Cars: Before The King (Strip Weathers x OC)

Chapter 10

The next morning had finally come around, Ophelia remained asleep. Dreaming of what the future held for herself and Strip, she could imagine it. That was, until she was awoken by a few voices.

Ophelia's eyes flew open, startling the young mustang. "Pa? Sandy...Patrick? W-what're you y'all doing here?"

The older cars looked panicked, but as soon as Ophelia woke up it just made things worse. The young mustang was confused, but once she realised what was going on, she knew she was going to be in for it.

"Why're we here? Why're we here?" Patrick looked around at Sandra and Steve, shaking his head. "We're here, because Strip is gone. Sandra and I woke up this morning, to wake him but he was gone. Do you know anything about that, Lia?"

"Strip...so last night wasn't a dream? He really did leave?" Ophelia felt a warm feeling of happiness grow in her, she was glad he had left. Sure, it had been heart breaking, but he was living his dream. One he'd dreamed of since he was younger.

"No...I don't know, he's just...gone?"

Even more panic arose in Sandra's eyes, her son was missing. Her eldest boy had already left home, but now that Strip had gone, it was finally taking a toll on her. "My baby...Patrick, he's gone! We've got to find him!"

Patrick felt himself grow even more of a panic, but he had to stay calm, for Sandra. "It's alright, San. We'll find him, don't worry. We'll head on down to the station, inform the sheriff about his disappearance." He didn't notice Ophelia wasn't panicking, like the rest of them. He was too worried about his son to be concerned about that.

"You coming down to the station with us, Steve?"

The older mustang shook his head, Patrick was his best mate. He normally would've went down to the station with him, but he was more concerned about his daughter. He'd known the two were dating, and that it'd be hitting her pretty hard. "I'm going to stay back with Lia', just to keep an eye on her. I'll come around later, to see how the both of you are doing."

Ophelia knew hiding the truth from Strip's parents wasn't the best idea but what would happen if she told them where he'd gone? They'd go after him and bring him home, if they did that, there was no way he'd ever be able to succeed at his dream. This was for the best, even if that meant heart break had to come with it.

A year since everything had happened, Ophelia had graduated school with flying colours. Strip on the other hand, didn't. He'd dropped out last year, to fulfil his dreams of becoming a race car, which was paying off a lot. He'd won all of the races he'd been in.

Currently, Ophelia was making her way to be with Strip. After hearing everything, she couldn't wait to see him. He was doing so well, despite only being 18. Patrick and Sandra had been informed about what their son was doing, that he was currently living with his older brother. While they didn't agree with his choices, or what he was doing, they were glad that he was safe.

The light blue mustang let out a sigh, looking around as she finally made it to the hotel. She was exhausted, she'd driven almost 7 hours just to be with Strip, but then that's what you did for love. Her eyes flew around the place, entering the hotel, she couldn't get over how fancy it was. "How much does this place cost to stay? I don't think my wallet would be able to afford a night here."

"Well, look what the bobcat pulled in." A familiar voice chuckled, surprising the young girl.

She spun around, eyes wide with happiness. She hurried over towards the plymouth superbird, who looked a lot more different now. The two shared a hug that lasted a few minutes, it felt so good to be back together. It'd been a year since they'd seen each other.

Ophelia took a step back and looked Strip up and down, he sure looked different. "Wow, you look...different."

"Yeah, guess you can say I'm an actual race car now. They did an amazing job on the paint job, it only took two hours. But Lia', I've got so much to tell you. About all of the races I've been in, all the ones that I've won. It's been amazing, all of it. D-do you like it?"

Strip found Ophelia's opinion to be one of the most important ones to him, since she was his partner and all. But, mainly because he cares about her so much. He wanted her to be more then just a girlfriend to him, he wanted her to be more to him then that.

"What do I think? I think...you look amazing, like a real race car, but more importantly, you look like you. I can't wait to hear all the stories you have." Ophelia smiled, the change was a bit to take in, but she knew that she'd get use to it. It wouldn't take long, that's for sure.

A few hours had passed since Strip and Ophelia had been reunited with each other, all they did for those few hours was just chat, cuddle and watch a cheesy romance movie. The Plymouth Superbird checked the time before looking to his partner, still smiling. "Come on, it's time for dinner."

"Dinner? We aren't staying in the hotel room and just ordering room service?"

"What? No! I thought I told you, we're having dinner with Tex and his wife Porche."

"You didn't, but I'm looking forward to seeing Tex again."

Both cars left the hotel together, making their way towards the diner. Despite how wealthy Tex was, you thought he would've chosen a flashy restaurant, but instead he chose a simple, small cafe to have the dinner at. Ophelia was rather surprised by that, since he was extremely wealthy. She wasn't expecting him to go for a cafe, like this.

"King! Ophelia! Glad to see the both of ya'll, hope you had a good trip up here, Ophelia."

"I sure did Tex, it's great to see you again."

"Likewise, Ophelia this is my wife Portia."

A beautiful, silver porcher stood beside Tex. A big smile on her lips as she made her way towards the light blue mustang. "So you're Ophelia? I've heard so much about you, darlin'. You know, Strip is the sweetest boy. He talks about you all the time, I can see why now."

"Portia..." Strip looked away, rather embarrassed.

Ophelia felt herself blush, Strip sure was a smooth talker when he wanted to be one that was for sure. She sat down beside Strip, smiling at Strip.

"You know, your man here is one incredible racer. He's one of the best we've had in a long while, better then any of the racers my own father had back in the day!"

Strip chuckled, he and Tex had grown rather close since he'd been training to be a racer with him. So, small remarks like this were rather common from him. "Thanks again, Tex. I wouldn't be anything without your guidance. You and the boys, to be correct."

"The trainin' sure has payed off, that's for sure. When the poor boy started, he struggled to beat the last guy we were sponsoring." Portia added. "But, he proved us wrong. Next time the next practice race came around, he left our last guy in the dust."

Ophelia was impressed hearing all of this, it sure sounded like Strip had done an awesome job at succeeding his dream, better then she had herself. A lawyer was something, but a race car? That seemed better, in her opinion. The night continued on for ages, all the cars laughed with glee. Sharing old stories, some new ones. But one thing that was for certain, was that Strip was a legend in the making. He'd just have to see it through to the end.