Inspired by diving_belle's (AKA Micah's Moonbeam) and willow2883's prompts about car washing and babies over at theair_thesun, plus a music video. (And a conversation I had with an old bofriend years ago about what would happen if my Toyota Land Cruiser 4wd and his Toyota Hilux truck tried to have babies together. A five cylinder Land-lux? Yeah…we were those kind of strange people who talked about their cars like that. *shakes head*)
Anyway, I can't keep anything I write to less than 500 words so this grew from a drabble to a one-shot and I've posted it here instead of just on TATS. It's entirely up to you where this fits in the timeline. I kind of like to think it's an AU where Ed never comes back. But then it could also be that AH world where Jake's "exactly right" for Bella. Doesn't matter :)
An idea was born the muggy July evening Jake first saw Jessica Simpson's These Boots are Made for Walking video. Quil and Embry had been raving about it for weeks already. Jake understood why they thought it was good but blondes weren't really his thing.
Jake wasn't silly: he knew he'd probably never get to see Bella washing a car in a bikini. Hell, he'd probably never get to see Bella in a bikini because that much of her pale skin on display would result in third degree burns, but Jake figured if he worked hard at it, he might just get to see Bella washing a car. He could live with that kind of a compromise.
Like everything he did regarding Bella, Jake put a lot of effort into this little scheme. Three nights after he'd seen the inspiring video, he was around at Charlie's place and as Bella walked him to the door after dinner, he saw an opportunity to set his plan's wheels in motion.
"Truck's looking a little grubby, Bells," he pointed at the red beast where it lurked in shadow on the edge of the street. "You should wash the old girl, stop the salt making the rust worse, you know?"
Bella rolled her eyes. It had rained yesterday. In her opinion, that constituted as much washing as the truck needed. Jake was a little disappointed she hadn't taken the bait but he was not easily discouraged. Besides, he was only just getting started.
Another two days later Jake was on the phone to Bella using his best wheedling tone.
"Can I borrow the truck today, Bells? Pu-lease?"
Of course he could, Bella thought to herself, standing in Charlie's kitchen twirling the phone cord around her wrist. After all, Jake kept the truck on the road. But she'd prefer to make him sweat a little.
"What for?"
"Well, uh, Dad wants a bunch of stuff taken to the dump, like yesterday."
Bella smiled to herself. That sounded harmless enough. Still, in the interests of keeping her best friend's ego to a manageable size, she'd make him sweat a bit more. "Can't you borrow Quil's truck? It is closer," she stated, feigning disinterest.
"Yeah, I would, but the transmission's, um, broken."
Strange, Bella thought. Jake sounded oddly unsure of himself which wasn't the norm when he talked about cars. But in order to spare herself a full lecture about the state of Quil's transmitter, or whatever it was, she quickly agreed to lend Jake her truck.
"Ok, thanks!" He responded cheerfully. "I'll be at yours in a few then."
Fifteen minutes later, a grinning Jake stood in Charlie's yard swapping his key ring for Bella's.
She frowned at the Rabbit. It looked different. Sandier, maybe?
Jake noticed her look. "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. Embry pranked me and drove it on the beach."
This was a massive fib: Jake himself had found a nice muddy laneway and tootled up and down it a few times. Bella didn't need to know that though as it was all part of his grand plan.
"You doing anything later this afternoon?" Jake enquired artlessly, moving the conversation forward to where he wanted it.
Bella's plans had consisted of lying on a picnic rug under the dappled shade of the trees in the backyard to read a new book. She shrugged.
Jake persevered. "How about you bring the Rabbit back down to my place about two? We should be done by then. The weather's nice, we could go for a walk on the beach or something."
"Sure," Bella agreed. It'd be more fun hanging out in La Push than pottering around home all day.
"Right, well I'll see you later then," Jake replied, jumping into Bella's truck and hurrying off as fast as it would let him. Bella watched the disappearing vehicle and thought it was unlike Jake to be so hasty; Billy must have been on his case about this clean up.
Jake passed the time until Bella was due in La Push by gunning the truck up the rough, rutted track to old Quil's cabin and back again. Twice he nearly got it bogged to the axles but this only helped his cause because mud spattered halfway up both doors.
Bella passed the time until she was due in La Push by starting her book and nodding off in the pleasant warmth of the day. Later on, she drove the Rabbit down the familiar road to the coast with ridiculous care.
Arriving at the Black's she saw her beloved truck parked in the yard – except it was nearly unrecognisable under a layer of mud and filth. Jake ambled towards her from around the corner of the house, smiling.
"You got the Rabbit here in once piece. Good work."
Bella hit the roof.
"Which is more than can be said for my truck. WHAT the heck have you done to it?" she squawked. "I said you could borrow it move some stuff, not to go offroading and mudbogging all around hell's half acre!"
Jake grinned. Bella was so cute when she was mad. And she must have been mad to sort of swear like that. "Eh, the road to the uh, dump was a bit damp."
"No shit, Sherlock," Bella stormed, holding out her hand. "Give me my keys, I'm going home."
"Ah honey, come on. The Rabbit needs a wash too. We can do them together and I'll help you with the truck. See, I've got the stuff ready and everything." Jake grabbed Bella's hand and gently tugged her around to where she could see a row of buckets and sponges lined up.
The moment of reckoning was upon Jacob: either this would work or he'd be forever forced to only imagine Bella washing her car.
Jake was beaming at her, the sun glinting off his shiny black hair and sparkling grin. "Pu-lease stay," he begged.
Bella heaved a grumpy sigh; his charm was totally irresistible and she really couldn't stay mad at him. "Fine," she snarled. "But I'm cleaning the Rabbit. You can deal with the mess on the truck."
With that, Bella stomped off to the garage to get a bucket and sponge. Jake was in heaven already: somehow, even the sight of Bella with a sponge in her hand was sexy. He swallowed, needing to distract himself.
"We'll, uh, need the hose too. I'll just go get it."
Stumbling to the back of the garage in a haze, Jake realised this was going to be better than his wildest dreams. He did wrestle with his conscience though – for about three nanoseconds. On the one hand he knew you weren't supposed to wash cars in bright sunlight. The soap dried before you could get it off and the water left spotty marks. If you were really unlucky, the contrast of hot sun and cold water made the paintwork expand then quickly contract, leaving a spider's web of cracks everywhere.
On the other hand, he figured the paint on his old VW Rabbit had already made it through roughly twenty years relatively unscathed and Bella's truck was so akin to an armoured tank that nothing would destroy it.
"What are you doing in there? Hurry up and get the hose, Jacob!" Bella's voice pulled him back to reality.
Moments later he reappeared with an armful of green coils. He gave one end to Bella and connected the other to the tap beside the house.
A loud screech reached his ears. "JESUS, Jacob! You didn't tell me you were going to turn it ON!"
Jake looked up from fiddling with the tap to see the left side of Bella's body drenched, baby blue t-shirt perfectly outlining the easy curve of her breasts. Talk about turning on, he thought to himself.
Out loud, Jake yelled back to Bella where she stood dripping, "Most people manage to at least start washing the car before they get wet, but not you!"
In response, Bella turned the hose on him. He stayed in the spray laughing for a moment then stepped to one side and stripped his shirt off. Forgetting the hose was in her hand, Bella stared at Jake who was shaking his head like a dog. His coppery skin shone in the sun and moved over his musculature like silk sheets on a bed. Beads of water chased each other across his pecs. Bella watched the droplets roll lazily down Jake's abs and disappear under the waistband of the shorts sitting dangerous low on his hips.
"You gonna create a lake there with that hose or are you gonna wash my car for me, woman?" Jake asked, pointing at the Rabbit.
Bella flushed, furious with herself for being caught ogling. She sprayed the worst of the sand off the little car before filling a bucket with water and soap and handing the hose to Jake.
While she was carefully scrubbing the Rabbit, Bella caught glimpses of a half-naked Jake washing mud from her truck. She tried not to think about what he'd looked like when he yanked his shirt off; how the water had clung to the path of dark hair below his navel and then disappeared. Most of all, she tried not to think of where those water drops had disappeared to.
Finished with the hose for the time being, Jake moved to shut it off but was distracted before he could.
She might not have been wearing a pair of Daisy Dukes, but the sight of Bella leaning over the hood of the Rabbit slowly pushing a sudsy sponge left then right, left then right, left then right, had Jessica Simpson beat hands down.
Fuck, Jake groaned to himself. Bella was so sexy, she had no goddamned idea. He watched her round ass sway gently from side to side and then yelped when the hose dropped out of his slack hand and began snaking around, soaking him again.
"See?" Bella smirked as Jake darted to the tap. "Operating a hose isn't as easy as it looks!"
"Honey, there's one hose I'd be more than happy for you to operate," Jake yelled over his shoulder.
Bella threw her sponge at his back and both were amazed when it hit its mark.
"You gonna wash my back now too, Bells?"
She scrunched her face in frustration and retrieved the sponge from him with a snappy "Gimme that, Mister!"
They worked quietly for a few minutes, each occasionally sneaking glances at the other.
Then the silence was broken as Bella cried out "Ouch!" in a loud voice.
"You ok, honey?" Jake enquired, trying not to laugh. How could the girl hurt herself with only water?
"I think I got a soap bubble in my eye. It really stings."
Jake sauntered over desperately trying to ignore that her entire shirt was now soaked and clingy. "Better let me take a look and make sure it's not something worse," he said, stooping down and taking her face between his large hands.
Bella squinted up and was amazed how gently he shifted her eyelids with his thumbs.
"Blink for me?" Jake asked and Bella felt warm breath on her face as he peered in to her eye. Indeed, he was so close she could feel heat radiating off him everywhere.
"Can't see anything in there except an eyeball. I think you'll be ok."
Bella nodded. Jake suddenly realised he should have let go and stepped away from her moments ago. Still he stayed, holding her face.
"You've got some mud here," he said eventually, wiping her cheek and letting his hand sweep down to her shoulder. Bella felt it resting there, hot and solid like an enjoyable branding iron.
Then Jake's eyes flicked down and back up to hers.
"You've got some mud here too," Jake pointed at her chest where a dot of black muck sat on her t-shirt directly above one of her prominent, taut nipples.
"You gonna wipe that off too?" Bella asked, surprised at how seductive her own voice sounded.
Jake's grin was never-ending. "We should probably finish the cars first, honey," he said as he leaned down to her.
The kiss was warm and soft and a little soapy.
Somehow they managed to pry themselves apart and went back to washing both vehicles.
Bella sluiced off the Rabbit before Jake was done with the truck. She moved to help him but stayed on the opposite side of the cab. All her previous exasperation with Jake was gone but she found herself a little nervous of the sudden new intimacy between them.
Taking a lazy swipe with the bubbly sponge, Bella decided it didn't exactly matter if she left streaks on the truck. The faded paintwork was already strange but pleasant patina of lines and rust.
"Jake?" she asked in a faraway, dreamy voice.
"Yeah, Bells?"
"Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if the truck and the Rabbit mated and had babies?"
Jake blinked. He'd always known Bella's mind worked in odd ways but this was taking things to a new level of strangeness. Perhaps kissing her had caused irreparable mental damage. He wasn't about to start regretting his actions though.
"Uh… I have no idea?" he answered. "Something tells me if cars were like that, they'd have to be the same to reproduce."
Bella unconsciously let her soaping take her around the tailgate to where Jake stood. He watched as she drifted towards him, her brow furrowed in deep thought, sponge dragging behind her.
"I don't agree," she said coming to a halt in front of him, tone still vague and pensive. "Because what about people? They don't have to be the same to have babies, do they?"
Jake spread one wide russet-coloured hand across her milky arm that was further washed-out by a layer of white foam. He smiled at the difference in their skin.
"No honey," he said tilting his head so he could kiss her again. "I guess they don't."
Bella sagged a little against him and Jake lowered her gently to the wet grass. Bella felt her clothes soak through but she didn't care about what was under her: she was much more interested in Jake hovering above her.
"Can I revise my answer then?" he asked between kisses.
Bella nodded, brushing her nose against his.
"Well, hypothetically speaking, I guess they'd have little five cylinder Rabolets. Or maybe Chevabits?"
Bella giggled but it was cut short. Both she and Jake froze at the sound of Billy's voice.
"If you kids are gonna do that, can you please spare the front lawn? And how come you haven't taken the trash to the dump like I asked, Jake?"
Reviews are nice, folks :)