Unexpected Love

The rest of their shower had went as pretty much all showers do. Sort of. They had taken turns washing each other and both had to force the other way as they would get distracted and almost start other activities. They finally made it out the shower and got dressed. Now they were sitting out side a local restraint, waiting for the next table available. The sky was starting to darken and the smell of rain was fresh on the air.

Vincent and Tifa sat talking while looking up at the sky. She was leaned against his side with her head resting lightly on his shoulder when the waitress came out and looked around.

“Valentine?” She asked.

Vincent stood and held his hand out to Tifa. Tifa was watching the waitress all but drool over Vincent and the man in question had to clear his throat before Tifa turned her attention back to him. She smiled up at him and placed her hand in his. Vincent pulled slightly to help her up and was almost thrown off balance when she pushed herself into him until she leaned against him. His arms coming around her automatically to steady them.

It was childish but Tifa wanted to prove to the waitress that Vincent was off the menu. She turned her head as Vincent’s arms came around her and pressed her lips to his firmly. Vincent arched a brow at Tifa’s actions, having not noticed the waitress, but kissed her back in return, a soft groan emanating from deep in his throat. His body instantly reacted and he had to remind himself they were in a public setting.

Tifa pulled back from the kiss almost as fast as she had pulled him in to it and turned around on her heel to face the nurse while wiping at her lips lightly with a smile. The waitress turned around quickly to lead them to their seats but neither Tifa nor Vincent missed the faint pink that tinted the girl’s cheeks.

Tifa followed the girl, holding Vincent’s hand along the way. When they were seated and the waitress took her leave, Vincent leaned over the table, closer to Tifa.

“Should I ask what that was all about?” His voice held a slight hint of humor, as if he had already figured it out.

“I wanted a kiss.” Tifa answered with a small shrug of her shoulders and a knowing smile.

He pulled back to his side of the table and opened the menu in front of him, scanning the items for something appealing to him. Tifa, a creature of habit, didn’t need the menu since she already knew what she wanted. A cheeseburger, cooked medium well with Swiss cheese and a side of bacon to go on it.

Tifa took the time to reflect on her current status as Vincent looked for something to order. She had always been drawn and attracted to Vincent. But she was supposed to be with Cloud. Wasn’t she? She thought about her and Clouds first kiss. Before Aeris had come along. The kiss had made her close her eyes and have that classic knee bending moment. It had been everything she had thought a first kiss was supposed to be. But then she thought of how she felt when Vincent kissed her the first time just hours ago. Her heart had stumbled in its beats, her blood boiled and her knees weakened all together.

Vincent looked up from his musings over the menu at glanced at Tifa as her heart rate increased dramatically. She was staring towards the door off to his right. Expecting trouble, he turned to the door and seen nothing. He turned back to Tifa and found her lost in her own thoughts. He was about to ask what she was thinking about when the waitress returned with a pen and notepad in hand.

“What can I get you two to drink?” She asked in a cheery voice.

Vincent waited for Tifa to respond. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat a little louder than normal. Tifa snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Vincent and then the waitress before turning back to Vincent with a questioning gaze. All thought having seemingly left her.

“What would you like to drink, Tifa?” He asked her with a smirk.

“Dr. Pepper, please.” She turned back to the waitress with a smile.

“Okay.” The girl wrote that down and turned to Vincent with a smile. “And for you, sir?”

“Sprite will do.”

“Okay. Do you know what you want to order or do you need a few more minutes?” The waitress asked.

“A few minutes please.” Vincent turned his attention back to Tifa.

“I will have these drinks to you in a minute.” She turned and walked away.

“What were you thinking about?” Vincent asked as soon as the waitress was gone.

“Nothing.” Tifa’s cheeks flushed a bright red as she opened her menu and pretended to be reading it.

The waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders, Vincent simply getting the same thing Tifa ordered. Vincent watched with mild amusement as Tifa watched the waitress with a look of strong dislike. What had this waitress done to anger Tifa so much? Did her anger to the waitress have anything to do with the display of affection outside? He cleared his throat, again pulling Tifa from her own thoughts.

“Is there a reason you look at our waitress as if you would rather she disappear?”

“You really don’t see it?”

Vincent looked around, spying the waitress a few tables down taking someone else’s order.

“See what?”

“Oh Vincent.” She snorted. “I am sorry for having let it bother me now. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Vincent tilted his head and raised an eye brow at her both decided not to push the issue as Tifa’s whole demeanor changed and she looked a lot happier. They passed the time waiting for their food by catching up. Tifa seemed fascinated on Vincent being a teacher now.

“I would not have the patience to do that.” Tifa said as she leaned back in her chair.

“It’s not all bad. I have a few students that I would much rather drop the class but all in all it’s actually fun.”

“I just don’t see how you do it.” She said with laughter still twinkling her eyes. “It’s to bad Marlene and Denzel are in a different district. I would love for you to be their English teacher.”

“I could always give private classes outside of school. Of course they would still have to take the class in school so I don’t see where that would be much help. But I could tutor them if need be.”

Conversation was cut short as the waitress returned with their meals and refilled their drinks.

“Is this on one ticket or separate?” She asked.

“Separate.” Tifa said.

“Together.” Vincent answered the same time Tifa did.

The waitress smiled and waited for someone to give her a straight answer.

“Together.” Vincent repeated with a more authoritative tone.

Tifa waved her hand in resignation and the waitress smiled before bouncing off. They ate with little to no talking. Focusing on their food and drink. When the waitress returned with their ticket, she set it down closer to Vincent and he could make out the faint outlines of writing on the other side. He looked up at the waitress and seen her giving him a lingering stare and a wide, knowing smile. Tifa, who was concentrating on her food, did not see this and suddenly all the pieces fell into place for him. Tifa was jealous the female waitress had been flirting with him. And he had completely missed the whole thing until now.

Vincent smiled while watching Tifa and chose to ignore the incident still. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the young waitress’s smile falter slightly.

After they had finished eating, they continued to talk. Their table was cleared and their drinks refilled numerous times. Tifa stretched and yawned after finishing her drink off again. Vincent picked up the ticket and fished into his back pocket for his wallet. He stood and pulled the chair out for Tifa, pushing it back in once she was standing. She excused herself to find the ladies room and he went up front to pay.

Their waitress would also be the one he would be paying for the meal to. He handed his ticket to the female and took a second to give her the once over. She was a beautiful female. Long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Slim waist and a wide curve of hips. But She was female through and through, wouldn’t have a clue as to where to land a decent punch or kick. Vincent found that he preferred his females a little taller with dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. Their bodies were almost the same but where this woman was filled with the grace of charm classes, Tifa had the fluidity and grace of a skilled fighter.

The waitress held the ticket back out to him and Vincent smiled while shaking his head, indicating that he did not want to the receipt back, just as Tifa emerged from the ladies room. He held his hand out to her and she took his hand, letting him lead her from the scene.

Once they were in the car and had the engine running, Tifa turned to Vincent with an unsure smile, wringing her hands in her lap as a nervous gesture.

“Umm… Vincent?”

“Yes, Tifa?” He turned in his seat slightly, giving her his full attention.

“Would you mind…” She looked down at her hands before looking back up to meet his gaze. “Would you mind if I stayed with you a little while longer?” She asked sheepishly.

Vincent smiled inwardly at how uncomfortable the question had been for Tifa to ask. He really had no intentions of letting her leave with out establishing where they stood on this new step in their relationship.

“It would please me a lot to have to stay in my home with me, Tifa.”

“Thank you so much, Vincent.” She said as she pulled her back pack from the back seat.

Vincent frowned as he watched her fumble around in the bag. Was that really all she had brought with her? With a new destination in mind, Vincent put the car in drive and left the parking lot. Turning right instead of left, away from his home.

Tifa’s head snapped up as she noticed he wasn’t taking her back to his place. She gave him a questioning glance before looking out the window and watching the stores go by along the street side. After about ten minutes and few turns here and there, Vincent pulled into the parking lot of a clothing store.

“What are we doing?” She asked him as he cut the ignition.

“You can’t expect to stay any length of time with out clothing, can you?” He asked as he climbed out of the vehicle.

Tifa sat in the vehicle, dumbfounded as Vincent opened her door and held a hand out to her.

“Of all the stores, I figured this one to be more to your liking.” He said as he helped her out.

As they entered the store, Tifa understood why. All of the clothes were exactly the kinds of things she liked. Things that were easy to move in in case she needed to fight. Things that were comfortable for wearing around the house or just something to clean the house in. Everything was to her liking.

Vincent followed her around patiently as she started picking out some clothing. Occasionally she would see him put something in the cart, presumably for himself. After about twenty minutes or so, the store manager met them on the floor. Tifa missed his name as she was busy eyeing something she liked but didn’t want Vincent to see her get. Much to her relief, the manager pulled Vincent off to show him something.

Tifa grabbed the item and tucked it under some other things before continuing her shopping. Vincent didn’t return to her side but stayed within hearing range of her the rest of the time. When she was done, she moved to the check out line and the little girl started ringing her items up. Vincent was at the other register, the store owner ringing up some items Vincent had accumulated in their time apart.

She looked over just as the man held up a long black casing over a hanger. The kind they put really expensive suits and dresses in. When the little girl, for she was only about thirteen, read out Tifa’s total, she was shocked. She had bought a lot of items for herself and she had seen Vincent put some items in the cart, and yet her total was very low. She gave the girl a questioning glance.

“Valentine,” She nodded in Vincent’s direction. “Had a large amount of credit that he asked be applied to your total.”

Tifa nodded with a smile and counted out the required gil. If this kept up, she would still have almost all her gil by the end of the week. Tifa and the girl were still placing Tifa’s bagged items into the cart when Vincent came over with his own cart loaded down, smiling at her.

“Get everything you need?” He asked.

Tifa nodded as she put in the last bag before turning to give Vincent a dazzling smile.

“This place is perfect. Thank you, Vincent.”

“I knew you would love it here.”

After saying their byes, they parted ways with the store owner and register girl. Vincent opened the door for Tifa and her get in the vehicle while he loaded their stuff into the back and took the carts back inside the store. He came back out and slid gracefully back into the vehicle, started her up and started back towards his house.

“Anything else before we go home?” He asked.

Tifa’s heart did a flip as he referred to his home as their home. It was still new and shocking to her that she and Vincent were falling into the routine of a relationship so easily. There was just one thing she wanted to know.

“Where am I sleeping?” She asked. Not meeting his gaze.

Vincent looked at her and noticed her avoiding his gaze. That made it really hard for him to read Tifa Lockheart since her emotions were always in her eyes. He wanted her too sleep in his bed with him. But he didn’t want to sound pushy if that wasn’t what she wanted.

“I would never ask you to sleep on the floor or on a couch. So you will have reign of the bedroom, of course.” There. Not pushy at all.

Tifa sensed Vincent’s unease in how he worded his answer. He was beginning to think she had regrets from what they had done. She decided she was going to take charge and find out exactly what they had going for them because she knew Vincent was too much of a gentleman to ask for fear he might seem pushy.

“Would you be sleeping with me in your bed?”

“Unless you wish otherwise.” Another calculated answer from him.

“Is it considered our house and our bed then?” A bold question from Tifa.

“Is that where you wish this to go?” He asked, risking a glance at her.

“Yes.” She said. No hesitation.

“It is what I prefer.” He said, turning his head briefly to give her an honest smile.

Tifa’s heart soared at that smile and she returned it just as honest and openly while taking his right hand in hers. He entwined their fingers and set their hands on his leg as he drove, the rest of the ride in silence. Both lost in their thoughts and happiness at being in this new found relationship that seemed impossible only two days ago.

She and Vincent Valentine were officially in item. The thought thrilled her and she loved the idea. Not even thoughts of Cloud were bothering her. She loved him, yes, but he was more of a brother to her when compared to her emotions for Vincent.

Vincent tilted his head in thought. He thought they had covered this ealier this morning when she had asked if there could be a “them”. He had answered her question and thought everything was going well. Maybe it was a female thing to need to be reaffirmed. Or maybe she had forgotten.