Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 1: Arrival

NINETEEN

The drive back to Sector 7 was a quiet one, but comfortable. Jessie drove this time, her hair brushing past my face as I sat behind her. My lips still tingled from our intense kissing at the secret place, anxious for more. My hands rested lightly on either side of her waist as we sped on down the dirt road toward home.

When had the Sector 7 slums become home to me? When had that happened? I'd gotten used to the place over the last two months, but to be honest, I'd never really thought of it as home until recently. Maybe it was Jessie that made it feel that way. Tifa, too, good friend that she was. Even the others. A little, anyway. But just a little. Maybe it was because we'd been on a mission together now and I'd gotten to know them a bit. They'd begun to grow on me, not that I was ever gonna tell them. I still had an image to maintain, of course.

Jessie and I both deliberately avoided looking at the pillar complex as we raced past it, our eyes fixed on the road ahead. But as we went by, I slid my arms around her waist and squeezed her gently for a moment, telling her without a word that I wasn't going to let anything happen to her. She glanced back at me and smiled, then brought her eyes back to the front again as we rode on.

When we finally got back to her house, Jessie parked the bike next to it but didn't get off just yet. Instead, she turned around on the seat to face me and then draped her arms over my shoulders. I knew what she had in mind, and I held her close to me as our lips met. We stayed that way for a while, just kissing each other. Long, lingering ones that made my heart race and my skin tingle with warmth.

"Damn, Cloud," she murmured. "You are such a good kisser."

"I am?" I wondered.

She laughed. "Yep! The best!"

I felt my cheeks flush pink. "Um, well... thanks. Never did it before today, you know."

"I... I was your first?" Jessie breathed.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just... never had anyone before."

She touched my cheek, her eyes gazing at me in wonder. "So, when I jumped on you after the match, it was..."

"One hell of a first kiss," I finished for her.

Jessie hugged me tight. "Wow! How lucky can a girl get?"

"I'm glad it was you," I said.

She replied with her lips, covering mine in a kiss so passionate it all but ripped the breath out of me. I responded by pressing her close and returning it, one hand sliding through the soft strands of her hair. The need to breathe forced us apart for a minute, but then we got back to it, our lips and tongues meshing seamlessly together while we sat there on the Hardy, lost in each other.

Eventually, we got off the bike and went inside the house. As soon as we did, Jessie filled her new vase with fresh water before moving the flower to it and cleaning out the old cup. After putting it and the rest of the stuff from the picnic away, we went back outside and spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around the slums together until we came to the weapon shop as the daylight was starting to fade.

"Hey, Cloud," Jessie said. "How about I get you something?"

I shrugged. "What for?"

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "You're too cute when you do that, you know? Anyway, since you bought me a nice gift, I wanted to do the same for you. And I figured this was more your style."

"Definitely," I agreed.

After checking out what the weapon shop had to offer, I picked out a mythril bangle, the last one they had in stock. It had two linked slots for materia and was a lot stronger than the plain bronze bracer I'd been using since I first came to Midgar. I planned to use the Restore materia Jessie had given me in Sector 8 in one of the two slots. Since they were linked, if I ever found a blue support materia such as Magnify, that link would apply its effect to the Restore materia.