[important update] 4/27/17: There was an article a while ago that presented some of the new characters in Cars 3 and one of them was a female racer that raced with Doc Hudson and won Piston Cups herself. For this reason, the future chapters will not refer to Jane as the first female Piston Cup racer, but will continue the way the story originally began: Lightning McQueen hoping his child will someday race for the Piston Cup. I have edited one piece of dialogue in chapter 23, "The Rookies", when Miss Relay tells Jane that there has never been a female racer to win a Piston Cup. I changed it to Miss Relay mentioning that there aren't many female racers out there.
Hopefully that eliminates some of the super spooky similarities between Cars 3 and this story!
Although it's creeping me out how eerily similar the stories are if you replace Jane with Cruz Ramirez and the fact that there's gonna be a school bus named Miss Fritter in the movie. xD If you've seen the new trailer, you'll notice Cruz talking about being fearless too. :o Purely coincidence because I've literally spent the past couple of weeks working on this chapter and final projects at the same time. The next chapter will probably be a bit delayed as well for this reason. Finals week is coming up shortly. *sigh* Help.
As always, thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you've enjoyed this chapter or if you're enjoying the story so far! You don't have to, but it'd sure be cool if you did. c:
And you should totally be part of the fun on my Instagram: artby0lemons0
Chapter 32 - "Fearless"
"Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. Rather, it's the mastery of fear." - Unknown
"You're getting so big," said a soft voiced Porsche. She was a heavenly sky blue, holding her daughter's tire; a shorter white Porsche, "I can't believe it's already time for your first day of high school."
The two cars were outside of the Wheel Well, parked in front of the cliff edge overlooking a brand new morning in Carburetor County.
"Promise me that you and dad won't embarrass me when the bus comes...," said the teenager, "I think her name is Miss Fritter," she looked up at her mother with pleading eyes.
Sally giggled, "I promise...but...before you go," she looked out ahead of her, "You're old enough now for me to ask you a very important question."
"What's that, momma?" asked the curious Porsche.
Her father, a cherry red hot-shot Piston Cup racer, stopped just outside of the Wheel Well. He gazed at the taillights of his wife and daughter against the sunrise.
"What do you see when you look out there?" asked the Porsche's mother. She gestured to the great stretch of land ahead of them.
"Hmm…," Jane looked out over the edge, "I see a lot of dirt…"
"Fair enough, but what about…there?" Sally pointed to Radiator Springs, so small and far away from where they idled.
"I see home!" Jane exclaimed.
Lightning smiled behind them. He revved his engine twice and parked next to his daughter, "Mornin', Jane. Looks like Mom is giving you the same kind of speech she gave me once," McQueen gave Sally a playful look, "That is, the first time she brought me up here."
"It wasn't a speech," Sally corrected with a smirk, "And don't you forget I taught you one of the first things you learned around here."
"You mean the first time you tricked me into a race," Lightning purred his engine.
"You're implying that you were ever fast enough to beat me up here."
Lightning raised his eyelids in surprise, "Waaaait a minute."
"Before that, you were only good at racing on roads with only...left turns."
"Are you challenge me to another race?"
"I only challenge fast cars to races," Sally winked at Jane, "Like this little girl."
Jane bit her bottom lip and giggled at her mother's words, "Momma, I ain't no little girl anymore."
"Jane, listen to me," Lightning defended himself, "I could have beaten her that day."
"Whatever you say, daddy," Jane grinned.
"As I was saying, I brought your father up here for the same reason I brought you up here. I wanted to show him all of this," Sally looked back at the gorgeous view, "And now, you."
"It sure is pretty," praised Jane, "Like you, momma!"
Sally rolled her eyes, "Come on, now."
"She's much prettier than all that dry land," Lightning said.
As her parents spoke, young Jane looked up at them with an inquisitive expression.
Lightning noticed, "What's wrong, Little Star?"
"Nothing…"
"You don't make that face when it's just nothing," said Sally, "We know you better than that."
"Well...," Jane shifted some of the dirt under her tires, "There's something I still don't get about you two. You're not like my friends' parents."
"Both of us?" asked Sally.
"Well...more you-," she looked up at Lightning, "-Dad."
Lightning shrugged, "Hit me with your best shot."
"Mmm...," Jane looked down at her hood and thought about it. When she finally decided she should ask, she did, "Some of them were built here...and some of them moved here like you and mommy...but they're not race cars or famous, they're accountants or businesscars…"
"I don't get it," said Lightning.
"They're all regular cars...so how did a racecar end up in a place like this, daddy?"
Lightning looked up at Sally, "It's pretty simple."
Sally nodded and tightened her lips with a grin.
"I was a racecar in L.A. I was living life in the fast lane."
"I know that already," Jane gasped, "Wait! That means you were rich! We're rich!"
"Jane, you know your mother and I didn't raise you that way," Lightning shook his hood, "Besides, I wasn't nearly as rich as I am now…and those days never felt happy."
"But you're still a race car, daddy!"
"Yeah, but trust me. I got lost back then," he flashed his headlights, "Before Ramone put these in for me."
"You didn't have headlights!?"
"Nope! They were just stickers!"
"Ooh, so that's why momma calls you 'Stickers' all the time."
"And without headlights, I drove and drove."
"He finally got caught speeding right here,"
Sally added.
"Sheriff arrested me, your mother took me in-," Lightning thought back, "...well...they all did."
Sally drove around to Lightning's side. She leaned her doors against his, "And he never left."
Jane became even more confused, "But how come you never went back, daddy?"
"Well," Lightning took a deep breath, "I fell in love."
"...with this?" Jane asked, pointing to the view.
"No," Lightning laughed, "Well, yes actually, but not at first," McQueen looked over at Sally again, "I fell in love with her."
Sally shut her eyes and pressed against her husband even more.
"That's right...I remember momma telling me that you two had your first kiss here."
"Only when Mater wasn't looking," Lightning winked.
Jane drove forward a bit so that she could have a better view of her mother, whose eyes were still closed, "Momma?"
"Yes, Jane?" Sally blinked her eyes open.
"What does a first kiss feel like?"
Lightning chuckled, "Jane, that wasn't my first ki-"
"Lightning," Sally nudged him with her tire, "It feels…"
Lightning blinked, thinking about how he could help Sally describe it to her, "Honestly, it was…"
They looked at each other and at the same time said, "Good."
Jane sighed, "Just...good?" she didn't look very satisfied with their answer.
"Maybe not just 'good'...it's sort of-," Lightning cleared his throat, "Sally."
"Jane, only you'll know how your first kiss is going to feel," Sally said.
Lightning agreed, "She's right."
"But I feel like it's never going to happen…," Jane looked down at her hood, sadly.
"Now that's not true," Sally drove back to Jane's side and rested her wheel onto hers, "When you have your first kiss, your mind is going to be all over the place."
"Yeah, your temperature is going to rise," McQueen said.
"And you'll feel the road underneath you disappear."
"And your rpms will rise."
"Exactly that."
"It's just like when you see the green flag."
Sally raised an eyelid at her husband's comparison, "Stickers."
But he continued, "You know there's no turning back once you look at that flag. It's like when you look into that car's eyes and you just...know there's only one way to go...and that's forward. Your engine is going to race as soon as your lips touch."
"O-Oh…," Jane smiled softly, "That does sound…good…"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Lightning joked.
"Hmm…I don't know, baby," Sally sighed and caressed Jane's tire, "After all, she did say she's not a little girl anymore."
The evening dust storm grew mightier with every passing moment. Wind howled through the cacti. They struggled to stand and those that made it past its strength lost their spines. They flew with the wind and either stabbed themselves into the dirt or flung themselves into the sides of buildings and wooden signs. Some of the spines even scraped against the bodies of two teenagers in way over their headlights.
Or rather, one set of headlights.
"Murphy, this is insane!" Jane called out. Her eyelids were thin and narrowed, trying to see and protect her windshield at the same time.
"Just keep going," said Murphy, who was driving ahead of her.
The dust and dirt in the air became thicker the farther they drove into the storm, and it was already dark from the time alone.
Jane continued to warn him, "It's getting harder to see! We should just turn back!"
"Let them stay in that damn school," Murphy protested, "I'm not idling in there waiting for it to blow over."
Jane raised her voice, trying her hardest to speak over the chaos, "O-Oh goodness it's getting so dark!"
"Now isn't the time to be afraid of the dark."
"We're gonna get stuck!"
"If we're gonna get stuck anywhere, I'd rather be stuck at home," Murphy said, "Nothing is getting in our way of going to California."
"You mean your way!"
Murphy turned his tires hard left and turned down another road. He grunted as he struggled, "I th-think this is the way."
"You think!? Don't you know where you live?"
"You try driving to Radiator Springs in these conditions and then we'll talk."
"It's too DARK," Jane drove around his tail lights and pulled up next to him, "You're gonna get us KILLED."
"It's DIRT," Murphy kept his eyes ahead of him, making sure there weren't any oncoming headlights, "You're the one who knows how to drive on dirt better than I can, so just keep moving."
"ON dirt not THROUGH dirt!"
They kept driving until the road brought them dim, warm, glowing lights just past the edges of the road.
"O-Okay," Murphy said, "I think this is it."
"They look like homes," Jane agreed.
Suddenly her headlights caught a shiny silver object flying at them.
"MURPHY, HARD RIGHT," Jane yelled, "LOOK OUT!"
"Huh?" Murphy's mirrors perked up and he saw it coming too. He jerked his steering wheel to the right.
A flying garbage can pushed past them in the wind, slamming against the ground, then disappeared behind them.
Just before Murphy could turn back toward the beam of Jane's headlights, his nose hit something, and immediately locked him into place.
Jane didn't notice.
Murphy threw himself into reverse and his wheels spun in the dirt, but they didn't move him one bit.
"HEY!" he called out.
Jane slammed on her brakes, "Murphy?"
"OVER HERE," Murphy tried to reverse again, but it only made more dirt kick up into the wild air, "I'M STUCK."
Jane swung around and drove with the wind. The dirt pelted her trunk and rear window as she swerved like a snake to scan the road.
"Keep yelling! I can't see you!"
"HERE! HERE!" Murphy brought a tire up to feel what was holding him, "Aw for Chrysler's sake…," Murphy gasped, taking in a great big breath of dirt. It crammed into his air filter and stuffed his grille. His windshield began to water as he let out loud hacking coughs.
"Keep yelling!"
"OVER HERE IN A FENCE!" he coughed violently, "A F-FENCE! A WOODEN FENCE!"
Jane flashed her high beams on and off, but every time they brightened, the beam reflected back into her own eyes just like they would in fog.
Murphy tried to keep his eyes open, but between the dirt getting caught at the bottom of his windshield and the dirt mangling itself more and more into his air filter, they locked shut.
"I-I can't b-breathe…"
"Can you see me?" Jane's eyes widened, but a large chunk of dirt blew into her windshield, "A-Ah!"
"I-I can't open my eyes!" Murphy yelled, "H-Help m-," he wheezed, unable to speak anymore.
"I-I'm coming!" Jane pulled over to the side of the street, in front of what appeared to be a home. When her lights faced the home, they lit up a deep brown wooden fence that was rotting in time. It was built with horizontal slats just large enough for a bumper to get caught if someone were to crash.
She followed the fence down the road until her headlights graced the body of another vehicle. He was blackened, but identifiable only by the gray tribal flames painted on his sides.
"Murphy?" she quickly gathered herself up to him and brought a tire to his fender. His eyes were shut and his breathing was extremely shallow, "Reverse! I'll pull you!"
She applied some pressure to his fender, pulling him away from the fence, but Murphy's rear wheels barely rolled.
"H-Hey, hey," she stretched her axle and reached through the fence. She brought her tire to his grille and started brushing away dirt trapped inside. At the same time, she leaned up and pursed her lips. She aimed for the bottom of his windshield and exhaled a hard blow to remove the dirt from his eyelids.
Murphy blinked his eyes open to that of small cracks, as bits of dirt dislodged. He moaned and moved his eyes to hers.
Jane continued brushing the mess out of his grille, then brought her other tire to his fender again. She pulled as hard as she could, but Murphy just couldn't get unstuck.
He shook his hood slowly with any energy he had left, "..go…"
Jane grit her teeth, "No," she swung around and drove in the direction of the storm. The pelting dirt challenged her and showed no signs of stopping. Soaring bits of cacti spines slapped into her fenders and scratched until they slid past her doors and continued on through the night. The open wounds were immediately filled with dust and Jane could feel them burning. It made her squeak through her teeth, but she kept moving anyway. She drove around the fence and turned back to Murphy on the other side now.
She kept her eyes out for him and when she saw him again, she wasted no time bringing her tire back to his grille. He watched her struggling in front of him. She shut her eyes and pushed forward as hard as she could, but when she opened them, she could finally see what was holding him in the fence.
"It's caught on your hood bump!" she exclaimed.
Murphy's eyes crossed as they trailed down to his hood. He clenched his teeth and wiggled, moving his hood up and down as well to see if that would possibly loosen it up.
The storm grew even more; including heavier gusts of wind that were faster than the constant ones haunting them in that moment. When the dirt smacked against their metal bodies, it made a sound similar to that of sizzling water.
They both cringed, but Jane yelped loudly, feeling the sting of her wounds become worse.
"S-Seriously," Murphy pleaded, "Y-You need to go."
"N-Never," she said, "Dirt can't b-beat me."
She moved to his side and punched the top wooden plank over and over again with all the force she could muster up in her tire.
Murphy shut his eyes as the wood bumped into the edges of his windshield with every one of her punches.
"Jane...this isn't a-"
"Dirt can't beat me," she repeated. She kept throwing her punches.
"I-If you make it to my house you can c-call for help," Murphy suggested.
"Not necessary," Jane insisted, throwing more and more punches. Through her persistence, the wood started to buckle and back down, "B-Because soon you'll be out of the dirt-"
Finally, the wood shattered around their bodies and the wood chips danced away with the hell in the air.
"A-...And into the tulips…"
Murphy shot backward, finally escaping, and he tried to exhale. He let out a heavy breath and only some of the gunk cleared out of his filters enough for him to drive. He put himself back in gear and blinked.
"J-Jane," he said with a hoarse voice, "Thank you."
She nodded and turned back to meet the road again. When she finally reached it, she pulled alongside her friend.
"W-We're almost there," Murphy said.
From that point on, Jane didn't care what Murphy told her. She wasn't going to follow him. She was only going to drive next to him until they got to his house.
Murphy pulled up to his gate and kicked the latch. The gate slammed open in the wind and Jane followed Murphy onto Chick's property. Murphy led her to the front door and he unlocked it as fast as he could. The door creaked open, but Murphy forced it open much quicker and launched himself right inside. Jane moved in after him, then turned back to the door. She nudged her nose up against it, trying to push it closed.
"N-Nmm…," she grit her teeth.
Murphy turned and saw her having a hard time. He clenched his teeth as well and drove next to her. He helped her push the door closed while some of the dirt intruded into the home and lightly dusted the floor.
When the teenagers finally got the door to shut, they both panted in unison, drenched in layers of Earth dust.
"That…," Jane spoke between breaths, "Was the stupidest thing...you ever thought of…"
"I'm never d-doing that again," Murphy promised, but his voice didn't sound good at all. He hacked a couple of rough coughs, "I-I need Rev-N-Go…my carburetor is all congested. It's in my medicine cabinet," he tried his very best to drive forward but his engine puttered, then immediately stopped, "A-Are you alright?"
"I'm okay," Jane turned her tires, "Tell me where the medicine cabinet is and I'll get it."
"In my bathro-," when she turned, his eyes caught a glimpse of the dirty wounds which littered her fenders and doors, "You are not okay."
Jane raised an eyelid, "What?"
"You're all cut up."
Jane checked herself in her mirrors, "That's nothing," Jane rolled ahead, "I've been tractor tipping with Mater before. I've gotten much worse."
"You need to clean them out so they-," his body jerked hard and he expelled more violent coughs.
Jane's tail lights lit up, "You need to stop talking before you choke," she let off her brakes and drove into his bathroom.
Instead of tiles, his bathroom had beige bricks all along the walls. His bright white toilet was off to Jane's right and the matching sink was opposite on her left. Above it was a rectangular mirror which opened into a medicine cabinet. She leaned up and brought her tire to the edge of the mirror. With a gentle pull, the medicine cabinet opened, and she picked up the bottle he needed. It was a blue bottle with an orange arrow which read: Rev-N-Go: Carburetor Decongestant.
She turned back to Murphy and pulled up next to him in his living room.
"Where are your spoons?" she asked.
"Spoons? Just give me it," Murphy took the Rev-N-Go from her and popped the cap off. He brought the bottle to his lips and shot a few chugs back. It soaked into his system and he could immediately feel his filter clearing up. He sniffled a few times to loosen it up some more, "Ugh, gross…"
Jane took another glance at her cuts and sighed, "Those aren't bad at all. They just look ugly."
"You should still wash them out," Murphy's voice was gaining its strength again, "Speaking of which, we're both, like, disgusting right now."
Jane giggled, "Yeah...I ain't been this dirty since the last monsoon season. My mom and dad used to get so angry when Mater and I would play in the mud."
"My dad is a bit messy when it comes to the house," Murphy replied, gesturing to his living room. The magazines on the coffee table were still all over the place from the first time Jane was there, "But hygiene wise, he'd kill me if he saw me like this."
"Gee, you were sure raised like you were born in California, country boy," Jane smirked.
"Country boy?" Murphy glared at her, "I'm not a country boy. Don't you start talking about how I was raised, Miss I-Know-Everyone-In-Town."
"You were built in Carburetor County."
"So?"
"Country. Boy."
He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Look, the storm is pretty bad. It's lookin' like it's gonna be like this for the entire night. Do you wanna stay here or what?"
Jane froze, "It...sure would be a lot nicer than going back out there...yeah."
"Well, you have to be clean, because even here as messy as my dad might be living in Piston Cup hell, we have standards."
Jane was unimpressed, "Don't you have a car wash to take?"
Murphy turned away, "I'll be back," he stopped hard and looked at her in his mirrors, "Stay here."
"But I wanted to go for a drive," Jane pointed at the window sarcastically.
"I mean stay here. In the living room."
Jane's eyes drifted to Murphy's room door, "Ohhh, that's right, you didn't want me in your room the last time I was here either," she blinked, "Hey, wait, where's your dad?"
"Just stay here," Murphy drove to the bathroom door, "... and he's out for the night," he pulled inside and shut the door behind him.
Jane sighed and rolled toward the coffee table. The house was silent, minus the sounds of her tires rolling against the flooring. She brought a tire to one of the magazines, then slid it to the right, revealing a fanned out selection to read from.
Suddenly a loud squeak could be heard, then the sound of rushing water. Jane's mirrors flicked, hearing Murphy stepping into his car wash, then the pitter patter of water dropping against his metal. The sound alone made her mind finally relax.
The past week was awful and after a storm like that, she couldn't wait to feel the water calmly running against her metal and relieving her axles.
That is, until Jane's phone buzzed underneath her fender. It made a small whirring sound. She slid it out from her wheel well and took a look at who was calling. The screen read: Dad
Jane put her phone down and tapped the screen, "Daddy? Hello?"
"Hey, Jane," said Lightning McQueen on the other end of the call, "You sound like you're inside, so you probably don't know, but there's a dust storm out there right now. Mom and I were worried."
"Actually, I-"
"Is she okay?" asked a woman's voice in the background, "Put her on speaker phone."
Jane could hear her father's tire bump his phone a couple of times before tapping the correct button.
"Can you still hear me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm here," Jane replied, "Mom, is that you too?"
"I'm here, sweetheart," said Sally, "Whatever you do, don't leave your school. There's a huge dust storm running along the entire county. You'll be safe inside."
"Dust storm...right," Jane's eyes looked all around Murphy's house, "Sure, mom, I won't leave. I'll just stay here in the - uh - gym."
"Her first day back after all of those absences and there's a dust storm the night of her homecoming," Lightning sighed, "You're having a rough week, kiddo."
"Tell me about it," Jane shut her eyes.
"No one bothered you about missing school, right, Jane?" asked Sally.
Her eyes opened right back up, "Nope, Austin and Alyssa were actually really happy to see me. They made me feel good."
"Great," said Sally, "They took your mind off of a lot, I'm sure."
"Speaking of which, mom and I were talking about you while you were gone."
"Way to start that one, Stickers. She was probably just forgetting about the whole thing."
"About what happened at the race trials."
Sally groaned.
Between Murphy and the storm, Jane really had almost forgotten about it. She could feel her engine twisting, "Mm.."
"I know that sound. Don't cry. I didn't want to make you-"
"I'm sorry, dad," she took in a deep breath, "S-So sorry…I'm sorry that I failed."
"Jane, you have to stop apologizing. I'm not mad at you. No one is," Lightning insisted, "You did your best, which means you didn't fail at all."
"Your absolute best," Sally added, "Everyone knows that."
"Exactly. That's all we could ever ask of you. The whole town can't get enough of you."
The rushing water from the car wash stopped.
"A-And it wasn't good enough…," Jane's windshield began to fill with tears. After days of crying, she thought they'd never end.
"We love you so much," said Lightning, "And no matter what you think, we are so proud of you."
"The entire town is," Sally reminded her.
"But you've got to stop apologizing."
"You haven't done anything wrong, honey."
Murphy could hear Jane speaking in the other room along with the other two voices. He raised an eyelid, then after drying himself off, Murphy quietly opened the door.
"I wanted to make you happy..," Jane's voice was becoming smaller, "I guess...I'm not a racer after all."
"Sweetheart," Sally sighed, "Don't you worry about making us happy. We want you to be happy."
Lightning added onto Sally's words, "You already make us unbelievably happy everyday."
"Yeah...well...I-I'm gonna stay with Alyssa tonight after the storm clears...I'll be home tomorrow…"
"Please believe us," Sally said.
"We love you, Little Star."
"L-..Love you too, guys…," Jane's bottom lip trembled, "Bye, ma...bye, dad…"
She tapped her phone and ended the call. She then tucked her phone away under her wheel well. As a tear rolled from her windshield, she tried to regulate her breathing so more wouldn't follow, but it was no use. Before the trail could fall off her hood, another tear took its place.
Murphy cleared his throat.
Jane was so distracted from the phone call that she didn't hear him come out of the bathroom and finish his car wash.
She reversed and quickly turned around, blinking away her tears, "Oh, h-hey."
"You're crying," Murphy said. He was all clean, shined up, and rinsed. The faint smell of his masculine body wash radiated off of his metal.
Jane felt him staring at her windshield.
How embarrassing.
"Nope, some of the dirt was still caught in my eyes so they're irritated," Jane sniffled, "Sh-Should be all gone now."
Murphy looked her up and down, "Jane."
She turned her tires inward, she knew he could tell she was lying, "N-No, really I had dirt in my eyes."
"Mhm. Anyway. I'm out of the car wash," Murphy moved to the side, "You should go ahead and take one. You'll feel better."
"I'm fine," Jane insisted. She drove past him, "Honest."
As Jane drove closer to his bathroom, the scent of the masculine body wash entered her grille even more than before. It swirled around underneath her hood, and she could finally tell where the cologne scent Murphy always had on came from.
All that was missing was the cigarette smoke.
"Let me show you how to use it," said Murphy, who followed behind her.
Jane pulled into the bathroom and left some room for Murphy to pull in as well. The front of the car wash was covered by a frosted glass door which slid from side to side. Inside were two blue cylindrical microfiber brushes which spun against the car's body and lathered up their soap. Just above, a showerhead for rinsing.
He pointed to the car wash, "You're gonna roll inside, then press that button. It'll run the water and you can spin the dial to change the temperature."
"Okay," Jane nodded, watching him.
"You need to spread the soap on the brushes," he instructed, "Soap is over there," he pointed to a black bottle sitting in the corner of the wet floor. The label read: AXEL for Men
"Do you have anything for women...?"
"Jane, I live with my dad. This is a house of men."
"Right…," Jane cringed at the bottle, "But...I can't drive back into town smelling like a guy. The town will blow their gaskets. Besides...I kind of...told my parents that I was staying over at Alyssa's house."
"Tell them you used her brother's body wash by accident."
Jane thought about it, "That could work, if she had a brother."
"You can either try that or smell like a tractor," Murphy paused, "Hmm…"
"What?" asked Jane.
"Well, there's-," Murphy looked over at the sink and reached an axle to the cabinet underneath it. He pulled it open with his tire and settled between all of the other bathroom products was a sparkling pink bottle of body wash. The label read Crown Victoria's Secret and it was cotton candy scented.
Jane smirked, "What in the world is that doing in there!?"
Murphy wasn't amused, "It was Gianna's when she stayed over.."
Jane's smirk quickly faded, "Oh..oh…"
"Yep…," he looked up at her, "It's for women, but I-..."
"-I understand," Jane said. She brought her tire up on his and pushed the cabinet door closed again. Murphy's eyes widened.
"If I smelled like her, it'd be weird."
"Right…," he glanced down at her tire on his.
Jane gasped softly and pulled her tire away, "Sorry.."
"It's fine," Murphy brought his tire back to himself and turned toward the door, "I'm gonna go tidy up my room."
"Murphy, if you don't want me to see your room, it's okay," Jane blinked, "And if that's the only reason why you won't let me see your room, that's also okay."
"I've seen your room. You definitely don't want to see mine the way it is."
"If you let Gianna see it-"
"Gianna is the cause of half of the mess in there right now. We broke up, remember?"
"What do you mean half of the-...oh, no...she didn't."
"Like I said," Murphy rolled out of the bathroom, "I'm gonna go clean my room...I'll explain later."
He shut the door behind him and puttered away. Jane swallowed hard. She knew how hard Gianna could throw a punch. She couldn't imagine the damage she could have done to someone's room with that same force.
There was no use in worrying, however. What's done has been done.
She turned to the car wash and rolled inside. She then slid the frosted glass door shut. She reached down for Murphy's soap and popped the top open with her tire. She thought for a moment, then brought the opening up to her grille. She sniffed it slowly and her lips curled into a small smile. It really did smell just like him.
She shook her hood out of it, then spread the soap onto the brushes. Her axle reached for the button and a warm blanket of water sprayed against her roof, she shut her eyes, and let the brushes spin away the week's mess. Down the drain went all of the rough diction used by Coach Crankshaft, followed by Doctor Freudliner's treatment plan, finishing only with her hopes and dreams.
After about fifteen minutes, Murphy was just about finished cleaning his room. He was smoothing out the comforter on his bed when he heard Jane open the bathroom door.
The Porsche drove back into the living room and turned in front of the couch.
Murphy quickly rolled to his door and pushed it open, "..Jane?"
She paused, "Yes?"
"Just checking," Murphy said from the other room.
Jane looked up at the air and gave the imaginary car she was picturing in front of her a confused look, "...checking on what?"
"That the car wash went okay."
"It's not rocket science," Jane giggled, "I take one every week," she turned to the hallway, then drove on over, "Why are you talking to me from all the way over there?"
"Actually, that was the other thing, uh..," Murphy glanced down at his hood, "So, uh…," he looked back up at her, "You wanted to know about Gianna and I."
Jane's expression fell, "Sure...I did, but not if-"
Murphy reversed back into his room, leaving his door wide open.
Jane furrowed her eyelids. She wasn't sure if she should drive forward or stay put, but curious by nature she couldn't help herself. She put herself back in gear and coasted toward Murphy's bedroom. She stopped only after letting her nose in.
Finally, she caught a real look around his room and it was nothing like she imagined in her mind. She pictured it just as the rest of the home. Hygienically clean, of course, but otherwise messy in terms of putting things back where they belonged. The way Murphy made sure he avoided letting Jane see the room only solidified those thoughts in her mind.
Murphy was around the corner of the wall parked in front of his bed, "You can come in."
His walls were painted in navy blue. At least, the parts of the walls that weren't covered in various punk rock band posters. Most of the posters were of Green Day; flaunting different album covers and band poses. The wooden flooring continued from inside the rest of the home. His desk - made of teak wood - was just off to the right, neatly wiped down and displaying the Hudson Hornet's Piston Cup in its center.
A small smile bent into Jane's bumper, turning to see more.
His bed, which was to her left, had a red and blue plaid patterned comforter neatly tucked underneath his pillow. On one side of the bed, beside his end table, was a beat up acoustic guitar soaked in stickers. It nestled in an instrument stand. On the other side was a personal garbage bin with a bunch of ripped up photos and paper notes in it.
A closer look would reveal that they were notes Murphy and Gianna passed each other in class and photos of themselves at various stages in their relationship.
"Your room is just fine," said Jane.
"It hasn't been this neat in months," Murphy admitted, "Anyway, yeah…"
Jane pulled all the way inside and nudged the bedroom door shut with a rear tire.
"I can't say that I didn't see it coming," said Jane, "You and Gianna splitting."
"I sure as hell didn't," he said, "I never thought she'd be such a-...a bitch."
Jane rolled her eyes, "I can name a few students who could've told you that."
Murphy shrugged, "I mean, yeah, so she wasn't the nicest girl, but...I loved that about her. She knew how to break a rule every now and then. She wasn't dull. Plus, she was really pretty...not so much anymore. Her ugly inside rotted out her outside."
Jane didn't say a word. She just listened.
Murphy kept talking, zoning out into a trance the more he vented. He turned and drove toward his desk, "Even if I didn't think we were gonna last, I thought she'd be the type of girl to at least tell me she was done. She never hid her feelings."
"I'll say," Jane agreed.
Murphy's mirrors flicked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Besides telling me to stay away from you every single day and telling me you were her boyfriend multiple times a day, anything that was supposed to be private between you and herself she basically went around the entire school telling other cars about."
Murphy's engine sank. He stopped and looked at her, "...like?"
Jane's eyes widened and she felt her hood heat up, "I-uh-eh…like...you and her doing stuff..."
Murphy kept his eyes on her until he realized what she meant. He gasped and his entire expression was taken aback, "Ugh.."
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't do nothing."
"Look at it this way. That's the type of girl she was…still is. Cars don't change, Murphy."
"Not true," he looked at the Piston Cup on his desk, "Cars can change. My dad kind of changed...and I must have changed twice while I was with Gianna. No, no…make that three times."
Jane pulled up next to him and in their golden warped reflection inside of the Hudson Hornet's Piston Cup, Jane was able to watch Murphy while he spoke.
"I became a different car when I found out my dad lied to me about his entire career. I became a different car when Gianna asked me out. I ignored everyone but her...you know that."
Jane nodded.
"..and then I became a different car the night our relationship took a more serious turn."
Jane felt increasingly uncomfortable, "When you two had-"
"-mhm..," he looked at her in the Piston Cup's reflection again, "I don't care what anyone says. That changes you."
"Pfft...she seems like the type of girl who's done that a lot though...if a car changed every time they got that close to someone, then she'd have multiple personality disorder by now," Jane scoffed, "That explains a lot…"
"It wasn't her first time," Murphy looked at her, for real that time.
"You mean..," Jane blinked, "...that she was your first time."
Murphy simply nodded his hood twice and swallowed hard, "Y-Yeah..and when that happens it's like..someone takes a piece of you away. You just have this empty hole. A missing part."
"Murphy, there's a lot of parts a car can live without," Jane blinked faster, "A-And...," she didn't know what to say, so she nudged him, "I'm sure you'll get plenty of girls. Especially since you're a Piston Cup racer now."
Murphy lifted on his axles a bit, feeling more confident again, "You think so?"
"You can't be serious," Jane laughed, "You're so-," her voice hung on the next word she wanted to say. Her eyelids lifted in surprise.
"I'm so...?"
"So-...kind."
"Oh, please," he sighed, "Your words are as thin as a sheet of glass, but fine," Murphy looked back at the trophy, "She went to break that Piston Cup and I lost it."
"What?" Jane snarled, "Ugh.."
"If it makes you feel better, I threw her right out of the house like she was garbage. Sure made me feel better."
"Speaking of feeling better," Jane scuffed a tire, "I heard that voicemail you left me."
Murphy's lips parted and he turned his tires. He put himself in reverse and faced her, "...oh...that..."
Jane nodded, "Y-Yeah..."
"Yeah, about that," a sound from underneath Murphy's hood grew louder the more nervous he became, "I was worried because everyone else was worried. That's all," his rpms rose, "No one heard from you in a long time. It was weird. It wasn't...you."
"Apology accepted," said Jane.
"...huh?"
Jane slid her phone out from underneath her wheel well and tapped into her voicemails. She put it on speaker phone and fast forwarded to the part she wanted him to hear.
The young race car's voice spoke out of her phone, "Jane, I'm sorry. I-...I should have never ignored you...it wasn't me it was Gianna. It was-...no...no, I'm not gonna lie to you. I-It was me…because I could have lied to her. E-Effortlessly-," Jane paused the voicemail.
"O-Oh…," Murphy's mirrors sunk down, "I-..yeah.."
"I thought the rest of it was really sweet too."
He shrugged. He could feel his hood heating up and right underneath his windshield, his black paint started to turn a lighter shade.
Jane smiled softly, then put her phone away, "It's no big deal...like I said, I accept your apology."
The howling wind outside shook his bedroom windows every so often.
His throat tightened and Murphy let out a loud cough to clear it up, "Mm..mm..right..thanks..," he turned around very quickly, before the Porsche could see his hood turn a gentle pink.
Jane watched as the stock car headed toward the other side of his room where he had a stereo sitting on the floor.
"It's kind of quiet in here...and I don't know about you," he popped open the CD player to make sure the album he wanted to hear was loaded, "But I'm sick of hearing that damn wind," he shut the CD player and pressed the play button.
Drums banged through the speakers as the intro to the last song he was listening to started to play from the beginning again.
Jane's mirrors flicked while she heard it.
"Yeees," Murphy sighed, "I love this song."
Starry nights...city lights coming down over me…
He lifted his axle to make the volume louder, but just before he could move the dial-
"Skyscraperrrs, stargazerrrs in my head," sang the Porsche behind him.
Murphy's entire jaw dropped and he turned to face her.
The song continued: Are we? We are. Are we? We are the waiting unknown…
"You know this song?" Murphy asked. He couldn't believe it.
Jane laughed, "I know this band."
"Get out of here," Murphy said, jokingly, "Really!"
"Just because I don't paint myself to look like that's the music I listen to, doesn't mean I don't listen to it."
"But you're not the kind of car I picture listening to it," he smirked, "It's cool though."
"It's not the only genre of music I listen to. I listen to a lot of things," she shook her hood, "You do it for looks, but I listen to it because-," she looked away, "Never mind."
Murphy lowered the music, "No, go ahead."
"It's nothing. I probably shouldn't tell you anyway."
"You don't think you should tell me? Don't you trust me?"
Jane gave him an off look.
Murphy cringed, "You're right that was a bad question to ask, but seriously."
Jane bit the inside of her cheek and thought about it. The more time that passed, the more Murphy couldn't handle it. He needed to know.
"Sounds like it's story time. Come on," Murphy turned to his bed and just let the music play softly in the background so it didn't intrude. He climbed on top of his mattress, then tapped the other side with his tire , "C'mere."
"Murphy-"
"What's the worst that can happen? So what? Heaven forbid you'll be more than some quiet girl that just idles next to me in class giggling at Mister Springwheel."
Jane looked at him with saddened eyes, "...so that's how you see me, huh? I always wondered…"
Murphy saw her face change and he caught himself, "No, wait...that came out wrong."
"You think you're the only one with things to complain about?" she rolled closer, "If you want to know so bad, I listen to that music so I can hear something louder than the voices under my roof."
Murphy frowned, "Hey...take it easy."
"At least you got into that Piston Cup race. Some of us don't just get things like that handed to us."
"What?" Murphy narrowed his eyes, "Last time I checked you were right next to me in that race. I worked just as hard as you did. Don't you act like I didn't work for this too."
"You didn't have even close to the amount of pressure I had on me for the same thing."
"Like what?"
"Coach Crankshaft pretending you don't exist, getting punched in the face by Gianna just for wanting to race, an entire town waiting for you to win and coming home with nothing, disappointing a bunch of teachers at school, my parents, Doctor Freudlin-," she slapped her tire over her mouth and covered it.
"Wh-..Whoa...those are a lot of voices under one girl's roof," Murphy raised an eyelid, "...who was that last one?"
Jane's eyes shot to the window to see if the storm was still going on. It continued to whip against Murphy's windows.
Murphy saw this and hopped off of his bed, "Are you looking to leave? Don't leave."
Jane backed away from him toward his desk.
"Jane."
"Just forget it, okay? Forget what I-"
She backed into his desk and small bottle dropped onto the floor. It rolled in front of her tire and stopped. She looked down and the bottle read: Premium Porcelain Glue
Her mirrors lowered. She instantly remembered when Murphy put her Piston Cup ornament together piece by piece. Just for her.
"Uh-huh," Murphy drove up to her and picked up the glue. He put it back on his desk, "I fixed one of your problems the last time you told me something about your past."
He was right. Jane frowned.
"If you tell me what the hell is going on I might be able to fix this one too."
Jane took a deep breath, "A-Alright.."
"Come relax," Murphy gestured to his mattress.
When Murphy turned away, Jane hesitated to follow at first.
"On your bed…?" she asked.
"It's clean," he said, thinking that she was put off by the possibility of it being dirty, "I just put new sheets on it two days ago."
"That's not what I-...okay, okay…," Jane followed him and stepped onto his mattress. When all four of her wheels were on it, Murphy was just parking next to her.
"You were saying something about a doctor," he glanced at her, "You missed the racing history final exam, but Mister Springwheel is letting it go because you had a medical reason. He was asking me about you and he told me something about a doctor calling him. It freaked me out...thought maybe you were in some kind of accident."
Jane tightened up her axles, "He told you…?"
"Jane, that's all I know."
"All you know?"
"All. I. Know."
She took another deep breath, "He...that doctor...his name is Doctor Freudliner…"
Murphy listened with intense eyes.
Jane continued, "...and I've been seeing Doctor Freudliner for a long time. Ever since I was a little girl…"
"You don't look like you're sick," Murphy pointed out, "Maybe kind of sad, but you definitely don't look sick."
"He's a psychologist."
Murphy pulled his lips in, "Mm.."
"When I was a little girl, my dad wanted to raise a racecar. I grew to love it too. He would let me watch him all of the time...with the Hudson Hornet too sometimes. One day, while Mater was watching me-"
"That's that tow truck you told me about."
"Right, that's him...I remember very little, but the doctor said it's because it was probably so scary that my mind won't let me remember more...and I know he's right because I have these vivid dreams sometimes...and I think what happens in them is what happened to me."
"Chrysler…"
"One day I was playing in the snow with Mater...he wanted to show me something, but when he drove away I couldn't find him anymore...next thing I know, I'm talking to some Mustang."
"Well, howdy there, little one. Ya sure look like an expensive little bitty. Where your parents at?"
"I'm lost-ed."
Murphy audibly gasped.
"What?" Jane asked.
"Sorry...keep going," Murphy lied to cover himself, "I just remembered the answer to a question I think I got wrong on that final," meanwhile, he was actually remembering the encounter he had with a Mustang the night before.
"Are you even listening?"
"I am. You met a Mustang."
"Right...so the next thing I remember is that Mustang is taking me away."
The mustang chuckled, "You've got a lot to learn."
"I was gone for...for I don't even know how long...then she was teaching me how to stuff myself into her trunk."
"Come on, Leo, it isn't that hard. Are you kidding me? Don't you know how to climb yet?"
"I'm trying!"
"...and when I tried to escape, that's when I saw Mater and I screamed for him."
"Mater!"
"Jane!?"
"You were carnapped," said Murphy.
"Y-Yeah...she said it was because I looked expensive...especially after Mater told her about me."
"I know she's Missus Sally's daughter, she's tiny, she's got two different colors in her eyes, she never had another color fade in so she's white, she still smells like new car, she's the daughter of Lighting McQueen, she-"
"What did you just say?"
"She's the daughter of Lightning McQueen…?"
"So...that's why she's so...expensive."
"You're a Porsche too, Jane."
"I just don't understand why she would want me...I was just a baby. It's not like I had any money."
"What happened next?"
"I think she took Mater too. He was locked in the Cozy Cone with me."
"Vermella, I wanna go home." said Mater.
Vermella glared at Mater and whispered, "You're not leavin' this cone. If everyone knows you was the last one with Leo, then everyone is gonna ask you where she is."
"Whoa...you were taken so close to your parents…"
Jane nodded, "And she kept calling me Leo. She would smack me every time I got her name wrong, but gave me a brand new name for a while…"
"You're taking me to see my mommy now?" asked Jane. Vermella didn't answer her, so Jane decided to try again, "Ver-mel- ah, are you taking me to-"
"It's VER-MAY- AH!" she lifted up her tire and slapped Jane across the face.
"Goodness, Jane.."
"Then I remember the garage door opening up and Mater was screaming at me…he wanted me to race."
"JANE! RACE!" Mater yelled.
Jane looked in her sideview mirror and saw Vermella coming up fast. She looked down the open road toward Ornament Valley in front of her and revved her engine.
"RACE!" Mater yelled once more.
"So I raced...I think...I did whatever I thought was racing back then."
"...so that's why you were so nervous to drive fast when I asked you to come race with me."
"I kept looking back in my mirror because of that...as if she was there."
"Do you...remember anything else?"
Jane thought long and hard, "I drove for a really long time...and I knew she was following me...she never wanted me to escape...but I couldn't do it anymore."
"Jane!" called Vermella, as she was speeding behind her, "I didn't mean to hurt you, Jane! Look, see? I'm calling you 'Jane' now! Come on, I was kidding! Jane, listen!"
"Go away!" Jane could feel her axles throbbing.
"I was driving so hard and so fast that I felt this sharp rip…next thing I know my hood flew off. Wasn't long after that I pulled over and the Mustang caught me. She grabbed my axle and was gonna take me again."
Vermella's teeth grit tightly, and through them, she snarled, "You betrayin' lil' bitch. Who do you think you are? After all that I've done for you? Turn off your headlights you stupid child. We have to get you off this road now."
"...but my dad...my dad was yelling my name…"
"Jane?" called Lightning in the distance.
Her little mirrors perked up.
Vermella growled, "Dammit, this ain't the last of me, you brat," she threw the girl back onto the street, "You'll never amount to anything. Never. You'll always be a spoiled little brat and everything that's coming to you? You'll deserve it. Just you wait."
"...then I don't remember anything…I've been in and out of sessions with Doctor Freudliner...then my parents and I thought I was stable enough to stop seeing him."
"But you went back to him."
Jane nodded, "After months of not seeing him, I went back after losing that race to you."
Murphy sunk lower on the mattress. The bottom of his chassis was practically touching the sheets, "I put you through hell, huh?"
"No you didn't. It wasn't you. After that voicemail I don't blame you. I blame Gia-"
Murphy cupped his wheel over hers, "Blame me."
"Wh-"
"I made you blame her. I made everyone blame her," he pulled her wheel, "But I want you to blame me."
She looked down at his wheel, then back up to his eyes, " Murphy, I can't blame you for loving your girlfriend. I can't blame you for being a faster racer either."
"I broke you. You were fine and….now I'm the reason you went back to seeing a psychologist."
"That's not true!"
"And it all comes back to racing...I'm just like my father."
"M-Murphy.."
"I'm the bad guy."
"It was a mix of everything…"
"I-I'm fixing this," he tightened his wheel on hers, "One thing's for sure. She's still out there waiting for you."
"It's best to forget. That's what my doctor said. Just...forget it."
"Oh, no," Murphy narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "No, she wants to go after you? We're going after her. Let's see if she goes after someone her own age."
"That's not how you fix it!"
"JANE, HOW DO YOU-" he groaned, then settled himself down. He let go of her tire and exhaled, "If I can't fix this, then maybe I can just fix you."
He reached his axle over to his end table beside his bed, "This will fix it," he pulled the drawer open and he picked up a small square photo.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jane caught it with her eyes quickly, then immediately snapped her focus away, "If it's that darn photo, I don't want to see it. First of all, I thought I was the only one with a copy of it."
Murphy brought it over to the mattress, "When there's a photo finish, everyone in the picture gets their own copy. Mine is on my desk."
Jane raised a lid and looked at him again, but she still didn't look down at the picture, "If your copy is on your desk, what's in your tire then?"
"Mister Springwheel's copy."
Jane's other eyelid raised, "I don't get it."
"I went to look for you last night because Mister Springwheel told me to," Murphy explained, "He told me he wanted to talk to you...and to make sure I did, he told me why."
"He's probably mad at me for missing so much school."
Murphy shook his hood, "Nope," he moved her tire and placed the photo between her treads, "Hold this."
"Look, Murphy, I really don't want to-"
"Will you just look at it?"
Jane waved the photo and raised her voice a little, "I know you won, alright!? Stop rubbing it in my grille!"
Suddenly, a small yellow object caught onto the back of the photo daintily floated down onto the comforter. It caught their eyes and Murphy gasped. He grabbed it as fast as he could.
"What was that?" Jane asked.
"Nothing-..nothing I-..," he sighed, "I'll only show it to you if you look at the picture."
"Fine."
Murphy moved his wheel such that the object in his tire was revealed; a small yellow rose which looked incomplete and a bit flattened.
"Before Gianna and I broke up," he said, "I bought a corsage for the homecoming dance...we weren't going to go to prom together because I wasn't a senior...instead she cheated on me so she'd have someone to go to prom with...and so...I threw the corsage at her and it broke off into a few pieces. The rest of it is in the garbage. I thought I cleaned it all up, but I guess some of the petals were sticky and got stuck to the back of that picture."
"I can't believe she did that," Jane frowned, "I can't believe she cheated on you."
"Why wouldn't she? I'm just another regular guy on her list. Just another licence plate she took advantage of and registered, if you know what I mean."
Upon hearing his words, Jane couldn't help but scoff and her frown disappeared, "No," she smiled, "You're much more than that."
Murphy blinked twice and looked up from the flower, "...you think so?"
"I-...," Jane went to say more, but she stopped herself, "...promised I'd look at the picture if you told me what that was.."
She glanced down at the photo, but Murphy took his tire and softly pushed it away, "Hold on," he brought the flower to her fender and pressed it against her so it would stay. The yellow complimented her paint just enough, even if the flower was no longer in perfect condition.
"There…," Murphy said, "So it doesn't go to waste…," he moved her tire back in front of her, but kept his wheel on it, "Now...look."
Jane finally looked at the photo and her eyes fell serious, "I won…," her lips parted and she gasped, "I-I won...I-...I won a race!?"
Murphy laughed, "Not a race. The race."
"But-but...but-" her eyes lit up, "I-"
"It's okay, Jane."
"I did it!" her smile widened from one cheek to the other, "I won!"
"Who's rubbing what in whose grille now?" Murphy smirked.
Jane pulled her tire off of his and brought the picture up to her bumper. She hugged it tightly, "I'm...I'm a racer!"
"Hey, you know what else is yellow? Like that flower? The Piston Cup we're gonna go after. Together."
Suddenly Jane's expression fell again, "But...I won and you got the RSN program…"
"Mister Springwheel said it was because of the legacy law. He'll explain everything to you. Trust me. We need to talk to him. He wants to see you."
Jane wasn't convinced. She pulled the photo away from her face.
"Jane, you have to try."
"I already did. I already tried being fearless...and I couldn't do it."
"Then don't look at that picture," Murphy said, "Look at me."
Jane put the photo down and her eyes trailed over to his.
He tried one last time to convince her, "Jane, look how much you've been though. Sure, you were built into this world and had to drive on a bumpy road for most of your life, but you're here. Even with a crazy Mustang lady going after you, you're still here. Don't you get it?"
Jane furrowed her eyelids, listening.
"Sure, she might have been the reason you needed more than just your parents and a town to help you grow up. Okay, so you needed a doctor. Everyone sees a doctor. Some of us just need different kinds of doctors. But you know what I see? I see some woman who says she's after you out there, but has yet to show her face. You're supposed to be the one hiding, but she's hiding. You're the one who wakes up every morning and faces the world. You're the one who drives on route 66 everyday. Not her. Hell, you're so stubborn about that road you drive on it just to drive on it."
Jane's eyelids bent upward and softened as he spoke to her.
"You said you tried being fearless, but you couldn't do it, but you put your name on a list of guys for a racing team, you-...you sung with Austin at the Christmas show. For crying out loud, who does that? You beat up Gianna, the head of the cheerleading squad. You showed up to the race trials and stood your ground against Coach Crankshaft with Mister Springwhe - I mean - Phoenix Springwheel, a Piston Cup legend, by your side. You showed up to homecoming even though you didn't want to. You accepted a loss to a race you actually won."
Jane's axles began to tremble as the bottom of her windshield filled with tears again, but instead of frowning, her lips smiled.
"You just saved me from suffocating in a storm with the wounds to prove it," Murphy bit his bottom lip, then chuckled, "It's good to see you smiling again. It's like, no matter how many dust storms this life throws at you, you still drive on that road. Dammit, Jane, that's fearless to me."