Author's Note – I've increased the rating to M, mainly because of Cloud's liberal use of profanity, which I think in itself deserves a higher rating. Plus the next few chapters are going to contain some adult material. I'll post warnings in advance for those who don't care to read those parts. Keep the reviews coming. I love reading them!

Chapter 10 – Almost Near

I paced in front of my bed in my bare feet, wondering why Tifa would even talk to that prick after he ignored her all night long to be with the school bimbo. And what was wrong with him anyway? Tifa had so much more going for her than Priscilla. Why would he have chosen Priscilla over Tifa? Dumb question…obviously he needed to get his rocks off and obviously Tifa wasn't that kind of girl.

So what did he want from Tifa now? I shook my head. Stay out of it, Strife. She's old enough to make her own decisions. We weren't kids anymore. She was eighteen, going on nineteen and I was twenty-one. Well, maybe we were still pretty young.

I decided I needed to go to bed before I did something stupid, like go back down there and catch them kissing or something. The mental image filling my head only poured fuel in the already blazing inferno that constituted my current mood. It just kept building and building and I was cutting a path in the carpet with my pacing.

I unbuttoned my shirt…or rather, Skutel's shirt…and yanked it out of the slacks. Why couldn't Sephiroth come back from the dead a fourth time? I needed to take out my frustrations on someone and he'd definitely help to improve my frame of mind. At least it would keep me busy so I wasn't thinking about Tifa…or Aeris…or Tifa…Tifa, mostly.

That jerk off was probably kissing her right about now. Telling her all the things he wanted to do to her. Were they hiding in some dark corner somewhere? Was he pulling up her skirt?

My feet carried me to the door and I swung it open with the intention of going back downstairs and ripping his arms out of their sockets…and also to let out that guy I kicked into the closet, if someone hadn't already done so.

I came face to face with Priscilla.

"Hi, Cloud." She didn't wait for me to invite her in as she swayed passed me, leaving a trail of something heavenly in the air.

I automatically closed the door. "What're you doing here?" I walked over and stopped her from reaching for my Apocalypse sword. "Don't touch that."

She turned around and her eyes drifted down to my open shirt. Her eyebrow went up in appreciation. "I was hoping to catch you alone."

"Whatever you've got to say, make it quick. Tifa should be up here in a few minutes."

"A few minutes? Oh, I'm pretty sure it'll be longer than that."

"Whatta you mean?"

She trailed a finger down the middle of my bare chest. "She's getting busy with Robbie in the Ladies Room."

I frowned at her. "What?"

"You heard me." Her eyes came back up to mine. "Did you really think she was so innocent?"

Another mental image filled my head. Tifa sitting on the bathroom counter, her dress hiked up to her waist and that scumbag pounding into her. I quickly shook my head to clear the image. "You don't know what you're talking about. I think you should leave." I wanted her gone so I could go find Tifa before she made a big mistake with that guy.

Priscilla smiled and pushed aside my collar to reveal the side of my neck. "What's this? Did you have a little fun with someone tonight?"

I took a step away from her, shrugging her hand off my shoulder. "None of your business."

Just then she unzipped the side of her black dress and slid it off her shoulders. It fell in a pool at her ankles and she stepped out of it. She didn't have a stitch of clothing on underneath.

In a moment of weakness I thought she was hot and perfect and she was probably great in the sack, given all the experience she had. But the moment passed quickly. Before I could tell her she was wasting her time, Priscilla came up and gave me a sensual open-mouthed kiss.

If my head wasn't so full of Tifa, I would have had Priscilla under me on the bed ten minutes ago. She was one of the sexiest girls I'd seen in a long time…but she wasn't Tifa. I grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away from me. "It's not gonna happen, Priscilla." I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

She looked alittle angry at first, but then she smiled. "You want me, Cloud. I can feel it."

"Well, I ain't feeling it." I bent to pick up her dress and tossed it to her. "Get out."

Priscilla slid the dress back on, taking her time. She seemed to think I'd change my mind the longer she stayed naked in front of me.

I went to the door and swung it open, ready to physically kick her ass out if she didn't leave. To my surprise I found Tifa standing there, with her hand lowered as if she had been ready to turn the door handle. "Tifa…"

It was too late to prevent Priscilla from walking out right that second, slowly zipping up the side of her dress and making the whole situation look a hellova lot worse than it really was.

Tifa stared coldly at Priscilla.

"Hi, Tifa." Priscilla smiled before glancing back at me. "You were incredible, Cloud. Let's do it again soon."

What the fuck…I stepped out in the hall to say something but all I could think about was how bad this all looked.

Tifa turned her attention to me. Her face was red and she squinted her fiery eyes in anger. "You bastard."

Before I had a chance to open my mouth, she pushed passed me and went into her room. When I went to follow, she slammed the door in my face.

"Tifa, are you gonna believe what you saw or what I tell you?" That probably wasn't the right thing to say. When I tried the doorknob, I found it locked, so I knocked.

"Leave me alone, Cloud!"

I knocked harder. "Tifa, open up."

"Fuck off!"

That stopped my hand mid-knock for a second. This was the first time she'd ever dropped the F bomb on me. I pounded my fist on the door. "Will you just let me explain?"

Doors opened behind me and when I turned, I found several sets of curious young eyes staring. I realized how this looked. I was standing in the hallway, no shoes and socks, my shirt open like I just had a good time with someone and I was pounding on Tifa's door. This was obviously not the best thing for me to be doing. I could just imagine the rumors flying around in the morning during breakfast.

"Shit…" I walked away from the door, but not before glancing over my shoulder at the eyes continuing to stare at me. "Go back to sleep! Little maggots!" I jogged around the corner and came to the window at the end of the hallway.

After pushing it open, I hopped up on the ledge and pivoted to the left before jumping to the next window. My fingers caught. I pulled myself up and hopped to the next window. One more to go. When I finally reached Tifa's window and my arms were resting on the ledge, I pushed the window upward. Now to make my grand entrance. I hopped up on the ledge and jumped into the room…except my big toe caught on the string to the blinds and they came crashing down on top of me. Not as graceful as I had hoped.

After a frustrating thirty second battle with the blinds, I tossed them aside and turned to find Tifa staring at me with her mouth open.

Her surprised expression quickly turned angry. "Get out!"

"Tifa, please, just listen to me." I started walking toward her.

She retreated and picked up a book. "I'm not listening to you!" She threw the book at me.

It bounced off my chest. "I can explain." I tried to reach for her.

Tifa jumped on her bed and rolled off the other side. It was pretty impressive in that dress. "I'm not ever listening to you! You louse!" She picked up a picture frame and threw it.

I ducked and the frame shattered against the wall behind me. "I didn't touch her!"

"I know what I saw!" She picked up a huge candle. "It certainly didn't take you long to get over me, did it? Four hours, that's gotta be a world record!"

When she threw the candle, I caught it before it hit me. "Will you stop throwing things at me!"

"I can't believe you'd do something this low to me!" She sat down heavily on the edge of her bed. "After what I told you earlier about that bitch! I might expect it from anyone else, but not you! Not you, Cloud!"

"Well, what about you? You practically shoved me out of the way when that stupid guy showed up."

"For your information, I wanted to tell you to stay with me while I told Robbie to go fly a kite. But you just left." She bent her head and covered her face with her hands. She started crying.

No, not again. I couldn't stand to see her cry. I knelt down in front of her. "Tifa, please don't." As usual, it was all my fault. Me and my short fuse. I reached up to remove her hands from her face. "I didn't do anything with her. I swear it."

Huge tears slid down her cheeks. "Then why was she in here?"

I wiped them away with my thumbs. "She thought she could use me to hurt you. I was kicking her out when you came. It's the truth.

She looked hopeful. "You didn't touch her?"

"I didn't touch her." It was partially true. Priscilla kissed me, I didn't kiss her. And I didn't touch her other than to push her away.

Tifa wrapped her arms around my neck. "Oh, Cloud. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

I drew back from the hug and went for her lips, but her fingers came up between our mouths before I could get there.

"That doesn't mean I'm giving you the green light."

I pulled away. "Oh, come on!" I got up and paced. This was so not fair. Why was I the only one not getting lucky lately? Hopefully I didn't say that outloud. I stopped pacing and turned to her. "You were just balling your eyes out because you thought me and that bimbo did the nasty. Now I'm nothing to you again."

"What're you talking about? You're not nothing to me."

"Whatta you want from me, Tifa?"

"I just want you to be my friend again."

"I never stopped being your friend."

She sighed. "She sleeps around with everybody and I just don't want you catching anything from her."

My shoulders sagged. My knees sagged. My entire body sagged. "Why are you sending me mixed signals?" It was fucking me all up.

Tifa got up and walked to my equipment. "Well, I'm a little mixed up myself. I just don't know what I want right now."

I watched her pick up my Dragon Claw and wondered why she was slipping it on over her hand. "No, don't play with that."

She squeezed her fist, admiring the Dragon Claw. Then suddenly she headed for the door.

"Now what?" I asked before following her out. I didn't want to lose sight of her again. Especially while she had my very expensive Dragon Claw.

"You don't have to follow me, Cloud."

"Where're you going?"

"Nowhere."

I followed her down to the second floor and down three different corridors before she stopped in front of a door and knocked. I stayed back a few feet because I didn't want to look like a pervert in case whoever was on the other side of the door came out in their underwear.

The door opened and Priscilla appeared, still wearing her black dress. She barely opened her mouth to say a word before Tifa sent her fist, clad in my Dragon Claw, into Priscilla's face. The girl went down like a meteor, sliding six feet back across the floor.

Tifa clenched her teeth as she glared down at Priscilla. "That's for making me think Cloud had sex with you." Then she smiled sweetly at me as she walked passed.

I took several steps forward and stared with my mouth open at what Tifa had done. Priscilla was lying unconscious on the floor, blood oozing out of her nose and I was pretty sure the girl was missing some teeth. Holy shit! For a few seconds I actually felt sorry for Priscilla, but then I remembered she was a certifiable snake who thrived on causing mental anguish.

I headed back upstairs and back to Tifa's room.

The bathroom door was closed so I took the time to get out of my clothes and into my pajama bottoms. In the meantime I was trying to process the last five days. It started with the Aeris and Reno incident that was one of the reasons I accepted Rufus's job in the first place…the money was the main reason…Then I found out my childhood friend, whose existence I completely blocked out of my head for the last six years, was Rufus's half-sister and the one I was supposed to watch over. Then I learned she had as big of a crush on me that I had on her when we were kids, even though she treated me like shit in front of the neighborhood bullies. Then when I tried to make good on my own feelings for her, she pushed me away.

I needed to get my act together and figure out where the hell my head was lately.

The bathroom door opened and Tifa came out wearing a small tank top and small pink panties with Saturday stitched on them. Nothing else!

Where was my head? About to point north.

I gave her a crooked smile when she walked passed me like I was just a piece of furniture. Oh come on, either she was totally asking for it or she was trying to get back at me for the last six years. "You're kidding, right?"

She slid under her bed covers. "Kidding about what?"

She wasn't kidding. I shook my head in confusion and crawled into my bed. After I turned off the light, I let out a heavy sigh.

"Now what's wrong, Cloud?"

"Tifa, you can't just walk around in front of me like that."

"Like what?"

I knew she knew exactly what I meant. So what kind of game was she playing now? "Wearing practically nothing."

"Why not?"

Why was she trying to confuse me like this? "Just because." If she really wanted to know how it affected me, then all she had to do was look under my covers.

"I didn't tell you to move into my room. It was your idea. So I guess you're going to have to deal with it."

With another heavy sigh, I stared up at the ceiling in the darkness…looking for the cracks. Or maybe I needed to concentrate more on the obvious cracks in my head.

"The next thing I know, I'm waking up with a bloody nose and a chipped tooth."

Man, that Priscilla could act. She was all teary-eyed and innocent, like she didn't deserve to be punched in the face for being such a back-stabbing wench. Based on the cheers and hugs Tifa got during breakfast earlier, I figured the girls at the Icicle Village Academy didn't care too much for Priscilla. So how many had the girl wronged?

"I…I don't even know why…why Tifa hates me. All I've ever wanted was to be her friend."

Tifa, who was sitting in the chair next to Priscilla in front of Redgrave's desk, let out a disgruntled snort. "That is the biggest load of shit I've ever heard in my life."

I was standing behind Tifa's chair with my arms folded and I couldn't control the laugh that came out of my mouth. But when Redgrave's angry eyes went from Tifa to me, I coughed and put on my serious face.

Redgrave looked back to Tifa. "Miss Lockhart, I'd like to hear your side now."

Tifa folded her arms angrily. "I don't have one. Priscilla's a moron. She can't get her own guys so she has to steal everyone else's, especially mine."

"That is such a lie!" yelled Priscilla.

I jumped in. "Hey, you had your chance to talk. It's Tifa's turn." When Priscilla gave me an angry glare, I ignored it. Looks couldn't kill, so I wasn't going to die anytime soon. But it was a little disturbing to see the dark bruises under her eyes from the punch to her nose.

Priscilla turned back to Redgrave. "It's all his fault. He's the one that invited me to Tifa's room in the first place."

I barked out a laugh. "You wish!"

"Cloud has more class than that," added Tifa.

"Yeah, he's full of it alright," countered Priscilla.

"How would you know?" Tifa debated. "You have none."

"I have more class than you'll ever have."

"In your dreams!"

"Kiss my ass, Lockhart!"

"Not on your best day!"

"Bitch!"

"Whore!"

Redgrave grabbed her stapler and banged it on her desk. "That's enough, both of you!"

Tifa and Priscilla stopped badgering each other.

"Miss Darvis," Redgrave continued, "I've received many complaints about you and your escapades last night. And certain incidents in the past prove your blatant disregard for your fellow students or teachers. In my good conscience, I can no longer allow it to continue. You are expelled from this academy. I will be contacting your parents this afternoon to pick you up no later than Wednesday."

I couldn't see Priscilla's reaction, but I was pretty sure she was fuming.

Redgrave turned to Tifa. "Miss Lockhart, you know the school's policy on causing physical injury to a fellow student. It's grounds for immediate expulsion."

Priscilla turned toward Tifa and there was a cold look of satisfaction in her expression.

"However," continued Redgrave, "given the generous contributions your brother has made to the school, I can't justify expelling you."

"WHAT?!" yelled Priscilla.

"Miss Darvis, you are excused."

"She hit me! Why am I the one being expelled?"

"That'll be all."

"My parents will sue the school! They'll make sure you don't have a gil to your name!"

"Yes, I'm sure they will. Bye, bye now."

I was alittle surprised by the sudden change in Redgrave. She was actually smiling as Priscilla marched to the door and walked out.

Once the door slammed though, Redgrave's smile dropped completely and she turned an angry set of eyes on Tifa. "As much as I enjoyed expelling Miss Darvis, I would enjoy expelling you even more, Miss Lockhart."

Well, so much for the nice Redgrave. The ogre took control again.

"Unfortunately this school needs the funds your brother provides every month. Mr Shinra has even promised a continuing annual contribution after you graduate from the academy next year."

"So that's it," said Tifa. "I get to stay because Rufus Shinra's my brother?"

"Yes, that is the one and only reason."

Tifa got up and caste a glance my way. "Social equality at it's finest."

I shrugged and followed her to the door. When she opened it, I caught sight of Priscilla rushing around the corner. That concerned me because I wondered what she had heard. I didn't have time to dwell on it as Tifa grabbed me by the hand and pulled me away.

"Get me out of here," she said.

"Where to?"

"I don't care. Let's just go."

The cold air felt good for once, especially after the stifling heat in Redgrave's office when the sentences were served. Tifa wanted to get out, so I got her out.

Now we were snowboarding down one of the less treacherous slopes just outside Icicle Village. I had given her a quick lesson on balance and she only wiped out six times before finally getting the hang of it. Six times…to my thirty-eight when I tried it for the first time a while ago. I was pretty impressed.

A quick glance over my shoulder…there she was on her rented snowboard, dark hair trailing behind her, looking amazing in skintight pants.

She was grinning from ear to ear. Suddenly her smile faded. "Cloud, look out!"

I turned my head just in time to see a huge boulder rushing toward me. There was only enough time to push myself upward. As I sailed over it, the back end of my snowboard clipped the boulder and I went spinning out of control. When I landed on the snow, I rolled about sixty-seven times before finally coming to a stop. Maybe it was only eight, but it felt like sixty-seven.

"Cloud! Cloud!"

It was payback time. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be unconscious.

"Cloud!" Her voice was close now and I heard her footfalls in the snow as she made her way to me. "Cloud, can you hear me?"

I felt her warm breath on my face. Man, if I didn't think she'd slap the shit out of me, I'd kiss her again.

"Are you breathing?"

I squeezed my hand around some snow and flung it at her face. When I opened my eyes, she was gasping and I was laughing.

"You…you… big..." She grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at me.

For the next half hour, it was war. We flung snowballs at each other and although I was trying not to throw too hard, Tifa didn't seem to be holding back at all. She was throwing some melon-sized whoppers. Damn, she had quite an arm.

I called a truce when my cellphone rang and sat on the ground to look at the display. It was Barret. I flipped open my phone. "Hey, Barret."

"Yo, Spiky! Heard you was freezin' your tail off in Icicle Village all week."

I shook the snow off my hair. "Yeah, but it's not too bad. I'm indoors most of the time."

Tifa came and sat down next to me. She had a look on her face that made me suspicious.

"So what's up?" I asked. Barret didn't call unless there was a good reason.

"Well, you'll prob'ly see it in the news later, but Shinra was almost shot this mornin'."

"Shut up! Where was he?"

Tifa leaned closer and blew in my ear.

I frowned and pushed her away as I tried to listen to what Barret was telling me.

"…so he won't be makin' any personal appearances there anytime soon."

"Wait, where?" I pushed Tifa away again when she sprinkled snow all over my hair. "Tifa, cut it out. I'm trying to listen."

"What's goin' on, Cloud? You wit' a girl or somethin'?"

"Yeah, kinda. Where did you say it happened?"

"Rocket Town. He was givin' a speech. The shot came from the launch area, but it missed Shinra by a foot."

"So it was just a warning then."

"Why do you think that?"

"If someone wants him dead, they wouldn't hire an amateur to take a shot at him. A professional wouldn't have missed."

"Yeah, you're prob'ly right. Well, I wanted to share that wit' you so you keep your eyes and ears open, all right?"

"Thanks, Barret. I'll see you soon." I closed my cellphone and turned to Tifa.

She looked serious all of a sudden. "Is everything okay?"

I wouldn't have said anything, but I wanted her to hear it from me and not on the news. "Rufus was almost shot this morning. But he's okay. They missed him."

Tifa sighed in relief. "Wow, someone really wants to get him. I wonder why."

"Yeah, me too. He's made good on all his promises. He shut down all the reactors and provided other sources to maintain power in all the cities."

"And he's paid to rehab most of the destruction caused by his father," Tifa added.

"Someone still has a grudge."

Tifa nodded solemnly and we sat in silence for a minute. Then suddenly she grabbed a handful of snow and smashed it in my face.

Before I had a chance to retaliate, she got up and ran off in a fit of laughter. "Come back here, you little creep!" I ran after her.

I drew Fenrir to a stop a few feet from the edge of the water.

"Why're we stopping here?" asked Tifa.

"I want to show you something." I waited for her to dismount behind me before I did. "Go touch the water."

"Right, and freeze my fingers off?"

"Go ahead. It'll be all right."

She still looked skeptical as she walked up to the snow bank and crouched to dip her fingers into the water. "It's warm!" she said with a gasp. "How can that be?"

"Something under the planet's crust is keeping the water hot. I don't know how all that works, but it really saved me and my team once when we were traveling this way. None of us had any Fire materia. We would have frozen to death if we didn't stumble upon these hot springs."

"This is incredible. I've seen this lake from a distance for so many years and always thought the water was cold." Tifa stood up and unbuttoned her jacket. She tossed it aside and began unbuttoning her shirt.

I watched her with my mouth open. "What're you doing?"

"I'm going for a swim."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Duh, Cloud, let the girl take her clothes off if she wants to.

"Why not? Is there something dangerous living in the water?"

"No, but…"

She took off her shirt and then slid out of her tight pants, leaving her in her bra and Sunday's panties.

I just stood there like a lump on a log, staring at her in her underwear, like I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. I could feel the blood in my veins actually start to boil. And it was all rushing to the front of my pants, to the organ that had a mind of its own. Forget Priscilla. Tifa was far more gifted in certain places.

Tifa turned and did a running leap into the water. After she surfaced, she swam a circle and then came toward me. "Cloud, this feels so good. You should come in."

"No thanks. I'll just stay out here and be cold."

She smiled. "It's nice and warm in here."

"I'm sure it is."

"Come on, don't be a chicken."

I folded my arms. "I'm not chicken. I just don't wanna get wet."

Tifa splashed water at me.

"Knock it off, Lockhart."

"I'll make you a deal. If you come in the water, I'll let you kiss me for a whole minute."

"You'll let me?"

"That's right."

"Well, maybe I don't wanna kiss you."

"Okay, suit yourself." She shrugged and floated on top of the water, paddling herself around in a circle.

Fuck, I could see right through her underwear. If I didn't get in the water with her, then I deserved the Idiot of the Year award. I yanked off my jacket and stripped off everything but my boxers. It was freezing! The second I jumped into the water, I was instantly warm. It wasn't too deep so my feet touched the warm rocky bottom, leaving my head and neck above water.

"See, I told you," she said as she swam toward me. "It feels good, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it does."

"I suppose you want your kiss now?"

I gave her a crooked smile. "A deal's a deal."

Tifa was about three inches shorter than me, so her chin was partially submerged when her feet touched the bottom. She came up and pressed her hands against my chest. Then she tilted her face up.

As I looked down at her…into her eyes...a memory popped into my head.

"I probably won't be able to come back to this town for awhile, Tifa."

"Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?"

"I'll try."

"Hey, why don't we make a promise? Uhm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind…you come save me, all right?"

"What?"

"Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to experience that once."

"What?"

"Come on, Cloud! Promise me!"

"All right…I promise."

Tifa narrowed her brows. "Are you going to just stand there and stare at me, or are you going to come and get your kiss?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"About the promise I made back at the well in Nibelheim…when we were younger."

"You did come when I was in trouble, Cloud. I thought you were just another Shinra guard. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"It's okay, Tifa. In a way, I'm coming to your rescue again."

She smiled. "And what have you rescued me from so far? The big bad warden?"

"I can honestly say I hate that woman. Why is she such a hard ass? She reminds me of those old…"

"Are you ever going to shut up?"

"You shut up." I bent my face down and kissed her. But I wasn't sure what she'd allow me to do. She practically kicked me in the nuts everytime I kissed her…or tried to. I drew back a couple inches because I thought it was over, even though she said I could have a whole minute.

Tifa slid her arms around my neck and moved back in with an open mouth.

I took it as a good sign and followed her example. Her mouth was warm as I slowly slid my tongue in to taste her. She didn't resist…another good sign. I kissed her harder, stroking her tongue. A sound came from her throat. Did I dare hope she liked it?

The timer in my head told me more than a minute had passed as we continued licking and sucking each other's lips. It was more like three minutes.

Tifa brushed her tongue along my lower lip before finally pulling away with a suck. "How's that?"

I shrugged indifferently. "Eh, I've had better." That was so not true.

Tifa laughed as she pulled away and swam backward. "If you say so."

We swam for awhile longer, but I was keeping track of time. It would start getting dark in a couple hours and I wanted to make sure we were dry before heading back to the school or we'd freeze during the ride.

I hopped out of the water and hurried over to my bike. Inside one of the storage compartments was a heat-radiating blanket I used when I was on the road and had to sleep outside. I pulled it out and wrapped it around myself as I sat on the cold ground.

A few minutes later Tifa climbed out of the water and my eyes automatically drifted to her as she walked over. Hell, she might as well have been naked, cuz I could see everything.

Without a word, she squeezed her way between my arms and legs and curled up against me inside the blanket.

"Yeah, sure, make yourself comfortable."

"Don't mind if I do," she said with a deep sigh.

My sarcastic comment obviously went over her head. Did she seriously think I had the self-control to keep my hands from wandering? In about ten seconds she'd be feeling how much my lap appreciated her practically naked body. I slid my arms around her as she nuzzled her face against my neck.

"Thanks for being my friend again, Cloud."

I smiled to myself. Aeris had been dead set against being friends with benefits. Maybe Tifa would be more receptive to the idea. I mean, she let me kiss her and it wasn't just a friendly peck. It spoke to me of better things to come. "Hey, Tifa."

"Yes, Cloud?"

"What's with the condoms in the medicine cabinet?"

She pulled away and looked at me. "What condoms?"

I should have immediately dropped the subject. But I was an idiot. "They're on the bottom shelf in the medicine cabinet. I noticed them the other day."

"What, you think they're mine?"

"Well, whose are they?"

She wrenched herself out of my arms. "I can't believe you think they're mine. What kind of girl do you think I am, Cloud?" She walked away to her pile of clothes. "Just because I let you kiss me doesn't mean we'll be grinding in bed tonight."

I sat there with my mouth open. What the fuck just happened? One second she's practically crawling inside my boxers and the next she's blowing me shit. "I'm not saying I wanna use them, Tifa."

She stopped buttoning her shirt and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, so you think you're going to have unprotected sex with me? Dream on, motorcycle boy."

I buried all ten of my fingers in my hair. Maybe insanity ran on Tifa's mother's side…because both Tifa and Rufus definitely suffered from it. Or maybe it was me. I was an insane airhead to even consider getting intimate with this crazy girl? She didn't even know what she wanted, much less understand what I wanted. She was like a rollercoaster, an emotional train wreck. Even worse than me!

Maybe I just needed to swear off girls for like a decade, otherwise my brain was going to explode.