"Is anyone covering table six?"
"Got it." A blond hair guy with hazel eyes said as he made his way out from behind the counter, grabbing a notepad along.
"Hey."
He stopped and turned around to look at her. She smiled and held up a pen.
"You forgot this."
He grinned and grabbed the pen from her hand.
"Thanks."
"Hey, where's the bartender?" A man said, rather impatiently.
He banged his fist on the counter top. Tifa winced and quickly made her way towards him.
"Hey pretty face. Give me vodka, will ya?" A 20-something guy said as she walked past him.
"I'll be right back with that k? Give me a minute or two." She said with an apologetic smile.
"Where's the goddamn bartender? What bar is this? With no bartender around? Hmph!"
Tifa took a deep breath and hurried over to the grouchy man. She hadn't expected the place to be swamped with people tonight. It was only a Wednesday, the crowd usually came in on Fridays and Saturdays.
"Sorry. What can I get you?"
"Hmph." He eyed her. "You sure you can make a drink?"
"Yes." She said with a forced smile.
"Hey, she whips up the best drinks ever. Ask anyone in Midgar." A male voice suddenly spoke up from beside the man.
The man whipped around to face the owner of the voice. He grinned.
"Trust me on that." He said simply.
Tifa couldn't help smiling at his words. The man looked back at her, eyeing her once again before placing his order.
"Be right back." She said as she turned around to make the drinks.
"That sure is one sexist guy."
"Tell me about it." She replied. She looked up at him in the eye, "Thanks Tristan."
"What for?" He replied with a smile.
"You know."
The blond guy nodded before heading into the kitchen. Tifa quickly finished up with drinks and served it to her customers.
"Thanks doll."
She smiled tightly. She disliked it when people start giving her nicknames like 'dolly', 'pumpkin', 'sweetheart' or whatever, especially when she didn't really know them.
"You free tonight?"
She raised an eyebrow at the guy. He looked like he was 20 at first glance, but now as she looked at him up-close, he looked more like he had just turned 16.
"Wanna come over and do something fun?" He asked with a wink.
Tifa had to stop herself from laughing out loud at that moment. Was he serious?
"We'll have fun all night long."
Tifa shook her head with a rueful smile.
"Thanks, but no thanks." She said.
There was a look of disappointment in the guy's eyes but he shrugged it off like it was nothing, trying to keep his cool.
"Hey, someone at table 8 asked me to give you this." Mae said as she appeared beside her.
She looked down at her hand to see a red rose. She looked back up at her co-worker with a confused look.
"It's a guy." She said with a wink.
"A guy?" Tifa was getting more intrigued.
"Yeah. A guy with red hair."
Only one person with that description came into mind. 'Reno?'
She craned her heck over the crowd, hoping to be able to see table 8. But it was no use, the place was pretty packed.
"Tifa?" Mae prompted.
"I need to go…"
"See who the person is?" She finished for her.
Tifa smiled and nodded. She quickly made her way through the rowdy crowd, careful to watch out for the groping hands. She finally reached the tables and her eyes quickly scanned the area. Her gaze stopped on particular red-haired guy. His face was hidden from her view. She walked right up to him.
"Reno?"
The guy turned around to face her, and to her surprise, it wasn't Reno at all. It was just some other guy that had red hair like the ex-Turk. The guy grinned.
"I'm not Reno, but I'm Jaynick. You must be the bar girl."
She nodded and smiled to cover her embarrassment.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"That's okay. Did you like the rose?"
She nodded again, feeling a little awkward.
"Thanks."
"Join me?"
"What?"
He chuckled lightly before repeating his last words. Tifa quickly shook her head and mumbled that she had something else to do. That was the second guy to be let down by Tifa. He looked disappointed but nodded anyway. Tifa walked away feeling slightly funny inside.
'Was I really expecting to see him? Did I really think he would come over since he asked where's my bar at?' She shook her head and cleared her thoughts.
She made her way through the crowd again, edging away from a staggering fat man who obviously had too much to drink. She stopped short when someone in black blocked her path. Her eyes traveled up to see who it was. His aqua blue eyes had a glint of amusement, matching the small smile playing on his lips.
"Did I just catch a disappointed look on your face earlier when you learnt that imposter over there, wasn't me?" He said with a cocky tone of voice.
She almost blushed at his words, embarrassed to know that she was so transparent, but hid it with a smirk.
"No, you might want to get your eyes checked."
He smirked back at her. She made her way around him and went behind the counter. He followed her, only to find the seats at the counter were already taken. 'Not a problem.'
He poked one of the guys who was sitting there, at the shoulder.
"Get up."
"This is my seat. I came here first." The guy replied with a glare.
Tifa watched him from behind the counter.
"Well, I suggest you get up…or have me whipping your ass across the floor and you'll look like a fucking idiot."
The guy stood up and glared at him menacingly. He was taller and bigger than Reno. He looked down at Reno, breathing heavily. Reno didn't even flinch. He stood where he was, with a smirk on his face.
"Is that a challenge?"
"I don't know. You decide." Reno replied nonchalantly.
The guy fumed and pulled Reno towards him by the collar. A small crowd began to form around them, anticipating a fight.
"Hey, stop it!"
Reno looked at her. She shot him a deadly glare. They both knew that he was just trying to cause a commotion and that he would easily manage to whip the guy's ass across the floor even though the guy was more built than Reno.
"You know what? I don't feel like wasting my time on you." Reno said to the guy.
"What?" The guy snarled.
Tifa shook her head. 'He has no sense of tact.' Instead of cooling things off, Reno seemed to spark the fire even more so.
"Sir. I'm sorry. He's had a lot to drink tonight, so he's a little dense in the polite department. Please excuse him for that." Tifa quickly spoke up before Reno could reply.
Reno snorted.
The guy looked at her for a moment before looking back at Reno. He gave him one last glare before letting him go. Reno brushed the imaginary dirt off his shirt and straightened his collar.
"I'm letting you off on behalf of the girl here."
"You didn't fucking have to." Reno replied without looking up at him, he was gently patting his hair, making sure it didn't get messed up.
The guy fumed, taking a step forward to him again. Tifa sighed and quickly went out from the counter. She placed herself in between the guy and Reno.
"I'm sorry. Would you like another drink? On the house." She quickly said to the guy with a huge smile plastered on her face.
The guy looked at her in slight surprise at her sudden appearance. He nodded anyway but not before giving Reno a menacing glare. Reno stuck his tongue out in response. Before he could say anything, Tifa dragged him by the arm and forcefully sat him down on an empty seat by the counter.
"Hey that hurts!" Reno exclaimed as he rubbed his arm.
'The girl sure never loses her touch.' He shot her a dirty look. She responded with a tight smile.
"Kindly shut up. Now please try to not to create havoc while I work. "
"What if I don't?" He asked smugly.
"Well, then I'll be forced to kicked your butt out of here." She simply replied.
He gave her a challenging look, one that said 'I dare you to'. She hid her smile as she turned around to make a drink before placing it in front of him.
"What's this? Poison?" He said as he eyed the greenish-yellow drink in front of him.
"Just drink it." She said as she went on to serve another customer.
-Few hours later-
"Finally! I thought they would never leave." Mae said as she plunked herself down on the stool by the counter.
Tristan smiled and looked at Tifa.
"She's right. The place was too packed for a Wednesday night. Was there some sort of special thing going on that I didn't know?"
"Nope." Tristan replied.
"Honestly, people can be so weird at times. And not to forget so rude!" Mae complained.
Both Tifa and Tristan laughed.
"What did the customers do to you this time?" Tristan asked amusedly.
"This lady told me she wanted a soda. I brought her the soda and after she tasted it, she told me it wasn't soda. She then insisted me to bring her another one, this time, real soda. I told her that is the real soda, but no, she didn't believe me. She said I probably didn't know what soda tasted like. So when I finally brought out the stupid can of soda and placed it in front of her…she tasted it and she was speechless. I thought she would at least apologize, but no, she had the nerve to tell me it was my fault that I didn't explain to her clearly and I was some incompetent waitress. I totally lost it and nearly lunged for her neck if I didn't have self control." Mae rambled.
Tifa and Tristan laughed again. They stopped when they heard the washroom door opened and a certain red hair guy stepped out. He stopped at the sudden silence and looked at them.
"What?"
"We're closed." Mae stated as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"So?"
"So, it means…goodbye. See you. Get your butt out that door." Tristan replied.
Mae chuckled, Tifa just smiled in amusement. Reno shrugged and made his way to the counter. He looked at Tifa in the eye. She looked right back at him.
"Aren't you going home now?" Tifa spoke up.
"Aren't you going to close up and go to sleep?" He answered with a question.
"I will. After you go home."
"And I will. After you close up and sleep."
She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.
"It's late. It's…" She trailed off, and looked at the clock for the time.
"It's 2.15." Tristan offered.
Tifa smiled at him, Reno turned to look at him with a smirk. Tristan just shrugged and smiled.
"And who are you?"
"Tristan."
"Huh."
"Tifa, I need to go now, there's something I need to do. I'll see you back at the apartment?" Tristan said as he averted his eyes.
Tifa nodded.
"Mae, you want a ride home?" Tristan offered.
Mae looked at Tifa uncertainly, and Tifa briefly nodded, as if reassuring her she would be alright with Reno. Mae nodded and headed out with Tristan.
"See you tomorrow Tif." She said as she headed out.
"Yeah."
"I'm surprised you're not afraid about being alone with a person who's attempted to kill you several times already." Reno spoke up.
"Reno, if you wanted to kill me, you would have already done so." She replied simply as she wiped the counter.
"How would you know I'm not waiting to strike at the perfect opportunity?"
She stopped wiping and stared at him. He stared back at her, noticing that with strands of her sable hair falling over her right eye while the rest were tucked behind her ears, actually made her looked more beautiful. 'Fuck. Where did that come from?'
She raised an eyebrow at him. He caught himself before he could actually do anything stupid and quickly spoke up.
"I see you're over the spiky hair kid."
"What?" She asked with her eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"You know, you and that Trish guy."
She rolled her eyes.
"It's Tristan."
"Tristan. Yeah, whatever." He said lazily.
"There's nothing between me and him."
"There's nothing but you guys are living together? Did I miss something?"
"We share the apartment. Housemates." She replied.
"Lucky guy." Reno mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing." He quickly said.
He wasn't going to repeat what he just said, heck, he hadn't even intended to say it out loud either.
"So, where's this boyfriend of yours? I thought the both of you would be all over each other, all lovey-dovey with all that flowery shit and have the what you call a fairytale ending."
She looked away and continued wiping the counter. Reno realized he must have said something wrong. He was expecting her to grin like there was no tomorrow and start rambling about her perfect life with Cloud. But she didn't.
"Hey babe…"
"Don't call me babe."
"Sweetheart?"
"No."
"Baby girl?"
"No."
"Munchkin?"
"Ugh. No." She said as she made a face.
Reno laughed at her reaction. She looked at him, it was probably the first time she saw him laughing, laughing genuinely, without a trace of cynicism or evil in it.
"So what happened?" He asked casually as he smoothly slipped over the counter and sat on top of it, facing her.
"You're leaving your butt prints on the clean counter that I just wiped."
"Well, that would leave you something to remember me by." He replied mischievously.
She shook her head as a small smile appeared on her lips.
"What happened?" He prodded.
"What does it matter to you?"
"I dunno. I'm bored. Need a little amusement."
She decided to ignore his last comment.
"He's in Rocket Town with Cid, Shera and Vincent."
"What the hell for?"
She debated on whether she should go on further. 'Oh, whatever.'
"After the Meteor, we went back to Nibelheim and collected a few memories before deciding that there was too much sad stuff there. So we went to North Corel with Barret and Marlene."
"After a month, Cloud decided that he couldn't really stay in one place. He needed to get out in the world. So we left for Gold Saucer for a while, and then to Gongaga. Then we left for Wutai to see Yuffie."
"I was getting a little tired of having to move here and there all the time. I wanted to settle down somewhere and build a new life. I mean, Yuffie had Wutai. Cid and Shera in Rocket Town. Barret and Marlene in North Corel, Reeve's here, Nanaki in Cosmo Canyon, Vincent's with Cid and Shera…and me…I was tagging along on a road I didn't know would lead to where."
Tifa paused and looked at the rag in her hands. She fiddled with it for a while before continuing.
"Finally when we were in Junon, I told Cloud that I wanted to settle down somewhere. I want to open up a bar like I used to. I want a life where I know where I would wake up every morning. Cloud apologized but told me that he just couldn't bring himself to settle at one place."
"It wasn't just that shit right?" Reno spoke up.
Tifa looked at him in surprise.
"It's also cause he can't commit himself to you. The crappy guy wants you there with him but he can't exactly commit, yet he doesn't want you to leave his side either. Yup, it's all about him being selfish." Reno said with a satisfied look.
He looked at her for affirmation. Tifa slowly nodded, a sad look crossed her features. Reno felt a twinge of guilt. He felt like he had squashed on someone's pet turtle with his foot.
"I made the decision that day. And came here to Midgar since it was pretty near to Junon. Met Reeve and here I am." She said softly.
Silence. Reno shifted slightly, uncomfortable with the silence. Tifa fiddled with the rag again. She sighed softly and walked to where he was sitting. She turned to the sink and started to wash the rag.
"You don't have to feel like you missed out anything."
Her hands froze midway.
"It's his loss." He said again.
She felt a lump in her throat as her eyes start to get glassy. She swallowed hard. A single tear fell down to her right cheek. 'Am I still gonna cry after a year? After pulling myself together and starting a new life? No, you're not that weak Tifa. Don't let the tears fall.' Another tear fell. 'Damn. Why am I so weak?' She quickly wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.
Reno watched her quietly from behind. He tried to find something funny or sarcastic to say. But for once, his mind was blank for a quick comeback. He knew she was crying, he didn't have to look at her to know.
"Hey." He spoke up.
Tifa realized that she hadn't cried over Cloud ever since she opened her new bar. Right now, the memories seem to flood back, overwhelming her, consuming her. She gave in to her tears and stopped avoiding them. The tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Don't…" Reno paused for while, struggling to keep his words, he wasn't used to this. 'I hate this kind of thing.' Comforting a crying person was not one of his best skills. He usually ended up making them more miserable than they already were. "…cry, over him. Stop letting the broken pieces of memories haunt you."
Tifa turned around to look at him. He forced a goofy grin on his face, hoping to make her laugh. It succeeded with a small smile that crept onto her lips.
"Don't be a lovesick puppy. Stop crying. You look awful with that tear-streaked face."
She giggled lightly and wiped her tears away. Reno watched her as she slowly wiped her tears. He didn't know why, but he hated the sight of her crying and he just didn't want her to cry. He reached his hand out to her right wrist and pulled her towards him.
Tifa looked at him in surprise, but let herself to be pulled anyway.
His other free hand held onto her other wrist. His body moved forward as he leaned closer. Tifa felt her breath being caught in her chest. She watched as his face came closer. 'Those blue eyes…' She felt herself once again getting lost in the aqua blue eyes of his. His face was just two inches away from hers.
He slowly closed his eyes, and she felt herself doing the same.
She could feel him coming closer and his light breath on her face. His hands were still on her wrists.
Her eyes flew open after a few seconds of no movement. He had stopped and was staring right into her eyes. She felt herself getting nervous, and a weird feeling growing in her stomach.
She watched as he slowly pulled his face away and let go of her wrists. She stared at him as he propped himself back.
Reno let out a grin.
"You thought I was going to kiss you, weren't you?"
Her face flamed up at that very moment. Reno chuckled lightly. He swiveled around and jumped off from the counter. He brushed himself off.
"It's late. I'll walk you home." He said without looking at her.
Tifa stood there in slight shock, trying to comprehend everything. He looked at her and smirked.
"Are you coming or what? I'm not going to live forever and wait for you to make up your mind."
She quickly nodded and turned off the lights as he went out the door.
"Ready?"
She nodded again. They started to walk in silence. It was nearly 3 in the morning. The moon gave a light glow on the path, as the stars twinkle above them. There was also a light breeze in the air. She shivered as the breeze blew by them. Reno noticed it and realized she wasn't wearing a coat or a jacket.
"Where's your coat?" He suddenly asked.
"I forgot to bring it with me today."
Reno nodded. She shivered again. He sighed softly. 'Being nice wouldn't kill me. At least I think so.' He took off his black long-sleeved shirt and placed it over her shoulders, covering her from the cold.
She turned around to face him when she felt the sudden warmth on her shoulders and the soft feel of fabric.
He shrugged and continued walking. He didn't really mind, he was wearing his white t-shirt underneath the shirt anyway, and he didn't mind the cold.
"Thank you." She said softly.
He said nothing. They continued to walk in silence until they finally reached her apartment that was 10 minutes away from the bar. They stopped and looked at each other.
Reno nodded upwards.
"You should get going."
She nodded and took the black shirt off her shoulders, and handed it back to him before leaving. He watched her go and slowly turned around to head home.
A/N: Thanks for all the really nice reviews you guys left…Dragon Girl323, The Highwaywoman, Empress-Eerian-Sadow, WrexSoul, DarkBeerAngel and Izzia. Hope you guys will like this chapter, it's longer and…well, yeah, it's longer. Thanks again, the reviews definitely made me smile.