Driving Lessons
Tifa's fingers enclosed the worn leather of the steering wheel in front of her while her eyes roamed over the dashboard, taking in every little detail on it. One thing she recognized was the speedometer; her scooter had one of them, albeit slightly different looking. Same with the fuel gauge. But there were other things, tiny lamps, that she couldn't place at all.
And what was that stick on her right for, anyway?
She slumped back in the driver's seat with an inward sigh. What the hell was she even doing here?
Oh yeah, there's the reason, she thought dryly as she looked over to Biggs sitting down next to her.
It was the week after her 20th birthday, she had just gotten done making breakfast for everyone when Biggs came out of the back.
"Mornin' birthday girl," he greeted her, running the back of his hand over some scruff he decided not to shave off today.
"Good morning. Also you're a week late and you know it," she replied teasingly. "Breakfast?"
"Always," he said, and sat down at one of the tables while she went into the kitchen to put some food on a plate. "And no, today you're the birthday girl again."
"Did I sleep for a year or something?" she asked with a grin as she returned with a plate full of eggs and bacon. Nothing fancy, but it was filling. None of her friends should be going hungry.
"Ha, cute. But no, today is the day I'm giving you your birthday present."
Tifa frowned a little at that. "You know you don't have to give me anything. That you guys threw me a party was already enough."
But Biggs just waved her off and grabbed his fork. "I'm teaching you how to drive, and I won't take no for an answer."
Tifa was just about to put that to the test when a loud yawn made her turn around to see Jessie stepping into the bar, wearing a pair of slippers and an oversized t-shirt of some band she didn't know. Her hair was undone and a complete mess.
"Morn—" she wanted to say but was interrupted by another yawn.
"Rough night?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah." Jessie nodded.
"Got some coffee for you if you want."
"Aww!" Jessie took a step towards her and loosely looped her arms around her shoulders. "You're a lifesaver."
"Just doin' my job," she replied with a chuckle and a little pat on her friend's back.
"And there's even that cute accent slip again. Best. Morning. Ever."
Tifa shook her head, not being able to hold back her grin anymore. "You're ridiculous. Now sit down, I'll get you your coffee."
"Mhm." Her friend let go of her and padded over to where Biggs was having his breakfast right now, plopping down next to him with the grace of a dying spawn.
"You look dead today," Tifa heard him say as she headed into the kitchen. "Maybe you should spend less time in underground boards on the net, you know?"
"Mmm, screw you, man," was Jessie's reply, sounding like she was just about to fall back asleep.
Soon after they were joined by Barret, Marlene and Wedge, making Tifa forget all about Biggs' words as she was busy serving everyone their food.
It was only after everyone was done and left to go about their day when he approached her again with a huge grin on his face. "Well?"
She blinked. "Well what?"
Instead of saying anything, he held out his keys and jingled them a little.
"...Oh."
And that was how, roughly an hour later, Tifa found herself in the driver's seat of Lucille, Biggs' beloved truck. It was an honor, really. Usually he never let anyone else behind the wheel, but...
What the hell am I supposed to do!?
Just because she knew how to operate a scooter didn't mean she knew anything about four wheeled vehicles!
"You ready?" he asked.
"No!"
"Good! Neither was I. That's the perfect mindset!"
Tifa looked at him like he had gone completely nuts and was about to retort when a knock next to Biggs made both of them turn to see Jessie signaling him to roll down the window.
"We're not buying anything," he said after he did so.
"Scoot over," Jessie said lightly, making Biggs furrow his brow.
"No?"
"You're gonna teach Tifa how to drive, right? I wanna come too, so scoot over."
"Listen, Tifa's in the driver's seat. Maybe you two can squeeze into one seat here, but she needs all the room she can get for this. So forget it." He pointed over his shoulder. "But feel free to get into the back, unless your majesty is too uncomfortable with that option."
Jessie glared at him for a moment, before rolling her eyes with a sigh. "Fiiiiine."
Tifa hid a grin behind her hand, trying not to laugh at her friend's antics. She knew that the two cared a great deal for each other, but they also loved to butt heads. It was their way of showing they cared.
After getting onto the truck bed, Jessie sat down near the back window and opened it to stick her head inside.
"So, finally stepping up from the small fry to the real deal, I see. How's it feel?"
"Hey!" Tifa took offense to that. She liked her scooter. "I'll have you know the small fry perfectly fits my needs."
"Mmh, Jessie's not entirely wrong though. Let's say there's an emergency and you're the only one to respond. Your scooter's not gonna save anyone," Biggs said. Tifa frowned at his words. She didn't think about that.
What if everyone found themselves in a pinch and needed her to get out? It was an unlikely scenario to be sure, but still a possibility.
She couldn't take that chance.
Setting her jaw, Tifa returned her eyes to the front and nodded. "Alright. What should I do?"
"It's easy. You turn it on, adjust the mirrors and put it in drive. Then you use big toe pressure on the gas pedal," Jessie explained like it was the simplest thing in the universe. Biggs just turned and stared at her. "What?"
"Excuse me, but you don't even have a license."
"Neither do you!" the brunette shot back.
"I—wha—Hey, I'll have you know I do have a license!"
"Yes, the fake one I made you years ago, remember?"
Biggs was about to retort, but caught himself, eyes shifting back and forth for a second. "Shit, you're right."
But she didn't really pay attention to them, instead reaching out one of her hands towards the keys inside the armature and twisting them. With a loud roar, Lucille came to life, telling everyone in the area that the queen of the road had arrived to travel her kingdom.
"Woohoo, it lives!" Jessie cheered.
"Alright." Tifa put her hand back on the wheel, a look of intense focus on her face. "What next?"
"Next come the gears," Biggs told her. "See this lever here?"
"Yes."
"That's the shift lever used to switch between gears. Now this one's pretty simple, Lucille is an automatic, meaning you don't have to constantly shift the gears manually."
"Shinra cars are mainly automatic," Jessie threw in.
"Yup. The letters here stand for the various gears. D obviously stands for drive, which we're going to switch to soon. The N stands for neutral, it's meant to be used for when you're standing around for a long time. Like a traffic jam."
"Okay." Tifa nodded.
"R is for reverse, pretty self explanatory, and the P is for parking, locks all the transmissions to, well, park the car."
"What are the numbers for?" Tifa then asked.
"I wouldn't worry about those for now."
"Why?" she looked at him questioningly.
"We're not driving over the hills or snowy terrain. And neither do we carry heavy a load...though I think Jessie gained some wei—"
"I will straight up murder you if you finish that sentence, Biggs!"
With a chuckle, Biggs crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded towards Tifa. "Try putting her into drive. Don't forget to keep your foot on the brake, the left pedal."
"Alright…" Foot firmly on the brake, she took hold of the lever and pulled it down until it rested right next to the D.
"Good. Now just like Jessie said, use big toe pressure on the gas pedal, right next to the brake."
"Okay," Tifa said, then she placed her foot on the pedal. Breathing in and out, she tried to calm herself the way her master had once taught her. Big toe pressure, Tifa, big toe pressure.
She pressed down on the pedal. The vehicle responded almost instantly, shooting forward faster than anticipated and heading straight towards a nearby street sign.
"Hit the brake!"
Her foot immediately stomped down on the other pedal, making Lucille come to an abrupt halt just shy of hitting the sign. The force of the sudden stop caused Jessie to lurch forward, then fall flat on her ass, and Tifa looked over her shoulder to see if her friend was alright, letting out a sigh of relief when the techwiz hollered in laughter.
"Close one," Biggs muttered next to her, patting his seat belt.
"Sorry!" Tifa felt her face go red in embarrassment. She knew this was a mistake. Vehicles really weren't her thing. "I think it's better we stop before I cause an actual accident."
She was already reaching to undo her seat belt when Biggs's hand came to rest on her shoulder, a reassuring smile forming on his face.
"It's cool. Beginner's mistake. Happened to me as well," he told her, and the doubt that was started to build up inside her dissipated by the confident look in his eyes. He gave her a little nod and Tifa found herself returning it with a smile of her own.
"So let's try driving backwards then. Switch the gear." She did as she was told, putting the truck into reverse. They both turned to look over their shoulders only to find Jessie having gotten back up again.
"Mind moving to the side for a moment?"
"Whoops!" The brunette moved to the side with an apologetic grin, giving Tifa a decent view of the road behind them.
"Now, easy does it, Tifa," Biggs said and she swallowed hard before pushing her foot down on the gas pedal once again, this time more gently, and she was delighted to notice that Lucille was driving backwards in a slow and even manner. She drove the vehicle back to its initial starting point, before stopping and switching the gears again.
"Try getting onto the road, just steer a little to the right," he instructed her. "You'll see, it ain't too different from riding that scooter of yours."
"Got it," Tifa said, feeling just a tad bit more confident now.
Big toe pressure, she reminded herself again. A little cheer escaped her when this time she did manage to get onto the road.
"There ya go! Good job! Now let's try driving down that road, shall we?"
Under Biggs' gentle guidance, Tifa managed to steer the truck down the road leading to an abandoned part of Sector 7 where she could practice to her heart's content without having to worry about hitting anything or anyone in the process.
Biggs taught her how to properly accelerate and decelerate, and how to take turns by having her drive Lucille in various circles all the while having a hilarious back and forth with Jessie that had Tifa fight back laughter.
"I'm telling you, if you'd just upgrade this hunk of junk a little—"
"Ain't no one touching Lucille under her hood but me!"
"Why don't you just marry 'Lucille' then?"
This continued for a while longer and despite her initial doubts, Tifa felt she was starting to get the hang of it. They had just finished another circle when Biggs addressed her.
"I think that's gonna be enough for today. Lucille's runnin' low on fuel and I think you still need to prepare the bar before you open up."
At his words, Tifa pulled out her phone to check the time, and she was shocked to note that 90 minutes had passed since they drove away from 7th Heaven. They definitely should head back.
"Want to take over?" Tifa asked him.
"Let's make you drive us back as the final lesson of the day, okay?"
Tifa shot him a little grin. "Sure!"
As soon the three of them arrived back at 7th Heaven, Jessie jumped off and headed towards the building, turning around for a moment to send Tifa a small wink, before heading inside. After turning off the motor, Tifa pulled out the keys and handed them back to Biggs, who took them with a smile.
"So, what did you think of your first lesson?" he asked after they got out of the vehicle.
"It was fun," she replied with a chuckle.
"Good. We'll have you drive in actual traffic in no time."
"Thanks. For doing this, I mean."
He stopped on his way up the stairs and turned to look at her. His expression was unreadable for but a moment, before that familiar grin returned to his face. "Birthday girls gotta get a present. But really, it's nothing. Don't mention it."
Tifa lowered her eyes, looking at the dirty ground of Sector 7. Sure, he was saying this was her birthday present, but his words from earlier still remained in the back of her mind. She hoped that there would never be an emergency like that and, when this was all over, that they could all just return to an ordinary life.
For now though, this was how things were, and she would try to make the best out of it. Releasing an inaudible sigh, Tifa smiled and placed a hand on her hip. "You know. I had an idea for a new cocktail. Perhaps one of these days you could give me a hand with testing it?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
She laughed a little and finally followed him up the stairs. As she opened the door, Tifa faced him and said: "I suppose not."
Tifa didn't know what the future would hold for them, but she hoped that it would be filled with moments like today.
That was the one thing she truly wished for.
Another little side story taking place in between chapters of Journey of a Barmaid. This time how Tifa managed to learn how to look as good as she did driving the Shinra truck at the end of the Midgar section of the game. Always figured one of her Avalanche friends taught her. I hope you liked this little piece.
See ya around.