So this is the REAL chapter. I was quite upset with myself when i found out that my last chapter was the same as this one when i had posted it. But seriously, he's the real one. I finally found enough time to myself to post the correct one for you. On the plus side this chapter does have more Cloud which was requested of me by zexydemyx66. because quite honestly he does need to be in here more. Enjoy.
This was originally 3696 words.
I sighed deeply smiling to myself. Zack was such an energetic dork back then. I ran a hand through my black tresses enjoying the shade under the tree I sat down under. I recall how when we first met he used to treat me like I was actually a girl and not just one of the guys, that was when I started having a crush on him. For a time I figured it was special treatment, but then I noticed he kind of tried to flirt with the older social workers.
As I thought about him as if on cue, Zack came marching towards me. I didn't move but instead closed my eyes again and breathed calmly. He stood in front of me silently for a time. I blinked once and opened my eyes.
"Yes?" I drawled.
"I was looking for you,what are you doing over here?"
"Remembering the good old days, that's all. You know back when we had first met and were just turned 2nds." his face cracked into a smile and he decided to sit down next to me.
He agreed with me, "Yeah those were the good old days, huh?" I nodded a gentle smile on my face. "Remember that ugly looking guy who practically stalked you? He was so mad the day we moved in together," I cringed visibly remembering his greasy features.
"I don't think he ever made it past 2nd class huh?" Zack nodded a bit.
"Yeah I haven't seen in in quite the while actually... now that I think about it really." We were silent for a few moments and I turned my head to stare at him and My eyes locked with the "X" shaped car he had o his face and I was tempted to bring my hand up and touch it but I, in the end decided against it. The light from the sun hit him in that moment of hesitation and he seemed to glow from my angle. My heartbeat instantly sped up and my breath hitched in my throat.
I forced myself to look away and to the sky, the blue color reminding me of Zack's eyes. I shook my head at how pathetically single minded my thoughts were. As the sun moved it hit me even under the tree,and I began to feel irritably hot, my dark uniform and armor not helping.
I slowly fluttered my eyes open to glance at Zack with a small side-glance. He was staring at me; we stared until he rose one of his eyebrows in question. I smiled and shook my head.
"I'm getting HOT." I squeezed my eyes shut to emphasize the hot. I stood abruptly and sat on the other side of the tree.
"Hey, you remember when I used to break out real bad?" He nodded gently as he sat down next to me.
"It used to be dreadful, but it stopped when you became a 1st Class right?" I nodded in response. "Yeah, you were still pretty though." I rolled my eyes, exasperated by his insistent persistence.
"You're a good liar, I'll give you that much Zack." he looked at me but didn't say anything. I was tired and decided that maybe I could fall asleep.
Zack murmured to me, "You never said Bye after you became a 1st class."
I stopped, and blinked genuinely surprised,"Really? Sorry, I guess I was suddenly pounded with stuff at the time I hadn't really thought about it. How long have we known each other Zack?" We were silent and the question lingered in the air.
"I think it's been a good… five years maybe." I nodded in agreement.
"I'm really happy that we became best friends Zack." I whispered gently.
"Yeah... me too," he grumbled back softly. We grinned charmingly at each other, and my head filled with memories we had together, from the past, to present. The vortex of laughter, tears, and anger ended with the feeling in my stomach I felt. That seemed to slowly rise to my chest. My heart exploded as I noticed the tender look in his eyes. I wanted to grab him, to touch him, to be close to him. And Tifa's words resounded inside my head nervously.
His name across my lips made me smile; the thought of him made me grin like an idiot. I gazed at him and mentally went over his every feature. Just being around him like I was now made my breathing speed up, I was content to just be near him. Somewhere inside of me I wanted to hold his hand, kiss his lips, and slowly as I thought about it, the reasoning behind it became more and more obvious. And while it was a revelation beyond words, it also brought a sinking feeling to my heart.
I... was scared. Scared to think about Zack as more than the friend he had always been to me. I was a SOLDIER 1st Class, the most elite of the elite. I could fight monsters, defeat 10 foot tall fiends, stop a rebellion... but I was afraid of my feelings. My thoughts turned to the fiery rage I felt when Zack talked to Aeirth and Cissnei. Jealousy. Overwhelming jealousy...
Is this what jealousy feels like? And ….love? I raised a hand and rake it though my hair.
"Evie?" I jumped, having forgotten Zack was there after getting lost in my own thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Uh... Peachy." he gave me a look, one of disbelief.
"You sure? You seem kind of pale.." I took a deep breath and put on my best smile, and gave a nod. This was so cliché. So terribly irritatingly cliché. Life really did hate me.
A girl and a guy who've been best friends for a long time and the girl falls for the guy first. I never understood why that always happened but now I think I understand. I know everything about him and he knows pretty much everything about me, we've seen each other at our best and definitely at our worst. He watched my back, I watched his, we were always together, and pretty much still are. We're quite the duo as we've been told.
I closed my eyes gently, "Yep... quite the duo…" I loved the way those words passed through my lips and into the gentle light of the day. I smiled lightly.
A few moments later, "What are you talking about Evie?" Zack replied, but it was too late. Evelia was asleep next to him leaning her head on his shoulder. Zack moved her so she was laying down. He smiled down at her and stroked her face and hair with a soft smile as well.
"Yep… quite the duo…"
–
I woke up a little later with Zack's arm around my body. I was lying down underneath the tree with Zack. Apparently, during my nap he had decided to join me. I sat up and gazed at his sleeping form. I couldn't help but smile; he looked so peaceful especially with the breeze ruffling his hair. I looked around, the light of day had mostly faded; we had fallen asleep on the job.
I returned my eyes to Zack and wondered if I should wake him up or not. I wanted to wake him up, but I just couldn't. I didn't want to. I wanted to let him sleep. It got hard to breathe as I tried staying quiet. I honestly didn't know what to do.
I whispered gently, "Zack... Zack get up." he didn't move and I sighed, getting up to stretch. My shoulders were in a fair amount of pain and my bosom was horribly itchy. I grumbled , groaned and shook my head fiercely, hoping it'd clear my head some. I touched my belt, where the SOLDIER insignia was and fixed it was a deep soothing breath. I bent down and pulled the edge of my boots up tighty, and did the same for my black gloves. I took another deep breath to get my brain going. Even after all of that I had no idea what to do.
Fortunately, Cloud came by and I gave him a friendly smile, which he returned and stared at Zack sleeping.
"Uh, wake him up for me?" Cloud gave me a confused face, the kind of face Zack used to make back when he was a 2nd, it was possibly the cutest thing. And I smiled warmly at the kid before walking away. Cloud walked to Zack and gave him a little push. Zack woke up and he mumbled groggily. I left to check out the town to make sure nothing had changed. Without actual orders I just assumed we had to watch the town and wait.
My thoughts turned back to the previously sleeping man for no reason even as I had conversation with the townspeople. His smile infected my whole brain and I could help but smile at the thought of him. A little later Zack found me staring off into the distance.
"What are you thinking about?" My gaze snapped to him and my eyes widened unsure of how to answer. I couldn't think fast enough, I looked away.
"Uh... that man... you know,"I paused when my thoughts snapped together. "The one from before, the one we found sleeping." Zack gave me a confused look and I felt a smile cross my face without much control.
I cannot resist that face. At all. He's so...adorable...
"Okay, what about him?" I froze again, cursing at myself.
"I... have a lot of questions to ask him." I finished slowly.
He scoffed, "Questions? You sure you don't just want to see him?" he winked and my jaw dropped. I gave him a playful shove when I saw him laughing at me.
"Oh yes, I want to go on a midnight cruise along the soft waters, with his unconscious body dragging with me everywhere I walk. If I'm going to go on a date, at least let him be walking... by himself." I defended with a sarcastic look.
"Oh, so now you want to go on a date with him too? That was fast, you don't even know his name." I rolled my eyes, attempting to ignore his childish taunting. "Gonna get a kiss too Evie?"
"No. Want a fist?" Zack laughed and pushed my fist away from him as he looked at me. I made a scoffing noise and crossed my arms. "Besides, I don't kiss on first dates."
Zack looked at me skeptically, "Not even with that Seth guy back when we were 2nds?"
"Especially not. I barely knew the guy." Zack seemed surprised.
"I never liked him much." I gave him a deadpan look and vaguely recalled what happened, and why Zack never really liked the guy.
-Flashback-
We had already moved in together and had become close friends in a matter of months. We knew everything we were willing to share. We had been 2nds for almost five months, or at least I had been. In that time I also found out that as wonderfully good-looking Zack, was I wasn't the only one who seemed to think so. He was a chick magnet, and he knew it. Compared to the Zack I knew now, that Zack was just adorable in every way. I had just recently met a guy named Seth while on a mission together. I was surprised when he asked me out on a date, and I had good intentions of going with him.
As my first date, I was so frantic. I wasn't sure what to wear, how to wear it, where each clothing went. Zack seemed to laugh at me when he saw my distress. I ignored him and showered and dressed. After staring at myself for a good ten minutes exited. Zack was seemingly waiting for me. His smile kind of fell when he noticed how dressed up I looked in comparison to my usual Tomboy-ish ways.
"What are you wearing?"
"Um... clothing?" Zack rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
"Yeah, obviously, I mean... why aren't you in uniform? Is this why you were freaking out before? I thought you were looking for something the way you were putting your jeans on your head, like some idiot."
"Idiot, that's an endearing term," I retorted monotonously. "I'm going out on a date. With this Seth guy I met," Zack stopped seemingly unsure of how to respond.
"Wait..."He looked offended suddenly, "You've never gone out on a date with me." I gave him a look.
"You'd go out on a date with anyone, you taking me out would... complicate things and make it almost weird."
"How is it that it's not weird for this Seth guy then?" I stumbled for a reply. And Zack's hard mako infused eyes stared at me.
"I don't know. I mean, him and I aren't good friends, like you and me..." I didn't pay attention to him until I left. He had decided upon himself to be the judge of this Seth guy.
"Zack, don't you have something better to do then to like... bother me?"
"no," he had a sour look on his face, "Why are you gong on a date with this guy, you're in SOLDIER, you don't have time for dating guys Evie." I rolled my eyes again.
"Well then, tell me Zack, what do you call this? Busy time? No, I'm pretty sure this is called free-time. So yes I do have time," I stopped arguing at the sight of Seth waiting across from the elevator as it made it's stop. As the doors opened up to revel him, I smiled charmingly.
He had his helmet off, and his hair was down. It reached shoulder length, and was a light brown color with chocolate brown eyes. He flashed me a smile and my grin widened.
I mumbled absentmindedly to Zack, "I'll see you later Zack," he growled in response.
When I returned to my room, Zack came in my room from the connecting doorway and leaned aganist the frame glaring at me, angry about something. I asked him what was wrong.
"He's obviously older than you! He's an infantryman, you automatically outrank him!"
"Okay, yes he is older than me, he's sixteen. Not that old, if you care to know."
"Which I don't." Zack murmured interrupting me.
"And! Yes. I do outrank him. Now stop being ridiculous. Honestly." I grumbled irritably.
"I am not! He probably lied to you about his age Evie. How do you know how old he really is?"
"I can go look at his file? Zack, stop it. You sound jealous."
Zack huffed, "Am not." I rolled my eyes and head in succession.
"Okay, so what do you call this behavior? You trying to protect me? You sound awfully jealous while you're doing it Zackary."
"I am not jealous." Zack glared at me harshly. I paused, surprised at how out of character he was acting about this.
I stuck my hands up and shrugged walking away before saying, "Prove it." in response the next day he was out on a date with a girl I had never even seen before. I gave him a smile but he didn't return it. After his date and mine, I talked to him again.
"Now you're just being super ridiculous. Just tell me what's your problem with him so bad and I'll stop dating him."
"Does my opinion matter that much?"
"You're a good friend of mine Zack, or course it does."
"I'm not sure, but I just don't like him, he gives me a bad feeling." I nodded gently.
"Well unfortunately that isn't a good enough reason." I had continued to date afterwards. As time went by Zack disliked him more and more until one day after coming back from a mission I found he as gone. Disappeared, him and all of his belongings. I felt kinda sad, and as I think about it Zack reveled at the thought of him gone.
-End-
"You were so jealous of Seth. It was obvious. I was just being nice to you to shut you up. You jealous of sleeping mystery man?" I cajoled gently.
"Nah, you're never going to actually meet him." said Zack, seemingly satisfied with this.
"Think we should go and try to wake him up?" I asked.
"No." said Zack curtly. I made a face but didn't argue.
"Don't worry about it. You have Aerith." I said walking away casually expecting him to follow.
"Yeah..." I stopped and turned around.
"You two okay?" he looked up, but didn't reply. "Zack?" I walked back to him.
"it's getting complicated now," My eyebrows furrowed confused. "There's someone else I think."
"You think? That's not reassuring. Give it some time. Wait until you can talk to her face to face before you make any rash decisions." he looked at me for a long time, thinking I assumed. I sighed gently and put a hand on his shoulder in the comforting way I always do. He didn't say yes or no.
"Wanna finally hear why Tseng is the way he is with me?" Zack stopped his pouting mood and snapped his head up to stare.
"I know some of it." I tilted my head a bit confused.
"Yeah, Lazard told me." I glared at a nearby house hoping to make it burst into flames.
"Right. Well what do you know?" I questioned.
"That you two did it back in the day." said Zack bluntly.
"Well that just about sums it up." I said laughing. He shook his head. My thoughts turned to if Zack himself had ever gotten a home run himself. I stopped my thoughts, because these thoughts often got me in trouble and I wouldn't want Zack to accidentally cheat on Aerith.
If he's easily seduced that is. My thoughts turned dirty and I imagined a naked Zack. My face lit up and I nearly fainted at his glory.
"Evelia?" I snapped from my thoughts and coughed. "You alright? You look red, thinking about that sleeping man again?"
"Naked that is." Then my thoughts turned to the sleeping man in red... naked. "Oh my." I said covering my face at my own embarrassment.
What am I going to do surrounded by so many gorgeous men? I had already forgotten about him, but as if on cue Cloud came back into view. And he stared at me with his big blue eyes and I glanced at him from between my fingers. With a groan I let my hand slide down my face and I glared at the tree behind the Chocobo-headed kid.
Zack was silent for a time as was I, until, "Evie has a crush on some sleeping guy, can you believe that?" I grunted furiously into the sky and attempted to stalk off before being grabbed by a stronger than I, Zack.
Cloud was completely baffled staring at me with his big eyes, that I found absolutely adorable.
"Sleeping guy?" My shoulders sagged and I let Zack just hold me for the moment.
"Yeah, she's a weirdo. You don't really know each other well, do you?" I shuffled away from him and shook my head. We were friends, but only because of Zack. "Let's go do stuff, Cloud show us around town or something." He shrugged lightly and nodded an okay. I gave him a look wondering what type of guy he really was. From what I remember he wasn't much in comparison to Zack's battle harden-ness and my own.
"Well we don't have much time now, do we?"
"Well the town is better at night... I think. And if anything I guess there's tomorrow." I nodded at Cloud silently promising to spend time with him while we waited.
So I honestly don't say this enough to you guys, you loyal fans that keep kicking my ass for me. Your reviews I LOVE, very much. And if could I'd give you cookies and hugs from your support, I would without a second thought. So this is to you.
Thank you very deeply, Lady of Blatant Sarcasm, previously Sololight. For review, commenting and reminding me why I love to do what I do. I think you've kicked my ass the most, and I'm grateful for every review. Nice or not. (which all of them are nice)
Thank you so much, XxRikela-chanxX for the multiple reviews.
Thank you to Sayonara Yasashii Akumu, (which is a long name Heh) for reviewing consecutively.
Thank you very much to ELECTRA13, who always just can't wait for more.
Thank you to all the people who like the story but never really write out that you do. The one million and one e-mails I get from you adding me to Author alert, story alert and favorites lists let's me know you're still out there, reading it in the shadows appreciating it as well.
I don't like saying to review much, because then i feel like a naggy Author. But I do love the love. Honest.
-HQ16