The Simple Life
Chapter 3
"No… not yet, not yet…" Cloud was mumbling.
Rufus slowly opened his eyes, awakened by the sounds that Cloud was making. He carefully propped himself up with his left elbow and looked at Cloud, still sleeping on the mattress on the floor. Then he heard the sound of a vibrating mobile phone against the wooden floor. "Alarm," he muttered as he plopped down on the bed again.
Cloud reached out for his mobile phone rather sleepily and pressed a random key for it to stop.
"What time is it anyway?" Rufus asked as he eyed the window, seeing that it was morning already.
"Don't want to know…" Cloud muttered sleepily as he covered himself with his blanket once more.
Rufus remembered that he had his own mobile phone and he began to search for it in his pockets. Finally, he pulled it out from his right trouser pocket. He flipped open the screen and looked at the time. 7:15.
"7:15." He announced.
Cloud did not move.
"Why do you have to wake up at 7:15?" Rufus asked.
"Actually it's supposed to be 6:30. I've been snoozing the phone since it first went off. I want to sleep some more." Cloud admitted.
Rufus sighed. "What are you going to do anyway?" he asked.
"…Delivery." Cloud replied after a few seconds of silence from him. He seemed to be lagging because of drowsiness. "You know the feeling of just wanting to relax after all the troubles in your life?" he asked Rufus.
Rufus turned to him. "So you're saying all the troubles in your life are over?" he asked.
"…Wanna trade places with me and find out how horrible Sephiroth is and those three clones?" Cloud asked.
Rufus chuckled lightly at what he said. "I could trade places with you, but I've already seen how horrible Sephiroth is and those three clones." He pointed out with a sly smile on his face as he rolled his eyes.
"…Well then you should try losing someone… important to you. You'll find out what I mean. And you'll feel all guilty and… stuff like that." Cloud hesitated.
Rufus raised his eyebrows at him. "Well, frankly speaking I haven't experienced that yet." He said.
"You should try it then. For experience." Cloud got up, stretching. Rufus fought the urge to laugh upon seeing Cloud clad in blue pajamas.
"Hah. Even if it comes my way, I can handle it. And I don't feel guilty when it comes to those things." Rufus told him.
Cloud gathered his normal everyday clothes and got out of the room without saying anything else.
Rufus just looked up at the ceiling, listening to the random noises around him coming from outside the window, downstairs and along the hallway outside the room. Sounds ranging from the chirping of birds, footsteps, car horns, children laughing and running, motorcycles, trucks, cars passing by…
And Tifa yelling, "Yuffie!" from downstairs.
oOoOo
"What?" Yuffie stomped her way downstairs and went to the kitchen area where she saw Tifa rummaging through the freezer.
"You forgot to buy ham, cheese, bacon and eggs again." Tifa said.
Yuffie blinked and eyed her rather sleepily. "You woke me up because of that?" she asked stubbornly.
"Well somebody else has got to do the chores aside from me!" Tifa said.
"So what if we don't have ham, cheese, bacon and eggs today? We can just have bread for breakfast. Big deal." Yuffie said.
Tifa approached her. "You seem to be forgetting that we have the President in our company." She said with a low tone.
Yuffie's eyes widened at her. "Since when did you give a damn about what he would think if you serve him salted dried fish or anchovies?" she asked in exasperation.
Tifa opened her mouth to say something, but Yuffie did not even give her a chance. The ninja continued, "He's not here to treat you like a servant, Tifa. He's a guest here and whatever we have here should suffice for what he needs to continue living, do you understand?"
Tifa blinked, but when she was about to say something in reaction to what Yuffie said, the ninja cut her off again, "I'm sure you do. Now serve him whatever else we have left here!"
Tifa kept quiet for a few seconds, waiting for Yuffie to say something else. And she seized the opportunity to finally speak when Yuffie breathed in. "Yuffie, are you trying to find a way not to do the shopping today?" she asked.
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at her. "Okay fine. I'll do it…" she muttered miserably as she turned around to go back upstairs. "I'll just change into something decent than these pajamas…" she muttered as she climbed up the stairs again.
Tifa shook her head in disbelief. "That girl… is unbelievable!" she said in disbelief before proceeding back to the refrigerator.
"Well, she's Wutaian Royalty. What do you expect?"
She turned around and saw Tseng coming in. She smiled uncomfortably at him. "Oh. Good morning, Tseng." She greeted.
Tseng nodded his head in greeting. "Do you need help, Miss Lockheart?" he asked.
She smiled nicely. "Well if it wouldn't be such a burden to you…" she began.
Tseng shook his head. "You're our new boss too, remember?" he asked with a friendly smile on his face.
She shrugged. "Alright. You can feed Red XIII." She told him.
He began to search the kitchen for some dog kibble. "What do you feed him?" he asked.
"Dog kibble for breakfast and some cow's milk. Treat it like cereal. His dish is by the cupboard near the trash…" she explained before turning to the doorway when she noticed Cloud standing there and observing them.
"Oh. Hi, Cloud." She greeted with a weird look on her face, wondering what he was doing there.
Cloud just looked at her. "Do you have the package list?" he asked.
Tifa blinked. "No." she replied.
He frowned. "How can I deliver the packages if I don't have that list?" he asked.
"I have no idea…" she replied mindlessly as she brought out some left-over bread that she could toast.
Cloud just rolled his eyes and turned away, proceeding upstairs again, realizing that his friend was too busy to help him. Just then Tseng called out to him, "I think Reno has it. He was reviewing it last night. He said he'd help you today."
Cloud continued his way upstairs and went to the room where Reno and Elena were supposed to be staying, but when he arrived there and knocked, nobody was answering. "Still asleep, huh?" he thought, remembering the noise he and Rufus had heard last night coming from that room. He fought the urge to snicker and smile maliciously.
"Cloud, you have a dirty mind…"
It was the voice in his head again.
He looked up at the ceiling and smiled. "Good morning." He greeted softly.
"No one's there."
He blinked. "Oh?" he asked as he opened the door to verify. He stepped inside the room.
The voice was right.
"Well… where are they?" he asked.
"There has been some trouble with Elena, so Reno took her to a nearby clinic so that she can be treated."
"Why? Did he get her pregnant and now he wants to check?" he asked in awe.
"No, silly! Teehee! Oh Cloud, the things that you're thinking are really funny…"
Cloud smiled softly upon hearing her laugh. "I was only joking," he said reassuringly as he saw the list by the bedside table. He went to pick it up. "Well, I have to get to work." He said.
"I'll go with you like always…"
He could not stop himself from smiling even as he got out of the room. "Should I tell the others about Reno and Elena?" he asked.
"They'll find out sooner or later. Just get to work."
He nodded. "Alright…" he answered softly.
"Who're you talking to?" Yuffie interrupted as she stepped out of the bathroom.
Cloud jerked slightly in surprise, but he just looked at Yuffie ridiculously.
She frowned at him as he walked away from her and just descended the stairs silently.
The voice in his head was laughing at him. "I'll bet she's already thinking that you're nuts!"
He just kept quiet as he went to the third storey of the house, entering a storage room to get five boxes. He kept his silence until he got outside and went to his motorcycle. "I can't tell them about you." He finally answered.
He felt her touch his face from behind him. "In time, Cloud. In time…"
As soon as Cloud took off, Yuffie stepped out of the house and putting some paper Gil into the pockets of her shorts. She stopped by the sidewalk and looked up at the sunny blue skies. She pouted. "It's going to be a long day…" she muttered miserably before proceeding to walk down the streets of Edge.
She reached the bus stop and wondered if she should take the bus or not, counting the amount of money she currently has in her mind. "Tifa gave me 100 Gil. I have 50 Gil for my own spending…" she was thinking before she noticed that someone came up to her and stood beside her. "Excuse me, miss."
She turned to him and saw how big and tall he was compared to her. She even thought it was Cloud because of what he was wearing that looked similar to Cloud's old clothes from two years back, but when she looked up at his face, she realized that it was not him. It was another man. Black spiky hair and dark blue eyes…
She took a step away from him.
"Oh… please don't be afraid. I just saw that you dropped this." He showed her a blue materia.
She blinked. "Gee… I don't recall bringing that with me…" she began, but took the materia from him anyway and placed it in her pocket.
"That's materia, right?" he asked.
She smiled. "Yep." She replied.
"What sort of materia?" he asked.
"Not really sure…" she answered before turning to the bus as it arrived. But she just stood still and did not board the bus. She just watched with a troubled look on her face as the other passengers boarded the bus… and she looked away when the driver of the bus turned to her. "Getting in, miss?" he asked.
The man who gave her the materia eyed her with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong? Aren't you getting in?" he asked.
"Don't have enough for the fare. I'll just walk to the market." She answered with a hard tone.
He smiled and turned to the bus driver. "Yes, she's getting in," he took her hand and dragged her into the bus.
"Oh my gawd! What are you doing?" she exclaimed in annoyance.
"Well I'm going to the market too. Let's go together. I'll pay for your fare." He told her.
She was surprised at him.
He pulled out some coins from his pocket and handed it to the bus driver before he and Yuffie took their seats near the back of the bus.
She sat by the window, feeling rather uncomfortable even when she was secretly thankful for the stranger who was nice enough to let her ride the bus with him and he even paid her fare.
"Thanks, man." She said. "Damn. What if he's a maniac or a rapist or something?" her conscience was nagging her already.
He smiled kindly at her. "It's nothing." He said.
"So, why are you going to the market?" she asked.
"I just thought I'd eat breakfast. There are cheap restaurants there." He answered.
"Ew. Aren't they street foods?" she asked in disgust.
He stared at her in wonder. "You live here in Midgar and you're not used to street foods?" he asked.
"Excuse me, this is Edge." She corrected.
"Still part of Midgar." He pointed out with a calm smile on his face.
She felt bothered. "How come he's always smiling…" she thought to herself. "Whatever. It's the slums. I don't want to get hepatitis or typhoid or salmonella or whatever disease you could get from eating dirty food." She told him airily.
He shrugged. "You're from uptown, aren't you?" he asked.
"What do you care?" she asked stubbornly.
He was quiet.