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Chapter Two: Dune racing
Letty left her empty house, a scribbled note of 'Sleepover at Mia's' on the coffee maker for when her mother returned from work and she charged her way over the two streets that separated the Toretto's from the Ortiz teen. The rucksack bounced against her lower back with every step, it contained very little considering she spent most of her time at the second home and had an entire drawer in Mia's overly stuffed wardrobe.
"Evening Mr Toretto." Letty called, waving her hand as she raced the 13 houses she had left on her track.
Mr Toretto stood from his position over the car's engine and waited for the fireball that was Letty to come crashing into his drive. "What are you doing?" she asked instantly, skidding to a stop infront of the open car bonnet, her hands and enthusiasm straight into the engine.
"Calm down wrench monkey, it's only a spark plug change."
"Oh, can I help?" Letty was already shrugging off her rucksack.
"Sure, the box is on the side in the garage."
Letty dumped the bag and chased Mr Toretto's finger into the heaven that was the Toretto garage.
There was a good reason the Toretto's owned a garage; they knew exactly what they were doing with every piece of a car. It was the reason Letty had beamed brightly on her first trip to visit Mia after the races. It was the reason she pleaded and begged Mr Toretto to let her come to his shop and eventually score herself a weekend job there. Letty had watched her dad fix his motorbike over and over as a child, but it was nothing compared to Mr Toretto's garage.
"Are you at the races this weekend?" Letty asked as she returned, handing the box over.
"Formula one." he answered with a smile. "If you're coming around again, Dom's still in charge." he chuckled.
Mr Toretto was a bit of everything, he raced, he marshalled, he repaired and he delivered first aid at the races (for both car and person). Mr Toretto only raced the actual cars competitively nowadays, he passed on formula one and motorcyles after Mia was born he said, but he would be away every weekend (there was a family agreement now Dom was legally an adult) to either support, supervise or aid in the variety of land races he adored. There was engine oil in the Toretto bloodline which would never run dry.
"I still don't think that's wise." Letty grumbled, following Mr T's instructions though she had changed spark plugs a million times before.
Mr Toretto just chuckled.
Letty liked to believe Mr T knew about the races Dom, Mia and Letty would attend illegally. How could he not when he saw the money that went into his son's car?!
But he was carefree, proud and just all-round jolly. He made every problem they had seem tiny. He didn't care if he came home on Sunday night to every one of Dom's friends sitting and playing video games, he'd just ask if they'd eaten and order them pizza if not. Vince was Dom's best friend since childhood and had a second home on the Toretto's couch, he stayed over most nights. Mr Toretto was fine with it. He'd taken Dom and Vince with him a few times before when he'd been able to get Mia a babysitter or a sleepover at Letty's, but when the boys couldn't put their own foot into the cars and race themselves, it wasn't half as exciting to them.
"Mia's calling you, Letty." Mr Toretto advised and sure enough Letty peered around the raised bonnet to see Mia hanging her head out of the window shouting about make-up. "Play nice." Mr Toretto spoke with a hidden smirk on his face, taking the leftover plugs from Letty.
Letty dragged the rucksack up the flight of stairs, taking two at a time and letting herself into the first bedroom on the right.
"Good, sit!" Mia encouraged roughly, putting hands on Letty to manoeuvre her into the vanity chair. "Now, I'm thinking dark colours, highlight your eyes, contour your cheekbones and the same light to heavy lines I did with the eyeliner last time, yeah?"
Letty screwed her face up in the mirror, not understanding the words and half watching Mia drag her brush and bobbles out of her rucksack on the bottom bunk of her bed.
"Sure?" Letty replied, sticking her tongue out at her reflection.
"I told him yes." Mia spun the conversation 180 again and Letty barely caught into the topic again. "We're going tomorrow. He's going to meet me by the bus stop at 5."
"That's fantastic, Mi." But the enthusiasm was gone from Letty's voice entirely. Letty was thinking about the bedroom next to Letty's, more accurately, about the man that owned it.
"And, I found the perfect dress for you." Letty turned where she sat to see Mia with her arm swallowed into the crammed closet and battling out a hanger from the recesses.
Letty's mother had dragged her feet about her daughter growing up, like it would ever change, she was a practical person and would only re-iterate that there was no practical reason for Letty to own a showcase jaw-dropping dress at her age.
Thus, she borrowed Mia's.
Mia had spent her saved money on make-up, clothes and shoes. Letty could have started a secret clothes supply for the races but she was saving up for a car and the kind of funds Letty had didn't allow for car saving in conjunction with sexy dresses.
Sacrifices were made.
Letty didn't care.
"This, is my best idea yet." Mia held up the hanger to her body. It was a far cry from the well worn jeans and tank top Letty would have been happy showing up with. The dress was an off-the-shoulder black slinky thing that cut off just above Mia's knees. It would show every lack-there-of curve, every panty line and every bit of dumpling fat she had on her. "Oh, wait, no actually…" Mia dove into her wardrobe again at Letty's expression and Letty resigned herself to the routine.
Somewhere mid-plait Mr Toretto's voice shouted up the stairs to say he was leaving for the weekend. He re-iterated about where the emergency numbers were, where the take-out menu's were, where his keys were if Dom needed to move a car and about the precious value of doing homework and having a bedtime.
The girls wished him well and he landed the last bombshell as he slipped out the door.
"Dom'll be home in 10 ladies, behave." The door shut behind him and Letty heard the engine start up on the drive a few seconds later.
"There." Mia tapped Letty's back to signal her finish and Letty twisted herself left and right to admire the intricate braid Mia had no doubt spend hours learning on youtube. Time well spent now Letty could see it for herself.
"I like."
"Good. I won't be long." Mia left for a shower while Letty splayed herself on the bottom bunk with her history homework with the music channel in the background.
Letty was finishing the quiz on world war two myths and facts when she heard the door open again.
Heavy boots climbed the staircase and the door in the bedroom next to her opened and closed.
She listened to the shuffling and double drop of shoes being kicked off.
Her heart felt funny again.
Funny like the stupid thing hadn't already learnt its lesson today.
Letty turned up the music channel and pushed herself off the bed to Mia's closet of mystery, she was getting over Dom tonight. She had had enough.
Mia, despite being a year younger, had more curves, bigger breasts and less stomach fat than her pseudo-sister. Which made a lot of her dresses look stupid on her.
Letty pried the weight of the hangers apart to search through dress after dress.
Mia walked back into her room with her towel wrapped around her underwear to find Letty with her hands on a dress she'd completely forgotten she had.
"Oh my god, yes, you have to wear that!"
The dress was black blocks hidden behind tasteful lace, short, but the midsection was thin lace over the bones of a corset waist. It looked like something you'd see celebrities wearing for nightclubs.
"How do you even have this?" Mr Toretto would never let her buy this with him, neither would Dom.
"Charity shop." Mia answered. "Plus a bit of alteration." Mia took the dress and turned it inside out. "Maybe I removed the midsection panel that made it decent in the eyes of male family members when I was trying to extend the bust out". Another skill Letty didn't have. "It doesn't fit me anymore, but this would be an absolute stunner on you; it's yours."
Make-up perfect, dresses teasingly stunning, Mia and Letty stepped from Leon's Skyline as he parked in the usual spot, between Jesse's Jetta and Vince's Maxima.
Automatically Letty was scanning the crowd for the familiar Supra, the one with the brother of her best friend leaning against it, his muscles cradling a racer skank to his bodywork as he locked lips.
Letty turned her head away fast.
That wasn't her mission today.
No, her mission was to ruin herself, to rid herself of the disease that was unrequited love.
"You girls get into any trouble and I swear this is the last time I'm taking you." Leon chuckled, sitting atop his hood and giving them a salute as they merged with the crowd.
Dom had long since refused to take Mia to the races. Something about brotherly duties that tended to come and go when he wanted them to.
"You gunna be in trouble." Jesse sing-singed as he found them in the crowd, Hector by his side.
Hector's compliments were surely he same though he vocalised them with a wolf-whistle and a slow shake of his head.
"How'd you even get Leon to agree to drive you?" Jesse continued. He would have been their first choice for a ride, but unlike Leon, Jesse was far too loyal to Dom's orders. Leon was influenced by manipulation. And the girls were very skilled in manipulation.
"Dom gunna kill ya, looking like that." Hector agreed with a smile.
"He probably won't even see us." Mia voiced, side-stepping the men and tugged Letty with her.
"He never does." Letty added under her breath, tripping over the borrowed heels to keep up with Mia.
There was one sure-fire way to avoid Dom's eyes; stay away from the skanks.
They made their way through to the fire-escape of the abandoned industrial building as per usual. They got a good view of the races but would never met Dom's lifted gaze past the queued whores.
Mia had her hands on her phone as they settled themselves on the black iron of the first floor gridding.
Letty was already locating the man her fool of a heart wanted.
He was accepting a cheeky groin massage as he drank in the latest sluts barely covered breasts.
What she'd give to be that girl, to be the one he groaned into the ear of as she made him happy. The one he'd wrap his arms around and whisper secrets to, drawing laughter from.
But Dom didn't care about who was in his arms.
He would take anyone who wasn't Letty.
So Letty was going to do the same; anyone who wasn't Dom.
She dropped her eyes to the field of view. Men milled around dragging their gaze over the many womens of the races, desperate, hungry and wanting.
It shouldn't be hard.
"What about Mr Tall and Dark?" Mia asked, her attention temporarily taken from her phone; she must be awaiting a response.
Letty followed her gaze to a guy standing near Jesse and Vince.
"Too tall." Letty instantly responded.
"Okay. Umm, Blonde and petrol head." Mia offered instead, extending a finger across the cars.
"Too skinny."
"His friend?" Mia tried again.
"Too fat."
Mia didn't need to voice it aloud but they both knew where the problem really was; they weren't Dom.
It was clear as day, the girl wasn't even a little bit over Dom.
Mia let Letty have her choice though, she returned to her conversation about good movie sequels with Alex whilst Letty daydreamed.
"Vince's spotted us." Letty spoke after a while, noting Vince walking next to Dom as he rolled up to the start line for his race.
"He won't say anything." Mia swore.
Letty watched Vince turned his dark eyes back to his grease-brother and gave some parting words as he stepped back from the car.
"His bitch has gone." Letty commented. "From this afternoon." Letty added.
Mia narrowed her eyes and conducted a friend-obligatory scan of the crowds.
"Maybe she was one of his recycled lays?" she guessed. It wasn't rare that they never saw Dom's chosen flavour ever again.
"One day only?" Letty suggested.
"He's certainly being friendly enough to conclude she isn't anything important." Mia offered. Both girls watched the woman that had been treating him to an over-pants half handjob pass her thong through his driver's window. Of course, he accepted. "I told you Letty, he doesn't value any girl."
"He'll value her enough to sleep with her." Letty retorted, unable to keep the bitter bite from her words.
Mia wrapped an arm around her shoulders, setting her head on her shoulder in support.
"He's an ass." It was conclusive to Mia, she'd known it for far too long.
"An ass who's racing." Letty sighed, settling her arms on the banister to rest her chin and watch the other cars draw up. "An ass who'll end up winning."
The other competitors had clearly heard of Dom's rep of winning but it didn't stop them from picking their presumed prizes from the line up of ladies that crowded them, gestures left little to the imagination about what these prizes entailed.
"Men are all asses." Letty re-concluded sadly.
"Agreed." Mia spoke. "Except Alex."
"Juries still out until tomorrow." Letty corrected.
"Do you think he'll kiss me?" Mia asked, a nervous edge in her voice. "What will it be like?"
"I don't know…" and the burn in her chest rose again.
Her eyes went to the racer chick that dropped her bra and bared her chest to start the race. Her eyes followed the Supra and the driver she had kept her first kiss for. The driver that didn't want anything to do with her.
Dom pulled ahead easily, he sped forward and left the others fighting for second place. For Letty, that was Dom all over; he was superior to all men, left them in his dust in every way.
But men like Dom didn't look in their rear view at the women standing behind them.
"Oh Jeez, you don't mind do you?" A black head of hair poked up the fire escape, the owner of said hair at the top of the stairs. "I was just looking for somewhere less crowded."
"We don't mind at all." Mia answered quickly, a smile plastered on her face.
Tall and dark from before, and in closer light, Letty could confirm he hit the triad with handsome as well sat himself next to Mia, offering a cigarette across to each of them.
Letty was half surprised when Mia didn't launch into a barrage of reasons why he should stop smoking to preserve his life. Instead Letty got an elbow to the ribs and not-at-all hidden nod of head towards the boy.
Letty wasn't blind, and from the guys smothered chuckle as he lit up, Mia wasn't subtle.
"Enjoying the racing?" he asked as Letty contemplated elbowing her best friend right back.
"Always." Mia spoke for Letty. "It's our favourite place to be. I don't think we've seen you before I'm sure Letty would have remembered your face." Letty was feeling her cheeks flush red at Mia's embarrassment of her.
But the boy grinned, raking a hand through jet black hair that shimmered like an oil spill.
"Visiting a cousin, figured I'd check out the local scene while here." And then he shot his blue eyes to Letty directly. "I'm not regretting my decision at all." The grin he gave said nothing good would come from knowing him. Even the cigarette didn't smell like pure tobacco, no, there was something illegal there. The guy ran with the wrong side of the track. The kind that a pretty face covered dark dark deeds.
Letty scanned him, finding an edge of a neck tattoo that probably signalled gang affiliation and a scar on his knuckles probably from a fight that ended in the hospital.
He has 100% bad boy.
100% wrong.
A cheer lit up the ground below them and all eyes directed themselves to the winning car.
Supra.
Dominic Toretto.
His prize was quick to claim him, throwing herself into his arms and lip locking the adrenaline spinning driver.
Hector broke the crowd with the prize money, his bookie side-career doing far too well on nights like this. As usual, Hector announced a party at his cousins house to the entire circuit, welcoming all to celebrate Toretto's win.
Dom gave a fist bump, a holler and a shout of victory and snared his arm around the closest woman to him, wrapping her in his built arms for a hellfire scorcher of a kiss.
Letty felt her body burn.
Jealousy, depression, anger, self loathing.
And then came the self-destruction.
Letty turned to the black hair, to the leather jacket, to the double meaning tattoos and the bad boy that would thoroughly break her heart.
It was a cure she couldn't think through at that point.
All Letty could think, was that a broken heart couldn't love.
It was freedom from the prison of loving Dom.
Even if it meant breaking herself in the process.
"Letty." Letty introduced herself, sticking an arm across Mia's body between them.
"Dune." he responded with a smirk, the cigarette dangling from his mouth as he took Letty's hand in both of his. "You coming to the party, Letty?"
"Absolutely." Letty nodded.
"Then I'll see you there." And he made his way back down the fire-escape like it wasn't the first time he'd jumped from one, most probably pursued by police.
Letty followed him with her eyes, watching him collect his winnings from Hector. He turned back before the crowd swallowed him and shot a wink straight back to her.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Mia hissed, slapping Letty.
"What?"
"You did see the variety of warning signs, right? The giant billboard that says he's no good!" Mia snapped.
"Yeah. He seems perfect."
"Really? That's the kind of guy that's gunna get you over your crush?" Mia dropped the attitude for amazement.
"Absolutely." Letty voiced, standing and dragging Mia up as well so they wouldn't miss their ride with Leon.
This guy was going to cure her, in the worst way.