Chapter Thirty Four * Snow, Sex and Snowboarding

Forewarning: No smex details. Boo hoo.

"Apparently, Genesis had already agreed on this project." Rufus told her when she handed him the manuscript's summary. "I didn't really want to discuss this with you but quite frankly, Tifa, you've been out of the screen for too long."

"What are you saying then?" she asked, exasperated. "The series has a good story, but I can't work with Genesis. Don't you know what he had just pulled during the music awards? He asked me to get back with him! He even sent me a wicker basket of roses the next day. He's emotionally unstable, Rufus. He hasn't moved on."

"I trust that you've already done something about that?"

"Of course. I told him to back off."

"That's good, but knowing your physco ex-boyfriend, he won't be easy to sway. But this TV series is too good of a project to pass off."

Tifa chewed her lower lip and rolled her eyes. "I'm not risking it. I don't want to be around Genesis. And this series is too steamy. It'll be awkward." Not to mention annoying. The show would give Genesis a reason to touch her, to say things he'd said before… to be her lover. No, she couldn't lead him on. She could state every reason why she shouldn't work with her ex, but it would take all day. Or night.

Rufus slipped the manuscript into a manila envelope and looked at her. "Now, Lazard told me something interesting. You've left out the details of the awards night. Tell me everything. Shall I call your lawyer now and ask him to file a restraining order?"

"You're overreacting." Tifa scolded her manager, who was now busy with his phone. Rufus glance up at her and said, through gritted teeth. "It seems that your former flame truly cannot be trusted."

"What do you mean?"

Rufus handed her his phone.

Tifa arched an eyebrow, then frowned. "What the fuck."

Her PR had just texted Rufus: Genesis issued a statement about his new single and he's involving her with it. He's acting like a lovesick puppy right now. It's sickening.

"The bastard. I told him to stop already!" Tifa shouted as she returned the phone to her manager. "Excuse me." She left the room and headed back to Cloud's room, fuming. He was memorizing his lines when she entered.

"What's wrong?" he asked, setting the script aside and patted the empty space beside him. Tifa sat down and leaned on him. "Rufus made me read a manuscript for a TV show." she mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Then why do you look so annoyed?"

She drew in a deep breath. "Because Genesis is going to be the male lead character and my PR just informed Rufus that he was making statements about me. I asked him to stop and he said he would. Ugh!" Tifa felt him tense up, but he didn't speak.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Cloud spoke, his voice soft. "What did he say?"

"I'm not sure. The text was cryptic. All the PR rep said was that he mentioned me while he was talking about his new single."

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair. "As long as he doesn't say anything bad about you, it's okay. But I'm still going to break his nose." He groaned. "Now I don't want you to go back to Midgar alone."

Tifa peeked at him and kissed the base of his throat. "I don't really want to go back alone too," she whispered.

"You smell so nice," he said.

"You smell delicious yourself," she grinned.

With a low chuckle, Cloud cupped her face with both his hands and kissed her full on the mouth. His kiss was gentle, hungry, and eager. It told her what he wanted, and she was more than happy to oblige.

Neither of them wanted to get out of the bed. They were too comfortable with each other's warmth. He trailed feather light kisses on her shoulder, sending tiny shivers throughout her whole body. Tifa turned and smiled at him.

"Let's go snowboarding." Cloud suddenly said, grinning like a schoolboy.

Tifa arched a brow. "Sure. I have to warn you though. I'm pretty good at snowboarding."

"The inn offers a pretty challenging game. Let's go." He stood up and started to dress. The contours of his body were very… beautiful. As if he'd been carved out of stone. "Hey Cloud, have you been working out?" she suddenly blurted out.

He turned his head to look at her and smiled. "Just a little bit."

Tifa got out of bed then and started to dress as well. When she turned to look at him again, he was already dressed and ready, in a fitted white knit sweater and jeans. His hair was messy. He looked hot. She wondered why she was assessing him like this all of a sudden. Maybe it was because she wasn't going to see him for the next few months.

Cloud opened the door and she walked out. Elena was walking in the hall, with a mug of coffee in her hands. "Oh hello!" Elena piped up, smiling. "It's nice to see you Tifa."

"Hi Elena." Tifa replied. "How are you?"

"Tired." the blonde replied, shaking her head. "We'll be snowboarding in an hour. Care to join us?"

"That's exactly what we were planning!" Cloud and Tifa said. His arm was suddenly wrapped around her waist. "We'll wait for you then." Elena nodded.

He led her downstairs, into the sitting room. The room was relatively large, and very home. It didn't have fancy pieces of furniture, but Tifa could tell that the fixtures were ancient. Very expensive. Rare. "Let's sit there," Cloud said.

The fire crackled, its heat radiating directly at them. "The snowboards we're using are all special boards. Very techie." Cloud boasted, with a stupid fanboy grin.

"Techie?" Tifa asked.

He nodded. "It can measure how fast I'm going."

"Wow. How fast have you gone so far?" she asked.

Cloud scratched his head and answered, "85km/h. Boss said it was pretty slow. Elena was already going at 120km/h." Tifa erupted with laughter. "85! I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that that's not slow. And yes, of course Elena's going to kick your butt at snowboarding—she and Tseng snowboard all the time! Why are you using techie boards?"

"It's a stunt we need to pull while escaping the infected ones."

"Oh." Tifa said. "Is this your first time snowboarding?"

"Well yeah. I've never been able to afford these stuff before." Cloud shrugged.

Of course… Tifa slapped her forehead mentally. A delivery boy would have never been able to afford one night in the inn. Or have time, for that matter. Stupid, stupid Tifa! "You'll be going around a lot," she whispered. "You'll be visiting places you've never been, like now. I'm so happy for you."

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "It would have been sweeter if you were with me."

"Yeah, I think so too. Maybe when we have time, we'll do just that. Just the two of us."

"Hmm." Cloud agreed.

Elena ambled towards the couple with a wide grin. "Are you two ready?" she asked. She had already changed her clothes. Elena had obviously foreseen the Icicle trip and prepared for it. The couple nodded. "Let's go then, before it gets dark."

The two blondes exchanged friendly insults as they headed to the top of the slope. Their banter almost resembled a sibling's petty squabble. Tifa laughed at them. Cloud was absolutely terrified of the height. "Don't be a chocobo, big brother." Elena sighed. Once they reached the top of the slope, Elena dared Cloud. "There are balloons planted everywhere. The one with the most flags at the end of the course will win, yeah? Oh and Tifa, you're also part of this."

With a chuckle, Tifa nodded. "I'm not a novice. Sorry babe. If I get more flags than you, I'm staying in your room."

"You're welcome anytime." Cloud shrugged, smirking.

"Did you just smirk at me?" Tifa gasped.

"Maybe."

"Oh, I was going to cheer on you Cloud. This is so personal now."

"Hey lovebirds, are we gonna start or are you going to turn into cotton candy figures there?" Elena called.

"We're coming," Tifa answered. "I mean it Cloud. I'm not going to go easy on you."

"Yeah," he mumbled.

The game was over after two minutes. Elena had gone with 120km/h, and grabbed ten flags along the way. Cloud had followed, to Tifa's surprise. He had collected five flags. Tifa had done her best to cope with the techie board but found that she couldn't. Her speed was worse than Cloud's 85—it was 70. She managed to grab one flag.

"Man, your boards are too techie for me." Tifa grumbled as Cloud laughed. He reached for her hand and said, "Well, I bet you can beat me with a regular board. Why don't we try that sometime?" He kissed her cheek and whispered. "You're still welcome in my room."

She laughed.

Author's Note:

Well. Old long chaps are back. For now. It's such a stormy day today—boo—and tomorrow… it's my first day in college. Wish me all the luck. I'll need 'em. Oh, and I won't update until I get at least five reviews—ooh, she's being demanding! So don't forget to review. And what was up with those snowboards.

Victoria Chrystallis