ɪᴛs ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴘʀɪɴᴄɪᴘʟᴇ

1

"I said no Tifa, I've got deliveries to take." Cloud said as he put his glass down onto the counter.

"Come on Cloud, you can't always use that excuse. Besides you said you don't have to deliver those until next week. You have time to relax." Tifa said, cleaning a glass with a rag.

"Let me rephrase that, I'm not going because I don't want to." He said, with a stern tone in his voice.

This argument had been going on for at least 10 minutes. Tifa had made a reservation for a spot at the HoneyBee Inn for tonight so that everyone in there gang could go, but Cloud was being difficult not wanting to go.

"You said you would hang out with us more." Tifa argued.

"Yeah, I never said at the HoneyBee, it's too noisy and all I can think about that place is being in a frilly dress and having my face poked to look prettier." Cloud responded.

"You do have to admit you make a pretty princess." She said giggling, earning an eye roll from the ex- soldier.

"That gives even more of a reason to not go." He argued.

"Come on, they won't put you in a dress this time, besides one of my friends is going to be there and I promised I'd be there to see her." Tifa said.

"Then go you don't need me to go see your friend." Cloud said.

"But it will be so much fun with all of us there, plus you can make a new friend while you're at it." She said.

"And why would I want more?" He questioned.

"So you can expand your horizons? Make more connections? You need to socialize more outside of us." Tifa said.

"That's not going to convince me." Cloud saidd, earning a sigh from Tifa as she put the glass on the counter.

"I'll you 100 Gil." She said.

Cloud thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head and sighing heavily, thinking to himself he's going to regret agreeing to this.

"Fine, I'll go but the moment something happens I'm leaving." Cloud said.

"Deal. Reno Barret and Jessie will be meeting us there so we should get going soon." She said as he shook his head.

After Tifa closed the 7th Heaven, her and Cloud headed outside to see the others waiting. As they went on their way Cloud was tapped on the shoulder by Jessie.

"Hey Cloud, never expected you to join us to go to the HoneyBee." She teased.

"Not like I had a choice." He said stoically.

"Well I'm happy you're coming with us, you'll never know what could happen. You could have a good time and want to come back again." Jessie said.

"I doubt that would ever happen." Cloud commented.

"Like I said, you'll never know!" She stated again as he just ignored her as they arrived.

Once they were outisde they saw crowds of people standing around with lots of buzz in the air and flashing lights at the entrance.

"What's going on? Why is there so much people just standing around?" Reno asked.

"Oh right, I almost forgot to mention. They will sometimes invite singers and entertainers to perform at the HoneyBee and it causes a commotion sometimes." Tifa stated.

"So what? Do we just leave?" Jessie asked.

"No way! I got a friend who got us a way inside, we just gotta go to reception." She said.

"Who's performing tonight then? They must be pretty big to make this much of a fuss." Reno said as they started pushing through the crowd and seeing many people taking pictures at a certain area.

As they pushed through the people to make it to the entrance, the crowds grew louder and Cloud looked to see what was going on. As he turned around he saw a pair of e/c eyes, startled for a bit he backed away a bit. Taking in the appearance of the person who almost bumped into him, he looked down at the figure to see a shorter woman. She whore a large sweater and tied a belt around her waist to look like a dress, with many silver chains and jewlery to accessorize.

The woman stepped back a bit as well and looked up at him. Blushing slightly in embarrassment as she realized the situation she want in, bumping into a man with a scowl resting on his face and a large sword on his back.

"My apologies sir, I should've been looking where I was going." The woman said quietly but loud enough to hear as Cloud continued to stare at her wide eyes.

"It's alright..." He said as he trailed off slightly.

"Ma'am is he bothering you?" A tall figure said, catching Cloud's attention and looking them.

"No no, not at all. It was my fault for bumping into him." She said, waving her hand slightly.

      The figure wore all black attire and an ear piece, after realizing that he was a body guard, Cloud look to the woman before him. Realizing she was probably an important guest at the inn tonight.

"We should head inside before the commotion gets out of hand." The figure said, earning a nod from the woman.

"Sorry again." The woman said, smiling sheepishly as she hurried her way out of the crowd.

       Cloud's eyes traced after woman as she walked away further and further from him until eventually disappearing from his vision. He didn't know why he was starring. He didn't know what compelling feeling made him want to stare. He didn't know why he grew curious of who she was.

"Cloud! You coming?" Jessie called out to him.

"Yeah...coming." He responded and he continued his way towards the others and reached them.

        They arrived inside after pushing past many crowded people and went towards the desk. After being greeted by two honeygirls, Tifa approached the desk.

"I have a reservation for a table of 4." She said to the man behind the desk.

"What's the name for the reservation?" The man asked.

"Tifa Lockhart." She responded.

"Unfortunately your arrived late so we had to give the table to other guests, sorry." He said.

"What?! But we're only 2 minutes late and you can't blame us with the people parading outside." Tifa complained.

"I'm sorry but tonight is really packed and he don't have any more room." The man responded, earning a sigh from her.

"All right alright, white rabbit." She said, making the man's eyes go wide.

"R-right, girls take them to the VIP section reserved for them." He stuttered as the honeygirls lead the way.

"How did you do that?!" Jessie asked.

"Little secret." Tifa said, smirking slightly as they were lead to their reserved seats awaiting what the night had in stored for them.