How They Met – this is a short piece, explaining in more detail how Chloe and Vince met. If you don't know who Chloe and Vince are then I suggest you read Moving On first, or this'll confuse the hell out of you!
DISCLAIMER: Any characters you recognize from the original film are the sole property of Universal Pictures – everyone else is mine. Any copyright infringement is unintended.
How They Met
"So who's going to be at the beach?"
Now that they were half way to the supermarket Chloe was starting to wish that she'd turned down Mia's invitation to an afternoon at the beach and a BBQ. She really wasn't in the mood for company but Mia could be very persuasive when she put her mind to it. Apart from Nikki, she hadn't met anyone who could whine as much as Mia. Chloe had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill down her face as she thought of her sister. Her beautiful, innocent baby sister who'd ruined her life. Everything that she'd gone through the past 12mths had been because of her sister but she wasn't going to think about that now. She'd been invited out to spend some time with Mia's family and as much as the thought of socialising with a bunch of strangers terrified her she knew that she needed to get out. Give LA and its inhabitants one more chance before she packed up and went back to England.
"The whole team will be there – my brother Dominic and his girlfriend Letty, Vince, Leon and Jesse. You need to keep away from Vince and Leon – they're complete man-whores who'll stop at nothing to get you into bed."
Chloe started to switch off at this point. She'd heard Mia's views on Vince and Leon far too many times and she really wasn't in the mood to hear them again. It always amazed her that she spoke about her friends like that, but when she'd asked Mia about it one time, she'd looked at her as if she was crazy and told her that the boys were Dominic's friends, not hers. The look on her face clearly told Chloe that she was crazy for thinking she'd be friends with two scruffy, tattooed mechanics. The surgeons at the hospital were much more Mia's type – rich professionals with memberships to more country clubs and private gyms than any man actually needed. It was mostly Mia's preoccupation with money that made Chloe want to keep her at arms length, that and the way that she was constantly putting Vince and Leon down. Family loyalty was very important to Chloe and once it became obvious that Mia didn't have any kind of loyalty to the man who'd practically been her brother for the past 15 odd years, she knew that they'd never be anything more than study partners.
For the next 20mins Mia droned on and on about Vince and Leon and how she wasn't able to take any of her friends back to the house in case they ended up in bed with one or other of the resident 'man-whores' and never spoke to her again. Chloe couldn't help thinking there was more to it than that but she didn't want to think too much about it. She was too busy holding onto the edge of the seat and praying that they made it to the supermarket in one piece. Mia had once told her that her brother was some kind of street racing God and Chloe couldn't help but wonder if the talent for driving had completely passed Mia by. Sure, Chloe was a fast driver but at least she was safe – Mia, on the other hand, was a complete maniac and several times Chloe had to stop herself from grabbing the wheel and pulling them back into their own lane on the freeway.
By the time they pulled up in front of the supermarket Chloe felt like throwing open the door and kissing the ground, she'd never ever thought of herself as a nervous passenger but then she'd never been in a car with Mia before. If Mia's Acura had been a right hand drive car Chloe would have offered to drive the rest of the way to the beach and then home again so Mia could have a drink if she wanted but she knew that there was no way Mia would let her loose with her left hand drive car. Chloe had never mastered a left hand drive manual transmission so she usually drove an automatic, a fact that Mia never failed to tease her about. If only she trusted Mia enough to show her, her proper car she knew that Mia would stop with the teasing, but then she'd have to tell her how she could afford such a car and that wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with anyone, least of all the money obsessed Mia Toretto.
If Chloe had thought that the trip around the supermarket would be any fun she was sadly mistaken. Every time Chloe tried to suggest something Mia would look at her as if she was daft and grab something completely different. By the time they got to the checkout both trolleys were full and Mia was still muttering that they didn't have enough. Chloe was sure she was joking but Mia assured her she was serious – each of the boys ate more than a family of four put together and Letty wasn't far behind.
Mia was off on another one of her horror stories about Vince when Chloe caught sight of the sweets at the checkout. Right in front of her was a huge display of Pop Rocks Dips; she loved them and hadn't had them since she was a kid. Back then her favourite flavour was the Raspberry and she was thrilled to see they still did them. She'd just added a packet to her trolley when Mia looked at her in total disbelief.
"Pop Rocks? They're for little kids Chloe, not medical students. Mind you, that probably explains why V likes them so much. He's always on at me to buy them when I go shopping. God, don't let him see that you've got some, I always tell him that the supermarket doesn't have any and if he knows you can get them here he'll keep going on about it until I get him some."
The more Chloe heard Mia out down Vince the more she was determined to like him. She hated being told by other people who she could and couldn't be friends with; it reminded her of school and that was never a good thing. When Mia wasn't looking Chloe quickly grabbed another packet of Pop Rocks and vowed to slip them to Vince when Mia wasn't around. Couldn't have the poor guy missing out on his Pop Rocks rush any longer than absolutely necessary.
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As soon as they stopped Mia was out of the car and on her cell phone telling her brother that they were in the car park and they couldn't possibly carry all the bags down to them so someone was going to have to come up and help. Chloe sighed quietly to herself; this was yet another example of Mia getting people to do things for her. Sure they'd got a fair few bags of food but there were two of them and between them they could certainly manage to take them down to the others, might take a few trips but they could easily do it.
Within minutes of Mia calling for help an out of breath, teen with scruffy blonde hair arrived next to the car. Based on Mia's descriptions of the team Chloe guessed he must be Jesse, the very talented and very fidgety mad scientist – the brains behind the team. Chloe made a mental note to try and talk to him later, she had a few questions about her car and figured that he'd be able to answer them without making her feel totally stupid. She fully appreciated that she looked the typical blonde bubble head and she knew that most mechanics would take one look at her, suck their breath in over their teeth, shake their heads and instantly add 2 noughts to the end of her bill.
Closely following Jesse was a man who could only be Leon – the wiry frame, the piercing green eyes and the way he looked her up and down, lingering on her breasts certainly fitted with Mia's description of him. His eyes gleamed with that naughty look that she'd seen far to often on the bad boys that chased after the student nurses at the hospital and she had no doubt that Le was everything that Mia had described him to be, and more besides. Smiling brightly at the two men in front of her, Chloe giggled as she handed over the bags of shopping. She'd never seen two men so desperate to help with the shopping before and it felt good to be part of a family. It was obvious that the team was a family, Leon and Jesse were the troublesome younger brothers, always playing tricks on each other and Mia was the older disapproving sister. She couldn't wait to see where Vince, Dominic and Letty fitted into the family dynamic.
She didn't have to wait long to find out. Leon and Jesse were still fighting over who got to carry the cooler with the ice cold coronas in when a booming voice proclaimed "Stop it, you embarrass me."
One look at the owner of the voice told Chloe that this was Dominic. It wasn't the fact that he looked like Mia or even the way that Leon muttered under his breath. It was the look of horror on Jesse's face that he'd been caught messing about. The poor boy looked mortified that he'd been caught having fun.
As Dominic reached past Leon for the cooler his gaze settled on Chloe's breasts. For the first time since Mia had met her she found herself wishing she'd worn something more than her turquoise string bikini and white, cut off denim shorts. There was something in the way Dominic stared at her that made her want to cover herself from head to toe in a burlap sack. The fact that his girlfriend was standing right behind him didn't seem to deter Dom from ogling Chloe's breasts and that made her more than a little uncomfortable. She really wasn't in the mood for fight and by the look on the Latino woman's face that's exactly what was going to happen if Dom didn't stop staring.
Letty pushed past Dom to stand face to face with Chloe, she'd seen the look on Dom's face when he'd first seen her and knew that he was going to make a move on the pretty blonde. Her only hope was that she could scare her away with the unspoken promise of a beating if she didn't keep her distance.
Chloe knew what Letty was thinking, hell she'd have been thinking it if she had a boyfriend that needed to be leashed and muzzled in public so she smiled brightly at her and held out her hand to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Chloe Armstrong. You must be Letty, I've heard so much about you from Mia, and you know she practically thinks of you as her sister in law." Chloe desperately hoped that her easy nature would show Letty that she wasn't a threat, she'd heard a lot about her from Mia and she knew that the two of them could be friends as long as Dominic didn't do anything stupid."
It was with some trepidation that Letty accepted Chloe's outstretched hand. She'd seen the way that Dom had been drooling over her and she knew that she was a threat to their carefully balanced relationship. Every time Dom drooled over a girl she ended up having to be tested for a whole range of horribly embarrassing STDs. It was one thing Dominic cheating on her, it was something totally different to have it paraded in front of her.
"If you girls have finished fighting over me, we need to get the food down to the grill before V sets himself on fire."
Chloe nearly choked when she heard Dom speak, fighting over him was the last thing on her mind – just the mere thought of it made her feel even queasier than Mia's driving did and judging by the grin on Leon's face it was obvious that he'd realised she wasn't after Dom.
"Well, if you boys want to take the cooler and the meat down Letty and I can bring the rolls and salad. No point straining ourselves when there are 3 big strong men around to help is there Letty."
Letty grinned when she saw the way Chloe directed her comments at Jesse. The young man was often overlooked by the racer chasers and it was cute to see the way he blushed when Chloe looked him up and down as she spoke.
"Letty, I'm just gonna come right out and say it – I know he's your man but it'd be a cold day in hell before I slept with Dom. I don't mean to offend you but he really doesn't do a thing for me."
Letty couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever spoken to her like that; sure she'd had people tell her in the past that they weren't after her boyfriend but that usually fell by the wayside once he smiled at them and made them feel like the most important girl in the world.
"Seriously Letty, I divorced my husband because I caught him cheating on me, I'm not about to turn around and put someone else in that situation. I wouldn't wish that sort of pain on anyone."
Chloe hadn't told anyone in LA of the circumstances of her return and she hadn't intended on telling Letty but she knew that she wouldn't believe her unless she could prove to her that she was serious.
"You know what girl, I like you – I don't normally like anyone but I like you." Letty smiled at Chloe as she spoke – it was true, she really didn't like anyone, hell she could count her friends outside of the team on one hand but there was something about the petite blonde that told her they could be great friends. At least she knew this was one friendship that Dominic wasn't going to fuck up for her.
As Chloe and Letty made their way to join the rest of the team Chloe couldn't help but notice that Mia was no where in sight, yet again the young girl had managed to avoid anything that could possibly ruin her ever perfect manicure. Chloe had no clue how she was going to cope with the less savoury aspects of medicine but she couldn't wait to find out! Seeing the ever perfect Miss Mia covered in vomit, changing colostomy bags was something that she'd pay large amounts of money to see.
Chloe and Letty were about 10 feet away from the rest of the team when they heard Vince's pained yell and saw him jump back from the grill. The near constant yells of 'fuck' and the way he was holding his stomach had Chloe running to his aid before Letty could even move. Mia hadn't even gotten up off the sand by the time Chloe got to Vince and for the 2nd time in less than 5 minutes Chloe found herself doubting Mia's ability to enter medicine
As Chloe was shoving Vince back into one of the nearby chairs Leon was grabbing a handful of ice and wrapping it in his t-shirt. V didn't know what the hell was going on or who the blonde pulling down the waistband of his board shorts was. Normally he wouldn't object but as there was nothing sexual about her actions and he was in a lot of pain he thought that perhaps he should.
"Do you mind?" V kept trying to slap Chloe's hands away but she wasn't having any of it. When Leon handed her the makeshift ice pack she placed it over the burn on V's stomach and prepared her self for his yells.
"Oh for gods sake, you big baby, it's just some ice. Now shut up and let me treat you." Chloe was used to awkward patients, she didn't specialise in trauma medicine for nothing, but V was being particularly awkward. Whether it was because the burn really didn't hurt him or the fact he was in front of his family Chloe didn't know but he certainly didn't seem to want her help.
Vince knew that the more he struggled the more of an idiot he'd look so he resigned himself to sitting there and letting the blonde get on with it.
"You know dawg, any other time you'd be happy to have a blonde on her knees in front of you." Letty couldn't help herself and spat her corona all over Dom's lap when she heard Leon's comments.
"Oh smooth, Let, very smooth."
"Shut up man, this is all your fault."
Vince was chuckling to himself as he listened to the Letty and Leon act. He loved it when the team was together and all the competitive bullshit about the races was put to one side. He knew that Dom was the best racer on the team, hell everyone knew that but it didn't stop Dom from reminding them every chance he got.
"I'm Chloe by the way and you must be Vince – the other half of the 'wonder twins' and the man-whore that'll tell me 'I look good' just to get in my knickers." Chloe kept her face perfectly straight and serious as she introduced herself to Vince. "That's right; I've been talking to Mia."
Standing up she walked round behind Vince and whispered in his ear, "but don't worry Coyote, I like to wake up my own mind about people and from what I've seen you're alright."
Mia grabbed Chloe's arm as she walked away from Vince and dragged her to the shade of the umbrella, "what the hell are you playing at?" she hissed at her. "I've told you all about Vince and what he's like and there you are touching him and whispering in his ear. Are you crazy?"
Shaking her head, Chloe looked at Mia for a few seconds before she spoke. "I had to touch him to examine his burns, and as for the whispering in his ear – I was giving him private medical advice. What would you rather I did, shout it at him from 20 feet away? I know you don't like him Mia but you know what, he's not done anything to piss me off so until that happens, I'm gonna keep on being nice to him."
Vince had overheard Chloe sticking up for him to Mia and he was stunned, no one outside of the team had ever said anything nice to him and he'd never heard anyone tell Mia off like that. Most of Mia's friends took one look at him and believed everything that she told them. He knew that Mia told them that he was basically a slut who'd use them, then toss them aside but it seemed that Chloe wasn't listening. He was still brooding over what Mia had said when he saw Jesse approach the girls. Chloe's whole face lit up when the nervous blonde approached them and the way Jesse kept looking between Chloe and the water it was obvious what he was trying to get her to do. When Chloe slipped off her shorts and followed Jesse to the waters edge, Vince kept his eyes on her until she was hidden from views in the waves. The way she was playing in the water with Jesse made his heart skip a beat. It had been a long time since anyone had taken any interest in Jesse for anything other than his engineering skills and Vince was happy for him. Despite what Dominic thought, the teenager needed more friends outside of the team and he hoped that Chloe would soon become a good friend.
By the time Dom had finished showing off in front of the grill and the food was ready, Chloe and Jesse had been joined by Leon in the water. Vince had spent nearly an hour sitting under the umbrella with Letty watching Jesse sneaking up behind Chloe and dunking her then desperately trying to swim away as she grabbed at his shorts to pull them down. It was only when Leon caught sight of Jesse's white ass shining like a beacon across the sea that he went to his friends rescue. Swimming up behind Chloe he grabbed her round the waist and swung her around behind him.
"I'll protect you dawg, can't have that ass of yours getting sunburnt now can we."
"What about your ass 'dawg'? Does that need some sun?" Chloe yanked down Le's shorts as she spoke and nearly died laughing at Le's lack of a tan line.
"OMG Jesse, he sunbathes naked!" Chloe barely made it back to shore before she collapsed in the surf in hysterics. The look on Le's face when she yanked his shorts down was something that'd stay with her for a long time.
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"So what were you laughing about earlier Chloe?" Mia wasn't happy, in fact she was downright pissed off but she didn't want to let Chloe see how upset she was. She needed Chloe's help to pass her exams that year and the last thing she could afford to do was piss her off. Dom was constantly on about how his baby sister was going to be a doctor but Mia knew that wasn't possible unless she had Chloe's help.
Chloe snuck at glance at Leon and Jesse across the table before she answered Mia.
"I was laughing at Leon's ass and his lack on tan lines." It was all Chloe could do not to collapse into fits of giggles again as she told Mia what had set her off the first time. The look on Leon's face as she told his friends about his ass was almost enough to set her off again.
"That's cause he spends most of his time with his pants around his ankles." Jesse couldn't help but add his comment, he knew that the real reason Le had no tan marks was genetics but he knew that Le loved his reputation as a ladies man.
"Too damn right dawg, me and Vince we're just the same." Leon was smirking as he spoke, no doubt remembering one of the many times he'd been out in the sunshine with his pants around his ankles whilst in the company of a young 'lady'. Not that 'lady' was an accurate description but Leon had been brought up to be polite so 'lady' it was.
"Hey brother, that's not right – I was born this colour man." Vince was offended that Leon was comparing the two of them like that, especially in front of Chloe. While it was true that he'd had more than his fair share of women over the years he was no where near the exhibitionist that Leon was.
"Sure V, we believe you." Dom had never heard V deny his reputation before and he could only assume it was the pretty blonde sitting next to V that was the course of his bashfulness. If he'd looked under the table and seen Chloe squeeze Vince's knee when Le spoke he'd have realised that his assumptions were right. If he'd seen the way that V's hand had briefly closed over Chloe's he'd have choked on his burger. Ol' Coyote showing affection for someone other than Mia was virtually unheard of, yet here he was willing touching a woman in a non-sexual way.
Vince tossed his empty beer bottle into the cooler and announced to the rest of the team that he was going to get more beer. He didn't really want to leave Chloe at the table with the rest of the team but he wasn't about to ask her to come with him. That wasn't anything that he'd ever done before and he wasn't about to start now.
"Hey Vince, would you mind if I came with you? I forgot to grab some bits from the store earlier and if I don't get them now I'll never remember." Chloe had been half way through her 1st chicken wing when she'd remembered that she'd forgotten to get tampons and shampoo when she'd been shopping with Mia. She'd meant to go back once they got to the till but she'd been distracted by the Pop Rocks. When V mentioned going to get more beer Chloe decided that was the perfect opportunity to give him his sweets and pass on the 'private medical advice' she'd told Mia that she'd given him earlier. She wouldn't put it past Mia to quiz V about it later and she wanted to man to have the information at hand to prove to Mia that she'd not been lying.
"Just tell me what you want and I'll get it – you don't need to come with me." Vince wasn't sure why he said that, he'd love to spend some time with Chloe alone but he knew that he'd never hear the end of it from Mia if he let her go with him.
"Are you sure V? It might be a bit embarrassing for you." Chloe waited for V to realise just what it was she needed from the store, she didn't have to wait long.
"Awe shit, you don't need any of that girly crap do you?"
The entire team laughed at the look of horror on V's face – the thought of having to buy 'girly stuff' was the main reason that none of the guys did any shopping. Just the mere mention of tampons and sanitary towels was enough to send them to the garage or the nearest club. The thought of having to actually buying them was enough to drive them to drink.
"Come on then girl, if you coming with me you need to hurry up. I'm not hanging around waiting for you."
Vince and Chloe were half way to the store before either of them spoke. Chloe had been trying to think of something to say and Vince was trying to work out what if anything he'd have to say that Chloe would be interested in. He knew that she was a medical student and a study partner of Mia's and he had no clue whatsoever what they two of them would have to talk about.
"You're a better driver than Mia, you know – that damn girl is just crazy, and your music's better as well."
"Jessica Simpson not your thing then?"
Chloe turned in her seat so she was looking at Vince; he was smirking at her as he spoke.
"Hell no, I mean do I look like a pop fan?"
Vince took the opportunity of looking Chloe up and down as they pulled to a halt at a red traffic light. Her turquoise polished toe nails, turquoise flip flops, tanned legs, white shorts, turquoise string bikini and blonde hair all added up to the typical bubblegum pop fan.
"Well, yeah you do."
Chloe looked herself up and down, mimicking V's previous actions and she had to agree with him, she really did look like a bubblegum pop fan and she wasn't at all surprised that V had thought that. Reaching into her beach bag she pulled out her black leather CD case. Unzipping it she turned to Vince and asked him to pick a number between 1 and 500. When Vince looked at her as if she'd gone mad, she simply repeated her question "Pick a number between 1 and 500."
When V told her his chosen number she flipped though her CD case until she came to CD number 357. "Oh good choice, I love this album." Reaching over to press the eject button on V's stereo Chloe ignored the look of total disgust on his face when she slipped his own CD into its cover and replaced it in the centre console. Taking her CD out of the case she carefully pushed it into the stereo and waited for Vince's reaction to her choice in music.
Vince was fully expecting some kind of R&B or maybe dance music since Chloe had already said she wasn't a bubblegum pop fan so he was stunned to hear Spit It Out by Slipknot. He'd never, ever have pegged her for a Slipknot fan and a huge grin spread across his face as he watched Chloe tap her fingers in time to the music and mouth the words.
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When V met Chloe at the till he was surprised to see the huge display of Pop Rocks at the till, they were his absolute favourite sweet and Mia had always told him that she couldn't find any. Stealing a quick glance at Chloe he was pleased that she hadn't noticed the grin on his face when he'd seen the display. Well, if she had noticed she didn't show any signs of it. Making a quick mental note to return later to stock up he turned his attention back to the blonde in front of him who only just came up to his shoulder.
"You never did tell me how you know Mia."
"We're at college today, we take some of the same classes, how about you – how do you know Mia." Chloe really wasn't comfortable talking about how she knew Mia, it all served to remind her of how she came to be living back in LA after so many years and that wasn't something she wanted to be reminded off.
As Chloe listened to V's tale of how he'd known Dominic, and thus Mia, since 3rd grade she couldn't help but feel envious. She'd left all of her childhood friends behind when she'd returned to LA from London 4mths previously and she couldn't wait to get back to them. She'd been searching the web for available flights when Mia had called her and begged her to join her and her family at the beach and as soon as they got back Chloe was going to be booking her flight home. LA wasn't home for her – home was dreary, rainy, London and she couldn't wait.
Vince was only half way through his tale when it was their turn at the checkout, motioning him to add the cases of Corona to her 'girly crap' as he'd so delicately described it, Chloe was fully expecting to pay for everything and was digging into her bag for her wallet when V's large, calloused hand stopped her.
"I'll get this – just don't tell Mia, or she'll have me buying her shit every month."
Chloe smiled brightly at Vince, underneath that rough, tough exterior he was, well he was rough and tough but he did have some sense of chivalry. The way he'd opened the door of his Maxima for her and then closed it behind her told him that.
"Don't worry coyote, your secrets safe with me."
As they made their way back to the Maxima Chloe deliberately lagged behind a little so she could admire the man in front of her. His blue board shorts hung just below his knees and his strong muscular back and shoulders rippled with every step that he took. It was as much as Chloe could do not to jump him in the car park and lick her way up his tattoos to his neck and then lick all over his face. Chloe stopped dead when she realised what she was thinking, this definitely hadn't been part of her plan. She agreed to come with Mia for a nice day out before she went home and lusting over one of Mia's friends, especially one of the 'wonder twins' really wasn't a good idea. Taking a deep calming breath she walked the rest of the way to the car where V was waiting for her.
"Come on, they'll be wondering where we are soon." Vince was reluctant to go back to the beach to join the rest of the team but he knew that if they didn't Mia would be on his back about making moves on her friend. He was just starting to tell Chloe that he was surprised she hadn't called them yet when Chloe's cell rang. Chloe knew without looking that it was Mia calling, the young girl had been messing about with her phone a few weeks previously and set her own personal ringtone – now whenever Chloe heard 'Toxic' by Britney Spears she felt the need to run screaming from the room and hide. She'd lost track of the amount of calls she'd had from Mia begging for help with her studying.
It was with a wicked grin that Chloe pressed the 'end' button to terminate Mia's call. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to her, or rather have to listen to her going on and on about Vince and how much of a 'man-whore' he was. She'd never heard that particular phrase until she'd met Mia and after only 2 short months she was more than sick of it.
Seconds after Chloe sent Mia's call to voicemail V's phone started ringing. Chloe wasn't at all surprised that it was Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi. Mia had bragged to her on more than one occasion that Vince was totally and utterly in love with her, and how she took great pleasure in making him think he had a chance with her only to shoot him down in front of her friends. She seemed to think it was funny treating the big man like that but anyone with any kind of morals would know that that was not an appropriate way to behave. Reaching over to snatch V's cell phone from his hand Chloe quickly pressed the 'end' button to send yet another of Mia's calls to voicemail. Chloe was very experienced in screening calls and more often than not sent Mia's calls to voicemail. It wasn't that she disliked the girl, she just didn't always like the way she behaved.
It was nearly 7pm by the time V and Chloe got back to the beach and the rest of the team. Chloe had mentioned how she loved to drive fast so Vince had taken the long way back to the beach showing off his driving skills on the freeway as Chloe giggled in the passenger seat. It'd been a long time since he'd been able to really cut loose in his car and he loved it. He knew full well that he'd get a lecture from Mia and a few glares from Dom when they got back but for the moment he didn't care – he was having fun and judging by the huge grin on Chloe's face so was she.
"3 hours, 3 hours! What the hell were you doing for 3 hours? No don't answer that – I can't believe you Vince. What did I say to you V? Huh? I told you to leave Chloe alone but no, you couldn't help yourself could you, you just had to make a move on her. What's the matter with you? I won't go out with you so you decide to make do with my friends instead?"
Chloe was so angry she knew that if she didn't get away from Mia she was going to end up scrapping with her in the middle of the car park and although she had no doubt in her mind that she could kick her ass if it was just the two of them, she didn't fancy her chances if Letty decided to step in and help Mia.
Getting between Mia and Vince, Chloe turned to face Vince and smiled sadly at him, the poor guy was so embarrassed at being spoken to like that by the woman he loved that she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Wrapping her arms around his waist Chloe gave him a quick hug and a gentle squeeze as she quietly thanked him for the left and the drive, she'd really enjoyed herself but now that they were back she wondered if in fact it'd all been worth it.
Turning to face Mia, she got right up into her face before she spoke; Dom was standing off to one side with an amused smirk on his face obviously waiting to see what was going to happen between his sister and her friend.
"I'm no one's second best Mia, no ones." Letty caught the hurt look in Chloe's eyes as she turned away from the group and headed back onto the beach, it was obvious that the young girl was thinking about the circumstances of her divorce and Letty felt instant compassion for her.
"Good move Mia, why didn't you just call her a slut and get it over with." Letty hurried to catch up with Chloe as she walked towards Le and Jesse, she didn't usually get involved in Mia's arguments with her friends but she liked Chloe and she didn't want Mia's attitude to push her away.
"I didn't have sex with him Letty; we just went for a drive." Chloe didn't know why she was explaining herself to Letty, it really wasn't anyone business but hers what she did or didn't do with Vince but she wanted Letty to know the truth.
"Oh I know that chica, if you'd gotten dirty with Ol' Coyote we'd have had to carry you down those steps. He doesn't have the skanks queuing up because of his scintillating conversation you know."
Letty collapsed into fits of giggles at the look of shock on Chloe's face, whatever she'd expected her to say about her not sleeping with Vince it obviously wasn't that.
"Damn, I should have jumped him in the car park then. I was so close to just grabbing him and licking him. Chloe was blushing as she thought of all the things she would have done to Vince if only she'd given in to her urges, but she wasn't a one night stand kind of girl and she had no doubt that was exactly the type of man Vince was. Still, it didn't hurt to dream a little.
"So what's Mia's deal then? I mean, I know that she doesn't want him – so why doesn't she want anyone else to have him?"
Letty's giggles dried up and her face darkened as she thought of the way Mia treated Vince, most of the time she was just downright rude but occasionally she bordered on cruel and nothing V had ever done deserved such treatment. His only mistake was to fall in love with her and Mia used that to her every advantage. If she needed anything doing on her car, V would do it, anything heavy carrying – Vince was there, a bothersome guy beaten up – Vince was her man, but when it came to V wanting anything from her she gave him the cold shoulder and ignored him. Sure, Mia didn't want him, but she wasn't about to let him move on and find someone else. A couple of times he'd shown signs of giving up and Mia had given him just enough encouragement to keep him interested then had backed away again.
"She's a tease Chloe, plain and simple. She treats him like that because she can and because she knows he'll always keep coming back for more. Until he wakes up and sees her for what she really is she'll keep behaving like that."
Vince was still up in the car park, listening to Mia going on and on about how he was an embarrassment and a disgrace and how if she failed her exams it'd be all his fault. It was then that he realised why Mia was so keen on keeping Chloe as a friend, it wasn't that she liked the girl – she was simply using her the way that she used everyone.
Shaking his head in disgust he turned and walked away from Mia, he really wasn't in the mood to listen to another one of her lectures – especially when he'd done nothing wrong, and now more than ever he needed a beer. As he walked he felt something in his shorts pocket pressing against his ass, reaching into his back pocket he was shocked to pull out a packet of Pop Rocks Dips. A huge grin spread across his face as he realised Chloe must have bought them and put them in his pocket when she'd briefly hugged him. He'd not seen her buy them at the store when they'd been for beer and 'girly crap' so she must have already had them. Looking across the beach he smiled again as he saw Chloe and Jesse deep in conversation. Jesse was drawing something in the sand and waving his hands around a lot which could only mean one thing, he was talking about engines.
For nearly an hour Chloe listened to Jesse explain exactly what was wrong with her car, he'd been so excited when she'd asked for his help and when she'd asked if he'd mind actually having a look at it for her he'd been totally beside himself. They were just in the middle of fixing up a date and time for him to go over to Chloe's to see her car when out of the corner of her eye Chloe saw Dominic heading towards them. 'Oh great,' she thought, 'now I get to listen to the King of the Streets telling me how no one can beat him on the blackstuff'. Chloe really wasn't that interested in street racing but when Mia had mentioned her brother was a 'Street Racing God' she'd asked around and found out more than she really needed to know about Dominic Toretto. Sure he was a good driver but he was also a complete bastard who cheated on Letty at least twice a week and was more of a 'man-whore' than Vince and Leon put together.
"Leon wants you Jess, mentioned something about the timing being out on the skyline."
Chloe knew that there was nothing wrong with Leon's car and that he didn't need Jesse but she couldn't exactly call Dom a liar, not in front of Jesse at any rate. Leaning back against the empty cooler she prepared herself for what Dom was about to say.
"I just wanted to thank you for everything you're doing to help Mia, she's gonna be a great doctor one day and it'll all be down to you." Dominic had learnt over the years that the best way to get a girl into bed was to compliment her first and he had no doubt in his mind that Chloe was just like all the other girls he'd cheated on Letty with. Leaning a little closer he pasted what he hoped was a nervous look on his face and prepared to go in for the kill.
"I like you Chloe, I mean I really like you. Shit, I don't normally do this, I mean Let and I have been together for what seems like forever but the truth is we're just going through the motions. We've not really been together for months now. I want to leave her, I really do but I'm scared what she'll do if I end it. I'm all she's ever known and well, she's more than a little unstable."
As Chloe listened to Dom's pathetic little speech she thought back to the number of soap operas she's watched where the cheating husband had said pretty much the same thing. It seemed that men were born with this pretty little speech already imprinted in their minds.
Turning to fully face Dominic she looked at him in seductively as she chewed on her bottom lip, trying to make it look as if she was giving his proposition some serious thought.
"Dominic, I'm going to tell you what I told Letty earlier. I'm not interested. I don't get involved with other girls' men and I wouldn't touch you if I was paid to. It'd be a cold day in hell before you ever got up close and personal with me, now if you'll excuse me I need to go and burn my clothes and decontaminate myself."
Rising to her feet she gave Dom once last glare as she prepared to walk away, "Leave me alone Dominic, if you come near me again I'll tell Letty and don't think she won't believe me – she knows what you're like Dom, hell everyone knows what you're like. You're gonna push her too far one day you know, and you'll lose the best thing that's ever happened to you. And you know what? I hope I'm around to see that when it happens."
Chloe left Dom muttering to himself about who she was probably a lesbian and stalked across the sand to where Jesse was trying to get Leon to tell him what was wrong with his skyline. 'Yeah, right, cause I won't drop my knickers for the great Dominic Toretto I must be a lesbian, stupid bastard.'
"Hey Jesse, any chance you can give me a lift home? I've got an early start tomorrow and it doesn't look as if Mia's going to be heading home anytime soon."
Jesse looked nervously from Chloe to Vince as he tried to work out what to do. He knew that if he took Chloe home V would be annoyed with him but if he didn't take her home he wouldn't have a chance to look at her car. He'd been desperate to get his hands on it since she first mentioned it and he just hoped that Vince understood.
Chloe caught onto Jesse's dilemma and decided to make it easier for the young man, "I'll talk to him, tell him I'm going – why don't you head up to the car park and I'll meet you there?"
Jesse nodded gratefully at Chloe as he sidled past the approaching Vince, it wasn't that he was scared of Vince but he didn't want to get on the wrong side of him. Vince's temper was legendary and with Dom so far away he knew that he'd be half dead before anyone was able to step in and save him.
"I'm gonna head on home now V, I'm due on the wards at 6am and I need to get some sleep before then. Thanks for the ride; it was the most fun I've had in a long time." Standing on tiptoes Chloe gently pressed a kiss to Vince's cheek and whispered in his ear "Don't give up the Pop Rocks Coyote, she's not worth it."
After kissing Le in much the same manner Chloe headed up to the car park where Jesse was waiting for her. She was almost there when she heard Letty shouting after her, "Chloe, wait up."
"I just wanted to thank you, for turning Dom down. He's never been able to keep his dick in his pants and well, you're the 1st person who'd ever turned him down." Letty was trying to keep a brave face about Dom's behaviour but it would have been obvious to a blind man how much his constant cheating was hurting her.
"He's not worth it Letty, no man is. At the end of the day, all we've ever got is our self respect and if you give that up, you've got nothing. Don't be a stranger Letty; if it gets too much you know where to find me."
As Jesse backed out of the car park and headed towards Chloe's house, she couldn't help but think that maybe she was making a mistake leaving LA. Sure Dom had been a total prick and Mia had carried on in her usual selfish manner but there was something about the connection the team had that made her wonder if maybe she was giving up on America too quickly. From what she'd seen none of them had the perfect life but they were all staying and fighting not running away. Settling back into the seat Chloe turned so she could look directly at Jesse he was talking. He was nothing like Vince but he was just as captivating, the way his face lit up when he spoke about the team and the various things he was going to do to her car for her made her determined to give LA one last shot – after all, she couldn't disappoint Jesse.