Hello fanfiction! I'm back with another update for the Diaz family Roadtrip! Thanks for all the awesome support you guys; I know updates of been pretty few and far between lately, but thanks for sticking around anyway! Also just to let you guys and girls know after this there are only going to be two more chapters.

The readers gasp in horror at what has just transpired, "egad!" One calls from the anxious crowd.

All jokes aside, I know that a lot of you won't be pleased with the news but in fact the story has to come to an end. I'm bringing this up to give you all a chance to tell me some ideas of what you might want me to do next, a whole new series, a one shot collection, a sequel maybe...? Who knows, but if you guys have any ideas that you want to share with me, please by all means tell me and I'll take it into consideration!

In this chapter I wanted to have a little more goofy fun before The Dance. As of late I've been watching a lot of western themed movies so ya, you can guess what the theme of this one might be. Ricardo even gets (gives himself) a second shot with Star, the sneaky bugger. Anyway please enjoy and I will see you at the bottom of the page! (Lots of nothing I do own!)

Star hummed to herself as Marco and she walked. They were in a local strip mall, it was relatively bland with a main square area in the center and four branches protruding out lined with various shops. The whole family was present shopping for last minute wedding stuff as it was coming up in a couple days.

As they drifted around the mall's stale corridors Star became trapped within her own thoughts, about the approaching dance of course. Forget the wedding; Star was more concerned about the after party than the service! Each and every day since they arrived tension between the two teens had been mounting, piling up inside. It was so bad at this point that she had started to blush whenever they even bumped against each other by accident!

Star didn't know what was going on anymore, she still liked to hang out and watch tv with Marco as always but now there was a lot more nervous laughter. It was super awkward and she was getting pretty frustrated with herself. Why was she feeling this way?!

Star sighed; everything was so much less complicated before when it felt like they were miles away from any type of dancing. Just the two (four) of them, cruising the open road sun in their eyes, wasting the hours away and not a care in the world.

Then all of the sudden, out of the blue she caught something amazing glittering in the corner of her eye, "Hey Marco look over there what's that? Let's check it out!" She said a little bit too fast.

Yesterday when the two were sitting inside and binge watching random tv all day long (as per the norm) a cowboy themed moving flipped onto the screen and Star was immediately enamoured by the sight. It was nothing new to her, well, it was pretty new, she had seen glimpse of this cowboy stuff but not a whole movie. And now low and behold a cowboy themed store stood right before her eyes and she needed to check it out, if not to just remover herself from her thoughts.

Marco smiled shyly "Ya alright." He too was in need of a distraction...

Marco wasn't shielded from the tension between him and his best friend. He was just as plagued by worries as Star was, if not more due to his naturally awkward manners.

And to no one's surprise all this building awkwardness hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the family, who lately had been stoking the flames by playfully teasing Marco about Star...

The two teens entered the tiny store and began looked around at all the various leather accessories and old western themed bb guns. They wandered around the shop for a bit, trying to avoid each other's eye contact and evading any form of physical contact between them. Marco while browsing a selection of tough looking leather belts was suddenly and briskly tugged from behind.

"Come on Marco lets go, we're already late for the wedding rehearsal!" Daniel exclaimed in a flurry jumbled words.

They rushed off to the van, Marco barely having any time to process what was going on. They jumped inside the van and roared out of the parking lot not even checking if the whole of the group was even in the vehicle.

Marco caught up in the rush had forgotten about poor Star and now she was left stranded in the boring mall all by her lonesome... well, almost. Marco in hindsight admitted that he would of had preferred her left in her lonesome rather than with who they had also "forgotten".

Ricardo was no fool and when he noticed that Star was forgotten he decided he'd be the *cough* better man and stay behind to keep her company. What a gentleman...

Star skipped out of the washroom and into the mall and was immediately greeted by the ever noble Ricardo.

"Star, there you are!" He exclaimed, short for breath.

"Hey Ricardo... why are you so flustered?" Star asked.

"They left us behind!" The conniving boy blurted.

"What do you mean they left us behind? Who are they?"

"The rest of the family, Marco, they forgot about us!"

"No way Marco wouldn't have forgotten m- I mean us!" Star affirmed.

"See for yourself." Ricardo said and gestured to the small mall. It was empty except for a few stray people wandering about here and there.

"I'm sure there just in stores or whatever..." Star replied with a wave of the hand.

She went off to look around for Marco and the rest of the crew; they hadn't forgotten her, had they?

Meanwhile in the panicked Diaz convoy...

"What have we done!" Marco shouted in anguish and anxiety. How could he just forget her like that, she was his best friend! Even if it was a little awkward sometimes, they were still besties! And besties don't forget each other!

"Don't worry Marco she's got Ricard... Oh ok ya I see your point." Mr Diaz attempted to assure the boy.

"Don't worry little cousin we'll get your girlfriend back!" Daniel snickered and gave Marco a hardy pat on the shoulder.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Marco snapped.

"Jeez calm down I know you nerves are kinda frayed that with your girlfriend missing and all, but that's no reason to get all worked up!" Daniel said with a not-so comforting smile.

Marco banged his head against the tinted glass window and moaned, "I just hope she doesn't try anything stupid..."

Back at the mall where Star was trying something stupid...

Star jumped out from behind an old wooden barrel and rolled along the dry earth, a cloud of dust in her wake.

"Come on out Dirty Dave! I got you in my sights boi!" She yelled and whipped out a small bb pistol.

Star took her aim and fired hitting the smiling straw dummy spot on, "Yeeeehaw!" She cheered and threw the gun into the air, catching it awkwardly.

Star had soon realized early on in her search for the no longer present family members that when Marco wasn't around she could pretty much get away with anything she wanted. Ricardo wasn't a problem either, she had noticed his flavorless attempts at flirtation and needing to get rid of him, sent the boy off on a fool's errand to grab something for her as a "favour".

Left to her own devices she had turned the inside of the small mall into a desert in which she could pretend to be a cowgirl like she saw on the tv. All the shops were now a classic western township, cacti sprouted out of the dusty earthen floor and a fake blue sky was magically painted above.

Star herself was all gussied up for the event too, dressed as an outlaw/sheriff/bandit. To be honest she really didn't have a firm grasp on any of the roles of the characters in the western theme so her costume ended up as a mash up of her favourites, barely leaving her eyes visible.

"Take that ya dirty old varmint!" She taunted to the lifeless object.

Star's goofing around was about to be put to an end though as the security guard had taken notice to the fact that the entire mall had completely been renovated in an instant, (as you can tell was quite perceptive). He waddled out of the back room and into the mall where he came to quite a shock. He was defiantly an overweight man, his belly clearly visible from underneath his blue standard issue mall security jacket.

"Hey you... yeah you! Did, did you do all this miss?" The pudgy guard asked at a loss for words.

"Oh no the sheriff!" Star mumbled to herself.

"Miss?"

"Sorry bout that sheriff and yes I did here do all of this..."

The man frowned.

"...now what cha gunna do bout it?" Star said with a sassy tone and a raised eyebrow.

"How in the name of... Ahh forget it. Dang teenagers, listen here if-"

The poor guard was cut off when another "dang teenager" waltzed out into the mall. Dressed in beaten black leather, he was unmistakably an outlaw. He wore a burnt skull mask, most likely made of plastic and a black western hat tilted so to shade his eyes.

"Hey..." He said in a rough and guttural voice.

Unbeknownst to Star it was Ricardo who lay behind the mask. It was the errand she had sent him on; "dress as a cowguy" were her exact words if he remembered correctly. The mask he wore muffled his voice to a point where it was no longer recognizable leaving Star confused as to who the strange boy was, she had most certainly forgotten all about Ricardo in the time he was gone.

And as a kicker Ricardo didn't know it was Star dressed as the crazy western mash up. She was pretty much hidden and insisted on speaking in a southern drawl accent. Although it should have been obvious, who else would dress like that?

The three of them all stood in a circle carefully eyeing each other. The terrified guard pulled out his taser, "Ok both of you take off the stupid costumes or I-I'll shoot!"

Not to stand for such an offence Star and Ricardo whipped out their bb pistols from their holsters and aimed, now all three not only standing together but now all at (bb) gun point.

The tension was starting to mount before it snapped when the nervous security guard accidentally shot his taser into the air.

At the sound everyone instantly unloaded their weapons; bb's went flying ricocheting off barrels and beams, flying this way and that.

Star hit the ground, kicking up some dust. She rolled to a nearby bench and ducked behind it as cover from the bounce bullets, popping up now and again to take a few shots at the others.

Ricardo used the dust as a veil and slipped away to get some cover in the door of a nearby saloon. The security guard mind you had just sort of flailed around with his bb gun that he had grabbed after his taser fired. He was now standing off to the left clinging for dear life against a wall.

Everyone finally stopped firing and calmed down a bit until then out of the swirling dust emerged a figure. He stood with a slight lean and a down turned head, his brown hat facing the three gun slingers. In reflection to Ricardo this boy was wearing a mostly dirty brown and instead of a mask wore a red bandanna over his nose and mouth leaving his eyes just open.

Star couldn't help but be entranced by the cool glint in his eye when he lifted his head to look the rest of the group. He had a devilishly smooth mannerism that she felt she had seen before but could not for the life of her remember. The boy did not speak; he did not express any emotion, but merely pulled out his own bb pistols and aimed at them.

Now the four were locked in the sights of each other's weaponry. Tension once again pulled the air taut as they eyed their rivals up. Beads of sweat rolled down their dusty cheeks and their breaths hushed until...

"Ahhh... Ahhh... ACHEW!" Star sneezed from all the airborne dirt and fired her gun, everyone broke into utter chaos.

A flurry of gunfire rang out, the strange boy slid back into the dust, continuing to fire as he back up. Everybody else had jutted for the cover they had found before. Star who had her back resting on the bench caught a glimpse of the boy slipping away from the fight.

"Oh no you don't!" She shouted and lunged at him, both hitting the dirt hard.

The two became locked in a struggle to the death (not really but you get the idea). Ricardo took the opportunity and snuck up from behind, he pushed Star to the ground and shot her with his bb gun.

The boy who was lying on the ground kicked out Ricardo's legs and he fell into the dust, the boy stood up and shot him the back. He turned to look at Star, but was shot in the chest mid way through the motion.

Star stood up and proudly blew the fake smoke from the barrel of her bb pistol; the boy who had stumbled backwards from the hit regained his balance. Ricardo came to his feet and the chubby guard poked his head out from behind a wall.

The cloud of dust slowly settled and now since the group was out of ammo they all just stared at each other nonchalant.

"Well that was fun!" Star said in her normal cheery voice.

"STAR?!" Ricardo exclaimed in surprise.

Star took off the odd assortment of clothing wrapped around her head to reveal her recognizable flowing blonde locks.

"The one and only!" She pronounced.

Ricardo pulled off his skull mask and hat, "It's me Ricardo!" His voice no longer muffled.

"Ricardo?" Star said in surprise.

The two laughed, it was the first time they actually had fun together. But soon the giggles stopped when they realized who was still standing in their company.

"But if you're Ricardo then..." Star turned to the strange boy, "... Who on mewni are you?"

A cool rough laugh echoed from the figure. He looked away from Star and paused before beginning to take off the bandanna. The cold tough guy laugh soon melted into an all too knowable chuckle as the bandanna was pulled down.

"MARCO?!" Star and Ricardo shouted in unison.

Marco gave a toothy smile and a small laugh, "Yup it's me!"

"But, how... why... what is going on?!" Star exclaimed.

"Well when I showed up to come find you after accidentally leaving you here, sorry about that by the way," he flashed her a shy smile. Star giggled in response.

"Anyway, when I came inside this cashier guy forced me to put on these clothes..."

"Yea I told him to do that to anyone who came in!" Star said proudly.

"After I had gotten dressed I wandered into the mall and saw you guys. At first I didn't recognize anybody but then I noticed your costume and knew it had to be you and that left Ricardo to be the other guy. After I figured out who was who I just decided to go along with whatever you guys were doing!" Marco replied.

"I still cannot believe it was you of all people behind that bandanna..." Star pondered.

"It's probably because of my smooth moves eh?" Marco said with a smirk.

Star blushed a little bit "Yeah, smooth moves..."

Marco laughed and nudged her with his elbow, "Hey you know it!"

Star giggled, "Whatever you say Diaz..."

Ricardo who was glaring at Marco from afar butt in and broke up the two, "Hey we should get going." He said with a tinge of pure hate.

He was miffed with Marco but after what just happened he could care less about enacting his revenge, he would win Star over at the dance always...

The car ride home was less frenzied, filled with some good laughs and just a little bit of teasing. They had managed to completely miss the rehearsal, but lucky for them they still had tomorrow to rehearse the wedding.

As they drove Star slowly drifted off to sleep, she in her dozy state rested her head on Marco's shoulder who himself was too tiered to respond in anyway shape or form, nor did he really want to.

Star let out a drowsy sigh, the tension between them was gone. With that thought lingering in her head Star confidently cuddled up to Marco and drifted off, the last thing she head before sleep took her away was a quiet *click* and a muffled snicker from up front... and maybe and angry grunt.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you all for reviewing favouriting following ect, I know it's probably worn out buy now but I find it so amazing how much support this story's gotten, it means a lot to me! Like I said before if you feel like you have any ideas for what I should do next please tell me in the reviews or PM me/whatever, I'd be glad to hear your input. Thank you so much for reading, see you in the next chapter!