Chapter Text
Everything went silent in her mind. One second she was hand in hand with Lightning, a man who she never saw herself to love. The other second, crowds pushed her away, who were after Lightning.
“Sally!”
Hands whisked away.
“Sally!”
Hands reaching for her.
“Sally?!”
Hands too far away to connect.
Despite the flashing lights around them, Sally’s eyesight went dim. Her tears were blocking her vision as she tried to push people away. She cried his name, but nobody heard her. Standing there, she was greeted by a transportation truck, which she instantly knew was for Lightning. The entire crowd backed away, pushing her aside. Sally suddenly felt a pull from her arm, sending her out of the mass of press. As she was getting ready to protest, she suddenly recognized the gentle hands on her arm.
“Honey, my gosh! I’m so glad I found you!” Flo said. She instantly noticed Sally’s emotions and brought her into a hug. She held her head onto her chest, trying to pick up what Sally was saying. “It’s okay, hon. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay, Flo. He can’t go! This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Sally cried, her own words haunting her back. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
As Sally’s cries lowered, Flo gently let go of Sally and placed her hands on both her shoulders. All she needed at the moment, was Sally’s attention.
“Sally, listen to me. You have to go back. You live with this regret your entire life if you don’t go back. I know how much you care for him, so please just, go talk with him before he goes. So at least then, your heart will be content with the fact that you said goodbye before he left.”
Sally stood, looking down. “I can’t.” She whispered. She felt her words being stuck in her chest and struggled to take them out. “I just can’t. If I go, I’ll just hurt myself more.”
Flo started at her with empathy. She knew she couldn’t force her, but she just knew Sally would end up regretting it.
“Sally, look at me. I know your heart wants to. For once, just listen to it. I think he will also appreciate seeing you one last time before you both depart ways.”
Sally looked at Flo’s eyes, and then back at the trailer. She then looked back at her and nodded. Sally took the woman's hands off her face and ran towards the trailer. She found an opening between the crowd, and quickly made her way through. No one paid attention to her as she passed by. She was thankful for that because she knew the paparazzi would start making rumors and try to figure out who she was. That was the last thing she needed.
The swarm of people and lights seemed never-ending, but she managed to get out in one piece. As she started to get closer, she could hear Lightning’s voice from the other side. She walked around and saw him talking to someone through a phone. Sally stood there, not wanting to interrupt his conversation, but also wanting him to quickly notice her standing there.
Not soon after, Lightning finally caught the young lady whom he had fallen in love with, standing there in front of him. Without hesitation, he let go of the wired phone, causing whoever was on the phone to keep calling out his name. None of that bothered him. Lightning walked towards her as he tried to catch his words. For a moment, all they did was stand there before each other, letting both watercolor eyes speak for them. At last, the young man spoke.
“Sally I…I want you to…look I wish-” he sighed. After a whole week of saying he wanted to leave, he regretted his words. He did not want to leave. He did not want to leave Sally behind. Sally shook her head, trying to contain her welling tears back. She hugged him tightly, afraid that he would just vanish if she did not. She placed her head against his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat.
At that moment, Lightning’s reality hit him. He had to leave the woman he had quickly fallen in love with behind. He always feared that this moment was going to come. Lightning rubbed his thumb gently against her hair, holding her tightly. He then placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Sally looked up at him, trying to not suffocate her words. “Thank you. Thanks for everything.”
Lightning shook his head slightly and laughs. “It was just a road.”
“No. It was much more than that.” Sally placed her hand on his cheek, causing him to look at her directly at her eyes.
Sally noticed his dwelling eyes and knew that he had changed. She knew that the Lightning that she met in the courtroom would not have been crying. She knew that he had touched his heart, as well as he touched hers. Before she could speak, Lightning’s driver came over.
“Hey, kid! We gotta go! Harv's going crazy! He's gonna have me fired if I don't get you in the truck right now!”
Lightning did not look back, and made a face when the driver spoke, “Mack, just hold it-” Seeing that as a sign, Sally backed away.
“You should go.” She said, wiping her tears before Lightning could see it.
Lightning reached for her hand, as she started to back away. “I know, but-”
“Good luck in California. I hope you find what you're looking for…” Sally pulled her hand away from his and walked away before he could reach for her again.
She could hear his daunting voice calling for her. It hurt for her to ignore it, but she felt like she had no other choice too.
Sally walked away, never looking back at Lightning being swallowed by the crowd. As she made her way back, she overheard Doc’s words to a young reporter.
“You called them?”
“It's best for everyone, Sally.”
“Best for everyone, or best for you?” Sally walks away, somehow feeling a slight betrayal. Doc stood there and realized what he had done.
Doc knew that if Sally was that upset, he knew how much Lightning meant to her. For the whole town. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the town's feelings. Especially Sally’s. He felt in his heart that Lightning’s intentions were wrong. He felt like he did not like Sally for her, but only for her looks. Doc didn’t want Sally to get hurt by a guy like him. He realized too late that Lightning did truly feel affection towards her, and that Sally had also gained to love him as well. Feeling guilty, he watched Sally walk away.
Sally watched as Lightning was driven away. She placed a hand on her mouth and grabbed her wrist with her left hand. Just as she saw Flo try to approach her, she walked away. She did not want to cry in front of the entire town. To her, she was starting to feel stupid for crying. Sally paused by the neon sign of her motel and hesitated to shut it off. It wasn’t right to leave them on if the person who helped fix them was gone. Sally finally found the heart to shut them off while the lights from the paparazzi faded away.
Stupidity overflowed Sally’s head. She felt upset at herself.
This wouldn’t have happened if I never let him into my heart.
This wouldn’t have happened if I had just opened my eyes and realized what shit I was getting myself into.
This wouldn’t have happened if I never said he needed to fix the road.
As Sally spoke to herself in her mind and through mumbles, she stopped at the front desk. In a pitch-black room, she stared at the emptiness of darkness. She felt so numb. So heartless. Sally looked around the lobby and then down at her desk.
His room keys.
She had to find his room keys.
As if the key was her life, she frantically started to look for it through the drawer where she kept the keys. Her hand finally brisked on the number one key. She closed the drawer and ran outside the lobby.
When she approached the first cone, she felt a wave of shame. She knew going into his room was not going to help matters at all. That’s the last thing she needed. If she wanted to move on, going in really wasn’t the best idea. Even with those thoughts jumbling in her head, Sally unlocked the door and slowly stepped inside.
Surprisingly, Lightning had left his room well-cleaned. He had his bed made, and a few belongings on top. He had left the clothes he came in with on the top of his bed. There was a half-empty coffee cup in his drawer and an open pocket notebook on top. Sally walked over and noticed it was the notebooks the motel provided. She felt like she wasn’t supposed to see it, but then again, it was wide open with a pen in the middle.
Sally immediately noticed Lightnings well drawn drawings. She half smiled, knowing boredom was killing Lightning at night. His drawings were small but still pretty to her. He had drawn a bundle of flowers in one corner, and then his racing number under. It was clear that Lightning was not letting any space of paper empty, and doodled on every corner. Sally then grabbed the pen and drew a growing sunflower beside his racing number. She then smiled at herself, as she wrote “Sally was here” on the top of the paper.
She closed the book and sighed to herself. Sally looked around and sucked in her breath. She felt the tears coming in again. It was like it was her against her own emotions. Her mind was deceiving her. Sally then took her shoes off and climbed on the top of the bed. She covered herself with the blanket and stared at the ceiling.
Lightning was long gone. There was nothing she could do about it. She knew how much racing meant to him, and just couldn’t ask him to stay in Radiator Springs. It’s also like he couldn’t ask her to go with him because the town is too dear to her. With a heavy heart, Sally turned around and faced the empty spot next to her. For some reason, she felt comfort. The young woman closed her eyes shut and cried herself to sleep.
...
This wasn’t supposed to happen.