Aerith was so obviously out of her element. Here she was, about to throw what she understood to be very important dice, for a game called Craps that she still wasn't sure how it worked. Up to this point, no one from her group had seemed to have any sort of good luck throughout the night. And now, she foolishly decided to put her own money down, too. It's not like she brought a ton of it with her. A few hours ago she was happy to have won all of $10. What was she thinking?
As she reached for the dice, she glanced at Cloud and reminded herself exactly what she was thinking.
She probably should've followed Biggs and Wedge to play roulette. That was a game she actually understood. But as soon as they had arrived at the Craps table, Cloud started speaking in actual sentences to her again, unlike earlier in the day when the best she got was a couple words at a time. He obviously knew so much about this dice game, and to be fair, he seemed to actually enjoy listening to her pointless flower facts. The least she could do was indulge him a little.
But, let's be clear, she had no idea what she was doing. It probably didn't help that she kept getting distracted by glimpses of his beautiful green eyes and his muscular arms as he kept reaching across the table. How was she supposed to concentrate? There were all these numbers and bets to keep track of. It was a lot, and made absolutely no sense, but Cloud seemed to enjoy it.
All she knew was that right now, all she was required to do was throw the dice and make sure it hit the back wall. Cloud could interpret for her what the numbers actually meant, and it was a role he seemed to enjoy.
She finally put the dice in her hand and jiggled them around a bit, pretending she knew what she was doing. The sharp corners prickled the inside of her hands. Then, she extended her hand and set the dice free, using just enough force to have them reach the back of the opposite table wall. They bounced around at the end of the table before settling on their final number—seven.
Aerith was pretty sure that was a bad number.
"Sorry," she blurted out to Cloud. So much for another lucky streak.
"Winner, seven!" the stickman called out, and she watched the dealers pay out her bet on the table. Wait, what?
"Don't be sorry," Cloud assured her. "That's good."
"But I thought I didn't want to roll a sev–I mean, that number. Last time I did, they took our money away."
"Well this is the come out roll, so now it's okay to roll it."
The come out.. what now? Aerith wasn't following at all. And these sevens needed to make up their mind if they were good numbers or bad numbers.
But whatever she did, she just doubled her money. And Cloud appeared pleased, so she might as well continue to stay with it. Before reaching for the dice, she lifted up her palm in front of Cloud, hoping to give him a congratulatory high five. He was too focused on the table and initially missed her gesture, leaving her to just stand there awkwardly. Thanks, Cloud.
By the time he did notice, she had started to pull away and reach for the dice again. Oh well.
She rolled a few more times, and all the results seemed to be good, judging from Cloud's reactions. Bets moved around the table in a blur and she noticed a crowd was starting to gather, placing their own bets too. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening but she could feel the excitement.
"That's your third point you've made," Cloud said as he eyed his chip stack, now much bigger in size than it had been a half-an-hour ago. She wasn't sure what he just said, but it sounded nice. "Let me make some place bets for you, if that's all right." He opened his palm, inviting her to place some of her chips in his hand. Whatever you say, Cloud. She reached for her chips, not even sure of the denominations, and placed them in the center of his palm. Their hands briefly met, and electricity raced through her. Did he feel it too?
Before she could examine his face, Cloud turned back towards the table and moved his hands around, placing very important bets, or so she assumed. He nodded to her when she was done.
"Let's go!" Cloud said with a new sense of enthusiasm. She liked this new side of him. All she had to do was keep rolling good numbers on the dice.
She reached for the dice and briefly turned to Cloud. He had his hand up in front of him, initiating a high-five first this time. But before she could realize what was happening, he saw the dice in her hand and immediately lowered his hand. She had missed her chance. Next time, she thought.
She rolled a few more times. Her chip stack continued to grow with each successful roll, as did Cloud's. The crowd around the table was getting larger and rowdier. Lots of people appeared to be making money and cheering Aerith on. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. The pressure!
She braced herself to roll again. It had been at least a half-an-hour at this point. If she was counting correctly, this had been her thirtieth roll now? That seemed like a lot, but she didn't have the context to compare it. She let the dice go free and bounce off the back wall once more. The dice read a four and a three—or as Aerith knew, a seven.
"Seven out," the dealer announced. She watched all the chips get cleaned from the table and the crowd had a collective sigh. She was pretty sure that was it.
But to her surprise, the folks around the table gave her a congratulatory clap.
"Great roll, shooter!" one said to her. She couldn't help but smile, even though she didn't really do much except roll some dice. She turned to Cloud to gauge his reaction.
"That was amazing!" He said as his eyes widened. "I've… never seen a roll like that."
Remembering their unrequited high-five from earlier, she reached her palm up in front of Cloud, this time making sure to give him plenty of time to react. He met her gaze and clapped his palm against hers. The slap of their hands delighted them both and she was excited to have an excuse to touch him once more.
Aerith stared down at her chip stack that had seemed to quadruple in size. How much exactly had she won? "This looks like a lot."
"It is," Cloud confirmed, fiddling with his own pile of chips. "You helped me to make back all of the money I lost earlier, and then some."
Aerith tried to mentally count the chips in front of her. If this was as much as she thought it was, it was close to a day's salary working at the flower shop—maybe even more. While it was fun to win, she would have felt awful if she lost it all. "We should probably quit while we're ahead, huh?"
She was afraid Cloud would want to stay, but much to her surprise, he nodded and started gathering his chips. "Yeah, you're probably right. Better leave before the table gets cold. Let's go cash in our chips."
Cloud walked with Aerith down the hallway and back to their room. He watched the spring in her step as she skipped towards the door to their room. He still had a hard time processing how much his luck had turned around tonight.
"I still can't believe it!" Aerith squealed. "I won over $200! Thanks so much for helping me."
"It was all you," he said. "You rolled the dice. I just made the bets."
"Well, whatever you did, it was amazing. Thank you, Cloud."
While Cloud was feeling energized from the craps table, that energy slowly started to deplete during the walk back to the room. When they both reached the door, Aerith pushed it open, and they both walked inside. He could feel his nerves returning, and the serpent slithering around him once again. He had foolishly hoped he had moved past this, but now that they were alone again, the serpent was rearing its ugly head.
Aerith stepped into the room first and put her purse on the dresser. She then turned around to face Cloud.
"I had a really nice time tonight," she said. She started moving closer to him, closing the distance between them. The serpent tightened its hold as well.
Cloud tried to think of something to say, but words failed him. He was supposed to say something back, wasn't he? The serpent wasn't letting him think clearly.
She searched his face, waiting for a response. After a few moments of no response, she broke the silence. "Did you?" She moved even closer to him than before.
"Y–yes" he stammered, his eyes unable to make eye contact any more. He did have a great time with her, tonight. Why was this so hard for him to say? Why was he getting so uncomfortable?
"Good," she said with a smile. She paused another moment, examining his face. Did he look as tense as he felt? She continued to move closer to him. Inch by inch. And with each passing step, the serpent constricted too. But Cloud couldn't understand why, and felt anger at his body betraying him.
He could no longer make any eye contact with her, but he could feel her move closer to him, almost right next to him. Was this it? Is this what he had been thinking about? Wanting the past few days? It was finally happening. But why was he so nervous?
All of the sudden, he felt her hands reach for his shirt and pull him towards her, completely closing the gap. Their lips pressed together for a moment and it was hard—maybe too hard. Something was off. He tried to process what exactly was happening, but his brain was unable to think. He tried to move and react but, somehow, the serpent had tightened his lips too. It was no use. He stood completely still, unable to move any single body part, even though he wanted to.
She pulled away from him and he immediately knew his reaction wasn't good. She attempted to look in his eyes but he felt himself unable to look in her direction. He still wasn't sure what exactly he was feeling. He needed time to process.
But before he could think his thoughts through, she spoke up, the disappointment evident in her tone. "I … see. Well, I completely read that wrong. Let's just forget that ever happened. I should just go."
Cloud could hear her voice trembling with the last words, but with her face turned away from him, he could no longer see her eyes and read her expression. He watched as she snatched her purse off the table and passed behind him, his body frozen. Cloud could no longer see her, but he heard the door open and slam behind him; he could immediately feel her presence gone from the room.
He stood there for what seemed like an eternity as he stared ahead at the wall. Eventually, the serpent slowly released its grip and slithered away, satisfied with its hold on him.
He should have said something. He should have reacted. He should have not let her leave. But he didn't do any of those things and instead just let her walk away. Like a fool. Why was he like this? He didn't understand.
He wanted to chase after her, but he had been standing so long in the room that it was too late now. He wanted to call her, but he had a feeling she wouldn't answer. And besides, what would he say? That he didn't know what to do because there's this snake-like-thing with a hold on him and—yeah… it would all be just a waste of time.
He slowly made his way to his bed feeling defeated. His body and his heart hurt. He ruined what was supposed to be a really good night, and he wasn't even sure how.
He needed to make sense of it, somehow. He reached for the phone in his pocket, the cool plastic giving him a modicum of comfort on this otherwise awful night.
He knew who he needed to call.
A/N: I had fun writing a little from Aerith's POV. And yes, if you're wondering, these are legitimate Craps rules - sevens are good and bad depending on when you roll (hence the title).
Also sorry about the cliffhanger, but I can't let Cloud have it that easy when he's been a ball of nerves the whole trip!