A/N: Hello guys! Finals are finally over for me so I'm free to write as much as I can! The Cruz Chronicles and Untying the Knot are yet to be updated (finding the will and inspiration to write is a challenge but their updates are coming soon), but for now, I wrote this short story based on various headcanons that I made about Cruz and Lightning. This is mainly a montage of one shots so the lines indicate a new scene. Hope you enjoy! P.S. There is another author's note at the bottom that I ask that you all take time read (it's important). Thank you.
Cruz and Lightning were zipping around Willie's Butte, heading for the final lap. Cruz was in the lead, with Lightning close on her tail. They both finally made it back to the starting line with Cruz crossing the line in full speed.
"Yes!" she shouted with excitement. "I beat you again old man! Best two out of three?" she asked, stretching out her tires.
McQueen stared at her while trying to catch his breath.
"Give me a minute," he said, gasping for air.
"What? You need to take your nap now?" Cruz said with a hard laugh.
"You're gonna eat those words!" Lightning said as he went over to the starting line again. Cruz followed behind and went next to him for their next round of racing. Lightning caught a glimpse of Cruz's left side, which was covered with patch of dirt.
"Seems like you got some dirt there on your left side," he said with a small smile.
"Huh?" she asked in confusion. She didn't even bother to gaze at the spot, thinking that Lightning was just trying to break her focus. "Don't try and distract me Mr. McQueen! You're going to lose!" she said as she bit her lip.
"No really, it's right there!" he said as he pointed his tire to the spot.
Cruz let out a squeal followed by a small giggle when Lightning touched her side. He looked at her with confusion, wondering why she had that sudden burst of laughter. All he did was gently tap her left side. Seeing her mentor's reaction, Cruz quickly held her breath as she tried to stop laughing. Lightning immediately figured it out. His bewildered expression turned into a cunning grin.
"Cruz, are you ticklish?" he said with a smug smile.
Cruz's eyes widened. "No I'm not!" she said as she quickly turned to face him.
Lightning smiled hard. This was the perfect time for his revenge.
"If you're not ticklish,then why are you backing away?" Lightning asked as Cruz slowly reversed away from him.
"Because I know you!" she said as she drove backwards around Willie's Butte. Lightning just waited for her to come back around. She was going way too fast and forgot to stop right in front of him. Once she got close to Lightning, he reached out his front tires and began to tickle her on both sides. Cruz laughed like there was no tomorrow. She was laughing so hard that she tipped over on her side!
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Cruz!" Lightning said as he rushed to help her get back onto her tires.
Cruz glared at Lightning. "That wasn't funny Mr. McQueen," she said with a huff.
"Yeah but it's going to be hilarious when I beat you!" Lightning said as he sped off around the Butte.
"Hey! No fair!" Cruz said as she sped after him.
One day, Cruz was browsing through the Cozy Cone Motel looking for something to eat. She spotted a pack of chocolate chip cookies sitting on Sally's desk. She looked around and once she made sure that no one was there, she took one cookie out of the pack. One cookie eventually turned into the whole pack. Once she realized that she ate the whole thing, she left the empty pack on the desk and quickly drove away.
A few moments later…
Lightning was racing around the motel like a wild tractor with a blindfold on. He went over to Sally's desk and began to search the area. Soon after, Cruz came into the room and found him frantically dismantling the place.
"Where could it be?" Lightning said, mumbling to himself.
"What are you looking for?" Cruz asked.
"I could've sworn that I left a pack of cookies on this desk," Lightning said as he continued his search.
Cruz spotted the empty pack on the floor. Lightning knocked it off of the table as he was surveying the area. Cruz's eyes widened as she drove closer to the wrapper.
"Do you mean this pack of cookies?" Cruz said in a nervous tone.
Lightning turned around instantly as he drove over to Cruz. He looked down at the empty pack with confusion.
"Um yeah but it wasn't empty when I put it there," he said with a frown.
"Oh man, what a shame," Cruz said with a nervous chuckle.
Lightning stared at Cruz. An awkward silence fell between them. Cruz's eyes kept shifting in different directions. She bit her lip as she struggled to make eye contact with Lightning.
"Cruz, did you eat my cookies?" Lightning asked as he slid the empty pack in front of her.
Her eyes widened. "What? Why would I do that?" she said with a nervous laugh.
"Don't lie to me Cruz," he said in a stern tone.
"Whaaaaat? Why would I lie about that?" she asked as she bit her lip again.
"Well I know Sal didn't eat it. She rarely takes my stuff without asking. The only other person that lives with us is you," he said.
"Mr. McQueen there are lots of cars in this town and out of all of them, you think I did it?" she said, still struggling to look him in the eye.
"Cruz, I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice," Lightning said as he tickled Cruz.
Cruz burst into laughter. She laughed uncontrollably for three minutes straight.
"Okay! Okay! I ate your cookies!" she screamed as she fought to speak through the laughter.
"I knew it!" Lightning said as he pounded the ground with one of his front tires.
Cruz just gave him a crooked smile. "I have to say one thing, you have excellent taste in cookies," she said with a small giggle.
"Unbelievable," Lightning said as he rolled his eyes.
"I love you Mr. McQueen!" Cruz said with a smile as she sped off.
"Hey! Get back here!" Lightning yelled as he drove after her.
It was a dark and stormy night in Radiator Springs. The rain was pouring immensely, the thunder was shaking the earth, and the lightning was flashing in the distance. Lightning, Sally, and the rest of the townies were over at Flo's, enjoying each other's company. Cruz on the other hand, stayed at the Cozy Cone Motel. She finally got the alone time that she wanted and she spent it watching a horror film in the dark. There was an eerie silence in the area as Cruz stared at the television monitor on Sally's desk (the only source of light in the dark area). The movie was petrifying. It was about a zombie car apocalypse, complete with gory images of oil flying in the air and car parts being scattered in the city streets. Cruz grimaced at the sight of the dismembered cars. The music was haunting and the graphics were enough to give someone nightmares.
BACK AT FLO'S...
All of the townies were inside the cafe, sheltering themselves from the rain. Some smooth jazz was playing on the jukebox while everyone was talking, laughing, dancing, and having a great time together. Luigi and Guido were arguing over which song to play next, Lizzy was falling asleep, Red was in a corner admiring the rain as it flowed over the window pane, Sheriff was munching on some doughnuts while Mater tried to make a tower out of oil cans. Fillmore and Sarge were at a table together just sipping away at their drinks. Ramone was trying to get Flo to dance with him after the song finished, but she was too busy making sure that everyone was taken care of. Lightning and Sally were at a table together, being enamored with each other's presence.
"You know, even with that crazy storm outside, I'm still grateful that I get to share this moment with you," Lightning said with a smile.
"Oh Stickers, you can be so sweet when you try hard enough," Sally said with a wink.
Lightning laughed as he gave his girlfriend a coy look. "I love you so much Sally," he said as he blew her a kiss with his tire.
Sally blushed a bit and started to laugh. "I love you more," she said as she returned the kiss.
"You know, I wonder if Cruz is okay. She said that she'll meet us here later," Lightning said as he looked out the window, seeing that the storm was getting worse.
"I'm sure she's fine but if I were you, I would check to see what's going on before it gets worse out there," Sally said as she motioned for Lightning to leave.
Lightning nodded and sped over to the Cozy Cone. He made his way inside as he shook himself dry from the rain. He noticed that all the lights were turned off. He turned all of them on and found Cruz sitting in front of Sally's desk. He heard the screams that echoed from the movie. He slowly drove over to the area and saw that Cruz was in a daze. Her eyes were glued to the screen and her body was frozen with fear. Just as he was about to leave, he turned back around and saw the perfect opportunity for revenge (she did eat his cookies after all. Yes, he remembered that!). He smiled to himself as he slowly drove close to Cruz. He was right behind her and she didn't even notice. Suddenly, Lightning revved his engine causing Cruz to jump, squeal, and dash out of the room. She was driving so fast that she sped into a table, knocking over an expensive vase. She also ran into one of the door posts, making a dent in the wall. Lightning drove after her attempting to get her to stop before she breaks something else.
"Cruz wait, that was me!" Lightning called out to her.
Lightning's voice silenced her screams. She slowed down and turned to face him. He stopped right behind her.
"That was you?!" she said as she tried to catch her breath.
Lightning glanced at the floor. "Yeah that was me. I just wanted to prank you. I didn't mean to cause all of this," he said, feeling embarrassed about his idea.
"I can't believe you Mr. McQueen! You know Ms. Sally is going to flip once she finds out about this."
"Don't worry about Sally, I'll fix the damages."
A FEW DAYS LATER...
"Stickers this has got to be the most stupid thing you've ever done!" Sally yelled.
"I know," Lightning said in defeat.
"I mean, what made you come up with that stupid idea anyway?
"I-"
"You know what? Don't answer that. I don't want to know!"
"I'm so-"
"Please don't say sorry I just can't believe you would-"
Cruz came racing into the room. "Here you guys go, these are two one way tickets to Hawaii!" she said as she slammed the two tickets on the table.
Lightning gave Sally a big, nervous smile. "Well, are you up for a vacation Sal?"
Sally didn't know what to think. Here she was, yelling at Lightning and up comes Cruz out of nowhere, giving them a chance to have a romantic getaway. Although she was suspicious about the randomness of the event, she couldn't refuse.
"Fine I'll go, but don't think that you're getting away with this Stickers. I'm going to pack my things," she said as she left the room.
Lightning and Cruz stared at each other and burst into laughter.
"Great timing," Lightning whispered as he winked at Cruz.
"I can't believe that actually worked!" Cruz whispered as she and Lightning gave each other tire bumps.
PLEASE READ:
A/N: Honestly, I really want to thank you all for your support. If it wasn't for you all, I wouldn't enjoy writing these fanfics as much. The Cars fandom has been a blessing to me and I honestly would not have been invested in these stories if it weren't for your kind words. This kind of story is new for me so I don't know how great this was, but I hope you enjoyed it.
The reason why I wrote this is to give you guys something to read while you wait on the updates. I know some of you guys are concerned with me updating so I want to be as consistent as possible. Like I said, I'm working on the updates so I ask for your patience. I want to take my time in writing a good fic and not a rushed chapter that wasn't worth the wait. You guys deserve more than that so I wanted to treat you with these ficlets.
I also ask that you please limit the private messaging only to questions that pertain to what I write or just having a simple conversation. Please don't ask for or demand updates because I'm not a machine that can pump out stories at the drop of a dime. I hope you can understand that. Again I appreciate you all and I hope you enjoyed this!