Car Wash
by Chiharu Tanaka
A/n: And so it continues...
Disclaimer: The meaning of disclaimer is disclaiming something; knowing, believing, and saying that it isn't yours. Therefore, I disclaim FF7. Happy?
Chapter 4: The Red Ferrari (Part 2)
Tifa gaped in awe at the magnificent sight before her. Standing solid and tall about 500 meters in front of her, was Rufus' mansion, which land area was almost as big as The White House in Washington D.C. The compound was filled with tall, shady trees.
"Close your mouth before a fly gets stuck in your throat."
Tifa quickly closed her mouth, embarrassed. "Sorry," she said. "It's just that your house is massive in size…" she babbled. Rufus just smirked, as the automatic gates opened. He drove in, passing through a huge field with birch trees at the roadside.
Tifa couldn't help but look around in awe. 'This is how the really rich are like…' she thought. Rufus parked his red Ferrari right in front of the steps leading to the front door of the mansion. A butler opened the door for him.
"Good evening, Sir Rufus, Madam," he greeted, noticing that he brought Tifa along. Rufus left the car keys with the butler.
She walked inside, and at the entrance, the walls were painted professionally; the round shaped Persian carpet on the floor; roses in expensive Ming vases, and paintings of elegance by famous French artists were on the walls. She gaped in awe some more. Rufus walked towards the right, and she quickly followed him.
He led her to the living room (which has another on the left side), and she was looking around the interior like a completely naïve person. "Have a seat, I'll be down in a few minutes," he said, before walking towards the huge marble steps in the massive living room.
Not daring to disobey a man with such power, she sat down on a soft two-seated sofa. She touched the sofa with her palm. "Wow, this must've cost thousands of dollars…" she thought. She looked at the ceiling, and hanging there was an exquisite looking chandelier. "Wow…" she muttered under her breath. "The gang really should see this…"
She looked at the hallway at one end of the living room, and Vincent popped out, wearing a red button-up shirt and casual black slacks. "Hmm? Hey, Mr. Valentine! What're you doing here?" she asked. Vincent was surprised to see her, but walked towards her anyway.
"I live here…what are you doing here?" he asked.
Tifa blushed a little. 'I should just tell the truth…' she thought. "Well, I got into a knot with some gangsters, and Pres – I mean Rufus, saved me, so I told him I owe him one. I didn't know he wanted a date from me…" she explained. Vincent just raised an eyebrow at her.
"Very well then, Miss Lockheart. I shall be off to the kitchen now, if you will excuse me," he said, before bowing to her and walking on towards the left side of the mansion.
Tifa sighed and blew her bangs away from her face with a puff. 'Man, I feel so low in this place,' she thought. She then brushed the thought away. 'I wonder what he'll be wearing…maybe something like Vincent's clothing or something…'
She soon got her answer, as Rufus got downstairs wearing a normal red-white T-shirt and a black long sleeved shirt under it. He had black slacks on for comfort, and white-silver sport shoes, plus a red-white cap with an 'X' on the top. Tifa giggled like a schoolgirl. "You look so much more…vibrant, Rufus," she said. He smirked at her. His hair wasn't gelled back, therefore he put the cap on.
"Shall we leave?" he asked. Tifa nodded, and followed him outside.
They took Vincent's Toyota Camry out, to avoid suspicion, as all 6 of Rufus' cars were highly expensive and famous sportcars. And, since Vincent also uses a pretty expensive car (it's actually the cheaper, Vincent has a BMW X-5 – but that would make people stare), Rufus won't be allergic to a certain 'pennyless' bacteria.
They arrived at the carnival later, at about 6 p.m. Tifa got out of the car and looked around. They were a lot of people there, families, couples, a bunch of schoolfriends, and so on. Rufus took Tifa's wrist. "Let's have fun this evening," he said. She smiled and followed him on the rides around the carnival.
Aerith was biting off the pink cotton candy Cloud had insisted on buying for her, when she saw Tifa giggling whilst a mysterious blond-haired stranger, a company of hers, shoots off with cork guns. He won and the booth guy handed him a teddy bear, which he gave to Tifa.
"Hey, Cloud…who's that with Tifa?" she asked. Cloud looked over the crowd of people and spotted them talking to each other happily and purchasing hot dogs at a stand.
"Hmm…dunno. Maybe she's got herself a date tonight?" he said, shrugging.
Aerith thought for a moment. 'Wait…I thought she had an interest on Rufus ShinRa?'
Meanwhile, Rufus was munching off the hot dog like a kid, since he hadn't eaten one in ages. Tifa giggled at him. "Really, if people can recognize you…" she muttered, and wiped off the mustard smear off his face with a tissue. He smirked.
"I don't think so, you don't see me smiling, wearing casual or roughing up my hair very often, do you? I look 98% unrecognizable like this."
Tifa just giggled and finished her hot dog, tossing the tissue away in the bin. Her left arm was still clutching on the brown coloured teddy bear. "What next?" she asked, looking around. He looked at the sky and saw the ferris wheel.
"How about we ride on that?" he asked. Tifa blushed slightly, the thought of being alone with a very, VERY handsome man with such money and power didn't exactly make her feel comfortable, instead, it gave her butterflies in her stomach.
"Okay…whatever you want," she said. They stood at the back of the line forming in front of the ferris wheel. Tifa looked around, just in case someone she knew saw her.
"What's wrong?" asked Rufus, puzzled on what she was looking around for.
"Nothing…I'm just concerned if any of my friends are here, they might tease me tomorrow," she said.
They turn finally came, and they got into the little cabin. After having the cabins all filled up, it rotated, like a usual ferris wheel. Tifa fiddled with her fingers nervously, being 30 feet up in the air, a suave, charming man across her. "Feels nice up here, isn't it?" he said suddenly, making Tifa's heart skip a beat.
"Uh, yeah…I guess it's peaceful up here. After all, the electricity is provided by your company…" she said with a blush across her cheeks. Slowly, he smirked, and gave a reply.
"Why thank you. Though I really wish to enjoy the life of normal people…"
Tifa looked at him. 'Poor guy, he must be busy 24/7…' she thought sadly.
"Why don't you tell me about being rich and powerful? Not to mention attractive…" she said, giving a hint at the end of her sentence. Rufus turned to her and smirked even wider.
"You think I'm attractive?" he asked.
Tifa smiled nervously. "Urm, yeah…I think every girl in this city does…" she said, trailing off.
"Well then, being rich and powerful isn't that fun, especially since I have an annoying witch on my tail," he said, referring to Scarlet.
"A witch?" asked Tifa, confused.
"She keeps thinking that I actually have an interest in her, but I don't. Not to mention she dresses like a slut, people will think I'm like my father…" Tifa nodded.
"You must really hate your father…" she said gently, trying not to offend him.
"Yeah, I do hate that old fart. He killed my mother, so I decided to get a payback by making sure he dies of being too fat," he said, then chuckled. Tifa gasped slightly. She had no idea he hated his father that much.
After they got down from the ride, they headed over to some other game booths, and surprisingly, Rufus won many of the games. "Gun practice. Took it since I was 10," Rufus had said, handing a furry kitten plush toy to Tifa. Tifa giggled, taking another to add to the 4 other plush toys he won.
"I think I can only hold about this much…let's call it a night and try something else…"
A smirk creeping up his handsome face, Tifa couldn't help but shudder a little. "Okay. Your parents will get angry if you're out at night too much, am I right?" Tifa nodded slightly.
'Though Mom would most probably love for me to hang out with you more often…' she thought with a sigh.
"Thanks for the ride…Rufus…" she said, still not used to calling him by his first name. He smirked.
"You're welcome." He handed her a card after taking it out from his pocket. "Call me anytime you wish."
She took the card with a trembling hand. Smiling sheepishly, she took off the seatbelt. Without warning, Rufus suddenly leaned over towards her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Good night, Tifa," he said. She turned to him, embarrassed. Her champagne red eyes came in contact with his ice blue ones.
Blood rushed upwards to her cheeks, she felt like it swelled up. "G…Good night." She grabbed the plush toys and quickly got out of the car, running towards the front door of her house. She quickly closed the front door behind her, panting heavily. She peered out the window, hidden behind a curtain.
The red Ferrari just stood there, motionless, before it left a few minutes after Tifa had entered the house. She subconsciously touched her left cheek. 'Rufus ShinRa…one of the most powerful and influential…not to mention gorgeous men around here…just took me out on a date and kissed me on the cheek…someone pinch me – I'm dreaming!' she thought in panic.
Aerith gently combed her hair with her fingers as she picked up the phone. "Hello, Wallace Car Wash. How may I help you?" On the other line was Cloud. "Hey, Aerith…could you tell Boss that I can't come today?"
"What's wrong?" asked Aerith worriedly. "It's nothing too bad…I just got food poisoning. Must have been the corndogs…" he mumbled. "Don't worry about me too much, though. I'll be fine. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay then…I hope you get well soon."
She put the phone back down with a worried look on her face. 'Maybe I'll visit him later…' she thought. Tifa, who just entered the office, already changed into the car wash T-shirt.
"Who was that, Aer?" she asked, sitting down on the couch.
"Cloud. He can't come today – he's got food poisoning."
Tifa had a startled look on her face. "Right…you guys were at the carnival…" she mumbled. Aerith turned to her, smiling.
"Speaking of which," she said, as she stacked together some account papers. "Who was the guy with you last night?"
She gulped nervously as she fiddled with her fingers. "Well…if you promise you won't tell…" she mumbled, looking up at Aerith embarrassingly. Aerith's glossy pink lips curved into a wider smile.
"Don't worry, I won't."
Tifa let out a big, loud sigh as she replied, "It was Rufus." Aerith gaped at her with awe.
"Rufus? As in…the Rufus ShinRa?" she asked in disbelief. Tifa could feel her blood rushing up to her cheeks as she nodded slowly. Aerith stood up and sat beside her on the couch. "Oh my gosh – what happened? You two look so close? I thought you said you were going there some other day with Zack and Yuffie?" Tifa turned sideways to look at her.
She explained about the favour she owed Rufus for saving her life. "Oh my gosh…he saved you? That's so…heroic! Thank goodness you're alright." She patted Tifa's shoulder before returning to her table.
"Are you going to be the First Lady of the company, hmm?" she asked teasingly.
Tifa blushed like a ripe tomato and replied a stern, "NO!" It was then that Zack rushed into the office.
"Hey, Teef…you've got a customer…"
To be continued…
A/n: Stay tuned for chapter 5.