Cloud sat in his cozy bed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling like he had counted each and every crevice above him. How long had he been like this? An hour? Two hours? Whatever the time was, it was too long. He was trying to calm himself down and not get stressed out, but he was failing miserably. It just resulted in him staring at the ceiling more, unsure of what to do as his mind swirled with the possibilities.
He had practically made a fool of himself earlier today. If he'd had any chance with Aerith before, he had definitely blown it now. And now they were going to share a room together? His first time being in a room with a girl… it was all too much.
He couldn't just sit there and stare at the ceiling for another hour and make it even worse. He needed some guidance. But from whom? Cloud took a moment to pause, but then breathed a sigh of relief as he reached for the phone. He knew exactly who he could call, and he was certain this person would answer, as they never had any social plans themselves.
"Hey, Chadley!" Cloud said, the phone picking up after the second ring.
"Oh, why hello, Cloud," Chadley responded, his high-pitched, steady voice helping Cloud to relax a little. "It's good to hear from you outside of working hours."
"Yes," Cloud agreed, and the pair talked about their shared workplace for a few minutes. Chadley was proud of his new research project he had been working on and shared all the elaborate details, as he was known to do. Cloud didn't mind. Honestly, it helped to calm him down and gave him some time to figure out exactly what he'd say when it was his turn to speak.
Eventually, Chadley had reached the end of his research report, and, observant as ever, noticed Cloud had not spoken much. "So, Cloud. What new things have taken place recently in your life?"
Well, this was it. Cloud knew he had run out of stalling time and had to spill the beans. "Uh… so you remember that guys trip to Vegas I'm going on next weekend?"
"Of course!" Chadley exclaimed. "And once again I do appreciate the invite, but I am not of legal gambling age so I do not think I would find much enjoyment. Plus, I do worry about the oversensory—"
Cloud cut him off before Chadley could get further. "No, it's not that. It's something else."
"Oh. Is there some sort of new predicament?"
"Yes, exactly. Um… do you remember the girl I told you about? Aerith?"
"Oh yes, I do remember you mentioning her. Such an intriguing name, too, deriving from the word earth. This is the girl who occasionally visits that bar I know you frequent. You told me you have a fondness for her, and you wish to know her even better, but were unsure of how to proceed."
"Y-yes," Cloud said. Chadley had a way of making everything sound so scientific and matter-of-fact.
"Did you make any progress, Cloud? I must know. While I have done my share of research, I do not feel comfortable with members of the opposite sex. I am not sure how to communicate and do not quite understand all of their customs. I am interested to hear what developments you have made."
Cloud took a pause, knowing his response would disappoint. "I'm no better, Chadley."
"Why do you insist on demeaning your efforts, Cloud? I am sure you are overexaggerating and are progressing more than you realize in your quest. So please, share more details about this predicament involving Aerith and the upcoming trip."
"W-well," Cloud began. "The guys figured out that I was starting to like her, and they wanted to help me. I had space in my room since Johnny dropped out at the last minute."
"Oh," Chadley exclaimed in delight. "This is most intriguing. Tell me how your friends assisted in your infatuation efforts."
Cloud paused a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. His eyes darted to his gaming computer humming in the distance, its green glow helping to illuminate the darkened corner of the room. He took another breath, and then spoke once more. "Everything happened so fast, Chadley. She started talking about how she wanted to go, and before I knew it, they had invited her along. Now she's potentially coming with us on our trip and staying in my room."
"This is wonderful news! You will now have a much easier time familiarizing yourself to her. I'm sure you are very excited at this recent development, yes?"
Cloud sighed as he realized he'd have to tell Chadley the truth. "I made a fool of myself. I barely said anything. I want to be excited, but I'm really feeling… scared."
It felt both freeing and worrying for Cloud to admit this out loud. He knew "scared" was an accurate description, but he felt ashamed when it came out of his mouth. What moron—besides Cloud—got scared about a girl they liked joining them on a trip while their friends do all the heavy lifting? He should have been elated. Chadley would surely think he was being ridiculous.
But much to Cloud's surprise, Chadley simply paused and said, "That is understandable."
"It is?" Cloud asked in confusion. Was Chadley just being nice?
"It sounds like your friends did not ask for prior consent before extending an invitation to Aerith. And the accelerated events of today would surely give me pause as well, since they would be outside of my normal limited interactions with the opposite sex. Yes, Cloud, I surmise I would have acted the same if I was placed in that situation."
Now Cloud remembered why he felt the strong urge to call Chadley: because he had a way of looking at the situation with such objectivity and made Cloud feel like so much less of a loser. Cloud still felt hopeless, but less so, and it was a start.
"So, what do I do, Chadley?" Cloud asked, trying not to let the desperation in his voice seep out.
"I think you should still proceed as normal. Aerith may still decline your invitation and then the point is moot, yes?"
"That is true," Cloud said with a nod, even though he knew Chadley couldn't see him on the other side of the phone.
"But if she does accept," Chadley continued, "I see great potential to expand your connection with her. Although, do not place too much pressure on yourself, Cloud. View this trip as simply an opportunity to interact with her more and further explore your budding friendship. Otherwise, you will be placing impossible standards on yourself that you can not possibly meet, leading to further embarrassment."
"Yeah," Cloud agreed. "Biggs and Wedge said something similar." In a lot less words, of course, but Cloud didn't have the heart to say that to Chadley.
"Furthermore, you may want to consider setting some boundaries with your fellow travel companions. They may be thinking that they are providing you a favor by quickly escalating the relationship, but it is clear that you are feeling out of control and unable to process the situation properly. Perhaps doing this will help put you more at ease."
"Thanks," Cloud said. "You're right about all of this."
"It is not a problem," Chadley responded. "Now, I hope you don't mind, but I was in the middle of a rousing virtual reality gaming session that I would like to return to as I am close to acquiring another summon. I feel like I have provided all the insight I can at this time for your upcoming adventure. I look forward to receiving future updates on how this situation progresses."
"Goodnight, Chadley," Cloud said with a chuckle as he hung up the phone. He was already starting to relax a bit more, and felt he had made the right decision calling Chadley. It sure beat staring at the ceiling for another few hours in a fit of panic.
Cloud was able to put the whole ordeal out of his mind for another couple of days. He thought about Chadley's advice, but he also kept in the back of his mind the possibility that Aerith could decline the invitation. That would definitely have made his situation a lot easier, and he wouldn't have complained.
However, all those hopes and dreams suddenly came to halt when he felt his phone vibrate in the side pocket of his cargo pants at work. It was a single vibration and he knew it meant a text; somehow, he knew it wasn't from Chadley. Cloud lost all focus of the computer work screen in front of him and pushed the assorted tools on his desk to the side.
He reluctantly opened his phone and took a quick peek. His heart dropped. Of course, it was a group text from Aerith to the gang, signed with a cute flower emoji at the end.
Great news! I got the OK to go! Can't wait to go to Vegas, thx for inviting me! ^^
All the panic that Cloud had pushed aside from the previous days came rushing back. He was going to have to deal with this situation, and it was too late to stop it. He wasn't sure if he was ready, but there was no backing out now.
Wedge was the next one to respond.
This is great news. We're all meeting at the Seventh Heaven bar to carpool at 8 AM on Thursday. It's about a four hour drive to Vegas. See you there.
Biggs followed soon after with a text response and an accompanying animated GIF expressing his excitement.
Can't wait! Vegas here we come!
All just like that, the entire group had responded except for Cloud. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want it to sound insincere. He genuinely did want to spend time with Aerith and get to know her, but he was worried about all the complications this would bring. He wished he could just go with the flow and not panic at another situation involving a girl, but given his past history, he just couldn't.
He sat looking at his phone for what seemed like an eternity. Around him, his co-workers continued to clack away at their keyboards, oblivious to his distress. He racked his brain trying to think of the perfect thing to say. He typed several drafts of what he thought was appropriate, but then promptly deleted them once he read over them. Hopefully Aerith didn't notice any icons pop-up indicating he had spent all this time typing without actually sending anything.
Eventually, he shut his phone, figuring it was best to not say anything at all. Better that than saying something dumb and ruining what little chance he already had.
The day finally came, and Cloud arrived at the bar a few minutes early. The sun was slowly making its way towards the top of the sky, and the heat was already starting to settle in. Biggs and Wedge had already arrived, standing outside their car and chatting away. Cloud parked his own car next to theirs and popped open his trunk to get out his duffel bag. Luckily, Aerith hadn't arrived yet. It was the calm before the storm.
Cloud greeted his friends and loaded his bag into the trunk of their car.
"Ready or not," Cloud muttered. And he was definitely not ready. Nor would he ever be.
"You got this," Wedge said encouragingly, as he gave Cloud a pat on the back. "You'll be working your magic in no time."
Biggs piped up as well. "You sure you don't want to change your reservation for two beds into one? Maybe move the action along." Biggs gave Wedge a nudge with his elbow and the pair chuckled.
Cloud could feel his heart racing even more. He was already nervous, but this was making it worse. He took a deep breath, and then remembered Chadley's advice from a few nights ago. If he didn't stand up for himself now, there would be no time during the trip.
"G-guys," Cloud muttered. "Can you chill a little bit with all this? I'm... trying not to stress out."
There, he said it. He examined the looks on his friend's faces. He didn't want to offend anyone or ruin anyone's fun, but he was already panicking and the trip hadn't even started yet.
"Sorry man," Biggs said, breaking the silence. "Didn't realize this bothered you that much."
"I know you're just trying to help," Cloud blurted, trying to soften the blow.
Before Cloud could continue, another car pulled up to the spot next to them. Cloud knew exactly who it was and he felt his body tense up. He turned around to see Aerith jumping excitedly out of her car.
"Heya!" she said with a wave. "Who's ready to go to Vegas?"
The two boys rushed over to help her with her luggage, and Cloud followed shortly behind, figuring he should do the same. As they rounded the back of the car and the trunk came into view, all three of them got a look at how big of a suitcase Aerith had brought.
"That's huge!" Wedge exclaimed. "You know we are only going for a few days, right?"
Aerith let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry. I didn't know what to pack. I've never been to Vegas before. Is it too much? I can leave some of it behind."
"We can make it work," Biggs said with a smile. "Especially since we have the packing master here."
Biggs turned his attention toward Cloud with a grin. Cloud knew he was not worthy of all this praise, but he did have his moments of spatial awareness. His engineering skills were known to come in handy for real-world situations like this.
"I'll try," Cloud sighed, trying to think of the best thing to say. He reached in Aerith's trunk and took out the light pink suitcase. It was bulky, but not terribly heavy, but lifting it gave his muscles a chance to show off in the sun. He made his way over to Wedge's car, rearranged a few items, and stuck her suitcase into the trunk with ease. It was the largest of travel pieces in the trunk, but luckily the rest of the guys packed light.
"My hero,"Aerith said sweetly as Cloud closed the lid of the trunk.
"Well," Wedge started, "It's time to go. Me and Biggs will take the front, and you and Cloud can take the back."
"Sounds great to me," Aerith said with a cheer. Like Cloud even had a choice.
He took a deep breath and opened the passenger side back door, where he'd be sitting for the next few hours. He could barely sit next to her for a few minutes without tensing up. How on earth was he going to make it through four hours of this constant anxiety?
It was most certainly going to be the longest car ride of his life.
A/N: I have to confess that Chadley is one of my favorite characters in the remake, so I had to include him here as a side character!
Thank you for all the feedback and for everyone that has left reviews so far. I love them all 3