I'm a fluffy cloud

“It’s the only place i go. I do work here after all, what example would i be setting if i went to a competitor for my coffee” she smiled “During the off season? What is it you do if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve lived here for a few years, it’s a home-y town and one of those places that everyone seems to know everyone.”

“You never know, could find someone cute at a competitors and have a nice Romeo and Juliet story going for ya,” she teased playfully. “Normally I race cars for Dinoco, but right now I work at the Go-Kart tracks, King Mountain,” she explained. While she found her career in racing exciting she still has doubts others would. “I’ve noticed that, before here I was in Texas, and everyone’s polite sure. But here everyone seems so friendly and close knit. It was a little intimidating at first. “ 

Rachel thought she might explode any second now at the pure excitement of someone showing genuine interest in what was being shown. Her friends (and herself, of course) had worked incredibly hard on the exhibition and if Rachel could get even two people through the door to see that then she would sleep soundly. She was incredibly proud of the show, if a little nervous.

“It’s pretty neat,” Rachel chirped with an enthusiastic nod. “The screen prints in the show are especially fantastic if you like that kind of thing!” Rachel, personally, only submitted paintings for the show, but she was certain that the rest of the work on display was better than anything she could come up with. When Cruz suggested taking another flyer, Rachel gasped, moving quickly to pull another sheet from the pile to hand it to her. “Of course! Here, have this one! Are you really sure it’s okay to put it up there?”

“Of course, Keith is such a good boss. He’s a really nice guy, especially with the younger crowds. We already had signs up for local stuff from the high school and for those Thunder scouts,” she explained eagerly taking another flyer from her. The poor blonde boy had been nervous when he’d asked but Cruz had been more than eager to help out a local organization. 

She folded the flyers as neatly as she could and placed them into her bag careful not to wrinkle them. Turning her attention back to the girl she held out her hand, “I’m Carmen Cruz by the way, just realized how rude it was not to introduce myself,” she said a bright smile on her face, “Are you part of the showcase too?”

Posey had always had a stutter, ever since she could remember she has had this infuriating barrier when it came to speech and she hated it at first but in saying that she grew over the years to be friends with it, tolerating it. She wouldn’t say she was best friends with it just yet but she didn’t exactly hate it. It was what it was; “Oh y-yes, that is one of the b-books where the movies d-didn’t exactly align in t-terms of quality-… It’s nice to s-see adults enjoying YA. I feel like I’m t-the only one s-sometimes”

Her car, which she turned to look out the window at the moment to gaze at it was the love of her life, she remember saving up for it, and she remembered how excited she was to get it, there was just a lot of memories and love as well as emotions associated with that car that she was scared to let it go; “My c-car is old-… I k-know it is-… but if you c-can help me look after it or f-fix it’s problems I w-would be forever in y-your debt h-honestly” and she really did mean that, her eyes portraying those emotions. “Oh yes o-of course” standing up and showing the other outside to her car now that she had calmed down a little.

“I haven’t seen the movies yet, no good then?” she questioned to keep the younger girl talking about a lighter topic. Books seemed to be one of her interests and Carmen was more than happy to talk about it. “I did want to finish the series first before going to movies. You just can’t picture anyone else than the actors once you watch it on screen.” 

Following behind her she kept an eye on the girl as she was led to the car. Not seeing smoke come out from under the engine was a good sign at least. With Posey’s help she popped the hood and immediately winced upon seeing the engine. Checking over the basics she felt her confidence come back as a plan formed. Quickly recovering she managed a small smile to keep her energy up, “Well good news is this is salvageable, bad news is it will be a bit of work.” Eyes scanning she knew they’d need to have a mechanic scan for codes but already she could see a few things that they could do to help. “An oil change for one, spark plugs need replacing along with your air filter. Which is all stuff we can do ourselves instead of at a shop. I can get you a discount on some parts and help you change them out,” she added to reassure her. 

Happy Pride Month: 🧡🤍💗/💙💗🤍💗💙

1. I Love Play Rehearsal

So apparently I have to have a musical song for almost every character. This one is more vibes and energy in regards to Carmen. She has a lot of passion and general feelings when it comes to things, which has to just come out.

2. Ride

Is it cheating of me to use a song from Cars 3? Maybe. Do I care? No. It fits her too well especially in regards to how she feels and sees Lance. He pushed her to be the racer he knew she could be and helped build up her confidence.

3. Life Is A Highway

There is no cheating happening on this playlist, none at all. Also this song is a bop and one she also really enjoys driving too. Especially when she’s been on the road with Lance and Mac so much. It also describes what she enjoys most about her new racing career, just enjoying life with her friends.

4. Watch Me

With her new outlook on life, Cruz has become much more daring in her career and life in general. She’s ready to take risks and try things out, and if anyone has a problem with that, then that’s their problem not hers.

5. Why Wait?

So becoming a celebrity has been weird enough, but becoming someone’s role model was even crazier. She sees a lot of herself in @vanessavonvroom and wants to help her grow as a person. She really cares about her a lot and hopes to be a good as mentor to Vanessa, as Lance is to her. 

6. I’d Rather Be Me

“No problem at all” she smiled. Not recognising the woman had Babette thinking that she was perhaps new in town. Reaching out her hand she took the other womans hand that she now knew as Carmen “Lovely to meet you Carmen, I’m Babette Dust. I’m biased towards the café since I work here but let me say it is a wonderful café and I hope you enjoy many more visits” she said, singing the cafés praises. “When did you arrive in town?”

“Oh really?” Carmed asked surprised, “Well if you’re here during your off time it must be amazing then.” Taking a sip of her drink she hummed a smile forming, “And that does live up to the hype.” At her question she paused running the numbers over in her head, “Oh just a couple months ago, I needed somewhere to unwind during the off season, and this place seemed nice,” she explained, “Have you lived here long?” 

Rachel, for better or for worse, was pretty oblivious to a lot of things. Social boundaries was one, pop culture and the concept of ‘celebrity’ was another. She had already accidentally made friends with one Naveen Maldonia simply because she had no idea who he was. Right now, her only concern was the fliers.

A massive, beaming grin spread across her lips as the woman she had jumped in front of took said flier and showed interest. Finally, she was on a roll! “It’s actually the end of year exhibition for the art department at Polaris,” Rachel explained. “I guess it’s a bit of a mix of stuff? There’s paintings, and sculptures, a bit of printmaking! Oh, and two of my classmates also did this really neat video piece that everyone has to see, it’s super

Cruz was trying to contain her excitement, resisting the urge to start hopping on the balls of her feet. She loved seeing people’s passions on display, that and she hadn't been able to enjoy school events considering how career focused she’d been. While it was great that all the hard work had paid off in the end, it was a still a bit bittersweet that she hand’t been much involved in school activities. 

“That sounds amazing, especially the printmaking. I love seeing what people are able to do with it now a days,” she said a large grin on her face. “Do you mind if I take an extra one, I can put it up at King’s Mountains Go Kart, we have a board for local events,” she explained wanting to show her support. 

As if Vanessa wasn’t already paying an intense amount of attention to Cruz, she seemed to become even more engrossed in what the older woman was saying as soon as she dropped the name Lance into the conversation. Of course, Cruz herself was the one who Vanessa looked up to and idolised and wanted to be exactly like when she grew up, but she knew enough about racing to know that Lance McQueen was basically a legend. It was almost jarring to hear him being talked about in such a casual manner as simply somebody’s best friend slash grandpa-type Lance. Because he was freaking Lance McQueen! She didn’t think that she could ever think of Cruz as simply her friend Carmen, no matter how close to each other they got, or how used to hanging around her actual idol she eventually became.

“Yeah, I know Cody and Penny, they’re in my year at school,” she replied with a bright smile, although saying that she knew them was definitely an exaggeration; especially since she had only recently started actually attending her classes regularly. But it hadn’t been difficult to match the names with the faces based on Cruz’s description of them alone. Cody Eagle was kind of shy. Penny Stacy was definitely not. “I’m all for competition! It’ll make winning that much more awesome. Well, if I win, that is.” For a second, Vanessa’s confidence faltered and she looked visibly insecure, scared that she might jinx it if she talked about it too much or wanted it too badly. The universe had a funny way of messing things up when you let it in on your dreams. “Buuuuut… Whatever. I’m totally going to make it difficult for anyone else to!”

Calling Lance her kooky grandpa had become almost second nature for her, it was still crazy to think how quickly their lives had changed. Hell she couldn’t remember the last time she’d called him Mr.McQueen, unless sarcasm counted. Then again calling Lance might not be a bad idea, as weird as his methods were, they had worked on her. Maybe he’d have some tips for her on how to be a better mentor. For all their banter she did appreciate his advice, after all it had led her to her new home. 

“That’s great, they both seem like really sweet kids,” she said happy to hear Vanessa was being sociable in school. “Well...can’t show favoritism on whose winning but if I were to bet I know who I put my money on,” she said giving her another playful wink. She’d seen the look on her face and her heart had lurched, it had been the same one she’d had when she first stepped onto a track. “You know I was just going to grab some food and watch some of Lance’s old tapes, he even sent me some of Doc’s. Wanna join? We can make a night of it?” she offered. 

Posey was trying so hard to keep it together but honestly sometimes it was hard, it was hard because she kept it inside and when she kept it inside it all just seem to come undone at the seams and she didn’t want that to happen; but it did and now it was just a matter of pulling herself back in; “I d-do yes, I have b-been working there for s-some time now-…do y-you ummm like reading b-books?” she was trying to ease some of the tension considering she had just met this woman and didn’t want her to think she was such a burden.

“Oh that w-would be amazing, I mean my c-car is pretty in need of some m-maintenance and that’s probably why it b-broke down but I guess I’m s-scared of it getting looked a-at and them t-telling me that I need to get a new c-car.” Posey loved her car and she would never part with it even if she did end up getting a new car, she would never sell the one she drove because it was her absolute baby and she had a severe attachment to it;

“I do a-apologise for how I c-came in here though, b-babbling like a c-child” she had calmed down now trying to get herself in order as she untwisted the cap of the water and allowing it to hydrate her; “T-Thank you for t-this-… I really a-appreciate i-it” there were some people out there that were able to lend a listening ear and there were also people who didn’t want a bar of it so she was glad she ran into the former rather then the latter.

Carmen was letting Posey talk slowly easing her back into conversation. The girl seemed to have the stutter even when she wasn’t panicking which she made a mental note of. “Yea I do actually, I switch between my ebooks and movies when I’m on the road.” Riding in the truck with Lance was one of her favorite things to do, sure they could fly to their races but they’d miss out on all the sights. “Currently I’m obsessed with the Divergent series, I know I’m behind but I just got through the first one and I’m halfway through the second.” 

“Well depending on the car, might just need some maintenance. My dad has a truck he’s had for over longer than he’s had me,” something he hand’t hesitated to make jokes about saying who his ‘real first born’ was. She was mentally going over what tools they had which would at least let her do some minimal maintenance on the other’s car. 

Waving her hand Carmen shook her head, “Don’t worry about it hun, I’m just glad I can help.” Standing up Carmen kept an eye on her while she went around the desk finding one of the generic tool kits. “Want to lead the way,” she offered holding out a free hand to the younger girl.

At the sound of someone speaking next to her, Babette opened her eyes to see a woman standing next to her table. Once she finally registered the question that was asked of her, Babette sat up and nodded “Sure of course, please help yourself to the spare seat” she smiled. 

She didn’t recognise the woman but Babette chalked that up to seeing endless amounts of faces coming in and out of the Castle Café on a daily basis. As good as she was at remembering names and faces, she wasn’t that good. 

“Thank you so much,” Carmen said smiling brightly as she took the offered chair. Everyone in town had been praising Castle Cafe so of course curiosity had gotten the best of her. So far she had to admit the outside seating was better than most. Looking at her new companion she held out her hand, “I’m Carmen Cruz, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m still a bit new around here, seeing this place on Instagram made me want to try out.”

“Hey! Excuse me, sir? How would you– No? Okay, bye!” Rachel had been walking up and down the main street for a good hour and a half, desperately waving down strangers in an attempt to give them one of her fliers. She knew a few people who had tried it already without much luck, but her classmates decided that she had the most determination and third best smile, so she had to be the one for the job. See, her end of year college exhibition was opening tomorrow, and the more visitors they managed to rope into attending, the bigger the cake their lecturers would have to by for the last day of the show. Unfortunately, Rachel wasn’t having very much luck on the flier front, and was becoming increasingly frustrated in her attempts to give them away.

Aiming for nice looking people, somehow, hadn’t worked, so her next plan of attack was going for people who could use a cheering up, or those that otherwise looked bored. (Bored people loved conversation, right?) Without much care for social boundaries, Rachel jumped directly in the way of someone walking by, holding her flier out and grinning enthusiastically. “Hello! You look like you would totally be into art, am I right? Would you like a flier? Come see our show!”

Carmen’s mind was elsewhere as she walked, she was going over her talks with Vanessa and the logistics of trying to make a tournament happen. She still needed to talk to Keith about it but she wanted to have everything planned before she bothered him with her pitch. The last thing she wanted was to be turned down just from a lack of being prepared. When a flier appeared in her face she jumped half thinking someone was looking for an autograph. It wasn’t unusual but getting mobbed was not on her list of things to do today. 

“Show?” she questioned reading over the flier before a grin formed on her face. “What kind of art show is it? Is it like an art gallery exhibit kind of thing or is it some new modern art with weird sculptures or interactive exhibits?” she questioned her voice growing in excitement

It was nice feeling and hearing that they were all in it together because for Posey, sometimes it was the fear of being alone or like you were the only one in this or feeling this way was what was scariest, and she had to remind herself that it was very normal for people to feel this way, that on the daily there were probably a couple of thousand if not million are people going through this at the same time like she was; “T-Thank you so m-much for saying t-that because s-sometimes I feel l-like I’m all a-alone and it just d-doesn’t help”

Posey’s small hands wrapped around the water bottle allowing the temperature change the searing sweaty temperature that she had going on which was a case of the anxiety attack she was having; “I’m P-Posey P-Piggleton and I w-work at t-the b-bookstore t-that Christopher Robin owns” she probably repeated herself but her brain wasn’t working right now, her thoughts were quite clouded and muddled if she was honest; “I d-do dancing during the w-week with Esme at N-Nani’s business and I f-find that helps b-but I just-… I had t-this guy I was s-seeing and he r-recently left t-town and I’m j-just-… I’m o-okay with i-it like I u-understand his r-reasonings, but I’m r-really missing h-his presence a-and it happened s-so fast and so q-quickly and I just-… m-my car won’t start it j-just stopped a-and it s-seemed like e-everything is g-going not as p-planned”

“No one’s really ever alone hun, trust me on that,” Lance had taught her that after all. Being his trainer had showed her how unfilled she had felt and how desperately she had needed a real friend to push her past her comfort zone. At the repetition she was slowly learning how to help ground the girl. “Ok Posey, you work at Christopher Robin’s bookstore, that’s the 100 Acre Books right?” she asked trying to keep the girl focused on lighter subjects. 

Carmen’s heart lurched for the poor girl, so many things stacked on top of each other it would drive anyone to tears. “Well you’re in luck, I happen to be pretty good with cars. I can take a look at it, and I have AAA we can always get it towed and see about getting you a ride home,” she assured the girl already coming up with a game plan. Best case she could get the girl back on the road or at least settled in with a tow truck, at worst she’d could owe Bill a favor to watch the store while she took the younger girl home. “Do you wanna have some water before we go look?” she offered holding up the small water bottle towards her. With all the tears the girl was definitely going to need to be hydrated. 

Her eyes had dropped to the autograph again, sporting that same goofy smile and look of complete awe on her face as her gaze traced Cruz’s picture on the box, but her attention was quickly diverted back to the actual three-dimensional Carmen Cruz when she mentioned the nickname that Vanessa had come up with for the manager of King’s Mountain Go-Karts. Keith Carrington was someone that she liked to bother partially for the sake of bothering him but mostly because she had come to really enjoy hanging around him. Yeah, she mostly went there to spend time with Cruz, and to watch the other kids racing, but he had become a big part of why she enjoyed going there as much as she did. Just like she was with Cruz, she was eager to prove herself to him, although she wasn’t entirely sure why.

“It’s all yours,” she replied with a grin, more than happy to share the rights to the name with her idol. She was even happier to hear the other say that she would be quietly cheering her on in her head, because in spite of the fact that Vanessa had said that Cruz couldn’t play favourites, she absolutely wanted to be Cruz’s favourite. It didn’t matter if nobody else knew that she was the favourite. All that mattered was that it was definitely making her more and more inclined to claim a spot in this race. “I don’t have that many friends, but I’ll tell the ones that I do have about it,” she added, although she imagined that Jenny and Oliver (and maybe Dipper?) would mostly come along to cheer her on. “And I live at a group home, so… Some of the other kids there might want to come along too.” Not that she really wanted to ask, but it would be a lot more fun with more participants, and it would give her a chance to show up her worst bullies by kicking all of their asses six ways to Sunday.

She was really going to have to buy Keith a fruit basket or something, oh maybe a candy basket actually, the man had such a sweet tooth after all. She wasn’t sure how much she would actually enjoy her job if the man wasn’t so nice. She knew he didn’t have kids but maybe he was an uncle or something, he was just so great with them it really warmed her heart. She’d never heard anybody badmouth him, and he was just so positive all the time. He’d be a good influence on Vanessa, someone who could help her keep a bright attitude. 

“Now you have me extra excited to go back for my shift later,” Cruz said shaking her head. She’d really hoped he’d go for this tournament, if for no other than reason than to see that smile keep brightening up Vanessa’s face. “Hey my best friend is Lance, and he’s also like my grandpa, you don’t need a lot of friends to have a good time. It’s all about quality not quantity.” Group home? Now that was new she hadn’t realized that aspect, she made a mental note to convince Keith to let her sponsor the tournament with funds to help more kids be allowed in. “The more the merrier,” she said brightly, “I’ve been trying to convince this couple who comes around with a boy and girl your age if they’d like to join in. Cole...no wait Cody! He’s a little shy but his friend Jenny..no wait it’s Penny she seemed fired up. Might give you some good competition,” she added with a wink.