Time and Space
Lightning was nervous. Today he was coming back from a two month racing tour. He had a race every couple of days and he was exhausted. He was relieved that he would finally get to relax… except for one thing. Before he left he hadn't told Sally that he was leaving. So in Sally's perspective Lightning had just disappeared one day. He wasn't sure how she would react, if she would be angry, if she was going to ignore him, or if she just didn't want anything to do with him anymore. This uncertainty is why he was nervous. It's not like Lightning wasn't planning to tell Sally. It just had never crossed his mind until he had gotten on the plane. He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye considering he woke up late and he hadn't finished packing yet. He had never called because he didn't have the time of day to do so. He had always been giving autographs, interviews, or racing, and by the time he had gotten back to the hotel room he was exhausted and wanted to sleep only to do the same thing the next day. He knew that he would have to face her eventually and today was that day. His frame rattled nervously as he slowly drove down Route 66 as he was in no particular hurry to get back to Radiator Springs. As the town came into view the first person he saw was Sally. Lightning took one look at her and he stopped dead in his tracks. After not seeing her for two months she was a sight for sore eyes… she looked beautiful. Lightning had already forgotten about his earlier suspicions. As Sally began to look up at him his engine began to race. He was so excited to see her again, until Sally noticed him. At first it looked like she was excited to see him again, but her expression quickly changed. It changed to a pained expression as if something was hurting and he knew that was the case. Sally quickly turned around and sped off in the other direction. Lightning sped off after her to go and fix what he had started.
Sally was confused. It had been two months since Lightning had just up and disappeared without a trace. No one else in town knew where he had gone off to. Also, of all people, why hadn't Sally been told about him leaving? She wondered if Lightning didn't care for her anymore. Was this just him saying that he didn't love her anymore? Then again he had never actually said that he loved her, so it is possible that he had never loved her in the first place. Lightning was good at putting on a show after all. This is why Sally was confused and very worried. She had already spent many sleepless nights thinking deeply about this. She had no idea what to think anymore. She snapped out of her daydream when she saw someone coming down the road out of the corner of her eye. As she started to look up she realized that whoever was on the road wasn't moving at all. This perplexed Sally. "Who would stop in the middle of the road right before a town?" thought Sally. She looked up and saw Lightning sitting there. At first Sally was excited to see him, but then she remembered what she had been thinking about since he left. Once she remembered that she sped off down the road away from Lightning. She headed up to the first place that came to mind.
Lightning wished he knew where Sally had gone. She had suddenly taken a corner and he didn't have time to brake so he ended up speeding past the turn. By the time he had gotten back to the aforementioned road she was gone. Now, he was wondering where she had gone. Lightning was flustered and couldn't think straight. Places in and around the town were flying through his head as he quickly tried to think of the right place, and then it hit him. How could he be so stupid? She had even told him that she goes up there to think. That and construction hadn't begun yet, so it was the perfect place to think. The Wheel Well. Lightning sped off as fast as he could to be where Sally was.
The last car Sally wanted to see right now was Lightning. She just wanted to avoid Lightning for the fear of her suspicions coming true. Why had he just stopped in the middle of the road? Was he just waiting for her to move so he could avoid her? She had no idea what was going through that cars mind. Suddenly she heard an engine rev in the distance, but it was getting closer. Sally realized that she had stopped moving while deep in thought. She needed to start moving again if she still wanted to avoid Lightning. As Sally started moving again she quickly stopped. She suddenly felt that fatigue of two months with almost no sleep catch up to her. Sally felt exhausted. She felt as if she couldn't move from that spot. Although, she didn't realized where she just happened to stop.
Lightning shot out of the tunnel when he found Sally. She was stopped right in front of the waterfall. This scene had looked just as amazing the first time he saw it and now he was experiencing it again. Sally looked so beautiful idling in front of the waterfall. Lightning slowed down and drove up next to Sally. "Hey Sal are you okay? You looked troubled", said Lightning. "Okay?" said Sally in a quiet voice. Lightning felt his stomach drop as the mood darkened drastically. "Okay?! You disappear for two months without a trace and you have the nerve to come back and ask if I'm okay?" screamed Sally. When Lightning didn't say anything she continued on. "I thought we had something together, but after the past couple months I'm starting to think that we don't", screamed Sally. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Say something you idiot", screamed Sally. Lightning continued to say nothing. He just looked down. "Fine be that way", snarled Sally. As she drove off with her emotions powering her movements. Lightning was dumbfounded. He had no idea what to say. Did she not have feelings for him anymore? What made her say what she did? What was going through her mind? Questions were flying through Lightning's head. He had no idea how to process any of this. So there Lightning sat in front of the waterfall thinking. He then realized what he must do. So he revved his engine and quickly sped to where Sally was once again.
Sally was sitting up at the Wheel Well and she was about to leave (figuring that Lightning had already turned around and gone back) when Lightning came into view with a smug look on his face. "Hey Sal I came up here to say one thing", said Lightning. "And what is that?", inquired Sally. "You were right I don't have feelings for you. You were just another pretty face" said Lightning. Sally looked up at Lighting incredulously "No, it can't be true. Tell me it's not true", whimpered Sally. "Later Sal", said Lightning with a smirk as he drove back down the road. "But I loved you", screamed Sally. "Bye", said Lightning. Sally sat there for a long time bawling her eyes out until she eventually fell asleep. Sally jolted awake and started crying. "Thank God that was a dream", thought Sally after she had collected herself. "I must have dozed off for quite awhile now it should be getting dark soon", thought Sally as she looked off into the distance at the small sliver of sun that still remained. Then she saw Lighting approaching her. "No, not this again", thought Sally as she froze where she sat. "Sally please here me out", said Lighting before she had the chance to say anything. "What?" said Sally in disbelief as she was broken from her trance. "Sally, I love you. Even from the first time I met you I thought that you were the prettiest girl that I had even met and all other girls past and future would all pail in comparison. I have always loved you and I always will love you. No amount of space or time will make me stop loving you", said Lightning from the bottom of his heart. At that moment Sally lost it, two months of emotions started to flow forth. She immediately started crying and rushed over to Lightning's side. She just wanted to be as close as she could to him right now. "What's wrong?" inquired Lightning fearing that he had said something terribly wrong. "Nothing is wrong anymore. I'm just so happy right now" sobbed Sally. For the past couple of months I've been worried that you didn't love me anymore or that you had never loved me in the first place" said Sally. "I'm sorry I worried you so much. I didn't have any extra time during my tour and I almost missed my plane the morning I left" explained Lightning. "It's okay it doesn't matter anymore as long as you're here", drawled Sally. Her speech had become slower and heavier. "Hey Sal are you tired?" questioned Lightning. "Yeah I haven't been sleeping very well since you left", said Sally tiredly. "Then let's go back down to-" "No, lets stay up here for tonight. I don't think I have enough strength to go back" said Sally cutting off Lightning as her eyes began to close more and more after each passing second. "Okay, then that's what we'll do", said Lightning as the two of them started to cuddle with each other. "Night Stickers, I love you" "Night beautiful, I love you too" and with that the two of them peacefully fell asleep. Neither of them would soon forget what had happened that night for they would never again doubt their love for each other for as long as they lived.