It was late, but It's A Wash had never had a customer before noon. So Greg wasn't too worried about being up bright and early.
He sat on the tailgate of the van and aimlessly strummed on his guitar, staring up at the stars. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a headlight pull up into the Car Wash parking and he watched as a figure cut the engine, dismounted and took off her helmet. It was a tall woman with pink hair, in her mid twenties, wearing boots, jeans and a flannel shirt unbuttoned with a t-shirt underneath that he recognized as the logo of a local punk band.
She had kind of a dazed look on her face and wandered over to Greg.
"Uh hey there." He said putting down his guitar.
"Hey." She said, she glanced at the wash behind him, then at the side panel of his van, then at Greg himself.
"Well.. you know we're closed up for the night." He said with a smile. The girl looked at him blankly for a few moments then shook her head.
"OH yeah sorry, I'm actually looking for Greg Universe." She said, her voice was hesitant. Her shoulders were hunched and she scuffed her feet on the concrete in front of her.
"Thats me."
"That's good, Steven told me you'd be here." She said then held out her hand. "I'm Sheena." Greg shook it still trying to figure out why this strange woman was here to talk to him this late at night.
"You're a friend of Steven's eh?"
"Yeah I guess, he's a good kid.. I'm actually dating his uh... er well..dating Pearl." She said rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Greg blinked at her.
"Pearl?"
"Yeah uh.. You know. Tall, skinny, giant pearl on her forehead"
"Oh I know Pearl." Greg said. He recalled the woman Steven had described on their trip to get Pearl a phone. "That means your the mystery woman then" Sheena laughed hollowly
"Yeah I guess I am"
"Well nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you from Steven."
"Good that's... That's good" she said raising her hands and pushing her cheeks up into her eye sockets. "So uh...When you dated Steven's Mom did you ever feel like you were in way over your head?"
Greg looked at her wordlessly for a few moments as memories flashed through his head. Then he scooted over to make room for the woman. Sheena sat.
"She's just so cool you know? And like" Sheena's hands grasped aimlessly in the empty air in front of her "I may look tough but I'm a total dweeb most of the time!"
"She may be a complete dork too but she's got the whole 'alien from freaking outer space' thing going on to balance it out I mean," Sheena sighed and rubbed her temples "What can I possibly do to impress her?" Sheena said. Greg laughed and stared back up at the stars.
"You know I thought the same thing about Rose, Steven's mom."
"The painting in Steven's...room?" Sheena asked searching for the right word for the structure attached to the temple. "That's her right?"
"Yeah." Greg said, he saw Sheena fiddle with strands of her bubble gum pink hair. Greg could almost feel the worry and doubt roll off of her.
"Pearl... was in love with her." She said. "I figured that much out."
"Yeah..have you guys... talked about it?" Greg asked. Sheena shook her head.
"Nah I... I don't want to dredge up any old wounds." She said. "So what did you do to impress Rose?" Sheena hunched forward and folded her hands.
"Well we talked a lot."
"What about?"
"Oh everything. She was always really interested in humans so we talked about that. Music, feelings.. The beach. Important stuff."
"Ah communication. That important relationship thing everyone talks about" Sheena said dryly.
"Yep. No shortcuts I'm afraid. But hey." Greg said. "You ever need to talk to a human about all this I'm happy to help."
"Really? Thanks. Means a lot Mr. Universe."
"Eh Call me greg. So You gotta tell me how this all went down." Greg said. "No one told me anything about the night you guys met." Sheena snorted.
"Well first there was this thing with the cups at the Big Donut."