Author's Note: No big note today! Remember to follow the ITFL instagram account and Spotify play list! This chapter is basically filler, so in other words, be prepared for the future! Enjoy!


Chapter 31: El Adiós


While the party went on well into the night - well into the next day in fact - Harley called it a night at midnight. Despite Ramone's protests, she went off to bed, Doc driving with her back to the clinic. He didn't go to bed, but instead he kept any eye on the party with Sheriff. The next morning, Ramone, Doc, Sheriff, Pancho, Francisco, and a few other men were cleaning up in the haze of the morning. Harley awoke with a big yawn. Seeing her blue hood, sure proceed for a moment, then remembered why it was like that. She chuckled at herself and looked around. Her gifts were scattered on a shelf that Doc had made for her. They're were seated right next to her other nicknacks she had collected over the years. They made he smile.

Slowly, she made her way outside and saw Miguel over at the cafe. Het expression fell when she saw that he looked awful. Cautiously, she drove over as other cars were deriving around cleaning.

"Hey…" she softly said.

"Hey…" Miguel replied with zero enthusiasm.

"How are you?" Harley kept her distance from him, and he didn't seem to mind.

"I feel like shit…" he mumbled. Not being used to hearing someone using swears, she she glanced away and awkwardly moved her tires.

"That, uh, that sucks.." she said, refusing eye contact.

"Yeah.." He said. Harley sighed quietly.

"When are y'all leaving?" she asked and he shrugged as he took a sip of black oil coffee.

"I don't know.." He said, Harley glanced over and saw that he had already gotten his blue accents painted back to lime green.

"Oh okay.." She felt awkward and looked away. "The party was fun last night, right?" she asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, but this hangover fucking sucks.." Harley looked away from him as he stole a glance at her.

"Maybe you shouldn't have gotten drunk then." Miguel scoffed. "Lesson learned, huh?"

"I'm never doing that again.." he said, but Harley knew better than to believe him.

"Yeah, that was kinda stupid of you to do.." She said a little more confidently, but it was quickly shut down.

"Oh, shut the fuck up.." he said as he rolled his eyes and took another sip. Rather than shying away, after a beat had passed Harley decided to stick up for herself.

"No." She said and turned to him.

"What?" he raised a lid at her as he looked at her surprised by the sudden fullness of her voice.

"You heard me. No!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You treated me like… like trash last night! You were drunk and that was not okay!" She barked at him, earning her a few glances from other cars that were cleaning up around them.

"Harley…"

"Now you're sitting here suffering and all I want to do is help, but you don't want to hear it! You know what?" she asked while Miguel only looked at her with blank eyes. "Maybe you should go as soon as possible. And not come back any time soon…" she said holding her hood up with confidence.

"Fine then.." Miguel rolled his eyes. "You're just some kid from a small town anyway." he began to drive past her, not knowing he had really wounded the Cadillac. Sitting there hurt, she quickly shook it off and turning to project her voice right at the Camaro.

"This 'kid' is gonna have a name for herself while you are gonna be stuck in East L.A. doing cheap paint jobs!" She growled and he suddenly stopped and turned back around.

"At least that's realistic…" he hissed with his breath that reeked of alcohol.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harley barked back.

"Tu eres un niña estupida! You really think anyone's gonna take a girl seriously in the racing world? And a Cadillac at that…" Harley didn't know what to say, but she felt so much anger boil in her engine. "You're a Cadillac, you should be a spoiled rich kid. How the hell you managed to get stuck here proves that tu eres un niña estupida. Either way, I can tell you're spoiled here anyway with that damn Hudson Hornet here." Miguel, thinking he won the argument turned to leave, but not before Harley got one last hit in.

"Don't you dare say that about him! He's smarter than you, that's for damn sure!" Miguel was caught off guard by Harley throwing out profanity at him, so was Harley. But she didn't let it show as she spun around and went off to find Doc, but after some searching, ended up with Ramone instead.

"Ey, mi princesa!" he exclaimed upon seeing her.

"Hey Ramone.." She said. Harley had always been like a sheet of glass. She was crystal clear, so there was never any need to wonder how she was feeling. What you see is what you get with the young Stockrim.

"You okay? What's wrong?" he asked as he lowered himself to be perfectly at her level.

"Nothing…" she mumbled as she looked down.

"Mentiras." he said then nudged her. "Tell me the truth." Harley reluctantly sighed.

"It's… Miguel…" she said as she caught a glimpse of Miguel as he drove off with a slight swerve towards the cozy cone. "He's not who I thought he was…" she said, her expression as low as her spirits. Ramone looked at her with sad eyes.

"Ey, he's just some kid." he solemnly said, somewhat understanding the situation. Pancho had told him his son had gotten with the wrong crowd, and only recently got out of it, but old habits die hard. "Maybe it's for the best, no?" Harley shrugged as she continued to look down. There was a few moments of silence as Ramone looked her over, then suddenly an idea sparked and his expression followed.

"Ey!" Ramone exclaimed and lifted up his hydraulics as well as his smile. "I know what will cheer you up!" he said, getting her to glance up at his sudden change of tone.

"What?" Harley asked with slight curiosity.

"A new paint job! I need one, and so do you!" he said earning a small smile across the now fifteen-year-old. "You wanna be a racer, no?" he asked, getting her smile to be wider.

"You know it!" She said as she started to match her uncle-like friend's excitement.

"Pues, andale!" be said and began to drive over to his shop. "We got some work to do!"

Meanwhile, Doc had notice Harley's absence, as well as Miguel's. He thought it suspicious and drove slowly down mainstreet. The worst of the mess had been cleaned, but towards the older part of town, he found something he did not approve of: crushed canisters of what once held alcoholic oil. Doc shook his hood, then though if Harley. Would she…? No of course not, she wouldn't dare. Right? Then again, she had disappeared and si did that boy. He didn't want to have any suspicions, but what was an overprotective father supposed to do? He decided to drive around and ran into Miguel. Well really, the Camaro ran into him.

"Ey! Watch it!" Miguel snapped, then realized who it was he had swerved into. "Oh! My apologies, Mr. Hudson.." Doc studies him and realized quickly what the underaged child was recovering from.

"Not a problem…" he said, testing Miguel. As expected, he seemed slightly shocked. "I've been there before.." now, Miguel's expression dropped ever so subtly, but enough for Doc's keen eyes to catch it.

"What… do you mean?" Miguel asked.

"Had my first taste at about your age…" Doc said as he continued to study him. "Younger actually. My first intoxication was closer to your age."

"Mr. Hudson, I'm not sure wh-"

"Yes you do." Doc said and curled around Miguel making him feel like he was turning into prey for law enforcement and the court. "Look at you." He noted, nudging him every now and then. "Your axles are low and your swearing. Can't even hold yourself up right. Your windshield is tainted. Your natural gray color looks awful. Your breath is horrid. And of course…" he came close to his face with narrowed eyes. "My Harley is missing…" he scowled.

"Harley? Where is she?" Miguel asked confused.

"I was hoping you'd know. And that the answer would be carefully thought out…" he studied his eyes, his body language. The instant this kid started liveing would be the second he'd call Sheriff to arrest him.

"I, uh, Señior Hudson, I have nothing to do with it.. I, well, we.. I haven't seen her all morning!" There. Doc caught him. Miguel refused eye contact, his eyes shifting away as he spoke the last sentence.

"Sheriff!" Doc called, in hopes he's hear him. "You're gonna be, as my dear friend would say, in a heap of trouble.."

"What! No! Señior, por favor! Listen! I,uh, haven't seen her since last night!" Miguel begged.

"You're lying." Doc scoffed. "Sheriff!"

"No no! I… please don't call him!"

"Then you best start telling me the truth."

"Okay, okay!" he cracked and gave a disgusting smelling sigh. "I spoke with her this morning, I was rather, ehem…" he paused, Doc again narrowing his eyes which Miguel saw. "I was rather rude to her. She drove off, rather upset, and I did as well in the most ungrateful drove of shame I have ever done…" he said and looked down at his hood. "After that, I'm not sure where she went. I figured she went to find you, or Tia Flo…" he murmured. Doc looked his over for a short moment that for Miguel, felt like an eternity.

"Okay…" he said and relaxed a bit. "Thank you." Doc said and began driving off.

"Am I still, um, in a heap of trouble?" A shaken Miguel asked.

"Like I said, I was like you once." Doc said, relief filling the tensed boy. "But you best straighten out your act before a certain Impala finds out. Or two.. Or three." He said as he drove off.

"Yes sir!" Miguel called out, relaxing his tensed axles. Doc drove back to the cafe where he met up with Sheriff.

"Hey, sorry Doc." the old cop said. "I was in the middle helping Flo out when you were calling me. Is everything alright?" Doc nodded as the grey and green boy found an older cousin to help him out.

"Is now." Doc said as Flo came driving up.

"It's lunch time!" She said as she gestured around at the cars that started to line the cafe for their midday meal. "What can Flo get ya fine gentlemen?" she asked with the big smile the most always sported.

"Heh," Sheriff chuckled. "A burger is fine for me, a shot of whiskey." Both Doc and Flo looked at him questionably. "I'm kidding, coffee will do." Doc scoffed at the bad joke, but Flo laughed.

"Oh Sheriff, you should arrest yourself for being so crude with them jokes of yours." she shook her hood then added, "Black oil coffee as usual then?" Sheriff gave a nod. "And you, sugar?" she said turning to Doc.

"I'm fine, thank you." He said, but Flo reversed with disbelief.

"Excuse me? No no no. Mama gonna feed you good!" She said then drove off before Doc could protest.

"I should know by now that she always does that.." Doc said with a reluctant half smiled as he shook his hood. He then caught in the corner of his eye, a sparkling vision. He looked over and saw a newly painted Impala and Cadillac driving right towards him. Both shining with upbeat expressions.

"Doc!" Harley called and sped over. Her silver color had returned, but it sported a glimmering shimmer of a finish. Along with that, she had something new that she was more than happy to show off. Down both of her sides, she had bright blue stripes that ran along them. Her cantrails held the same color as well did the sides of her hood and trunk. "What do you think?" she asked with a new brightness in her eyes.

"You look-"

"Like a racer, right!" She asked excitedly.

"Well…" Doc slightly nodded. "I don't see a number.." he said. Harley smiled thinking that Doc was starting to accept the idea of her on the track.

"Ramone said we should wait for that until I actually start racing for real." she said with a smile and looked over to the impala with a strikingly similar paint job, only the colors were reversed. He had a shimmering blue with silver detailing in contrast to Harley. Ramone nodded slightly then caught a glimpse of his two impala friends and rushed over to them. Harley slightly chuckled and then saw Flo headed toward them with a tray of food.

"Well," Sheriff said, his eyes following Ramone for a brief second before landing on Harley once again, "so long as you don't go racing down my streets, I'm all for this new look." Harley giggled and nodded.

"No problem, Sheriff." she said, then Doc decided to make a joke.

"No problem or no promises?" he said and both he and Harley laughed, though Sheriff Wasn't very amused. Just then, Flo started to hurry over to the group with a tray of food attached to her side.

"Here you go, Sheriff," she said as she passed out food. "Doc, here's yours. And Miss Harley," she knew the Cadillac was on her way over with her husband, so she went ahead and fixed her up a meal, "Here ya go, sugar." she said. Harley smiled and thanked her before the sprinted off the help the rest of the clean-up crew. Sheriff moved away from Doc, leaving a parking space between them which Harley took. Now nuzzled in between both Doc and Sheriff, the three cars enjoyed their meal as they watched the town go about it's business.

Slowly and quietly, the day went on. A few cars would pass by Harley and wish her again a happy birthday before they went off to their own towns. One of the last to go were the two Impalas. They took their time while Harley avoided Miguel by hanging out with Lizzie at her shop. She had fallen asleep midway through a story, but Harley didn't want to wake her. She looked so peaceful. So Harley just remained parke on the front porch. The town was quiet once more, so when the four cars were driving down the road, she could hear their voices before she saw them.

"Thank you so much for letting us come, Ramone." Francisco said with a small smile.

"Thank you for coming down!" Ramone replied with a laugh.

"It wasn't a problem, Ramone " Pancho put in. "A quinceñara is a big deal, it was our honor to have been invited. Right, mijo?" Miguel was driving silently beside his father lost in his own thoughts. "Miguel…" he repeated then raised his voice and nudged his side hard with a tire. "Miguel!"

"Huh?" he looked up just as they were nearing Lizzies shop. "Oh, right. Yeah." he mindlessly said and Pancho rolled his eyes.

"We should meet up like this more often." Francisco said.

"Yeah, maybe next time, you bring Harley to east L.A. We can have a big meal with some barbecora, some pico de gallo, mole, empanadas-"

"Alright, alright, cállate! You're gonna make me hungry." Ramone complained. The three laughed, but Miguel only rolled his eyes.

"This is where we part ways.." Francisco said with sad eyes.
"I believe it is." Ramone agreed. They had stopped in front of the old shop and Harley sighed as she made her way down to say her goodbyes.
"Adiós, niña bonita." Pancho said. "It was a pleasure to meet you and be here for your big day."
"It was fun, thanks." She said and smiled at the blue Impala. "I really appreciate you guys coming."
"It wasn't a problem at all." Francisco smiled with a nod.
"Say good bye.." Pancho muttered at his son. Miguel looked down and away from them. "Miguel Antonio-"

"Okay!" he grumbled then sighed as he looked over at Harley. "Bye, Harley.." he said, now sober but with a massive headache.

"Adios, Miguel." she said with a soft half smile that held little emotion. Miguel scoffed then looked away from her. The group finished their goodbyes and drove off. As they drove off, Harley sighed with Ramone at her side.

"Well, you won't have to deal with him anymore." He said then turned back to head home and finish cleaning up his shop.

"Yeah…" Harley's first crush ended with her first heartbreak. And as she remained parked there, she could feel a single year run down her fender. With a deep breath, she turned around and headed home to the clinic and went off to bed.