"Owww," Cloud groaned as he woke up. Not yet opening his eyes, he rolled on his bed. The sheets felt surprisingly soft and silky, but Cloud didn't have time to enjoy their comfort, for he was immediately hit with the mother of all hangovers. His stomach churned and his head felt as though it was being crushed by some unseen force. He pushed the silk sheets off his body.
Wait a minute! Silk sheets? What the fuck?
Cloud's eyes snapped open in shock. This was not his room! It was large and spacious, with comfortable white sheets. His headache returned, and he clutched at his head in agony. Suddenly, all the memories came rushing back. The party, the alcohol, the mushrooms and JESSIE. It had been his first time with a woman, and it was Jessie? Not that he found her unattractive, but he felt nothing for the girl, and he'd gone and slept with her. This must be her house, his mother was gonna cut his balls off!
"Ah, so you're finally awake," a masculine voice came. Cloud managed to open his eyes again to look at the man who had spoken.
Standing in the doorway was a man. He was tall, with short dark hair and despite looking in his mid-forties, he seemed healthy and well-built. This must have been Jessie's father. He was wearing a black suit, but a smart one, not the cheap, outdated ones Cloud was used to seeing on old guys. Cloud couldn't help but groan, as another wave of pain shot through his head.
"Hangover eh?" The older man said with a smile. "Well, some breakfast might help you out, come on."
He took Cloud by the arm and led him out of the bedroom. Cloud managed to notice that he at least had clothes on, his boxer from the previous night, and a loose fitting shirt.
The man led Cloud into a very snazzy looking kitchen, and eased him into a stool. Cloud promptly let his head fall into his arms.
"You got a name kid?" The man asked.
Cloud looked up with another small groan, he was feeling a little better now. "Cloud."
"Ah, you must be the famous Cloud. Pleased to meet you, my daughter's spoken well of you," the man said from a counter, where he was brewing a cup of coffee. "Sugar?"
"Yeah, two please," Cloud answered slowly.
"Sure thing," the older man said, bringing him a steaming cup. "Drink that, it should make you feel better."
Cloud did as he was told, unsure how to react and wondering why the man hadn't yet killed him for defiling his daughter as yet.
The man sat across from him, reading a newspaper, his own cup in his hand.
"How did I get here?" Cloud asked, finally.
"My daughter came home last night with you in the car. She said you had a little too much to drink at the party and didn't want your mom to worry, so she asked if you could stay the night. I saw no reason to say otherwise, you were already pretty much asleep," the man replied with another smile.
Cloud nodded uncertainly. He raised his cup to his lips and sipped at his coffee. It tasted good. He soon emptied it, and made to stand up.
"Leaving so soon?" The man asked him, glancing up from his newspaper with a raised eyebrow.
"I have to get home," Cloud said hurriedly. "My mom must be worried sick!"
"Nonsense boy! Do you even know where you are?" The man replied.
Cloud hung his head, why was this man being so nice to him?
"Now if this is about what happened with you and my daughter-"
"Sir! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to happen! I had a little too much to drink and she was right there and AAARRGH! I'm so sorry!" Cloud burst out, before he could stop himself.
The man looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, boy?"
"I'm sorry I slept with your daughter," Cloud breathed, holding his head in his hands.
Instead of looking enraged and demanding Cloud leave his house, while brandishing a gun, the man just looked bemused.
"I had no idea-"
"Papa!"
Both men turned to regard the new arrival. It was Tifa! Cloud felt his jaw slack in shock. This man was Tifa's father, not Jessie's. And he had just declared he had slept with Tifa!
"What's going on?" Tifa demanded as she strode into the room, wearing a simple yellow dress. "Papa, I told you to be nice to him, he had a rough night!"
"A little rougher than you explained to me, darling," Mr Lockheart replied, gazing uneasily from the blonde man to his daughter. "From what I'm told, I believe you two had a little- ah- 'tryst' last night."
"What?" Tifa yelped. "No- we didn't- I mean- oooh," she said, realisation dawning on her. She began laughing uncontrollably.
"Uhm, Tifa, I highly doubt this is a laughing matter," Mr Lockheart said with a concerned look at her.
Tifa seemed unable to contain her laughter. "No, no Papa," she said still laughing. "Cloud here, went and had a drunken thing with a girl at that party last night, and thought YOU were her dad!"
Mr Lockheart blinked, before he also saw the funny side of it and joined in his daughter's mirth.
The laughter only caused Cloud's head to ache even more. He clutched at it in despair, groaning.
"Well it looks like he's got a bad case of hangover," Mr Lockheart said, gazing at Cloud.
"Yep, well anyway Cloud, I called your mom and told her you'd be home a little later today. So you can go have a shower and get changed and I'll take you home," Tifa said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Wh- what?" Cloud asked.
Tifa giggled again, and took Cloud by the hands and led him into the hall. "Nevermind, just go get showered, I got your clothes from last night," she said showing him the bathroom.
Although his head still hurt, Cloud managed to shower without any incident. The hot water soothed his aching head and he felt a lot better as he stepped out of the shower. He found Tifa had been thoughtful enough to leave the fluffiest pink towel she could find on the door. He was in no mood to be fussy though, and dried himself off at top speed. He noticed his clothes from the previous night folded neatly on top of a nearby basket. He quickly pulled everything on and exitted the bathroom.
Tifa was sitting on the couch in the living room, absently puffing at a cigarette when he entered. Obviously her dad knew about her habit and either he didn't mind or had given up trying to convince her to quit.
At the sight of him, Tifa smiled and stood up. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," Cloud answered. "Where's your dad? I wanted to thank him for everything."
Tifa blinked. When she realised Cloud wasn't joking, her eyes brightened warmly. "He's already left for work, but I'll be sure to let him know," she said with a laugh.
Cloud smiled sheepishly, he wouldn't be surprised if she was making fun of him, but when it came to Tifa, you had to expect the unexpected.
"Your dad only leaves for work at one?" Cloud asked incredulously, changing the topic as he followed Tifa towards the garage.
"Yep, he owns a gas station and bar in Sector 7. He's pretty much the boss, so he can basically turn whenever he likes," she said with a laugh. "You know, Cloud?"
"Hmm," Cloud answered as they reached the car.
"You really are a special person. Don't ever change who you are for anybody," Tifa said, climbing into the car.
Cloud wondered for a minute what she meant. Internally shrugging, he decided to forget about it.
Tifa pulled out of the garage flawlessly and Cloud got his first glimpse of her house from the outside. It put Cissnei's place to shame. Not only was the place huge, but well decorated and surrounded by sculpted hedges, not the goofy animal shapes people tended to go for, but tasteful spirals and other abstract shapes. The house was an immaculate white, with silver, spiralled fencing and burgalar proofing, with a smart cream roof.
"Wow Tifa! Your place is amazing, much better than Cissnei's!" Cloud gushed, his blue eyes wide.
Tifa gave a short laugh, before her eyes turned sad. "My mom designed it. Woman had seriously good taste!"
"I'm sorry," Cloud said.
Tifa shook her head, and pulled out another cigarette before she began driving. "What is it with you Cloud? You do nothing wrong and then apologise? The fuck?" She said with a side-long glance at him.
"I dunno," Cloud said. He looked out the window introspectively. "I just feel like I need to say something when people say things like that. And something that tells them that I care, and I'm not just listening to pass the time," he said finally.
Tifa gave him another glance, and smiled to herself. "You really are something Cloud!"
Cloud looked at her, with a teasing smile. "That a bad thing," he asked.
"No, on the contrary I think it's really good. You're like a breath of fresh air. There aren't a lot of guys like you around!" She said.
Cloud didn't reply, just stared at this beautiful woman. Even with a smoking cigarette in her hand, she still looked absolutely flawless. She just looked so beautiful, so innocent. So far, all of the rumours he had heard about her were false. It just shows what jealousy does. He felt even worse for believing them now.
All of a sudden, another memory hit him. A handsome, red-haired youth pulling Tifa away from him.
"Tifa?"
"Hmmm?"
"Who was that guy at the party last night?" Cloud asked.
"Who? Oh, you mean Genesis?" She asked him, with a glance.
"I'm not sure," he said with an uneasy look.
"Tall? Red hair? Green eyes? Dressed in red leather?" She asked him.
"Uhm yeah," Cloud was amazed at how much detail she described him in. He could barely remember anything about the guy.
"Yep," Tifa said with a nod. "That's Genesis. He's an ex of mine," she continued dismissively.
"Oh, what happened to you guys?" Cloud asked, trying to keep his tone casual.
Tifa sighed. "It's not something I care to talk about with just anyone. No offence Cloud, but I don't think I feel comfortable talking to you about him."
Cloud nodded, but his mind was reeling. Even though Tifa meant no harm, her words still stung his heart.
"So how long were you guys together?" Cloud asked.
"About a year, give or take with all the on and offs we had," Tifa replied.
"Did you guys..." Cloud was unable to finish the question, it wasn't any of his business. He didn't own Tifa, she didn't have to answer anything to him. All the same, he had to know.
Tifa was watching him closely, as she stopped at a robot. "Did we have sex?" She finished for him.
Cloud gulped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, it's none of my business!"
"No, it's chilled. I don't mind. I just don't like talking about our break up. But, yeah," she said with another glance, as the robot turned green.
"Huh?"
"We did sleep together- a few times. Okay we did it quite often after the first three months!" She amended quickly.
Cloud felt his heart accelerate. "Tifa, were you ever pregnant while you were dating Genesis?"
Without warning, Tifa suddenly braked and pulled over on the side of the road, pointedly ignoring the blaring horns, aimed at her.
"What the fuck!" Cloud shouted in shock. "What the fuck are you doing?" He snarled at Tifa, who was staring straight ahead, her hands tight on the steering wheel. "Tifa, what the hell is going on?"
"Shut the fuck up!" Tifa snapped back. We need to talk," she said in a more gentle tone.
"About what!" Cloud raged, his heart was racing from adrenaline.
"About what you just said," Tifa said softly, Cloud calmed down immediately when he noticed she was shaking.
"What? Tifa ,I'm sorry, I had no right," he began.
"You had every right, you've been pretty honest with me, and I haven't been the same with you," Tifa replied softly. "Look, two years ago, I was going through a rough patch. I was feeling so depressed, I was contemplating suicide. Then I met Genesis, just the way he acted and spoke, really attracted me to him. I got mixed up in a whole lot of shit, drinking, drugs. I was no stranger to alcohol and weed, but it kept on getting worse and worse." Tifa's eyes darkened as she relived the memories. "Then one day, Genesis and I were alone, he pulled out two ecstasy pills and offered me one. I should have said no there and then, but I didn't. At the time all that mattered, was him. I wanted to impress him, I wanted him to like me. And then before I knew it we were having sex. You cannot imagine how good it felt. I was as high as a kite then and it just got taken to a huge new level!"
Cloud's jaw had slackened. No wonder so many rumours flew around! He couldn't believe his ears.
"Then it happened again and again, I wasn't even his girlfriend, I was his bitch!" She gritted her teeth as she spat out the words. "He had a girlfriend at the time, but he said he loved me and broke up with her. I was happy about it! I was sleeping with the most desirable guy in Midgar! Then one day," her eyes went wide in horror at the memory.
"I took a pregancy test, just to check. The result was positive. He wanted to run out on me, he told me I was so high all the time I didn't even realise I wasn't only sleeping with him!" Tifa said, tears now welling up in her eyes. She seemed unable to talk anymore and sobbed silently.
Cloud himself was at a loss, he had listened to Tifa's story in shocked silence, he didn't know how to handle her like this. He was used to her always being so in control. He gathered her into a hug.
"What happened to the baby?" He asked after she had calmed down a little, although she still sobbed into his shoulder.
"I aborted," she said, shame and regret evident in her voice. "I just couldn't keep it, I was seventeen, nowhere near ready to be a parent! What kind of life could I have given a child? And I just didn't know how to tell my dad, he trusted me and I abused that trust. I just couldn't face it, so a bunch of friends and me put money together for the procedure."
Cloud stared at Tifa in wonder, where at first he had seen an immature, care-free girl, he now saw a woman that still bore the scars of her past. And what deep scars they were.
XXX
Monday came, and with it, all the normal day-to-day experiences Cloud had become accustomed to over the weeks. With the extremely eventful weekend that had past, Cloud felt like it had been years since he had last gone to college.
He made it through the morning by mumbling "fine" when asked about his weekend by Zack and Aerith, and listened half-heartedly as they told him about theirs. They had made it through Maths and Chemistry without much event, but when the mid-morning break came, things changed.
"Hey, Cloud!" A girl he had never seen before said, as she passed them.
Zack and Aerith both gave Cloud a quizzled look, that Cloud answered with one of his own.
"Yo Cloud, whassup Playa!" A group of frat boys called as they passed.
"Playa?" Aerith repeated in shock. "Cloud, a 'playa'? What the fuck?"
"Cloud, did something happen this weekend that you neglected to tell us about?" Zack asked.
"Nothing worth mentioning," Cloud replied, as casually as he could.
They looked ready to question him further, before a group of giggling girls greeted Cloud. That was the last straw for both of them. They stopped dead and looked at Cloud.
"Okay, something's definitely weird! Why does it feel like I'm suddenly walking with one of Shinra's most popular guys all of a sudden?" Aerith practically screeched.
"Cloud, what did you do this weekend?" Zack asked, with the air of a parent catching their child red-handed.
"Nothing, I just went to a party at Cissnei's is all," Cloud replied.
"What? Well, why the fuck wasn't I invited? Me and Cissnei are old school buddies!" Zack yelled in outrage, the look of a kicked dog on his face.
"Not from what I hear," Cloud stated. "Didn't you hit on her and she beat you up, resulting in a black eye and several other minor injuries?"
"Well yeah, but-"
"Not now, Zack. Can't you see he's trying to steer us away from it?" Aerith snapped. "Cloud, I hope you didn't do something stupid, like get piss-faced drunk and strip naked and start singing in the streets!"
"Nope, nothing that heavy!" Came the booming voice of Kunsel, as he approached the three. "He got piss-faced drunk, stripped naked and had sex with this girl named Jessie. And also gave every one at the party a glimpse of his abs of steel!"
Aerith looked outraged, but Zack merely looked confused.
"Since when does Cloud have abs of steel? I always thought he was just a little skinny bitch!" He said.
"Not now, Zack!" Aerith snarled. "Cloud, please tell me he's exaggerating and this is all just a stupid rumour."
Cloud couldn't do anything but look down and say nothing. Aerith's green eyes widened.
"Cloud Strife!" She yelled, shrilly. "What the fuck has gotten into you?"
"It was one night Aerith," Cloud replied nervously, a lot of people were beginning to stare. "I was stressed out from the exams, I just needed to unwind."
"So you got drunk and had sex with some random skank? Cloud, I thought you were still a virgin!" Aerith snarled.
"Please, apparently, even as drunk as he was, he was real good. And the girl wasn't some random slut, it was Jessie!" Kunsel said, happily slapping Cloud on the back.
"Jessie?"
"A friend of mine," Cloud said quickly.
"A lot more than that now," Kunsel added with a wink.
"Wait, what?" Cloud shouted, looking quite alarmed.
"Well you slept with the girl, I assumed you two were a couple," Kunsel said, with a raised eye-brow. "Unless it was just a one night stand?"
"No, of course not!" Cloud said quickly. "I wouldn't do that!"
"So, you asked her out?" Zack asked.
"No, was getting down to that today!" Cloud lied, hurriedly. He had no plans to ask Jessie out, but he figured he might have to now.
"Well then, I'll leave you to it," Kunsel said, before leaving with a wave.
Now that they were alone, Aerith turned to Cloud and opened her mouth to begin another tirade, but Zack cut her off.
"Look Aerith, it was just one night. Let the guy have his fun! It's not like you plan on doing something like that again, do you Cloud?" He asked.
Cloud shook his head, but now that Zack mentioned it, he wondered how true it was. Did he want to do it again?
Cloud didn't have time to dwell on it further, as Jessie arrived soon after.
"Hi, Cloud," she said brightly.
"Oh, hey Jessie," he replied.
"How you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm good. And you?"
"Brilliant actually! What're you up to?"
"Nothing really," Cloud began, then catching the look on Zack and Aerith's faces, decided to plow on. "Look, Jessie, you think we can talk somewhere? There's something I got to ask you."
Jessie's eyes brightened. "Oooooooh, sure let's go!"
Cloud followed her, giving an apologetic look at his two friends. He knew what he had to do, and life was just gonna get even more hectic...
