Cloud, Vincent and I really are just friends, which is exactly what we both want. He's actually a great guy, I wish we'd gotten to know him sooner than our final year."

"I don't know why you guys think there's something going on between me and Cloud." Aerith protested. "Yes, I've come to really like him a lot over the past two weeks, but I don't really know what he thinks about me and then there's also Zack… I'm just really confused right now."

"So there's something going on with Zack then?" Elena proded.

"No! There's nothing going on with Zack either." Technically she and Zack weren't even dating, although the topic had come up before. She'd gone out to the movies with him once last summer, but they hadn't even kissed yet.

Bored, Elena turned to Tifa. "Well if you're not interested in Vincent, then who are you interested in?"

"Well, if Aerith doesn't go for Cloud soon then maybe him, otherwise… Rufus?" She blushed slightly as she spoke the second name.

None of the other girls were very surprised, however, they'd all known that Tifa had had a crush on Rufus since the beginning of their last school year. Because of his status as the son of the president of Shinra, Tifa had never actually made her feelings known, but since Elena was already dating Tseng, Rufus was still considered available.

"Why do you guys think there's something going on between Cloud and I?" Aerith asked hesitantly.

"Well we've known you for four years now, so it was pretty easy to tell you had feelings for him," Elena explained. "And he's most certainly interested in you, I'm actually a little surprised you hadn't noticed."

The other girls nodded in confirmation. "He hasn't been able to keep his eyes off of you in class this entire last week," Tifa added, rolling her eyes. "Although I guess it's not entirely surprising you haven't noticed, you're always so absorbed in your classwork."

"Really?" Aerith asked in surprise, a warm feeling spreading inside her.

"I think you two would make a great couple," Elena said. "You should really make an effort to talk with him tonight, let your hair down a bit."

Tifa nodded in agreement. "We'll do our best to help too, I'm sure Zack is going to be all over you," she said, shaking her head.

"Thanks a lot guys," Aerith said smiling. "Things have gotten awkward around Zack lately, he's actually been getting way too pushy, and I'd love a chance to relax with Cloud and get to know him better."

"I think the boys are here," Yuffie called out from her seat by the window, jumping to her feet and peering out. "Yup, that's Rufus' car and I see Cloud on his bike."

"Alright, lets go greet them and get this party started!" Elena shouted.

End Note: I actually like this chapter a lot more than I thought I would. At first I only had Guys Night and the chapter was only a little over a thousand words, which really bothered me. I was originally planning on giving the guys and girls their own separate chapters, but I scraped the entire girls chapter when I realized I didn't have enough to write. Combining the two into a single chapter with separate parts worked really well in the end. I also came up with a lot more plot while writing this chapter, which is really good. To anyone opposed to the Tifa/Rufus ship I'm sorry, it won't be a large part of the story by any means, I just wanted to give her a potential pairing. Elena/Tseng should be even more minor.

Next Chapter: The Party