Soon, everyone was now all dressed up, ready to prepare to redesign the garage.
"Man, these clothes are too baggy on me," CJ groaned silently.
"Quit complaining, CJ," Ryder told him. "You better be happy you even have anything on at all."
"I know this ain't the best fashion," Cesar told CJ, "but Lisa said it's vital for the hard work we're about to do on this garage, eh. You wouldn't want to get any wax or paint on your casual clothing, do you?"
"I guess," CJ replied. "I mean I understand it's the '90s now, but still…"
"Get used to it, Carl," Kendl told him, walking up to him. "We need to dress up for the occasion."
Just then, Lisa walked out of the office, dressed in her work clothing. Her hair was tied up and covered in a shower cap. She was missing her earrings and bracelet. Even through the baggy clothing, her shapely hips were still prominent. CJ felt his stomach tightening into knots once again. He had to remind himself to not develop a crush on Lisa. After all, she was still his childhood friend's sister.
"Okay, fellas," she announced, "with teamwork combined with partnership, we could get all of this done in less than twenty hours. Of course, we do still have to take breaks once in a while. I don't want to starve any of you, nor do I want you all overworked. So anyways, I thought I'd have us pick partners in order to get the job done quicker. Since there are eight of us, there are four things each duo should do. The first pair will work on building the shelves, cabinets, and counter, you know, all that hardware stuff. The other pair will work on the floor tiles and sealing the walls. The next pair will set up the curtains and carpets. Which leaves us to the last pair – the painters who will give the wall some color and life. So we have to get started right away. Just pick your partner and the work you want to do."
"I got mine!" Dwaine replied, pulling Jethro besides him.
"We'll work on the shelves and cabinets and make the counters," Jethro added. "Me and Dwaine, like, need something to rest our booze on."
"I get to work with my woman, eh," Cesar said, grabbing Kendl by his side.
"Yeah," Kendl agreed. "We going to do the curtains and carpets. You know I can design a mean curtain."
"I'm working with my homie LB on the tiles and walls," Ryder announced.
"Wait, hold up, Ryder!" CJ protested, walking up to Ryder. "I thought we were homies. Why can't I partner with you?"
"You still is my homie, CJ," Ryder told him. "I'm just with LB."
"But I grew up with you since we were children," CJ complained.
"Geah," Ryder replied, "but you also shook on me and the other homies five years ago. So I gotta be with LB time time since he's been dependable since day one. I'ma go get the cement." Ryder went outside to fetch the cement.
"Yo don't sweat it, CJ," LB whispered, stepping up to CJ. "At least you get to be with your honey over there." He pointed to Lisa.
"Seriously, LB, when you gonna stop with that shit?" CJ groaned. "I told you, I don't have any feelings for Lisa."
"Whatever you say, homie," LB told him. "Your eyes say otherwise." He walked away. CJ began to hang his head on the ground. He was feeling somewhat distraught that Ryder chose LB over him to be his partner. Soon, he felt a hand gently resting on his shoulder. He turned around to see Lisa standing behind him.
"It's fine, Carl," Lisa told him. "You can work with me. We'll get started on the painting as soon as everyone else has done their part of the work."
"Uh…sure," CJ said, his heart beating rapidly. "That'll be great."
"Are you okay, Carl?" Lisa asked, wearing a worried expression on her face.
"Sure," CJ answered.
"You sure?" Lisa asked, looking skeptical. "Because you look as if you're really nervous about something. Is there something wrong?"
"Oh…uh…," CJ started to say. He had to think of something really fast. He didn't wanted to tell Lisa right away the reason he always gets nervous when around her. "…I'm just…so excited…for…for…for…for how this garage will look by the time we finished."
Lisa began to chuckle. "Okay, Carl," she told him. "No need to get too eager now. Remember, making something look good takes time and patience."
Just then, Ryder and LB arrived back inside the garage with the wheelbarrow of bricks and two cans of wet cement.
"A'ight, sis," Ryder called to Lisa. "We got the stuff for the tiles, now me and LB will get started."
"Great," Lisa replied. "Now you two just go easy and take your time. No need to rush." She then turned to Carl. "Come with me," she told him. "I have something to show you."
She guided CJ to the office and showed him some designs.
"So I was thinking of some cool designs that we all like – something we can all agree on," Lisa told CJ.
"Okay," CJ said. "So what you got in mind, girl?"
"Well," Lisa said, handing CJ a sketch, "check this out."
CJ took a hard look at the sketch. It was the whole city of San Fierro in full detail. The buildings, the Garver Bridge, even the trolley. They were all sketched out in full detail.
"Holy shit!" CJ cried out in amazement. "Yo, this shit is mind-blowing!"
"Yep," Lisa replied. "I thought that since we're remodeling the garage here in San Fierro, we may as well paint the whole city of it all around the garage."
"Great idea, Lees!" CJ said. "Let's go tell the others!"
So CJ and Lisa stepped out of the office to face everyone else.
"May I have y'all attention?" CJ announced. Everyone else gathered around to see what CJ was holding up.
"Whoa, holmes!" Cesar said as he took a look at the sketch. "That sketch of San Fierro look nice, eh!"
"I'll say," Jethro added. "It looks almost like an exact replica of San Fierro – y'know, only in sketch form."
"This is fantastic, Lisa," Kendl agreed, impressed.
"Thanks, Kendl," Lisa told her. "I wanted to design the garage with something we all can agree on. So what do you guys think? Should we use that as the designs?
"Si, chica," Cesar agreed.
"Definitely," Kendl added.
"I like it!" Jethro said.
"Me too!" Dwaine chimed in.
"That's perfect!" LB said.
Ryder just stared at the sketch in silence.
"Well, Lance?" Lisa asked her brother. "I want to hear your opinion on the design. Do you like it or not?"
"You agree with us, do you, Ryder?" CJ asked.
It took Ryder a while to answer CJ and Lisa's questions. After a few seconds of thinking about it, he finally blurted out, "Jeah. This is tight! I like the full detail of this city! Let's use it!"
"Yeah!" everyone else cheered.
"Okay, Carl," Lisa told CJ, "after you and I finish with the painting, Lance can help me with the designing, because besides me, he's the only real artist here."
Ryder, despite being rather ignorant and impulsive with the intelligence of a high schooler, was actually an excellent artist, just like his sister. He once drew a full detailed drawing of every Grove Street member in his traditional drawing book back then. He especially liked drawing buildings, as those were his favorite. His latest drawing was the whole metropolis of Los Santos, even Santa Maria. He once had a passion to attend an art college, only to drop out of the 10th grade.
"Jeah," Ryder said. "Art's my passion."
"It's basically the only thing you're a genius at, Lance," Lisa sneered. "Well anyway, before we have a chance to design the walls, we still have to start with the modeling!"
"You heard her, guys!" Kendl announced. "If we want this garage to be finished, we need to put in work! Now let's go!"
So everyone gathered around to do their part.
"I'll put on some tunes to keep this work moving," Lisa said as she brought a boombox from the office and set it on top of the table. She also pulled out the TLC tape Oooohh...On the TLC Tip and put the cassette inside. The first song that played was "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg".
"Come on, sis," Ryder groaned. "I don't want to listen to no TLC. They ain't my thing."
"Well I do," Lisa replied, "and if you got a problem with that, then we don't need to work on this garage."
"Whatever," Ryder grumbled. He and LB started doing their jobs.
Lisa grabbed CJ by the arm while carrying a paint bucket. "Come with me, Carl," she told him. "The paint cans are all outside. While everyone else is working inside the garage, we'll start on the outside."
CJ could feel his heart beating rapidly and his stomach tying into tightly constricted knots. It was difficult for him to be around Lisa without thoughts of deeper feelings, because he didn't wanted to have anything more than a sibling relationship with her. So he decided to get it out of his mind by focusing on the paint job.
Lisa handed CJ a paint roller. "Here, Carl," she said. "All you have to do is use this to smear the paint around the garage."
CJ didn't hesitate. He just did his job and saturated the paint roller with green paint. Lisa followed suit and the two started painting the wall outside.
Meanwhile, inside the garage, Kendl used a sewing machine for the curtains along with the help of Cesar, LB and Ryder got to work on the walls, sealing the cracks and placing some of the bricks on some the holes inside. Dwaine and Jethro used some nails, a saw, and hammer for the wood to build the cabinets and shelves. Everyone were spending hours working on the garage while TLC was playing on the radio, taking small thirty-minute breaks to eat. Zero even came around to use his automatic vacuum cleaner in order to expedite the job, as well as using some of his inventions to pick up some of the trash.
As the hours elapsed, everyone were done with their parts, and CJ and Lisa put on the finishing touch on the storage garage walls. CJ also wanted to add some graffiti for the finishing touch.
"Say Lisa," he told Lisa, "I was thinking of adding in some graffiti for the finishing touch."
"Not yet, Carl," Lisa told him. "Lance and I still have to design the city of San Fierro once this paint dries up, and we still have to do the inside of the garage."
So CJ and Lisa went back inside the garage and took the paint cans and rollers with them. The garage was almost finished. The shelves and cabinets were nicely built and painted. The walls were all sealed and designed with checkered tiles. The office windows had elaborate green curtains and smooth carpet inside. The tiled floor was covered with plastic prepared for the paint.
CJ and Lisa decided to use red and blue for the interior this time. CJ still felt his stomach tightened to knots as he painted. Even focusing on his work, he still couldn't get Lisa out of his mind. He struggled to keep it from trying to finish his work.
It took a good forty minutes to paint the whole interior of the walls, and they still had to wait a few minutes for the paint to dry up. Afterwards, the two took a thirty-minute break and watched as the walls dried up.
"Man, that was a lot of work," CJ said, trying to stretch out his arms and legs.
"Hey, all that diligence was worth it," Lisa replied. "Now all we have to do is design the whole walls to make it look like the city of San Fierro."
She turned to Ryder, who was sitting on the sofa adjacent to LB. "Alright, Lance!" Lisa called to him. "It's time for you to get up off your ass and help me with the designs!"
"I'm coming, Lisa," Ryder said in an irritated tone of voice, slowly standing to his feet. "You ain't gotta shout! Damn!"
So Ryder walked over to Lisa and she handed him a paintbrush. "I'll let you and Lance do the graffiti at the end, Carl," Lisa told CJ. "You just get your rest, okay? You worked hard enough."
CJ walked over to the sofa and plopped onto it beside LB.
"So, you had fun working along with Lisa?" LB asked CJ, slyly nudging him on the shoulder.
"Look, LB," CJ groaned, "we was just partners, that's it."
"Yeah, just partners," LB sneered. "That's how it starts, before it evolves into something much deeper."
"I don't want to talk about this," CJ told him.
"Look, CJ," LB said, "why don't you just admit it, homie? You like Lisa. I see you getting all sweaty and nervous whenever you're around her. You always stare at her fat ass whenever she walks away. Why don't you just admit it?"
"She's just someone I grew up around during childhood," CJ said. "I'm not sure if I should even develop any feelings for the girl, especially when I think about how Ryder would react when I tell him I got a crush on his sister."
"Well you gonna have to let him know," LB told him. "Ryder may not be the nicest Grove Street member, I admit that, but even if it might take him some time to get used to, I'm sure he'll be okay with it."
"I don't know," CJ protested. "I'm not sure if he would just laugh at me or demand me to stay away from her."
"Well, you gonna have to tell him eventually," LB replied. "The worst he could do to you is blast you."
CJ thought about what LB said. While he had a fun time painting the walls and was eager to add in the graffiti, he still wasn't sure whether he should see Lisa as part of family or develop feelings for her, as while he did think that she was beautiful, she was still his childhood friend's sister, and he wasn't sure what the reaction would be once he divulged his feelings for her.
After several hours of hard work, Ryder and Lisa had finally finished the design around the walls. The other six members circled around from inside and outside the garage awed at how the garage was designed.
The design of the outside of the garage had nearly all of the metropolis of San Fierro designed around the outside, including the Garver Bridge. The color behind the city was a contrast of green with yellow on the bottom, giving it the vivid sunset look. There were also designs of butterflies flying above. The storage garage wall was also replete with the city's metropolis designed around the green sky painting.
"It looks like a whole new garage, holmes," Cesar said.
"I'll say," LB added. "It's much better than what it was when we first saw it."
"And it's just missing the finishing touch," CJ said, pulling out his spray can and shaking it vigorously.
Ryder, Cesar, and LB had their spray cans ready as well. CJ tagged "Welcome To San Fierro" on the right side. Ryder tagged "Orange Grove" on the corner of CJ's tag. Cesar also tagged "Azteca Warrior" over on the left side, while LB tagged "Ride and Die" on the back. On the doors of the storage garage, CJ tagged "San" on the left door and "Fierro" on the right door with green paint. The four met up with the others as they took a satisfying glance at the newly-designed garage, both the exterior and interior.
"Now it's finished!" CJ said. "Now the final thing, we have to give it a name, and I found the perfect name for this garage."
"What kind of name did you come up with, CJ?" LB asked.
"The Art of Automobiles," CJ answered. "I'd figure that since we've been collecting cars and have all these cool designs around these garages, we can use this garage to modify and design different automobiles. I learned a lot as an artist, so I want to show how beautiful the artwork is in this here garage."
"Jeah," Ryder agreed. "Now that's a killer name for this garage. Me and LB can work on putting up the sign."
"I agree," Cesar added. "Great choice, CJ."
"I second that," Lisa said. "I really appreciate your attempts at gaining knowledge from all this, Carl. You sure learned a lot."
"Yeah, great job, Carl," Kendl added. "I'm really proud of your hard work. We worked our asses on this!"
"Like, I never seen something so beautiful, man," Jethro added.
"We're evolving here in the '90s," Dwaine told him.
"And just think," Zero chimed in, "once we enter the 21st century, technology will have evolved into something advanced and the garage will grow to looking much better within each generation."
"And we all owe it all to Lisa here," CJ announced. "It was all her idea! Thanks for helping us out, Lees."
"Ah, no problem," Lisa replied. "It's the least I could do. Once I heard you guys were running a business out here, I decided maybe I should come out here and help out. Glad I did. We also made a good team."
The others chanted in agreement, thanking Lisa in the process.
"I really appreciate the gratitude, fellas," Lisa told them, "but I also think you should give some to Kendl here too. She is the manager, after all, and was the one who decided to make this place into a business."
"Aww, thanks, Lisa," Kendl told Lisa as the two women gave each other a hug. "I did tell my big bro here that this place will get on its feet."
CJ just smiled modestly. "Well, you were definitely right, sis," he told Kendl. "So let's all give some thanks to Kendl too for coming up with the business idea as well."
The other chanted in agreement and thanked Kendl as well as they went back inside the garage. It was time for them to celebrate. They had all worked their hardest and wanted to reward themselves with a well-deserving party. CJ really couldn't wait until Sweet came out to see this.