Time... nine o'clock. Venue... a pub around Square Studios. Beverages... anything that has alcohol. People... those that stressed out throughout the week. Equals... Friday's happy hour!
Ah... the long waited hour of the FF8 characters had finally come. On this night there will be drinking, bragging, singing, and all sorts of “stress release therapies” that will cause hang-overs during the weekend. Ah... isn't that great. Some way to spend a Friday night.
Usually it is the guys and a few girl which are NPCs and the crew that occasionally go for such entertainment. This time, however, Reeves decided to join, just to mingle more with his fellow colleagues. In order to prevent himself being the only odd one out of the usual gang, he “invited” those closer to him to join him too. Cloud, Squall, Zell, Rinoa...
Speaking of Rinoa... the word that was used to pull her here is “unwind”. Rinoa looked around her now. A dimly lit place with smell of beer and smoke everywhere, large guys around the pool table competing for their bet, women that wore so revealing to attract attention... she got more tense by being here. She hardly even spoken a word since she got here. My, my. Isn't her a goodie-two-shoes.
The only one that is as quiet as her is Squall that is sitting next to her. Squall only took a little bit of the time to observe the surroundings. It... is all too familiar to him... not inside one of his most cherished memories. It doesn't scares him, he is used to it. But that doesn't mean that he enjoy it.
Squall... what that was going in Squall's mind is all about Rinoa. The moment they entered he could sense that Rinoa felt like she do not fit in with this place. He wanted to grab her hand and just take off with her outside, but his consciousness prevents him from doing so. Rinoa, how can he keep her company? He do not have much to talk to her, what can he do...
Cloud, while is able to join in the fun, was held back from completely letting go of himself as he constantly looked back and check on Rinoa, trying to get her to join the crowd. At first she is reluctant, but after being persuaded by the others, she slowly join in, and Squall followed. Hey, they are already here, might as well join the fun!
To make this evening more enjoyable, the group played a game of “Chai-Mui” (a popular “paper-rock-scissors” type-of game in Hong-Kong), and basically, whoever loses will have to drink. The casual players knew what to expect and how to read minds, thus they seldom have to drink a lot. It is those first time players that most of the time get hopelessly drunk. Now... guess who is the amateur around here?
“Ha! You lost!”
Rinoa lost the first round she played it. Knowing that she is not a drinker the NPC she played with just poured a little bit of brandy into a glass and added plenty of tonic water to it, making it less strong. Squall, that was about to take her drink and drink it for her, was intercepted by Cloud, that took her glass and gulped it down.
“Give her a break.” Cloud said and NPC gave a grin at Rinoa. Someone is taking the “punishment” for Rinoa.
“You lost again!”
Before Rinoa knew it she lost the second round and this time, knowing that Cloud will drink for her, the NPC offered something much more stronger, attempting to make him hopelessly drunk after a few rounds. But this time before Cloud could even reach the glass, Rinoa snatched it first and quench it down in a gulp. Rinoa expression changed when the burning sensation reached her throat and her eyes squinted. She is a first timer.
Rinoa continued the game immediately and found herself losing again. This time she reached for a bottle of beer and emptied it before Cloud can even stop her. The NPC is starting to get worried after a few more rounds but she find herself difficult to stop when Rinoa is started to having fun. It seems the alcohol started to kick in... her reflexes are slower and she gets bolder by the moment. As the bottles started to pile up, the others are started to get worried. She is smiling and laughing like an idiot and yes, she is drunk.
“Oh man! I lost again!” Rinoa reached for another bottle of beer but Squall pushed it away and stopped her. Rinoa, not knowing what she was doing, wrapped around Squall's arm and leaned herself against him.
“Squally, you looked so cute tonight...”
Squall gently brush off Rinoa and the other looked and felt guilty for asking her out with them. If this goes on the entire evening will be spoilt.
It is this time that Reeves spoke out for the sake of the others.
“Cloud, bring her home. I don't want her to have a bad hang-over tomorrow.”
Cloud nodded and pulled Rinoa up and tried to take her home. Like any drunkard, Rinoa resisted and insisted on staying and Cloud have to pull her around to get her out of there. It is only with her out of the way, the others can continue to enjoy there Friday night, like they previously had. Squall, now was again out of the circle, heard an NPC speaking softly to Reeves. It caught his interest.
“You think... it safe to let Cloud bring her back...? You know, Rinoa's really drunk and Cloud is a guy...”
“There is nothing to worry about. I assure you, Cloud will behave.” Reeves said with full confidence but Squall still isn't fully convinced with Reeve's assurance. What if? What it...?
“I am not drunk!”
“Yeah, yeah. Every drunkard says that.”
Rinoa and Cloud are now outside of Rinoa's apartment, and Cloud is testing the right key to her door while trying to support her that is not standing stably. Boy, is she really drunk! She shouldn't had taken so much alcohol when she don't know her limit! Now he had to handle her in such a drunken state.
“I want another beer!”
“That's enough. You just pucked on your way here.”
Cloud finally got the door opened and supported her inside. He brought her into her room and let her slump onto her bed like a rock. Job's done. He can leave now and let her regret in the morning on how she behaved when she got drunk.
Cloud is turning around and heading towards the door when he felt his arm pulled back by Rinoa.
“I... feel awful... can you stay for a while?”
Cloud tried to tuck his hand off her. At such times he knew he had to be cautious. He can't get carried away or else...
“Why do you... try to... drink for me...?” Rinoa blurted out.
“You are no drinker! I was helping you out when you rejected!”
“Is it... is it... because... you can't bear to see me... get drunk...?” Rinoa continued to say in a drunken state.
“If you could only look at yourself now.”
“You... like... me right? Ha ha... it is because... you like me!” Rinoa continued to speak blindly and Cloud paused for a moment.
“No, it is because I care for you as a friend.”
“You like me... you like me...”
“Do you have any idea what you are talking about?”
“You like me...” Rinoa pulled Cloud's hand closer to her and looked at Cloud straight in the eyes...
“Stop it! Yes, I...”
Rinoa's eyes grow wide open the moment Cloud raised his voice. Cloud, stopped himself from continuing his sentence, lose himself from Rinoa's grip and walked out of her room.
“Promise me, never get this drunk again. Not every guy have the same level of self-control as me.”
Cloud left her apartment, and Rinoa, looked like she just regain her logical sense, was stupefied by what she was saying a few moments ago.
Hic! The author wanna say... Hic!...
(I don't actually to write this chapter. Too cliché, too common. But just as another bypassing chapter, to make the story continues. I didn't actually write the chapters in sequence. In the end I get a whole piece of mess to sort out and out pops this chapter. Well, think you figured out the next chapter will be better, right?)