"Miss Sally" Sally turned and faced Mater
"yea?" she asked
"Is Lightnin mad at me?" he asked
She looked confused
"why do you think that?"
"well he's been avoidin' me fer a while and I thought maybe he was mad at me" Mater looked upset and Sally sighed softly. She knew very well what Lightning was up to and kissed Mater's cheek softly.
"Its fine Mater. Hes not mad at you. I have to go talk to him, okay?"
Mater nodded
"okay Miss Sally" he turned and drove away with a sigh
Sally frowned and turned, speeding away to where she knew Lightning was hiding from Mater, a glare on her face.
"Stickers!" I yelled, still out of sight
There was a sigh
"yes, Sally?"
"he thinks you're mad at him" Lightning stared at her in silence for quite some time before finally sighing.
"sorry" he mumbled
"Lightning why won't you just tell him?" Lightning shrugged "You're hurting his feelings, and hes your best friend"
Lightning winced quite visibly before turning around and speeding away.
"Where are you going!" she hollered after him
"I'm leaving!" he called back
Panic immediately filled Sally's mind as she spun around and sped back to town as fast as she could, hoping she could reach Mater, and Mater would reach Lightnng before the race car could sucessfully get away.
"Mater!" she called as she neared town and spotted the rusty tow-truck
"Miss Sally?" he asked as he turned around "whats wrong?"
"Lightning is leaving" she choked out
Mater chuckled softly
"Funny Miss Sally"
"no, Mater, I'm serious. He's leaving" she gestured towards the way she had come and way out in the distance Mater could see Lightning's newly installed head lights glowing.
He frowned and sighed, turning to go back into town
"Mater what are you doing!" Sally asked skeptically "you have to go after him"
"why should I-"
"because he loves you!" she exclaimed "he's leaivng because he doesn't want to admit it!"
Mater looked stunned, then flicked his gaze back to where Lightning was beginning to disappear from view. His gaze narrowed, and without a word to Sally he took off as fast as he could go, towards the race car.

Lightning tried to blink back tears as he left his newly adopted home behind him.
He skidded to a stop quite some distance from the town so all it was, was a glowing ball of neon lighs. He gulped slowly and turned around
"Goodbye, Radiator Springs" he murmured as he turned around and continued driving. "its for the best" he whispered to himself
"who are you trying to convince?" came a voice in his head
"wha- who is that?"
"you mean to tell me you don't recognize your best friends voice?"
Lightning almost crashed into a cactus when he realized Mater was speaking to him.
"I'm not trying to convince anybody" he finally answered Mater's question "hey wait, are you actually speaking to me, or am I hearing things?"
"what would you do if I said I was your consience"
"I dont have one Mater" Lightning joked
"well dad gum dangit" Mater cursed, followed by a sigh "look behind you"
Lightning looked behind him and shouted in shock when Mater was just around five feet behind him. Before he could react Mater slung his tow hook around and caught Lightning, and pulled him so they were almost touching.
"now" Mater stated "why is you leaving?" Lightning attempted, and failed, to back up.
"because I love you" he mumbled
"what was that?"
"I love you" Lightning mumbled again
"hmm?"
"I love you!" Lightning finally shouted
"well its about cotton picking time" Mater grinned and pressed his lips to Lightnings.