Chapter Twenty-four: Date

"Lazard, help me." Tifa pleaded over the phone as she scanned her huge walk-in closet that afternoon. "I don't know what to wear tonight!" The closet stretched before her endlessly. Her closet was huge, and this was the first time she had ever cared to notice.

I need to throw out some stuff, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Right now, I have to find something good to wear!

"Calm down, doll, I'll be there in thirty minutes." Her stylist drawled from the other line. He already sounded like he was hurrying out of his apartment.

"Alright." she muttered then the line went dead. Tifa stared blankly at the endless rows of clothes, shoes, bags and whatnots before her. This was one of the perks of being rich and famous—getting free stuff. Just mention that you can't live without this night cream, and they'll ship you a box of it the next hour, or day. It was funny really, because now that she was able to afford the things she liked, the were given to her for free. How ironic, right?

It's impossible for her to wear all of these clothes, because there was an unspoken law of wearing something once only. And then the styles changed too fast. Tifa sighed deeply and walked forward, trying to find contenders.

By the time that she heard Lazard's BMW X6 parking in her driveway, she had three dresses lying on her bed, waiting to be chosen. A red vintage dress, a simple LBD and a white mini…

Lazard didn't need to press the doorbell as the door swung open at once. "I've picked three dresses, and I need your opinion!" Tifa said, dragging the stylist inside without another word. As they walked, Lazard asked, "Did he even tell you where he's taking you tonight?"

Tifa stopped in her tracks, and shook her head. "No, he didn't. That's why I want to play it on the safe side… I guess,"

"Safe side?" Lazard all but scoffed. He was never one to go to fashion's safe side. He was outrageous… fabulous. But of course… he could make an exception.

Zack couldn't help but laugh at his friend.

"She'll beg you to marry her when she sees you already!" he teased his blonde friend, who was busy examining his reflection. Cloud rolled his eyes at Zack. His friend was exaggerating it.

"Come on man, it's our first official date, stop making me feel like I look like a clown or something, will you?" the blonde said as he did a last minute hair styling. One can never spike his hair too high.

"What time are you picking her up anyway?"

"Six."

"Heh, it's already four-thirty. You'll never make it on time because of the traffic." Zack told him as he headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "So… where are you taking her?"

Cloud grinned and said that it was a secret. The raven haired man groaned. "Don't tell me you're going to take her another pizza parlor date!"

"Idiot, of course I'm not. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

The blonde left the apartment with a rapidly beating heart. Here goes nothing, he thought as he revved up the Fenrir. But before anything else, I need to get her flowers.

It was five-fifty-six already. Where was he? Tifa wondered as she bit her bottom lip. She wrung her fingers together. She felt like she was at the Meteor Awards, waiting for her name to be called. Lazard had already gone off, saying that he had a date. Tifa didn't ask any further about it. Her staff's privates lives were out of her concern, as long as they didn't open up to her and share it.

She ended up wearing the red vintage dress. Lazard had paired it with a black Blueberry Porsum trench coat. The dress covered a great deal of her skin, but fitted like a glove. She wore simple diamond stud earrings, and her hair was done into a wavy, commercial-fitting style.

The roaring sound of the motorcycle told her that her wait was over. Tifa almost jumped up from her seat with glee, and then she remembered that she was wearing four-inched heels. So she took them off and padded downstairs in her bare feet. It's not like her feet would get dirty—her place was spotless!

In a few moments, the Fenrir's engine died, and the doorbell rang. Tifa couldn't keep her smile from spreading in her face. She opened the door.

"Hi," Cloud said as the door swung open slowly.

"Hi," she said back.

Wow was the only word the couple could think of as they stared at each other.

Cloud was wearing a crisp, white polo paired with denim and black leather shoes. She wondered whether Lazard had helped him out as well. Silly, he wouldn't have time for that. At least she didn't look too dressed up, she thought with relief.

"Shall we?" he asked after a moment.

"Of course," the bombshell replied giddily. If only she were not wearing heels, she would be walking with a bounce in her every step. He offered her his hand to support her, and she took it with a gentle smile. She locked the door. Cloud looked up at her with twinkly eyes, a helmet in his hand.

"This is yours."

"Thanks," Tifa stretched her arm to receive it, only to be pulled close to him gently.

"Let me," he murmured and proceeded to place the helmet on her. "There..." Cloud looked at her and broke into another grin. He took her hand and headed over to the Fenrir. Tifa climbed in behind him and wrapped her arms around his slim waist.

Cloud revved up the motorcycle and they were off.

The cityscape faded into a blur as the couple zipped past the heavily congested road. Riding in a motorcycle, with somebody special, was something new. Genesis had never taken her for a ride in his Harley Davidson. They usually rode in fancy cars—but enough of him.

She placed her head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. Wherever he was taking her, it didn't matter, as long as she was with him. The engine stopped. "Hey," Cloud whispered. "We're here."

Tifa looked up. They were at the bay.

"Wh—"

Cloud got off and offered her a hand. "Ssh, follow me."

His hands were warm, and her hands fit perfectly in it. Tifa smiled. They approached the Midgar Aqua Park. This is certainly a different type of date. Awesome! she thought. She looked up at Cloud and beamed.

Suddenly, people came buzzing towards them with cameras and astounded faces. They shouted her name, asking for an autograph and picture. Cloud wasn't completely left alone as well. Queries like 'is he your new boyfriend?' floated up, and Tifa wanted to scream 'yes, he is!'. But she felt that letting the whole world know about it had to take place in a grander, better scene. The couple stared blankly at the crowd, as if they had frozen for a full minute before Cloud regained his right mind and ushered her to the door.

Behind the safety of the glass doors of the aqua park, they heaved a sigh of relief, hands still linked.

"I'll go get the tickets. Why don't you sit down for a minute?" Cloud said when he finally caught up with his breath. The staircase was pretty freaking long, after all.

So she did sit down. Her feet were complaining—running in heels was definitely not comfy, but it was fun! The security personnel had taken action and were now blocking the paparazzi from entering the park. Her date came back after five minutes, grinning like a school boy.

"Okay, let's go. I can't wait to see the Largemouth Yellow Fish!" the young man exclaimed.

"Largemouths?" she asked.

"They're pretty. I went here when I was a kid, and I was particularly attracted by those yellow things." He told her. His eyes glittered. "And then the sharks and stingrays."

He continued talking as they walked inside the passageway. They entered another world—a world of blue, of schools of fish. It was wickedly awesome.

"I've never been here before." Tifa confided.

He turned to look at her face. "You haven't?"

She shook her head. "No, this is my first time coming here. Oh my gosh—are those clown fish!"

"Yeah, they're cute, aren't they?" he said, as they walked closer to the tank. The clown fishes swam about without a care inside, some swam in and out of their coral.

"Yes they are."

They lingered there for about ten minutes before moving on to the other tanks.

After two hours of being amazed by millions of fish, Tifa and Cloud were tired. They had finished looking at all the tanks. In the end, Tifa had also come to love the Largemouth Yellowfish because their color reminded her of Cloud's hair color.

"Would you like to have dinner now?" he asked.

"Sure." she answered, already starting to feel the pain and agony that high heels caused.

"You look like you're about to crawl. Are you okay?"

"Um…"

"Take off your shoes," he told her, as he bent down to remove his own sneakers. He wore white socks.

"Why…?"

"Put on mine."

"But you won't have shoes… you'll look ridiculous."

"I don't mind. Just put them on."

"Your socks…"

"Don't worry about them. I can wash them when I get home later."

"Alright. Hey Cloud, isn't it odd that for somebody who wears heels a lot, my feet get tired too fast?"

"I'm not really wondering why. You were all over the place!" Cloud laughed.

"Ah, my feet are happy." She murmured before pecking on his cheek.

"Glad to know." He replied smiling again. He should never stop smiling. "So… let's go?"

"Yes!"

He took her to a nearby restaurant. It was not very popular—by media standards—but the place seemed pretty packed. Tifa and Cloud had both purchased souvenir hats from the park, and they tugged at it to hide their faces. Inside the restaurant, it was warm whereas the world beyond its door was pretty cold. A waitress approached them and Cloud asked for a table for two.

The waitress showed them to a table at the back, near the window. She gave them menus and left them to attend to another party.

"So what will you have?" Tifa asked.

"Hmm… I don't know yet. How about you, does anything sound good?"

"I think I'll have creamy Cajun chicken pasta."

"Alright I'll have that too." Cloud said before calling the attention of another waiter. He ordered two pastas and two glasses of wine.

As they waited, they talked about anything and anybody.

"Can you believe that we're already going to shoot the last commercial next week?" she said. "It seems like it was only yesterday that we started!"

"I know right? Ah I feel nervous about the runway show already!"

"Me too. I've walked in runways for at least twenty times now, and I still get goose bumps when I walk."

"Really?" Cloud chuckled.

"Yeah! I guess I'm not really into modeling, but you are."

"Oh really? Why'd you say that?"

"You're good at making people's jaws drop."

"So are you."

"Ha, okay. Well you're good at drawing people in with just one look. You look like a rocker slash boy next door type of guy."

"Thank you. I could say a lot of things about you as well, but I'm afraid that I might never stop." Cloud said with a smile. Tifa's cheeks burned.

"Here you are, sir, ma'am." The waitress announced, placing the plates of food on their table.

The couple murmured thanks and began to dig in. They were quiet as they ate. Tifa liked not having to talk while eating. The silence that had fallen upon them was easy, comfortable.

After dinner, Tifa gave Cloud his shoes back. A lot of people stared at Cloud's feet as they dined. Some showed admiration, some were plain disgusted. But seriously, what was disgusting about seeing socks in public?

He took her for a walk in the park and surprised her with a bouquet of roses.

"I had a wonderful time tonight Cloud." She told him as they stood in front of her house. "Thank you."

Cloud smiled and murmured something like 'me too.' He looked at her and leaned in for a kiss.

The kiss was not a long one, but was gentle and passionate. How Tifa wished that she could undress him right there, in that second! "Good night, Tifa." Cloud said.

"Good night." Tifa replied and with a final smile, Cloud turned his heel to leave.

The Fenrir roared to life, and he was gone. It was already midnight. Tifa unlocked the door and collapsed inside, giggling like a high school girl.

Author's Note:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Don't forget to review and me feel the love. Okay, I know that this date thing is a bit dry and I'm sorry, but will it appease you to know that this has been revised like, five times? Also I'd like to apologize for the long wait, school's eating me alive.

Victoria Chrystallis