1Crap, I've forgotten the disclaimer for the rest chapter. This goes for this one too.
Disclaimer: I NO OWN.
The first thing Yuffie did was call Tifa to tell her that her outfit had been changed, which it turned out Tifa had been planning as well. Then Yuffie showered, blow-dried her hair, put on her necklace and her vanilla-scented perfume that she almost never wore, painted her toenails dark red, and dressed. At six o'clock, she was sitting on the edge of a chair in the den, trying not to wrinkle her dress, even though her mother said the fabric was suppose to be wrinkle-proof.
"I told you that you didn't have to dress up so much," Zack said from his prone position on the couch. "Riku will think it's weird."
"No, he won't," Yuffie snapped. Of course, this was what she'd been worrying about for the last two hours. But it was too late now.
The doorbell rang, and she leaped up to answer it before her mother could get there.
It was Tifa. She squealed the instant she saw Yuffie.
"Oh my goodness! You look fantastic!"
"Come in," Yuffie said, blushing. "Riku's not here yet."
"What a hero your boyfriend is," Tifa said. "My loser said he'd meet us there. Which means, by the way, that he'll have already bought his ticket, and I'll have to buy my own. Cloud's a little unclear on some of the basic principles of dating."
Yuffie hadn't thought about that. Would Riku be paying for her? Maybe he'd have to, for appearances, and then she could pay him back later.
"Hi, Zack." Tifa said as they entered the den. "Hey, did I see you ate the drugstore yesterday?"
"No," he said quickly.
"I thought it was you," Tifa said," but I couldn't figure out why anyone would be buying notebooks and a protractor in the summertime, so maybe I was wrong."
Yuffie gave Zack a puzzled look, but he didn't meet her eyes.
The doorbell rang again, and this time it was Riku. He looked freshly showered and his short-sleeved gray button down made his eyes look smoky and dark. He was holding a short, dark red rose.
"Holy smokes," he said. "You-that-you-uh... I like your dress."
Yuffie felt like she must be turning the world's brightest shade of red.
"Hi, Riku," she managed.
"This is for you," he said, handing her the rose. As she took it, their fingers brushed, and suddenly he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. It was soft and quick, like a butterfly bumping against her face. Guessing that meant Tifa was behind her, Yuffie glanced around, but they were alone in the hallway.
So... why did he-?
"Riku!" Zack called from the den. "Stop loitering and come in here!"
"Thank you," Yuffie whispered, shutting the door behind Riku as he stamped his feet on the welcome mat. He looked quizzical, and she held up the flower.
"Oh my God," Tifa said, poking her head in. "Did you get her that, Riku? That's unbelievable. Do you know how many times Cloud has gotten me flowers? Zero. He's such a troglodyte. That was the Word of the Day today; isn't it cool? Man, look how perfect that rose is! You guys are too cute for words. Yuffie, let's go find something to put it in." She fastened her hand around Yuffie's wrist and dragged her into the kitchen. Riku went into the den and Yuffie could hear the murmur of his voice and Zack's.
"How much does that guy adore you?" Tifa said, pulling open cabinets. "I know Selphie Sorrento a little from field hockey and I don't think he ever got her flowers. I'm sorry, I shouldn't bring up the ex-girlfriend, should I? Don't worry, he never looked at her the way he looks at you. Oh here, this should work." She fished out a small glass vase and helped Yuffie fill it with water.
Yuffie set the rose in the vase and gently touched the petals. It was perfect. Why couldn't this all be real?
They said good-bye to Zack and set off walking. Tifa chattered most of the way, so Yuffie didn't have to worry about what to say to Riku. Normally it was easy to talk to him, but this was different. This was a date. Sort of.
Cloud Strife was standing in front of the movie theater, rocking on his heels. Unlike Riku, he was just wearing a T-shirt and ripped jeans, and he looked like he hadn't showered in a couple of days. He also didn't compliment Tifa, although Yuffie thought she looked totally cute in her dark green sundress. And Tifa had been right: He'd already bought his ticket, so she had to but her own. Riku closed his hand over Yuffie's as she tried to pull money out of her purse.
"No, no," he said. "Let me do the boyfriend thing." He grinned and she smiled back.
"Ahem," Tifa said. "They boyfriend thing, you say? You mean, taking your girlfriend to the movies, bringing her flowers, telling her she looks nice? Are there boyfriends who actually do that?"
"Hey, I'm here, aren't I?" Cloud said grumpily. "Even though this movie looks super lame. You should be happy enough about that."
"Oh, I am," Tifa said, taking his hand. "I feel so blessed to be honored with your presence, I can't even handle it."
Yuffie giggled, but Cloud huffed out a breath of air like he didn't get that she was joking.
Inside, there was a confusing moment as they figured out where to sit. But Yuffie wound up between Riku and Tifa, with Cloud on the other side of Tifa. Then Riku offered to go get popcorn, and Cloud asked him to get some for him, too. When Riku came back, he was also carrying a large soda and a box of Junior Mints for Yuffie.
"You like these, right?" heh said to her as he sat down.
"They're my favorite, thank you," she said. On her other side, Tifa sighed loudly, but Cloud missed her meaningful look.
"I figured we could split the soda," Riku said. "but, um, they were nearly out of straws, so I only took one. Is that gross? Do you mind?"
"No, that's okay," Yuffie said. As she took a sip, she realized it was Cherry Coke, the kind she liked. Riku was a perfect pretend boyfriend. He should take notes for the next time he really dated someone. She looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling sad. She didn't want him to date anyone else. She didn't want to go back to being Yuffie while someone else got to be Riku's girlfriend. And then Tifa would pity her, and Namine would be so smug.
The lights went down, and Riku leaned over. "Are you alright?" he whispered. "The soda seemed to really depress you."
She laughed. "Well, it had such a sad childhood," she whispered back. "I feel like we're taking advantage of it."
"Nah, just putting it out of its misery," Riku said with a grin, and then the previews came on.
As the theater went totally dark and the movie started, Yuffie began to wonder what to do with her hands. Should she rest them on her knees? Or on the armrest? Or fold them in front of her? Or cross her arms? Was Riku thinking about holding her hand? She slid her eyes sideways without moving her head and saw that Tifa and Cloud were holding hands. Would Tifa notice if she and Riku didn't? Should she do something, or wait for Riku to do something, or-
Riku reached over and took her hand, resting it on top of his on the armrest.
Okay. That answered that question. Of course, he'd been on dates like this before. He knew the right thing to do. Yuffie glanced sideways again, and saw Cloud and Tifa were kissing (!!) And the movie had barely started! Surely they wouldn't expect her and RIku to do that? Would they?
An unfamiliar sensation brushed across her hand, and she nearly jumped out of her seat. Riku was slowly running his thumb back and forth over her knuckles. It felt like a secret code vibrating through her skin. Almost as if he were saying, "Don't worry, I'm here," and, "Your beautiful," and, "I can't resist you." Why was he doing that? What did it mean? Should she do something too?
Yuffie knew she was being crazy, but her heart was ignoring her brain and had sped up to a million beats an hour. She could barely concentrate on the movie. Luckily it was a pretty short one, because by the end she didn't think her heart could take any more.
"Wasn't that great?" Tifa enthused as the crowd spilled out into the street. "I knew it would be great. It was so great!"
Yuffie wondered how Tifa could have enjoyed the movie when she seemed to have spent so much of it kissing Cloud. Then Tifa stopped in her tracks, and Cloud had to drag her out of the way of the people behind her.
"Oh, no," Tifa moaned. "What is she doing here?"
Namine was standing outside the movie theater, arms folded. She looked long and slim and elegant, as always, although the angry expression made her much less pretty.
"Tifa!" she hissed.
"Hey, Namine," Tifa said, nervously. "Look who we ran into."
"After all I've done for you," Namine said, her voice as cold as ice. "I made you popular. I got you a boyfriend. Don't you know I can take it all away like that?" she snapped her fingers.
Yuffie found herself unconsciously leaning into Riku, away from Namine, and he put one arm around her in a protective way that she liked. Was this an act. Namine seemed genuinely mad. Maybe Tifa really had been keeping it a secret from her. But then how did Namine know to show up there?
A suspicion struck her. Could Namine have weaseled the information out of Leon?
"Oh, for heaven's sake," Tifa said. "Don't be a drama queen, Namine. I just wanted to go to the movies. You're not the be-all and end-all of my social life."
"You'll be lucky to have a social life after this," Namine said. "Cloud, come with me." she turned regally, swinging her hair back from her forehead.
"Please," TIfa scoffed. "He's my boyfriend."
"Not if I don't want him to be," Namine said. "Come along, Cloud."
Cloud hesitated, looking back and forth between them. Tifa's mouth dropped open. "For real?" she said. "Cloud!"
"I can get you Selphie Sorrento," Namine said to him.
"Okay," Cloud said with a shrug. "Maybe she won't fuss at me like this one does."
Riku snorted.
"You kiss like a wet fish, anyway!" Tifa called as Cloud trailed after Namine. "Troglodyte!"
Riku and Yuffie exchanged uncomfortable glances. Yuffie wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. Tifa wasn't exactly her friend, but they couldn't just walk away from her after that.
"Oh my God," Tifa huffed, blowing strands of hair out of her face. "What a waste of three months that was. I'm sorry guys, we totally ruined your date."
"It's okay," Yuffie said. Especially since it's not even a real date.
"I guess you guys should go to dinner without me," Tifa said. "I'll just go home and start cutting Cloud out of photographs or something."
"That sounds terrible, Tifa," Yuffie said. "You should come with us." Besides, she had no idea what she and Riku would talk about for an entire dinner by themselves. Would they still act like it was a date? As long as Tifa was there, she could keep pretending it really was.
"Yeah," Riku said halfheartedly.
"Oh, sure," Tifa said. "Third wheel on your one-week anniversary. I'm sure that's exactly what you want."
"We could call Zack," Yuffie said. "I'm sure he'd be happy to come join us. And then you wouldn't feel like a third wheel."
Tifa brightened a little. "Really? Wouldn't that be weird?"
"He won't mind," Yuffie said. "Right, Riku?"
"Sure," Riku said. "I guess I can share you this once." He took her hand and squeezed it. She wondered what that meant.
Tifa loaned Yuffie her cell phone, and although he grumbled a bit in his Zack way about being in the middle of filming, he managed to make it to the diner in record time. He slid into the booth, next to Tifa, before they'd even had a chance to order.
"Hey, Zack," Tifa said. "Sorry to drag you out into the world on a Friday night. You'll never believe how I got ditched."
As she launched into the story of Cloud and Namine, Riku leaned sideways and tapped on the back of Yuffie's hand. She jumped.
"Want to share fries?" he said.
"Sure, okay," Yuffie answered. She thought it was interesting to watch Tifa transform her whole three-month relationship with Cloud into a funny story. It was as if Tifa's life could be TV show in her own mind- something hilarious that happened to someone else. The way she described it to Zack, it really did seem very funny. But Yuffie couldn't imagine doing that herself. When Riku went off to date someone else, she wouldn't be able to tell sidesplitting stories about pretending to be his girlfriend. She would just be sad.
After dinner, they went back to Zack and Yuffie's house and baked cookies, filming themselves with Zack's camera, until their mother finally announced that it was time for tifa and Riku to go home. Yuffie realized that she hadn't been worrying about how to act on the date for at least a couple of hours. It had been like any other night when Riku came over, except Tifa was there, too.
And there was one other difference. Yuffie walked Tifa and Riku to the door, where Tifa's mom was waiting outside in the car. Tifa started down the porch steps, but Riku hesitated in the doorway.
Oh my God, Yuffie thought. It's the end of the date. Don't real couples kiss at the end of a date? Will Tifa think it's weird if we don't Does it matter, if she's not friends with Namine anymore?
Riku looked into her eyes, and Yuffie held her breath. On one hand, she wanted him to. Of course she wanted him to; she'd been wanting Riku to kiss her for almost three years. But if this was her first kiss... she wanted it to be real. She wanted it to be important to the guy as well as to her. She wanted Riku to kiss her because he wanted to, not because he was playing a role.
"Um, good night," she said quickly, stepping forward to hug him good-bye. Maybe that would let him know that he didn't have to do anything else.
His arms tightened around her and it seemed for a moment like time slowed down, and she could have stood there forever, pressed against him. She breathed in the smell of his hair and felt the warmth of his face right next to hers.
Finally he let go and stepped back, and she did too, trying to act casual, like that had been a perfectly ordinary hug.
"Okay. Good night," he said. He ducked his head, kissed her quickly on the cheek, and then turned, jumping down the steps. Within moments, he had vanished into the night. And that was the end of Yuffie's first date.
So glad I got that off my chest. I'm so tired right now, it's 1:46 AM, and I have a soccer game today, and tomorrow. It might be awhile before any new chapters come, that's why I posted three.
I'm going to bed, and I'm going to hide from my sister's friends.
Forever Yours,
Erin