Disclaimer: FFVII is not mine, sadly. I profit in no way from this. Sadly.
Chapter 6
Tifa sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed looking at her walls thoughtfully. 'Would red really work? Perhaps… a blue, a soft, light blue.'
It was rather late, yet again, as she sat up in bed at nearly 2 a.m., flattering her walls with even more consideration. The two close friends had finished the downstairs at a quarter to 10pm and spent the rest of the night sitting at the bar and sharing a drink, simply talking. After a while, Cloud excused himself with a yawn and retired to his room, with Tifa following his example soon after. She couldn't sleep though and simply tossed and turned before sitting up, letting her mind meander. So she heard when Cloud left his room around 1 a.m., carefully trying not to make a sound as he passed her door and left.
She did not sigh however, didn't even blink an eye. She was starting to get used to this routine; his absence. 'He'll come back eventually. Besides, what he does is none of my business.' Tifa didn't spend the rest of that hour simply staring at her walls though; she had gotten up after he left and organized her room a little bit, wearing her robe over her gown.
She smiled as she thought of it, her fingers absently stroking the material. Cloud had given the robe to her a couple of years ago, completely out of the blue. She had been complaining about being cold in the morning, which was really more of an attempt to start conversation with the man who had begun to become distant with Geostigma, and the next day she found a package on her bed. Wrapped in parcel paper, the robe was very soft and very warm, and a deep, wine red. She usually thought of Cloud when she wore it, which was why it was beginning to fray and wear out in certain areas from nearly constant use.
'I really shouldn't worry about him. I mean, I'm not his mother or anything. Just a roommate and good friend. That's it. Yeah.' Tifa brightened, renewing her conviction to get over the man.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the downstairs door open again and a fit of giggles floated up the stairs. Tifa grew very still. Those were feminine giggles… lusty feminine giggles. The strange, female voice was too quiet to be coherent, but it sounded slightly drunk. The steps up the stairs also sounded slightly drunk, both pairs did actually. Two sets of feet thumped up the stairs slowly and erratically, as more giggles and hushing sounds erupted. What sounded like shoulders bumping into the walls and doors did nothing to cover the laughing.
Cloud had brought home another woman.
Tifa stopped breathing. She had stopped as soon as she heard them reach the top step outside her door. Her heart was beating wilding in her ears, threatening to burst with the strain. Her throat became dry and felt like every organ in her body had been stuffed in it, except her stomach. Her stomach had landed somewhere near the floor by now. Unconsciously her hands had fisted in her coverlet, eyes frantically wide, and mouth open.
Never. Never had Cloud brought home another woman. She didn't even think he'd even kissed one before, much less actually been with one. But by the sounds of things and what she predicted to be the outcome, both assumptions were going to be shattered tonight.
Her hyper alerted ears heard his bed squeak in protest as a pair of bodies fell in to it, and the throaty groan of an appreciative woman. She heard his name in a long, low moan and she suddenly felt distraught, but she couldn't move. She couldn't stop straining her ears to listen and she certainly couldn't stop the hot, burning, searing liquid that rolled down her cheeks, unbeknownst to her. But she couldn't move.
It was the woman's sudden, excited gasp that sent her flying from her room. She only had time to step into shoes and grab her wallet in a brief flash of clarity, before she flew from her room and out the door, tumbling out into the night.
She stopped and leaned against the heavy wooden door, her chest heaving, and her tears continuously coursing hotly down her cheeks. She touched a finger to her cheek and looked at the glistening fingertip in disgust before launching herself from the door and running wildly down the dark street.
'Damn you, Cloud. For making me cry. I'm not supposed to cry. I can't cry. I'm not allowed to cry. Damn you.'
[[*Cackles* Heehee, sorry, I couldn't help but keep writing after uploading that last chapter and felt that this was a much better cliff hanger to leave you on until the next one. ^_-. We the deepening drama, I'm also changing the rating to a 'T' just in case.]]