Car Wash

by Chiharu Tanaka


extra info:

rating – K+

genre – romance/drama

summary – AU. Inspired by Christina Aguilera's - Car Wash (Shark Tale OST). Tifa and Cloud gets a summer job at a car wash after graduating. Aerith and a few of the gang becomes their colleagues. However, boring washes under the summer sun changes when a man steps into the car wash office… NO FLAMING, just R&R.

A/n: Heheh, just thought of a lil' sumthin-sumthin when I was listening to 'Car Wash' by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliot. XD. Not sure whether I wanna continue with this though…

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Square-Enix's characters. I just play with them in my brain. Mwahahahaha…


Chapter 1: The Blue BMW


A young girl, roughly about 18 or so, was walking your normal American car wash. She had long brown-black hair that was tied up into a ponytail, and a blue cap on her head. She was wearing a t-shirt that said "Wallace Car Wash" and a pair of faded blue jeans. Her brownish red eyes roamed around the area, until she spotted something.

"Hey, Cloud!" she yelled. A guy turned to her, a yellow sponge in his hand. He had soap on his cheeks. He had this annoyed look on his face, and yelled back, "You got the extra sponges?"

The girl giggled and ran towards him. "Here," she said, handing him a pack of sponges. He rinsed his hands with water, later running his fingers through his blond hair. "Bah, it's so hot today," he complained. She giggled again. "What's so funny, Teef?" he asked.

"You just used 'Bah…' again. It's so not you," she said, grabbing herself a sponge. He just stared at her with his green-blue eyes. "Hmph, whatever," he muttered.

The girl, known as Tifa Lockheart, with 'Teef' as a nickname, was a high-school graduate, doing a job at the car wash with her best friend Cloud Strife to earn extra pocket money while waiting for their college applications to be replied.

"That's done. Let's go report to Aerith," muttered Cloud casually. Tifa laughed at him. "You just can't wait to meet Aerith again, can you?" she teased meekly. Cloud snorted, throwing a wet sponge at her. "Hey!" she squeaked. "Whatever. I'm not working overtime on this car," he mumbled before leaving Tifa there. Tifa pouted, before yelling at the running Cloud, "Whatever, Cloud!"

As Cloud entered the office, Tifa sighed, carrying the sponges in a pail. She set the hose aside and dropped the pail near the hose. She then went to the vending machine and inserted some coins. A Pepsi can came out. She picked it up and opened it, and gulped it down to quench her thirst that hot summer day.

She set the can aside when she saw a blue BMW drive up the area. "Hmm? Must be a rich dude's car…" she mumbled, before taking the can of Pepsi and drinking it again. She sat down on a chair, watching the car park at the washing area. A tall redhead came out. He had a face that tells you that he's drunk. His long red hair was tied into a loose ponytail. A pair of black sunglasses was used to hold his bangs from reaching his eyes. His blue suit and white shirt was all wrinkled up, as if he bothered to iron anyway.

Tifa smiled at him. "Hey, Reno! Long time no see!" she yelled to the redhead. Reno turned to Tifa. "Teef! How're you doing, gal? I missed ya!" he said, walking over to the girl. Tifa giggled. "You haven't changed at all, Reno! What're you doing here? Is that your car? Though I doubt it is…"

Reno chuckled. "Yea, you're right. It ain't mine. It belongs to my boss. He wants this car washed here, so he sent me instead," he said. "You work here?" he asked. "Yeah, summer job. I just graduated with Cloud," she said casually.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Graduated, huh? Strife still not your boyfriend?" he joked. Tifa pouted. "Jeez, Reno! I just had a crush on him when I was 14! Get over it!" Reno laughed. "Okay, chill, Teef, it was just a joke."

Reno had known Tifa way back when she was a little girl. He was older than her by 5 years, but they became close friends when he moved in next door. Tifa had to move somewhere else when she reached high school. Of course, they still kept in touch via e-mails and SMS.

"Well, I'll just head over to the counter. Looks like you and Strife have a job to do. Oh, mind you, the boss wants you to be gentle with his car. Though…he has five more, why worry?" Reno joked again, walking into the office. Tifa giggled, following him. "That's some rich boss you've got," she remarked. Reno smirked. "You have no idea how friggin rich he is. Powerful, too."

Reno walked over to Aerith, who was sitting by the computer. She smiled at Reno. "How may I help you, sir?" she asked sweetly. Her green eyes reflected her happy-go-lucky personality. Her long, wavy, mahogany coloured hair was tied up to a ponytail by a silky pink ribbon. Reno smirked at the beautiful girl. "Well, you can do so by giving me your number…" he began, but got cut off by Tifa's warning glare. "…eheh, nevermind. I'd just like Tifa and Strife wash my boss' car. Inside and outside. He wants it spotless," he ended.

Aerith smiled, before saying, "That'll be 40 dollars, would it be in cash or charge?" Reno smirked, and took out a platinum credit card and swiped it on the machine. "Hey, it's HIS car, I'M not paying for it," he said before sitting down on one of the sofas in the office. Tifa sighed. Aerith whispered, "You know him?" Tifa nodded. "My neighbour before I moved. Looks like he's here as well."

Aerith typed a few things into her computer before saying, "Cloud, could you go wash the car with Tifa?" Cloud's ears instantly perked up from the restroom, and he went out quickly. Aerith's voice was like music to his ears. "Yes, ma'am," he said with a salute, before marching out the office. Both Tifa and Aerith giggled. "I could've sworn he was born a soldier…" mumbled Aerith.

Reno gaped in awe as he saw his boss' car after it was cleaned. "Man, I always knew boss was a neat freak, but you were actually able to make it cleaner…" he muttered sarcastically. Tifa laughed before slapping his shoulder. "I have a lot of hidden abilities. You just don't notice them," she said.

Reno raised an eyebrow at her. "Right…" he mumbled. Suddenly, Reno's hand phone rang. He answered the call. "Yo, Reno here. Oh, hey boss. Uh huh, uh huh, okay, I'll bring her there at once, sir." He opened the door and said, "Thanks for the cleaning, Teef. Wow, it even smells like you in here! Ha ha ha…well, see you later!" He climbed into the driver's seat, closed the door, started the engine, and zoomed off.

Tifa sighed again. "He is never going to change…"


Reno stood by a glass wall, waiting for his boss to come down. The elevator doors opened, and out stepped a tall man, around 6 feet tall, wearing white jackets over a black turtleneck with white pants and brown leather shoes. He raked his fingers through his shiny, smooth, blond hair that was gelled back, apparently; and walked over to Reno, black suitcase in the other hand. He looked at Reno with his icy blue eyes.

"Good afternoon, Prez. Your car's spotless now," said Reno sarcastically, handing his boss the car keys. "Hmph," he snorted, before taking the keys and walking outside to his car, and unlocked and later opened the door. A small breeze blew through his face, as if it came from the car. A faint smell of pink champagne lingered within his car. "Weird," he mumbled to himself, before starting the car and driving it home.


To be continued…


A/n: Ohohohoho! Somebody's car has been jinxed! LOL…now Winamp is playing the Car Wash song for the 1,000,000th time...read and review!