Route 62, Ch. 28

I’ll Meet You On Route 62
(A Disney/Pixar Cars fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Whatever Follows

Mack stretched and yawned, blinking the sleep and early morning sunlight from his eyes. His front left tire brushed against something smooth. He glanced down, a slow smile growing on his face at the sight of Vee still fast asleep beside him. He let his tire linger against her side and basked in the warm feeling that came from having her so close to him.

In the rosy glow of dawn, her lavender paintjob looked neon pink, as though she were blushing. Mack could feel himself blush too as he reminisced the previous evening and all that had happened between them. He gazed down at Vee for what seemed like hours, unable to take his eyes off her. The sun was only slightly higher in the sky when she finally began to stir.

“Good morning,” Mack said quietly. He chuckled as Vee yawned long and wide, outdoing his own yawn minutes before. She brushed against him as she stretched her axles out, and Mack felt a pleasant tingle where their sides met. “Morning,” she murmured, blinking sleepily up at him and smiling. “How long have you been awake?”

“A few minutes, at least,” he replied, returning her smile. “Sleep well?”

Vee nodded. “Mmm, very well,” she purred, snuggling up to him. She yawned again and closed her eyes, thinking back on all that led up to last night and how very, very different the world looked now that she and Mack were together. It no longer mattered where they were nor the circumstances that placed them there. As long as she had Mack, she couldn’t have cared less.

Mack smiled and snuggled closer to Vee, his own eyes falling shut and his engine purring softly. All he wanted just then was to stay there, by her side, in that peaceful little clearing, far from trouble. He knew, though, that his wish could not be granted and that they would have to move on. But as long as he had Vee, he was content. He couldn’t have asked for anything more than having her right there beside him.

“Well, I guess we should get going,” he said, very reluctantly, though he made no move to leave her side. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.”

“Yeah, me too.” Vee stood up and stretched again, then started up the ramp to the trailer. Halfway up she stopped and turned to Mack, who was now standing next to the ramp waiting to close the door. She gave him a shy grin, then leaned over and kissed him. Mack blushed, but did not waste any time kissing her back. Their tongues danced together as the two lovers melted into each other. Mack lifted a tire to her cheek and caressed it tenderly. Vee pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss.

“You’re getting dirt on my face!” she giggled. Mack promptly dropped his tire to the ground.

“Oh. Sorry,” he mumbled, blushing. He noted a dark smudge just below her hood and across her right headlight. “Here, let me get that.” He lifted the same tire he’d caressed her with a moment ago and used it to brush the dirt off. Vee chuckled and slapped it away.

“That kinda defeats the purpose, you know,” she teased. Sure enough, her face was even dirtier than before.

“There’s some tacky McQueen hankies in the trailer somewhere,” Mack said. “I think they’re in that first compartment there.”

Vee found a handkerchief right away. Mack took it from her and gently wiped the dirt from her face, smiling fondly at her as he did so. “Hm, you’re pretty dirty,” he said. Another good swipe and the last of the dirt was gone. His smile grew. “And you’re even prettier when you’re clean!”

“Wish I could say the same about you!” Vee purred as she pressed a tire to his face. She traced his jaw line slowly, leaving behind a smear of dirt from between her own treads. “And now I can!”

Mack smirked at her. “Thanks a lot,” he mumbled.

“No problem!” Vee chuckled and took the hankie back. She wiped the dirt off Mack’s face and gave him a peck on the cheek. Mack blushed. He stood there for a moment, smiling shyly at his best friend/girlfriend. Vee’s own smile turned into a smirk. “Um, don’t you have some hauling to do?” she asked him.

Mack blushed even redder. “Oh! Right!” Vee chuckled as he fumbled with the ramp, sealing the trailer shut. A minute later he was hitched up and driving through the woods toward the highway.


* * * * *

“That’s right. A light purple Chrysler Concorde.” The green big rig took another deep swig of his beer and punctuated his sentence with a mighty belch. “Real sexy lil thing,” he slurred. “I’m talkin’ Brooke Windshields hot. F’only them lot lizards came like that.” He eyed the black pickup in front of him suspiciously. “Why d’you ask?”

“Because… she happens to be my wife,” Slade replied with a smirk.

The green truck stared at him in surprise. “Ya don’t say!”

Slade nodded and sipped his beer. He dropped his eyes to his hood and sighed heavily. "Poor gal’s been heartbroken ever since her miscarriage last month. She wanted a baby so bad. We both did, really.” Beside him, Joey snickered. Slade gave him a sharp nudge. “All those years trying to conceive… well, of course she blamed herself for it. I did what I could to comfort her, but she just up and left me. Heaven knows why, but I’m not gonna rest until I find my darling angel.”

Joey choked on his beer in a fit of laughter. Slade growled at him, but the big rig didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, I hate to hafta tell ya this, buddy, but yer wife done run off with a Mack truck last night.”

Slade stared at him in feigned shock. “What?! Are you serious?” he demanded, making sure that his tone matched his expression. “Tell me, where did they go?”

The big rig wobbled a little as he turned and nodded in the direction of the interstate. “West,” he burped.


* * * * *

Sheriff watched the two Highway Patrol cars drive away in a cloud of dust. “Dang rookies,” he mumbled. “Fat load of help they were.”

“What did they say?” Doc asked him. He had just finished patching up the inner tube in Mater’s right front tire and was now attempting to put the tire back on him. Mater trembled slightly as he held his axle out, keeping his eyes shut the whole time his tire was being repaired.

“They said they saw Mack go by here yesterday,” Sheriff replied. “Right after I issued that APB on him, too. Said they stopped him and chatted with him for a minute, but let him go when he told them he had to hurry and get Lightning to his next race in Los Angeles.”

Doc and Lightning both stared at him in surprise.

“Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother,” Sheriff groused, shaking his hood.

“Well, I’m sure they haven’t gone too far since then,” Doc assured him. He bolted the tire firmly in place and stowed his tools in Mater’s bed.

Mater drove a quick donut around Doc to test his tire. “Much obliged, Doc,” he said with a grin. “Ah runned over rusty nails in the junkyard that don’t pack a wallop like that there pothole do.” He pointed his newly fixed tire at a ragged tear in the road.

Doc smirked at him. “Next time I tell you not to pull over at a construction zone, what are you going to do?”

Mater stared at him. “Uhhh… NOT pull over?”

Doc nodded. “Exactly.”

“But Ah had tuh go real bad! And them port-o-potties there was jist screaming tuh be used!”

“Well then you should have gone back at that truck stop!” Sheriff scolded him. “Didn’t I tell everyone to go while they had the chance?”

Mater blushed and scuffed the ground with a tire. “Well yeah, but Ah didn’t had tuh go back then.”

“It was only five miles back!” Sheriff huffed.

Lightning chuckled. “Relax, Sheriff. Just because you’re too uptight to pee outside doesn’t mean the rest of us are.”

The squad car fixed him with a heated glare, then snorted and drove away. “Hurry up!” he barked at the others. “Mack and Miss Vroom still have half a day’s advantage on us, and we aren’t gonna catch up to them anytime soon if we keep lollygagging around here!”

Mater grinned and drove after him. “C’mon fellas!” he shouted. “Let’s git ‘er done!”



Chapter Twenty-Nine: [link]