Special surprise! An update within a week! This is easily my favorite chapter so far in the story. I've been looking forward to writing this ever since I came up with the idea for it, and I had a lot of fun with the dynamic between Cloud and Aerith here. I hope you guys like it.
Chapter 5: The Party
Once they'd all arrived at Elena's house, the guys got together and walked up to the front door, where Rufus rang the bell. Elena opened the door after a few moments, and couldn't help but notice the dejected look on Reno's face.
"What, did you think we'd be in the middle of a naked pillow fight or something?" she asked, one eyebrow raised sceptically.
Seeing his face turn a similar shade as his hair at this remark, however, all the girls burst into laughter.
"Tough luck," Rufus said, lightly digging an elbow in Reno's stomach, while barely holding back his laughter before he walked into the house.
Zack went straight to Aerith, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as he followed right behind Rufus. Cloud thought for a moment that he saw her try and turn to look at him, but figured it was just his imagination. Slightly disappointed, Cloud followed his remaining classmates to the living room where they found Rufus, Zack, and Aerith gathered around a surprisingly professional bar.
"Come on Tifa, let's get the drinks flowing!" Rufus called out when he saw her enter the room.
Tifa gave him a huge smile, pumping her right fist in the air. "Who's up first? I'll be making drinks all night!"
Cloud walked over to the bar, following Tifa, where Zack just grabbed a canned beer while Aerith ordered a strawberry daiquiri, which Tifa made in the blink of an eye. Once they had their drinks, Zack grabbed Aerith by the arm and they walked off to sit on one of the sofas where they started chatting with everyone else.
Cloud spent the next few minutes in silence, leaned against the bar, just watching Tifa as she made drink after drink without receiving any noticeable orders. Each time she finished one, she'd call out a name and the person would come over, thanking her for the drink.
"It seems like you've done this a bunch before," he finally said, admiration clear in his voice, once Tifa had slowed down and was sipping on something of her own.
"Yup, I guess it started around a year ago. Before one of the parties I read a book on making drinks and thought I'd try my hand at it. Ever since that party, I've kept working on perfecting the skill. But enough about me, what would you like to drink Cloud?"
"Uhh, I'm not really sure. You seem to know what you're doing though, why don't you throw something together and surprise me?"
"Brave man, Cloud," Rufus commented, walking up to join Cloud at the bar as Tifa thought for a moment before she started to make another drink.
Glancing around, Cloud realized that the two of them were the only ones still at the bar. "Why's that?" he asked, looking back at Rufus.
"Last time I asked Tifa to mix something together to surprise me, I ended up passed out on the floor as best I can recall," he responded, laughing.
Tifa glared at Rufus and slapped his arm playfully, "That was the second party since I'd started making drinks so I was still pretty new to it! You were already plastered by that point, and the drink I mixed for you was a little too strong which pushed you over the edge."
By that time, she'd finished making Cloud's drink and set it down in front of him. "Try it, let me know what you think."
Looking at his drink with slight skepticism, Cloud took a sip. "Wow, this is actually really good, what is it?" he asked before taking a much larger swallow.
"It's a Sex on the Beach," Tifa explained, laughing at the name. "It's Vodka with peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice. I'm glad you like it, it's one of my favorites."
Rufus raised an eyebrow at the drink she'd selected, but made no comment.
Cloud spent the next thirty minutes chatting with Tifa and Rufus. As the three of them chatted, people would come over and order another drink before heading back to the main group.
Cloud could tell Tifa was having a great time behind the bar making drinks for everyone, and it also seemed that she was especially happy while chatting with Rufus, although it could have just been his imagination. On the other hand, Cloud wasn't having the greatest time. The drinks Tifa were making for him were great, and it was nice getting to know Tifa and Rufus better, but he also wasn't oblivious to the increasing signs that they wanted some time alone. Cloud wanted to be spending time with Aerith anyways, but every time he glanced over to check on her, Zack was still hovering around her. So when Tifa happened to point out to him that Zack was heading for the bathroom, Cloud leapt at the opportunity and headed over.
"Hey Aerith, how's it going?" he asked, glancing at the three empty glasses in front of her.
"Cloud! Where have you been, I've wanted to talk with you all night," she responded excitedly, slightly slurring.
"How many drinks have you had?"Cloud asked, amused. He was feeling a little tipsy himself after all the great drinks Tifa had made, but he knew he wasn't drunk yet. Aerith, on the other hand, seemed like she'd had a bit too much to drink.
"Just those three and this one," she replied, indicating the half full glass she was holding. "I don't feel that drunk though."
"Oh really?" Cloud asked teasingly, "Why don't you stand up and prove it?"
Aerith quickly got to her feet in response, and unfortunately forgot to put her drink down before doing so. As soon as she was fully standing up, Aerith lost her balance slightly and threw her arms out to steady herself on Cloud's shoulders. One hand managed to make it, but the one still holding the glass accidentally threw the contents directly into Cloud's face. There was no way to dodge out of the way without causing Aerith to fall flat on her face, but Cloud managed to at least close his eyes before he felt strawberry daiquiri splatter all over him.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry Cloud!"
Cloud was about to ask for a towel, when he suddenly felt something small, soft, and wet wipe his cheek. The gasps and laughter that immediately followed told Cloud that she'd probably done what he thought she had.
"Uhh, Aerith, did you just lick my face?"
The resulting giggling was all the confirmation Cloud needed.
"Will someone bring me a towel?" Cloud asked, the hint of desperation in his voice resulting in another round of laughter from everyone watching.
"Noooo," Aerith cried. "Don't waste it, let me lick the rest off!"
After a few minutes, Cloud finally managed to clean his face with a cloth Vincent had tossed him, while fending Aerith off at the same time. He was about to ask her if she wanted to go for a walk, when he noticed Zack returning. Strangely, Elena seemed to notice as well and she jumped out of Tseng's lap and ran over to him. Just as she reached him she tripped, although to Cloud's eyes it seemed very intentional, and spilled her wine all over Zack.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry Zack!" she exclaimed, raising a hand to her mouth. "Tseng, would you help Zack find some of my dad's clothes that will fit him so we can get these ones into the wash?"
"Uh, sure," Tseng replied, baffled, as he went over to where they were and walked with Zack out of the room.
As Elena came back over to the group, Cloud could have sworn she gave Aerith a hidden thumbs up, but passed it off as his imagination playing tricks on him. "Wanna go outside and walk around for a bit?" he asked Aerith.
"Why should I go with you," she asked, pouting playfully. "You ruined my drink."
"I think some fresh air will do you some good, plus the full moon is beautiful."
Nodding in agreement, she grabbed his hand and bolted for the door, forcing Cloud to follow her or else be dragged along. Once they were outside, they slowed down to a slow walk, although Aerith refused to let go of his hand. They walked together in silence for several minutes, both either unwilling to break the silence, or uncertain of what to say.
'She's so incredibly beautiful' Cloud thought as he watched her walking next to him, illuminated softly by the full moon.
"You're staring," Aerith teased softly, breaking the silence.
"Sorry, it's just that you're so pretty," he admitted, causing her to blush. "I've never seen you in a formal dress before, although I noticed only you and Elena were wearing one."
Aerith laughed quietly. "I don't think I've ever seen Tifa wear a dress except to school dances. Yuffie probably would have worn one, except she said she had to escape from her house through her window and she probably didn't want to ruin it. Elena wore hers for Tseng, and I wore mine for…" she looked away, abruptly cutting off her sentence.
Me? Cloud hoped. "Well, I think you look stunning in pink," he told her, admiring her dress and the way it hugged her curves perfectly.
"Well you look handsome, even if you didn't dress up at all," Aerith replied, laughing.
"Hey, no one told me what kind of party it was so I just came dressed normally!" Cloud countered defensively.
They did another lap around the backyard in silence, Aerith now hugging his arm at his side, before they started heading back towards the house. "Let's take a dip in the hot tub!" Aerith exclaimed suddenly as they approached the object in question.
"We don't have swimsuits though," Cloud blurted out, instantly regretting it and giving himself a mental slap across the face.
Aerith just laughed in response and ran towards the hot tub. Cloud followed after her, glad to be able to spend more time alone with her before heading back to everyone else.
When he reached the pool, he stopped in shock as he watched Aerith quickly unbutton her dress and drop it on the ground before turning to face him, clad only in her black bra and panties. "So if I look great in pink, how do I look in black?" she asked, smiling wickedly.
Cloud was speechless; all he could do was stare. Her skin was flawless, and her underwear left hardly anything to the imagination. He felt himself getting excited, and realized he needed to get into the water if he didn't want her to notice.
Blushing at her boldness, Aerith hopped into the tub as Cloud quickly stripped down to his boxers before getting in the water as well. He moved to sit opposite her, but she instantly swam across and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Have you always been this bold and were just hiding it from me, or are you just completely drunk?" Cloud asked in amusement.
"Both," she giggled, "Although I probably did have a few too many drinks earlier."
"So you don't make a habit of jumping into hot tubs while virtually naked with guys you don't know very well?"
She sat up so she could punch his chest playfully, before returning to her old position. 'Only if they're kind, smart, very handsome, and you,' she thought, surprised at how natural it felt to be so open with Cloud. "So tell me about yourself then, where'd you used to live? What was your old school like? Why'd you move?"
"We lived in Junon, it was pretty small compared to Midgar, but still nice. It's a lot different from here though, everyone in town knew each other and no one had houses like this one or Rufus'."
Aerith laughed at that. "Just don't judge everyone's houses based on theirs, both their fathers are incredibly rich. Midgar is pretty big though, getting to know everyone in the city would be impossible."
"The school was a lot more boring than ours." Cloud went on, answering her earlier barrage of questions. "It was just normal classes like our ones in the morning. I had to do all my training with my sword on my own time at home with no real instruction. I really love how this new school works now that I've gotten used to it," he finished happily.
"So… when you left did you have anyone special?" Aerith asked hesitantly.
"Like a girlfriend?" Cloud asked, amused. "Na, I didn't have one."
"What?" she asked in astonishment. "I don't believe you."
"Why not?" he asked, laughing. "I wasn't really interested in a relationship like that back then, or really any friendships actually, plus I wasn't really interested in any of the girls. I think I can actually sort of relate to Sephiroth because of that, if I'd stayed with that mentality I might have become a lot more like him."
"You're nothing like Sephiroth, Cloud," she replied firmly, a hint of anger entering her voice, hugging him tightly with one arm.
"Thanks to you, Vincent, and Tifa I'm not. I'm so glad I transferred here and got to meet you all."
"I am too." Aerith agreed, somewhat surprised just how deeply she meant it. "So why did you end up moving here?"
"A bunch of stuff happened," Cloud answered evasively. I'm not ready to talk with her about that yet… "The main reason was because my parents were offered better jobs here."
Most likely sensing that he wasn't comfortable with the current topic, Cloud was thankful when she didn't ask for more of an explanation. "What about you?" he asked. "How long have you lived here?"
"I was born here and I've lived my entire life in this city," she replied. "The only times I've ever really been outside have been on school trips. Once I graduate, I'd love to spend a year or so traveling around the world before going to college."
"Where would you want to go first?" Cloud asked.
Aerith leaned her head back, looking up at the moon while deep in thought.
Cloud felt himself staring again, his eyes drawn to the contours of her face, the curve of her nose, before coming to rest on her lips. He wondered what it would feel like to kiss them, but knew that would be going too far.
"I'm not sure," she finally responded. "There's so many places I'd love to see that selecting just one is impossible. Maybe somewhere tropical?"
"Well, we've got that Costa del Sol trip coming up in a few weeks," Cloud pointed out. "That trip should be a lot of fun, I've never been there before and I've heard it's amazing."
"I'm really looking forward to that," Aerith admitted. "An entire week on the beach is like a dream come true," she finished with a loud yawn.
"Tired?"
He felt her nod against his shoulder. "A little, yes."
"We don't have any towels," Cloud pointed out.
"Elena has a bunch of guest rooms upstairs, we might get the rug a bit wet, but once we get up there we can borrow a towel from one of the bathrooms."
As he watched her get out of the water, Cloud saw her stagger slightly. Leaping out of the water, he caught her arm, steadying her. "Careful there."
"Thanks, I think I'll be fine heading up in just a moment."
Ignoring her, Cloud swept her up into his arms, enjoying her shriek of surprise. "Allow me to carry you to your bedchambers, m'lady," he said gallantly, making sure to grab their clothes as well.
Aerith was laughing hysterically as he carried her inside, unable to find enough breath to say anything back to him. For his part, Cloud was trying his hardest not to think about how he was carrying a beautiful, basically naked, woman in his arms whom he was very attracted to. Going up the stairs proved a little tricky, but Cloud managed to make it without harming either of them in the process. When they reached the first bathroom, Cloud set her down and they each grabbed a towel to finish drying off.
"Sir Cloud, would you be so kind as to escort me to my room?" Aerith asked, performing a mock curtsy with the towel she'd wrapped around herself.
"I would be delighted, your highness," he replied, bowing before offering her his arm.
Arm in arm, they walked down the hall in comfortable silence and entered one of the empty rooms at the end. "Thanks so much for tonight Cloud," she said, looking directly into his eyes. "I had a wonderful time thanks to you."
"No, thank you," he responded, meeting her eyes and smiling. "I had an incredible time as well. Do you need any help putting your dress back on?"
"I'm not going to sleep in it silly, that would get it wrinkled. I'll just sleep like this. Are you going to go back down to the party?"
"Na, you've tired me out as well," he replied, laughing. "I think I'll go to bed too, sleep well Aerith."
"What, you're not going to stay with me?" she asked, fake pouting, but making it clear she was just teasing him.
Cloud still felt himself turn a bright red. "No, I'll take the room next door."
"Goodnight, Cloud," Aerith yawned, dropping the towel next to the bed, before climbing onto it and pulling the sheets over herself.
"Sleep well Aerith, sweet dreams," Cloud answered, flicking off the lights and softly closing the door behind himself. He stood on the other side for a while, stunned at how the night had gone, until he remembered he was still only in his boxers. Retreating into the room next door, Cloud headed to the bed, but stopped before actually getting in.
I'm worried about leaving her alone, what if someone tries to take advantage of her? Making up his mind, Cloud got dressed again, left his room, and sat down outside Aerith's door. I'll stay up all night…
Cloud woke up the next morning when he heard Aerith calling out. Quickly standing up, he opened the door and rushed in. "Are you okay?" he asked in a rush, taking in the sight of her sitting up in bed, clutching the sheets to her chest. Her hair was wild and disheveled, and Cloud realized it was the first time he'd seen it not in a braid.
"Cloud," she said in surprise. "Um, would you by chance know why I'm in only my underwear?"
He laughed before replying. "Don't you remember? You ran off to the hot tub, and when I got there you stripped off your dress and hopped in."
Aerith turned bright red and covered her face in her hands when she heard that, the sheets dropping down, causing Cloud to turn his head as he felt his cheeks redden as well. "That's right, I remember now… But we, we didn't… sleep together, did we?" she squeaked out.
"No!" Cloud exclaimed, a little too forcefully. "No, I just carried you up here and went to my own room. Although, you did suggest I should stay with you," he finished, trying to lighten the mood.
"It's really cold," Aerith commented, shivering as she covered herself with the sheets again. "Why did you open the window?"
Blinking in surprise, Cloud glanced over and saw that the window was indeed wide open. What the… I didn't do that… Concerned, he walked over and looked outside. We're up on the second floor and there's no way anyone got past me last night. How is this possible? Glancing back at Aerith she seemed fine, so it didn't seem like anything had happened while he slept.
"Cloud, what's wrong?" she asked, clearly worried.
"Nothing," he lied. "I just thought it was a bit hot last night so I opened the window a crack, I guess the wind just opened it the rest of the way."
Aerith nodded in response, seeming to accept the explanation. "I actually don't feel so great, would you be willing to drive me home? I'll get a ride back here with my parents sometime tomorrow to pick up my car."
"Sure, that's not a problem. Won't your dress get ruined if you're riding on the back of my bike though?"
"I'll borrow some of Elena's clothes, go wait in the hall and I'll be right out."
Amused by her returned sense of modesty, Cloud stepped back into the hallway and closed the door. Who the hell could have been in there last night? Zack? But how would he have gotten in? A ladder? The whole idea was ridiculous, but Cloud couldn't come up with anything else. Maybe the window actually was slightly open already and the wind really did do it… Except Cloud knew he didn't believe that. Someone else other than me was in that room last night, and I intend to find out who it was, and what they did.
The door opening startled him and broke through his thoughts, causing him to jump backwards to avoid being hit. "Now I'm not so sure how safe I feel with you driving me home," Aerith said laughing as she stepped through the doorway. "Are you sure you're okay Cloud?"
"Yeah sorry, I was just lost in thought. Are you ready to go?"
"Yup, let's say goodbye to everyone who's awake and we can head out."
He saw that she'd brushed out and re-braided her hair and was wearing a simple white t-shirt along with a pair of tight fitting jeans. The sight was just as startling as seeing her with her hair down. He'd never seen her wearing anything other than her usual clothes except her dress, which was currently folded under her arm.
"You look nice," he said, curious if she'd still be happy to hear that, or if it had just been the drink.
"Thanks," Aerith replied, blushing and looking away.
Together, they walked down the hall and headed down the stairs. Right as they reached the bottom, some lucky fighter's instinct caused Cloud to jerk to the left while shoving Aerith forcefully behind him. The sword tip bit into his upper right arm, and he realized that if he hadn't heard the sound of the blade whistling through the air, he might have been seriously injured. Zack was on the other end of the sword, glowering down at him.
"I told you not to touch her and what did you do? You fucked her. I'm going to kill you Cloud!" Zack yelled, the smell of alcohol quite clear on his breath.
"Zack, NO," Aerith screamed, but he completely ignored her and took another step toward them.
Realizing that he was placing Aerith in danger as well, simply by being near her, Cloud quickly moved away, glad when Zack turned to face him. "Zack, we didn't sleep together," he tried explaining while backing up, but Zack clearly didn't care what he had to say.
Cloud had left his sword with Fenrir, figuring it wouldn't be necessary at the party, so unless he could get Zack to calm down somehow, he would be forced to fight unarmed. He knew that he'd somehow have to end the fight quickly, a lot of blood was flowing down his arm from Zack's initial cut.
To Cloud's horror, Aerith ran in front of Zack and slapped him in the face as hard as she could. "Cut it out Zack, Cloud didn't do anything to me!"
Shoving her aside, Zack continued toward Cloud, raising his sword again as he advanced. "I can't believe you'd take advantage of her while she was drunk," he snarled.
"At least I'm not some crazy stalker who used a ladder to climb through her window in the middle of the night," Cloud snapped without thinking.
That got Zack to pause, a look of complete confusion on his face. "What?!" Aerith shrieked, her eyes going wide, as she turned to look at Cloud in shock. "I thought you said the wind…"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Zack replied, seemingly telling the truth. "I was down here drinking all night. I haven't been upstairs since I got here."
"Cloud, what are you talking about? Please tell me you're joking," Aerith begged, her arms wrapped around herself.
"I don't know!" Cloud exclaimed angrily, as he collapsed into a nearby chair. "When I left your room last night I'm sure the window was closed. Granted I didn't check or anything, but I know I didn't open it. The next morning when you called out it was wide open when I entered the room."
"Why did you lie to me about something like that?" she asked angrily, clearly hurt. "Were you planning on ever letting me know that some creep was in my room while I was sleeping?"
"I… I'm sorry," he apologized, unable to look at her. "I didn't want to scare you, but you're right, I shouldn't have lied to you about it either."
"Zack," she continued, rounding on him. "Enough of this, you're making me sick! We aren't going out and we never were. You're a great friend, and I like spending time with you, but lately you've just been a complete asshole. You even attacked Cloud when he'd done nothing wrong. Even if we had slept together, that's my decision to make, not yours to make for me. So please, stop acting like this and let's go back to the way it used to be, I don't want to lose you as a friend, but that's all you're going to be."
Too ashamed to reply, Zack slumped to the floor, nodding his head in response.
"Is your arm okay Cloud?" Aerith asked, taking several deep breaths to try and calm down.
"Yeah, it's not that serious, it's just bleeding like crazy."
"Let's go then, right now I just want to get home. This morning has been a nightmare."
Cloud followed her outside and hopped on Fenrir. "Sit behind me and hold on tight, I don't want you falling off."
She did as instructed, and Cloud drove into the street once he was sure she was holding on tight enough. "I'm really sorry about earlier," he said softly after a while, breaking the silence.
"I know you are," Aerith replied, resting her head on his back and tightening her grip for a second in the form of a hug. "I understand what you were trying to do, and that you didn't mean any harm, I just have a splitting headache and Zack wasn't helping. I'll need to apologize to him as well, although I meant every word I said."
The rest of the trip to Aerith's house passed in silence. When they got there, she jumped off Fenrir and leaned forward to place a quick kiss on Cloud's cheek. "I'll see you on Monday!" she called out as she ran to the front door.
Cloud sat there in shock as he watched her go inside before smiling and heading home.
End Note: This is possibly my favorite chapter so far, I had a total blast writing it. I'm also quite pleased to say that over the week it took to write it, I was swarmed by plot bunnies and have a pretty solid idea of where I want this story to go and how it's going to get there. I can't make any promises about future updates, however. School started this Monday and it's going to be taking up a lot of my time. I want to keep writing though, so I'll be trying my hardest to continue updating this. Expect the next chapter within two weeks or so. As always, I'd really love to hear from you about what you think of the story so please leave a review.
Next Chapter: Class Trip! (I think. This may change, as I'm considering doing a mini-intermission like chapter that introduces a few minor characters and helps cover the time that passes between this chapter and the class trip.)