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ON THE ROCKS
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Cloud is roused from his thoughts by the sound of a chair being pushed across the floor. Someone sits down in front of him.
So, it finally happened. Someone came… Cloud doesn’t bother to check who it is.
“Hello Cloud,” an oddly familiar voice says. Somehow Cloud has the feeling he should remember its owner. He blinks in confusion, his gaze remaining firmly on the glass in his hands.
“I happened to be nearby,” the voice continues. Cloud doesn’t want to hear it, doesn’t want to listen. They had been blissfully alone for such a long time: He and the clock on the wall with its drowsy, uniform ticking… Now, their peace has been interrupted.
“That’s why I came here.”, the voice explains further, and Cloud looks at the glass in his hands. He already washed it a few minutes ago, and he had intended to wash all the other glasses, too. But then, he didn’t. Why…? The rinse water is already cold by now.
“I thought you might be here.”, the voice continues, and Cloud shakes his head, frowning. He is always here. How does the voice know… Suddenly, Cloud looks up.
“Are you?”, Reno asks, measuring him with an intense gaze.
Cloud swallows. He puts the glass aside. “What?”, he asks and winces slightly, for his voice sounds raw, like he hasn’t used it in a long time.
“Are you here…?”, Reno clarifies. “I see you, but… You don’t seem to be here.”
Cloud looks at the clock and raises an eyebrow. Reno’s eyes follow the movement.
“Oh, I get it.”, he says. “It’s noon… Surely the leftovers from last night finally decided to leave, and then someone like me comes along… Sorry.”
He laughs softly while Cloud remains silent. “Do you mind if I smoke in here?”, Reno asks. He takes Cloud’s silence as a confirmation and lights a cigarette.
Reno lets his gaze wander a little more closely over the inside of the small pub as Cloud watches in silence.
“You know, Cloud,” Reno slowly says, frowning. “This place makes quite the impression… You know… Something along the lines of empty… deserted… desolated. Like nobody has been here for a long time.”
Cloud snorts. Then he picks up a new glass. It is sparklingly clean, but he dips it into the ice-cold water of the sink anyway.
“You don’t see customers very often.” It isn’t a question. It’s a statement.
Reno nods, as if to confirm his own thoughts. “A whiskey, please.”, he adds. “On the rocks, if it’s possible.”
Reno drinks in silence.
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“Yo, Cloud!”
Cloud doesn’t bother to look up. He dips a glass into the lukewarm water in front of him.
“I happened to be nearby.”
Cloud says nothing and Reno shrugs. He casually flops down on the bar stool, the same one he sat on the previous time.
“Whiskey on the rocks!”, he says and lights a cigarette.
Cloud slowly dries the glass and fills it with whiskey. Then he opens the freezer, takes out the ice cubes and adds them to the drink, one at a time. Reno watches him in silence.
“You know what, Cloud,” he says, accepting the glass and taking a sip, savoring the taste. “This place is kind of special. I don’t know why, but… Well, it doesn’t really matter, right?”
Cloud frowns and washes another glass.
The clock makes ticking sounds but doesn’t move. Its pointers have stopped overnight. Cloud hasn’t noticed.
“I saw Marlene today”, Reno says. “On the marketplace. She has grown quite a bit, hasn’t she?”
“Mmm,” is the only sound Cloud makes. Reno nods.
“Yes, I think so, too”, he agrees, as if Cloud had given an actual answer. “But I haven’t seen the rest of your old merry gang for quite some time. How is Tifa?”
Cloud is silent.
“Why are you working here anyway? Doesn’t Tifa own this place?”
Cloud is silent.
“You can’t even wash the dishes properly.” Reno chuckles and takes a sip from his glass. “Are you helping out here? Has Tifa gone on a vacation?”
Cloud is silent.
Reno is, too.
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“I’d like to order a whiskey on the-“
“Yes.”
Reno grins, amused. “Well, look at this… You can still talk, how amazing! I haven’t been so sure for a while.”
Cloud snorts and dips a glass into the hot dishwater.
Reno frowns. “Tell me…,” he says, leaning forward. “Is this all you ever do? The only thing you do all day? Washing those dishes?”
Cloud is silent.
“I see.” Reno sighs, dropping his gaze onto the amber liquid in front of him. “I just… happened to be nearby.”, he says, lighting a cigarette.
The ticking of the clock suddenly seems very loud.
“Is Tifa sick?”, Reno asks. He knows he will not receive an answer.
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The next time Reno enters the pub, his whiskey is already waiting for him on the counter.
“How very accommodating.”, he comments as he sits down on the bar stool. Cloud doesn’t reply. He is busy doing the dishes.
Reno lights a cigarette.
They are both silent.
“I was on a mission yesterday. With Rude.”, Reno says after a while. “The usual… A little violence, a little death. Nothing special, really…”
Cloud is silent. And so is Reno’s voice as he continues speaking.
“There was a little girl...” His gaze is lost, seemingly far away. “She ran straight into the crossfire.”
Cloud is silent.
“…Do you hate me now?”, Reno asks, his voice nothing but a hoarse whisper.
The clock on the wall ticks and ticks, unmoving still.
“You should get that watch repaired.”, Reno says, lighting another cigarette.
Cloud suddenly winces, looking up. Wide-eyed, as if waking from a dream. “What?”, he asks.
“The clock,” Reno repeats flatly. “You should get it fixed.”
“Oh…”, Cloud says and dips a glass into the cold rinse water.
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“Cloud,” Reno says, sipping his whiskey and smoking a cigarette. “May I ask you something personal?”
He takes Cloud’s silence for approval.
“This pub hasn’t seen a guest in ages. The glasses here are all clean. And yet all you do is wash them. Why?”
Cloud swallows and drops his gaze a little deeper, his shoulders stiffening.
“Tifa is dead, isn’t she?”
The glass breaks.
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„It’s sad.”, Reno says, his voice sounding so strange that Cloud can’t help but look at him in question.
“All of this.”, Reno explains, underscoring his statement with a sweeping gesture. “You. Me. This pub. This fucked up situation, just… everything.”
Cloud only shrugs and dips a glass into the lukewarm water in front of him. And somehow, this simple gesture makes Reno’s blood boil.
“You know what I’d really like to do?”, he asks, voice trembling. “I’d like to take that bloody glass from your bloody hands and throw it against the bloody wall.”
Cloud frowns. Their eyes meet. There is a sparkle in Reno’s eyes that hasn’t been there before.
“And then…”, he says, voice almost dreamy. “Then I’ll fix your watch. And I’ll wash the windows. And dust the tables. And then everything will get better… We will get better. Just wait and see.”
His speech is met with silence and suddenly Reno is angry again. So angry that he throws his glass against the wall. Watching it shatter into tiny pieces makes him feel satisfied and empty at the same time.
Ice cubes slowly melt on the dusty floor.
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“Cloud… If you could change one thing in your life… Just one thing. What would it be?”
Cloud is silent.
“You’re right… That’s a stupid question, isn’t it?”
They are silent.
“I… I’d pay more attention before pulling the trigger,” Reno suddenly says, hand tightening around his whiskey glass. “If I could change something, I mean. I’d be more careful.” His voice is only a whisper.
“I’ll go on a mission tomorrow.”, he continues when Cloud doesn’t say anything. “Just routine, you know… The usual. Nothing special at all. But…”
His gaze fixes on Cloud’s hands, soaked and slightly wrinkled from the rinse water. “But somehow it’s different this time. I have a feeling...”
Cloud is silent.
“Cloud, if I were to die tomorrow… Would you miss me?”
Cloud is silent.
“Are you afraid of death?”
They are silent.
“I thought so,” Reno says after a while. Then he laughs and takes a sip of whiskey. “You should really fix that watch, you know that?”
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The following day, Reno’s chair remains empty.
On the next day, too.
And on the one after that.
Three weeks later there’s a sign at the pub’s entrance.
For rent.
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THE END