~ Outside The Speedway ~ (Lightning McQueen x OC)

Chapter 21

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly.

When we got down from the hill, I checked in on everybody and their shops, which were doing pretty well. After lunch, I did some training and exercising in my basement, then helped Guido and Luigi in the tire shop. Those were the main things I did, the other times of the day consisted of little breaks and other things I had to do that weren't as important. 

Lightning and I hung out most of the time - he helped with the tasks I needed to do, and actually finished up the rest of the road - and the more the day went by the more I stopped worrying about what Sally thought. I loosened up a bit.

It was about 5:30 PM, and Lightning and I were hosing down and washing our cars. The sun was starting to set. It wasn't dark, it wouldn't be for another hour or so.

We were behind my house, somewhat far away, but long enough for the water to reach our cars. The hose itself was long; my dad had connected two rubber hose pipes when I was younger, when he realized if I started racing, the car would get dirty quick, and my mom didn't want ricocheted dirt all over the back of the house. So, they came up with an easy solution.

Our cars were parked side by side, a few yards apart, both hoods facing the house. Earlier, I had driven my truck further down, by the fire station, so we had more room.

Our supplies consisted of a hose with a nozzle, water, soap, sponges, and a big speaker playing music. Right now, "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga was on, not blaring but still loud enough to hear it clearly.

Before, I had changed into an old, oversized pastel yellow T-shirt and regular black shorts. Lightning wore a white shirt with his famous 95 on the back, along with grey basketball shorts. He had three string bracelets on his wrist that I had just noticed.

"Where'd you get the bracelets from?" I asked while scrubbing the front windshield of my car. It was dirty with mud (somehow) and trace amounts of soot were visible from when the crash happened back on Friday.

Lightning was over by his car, spraying the side doors. "They're souvenirs from my three most memorable races." He dropped the hose and came over to me, showing me each one. "The red one is from my very first race, which was just natural to get something to remember it by. The black one is from a race I did back in Indiana, where I beat a record, and the blue and green is from Friday. I got it at a nearby gas station when we left for Arizona." He seemed proud of them when he talked. It was fulfilling to see Lightning purely happy about his accomplishments in a not-so-douchey way.

I looked at him, confused by the last one.

"Blue and green? Shouldn't you have gotten a dark blue one? That was the main color of the speedway." I pointed out. He only laughed.

"Can't even recognize your signature colors, huh?"

Oh.

...Oh.

"But we tied with two others. You should've gotten a neutral color like white." I said. But damn, I could feel myself bushing like a maniac. McQueen bought a whole ass bracelet based solely on my colors.

He laughed again.

"Olivia, I said most memorable race. I was with you practically the whole week. How in hell could I forget?"

I widened my eyes in fake worry. I was blushing. I could feel my neck heating up every passing second, and my stomach flipped many times, but as always, I chose to conceal my admiration with sarcasm. "No! Not Lightning McQueen, the wannabe-but-somehow-pulls-it-off-hardass and cockiest flirt in the world getting soft with his biggest rival! I'd like the normal Lightning back please!" I yelled, backing up.