The Long Way Around
Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing associated with the Fast and the Furious, Universal Pictures, the directors, producers, or the cast and crew in the movie. Songs, movies, bands, or any other trademark products are not mine either. No profit is being made from writing this story, and certainly no copyright infringement is intended. I am merely a fan writing a story.
Author's Begin Note: Firstly, I would like to make a special thanks to my reviewers, Villana Del Amor, Calie, Kayla, and elaineakins, for their awesome reviews. I appreciate their praises and they've only encouraged me to continue with the story.
Next I would like to tell you that this chapter is where the action really starts to pick up, and by action, I mean action. This chapter is not necessarily romantic – in fact, it's more doom-like than anything else. Muaha. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Playlist: This time I bring you "Debonaire" by Dope, "Freak On A Leash" by Korn, "Dirty" by Christina Aguilera, "Rush" by Aly and AJ, "Perfect Situation" by Weezer, "Easy Silence" by the Dixie Chicks, "Home" by Three Days Grace, and "Makedamnsure" by Taking Back Sunday.
Chapter Two: Catastrophe
By the time next Friday, the day of Wyatt's return, Anita had spent too much time outside, reading in the sun, and had baked her already tan skin. Her usually faded bronze color was replaced by a tomato-like red, but after a couple days of aloe-vera treatments, she had managed to just look red. That particular Friday morning she had agreed to meet her best friend, Liz, at her house before the party. It was a stupid thing to do because Anita had only planned on staying long enough to catch up with Wyatt and talk about whatever it was he wanted to talk about. Now that she agreed to taking Liz, she knew she would be responsible for dragging her drunk ass home after the other girl drank so much she couldn't stand up on her own.
Anita spent a great deal of time convincing Dominic that she would not drink, and to assure him that she would be more risk-free, she agreed to walking, not driving. Now that she was stuck offering a hand to the boys in the driveway with a car part for a customer at the repair shop, Anita was somewhat eager to get away from everyone.
Jesse was interrogating her while she handed him tools, "So, lemme get this straight. This is a graduation celebration, yeah? Even though I would have graduated with you guys but didn't, does this still mean I can celebrate with you guys?"
She handed Vince a wrench, "No. I mean, I'm not sure. I was told it was a summer thing too, but I really don't know how…er, welcome you'd be."
Leon smirked, "In other words, they think you're a loser, so don't go."
Anita cast him a dark look. She really wouldn't have minded if Jesse came along, but it was just that. Kids tended to give her a hard time about still being friends with him after he dropped out of school a year earlier. Besides, she told herself, she wasn't staying long. "Jess, I just don't think it'd be a good idea. I'm only going for one reason anyway."
Vince took a break to wipe his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand, "Ha, and what's that? The booze? The boys?"
"Nooo," she wrinkled up her nose at his comment and shook her head violently with a sharp look in her eye when Leon and Jesse started in laughing. "To talk to someone about something."
"Oh." Vince continued working, but a small grin played on his lips, "Is that code for sex?"
Anita rolled her eyes and pummeled him in the shoulder, hard. "You're all retarded." She ignored Leon's comment, "Oh, c'mon, Anny, we were just joking around," and decided it was about time to get ready.
Up her in her bedroom she decided on jeans and a v-neck halter, but felt violated, like she was showing too much skin with the top, so she put on a navy blue, zip-up hoodie over top. She unzipped it when she found she looked too conserved with it zipped up, and put her hair down to cover her exposed collarbone. Finally deciding she liked how she looked, she grabbed a wad of cash, her license, house keys, cell phone, and a stick of gum.
She quietly laced up her black Chucks in the downstairs hall, hoping to say goodbye to Mia without any hold ups on the boys' behalf. When she went to the kitchen to tell Mia she was leaving, however, she met all three of them.
"Meow! Darling, you better do something about that outfit – you could kill someone with it!" Vince flashed her a toothy grin, and Leon hollered in agreement, while Jesse circled around her, stopping on her left side to touch her shoulder with one finger. He quickly pulled it away and shook it like he had been burnt. "Ouch!"
Mia rolled her eyes and shoved Vince in the chest and turned to her, a sympathetic expression upon her face. "Leaving? You'll be back before midnight, right?"
Anita nodded and replied, "Before then, I figure. Depends on Liz, I guess." She searched the refrigerator for her Gatorade, took a sip, put it back, and turned to leave. "Buhbye!" She wiggled her fingers in a waving manner at Mia and the others.
Liz's house was located about five blocks away from the Torrettos', and by the time she arrived, Anita was pleased with her shoe choice. She rang the doorbell and was greeted by the very blonde, very tan Liz herself.
"Oh, shit, hold on. I'm trying to find my other earring. And my shoes. Could you go up in my closet and find the black heels with pink soles?" She was wearing a black mini skirt and a pink top, and by the looks of it, Anita guessed Liz was out to impress someone - a boy, probably. Hopefully a boy, not a girl.
Anita nodded and ran up the stairs and took the far left door. She got onto her knees and searched the bottom of Liz's messy closet. She eventually found both the heels her best friend had suggested and hurried back downstairs. Liz grabbed them hastily and muttered a thanks, putting them on.
Once outside, Liz stopped and asked in utter confusion, "Um, where's your car?"
"Oh, yeah, about that. It was an agreement I made with my brother. That I wouldn't drive – I'd walk. Sorry." She bit on her thumb nail, waiting for Liz's reaction.
The other girl, of course, rolled her blue eyes and waved a hand in a 'whatever' gesture. "Let's hurry it, then. I'd like to get there before tomorrow."
The walk to Wyatt's friend's house was relatively quiet with only spots of conversation. They could hear music thumping from nearly a block away, and upon arriving at the house around the time it was getting dark, Anita could see patches of people already scattered about the large yard.
Liz joined almost immediately with one of her close boy friends from school, and Anita went looking for Wyatt. She found him in the living room by a giant fish taking, drinking socially on a beer and talking with some other guys about his football scholarship. "Hey," she greeted him quietly.
Wyatt turned quickly and smiled, "Hey! About time you showed up! C'mon, let's get away from the noise." Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he led her through the kitchen and out a side door. It was much quieter out on the deserted patio, and Anita swore she could hear her thoughts clearly again – if she hadn't before.
"So…what's up?" To be completely truthful, she had thought about this and what it could be about. She had driven herself to the point of insanity, and it made her a little nervous that she had put off this chat when she had.
He scratched the back of his head anxiously and sat his beer down on the patio's railing. "Um, well, I've been thinking. About the schools I want to go to, and stuff. And, well, us, really."
Anita stared him directly in the eyes and nodded for him to go on. She sort of had a gist of where this conversation was going, but she wanted to hear the whole thing from him.
Wyatt continued slowly, "And, well, if I'm gonna go to school in New York, and you're going to school here, long distance relationships can be a hassle, you know? I also noticed during this year that we kind of drifted…because of the different classes we took, and things we were interested in. Now, I don't know about you, but I have had the best time of my life these three years with you." He held her face in his hands now, "I love you, Anita, I really do, but I think you know by now too that it just won't work out from here." He waited for her reaction.
She took it all in slowly. Yes, he was right. She had known. In fact, she could have seen herself doing the same thing he was doing months down the road. As sorrowful as it seemed, she had trusted Wyatt's judgment and decisions. This would all turn out for the better in the end, she was sure of it. Anita nodded and looked up at him. "Yeah. Yes, I know it won't."
He gave her a brief smile before kissing her lightly. They pulled away from each other and were quiet for a moment. She forced a smile and reached up to ruffle his dark blonde hair. "It's all good." She sighed. She might as well leave, then. Or at least go find Liz and watch her until she wanted to go home – make sure she didn't drink too much. "Well, I'm gonna head out. I think."
Wyatt nodded and followed her into the house. Anita wandered upstairs and tried to find a bathroom. Finally finding one that was not occupied, she used it and took a moment to check her appearance. Still in check. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a while. A small tugging feeling was pulling at her heart, and she allowed herself to grieve the loss of her three-year boyfriend. She did not cry – the breakup had not been a messy one, and it had all ended for a better cause in the end. She just did not feel the need for tears. Just as she was about to leave the bathroom and head back downstairs, she heard a familiar voice through the wall.
She glanced about the room for a second door, or a place to listen through the wall for a moment, and saw a door near the back of the room. She pressed her ear to it to hear the muffled voices clearer.
"Did you do it?"
"Yeah. I told her about the school thing. She fell for it, even though most of it was true. You know?"
A deep pit in Anita's stomach formed. That was Wyatt's voice. And he was with…some unidentified girl.
"That's great. Now we don't have to worry about her finding out about us, yeah?"
"Ha, yep. Just perfect." As she listened closer, Anita could make out sounds of the two of them kissing, and possibly even more.
Realization sunk in. Despite all the things that Wyatt had said seemed true, he hadn't dumped her for those reasons. He had ditched her for some other girl. Now we don't have to worry about her finding out about us. He had even been cheating on her before he dumped her.
Anita pulled her ear away from the door and leaned on it for support. She didn't know whether to feel angry, naïve, stepped on, or extremely sad, but perhaps this huge feeling of emptiness was a mixture of all of the above. Slowly she sunk to the floor, resting her back on the door, and put her head on her knees. It was there, in a total stranger's bathroom, that she let it all out.
She cried mostly for herself and her stupidity. Why hadn't she seen? Taken in the clues and signs? But there hadn't really been any. Wyatt had been such a large chunk of her life, and now that she did not have him there any longer, there was such a huge space to fill. Hot tears poured down her face and got her jeans wet. She lifted her head up and silently sobbed, wiping her tears and runny nose on her hoodie's sleeve.
She wanted to go home. Screw Liz. At the moment, Anita cared less if she got drunk and couldn't walk. Bitterness got the best of her, and she even wished the other girl she called her best friend got so drunk some stranger took her home. Let something bad to Liz. Bad things happened to everyone, and Anita decided then that she was starting to see that.
Grabbing onto the sink for support, Anita pulled herself up and splashed cold water on her hot face. She forced a smile in the sink to stop anymore tears from falling and then rushed out into the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door.
The cool, night breeze cooled her hot, tear-stained cheeks as she fled down the sidewalk in the dark, and the music of the party gradually began to die out. Anita made it almost four blocks without being disturbed, but as she turned onto the long street that went on for six more blocks before it reached her house, she heard a low hum of motors behind her.
Quickly she glanced over her shoulder and in the dark made out the figures of men on motorcycles of some sort, and a dark car followed behind them. None of them had their headlights on, and they were going extremely slow, as though they were following her. Anita quickened her already hasty pace, and before long, she was running.
Suddenly bright headlights flooded the empty street, and she turned to see what they were doing. She was immediately blinded, and couldn't see the tall guy step off his crotch rocket and come at her.
She tried to shove him off and make a run for it, but it only resulted in this guy hitting her square across the face. She could taste the coppery tang of blood in her mouth, and as a reflex, she held her hand to her jaw.
The lights were lowered a notch, and Anita could make out the face of her attacker. He was tall with an Asian ethnicity, and his name dawned on her almost as quick as it slipped from her mouth, "Tran."
"That's right, Princess. Johnny Tran, to you." Johnny pressed her against the wall of the building behind her with his knee and arms and interrogated with his face awfully close to hers, "Tell me, Torretto, what are you doing out in the dark all alone?"
Anita kept trying to squirm out of his grip, but he kneed her hard in the stomach. She groaned and doubled over in pain, her head coming in contact with his shoulder. He yanked it back and threw it viciously into the wall once more, giving her an instant headache. "Huh? Answer my question, or Lance here will have to encourage you." Another, yet shorter, guy of Asian decent appeared in her peripheral vision. He had a gun, and Anita could feel her heart start to pound in her chest; it was almost painful, and her head was causing dizziness, making her want to throw up on Johnny Tran's leather jacket.
"I was just walking home from, AH!" She paused and gasped in pain. He was continually yanking on her hair, and the last time had really hurt. "From a party. That's all, I swear. I don't know what you think I've done."
Johnny pulled her off the wall and forcefully shoved her back into it. Her face clenched in pain. "Is that so? Well, Princess, consider yourself lucky that I believe you. It's not something you've done, but something your brother's done." He cast a dark look at her. "Lance, put her in the car. Put a bullet in her leg if she resists." He shoved Anita towards the guy with the gun. Johnny joined the rest of his gang on his crotch rocket as Lance speedily steered her to a black car parked in the middle of the street. She was too terrified to try and pull something again, so she went along with it all as she was forcefully shoved into the back seat and the car started rolling as quickly as the door had shut.
The backseat windows of the car were tinted so darkly that she could not see out of them, so Anita kept a sharp eye on the driver, another Asian guy with an odd mustache. After about fifteen minutes of driving through the night at a speed that she was sure was illegal, the car was parked and Tran dragged her out of the car, tossing her onto the cement floor of what appeared to be his garage.
There were many bystanders, members of Tran's gang, standing about the garage, and Lance was already in his gun-holding stance. "Stand up," Tran ordered her harshly, yet with a hint of boredom. "Search her," he bellowed at Lance as she shakily got to her feet.
Lance began patting her down, and she tensed up under his rough touch, and with all these people watching, she felt extremely violated. Finally he gathered her cell phone and tossed it to Johnny, that being the only valuable thing she had on her.
Johnny studied the phone, a nasty smirk forming on his face. He steadily paced the floor around Anita before grabbing her arms and jerking them behind her, binding her from any movement with her hands or arms. He opened her phone with his free hand and pressed a few buttons. Then, holding it to her ear, he commanded, "Tell Dominic he'd better bring those car parts to me ASAP, or his littlest sister's going to pay for it." Anita's stomach nearly lurched out through her throat when he mentioned Dominic and she heard the phone ringing on the other end.
Jesse's boyish voice answered the phone in what must've been the living room, for Anita could hear a loud movie playing in the background. "Yeah, hello."
Trying her best to find her voice and steady it, Anita swallowed and said, "Jesse? It's Anita, give the phone to Dom."
She heard him sigh and say, "Hold on." There was a muffled crash and soon Dom came on, "Hello?"
Anita nearly burst into tears when she heard her big brother's voice. She desperately wanted to cry out for him to come get her and undo all her injuries, both emotionally and physically, but she knew Johnny Tran would not hesitate to break one of her arms if she tried. "Um, Dom? I…there's someone here that says he needs car parts as soon as possible." She felt Tran tug on her arm, which made a slight stinging sensation in her shoulder. She shut her eyes in pain and added, "And he says if you don't do so immediately, he'll, um, I'll have to pay for it." A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Dom's voice was still calm, even after everything she had just told him, "Is it Tran? Anny, where are you? What's he doing?" It was then that she knew he was sincerely concerned for her. He yelled at the others in the room, "Would you turn that fucking TV down?"
Leon asked in the background, "What's happening?" Jesse replied, "Dunno, it was Anny."
Anita hesitated, not knowing what to say. Not wasting any time, Tran pulled the phone away, "Torretto, I suggest you and your pack move yourselves down here, or the Princess might just have to have a fun time with Lance. I'll be expecting you in the next fifteen minutes."
Out of pure desperation, Anita screamed at the top of her lungs, "Dom, hurry, he's got a gun!"
Johnny hastily shut the phone and tossed it across the floor. He pulled down on her arms, sending her to the floor, screaming in agony. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Princess." She hardly saw the blur of his fist strike her jaw. Nothing snapped or cracked, but more blood came oozing out her mouth. She decided it best to stay laying on the floor. The cold cement felt good on her burning cheeks anyway.
Minutes passed, and she tried her best to ignore the insults and threats Johnny and Lance passed her way. Anita only raised her head when she heard screeching tires and roaring engines outside the garage. The side door burst open and Dom, Vince, Leon, and Jesse all came tearing in.
"It's about time, Torretto," Johnny sneered. Lance's gun was no longer pointed at her, but now her brother.
Dom's facial expression was hard and clearly said that he was not to be messed with. "What do you want? I'd appreciate it if you left her out of this."
Johnny took a step closer to him, "My parts, Torretto. I had them imported, sources say you took them, and I want them back." He chuckled, "And she was just too pretty to leave out of it. Wouldn't you agree, Lance?" He cocked his head to the side to see his cousin properly.
Lance nodded, an odd sort of grin on his face, "Oh yeah. Just too damn pretty." His words were slow and spaced.
Out of the corner of her eye, Anita saw Leon cracking his knuckles in a menacing manner. Jesse looked downright pissed off, and Vince looked as though he might attack someone at any minute.
Dom still remained calm. "I don't know what parts you're talking about, Tran. Your sources must not be very reliable. Now let her go, and maybe we can talk about it some other time." He indicated toward Anita. Lance narrowed his eyes and stepped next to her, pointing the gun directly at her head.
Both Leon and Vince lunged forward, but Dom held them back. Johnny paced the floor a bit and bellowed, "If it wasn't you, then you better start naming names, Torretto."
"I told you, I don't know who took your parts. And even if I did, I'm not a nark. You already knew that." Dom took a bold step toward Tran. "This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely. Let her go."
Tran looked extremely irritated, but seemed to go with Dominic's word. If what he had said was true, the people here were of no further use to him. He turned around and shoved Lance away from Anita. Grabbing her by the hair he walked her over to where Vince stood and shoved her into him. "Get out of my sight before I decide to leave bullet holes in your Nissans."
Anita latched onto Vince as he quickly led her out of the garage, followed by the others. As soon as the garage door was discourteously shut behind them, Anita made for Dom, who was standing with open arms. She locked her arms around his waist and sobbed into his shirt. He gently lifted her off the ground and carried her to his car, where he placed her in the passenger's seat.
Jesse muttered, "Let's get out of here, dogs."
Too tired and out of tears to cry on the ride home, Anita just pressed her forehead to the window and stared at the passing buildings. When they walked inside the house, Mia's reaction was that of a mother's, and Anita was grateful. She prepared fresh pajama bottoms and plain white tee for her when she got out of the shower and helped cover the gash in her cheek. Anita spent a little alone time in her room before walking into a loud conversation downstairs.
Vince and Leon were both yelling at Dom, "They've been pulling that shit for too long, Dominic, and you're telling me you're not going to do anything about it?"
"I never said I wasn't going to do anything about it, I just said now's not the time." Dom was rubbing his bald head.
Vince's face was turning a sickening shade of red, "And exactly when will that time be? When they end up killing one of us?"
Dom lunged at Vince and pointed a finger straight in his face, "No one's going to get killed here. You hear me? I'm not letting that happen. It won't get that far."
Anita slowly rounded the corner into the living room and stood by Jesse. Everyone quieted and stared, but then stared at something else as if to make it look like they weren't in the first place. Jesse glanced down his nose at her and then wrapped his arm around her. "C'mon, let's go outside or something."
Leon butted in, "Nah, let me go." He cast a dark look, one of the worst Anita had seen Leon give anyone, at Dom. "I could use the fresh air anyway."
He took Jesse's place and led Anita to the back step. He stared at his hands first, then the sky, then he took his toothpick out of his mouth and fiddled with that for a bit. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She really didn't know if she did want to talk about it. At least not the part about Johnny. Sure, she was scared shitless, but wouldn't anyone be? It wasn't that that bothered her the most. What bothered her the most was the reason she had been walking down that street. The thing with Wyatt.
She glanced away, trying to keep her tears at bay, but finally couldn't and leaned on him for comfort. He put his arm around her and tried his best to make her feel better, "Hey…hey."
"He ditched me. He ditched me for some girl, and then he lied about it. He told me it was because we were going to different schools in the fall. But then I found him…at the party. And that's why I left, and then Tran…" she shook her head and smiled. "I'm unbelievably stupid."
Leon looked thoroughly ticked off, "Wait a minute, who's this guy?"
Anita nervously answered, "Wyatt Durden? He's my…well, he was my boyfriend of three years."
That was certainly a shock to Leon, whom she had managed to keep this little bit of information from. "Oh, cool. I mean, not cool, but you know. Whatever. And you're not stupid, if that makes you feel better."
She smiled up at him and pulled away. "Yeah, it does. Thanks."
After a bit longer of sitting outside, the two went back indoors, and Anita headed to bed. She slept the best she had in weeks.
Author's End Note: I'm not too terribly satisfied with the outcome of this chapter, but I had to show in at least one chapter how protective of Anita the guys are, etc, etc. A bit of relationship background, I guess you could say. Anyway, next chapter will pick up where the gang is introduced to Brian Earl Spilner. Woooooo.