Vince.
Dom and Letty?
Yeah I figured that shit out the day Letty turned 16. Which happened the week Dom got out of Lompoc. We had the whole day planned out. All the team was there. We took Let out to eat and then to a cheesy carnival and did whateva she wanted and basically crowned her Queen, which she abused like fuck lemme tell ya. But the whole time, when Dom thought no one was looking, he would get this weird, dazed look in his eyes and stare at Letty when she was shovin' her face full of funnel cake; when she was screamin her lungs out at the top of a ride; when she was teasing Leon about not being able to win at the ring toss while hugging the stuffed animal Dom had won for her. I think Mia noticed too, but she had probably always known; she wasn't the brains of the house for nothin'. But ya know, people are always callin' me stupid and sayin' I dunno nothin', but shit, I knew before Dom did! Ya see, the weekend after Letty's birthday she had this whole 'carpe diem' thing goin' on. Which is prolly 'cause her mom had recently died; it wasn't so much of a sad thing, since for the most part she was always gone physically or mentally if ya get what I'm sayin'. And she went all the fuck out. Woo! I remember that party like it was yesterday. Shit , that shit was a fucking rager, man! Girls were dressed in tiny shirts and strips of cloth for a fucking skirt, and bass was pumpin' so loud even if the cops came we wouldn't have heard 'em; blunts and alcohol were passed around to everyone! Sharing is caring right? And then there was Letty. Wow. Every guy in that place was stumblin' over one-worded sentences. Apparently I had never known what a mini skirt was until that night, but, man, did Letty show me and the rest of the guys there. And her top? Whew. I didn't know Letty even had tits, but boy did she prove me wrong. And this is coming from someone who thinks of her as a sister. Man, I'm just tellin' it to ya straight. And since me, Leon, and Jesse are so close to her we kept our opinions to ourselves, for the sakes of our lives really. Yeah but the other guys, man, they weren't quite so silent with their appreciation. Many, many, many guys hit on Letty that night, but as I figure it, she was holding out for Dom, so every single one of them was shot down like the punks they are. And sure Dom had a girl on each arm, but his eyes never left Let for a second. And my man Dom is a pretty chill guy. Back then he didn't care too much about what his girl did, prolly 'cause they lasted less than a few weeks. But that night, when Letty had gotten tired of waiting for Dom to get off his ass, she goes and finds this random busta and they head to the dance floor. And aw man, you woulda thought the two of 'em needed a fuckin' condom or a room or somethin', man. And, lemme tell ya, this did not sit well with my boy Dom. Damn, he broke them apart hella fast! And then went on to tell Letty she was embarrassing herself and "whoring her way through life" and too young to be fucking around. And anyone who knows Let, knows she ain't gonna take that layin' down, so she started yelling back, telling Dom that he was a "fucking asshole" and had no right to tell her what to do and shouting all sorts of Spanish shit. Now I'm not one to go against my boy, but Let had a point. He wasn't stepping up to the plate, so why shouldn't someone else? Damn. But of course, I wouldn't ever say that to his face 'cause I like my limbs attached to my body, thanks. But anyways, I couldn't believe he was freakin' out over Letty gettin' with some guy. It really wasn't like he had a fucking claim over her, which she not-so-kindly pointed out to him. And it was so outta character for Dom, I actually started laughing. It was then that I could see why they call me stupid. Both glared at me like I was the fucking problem, when all I am is a good friend to them. Damn; it'd be nice to be appreciated every once in awhile. So they went storming out of the house and making a big scene out of it; blah blah blah. But yeah, that's when I knew. Why else would Dom get that fucking jealous, or jealous at all? Of course, they wouldn't get together until they had it out every single fucking night! But I know my boy and if Let was just another girl he wouldn't have cared one bit. But Letty's never been 'just another girl' to Dom. She's always been the one and only thing in Dom's fucking existence that can compete with racing.
Mia.
Dom and Letty?
Of course, I knew from the beginning. I mean I'm not trying to brag, but the guys in the house have their heads stuck so far up an engine, there's no question I'm the brains of the house. And Letty is just as bad, she may be as smart as me but show her a nice car and she won't notice the apocalypse if it was happening. And it was way worse back when we were kids. I don't even know why she put up with Dom and Vince's asses! They were always telling her what a nuisance she was and how girls didn't belong in a garage. But no matter how cruel they were to her, she never gave up. She says it was 'cause that's where she would get her car addiction fix, but personally I think it was Dom who kept her around, even with his harsh treatment. They've never admitted it out loud, but they were a lot closer than most would believe. My guess is they initially bonded over cars, but later, when Letty's dad died over seas, they would talk about their late parents. She still has her father's dog tags. And Dom still has a lot of things Mom left behind. This brought them closer than anything, but there was always chemistry between them from the very start. I remember the day Let moved here; it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone stand up to Dom. A small U-haul was parked just down the street, and the parents of a family of 3 were walking back and forth from the new house to the trailer. The little girl was dribbling her basketball up and down the driveway. And I later found out that her teenage brother was upstairs "unpacking"; I soon learned he was a drug addict, and eventually he would OD before Letty was 13. Sad, right? Well, I remember how she kept looking across the street, like she wanted to walk over but was too scared, you know? They were setting up the new hoop Dad had just bought for us and I was revamping my dollhouse. I had originally thought she wanted to join me with my dolls, but later found out that what she really wanted to do was help break in the new basketball hoop. And by later I mean, the 5 seconds it took me to run over and ask her if she wanted to help me accessorize my plastic beach house. She told me a glaringly obvious no. But me, being the optimistic person I am, even at that age, would not be discouraged by a small hitch in the road, so I asked her if she wanted to join me in a game of horse, which happened to be the only basketball-esque game I enjoyed. She told me an anxiously excited yes. And as we made our way over to my yard, we talked about how her real name was Leticia, but she once punched a kid in the mouth for calling her that, and how she had just moved from a small Spanish town in southern California, and I told her all about my dad's racing and mechanic job. I could already tell we would be good friends. It was the boys I was worried about. They were only three years older, but that might as well have been a decade to them. When we asked to play horse, they told us that to play we'd need to know how to spell it first. We were 9; point in case. They went on to tell us that we should stick with our dolls because girls didn't play basketball. This, coupled with their complete disregard of acknowledging their new neighbor, set off Let's fiery temper. She proceeded to grab my dolls' accessories and hurl them at the boys, and let me tell you, she had good aim, even then. We were all shocked. Dom, because no one had ever dont that to him, especially a girl; Vince, because she had hit him in the eye with a miniature plastic shoe; me, because I had saved up for 2 months of my allowance to buy all the things she was flinging at the boys, well-deserved as it was. I think Letty immediately regretted it, because she stopped chucking tiny toys at them and bashfully looked down. I was the first to break the silence by laughing hysterically until I was literally on my knees crying. Can you imagine it? It was funny as hell. No girl I had ever met would dare make Dom or Vince angry. They were usually too busy making lovey dovey eyes at them. And this petite, little, Mexican girl was pelting them like nothing I'd seen before. My laughter was soon joined by Vince and then a reluctant Dom. And at the time I couldn't put a name on it, but something flashed in Dom's eyes that gave me insight to an emotion I wouldn't truly understand for a long while. But it was then I knew Letty would be sticking with us for a very long time.
Jesse.
Dom and Letty?
Yeah I found out about them, I'd say, a few weeks after they had just got together. It really wasn't a pleasant experience. You see my ADD makes me get really…what's the word I'm looking for…frenzied, hyper, hectic; take your pick. And sometimes I take my laptop and sit in a corner somewhere and design the perfect car. That calls me down and I'm just completely chill, you know? Like cloud nine or somethin'. And especially when I find that particular kinda car that makes my tummy get butterflies. I can remember one time I saw the engine of this perfect 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer GT Turbo that had a parallel twin turbo system. Aw man! I nearly peed myself. Really. Anyways, so this was one of those days were my brain was pretending to be the spinners on a nice Volkswagen Jetta and I was set up in the corner of the garage. I remember designing these really awesome graphics that I had seen spray painted on the side of a building once when I was out on police scanner duty. Well during this delicious daydream, a scuffle broke out on the other side of the garage. I thought maybe it was Vince and Dom messin' around, so I ignored it and kept tweaking the hyrdraulic booster unit because for some reason it didn't look quite right to me, off center maybe. Anyways, the sound of skin against skin filtered through my car-induced haze, so I figured they were wrestling or something. I was thinking I should give them their "me-man-me" bonding time, and really threw myself into my project. I was so zoned out I didn't even notice the gasping breaths or rumbling moans or strained grunts until afterwards, when I realized exactly what I was hearing. Instead, I remember adding the final touches to the car, and I was so elated I actually let out a whoop of joy. Then the noises on the other side came to an abrupt stop. I heard Dom call my name; and now that I think about it his voice was really shaky. I responded with a greeting for both of them. But it wasn't Vince and Dom, and they weren't wrestling. And since they were…involved in such…personal shit, they were thinkin' that I was thinkin' it was V instead of Letty with Dom…or somethin'. It's all very confusing, or at least at the time it was. So they get all mad and disgusted, and when I realized my stupidness I tried to scamper away stealthily, really I did. But Dom's pretty much a ninja, even though he's not very…ohh what's the word…lithe? Yeah he's not very lithe like most ninjas. Cept' Jackie Chan! He's not so lithe. But he's still fucking awesome! Man, I love watchin' him go crouching tiger on their ass! So Dom goes all ninja and grabs me by my shirt while I'm crawlin' to the door. Picks me up 'till I'm eye level with him, and says "Jess, man, what're you doin'?" in a real deep, scary voice. I think I went on to ramble about the car I'd built, but he just told me he and Letty – put a lot of stress on the Letty part too – needed some time to their selves. He set me down and watched me scramble outta the door. I made it a point to stay away from that side of the garage from then on. Well really that couch. I mean they couldn't have picked a different couch? We have plenty of couches in the house. Hell, I would've bought them a new couch! But no, they use my favorite couch, the one where I spend afternoons lounging, thinking of ideas for cars, smoking; I even get my own ass on that couch. But yeah that's how I found out. Didn't seem weird to me that they were together, I mean if anything they're perfect for each other. I was more disturbed by the fact that they used MY couch. It's tainted with their love juice! And when I complained about it to Let she punched me. I think it was the love part – she's not very touchy feely ya know? – but whatever; I forced them to buy me a new couch.
Leon
Dom and Letty?
Well I figured it out somewhere between the time when Dom and Letty were at each other's fucking throats 24/7 and when they finally got together. It was after the first huge fight they had when Dom got all jealous 'cause Letty was dancing with some guy. Dom was all broody and snapped at everyone for no fucking reason. And Let was… well just as angry as she normally was cept now any little thing would set her off. Like I remember one day I didn't hear her ask for the maple syrup at breakfast; she didn't talk to me all day and when I asked her to pass me a wrench, she threw it across the room and said 'Get it yourself Bitch!'. Fucking unappreciative is what they all are. Well anyways, I guess to make Let mad, Dom started bringin home all these hussies, fine ass hussies though. And then one day it narrowed down to that Tran chick… what was her name... Julie... Jade... somethin' like that. And this chick was fucking hot, but not like supermodel hot, like somewhere between skinny Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears Pre-Baby/Crack while looking like Lucy Liu. So this, of course drove Letty up the fucking wall. Janice was always struttin' around in teensy outfits and talkin' about her makeup and hair and shit. Man, she was fucking annoying! For the most part Letty tried to ignore Jane, but one day it just built up too much and the fists and hair extensions started flyin'! I think it went somethin' like, Jamie was throwin' a fit cause Dom paid more attention to his car than her, which is true; and she kept going on and fucking on. And of course, Letty wasn't about to listen to this shit, so she said something along the lines of 'Fucking leave then! Nobody likes your fucking annoying ass! Not even fucking Dom!' but with a lot more cusswords. I don't remember exactly what Jana told Letty back but it was somethin' like 'Dom would never love an ugly dyke'. Bitchy, right? Letty thought so too, cause she punched Janelle, and I'm actually pretty surprised she felt it under all her makeup…haha…that's funny. So they got into it, and Jasmine actually wasn't too bad a fighter, she got a punch or two in maybe even pulled some hair, but she was no match for Let. Letty gave her a beat down before Dom rushed in to break it up. Yeah we could've pulled them apart, but, c'mon, how much fun is that? None, that's how much. So Dom broke up them up and soon after broke up with Janet too, somethin' like 'Get the fuck out'; she cried, we laughed. Harsh? Maybe, but, she was sooo fucking annoying! Anyways, Dom and Let went to another room to have it out. We thought this meant another night listening to them scream themselves hoarse at each other. But as it turned out, that night they screamed themselves hoarse for another reason that has nothing to do with fighting, if ya catch my drift. Now a days I kinda wish it was fighting, cause I'm not gonna lie it's kinda hard to focus on murkin' zombies with Vince when we have to hear that shit goin' on upstairs. Fucking nasty. But they complete each other and shit, so who gives a fuck?