Fluff is interspersed in the car-buying experience.
Fast Lane
"God, you two are so adorable together," Jessica grinned, coming over to stand by the two in the break room. "I'm so glad I introduced you two to each other."
"I'm so grateful," Nesa gushed. She was all but bouncing in her seat.
"So, what are you two talking about that's got you so excited?" the woman said and signed.
"Nick feels that I should lease a car. You know, now that we're on Days/Evenings lines together and take the bus together all the time. We're just looking over models and trying to decide who we should be buying from. Nick wants a Subaru for their safety and the fact that they last forever. But that's about $15,000 out of my budget. I'm looking at a nice, cheap Kia for-"
"Wait, wait, wait. You have enough to outright buy a car?" The girl looked a little uncomfortable.
"Well, I'm not talking about a Lamborghini or anything," she mumbled. "But I've been saving for a car since I bought my house two years ago."
"You bought a house," her coworker dead-panned.
"I have a mortgage, but the place is mine. And it beats renting any day. Renting is just a black hole for your money."
"But you live alone!"
I'd rather be putting my money towards something. And if I ever find something better, I have credit and collateral to work with." The two stared at each other until Nesa looked down in embarrassment.
"How big is your house?"
"Three beds, two and a half baths," she mumbled again. Jessica couldn't help gawking at the girl, knowing that she lived alone.
"Girl, you're crazy. Have you looked at Nissan? They tend to have nicely priced cars. And worse comes to worst, you could always lease like the rest of us mortals. That way you can trade in your car every few years for a new one."
"That's not a bad idea," Nesa smiled, glad to be back on topic instead of receiving a lecture on her house. She pulled up the website and the three of them spent the rest of their break debating cars. Nesa was planning on renting a car and driving around the city looking for the perfect car for her. Jessica ended up inviting herself along and the trio decided to set out the Thursday coming up as they all had that day off. When Jessica and Nesa pulled up to Nick's apartment, they were surprised to see Darren standing next to him.
"I figured Nick would need a proxy so that you ladies don't gang up on him," the man joked as he got in the front seat. Darren Collins, at your service." He shook hands with the women.
"Well, if everyone gets a vote, it's likely to end in a tie."
"I'm sure we'll figure something out, Nesa," Darren laughed.
"Fine. Anybody gotta make water before we set off? This is going to be a long day, regardless." Nick smiled fondly at his girlfriend and shook his head.
"I'm good, Nesa. Went right before I left the house. No 'pee-pee' dance for me," Darren joked.
"Actually…" Jessica said, looking embarrassed. When the three broke into laughter, she shrugged defensively. "Look, it's a long-ass ride from the Northeast to here and I had a large coffee on the way!"
"Let's head back to my place. I get pretty paranoid about that sort of thing." The group headed back to her house, surprised when they saw a man sitting on her front steps.
"Darnell? What are you doing here?" Nesa said, jumping out of the car.
"Just thought I'd stop by and surprise you," the man smiled, holding up his overnight bag.
"You really should have called, man. I have a full day of car shopping in mind. In fact, if Jessica's bladder wasn't about to rupture, we wouldn't even be here."
"Hey!" Jessica laughed in mock indignation, nonetheless joining her fellow nurse at the front door. Nesa let her in. Darnell followed them in, setting his bag on the couch for later. Nick was waiting for her outside of the house, having spied her distressed look.
"We've been planning this all week! Now I can't-"
What if he went with us?
"Nick's got a point," Darren added. "You said you wanted a tie-breaker. And here he is!" The girl got a thoughtful look on her face.
"Well… I guess… If Jessica doesn't mind…"
"Doesn't mind what?" the nurse said as she exited the house. She hadn't gotten to see the inside of Nesa's house when she'd picked her up; the girl had been waiting on her front step. It was a beautiful house. Just too big for one person. Wondering once more why the girl had bought a whole house for herself, she exited so that Nesa could lock up.
"Well, I can't really leave Darnell here by himself, and we've been planning this for so long. Would you mind if he tagged along?"
"Sure," she shrugged. "The more the merrier. As long as you guys don't mind cramming into the backseat."
"I'll sit in the middle," the girl sighed, knowing that was what the two men were thinking. Being so short really had its drawbacks from time to time. "I'm travel-sized for your convenience," she said in an announcer's voice. Nick ruffled her braids, grinning madly when she half-heartedly tried to bite his fingers. She slid into the middle seat and fastened in as Darnell and Nick got in on either side of her. Their first stop was the Subaru dealership. Just as Nesa had predicted, the cars were too expensive. Especially since she didn't want a pre-owned one.
"What about this Crosstrek, Nesa? It's on sale." Nick had to walk her away from her friend as she started hyperventilating.
"Nick, this is ridiculous! Even if I threw my entire cushion AND my car budget at this, I'm still $17,000 short at least! And that's if I get the lower-end models! I don't wanna be here anymore!"
A salesman, sensing an opportunity, moved towards the distressed woman. "Actually, if you're interested, we can talk about financing. You can lease to-" He blinked and moved away when she burst into tears and her man glared at him.
Relax, Sweetness. This is only our first stop. You don't have to buy a car here. It's okay. We'll check out a few other places and if something here interests you, we'll come back, okay?
"I'm just no good at this. I don't want to give up all my savings, but that's what it's there for. But I don't want to spend the rest of my life paying for-" Nick kissed her, effectively shutting her up. He knew that she had roughly $13,000 in her budget for a car, not including the $5,000 left in her cushion. If she wanted a new car, she was going to have to lease. But she was right that all these cars were very expensive. Holding her close, he wrote another note for her.
Let's head out baby. There are other, less expensive places to look at. You don't seem very enthusiastic about this place
She smiled and laid her head on his chest.
"Feeling better, hon?" Jessica asked, coming over and rubbing her back.
"I know that I'm going to be creating another bill for myself by buying a car, but this doesn't seem to be worth it."
"Then let's just get out of here. If you're going to create a bill, it might as well be over something that you actually like and enjoy driving. Come on, girl." The group headed out of the dealership and straight to the Mazda one. The next few hours went like this. Nesa looked at the price tags on the cars more than the cars themselves. After Mazda came Ford, then Kia, they came close with a Nissan Versa, but Nick didn't quite fit into the compact car. Finally, the tired group headed into the Hyundai showroom, and Ganesa laid eyes on the Elantra. It was the perfect size for her and her 5'10" boyfriend. She examined the safety features tag, adjusted the mirrors, played with the seats, and generally fawned over the car.
"Like what you see?" Henry said in amusement around the time she opened the trunk.
"You can fit, like, three or four bodies in here. This is perfect for the apocalypse!" she exclaimed. Remembering that she wasn't talking to her gaming buddies or nursing buddies, she went to apologize, only to have the man burst out laughing.
"I'm not sure what you'd do with dead bodies in the middle of the apocalypse, but there are always things to consider in a crisis." He smiled warmly at the girl and offered his hand. "Henry Ford, at your service."
"Hi, I'm Ganesa Eversteen. I'm looking to buy a car, or at least lease one. We've been searching all day."
"Should have come here first," he tsked with a smile. She giggled and the two started talking about financing options. The fact that she had over 10 grand to bring to the table significantly helped her bargaining position. None of her group could quite believe it. She'd been trudging through showrooms and dodging salespeople all day. Even Nick hadn't believed that she would pick a car today. He felt like hugging the fatherly man as he soothed his girlfriend's fears and gave her the confidence to make the purchase.
"Would you like a test drive, Nesa?"
"I really would," the nurse nodded. "But… Not all of us will fit in-"
"I'll stay behind, Nesa. It's no problem at all," Darnell said quickly. In the end, only Nick and Nesa were in on the test drive. When she saw the test car, Nesa gasped and ran to it. It was a charcoal color and had a sunroof.
"I want this one," she hummed, running her hands lovingly over the roof. Then she remembered herself and pulled away. Nick and Henry only smiled at each other and joined her at the vehicle.
"There's no need to feel embarrassed, little one. It's nice to see you have such a visceral response to a car. This model's color is what we call 'Electric Shadow' and as you can see, it has a moonroof."
"We never could afford a moonroof growing up," she said shyly.
"Well, now you can," he said in a kind manner. "You two are the second people to take a ride in this particular car; she only has 50 kilometers on her. Wanna go for a ride?" The three took the car for a spin around the block trying the car out on the highway and in residential areas. The car, who Nesa had named Nancy, responded perfectly, seeming to instinctively know what she wanted to ensure the smoothest ride possible. When they pulled back into the dealership, Nesa turned the car off regretfully.
"Wow, you're a really good driver, kid! What do you think about taking this little car home with you?" Henry was amused when she cut her eyes over to her deafmute husband, silently begging. The look of fond indulgence on his face said exactly what he thought of this situation. The girl squealed and hugged him. Sensing a sale, he directed the girl to the financial department and let them hash it out. By the time the two figured out a deal that was acceptable to both parties, it was close to closing and the salesman was amazed at the sheer number of offers of drinks from her friends.
"Is it really that hard to shop with her?" the man asked doubtfully.
"Nesa's never shopped for a car before," Jessica laughed. "She's been very skittish about spending so much money on a purchase. It hasn't been like it is here. She's been tearful and upset every other place we've been. Nick could barely keep her under control and he's usually able to handle her no matter her mood. It's been a very trying day."
"She's really been trying to keep it together," Darnell came to his friend's defense. "You have no idea how tightfisted Nesa is with money. She has budgets for everything and she never spends outside of her budget. This is a chick who flat-out will not impulse buy. If she sees something that she wants, she starts a mental budget for it. And if it isn't there when she's saved the money, she rolls it back into her savings and never looks back. I actually asked her about that once when she lost the opportunity to buy some high-end kitchen knives. Know what she told me? 'The Lord must not have wanted me to have them'. Then a month later she found a better deal on even better knives! It's uncanny how her God looks after her."
"Well, it looks like she's ready to spend now," Darren smiled. "Look at her, so happy. I'm wondering how much is in her car budget. Even Rick looks impressed with her." Everyone took a look at the couple conversing with the financial advisor. Rick caught Henry's eye and winked. That was the first time in the history of his twelve-year tenure that the man had acknowledged one of the salespeople as doing something right with a potential customer. When Nesa came out of the room, she made a beeline to Henry, vibrating with happiness and just barely restraining herself from hug-attacking the man. Henry himself had to laugh at her restraint, finally pulling her into the kind of hug he hadn't had since he was a kid. The kind of hug that warms you to your toes.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Ford!"
"Hey, none of that 'Mr' nonsense. You've just joined the Hyundai family." She grinned and turned to her boyfriend for more hugs.
"Thanks so much for coming with me, guys. I know it's been a horrific experience, but-"
"I wouldn't call it 'horrific'," Darren grinned. "'Edge-of-your-seat'. Gut-wrenching,' maybe, but never 'horrific'." Nesa laughed along with the others even as she blew a short raspberry in the air and gave an English 'fuck you' sign to the man, who laughed even harder. Rick was all smiles as he left his domain to address the girl fifteen minutes later.
"I'm happy to say that everything is in order, Nesa. You are now the proud owner of the very latest model of the Elantra Preferred IVT!" All around her, people started applauding. Nesa did a little curtsy, rosy undertones in her honey-gold skin. "You can come by Wednesday and pick it up."
"I work Wednesday," she pouted.
"Thursday?" The girl looked so dejected that he couldn't help laughing. "Friday?" She immediately perked up. "Friday then. You'll come and drive your new car off the lot."
"Can't we go now?" she asked impatiently.
"The car needs to be cleaned up and processed, kiddo," Henry grinned. "Besides, you have a lot to do before next Friday. The car-"
"Nancy." Ford chuckled indulgently.
"Nancy needs insurance, AMA coverage, and a license plate to start. You're going to have to hustle to get everything done by the time you pick her up."
"Oh," the woman said with a dazed look on her face. She'd forgotten everything else when she met Nancy. "I'll have to call Lyndon and ask him what insurance he uses. If I recall correctly, it's fairly comprehensive-"
"And pretty cheap," Darnell added with a smile. Nesa smiled back. "Who wants Chili's? I just bought a new car!"
"I could definitely eat," Jessica grinned. Truth be told, she'd almost skipped this dealership and suggested the group stop and eat for the night, taking on car shopping again in a few days. Now she was so happy that she'd listened when the stubborn girl had insisted on one more showroom.
Chili's sounds perfect, love. I can taste those chicken fajitas now
"Sounds like you have quite a celebration planned," Henry said, all smiles. "So we'll see you on Friday with everything in hand, okay?"
"Okay," she giggled, seemingly attempting to merge into her boyfriend's side. Nick hugged her, one-armed, and shook hands with the salesman and the financial advisor. "Take care!" The troupe headed out into the warm night.
There you go, more fluff and the couple interacting! See ya next week :D