This story was inspired by the song of the same name by Daughtry. It's gorgeous and kind of makes my heart break.
I'm sorry for any mistakes, I am almost about to pass out in front of my heater beside my cat...
Disclaimer: I don't own the song or the characters, only the many mistakes.
Last time we talked, the night that I walked
Burns like at iron at the back of my mind
I must've been high, to say you and I
Weren't meant to be and just wasting my time
Oh, why did I ever doubt you?
You know I would die here without you
All that I'm after is a life full of laughter
As long as I'm laughing with you
I'm thinkin' that all that still matters is love ever after
After the life we've been through
Coz I know there's no life after you
Dominic Toretto's jaw was was clenched and his fingers were turning white around the steering wheel. Music was blasting through his speakers and the cold air from the open windows was flooding the car. He didn't even have a reason to be angry right now, but he was. He'd been driving for over an hour and there was a good chance he was going to need to stop for gas soon and he wasn't sure if he had thought to grab his wallet before he had stormed out of his house. The rock in the pit of his stomach that had been there for the past six months felt like it was blocking his throat, stopping him from being able to take in enough air to breathe. Finally, he pulled his car over to the side of the road and got out, kicking the door shut behind him and stalking down the sandy pathway toward the beach. It was almost two in the morning now, and the stars were winking down at the waves that were crashing on the sand.
He swallowed hard as he stared out over the ocean, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. He wasn't even sure what had set him off this time, but he knew that he had been rude to Mia Toretto, his sister, on his way out. He was going to need to apologize to her when he got back home. The last thing that Dom remembered before he was storming out of the house were a couple of racer bunnies talking to Hector Esposito and then she had been mentioned and he had seen red.
"Did they break up or something?"
"Can you blame him? He could so such much better than her. She always walked around like she was better than us, like she had a stick up her ass."
"I heard that he cheated on her?"
Hector had been trying to quiet them down and usher them out of the house before Dom or Mia could hear, looking out for his man, but Dom had already heard and his hands were clenched into fists at his side. He had grabbed his keys from where they were on top of the fridge and stormed out of the house. Mia had tried to stop him on the way out, but he had ignored her. He hadn't even thought to grab his phone, so Mia was probably trying to call him and freaking out that she couldn't get through.
As soon as she was mentioned, it just triggered something in him.
He felt angry, and sad, and this immense loss that made his throat dry and his stomach heave. It drove him fucking insane that as soon as Leticia Ortiz was spoken about, he couldn't think about anything else but her.
Her laugh.
Her smirk.
Her snark.
Her smart ass way of getting what she wanted, and putting everyone in their place; himself included.
Her eyes.
Her hair.
Her smell.
Her way of knowing exactly what he needed and giving it to him without thinking twice about what it might cost herself.
And that was exactly what had landed them in the position that they were in today.
Dom could literally feel his hands shaking in his pockets as he thought back a few months to when he had last seen her. He had heard from her twice since then, and neither of those times were because she was trying to reach him. The first had been when she was ringing the house phone, trying to get in contact with his sister, and the second was when she had been skyping Jesse Lomas and Leon Peters and he had come into the lounge. When he answered the phone and heard her voice, there had been this long, stretching silence when she had realized that it had been Dom who had answered the phone and he had cleared his throat uncomfortably and quickly handed the phone over to Mia. The time when he had come into the lounge and seen the picture of Letty on the screen, he had frozen, unable to take his eyes off her as she had laughed and joked with their mutual friends. However, when she had seen him, she had quickly made her excuses and ended the video call.
He had been so fucking stupid.
To think that not being with her was the easier path.
Maybe he had been right, for her.
But it was the worst fucking decision he could have ever made for himself.
"You disappeared last night," Brian O'Conner commented, folding his arms over his chest as he looked across the garage at his best friend. Dom didn't say anything, staring under the hood of the blue BMW that they were working on, and then reaching out to grab a wrench from the tray next to him. Brian didn't move, his gaze never wavering as he continued to stare at Dom before the Cuban sighed and looked up.
"What the fuck you want me to say?" Dom asked, annoyed.
"I want you to say that you're gonna get her back," Brian replied evenly. Dom snorted and rolled his eyes but Brian just shook his head and pushed himself away from the wall, walking over to where Dom was working. "I'm serious, Dom."
"You've been watching too many chick flicks with Mia," Dom muttered. "It's been six months. We've both moved on."
"That's bullshit," Brian stated.
"No, it's life," Dom growled back, glaring sideways at the blonde.
"Bro, you can fix this —"
"Look!" Dom finally shouted, spinning around to face Brian, the wrench flying out of his hand and clattering across the concrete. "The phone works both fucking ways! If she wanted to get back together, then she would have called! But she hasn't! Okay?! This isn't all on me, no matter what you, or Mia, or anyone else thinks!"
"You're the one that broke up with her!" Brian persisted.
"For fucks sakes," Dom swore, his face now pale with her anger. "I'm not talking about this." He grabbed his jacket from where it was resting on the roof of the BMW. "I'm taking my lunch. I'll catch you later."
"Where's he going?" Jesse Lomas asked as Dom stormed past them and out of the garage to his car. Brian sighed and shook his head.
"He's taking his lunch," he said.
"It's four o'clock," Vince Martin pointed out but Brian just shrugged. It had just over half a year since Dom had broken up with Letty, and things just weren't getting any better. They were one of a kind —the sort of relationship that was written about in books or depicted in movies. They weren't opposites; they were completely alike. They were both fire, and they clashed heads on a daily basis. Usually couples like that wouldn't be able to work, but they had made it work for almost three years, and before then, they had been inseparable as best friends. No one really knew what had happened on the night that Dom drove up to San Francisco to see her other than the fact that the end result was the two of them breaking up.
Even Mia didn't know, and she was Letty's best friend.
But Dom had been like an angry bear ever since, just waiting for someone to jab him in the side with a stick so that he could bite their heads off.
Dom didn't come back to work that day, and Brian didn't see him until later that night. Mia was working the overnight shift in NICU that night, so it was just the two men that night. That meant that it was burgers and chips from the diner down the street for dinner, along with a couple of beers. They sat in front of the TV, watching the second Terminator movie and not really talking. Finally, it was Dom who broke the silence.
"Sorry that I shouted at you earlier," he grumbled.
"Yeah," Brian glanced over at him but then looked back at the TV. "It's allgoods, man." Silence fell again and the blonde licked his lips, trying to think of how to continue the conversation without triggering the man next to him again. In the end, it was Dom who continued their conversation.
"We weren't good together. We always fought, we only saw each other every couple of weeks —it just didn't work," Dom pursed his lips together as he tapped his fingers against the side of his beer bottle. "We're better off apart."
"You really think that, man?" Brian asked gently. Dom didn't reply, lifting his bottle back to his mouth and swallowing a mouthful of the amber liquid. Brian licked his lower lip as he got to the reason behind why he needed to talk to Dom about Letty. Mia and he had talked for a while about the bombshell that Letty had dropped on them in the weekend, and they had agreed it should be Brian who spoke to Com about it and broke the news. "Okay, Dom, there's something I need to talk to you about."
"Yeah?" Dom grunted, his eyes trained on the TV but his fingers indication his tension as they tightened around the beer bottle.
"Letty's coming back," Brian said bluntly.
"What?!" Dom spun his head to head to face the light haired man, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide. "What are you on about?"
"Well she requested the transfer a while ago, when you guys were dating, and they've just granted it to her," Brian explained. "She's going to be back in a few weeks." Dom sighed and ran a hand over his shaved head. "Look, man, you guys had been dating since you were seventeen, and then she moved away and shit, and I get that it was hard. But you guys have had some time apart, grown up a bit, I think it will be good for you." Dom was quiet for a long time, tapping his fingers erratically against his beer bottle, eyes glued to the wall above Brian's head.
"Things have changed," Dom finally said, standing up from the arm chair. "And we both decided we were better apart than we were together."
Letty moving back was a big deal.
Of course it was, she was family.
Mia was walking around the house like she was floating on some cloud, and because she was happier, Brian was happier. All the boys were smiling a little bigger and laughing a little louder.
The only one who wasn't looking forward to it was Dom.
What Brian had said wasn' true.
They had broken up.
Well, he had broken up with her.
It didn't matter that they were going to be living in the same zip code again, because they had tried the relationship once, and it hadn't worked. They had always been up and down, even when they had been living across the street from each other. And then somehow they had made it work when they were both at University, because they were so busy and so tired, they didn't have the energy to fight, even when they did disagree with each other. They also were only a twenty minute drive apart, and they saw each other on a weekly basis.
But then she had gotten the job in San Francisco, at one of the best law firms. There was a firm in LA, but there were no spots open when she was offered the job. Letty had told him she would apply straight away, so that as soon as a job opening came up, she could move back.
That was eighteen months ago, though.
It just couldn't be the same —there was no way that it could. They had both tried for so long and given it their best shot, and in the end, Dom had made the executive decision to end it. Better they cut the cord now than going on for another year or so and the pair of them ending up hating each other.
Dom stood by his decision —it had been for the best. He tried not to be resentful when he agreed to give Leon and Jesse time off to help her move.
The day came around so quickly, and Brian considered the brooding look on Dom's fce. There had been some tension that week —when Leon had said that he was looking forward to family barbecues with Letty back. When Mia had said she couldn't wait to have another girl around again. When Jesse had said he couldn't wait to see Dom and Letty race each other again.
Dom couldn't stop himself from driving down Letty's new street the day after she moved in. There was still a moving truck parked outside, along with a matte grey Jensen Interceptor, which made his stomach twist because he had helped his Latina build that car from a shell. He almost swerved into a black sedan, his eyes glues to the house...He really wasn't sure if a glimpse of her would be a good thing or a bad one.
And then he saw her.
Wearing tiny denim shorts that cupped her perfect, perky ass and show cased her long toned legs and a simple grey singlet. Dom had to slam on the brakes, and he was worried that she would hear the skid of the tires, but then there was someone joining her in the front yard.
A male someone.
A male someone who was making her laugh.
Dom saw red as he slammed his foot to the floor and roared down the street.
It was two weeks later before he officially saw her since their break up. Mia was keeping an eye on him to ensure his best behaviour. Everyone else was practically vibrating with excitement when she finally arrived with Leon.
She was wearing jeans and a dark hoodie, and her hair was wild and trailing down her back. Dom had to chew down on his lower lip and try to push back the thought of whether her hair would still have that citrus scent. She looked a little thinner as well, and was wearing more make up that she used too.
The pair of them avoided each other for the afternoon, but Dom was always aware of her presence when they were in the same room as each other. When everyone gathered outside, the sinking sun resting a glow over the picnic table, Letty instinctively went ot take her seat at Dom's right side.
It was the first time they had made eye contact, and Dom felt his whole body visibly contract at the force it took not to reach out and touch her. Dom spun on his heel and headed back into the house, ignoring the shouts of Mia and Brian.
The next weekend, he thought that maybe he was going to get let off easy, but Mia arrived at the races as the passenger in the Interceptor.
Letty looked gorgeous.
Not that she ever didn't, but there was something about what she was wearing tonight that made every nerve in his body set on fire.
It was a skin tight black dress, that clung to every curve in her body and a cropped leather jacket in red. The one he had brought for her when they were nineteen because she kept stealing his similar one.
Dom couldn't take his eyes off her, the hole in his heart feeling as though it was burning open just a little bit more as some guy stopped to flirt with her, and she didn't send him packing. Dom narrowed his eyes and tried to pay attention to Hector, but his mind kept wandering. By the time he got behind wheel of his car, the engine purring under the hood and his fingers flexing around the wheel, his head was back in the game. The quarter mile was over within seconds, and he was in the winners circle. Vince and Leon and Brian and his sister were all a part of the crowd that was surrounding him, but Dom's eyes didn't stop searching until he found the one girl that he wanted. She wasn't part of the crowd, standing a little further back, with her arms crossed over her chest. And there was a small smile that curled her lips upward that send a shiver through Dom.
"Bro, what's it like having your girl back?" Edwin Carter smirked, knocking his bottle of beer against Dom's. The conversation in their circle fell quiet as Vince and Brian glared at Edwin, and Hector jabbed his friend in the side. "What?" Edwin asked, looking around the five men. "What? I just thought —"
"Dude, seriously?" Vince muttered. "Your mouth spins more shit than a public toliet."
"I just thought that they'd be back together if she's back!" Edwin protested before Hector hustled him away. Brian and Vince looked over at Dom, who's jaw was locked as he stared down at the floor.
"I think I'm gonna get a refill," Dom grunted, turning on his heel and heading off toward the kitchen. He dumped his bottle in the recycling bin in the corner of the kitchen and got a new bottle out of the fridge. He cracked off the lid, but instead of going back into the lounge, he head outside, where he could still hear the music and laughing, but he was by himself. His whole body felt exhausted, for being on edge the whole night, and they were slumped forward as he rested his forearms on the railing of the balcony and leaned forward. He closed his eyes for a second, taking in deep breaths through his nose, until all of sudden he breathed in the scent of Moringa, and his head snapped sideways. "Letty," he murmured.
"Dom," she nodded at him and gave a half smile. She walked slowly over to where he was standing, and rested her arms on the railing next to him, so close that he could feel the heat radiating off her body. Dom tried not to breathe in too deeply, because every time he smelt her perfume it made his heart ache. "We haven't really talked since I've been back," she commented as she took a mouthful of her beer.
"Not much to talk about," Dom said quietly. They both went quiet a for a long time, before Letty straightened up and stretched, arching her back and rolling her neck, and then looking back at him.
"Are you ever gonna be able to look at me again?" She asked. Dom rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably before letting out a long breath.
"I just...Every time I see you it just reminds me of everything that we don't have anymore," Dom told her. "And that...That kind sucks, ya know?" He gave an awkward laugh and shrugged. Letty tapped her fingers against the glass of her beer bottle, licking at her upper lip before tilting her head to the side.
"What makes you think that we can't have that again?" She asked softly. Dom's eyebrows pulled together in surprise as he turned his body to face hers.
"What?"
"Come on, Dom," Letty swallowed hard, and he could tell that she was nervous from the way she kept fiddling with the sticker on her beer bottle and moving from foot to foot. "You can't tell me that things could go back to the way they are, now that we're living in the same city again." Dom chewed on his lip and rubbed a hand over his brow.
"I don't know, Let," he sighed. "We were always kinda of crazy, you know?"
"Look, I'm not gonna try and convince you that this is a good idea," Letty shrugged. "I'm not the kind of girl to beg. But there's never been anyone but you, even after we broke up. And I'm pretty sure it's the same for you. So..." she reached out to squeeze his hand. "Think about it. Get back to me." With that, she turned and walked back inside. Dom watched her go, his mind a mess and his stomach doing somersaults.
"Now this is how you spend a day off," Brian grinned as he folded his arms behind his head.
"Checking out my sister? I'm pretty sure you do that everyday," Dom retorted.
"Checking out your sister in a bikini," Brian shot back, still grinning. Dom rolled his eyes as he followed the blondes gaze down to Mia and Letty, who down in the ocean, about waist deep with Jesse and Leon. But it wasn't his sister that he wasn't looking at, it was only Letty. She was wearing a pink and black bikini and her hair was flowing down her tanned back, curling around her shoulders and arms. She was laughing at something Mia had said to her, and then Jesse was splashing water over her and she was yelling at his and splashing back.
What was he thinking?
There was no way in hell that he could be this close to Letty, and not be with her.
They had fought constantly, but it was only because they were so similar, and wanted their own way, and at the end of the day, they both just wanted what was best for each other, and for their friends. The make up always made the fights worthwhile, they would roll around in bed for hours, biting and groping at each other.
And maybe Brian was right. Some time away from each other might have done them good. But even with the time apart, his feelings definitely hadn't faded. There hadn't been a girl in the months following their break up that had caught his attention for more than a few minutes, and there definitely hadn't been any that he had touched. And it seemed as though she was the same.
He waited until the end of the day, when everyone was getting ready to go home, when Letty was rubbing herself down with a towel. The sun was sinking in the distance, lighting up with the water oranges and reds. Everyone was heading back to the car, but Letty was still standing in the sand, looking out over the beach. She folded the towel over her arms as stared over the ocean. Dom walked over to her, his hands in his pockets and scuffing his feet in the sand as he stopped beside her.
"Hey," he greeted her in his baritone voice.
"Hey," Letty smiled at him.
"So I've been thinking," he began.
"Never a good sign," she interjected with a smirk.
"Ha ha, you're so funny," Dom rolled his eyes. "No, I've been thinking about what you said the other night." Letty nodded, the wind whipping at her long, tangled hair, but she didn't say anything. "And I think you're right. I think that...I think that we should give this another try," he shook his head and looked down at his feet. "Thing is, Let, shit just isn't the same without you. I don't laugh as hard, I don't smile as much, I don't see colors as bright..." he turned so that he was facing her. "I want us to try this again."
"Yeah?" Letty smiled as she glanced sideways at him.
"Yeah."
And for the first time in eight months, the weight felt as though it had been lifted from his heart.
Please review :)