I really wish I had grammar check on my computer because after reading a little bit of Prom Night Fun, I just wanted to slap myself for not being thorough with my run-throughs.
I also helps to not only be able to write this for a deceased friend of mine but to keep my mind occupied from another event that I found out about today. Mark this week of July 5th - July 11th as my own personal H E Double Hockey sticks week. The previous week was stellar. :p
Alrighty, I should put in a disclaimer before I get too deep into the story here. The events are mostly true except not with Cloud nor Vincent. My mind wasn't crafty enough to conjure up these two individuals nor did it come up with Sephiroth or any future characters I may include from Final Fantasy VII. I do not claim any ownership or contributions, nada.
…...
Chapter 3
Cloud ran a hand through his long, spiky hair. He should've seen it coming when his boss hired in Mage and Vivi to help with making pizzas in the back of the house and serving customers in the front end. Things went smoothly at first, but when Vivi's drawer came up short from time to day, a red flag was raised. Mage's attitude went from humble and happy to downright unacceptable as he began to lose his cool over the most minor situations, such as when Cloud informed him to watch how much cheese to put on a pizza. He had never seen someone react as though they had been accused of stealing something. Once again, the alarm bells rang inside Cloud's head as inventoried the food product in the store and found a shortage on certain pizza toppings and dough.
When he brought the situation up to Mr. Ferrari, the store manager, he discussed how Vivi's drawer was short again and was fed up with either the negligence of handling money properly or the possible theft that was occurring. He pulled Vivi into the back office, explained the situation to her, and wrote her up. In return, she just nodded her head in silence and signed the write up.
As he thought back on the recent events that occurred with Mage and Vivi, his boss told had informed him that when Mage came in to prepare pizzas, he had left the kitchen a complete mess by throwing food everywhere and left a nasty letter stating that he didn't do anything wrong and was nowhere to be found when the boss came in to open the store.
"On top of that, Vivi just informed me that she found a job at IHOP and is willing to work at both jobs. What do you think?"
"To be honest, boss, I doubt we'll see her after today," Cloud responded truthfully.
Mr. Ferrari sighed heavily, agitated that things had to go down like this after having a good crew in his store for so long. It also sounded like a sigh of relief for being able to weed out the bad from the good as he finished the conversation.
"Well, that settles things. I'm going to call a couple of individuals whom I had my eye on for a while and let both of them know that they start tomorrow, and I'm letting you do all the training, Cloud. Make me proud, son."
Cloud's eyes widened as he felt touched by being given a important task to do. Never had he been given the sole responsibility of training anyone from start to finish, and the last part just made him want to give the old boss a big hug. Then again, the man could crush him without realizing how strong he was.
"Yes, sir. I'll be more than happy to help train our new team members tomorrow. You can count on me. See you tomorrow."
…...
"The names are Vincent Valentine and Sephiroth… hm, I can't really read his handwriting. I'll have to ask what his last name is when they come in." Mr. Ferrari was filling Cloud in on the boys' work history and why he felt they would be excellent candidates for the positions.
Cloud excused himself from the back office as he heard the front door ring followed by footsteps entering the empty restaurant. As the customers approached the counter, Cloud noted that these were not regulars. In fact, they kind of looked different - both looked to be about Cloud's age the their late teens. One had long jet black hair, crimson red eyes, and a vampire-like complexion while the other was as pale as could be with long silver hair and piercing green eyes. He noticed the height difference with the silver haired man being almost a foot taller than the raven haired one.
"Hello, can I help y-"
Mr. Ferrari interrupted Cloud as he came out of the office with a big smile on his chubby face.
"Vincent, Sephiroth. It's a pleasure to finally meet you two!"
Cloud's facial reaction went from welcoming to wondering what on Earth Mr. Ferrari was thinking by hiring these two guys who appeared to be going through a goth phase and had hair that were longer than most of the women Cloud knew.
The crimson eyed one took notice of Cloud's look of disapproval and looked down on the ground in an ashamed manner. Cloud wanted to smack himself for jumping the gun with these two, but they just weren't the type of people the boss usually hired on.
Then again, neither were a married couple who steal money and pizzas from the store.
"A pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm Sephiroth" The tall silver-haired man stated coolly, sticking his hand out as Mr. Ferrari shook it firmly with his own.
The raven haired one spoke softly. "I'm Vincent Valentine." He had a warm smile as he allowed his hair to cover a good part of the left side of his face, a piercing crimson eye peaking through as he shook Mr. Ferrari's hand.
"I'm glad you're here after waiting for a couple of weeks to see how things turned out with Vivi and Mage. I think it's safe to say that, with Vivi not showing up today like she said she would, you're both on board. Cloud here's going to show you the ropes, and I have faith in him that he'll fill you in on everything you need to know. He's been around for a while, and I feel that he can help promote you two someday to shift managers, if you like."
"That sounds like a plan to me, Mr. Ferrari," Sephiroth responded with a bright smile on his face.
Vincent merely nodded his head.
Cloud wondered if Vincent was here because he wanted to work here or if Sephiroth kind of persuaded him to fill out an application and just go with the flow.
All Cloud knew was that these two were going to be a heck of a lot better than Vivi and Mage.
"Alright, Sephiroth, come with me so I can put you into the system and get paid for being here today. Cloud, you've got a handle taking care of Vincent?"
"Of course."
As Mr. Ferrari and Sephiroth went into the back office, Cloud showed Vincent the server area, the computer to place orders in, silverware and cup locations, all the knitty-gritty stuff that help makes the magic happen.
Vincent stood in one spot and kept nodding at Cloud after every few sentences were said.
Cloud felt that Vincent was listening to what he had to say and even tested him out by having him put in orders and show Cloud where the silverware went and how to properly clean tables.
Vincent did everything as told in a graceful manner without a simply slip up, and that was something no one ever did on their first day. Even Cloud had his share of tripping and having a pizza fall onto the carpet his first day, and the memory still leaves its mark to this day.
"Alright, I think that'll do for today's lesson on the front end. Perhaps, I can train you tomorrow when it comes to preparing pizzas."
"Yeah, that's fine with me."
Cloud really didn't want to put up with anymore silent moments like he did in the last hour with training Vincent, so he decided to try and break the habit by engaging in conversation towards Vincent's direction.
"So, Vincent. What do you like to do for fun?"
Vincent's head perked up as though he couldn't believe Cloud was talking to him in an almost friend like manner instead of like a boss.
"Um, well… I like to draw and write poetry."
Cloud nodded his head. "That's pretty cool, dude. I actually was going to go to college myself to take art classes and see if I could make a career out of it. I have some of my work hanging in my apartment that's been praised by the mayor here."
"Wow, that's impressive. I'd like to see what kind of pieces you have created."
"That sounds like something we could do sometime later on once you and Sephiroth get adjusted to working here."
A touching smile spread across Vincent's face. "Excellent. If you don't mind me asking… you said you were going to go to college?"
Cloud felt something drop inside him as he dropped his head a bit. "Yeah, I had everything set to go to a highly appraised art school in a town called Sagewick. My parents were all over me wanting to go there and live out my dream after graduating. Unfortunately, my father had heart problems and … collapsed on my graduation day a couple of years ago. Things got a little hectic, but I still plan to go… someday."
"Yikes, I'm sorry, Cloud. I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't know, Vincent. Besides, that was two years ago, and a lot of the pain has subsided. It's just nice to get you to talk instead of standing there looking like you want to say something but don't. Please, feel free to speak to me as your friend."
There's that smile again. "Thanks, Cloud. I never thought I'd have more than one person to call my friend in my entire life. Sephiroth and I have known each other since we were little, but we really couldn't stand each other at first. He was hanging around this kid we both knew named Zach, who acted like an ass around me. Sephiroth adopted that mentality and would do the junior high shit like plan gum on my seat just as I was about to sit down. One day, I gathered enough courage to slam his locker door right into his head as he was peaking in, not seeing me coming. I kept slamming the door into his head until he blacked out, then I took off from school since it was still early.
Word eventually got around that I was the one who conked him, so later that day, he comes to my house, we get into a tussle, and the rest is history. A friendship formed out of that, and whenever someone gives me trouble, he's like an older brother who steps in and gives them that look of 'if you want him, you gotta get through me, though I doubt that'll happen.' "
Cloud was a little speechless. Just almost two hours ago, he saw a guy who struck him as being a bit of a loner and wouldn't talk to anyone. Someone who minded his own business and wouldn't harm a fly. Looks can be deceiving - ain't that the truth!
As Vincent removed his arms from a crossed position on the counter, his long sleeve was caught on a nail that was sticking out. He pulled back quick, allowing the sleeve to rip a couple of inches.
Cloud didn't want to alarm Vincent as he noticed two deep vertical gashes on his wrist. He quickly looked away as he felt Vincent noticing his error and looking at Cloud in a worried manner, covering up his wounds. From Cloud's peripheral vision, it appeared that Vincent sighed in relief, believing that Cloud hadn't noticed the wounds as he dropped his arms to his side.
"Say Cloud. I know we've just met and all, but I would like to invite you over to my place after work. Since we both have something in common, I'd like to show you my drawings and get your expertise on them."
"That's fine by me, but trust me, I'm not an expert. I just have that gifted eye… and I bet you do, too."
"Alright. My house isn't too far from here, and you can meet my mom, too. She'll love the fact that I made a friend on my first day of work."
"Hopefully, it can be one that'll last a lifetime." Cloud never really said that to anyone before, but there was something about Vincent that kind of drew the two close immediately. He also wanted to figure out what the wounds on his wrist were from. Until then, he dismissed it and looked forward to hanging out with someone new that wasn't Mr. Ferrari.
