[Name]

Away from Home, Part 6

During your walk back to the dorms, a fire ignited inside of you.  You were [Name], you didn’t give up during finals week when you forgot to study or when there was that one boss battle that made you want to throw your controller out the window or when you had to go through the hell they called middle school.  And you weren't going to give up now.  True that this may be the biggest struggle of your life so far, but you were determined to find your way home. 

As you entered your room you saw a note on your bed:

“[Name], I heard you were feeling sick.  Some friends and I are going to be downtown at the ice cream parlor if you want to join.  Hope you feel better soon!”

-Namine

Looking over at the clock, you saw that school got out 30 minutes ago.  Riding the high of your new found determination, you decided to take Namine up on her offer.  Some recon may be the key to leaving this island.  You kinda also wanted some ice cream.

It took you until you were almost downtown to realize you had no idea where the hell the ice cream parlor was. 

“Whatever, might as well walk around until I find it.”

After walking around downtown for a few minutes, you thought you heard someone say your name.

“[Name]?”

Cloud

You turned and saw Cloud standing at the garage entrance of a mechanic’s shop.

“Hey, Cloud.”

“What are you up to?” He eyed you curiously.

“Just walkin’ around.” You decided to ditch the ice cream plan; you could do some recon here and didn't feel like aimlessly wandering around anymore.

“Oh, well if you're not busy do you want to help me with my bike?”

“Sure, but I don't really know anything about motorcycles,” you warned him.

“Don't worry; they're not too hard to understand.”

After being taught the basics, you helped Cloud fix whatever was wrong with his motorcycle.   By “helped” you mean “stood near him and handed him any tool he needed”.  It wasn’t a big fix, so you both were done in about 20 minutes.  Seeing that Cloud had some grease on him, you tossed him a rag that was in the tool box.

“Thanks,” he said as he wiped his hands off, staring off into space.  “You know, I used to get motion sickness all the time.”

“Really?” You didn't expect him to say something like that.  Or at all, the guy could be pretty quiet.

“Yeah, I had it for the longest time.  Then one day I figured the best way to overcome it was to just get used to bumpy rides.  That’s how I came to own this bike.  Every day I rode it my motion sickness got less and less.  Now I don't even feel it at all.”

“That’s… pretty brave,” you admitted.

“Maybe,” he turned to look at you with a small smile.  You never noticed how bright his eyes were.  They could almost be night lights or something.

 “Crap,” he muttered, noticing the time. “I’m gonna be late for my date with Tifa.  See ya soon, [Name].”

He hurried out of the shop and you were left to walk back to your dorm on your own.