Chapter 5: Bar Troubles
Cloud really wondered if he was going to have the 'best night of his life', knowing that that would involve a lot of alcohol, and possibly a bunch of horny guys. He thought this was actually going to be the worst night of his life.
They pushed past many tables of drunk or soon to be drunk people, Cloud receiving several appreciative slaps to his bottom as he passed by particularly bold idiots.
"Take yer shirt off love! You'ves got a nice rack!" Boomed a large man with a scraggly beard.
"Go to hell you ass." Cloud replied, hating every moment they spent in the bar like a child hates broccoli.
The man stood up, and looked at Cloud with anger in his eyes.
"WHA YOU CALL ME BITCH?!" He bellowed, wobbling on his unsteady feet as he pointed an accusing finger at Cloud.
"I told you to go to hell." Cloud answered, giving the man a cold glare that would make any sane man hide and cover himself up in fear. But this man turned out to be completely insane.
"YOU WANNA FIGHT BITCH?! I'LL BEAT YAH GOOD, WHORE!" He cried, as he lurched toward them with frightening speed for a drunk man.
But before the man even moved a foot, he stumbled with a great cry of pain, and collapsed onto a table, which shattered as he hit it.
Then a man with long dark red hair came swaggering up to them with a grin on his face.
"Sup Tif? How's Seventh Heaven doing?" He said, casually slipping the taser back into his pocket.
Another man appeared next to the red head, adjusting his sunglasses, and straightening his tie.
"Hello." He said to them, inclining his head slightly toward them in greeting.
Cloud looked at the two men with a shocked look, and then spluttered,
"R-Re-Reno? Rude? What're you two doing here?" He asked.
"We're here saving you from big burly assholes who've had too much to drink." Reno replied, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
Rude just nodded his agreement, and checked his watch.
"Reno, ten minutes..." He said, and walked off toward the door.
Reno gave a curt nod, and turned back to Cloud.
"So, I asked how Seventh Heaven was doing..." He asked again, looking at Cloud for an answer.
Cloud thought about the question for a moment, and then nodded.
"That's great! I'll tell you, it's the best spot to stop and get a cold one... No dumb brutes around to harass you, right?" He smiled some more, and cocked his head slightly, drinking in the sight before him.
Cloud nodded again, and looked away.
"Want a drink? S'on me okay?" Reno said turning to the bar tender, and shouting something that Cloud wasn't paying attention too.
Yuffie was smiling the whole time, as she watched Reno try to weasel his way into Cloud's heart, and failing miserably to do so.
"You seem a little down Tif? Drink up, it'll make you feel better." Reno said as he handed Cloud the drink.
Cloud looked down at the dark brown liquid in the glass, and nearly threw it in Reno's face.
"I'm fine." Cloud snapped, taking a sip of the liquor, and almost gagging.
"What the hell is that?!" Cloud gasped, sloshing some of the alcohol onto Reno's suit.
For a moment Reno's ever enduring grin seemed to falter as he stared down at the large damp spot on his new jacket, but it quickly reappeared when he answered Cloud.
"Well by Gaia, it's the most amazing beer I've ever drank in my life! Best brew this side of the world Tifa! And now I've got it decorating my front!" He laughed it off, but the 750gil suit was ruined, and he was sure that he couldn't get reimbursed for it at work.
"Well, I best be off..." He said, nodding again, and then quickly exiting the bar.
Yuffie stared after him, and then turned to Cloud.
"You really screwed that one up Tifa! Why don't you just date the fool already? He's gorgeous, and he's got a fair bit of money when he doesn't spend it on beer." Yuffie said in a tone that suggested utter disbelief.
"Well first off I'm a gu... Uh, I mean I'm ahh... Already dating some one." Cloud said, flinging out the first thought that came to his mind to cover up for his near fatal mistake.
Yuffie looked up at Cloud with a look that would remind you of a kid at Christmas, her eyes wide and full of mischief as she gazed at him.
"You're... You're already dating someone Tifa? And you didn't tell me!? Really?" She said, her wonder dissolving into shock.
"Uh... Well... Not exactly dating..." He continued, as his mind worked at light speed to pick up yet another blunder that he had made.
"My goodness! And I thought you'd never get over Spiky!" Yuffie continued, shaking her head as if she where checking to see if she where dreaming.
"Spiky?" Cloud asked, his eyes narrowing slightly at the nickname.
"Yeah, you know... Cloud!" Yuffie said, grinning at Cloud as a look of shock spread across his face.
"What do you mean... 'Get over Spiky'?" He answered, mouth hanging open.
"Don't try to play innocent with me Tifa! The whole group knows about your little crush on Mr. Choco-head." Yuffie replied, giving Cloud a wink.
"Crush?" Cloud said, still not sure what she was saying.
"Okay... Did you start drinking before we got here? You don't act like a ditz until after you've had a few..."
"No... I haven't!"
"Let me put it simply... We know you love Cloud, Tifa... You're almost madly in love with him... Everyone knows about it... That's how obvious it is! And to think, Spiky's so dense that he doesn't even notice!" She answered, laughing at the fact that Cloud was indeed very dense.
"Tifa like me?" Cloud blurted out, completely forgetting that he was Tifa at the moment.
Yuffie gave Cloud an odd look, and shook her head.
"You must have been drinking... You're acting like Cloud!"
Cloud looked taken aback.
"Shit!" He muttered under his breath, and ordered something strong with ice, and laid his head against the table.
Yuffie continued to shoot odd looks at Cloud, while another person watched the two of them with interest.
"Looks like that pretty girl is having a bad day... I could score some points if I could cheer her up." The man thought, as he watched Cloud putting his head on the counter.
The man stood, and sauntered over to the bar, and slipped in next to Cloud, and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You all right there Missy? You're looking a little down?" He asked, rubbing Cloud's back in a comforting manner.
Cloud looked up, and glared at the man.
"Get your hands off of me mister, or I'll remove something..." He said in a threatening way, his eyes narrowed in anger.
"Oh sorry, it was rather brash of me to do that." The man said, removing his hand quickly, and putting it in his lap.
The bar tender brought Cloud the drink, and Cloud downed it in three gulps, and slammed the glass on the counter, ordering another one.
The man stared at Cloud, and then started laughing.
"You drink like a man... Oh, my name is Randy... What's yours?"
Cloud looked at the drink that was being poured, and then looked at Randy, and then back at the drink.
"Tifa..." He said after a few moments, and then he chugged the second drink, and put the glass down again.
"Tifa... I know that name! You run the Seventh Heaven bar in Edge right?"
"Yeah. So?" Cloud asked, as the bar tender filled his glass again.
"Well... I just thought... Never mind, what's on your mind, if you wouldn't mind." Randy said, looking down at the bar, and frowning.
"No... I really don't want to talk to you... Please leave me alone... I've got enough on my mind to worry about." Cloud said, drinking the third beer a lot slower, taking sips instead of gulping it down.
"I'm sorry to bother you Miss, I'll leave now." Randy said, getting up and walking back to his friends, disappointment written clearly across his face.
"Wow Tifa... You really seem down... You haven't gotten over Cloud have you?" Yuffie asked, as she watched the dejected Randy walk back to his table.
"I am... And no, I'm not going to talk about it!" Cloud snapped, as he saw Yuffie opening her mouth to respond.
Yuffie nodded, and ordered herself a cold beer, watching Cloud as she did.
"I wonder what's gotten into Tif? She seems to be having a really bad day. The bands late, and she's acting pissy like Cloud... What's going on?"