Car Wash
By Chiharu Tanaka
A/n: Here's the last part I've typed out. Chapter 6 will take a while, since I need to get my bearings straight in this story.
Disclaimer: Why do I even bother…go ahead! SUE MEEEE~~~:D
Chapter 5: The Yellow Jaguar
Tifa tilted her head slightly. "A customer?" she mumbled. Zack approached her and sighed sadly.
"Sorry Teef; Yuffie, Cid and I are working overtime on the autowash. I hope you can handle this car yourself…"
She stood up from the couch. "It's not a problem, don't sweat it."
Just as she was about to walk out (Zack came in to get his quarters to buy a can of soda) of the office, she gasped as she spotted the car coming in the driveway. It was a solid, brand new, yellow Jaguar model that was just released last month.
Tifa stood there at the entrance and gaped at the car. 'Oh my gosh…this just HAS to be Rufus's car! What if he's inside?' she thought in panic. Frantically, she walked backwards into the office and bumped against Zack who was just about to get out.
"Ooof!" mouthed Zack as he fell butt first on the floor. Tifa bent down and faced him.
"Sorry, Zack…" she muttered miserably.
"It's okay, Teef…" he replied, before standing up and exiting the office. Tifa turned backwards and saw the very person she didn't want to see but longed to see at the same time.
"Good afternoon," greeted Rufus, as he took off his mirror shades and flashed a wide, stunning grin at her.
Her heart felt like butter melting under the hot summer sun. 'Why oh why is he so darn handsome?' her mind screeched.
As Rufus walked over to Aerith's table and handed her his platinum credit card, Tifa picked her scrunchie out from her pocket – a bright red one. She carefully tied her long, dark brown hair into a high ponytail and sighed. "Today is SO hot! What is it – 37 degrees Celcius out here?"
Aerith gave Tifa a signal to start working. She sighed a little as she walked near the soda machine and grabbed a pail, a bottle of car shampoo, a bottle of car polish, some cloths and a few sponges. She set them beside the yellow Jaguar and went back to pull the hose out.
Rufus watched her as she filled the buckets up with water. "Where's the blondie?" came the question out of his mouth. Aerith turned to look at him.
"Well, Mister President, sir…he's sick today…"
Under the blazing rays of the summer sun, Tifa wiped off her sweat as she continued scrubbing the car. "There's no one available to help her?" he asked again. Aerith shook her head slowly.
"We're very busy during the weekends…" she said, slowly. "I really wish I could help her, but my boss wouldn't like that…"
Rufus groaned a "Mmph" before picking up a newspaper and opening it up. He browsed through the business section, eyeing the progression of the stock markets. Tifa, however, was not having a good time. She sighed again as she washed her face with some water from the spray hose.
'Are you just going to sit there and watch her suffer?' came a voice in his mind. He raked his hair with his fingers gently and folded the newspaper, setting it aside. 'Curse me and my stupid ego…'
"Hey, Elena – look who's coming…"
Tseng nudged his blond-haired partner, Elena, as she looked up from her desk full of paperwork and to the direction he was pointing at. She looked at him in disgust.
"Not her again. She's been coming to the office a lot lately…" she muttered. Scarlet, wearing her usual low-cut, backless red gown, walked up to Vincent who was sipping down a cup of coffee. They took a peek from behind the work cubicle.
"Is my dah-ling Rufus in today?" she asked with her high-pitched, snobby voice. Vincent set the coffee back on its coaster.
"No, Miss Scarlet…he's out on some…urgent business right now," was Vincent's dull reply.
Elena tried hard to stifle her laugh as Scarlet slammed her palm against Vincent's table. "I think he's hiding something from me. What do you know about it?" she squawked.
"The President has his own life – and that does not concern me. Now, since he isn't present right now, will you please leave or shall I call security to escort you downstairs?"
Scarlet withdrew a few feet from Vincent's table, as he was pretty agitated at the moment. "Fine then," she growled, before walking towards the elevator. She turned towards the Turks' tables and gave them Elena and Tseng threatening glare.
"Which car did he use?" she growled again.
Elena, who was pretty scared of her, mumbled, "Umm…I think it was the yellow Jaguar…" Scarlet then smirked before leaving the Turks.
"Phew, that was close," said Tseng, rushing back to his seat. "For a moment there, I thought we were pork chop!" Their other partner, Rude, was still poker-faced and hunched over the paperwork.
As Scarlet exited the area, Reno came up to the table after a short visit to the men's bathroom. "Ah, that feels better. What did I miss?"
"The witch was here again…" mumbled Tseng as he started cursing in Chinese.
"Although…I wonder why she asked which car President Rufus used? I mean…he's got five others…" asked Elena, Reno sat down beside her.
After a few moments, Reno suddenly cursed as he stood up. "Oh shit! I gotta warn the Prez!"
Aerith raised a surprised eyebrow as Rufus stood up from the sofa and took off his white coat, exposing his black turtleneck. "What's wrong? Do you want me to turn up the air-conditioner?" she asked, curious on why he took off his jacket when the air-conditioning was working just fine.
"No, it's okay," he said. He emptied his pockets and set his wallet (full of credit cards…), his cell phone and his keys on Aerith's table. "Hold these for me."
"O…Okay…" she mumbled, as Rufus exited the office and walked over to Tifa. She quickly stood up and faced the man.
"Umm…hi…" she greeted nervously. He inched in closer to her.
"You don't have to be so nervous around me, I'm not intimidating now, am I?"
"N-no! Of course not…" she stammered nervously again.
"Listen, I want to thank you for the date last night. It's the best one I ever had."
Tifa crouched down again as she picked a sponge up from inside the pail. "You're…welcome," she said, as she began to wash the front right tyre.
"And if you don't mind…I'd like to take you out again sometime. My treat."
Tifa blushed and turned away from his prying blue eyes. "Sure…thanks." She closed her eyes and made a squirming expression to hide her excitement. 'Oh my gosh – he wants another date? Is he going to take me to Paris or something?' her mind screamed.
"Do you mind if I help you out?"
Tifa's eyes snapped open as she turned back towards him. Her eyes nearly bulged out from their sockets as without warning, Rufus was taking off his black turtleneck.
"Wha…What are you doing?" she screeched, flustered and awestruck. He tossed the turtleneck sweater onto a nearby wooden bench.
"Helping you out. Is that a crime?"
Tifa wanted to faint at that very second. Or better yet, fall into a coma and be sent to the hospital. She turned away once more, trying to avoid his eyes and avoid her own eyes from pervertedly staring at his well-toned abs.
"I…guess not."
As Barret was out to a parent-teacher conference at his daughter's school (thankfully), Aerith was alone in the office. When Rufus took off his shirt, she squeaked loudly in shock.
'What…what is he doing? Don't tell me he's going to help Tifa wash the car?' she thought. The phone rang as she saw Rufus pick up a sponge himself.
"Hello, Wallace Car…"
Aerith was cut short when Reno's voice answered. "Aerith! Is the Prez there?" he asked, in a panic tone.
"Yes, he is…"
"Tell him that Scarlet had stuck a homing device on his Jaguar, and she's on her way to the car wash right now! Also, tell him I'm coming in Vincent's X-5!"
"O…Okay…"
Aerith quickly put down the phone and rushed out of the office. She walked up to Rufus and Tifa.
"Mister President…Reno called and wanted me to tell you that Scarlet…whoever she is…stuck a homing device on your car and is on the way here right now. He also said he's coming with Vincent's X-5…"
Rufus cursed out loud as he stood up and walked over to the bench. He picked up his turtleneck and put it on. "Sorry, Tifa…maybe I'll take you out another day," he apologized, looking at her.
Slightly disappointed, Tifa just smiled. "It's okay, really." Rufus went inside to put on his white coat and took his wallet, keys and cellphone. A few moments later, Reno arrived with Vincent's BMW X-5. He quickly stopped the car and got out of the driver's seat.
"Hurry, Prez – get in the car! I'll cover for you."
Rufus got in the driver's seat, closed the door and drove away from the car wash. Reno breathed out a long sigh.
"What's going on, Reno?" asked Tifa. He smirked and tipped up his sunglasses. "You see, there's this witch who's the daughter of some big shipping company – and she's been tailing Rufus for years now."
"That's the 'Scarlet' you mentioned, right?" asked Aerith.
"Yeah. She was at the office, and when I heard from Elena that she asked which car Rufus used, I knew it could only mean one thing: she stuck a homing device on the car. I left the office as fast as I could."
"Wait, Reno…how'd you get here so fast?" asked Tifa, as she stood up.
"GPRS. Vincent has a mini PDA on his car that informs about traffic jams and such. Since it's lunchtime, I presume Scarlet used the Northern Highway, which has quite the chaos right now…"
Tifa and Aerith just nodded. "Believe me, Scarlet is not going to be happy if she knew Rufus has been hanging out around here for the past few days," concluded Reno.
Fifteen minutes later, Scarlet arrived(easily noticeable since her car is scarlet red…) and stormed into the office. She saw Aerith calmly organizing files and Reno reading an automobile magazine.
"Where's Rufus?"
Reno looked upwards at her from behind the magazine. "What do you mean, 'where's Rufus', he's not here, duh!" he said mockingly.
"He's not in the office – and your little blondie girlfriend said he used the Jaguar!" she screeched. Aerith couldn't help but cringe.
"Do you need your eyes checked? He isn't here – obviously, he sent me here to wash his car…that's why you didn't see his car. Maybe he hid somewhere in the office building. Executive's lounge, maybe?"
The fire of anger in her eyes were flashing out at him. She stomped her foot on the carpeted floor and walked out the office. She noticed Tifa washing the tyres of the car.
She gave a scoff as she walked towards Tifa. "What's a slut like you doing washing his car?" she said loudly, loud enough for Aerith and Reno to hear.
"It's my job, and it takes one to know one," replied Tifa coolly. As Tifa stood up to refill her bucket of water, Scarlet marched right towards her and slapped her on the face.
"Bitch!" she screeched. Tifa pressed her left cheek in anger and pain, but she just stood there, glaring at Scarlet without another word. With a winner's smile, she left the car wash.
"Teef! You okay?" asked Reno as he got out of the office. Tifa nodded.
"Tell Rufus to check his car for homing devices next time…"
Later that afternoon, Reno came back to the ShinRa office with the yellow Jaguar. He took the elevator up to Rufus's office to drop the keys off.
"Ah, Reno. Just who I wanted to see."
"Oh, what up, boss?"
"Remind me to give you a bonus this month."
Reno just smiled. "Thank you, sir; I will."
To be continued…
A/n: Please review!