Chapter 17: No More Bottling Up Inside

The ride to where ever Vincent was leading us was interesting to say the least. While Vincent and I were in his Corvette, Cid and Cloud followed in Cid’s brand new, midnight blue Viper… Also a gift from Reeve. You know, I’m curious as to why he treats those two so well… Needless to say we were drawing quite a bit of attention to ourselves, riding down the quiet streets of Nibelheim like that. And on top of that, Cid and Vincent were revving their engines at each other at every stop light we happened to hit. It’s amazing that they never really did race, even on the highway.

“Boy and their toys,” I sighed as I checked my makeup in the mirror. “Just remember they’ve got the highway flooded with cops nowadays, okay?”
“Ah, you worry too much,” Vincent chuckled to himself and placed a hand gently on my bare knee. “Cid knows I wouldn’t dare with you in the car.”
“I love you,” I grabbed his hand and kissed it.
“Love you more,” he said, taunting me. “And no arguing unless you want us to get in an accident. I can’t drive and tickle you at the same time, you know.”
“Very funny…”

I kissed his hand again and then leaned my head against his shoulder. “So will you at least tell me what town we’re heading towards?”
“Costa del Sol, but that’s all I’ll say,” Vincent glanced at me quickly and smiled. “You really do look very, very beautiful tonight Kim…”
“Thank you,” I squeezed his hand, which signalled to Vincent I was smiling back. “You don’t look half bad yourself… You should wear your suits more often.”
“Think so?” Vincent laughed. “Maybe I will… Reeve has been bugging me to wear suits to work anyways. He says I need to look more professional since I’ve moved up to Vice President in my department.”
“You’re VP now?!” my voice cracked with excitement.
“Haha, that I am,” Vincent squeezed my hand this time. “I’m making quite a bit more now. I’ll be able to buy you that Mustang you’ve been wanting soon.”
“You mean the one Reeve said he’d sell to you? Y-you’d buy something that expensive for me?”
“You mean everything to me and more,” he raised my hand to his lips and kissed it ever-so-lightly.

“You don’t have to do that you know…” I burrowed my head against his shoulder.
“You’re right, I don’t,” he paused. “But I want to. Plus, I want you to have a car to get to work… You won’t have to walk anymore.”
I nodded for my response. I didn’t want him to realize how close I was to tears. Being with Vincent was almost like living the surreal life… I felt like a princess or something. It was a feeling I’d never felt before.
“-im… Kimberly…” Vincent cooed to me. I must have zoned out. “You okay, hunny?”
“Ah, yeah… Sorry, heh,” I quickly raised a finger to my eye to wipe a single tear away, but not fast enough. Vincent caught my hand in midair.
“You don’t have to hide your tears from me…” he almost sounded upset himself. “I like to know how you’re feeling… So stop penting up inside, okay?”

I didn’t answer with words, but with pure emotion. Tears quickly fell from my eyes, and subtle sobs escaped from my mouth. Usually by now I’d be feeling embarrassed for crying in front of someone. This time was different. I had been told to cry… And it felt nice to let it all out.

It continued throughout the entire trip to Costa del Sol… Never letting up once, or slowing down. Vincent didn’t try to comfort me by words. He simply held my hand, and rubbed my fingertips every once in a while. He was giving me some space by not putting in a single word, but then being there at the same time for the exact same reason.

In time, we arrive at Costa del Sol, and moments later we were sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant Vincent had les us to; Que Bueno, my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Apparently Vincent and I got a little ahead of Cid and Cloud. It was about 5 minutes before they finally arrived. Cid and Cloud walked over towards Vincent’s car, and Vincent quickly rolled down his window. I hid my face in his shoulder so that Cloud and Cid wouldn’t see me crying.

“Something wrong?” Cloud said as he approached the window.
“You guys go ahead and get us a table, okay?” Vincent began to whisper, so I couldn’t hear what he said. “Kim’s a little emotional, so I’m going to give her a minute to relax.”

And with that they were off to the restaurant.

“Vincent, I’m okay n-…” but I never got to finish my sentence because Vincent had already unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me into his lap. The tears once again rolled down my face. Sitting in his lap, I quickly clanged to his chest like an emotional child. I shook violently with each sob I let out. Vincent rocked me from side to side.

“Shh…” Vincent ran one hand up and down my back as he whispered in my ear. “I’m here… Always. Stop keeping your feelings inside like this. It isn’t healthy…”
“I just… I don’t know how to react around you… One day you were Mister Keep-to-Myself, and now you’re Mister Perfect,” my voice cracked between each word. “I was afraid to say anything to you because I thought I might… I might…”
“Drive me away from you?” He questioned, but knew he hit the bulls-eye. “There’s no way you could ever, ever do that… I’m the one who begged you to stay with me in the first place, remember? You’re my everything now. You’re the reason why I’m still… sane.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “M-me? I kept you… sane? I have a feeling there’s more behind you then I know…”
This was less then he thought I knew, because of what Reno told me a few weeks before.
“And I promise one day I’ll tell you everything. I’m just not ready yet…” Vincent sighed. “Can you wait? Just a little longer, for me?”
I reached up to his face and placed my hand on his cheek.
“Of course I’ll wait…” I smiled. “I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long, long time.”
“I’m so glad,” and with that, we kissed.