Chapter Seventeen: Agreement

The press had blown it all out of proportion, Tifa thought with chagrin. The news of her break up with Genesis came out sometime last night, while she getting some much deserved sleep. She woke up to morning TV shows having it as their headline showbiz story—hell, they were even trying to contact Rufus for a comment and Genesis for an interview. However, neither of them was calling back the show, causing the hosts to get a little bit embarrassed and annoyed.

As she sipped on her coffee, she wondered who the loose-lipped source was. It couldn't be from her camp, since her two-month agreement with Rufus wasn't over yet. He was still agitated by it, she could tell. The rang, it was Rufus.

"Tifa." he said curtly.

"I know… it's a media field day. Damn… my come back's sort of ruined now."

"On contrary, Cherie, the anticipation for your return to the spot light is louder now. Everybody's restless to see you and hear your side of the story."

"Really." Tifa said with a flat tone. Of course the public would be clamoring for a juicy detail about their 'sudden' break-up. They had been together for so long! "It'll make my tell-all interview sell more, don't you think?"

Her manager chuckled a little before agreeing. "At this rate, the sales figures will triple."

"Yep…"

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Where are you?"

"At home…why?"

There was a lingering silence before Rufus spoke again. "Can you hurry over here right now? Cubbins has another idea for Heart Locker."

"Alright." Tifa said and ended the call. She abandoned her coffee to change into more suitable clothes—a shirt and a clean pair of jeans. Cloud was going to attend another workshop session. The mere thought made her grit her teeth. Those other models were going to try to hook up with him again. Not that she should care if he got a girlfriend now… really. The tiny voice in her head said otherwise, and so did her chaotic heart.

Then it struck her. She could get Cloud away from them, and finally get rid of that particular blonde who'd given him her number yesterday. Tifa giggled as she started the car.

"I only want to have brunette models for my campaigns." she told Bart's team as soon as she entered the conference room. His entire team stared at her through narrowed lids, as they held their cups of latte. All of them obviously had to get up before the sun rose.

"It's a good thing I'm a brunette then!" a perky voice piped up.

Tifa found the owner of the voice easily. Nobody could ever mistake her bubbly, soprano voice for another person's. "Aerith!" she exclaimed as her eyes settled on the brunette sitting at the edge of the table, wearing a pink spaghetti strap dress matched with a funky blue belt, layers of silver bangles and brown flats.

"Hello Tifa… it's good to see you again after so long!" Aerith said as she stood up to hug Tifa a sisterly hug. Their little moment soon faded as soon as Tifa took her seat beside Ysabelle, the owner of XY fashion house. They would have to continue their chit chat after the meeting. Both women placed their business faces back on.

"Why did you suddenly decide that, Tifa?" Bart asked her.

"Because brunette is sexy." she replied huskily and with a wink. The conference erupted in laughter, which then quieted down. Everybody clearly agreed with her. "However, I'm only going to retain a certain blonde gentleman. I asked him personally to join my campaign. He'll be a hit with the ladies." All the people nodded. Aerith squirmed in her seat whispering "Oooh, I'd like to meet him!"

"Ah, wonderful, darling, wonderful! Coco Chanel once said that brunettes do it better. Well played, Tifa!" Ysabelle said with a huge, million-watt smile. Bart nodded and turned to his team. "You heard her! Sort out the non-brunettes and tell them go home!"

Good bye, blondie whatever your name is. Tifa thought with satisfaction. She had a feeling that the laid-off models would think she was nasty now. Honestly, the way Bart had ordered it sounded really harsh. But that was how he rolled; she couldn't do anything about it. Tifa bit her lip.

"Anyway, that aside," Bart began once some of his staff had left to bring the sad news to the non-brunette models. "I suddenly got the idea last night. Why don't we," he paused dramatically for an effect, Tifa didn't see how it worked. "have a commercial. But! It won't be just like any commercial, it will be a mini-series, where the viewers have to wait for a certain date to see the next episode."

His idea was purely brilliant, she had to give him that. Nobody in the business had ever thought of doing that before. This was the reason why Bart was the best. Tifa shook her head minutely and saw that Bart had already stood up to present his proposal's story.

Tifa walked inside the workshop room to find Zack being harassed by Lazard. The raven was trying to futilely get away from her stylist's praises and sharp style comments—"Your shirt's not doing your body any justice at all, young man!" "Get away from me! I was just going to talk to Cloud!"—their little commotion attracted Aerith to peek inside as well.

Watching Zack try to escape from Lazard amused Tifa, and made her feel sorry for him, whereas Aerith only started to giggle like a child. Her laughter caused the two to freeze and look over.

"Whoa. Aerith Gainsborough!" Zack yelped as he looked on with wide eyes.

She walked, more like danced, her way to him. "Hello. Are you a model here?" she asked. Aerith leaned towards him innocently, almost bashfully too.

From the distance, Tifa was not sure whether Zack was swallowing to moisten his dry throat or that his mind had drifted away to heaven. Lazard was signaling Rufus to prepare a binding contract, and she found the way they communicated weird.

The duo continued to talk quietly. As if they were on their own little world. Cloud was suddenly by Tifa's side. "Hey." he said making her look up. "Hi," was all she managed to say. Cloud looked immaculate. "Uh—what happened to your face?" she muttered, flustered.

"Your stylist had fun with us, the survivors." Cloud whispered. "Do I look horrendous now?" he asked wearily. His eyes sparkled like sapphires with the eyeliner. But eyeliner was more like Genesis' thing, so she couldn't really appreciate it even though she wanted to.

"No…" she said. "You look hot."

"Really?" Cloud said, with one eyebrow raised.

"Yep," Tifa replied. You're so hot I wanna kiss you right now. More than kiss you. I want to make you mine. She was going to have to eat her own words now. She didn't want Cloud to become somebody else's significant other. She wanted to be his special someone. As she peeked at him through her lashes, her pulse raced. Heat leached from her neck to her cheeks when he looked at her straight in the eye.

"Hey Tifa, wanna grab a bite?" he asked while scratching the back of his head. "The call time was so early I only had time to take a shower and drink coffee this morning."

"Sure… let's go. Why don't we call Zack and Aerith to tag along?" They turned their heads towards the direction of Zack and Aerith who were now animatedly talking about her favorite flower—pink roses. "Nah." They said at the same time and they laughed. "Lazard, we're going to eat for a bit. We'll leave those two in your care."

"Sure, doll!"

Cloud turned to her with a small grin. "I know this great place where they serve breakfast food." He took her hand without waiting for an answer. It was not like she didn't find his hand encasing hers uncomfortable... she felt really warm inside as they walked out of the building.

He ordered a plate of bacon and eggs for the both them. Tifa placed her head on her palm and stared at him. "Hey Tifa... is anything wrong?"

"No." she replied. "Hey Cloud... can we have an agreement?"

"What agreement?"

"It will only apply to the both of us alright?"

"Uh okay."

"From this day forward, the both of us will not enter any romantic relationships with anyone." Tifa told him.

But I want to become yours, Cloud thought. "Okay, that's fine by me."

Author's Note: I know, I know, this chapter's title sucks lollipops because it's so cliché. I'm sorry for that. Before I ramble out my thoughts on my update, I would first like to acknowledge each and every one of you who have reviewed, listed my story as their favorite and have put it on their story alert list as well. If it weren't for you guys, my fic wouldn't have reached 14, 574 hits! I love you all!

I'd like to ask for your ideas on how Bart's commercial series should go. Let me see them in your reviews! …I have a feeling that this update's too short. ;p

Big whoop for ZAerith?

Love and rock n' roll always!
Victoria Chrystallis