This is the flashback- really it's just the second part of the previous chapter

I walked into the garage. It was hot. So hot. I could feel the beads of sweat forming on my forehead and I hadn't even done anything yet. I was the last to arrive. That was pretty typical. If I didn't have detention after school I usually got caught up with something else. Luckily my boss was Mr. T or I would have been fired before I was even legally hired.

"What's up, Let?" Vince asked. He was standing up in the closest bay looking into the hood of an Acura.

I shrugged. It was too hot to talk. A yawn escaped my lips.

"Wake up. Don't want an engine to accidentally fall on you. Got to stay on your toes little girl," Dom said, walking up behind Vince. I hated when he called me 'little girl'. It was so patronizing.

"Gee, Dom, that's really helpful. Thank you," I said to him sarcastically, while giving him the finger. I walked over to my locker. It was too hot to put on my coveralls. I slipped off my shirt, wearing just my sports bra from gym class underneath. It was sufficient though, I felt, given the extreme heat. Plus, I didn't care if it got dirty. Who was going to see it besides me? I slipped the legs of the coveralls on and tied off the sleeves at my waist.

I walked back to the front and towards the Toyota I had started working on yesterday. I looked at it, trying to remember where I had left off. Was it the clutch? Probably.

"Whoa, Letty, showin' a lil skin there, huh?" Dom joked, pinching my side as he walked by.

"Fuck you," I dismissed him. Though, I couldn't deny that any touch from Dom was nice.

He just laughed, walking back over to his current assignment. Tony was out today, out of town for a race. It was just the three of us and his other two employees (Joe and Calvin). Luckily they were a lot more serious than we were or very little would have gotten accomplished some days.

Several hours passed and the garage cooled down as the sun began to set. It was easy to tell when it was five o'clock by the way the sun edged closer towards the horizon and turned the sky into a myriad of colors.

"Alright, Dom, I'll see you tomorrow. If you talk to Tony, tell him I said 'good luck' at the race tomorrow," Joe said, leaving for the day. Calvin finished up the day trying to catch up on paperwork. I don't think the paperwork was every really 'caught up' but with a group of grease monkeys, no one was surprised.

"Pack it in, killer. We're about to close up," Vince tapped my shoe. It snapped me out of my daze. I rolled out and looked up at the two guys.

"Look, you can't work so hard. You're makin' us look bad," Dom joked.

"You do that all on your own. You don't need no help from me," I told him, standing up.

He rolled his eyes at me as he removed his work gloves and the grease and oil from himself with a rag.

"So, bro, whatchu doin' tonight?" Vince asked, as he followed suit.

Dom just smirked, a devilish look forming on his face. It peeked my curiosity. As I cleaned up, I couldn't help but try my best to ease drop.

"What's that look?" Vince questioned suspiciously.

Dom shrugged, antagonizing Vince.

"Come on, spill," he urged.

"Got a date," he let on.

"Shocker," Vince said, no surprise to anyone in the room. Although, Dom's dates were not exactly the 'dinner and movie' type of dates.

"With Amber," Dom said smiling.

"Henderson?" Vince pressed, full of curiosity.

Dom nodded.

"Amber Henderson?" I questioned in disbelief. "Why the hell would she go out with you?"

Amber was class president, on the track team, debate team, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was not Dom's typical 'date'.

"Guess she recognizes all the talent," he replied cockily.

I scoffed, "probably just wants to piss her dad off."

"Either way. Daddy's little girl is always a good time."

"Ew, Dom, have you no decency?" I questioned.

"Probably not," he replied.

I dismissed his chauvinistic attitude. He loved to rub the fact that he got with a bunch of girls in, well, everybody's face.

"Well, don't forget to wrap it up, Dommy," I commented before leaving the garage. I didn't even bother to change. I didn't want to even give a glimmer of a hint that I cared what Dom did. Although his many female escapades did secretly bother me.

There was a soft breeze in the air as I walked the couple of blocks back to my house. I could have caught a ride with Dom or Vince. But, sometimes I just liked to walk. It helped me clear my head. Nothing but the sound of my feet against the pavement and the noises of the city. It helped to silence whatever internal dialogue I may have come up with.

I got to the house. My mom and aunt both had their cars parked in the driveway. I made my way to the door and entered the house. The smell of food immediately hit my nostrils. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I walked into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" I walked over to the stove to see what concoction my mom was working on.

"Nada for you mija until you take a shower," she said, eyeing me.

"Ugh, Ma, come on. I'm hungry," I whined.

"Then you better hurry up," she said, unyielding.

I tromped upstairs and started the shower. I removed my coveralls and threw them into the growing pile of dirty clothes that already littered my bedroom floor. I opened my dresser drawer and pulled out an old tee-shirt and pair of shorts. I walked into the bathroom, the steam radiating from the shower was already starting to fog up the mirror.

I jumped in and quickly washed my hair and attempted to remove all visible grease and grime from my body. As quickly as I was in, I was out. I toweled off, put on the clean clothes, and ran back downstairs. I slicked my hair back and threw it into a ponytail as I came back into the kitchen.

"That was fast," my aunt commented, setting the table. "What do you want to drink, Leticia?"

"Makers, straight up," I replied. I knew that Mr. T liked Makers Mark. I mainly said it to get a rise out of them. There was not one ounce of my being that thought she would actual comply to this request.
She and my mom just shot me a look. A look telling me, not in a million years.

"What? It's been a long day," attempting to make a defense. They did not find the humor it in. I felt as though my humor was completely wasted on those two.

"I think you have been hanging out at the Toretto's garage too much. You need to do other things. Things with people your age. Girls your age," my mom said. I had heard it before. At least weekly.

I just rolled my eyes and got up to pour myself a glass of water. "Where's E.J. and Miguel?" I asked in reference to my brothers.

"Miguel is still at work. E.J. was home earlier but he went out with Hector just before you got home."

We had dinner. My mom and my aunt made useless chatter about things that only pertained to them. I couldn't wait to get up from the table. I just wished I had plans for the night. I considered calling Mia to see what she was doing. But I didn't want Dom to answer. I wanted to pretend like he did not exist for one evening.

I got up from the table and cleaned up while my mom and aunt continued their in-dept discussion while watching reruns of Dallas in the living room. I looked at them and prayed that I would never turn into that.

As I finished putting away the last of the dishes, I picked up the phone to call Mia.

"Hello?" she answered on the other end.

"What's up, Mi," I asked, trying to stretch the phone cord as far as I could so that no one could hear.

"Hey, Letty. What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing, just finished with dinner. How 'bout you?"

"The same. Cleaning stuff up."

"What are you getting into tonight?'

"I don't know. I hadn't gotten that far. Do you want to do something?" she asked.

"Yeah, just as long as your brother's not there."

She laughed.

"I'm serious," I replied.

"You don't seem to mind seeing him every single day at the garage. But, okay. Whtatever. He's not here anyway. He said he's got some kind of date. Anyway, he and Vince went somewhere the second dinner was over," she told me.

Well that was one less thing I had to worry about, for now anyway. I guessed he was serious about that date with Amber. Whatever, I didn't care. He could go out with whomever he wanted. What did it matter to me? Nothing…I kept repeating these things in my head. Maybe if I thought them enough, I would actually start feeling it.

"It's just a job," I defended. "And, I'm good at it. The fact that your brother is there has absolutely nothing to do with it."

"I can see your nose growing right through the phone you liar."

"Ugh!" I replied, exasperated. "Listen, are we gonna talk about your brother all night or are we gonna do something a little more interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"I don't know. E.J.'s with Hector, but I don't really wanna hang out with them. There's nothin' to do here. This town sucks. L.A. is freakin' dead."

"Well just come over. We'll figure something out. I'll call some people, see if anything fun is going on."

"Alright. I'll be by in a little bit," I told her and hung up the phone .Why was there never anything for fourteen-year-olds to do? If you didn't have a car, you were screwed, stranded.

I went upstairs and changed out of my pajamas into some more normal clothes. I looked in the mirror and stared at my reflection for a few minutes. There really wasn't anything I could do. I was stuck with this wavy, black hair, and this miniature height. I supposed that I could wear heels and straighten my hair but I didn't feel like exerting that much effort.

"Ma, I'm goin' over to Mia's," I called out as I ran down the stairs.

"Wait," she called out. Damn, so close.

"What?" I asked, annoyed, as I edged the bottom of the stairs.

"You aren't going to hang out with Dominic are you?" she questioned suspiciously.

I wrinkled my brow at her. "No," I replied, giving her more attitude than I should. "I'm going to hang out with Mia. Dom's not even there. Besides, I thought you liked the Torettos."

"I do like the Torettos. But I have a feeling about Dominic. He seems like trouble. You need to stay away from him," she warned.

"Don't worry, Ma. It's a non-issue."

I walked towards the door and was halfway out when she asked, "when are you coming home?"

"Later," I replied.

"By curfew," she called out just as I closed the door.

I walked down the street to the Toretto house. My Mom was worried about me hanging out with Dom? Yeah right. In my dreams. Dom and I didn't 'hang out'. He had Ashley's and Nicole's and Tiffany's to 'hang out' with. His social calendar was pretty booked.

"Mia?" I called out as I let myself into the side door of the house.

"In here," she called from the living room.

I made my way in there to find her sitting on the couch watching the same damn Dallas rerun that my mom and aunt were watching. Geez. I just couldn't escape it.

"So…this doesn't look like what I want to do tonight. What else you got?" I asked her as I sat on the arm of the couch.

"This is the one where they reveal who shot J.R. It's a classic," she replied, dismissing me.

"Yeah, like back in early 1980-something," I replied. "So, did you talk to anybody?"

"Yeah a couple of people. Seems like everyboyd's kinda lookin' for something to do."

We sat there for a minute, watching commercials and finding out, for the thousandth time that

Sue Ellen was framed and it was actually Kristin that shot J.R. I had a brilliant, beyond brilliant idea. I could literally feel the light bulb lighting up over my head.

"I've got it. An awesome idea. I'm a genius," I told Mia excited.

"Wow, I'm excited. Let's hear it," she said, though she didn't really sound very excited.

"So, Dom's gone, probably for the night, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"And your dad, he's gone until at least Sunday, right?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, a little more hesitantly.

"So, let's have people over here!"

Mia just smiled and started laughing.

"It's foul-proof," I assured.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," she repeated.

"Why not?"

"Have you lost your mind? Have a party? No. I'm not having a party. That is not, not something I'm gonna do."

"Come on, Mi. Maybe not like a party, but just some people over. Who's gonna find out? Come on," I urged, stronger.

"You're crazy. I cannot have a party."

"Just like a couple of people. You know that would be fine. And, hey, we can invite Ryan," I tempted. Mia had the biggest crush on Ryan. I couldn't figure out why. But, nonetheless, if it would help my party plight, I was going to use it.

"I don't know," she said, starting to give in.

"Mia, we have like four people over here. What's the worst that could happen? What, you might have fun? Dear Lord, not fun!"

"You're a bad influence!" she said, jokingly yelling at me.

"Hey, I've been called worse," I jumped down off the couch and ran over to the phone. "So, who should we invite?"

"Ryan!" she almost squealed.

"That's all you," I said, handing her the phone.

Mia proceeded to call Ryan, who happened to be with Seth. They decided to come by. Then we called Kate and Heather to come over. Kate was dating Spencer, who also had to be invited. But, Spencer was with Craig and Tyler, who also wanted to come.

"Okay, that's it. I don't want this to get out of control," Mia said, putting the phone down and moving it out of my reach. "That's seven people. You said four!"

"Relax, Mia. There've been more people here at a barbeque. I think it's gonna be okay. Take a chill pill and try to just enjoy the fact that you have a house completely to yourself."

"Well, you better be right," she warned. "So, are you gonna change?"

"What do you think?" I asked her

"Well, I'm gonna change. Here," she threw me the remote. "I'll be right back."

"See you in an hour," I joked as she ran upstairs.

I flipped through the channels. Nothing was on. I watched Wheel of Fortune for a few minutes but quickly became bored with that. Just then, another brilliant idea flooded my mind. I was really on a roll tonight. I threw the remote down on the sofa and ran upstairs, taking them two at a time.

"Whoa, where's the fire," Mia called as I dashed past her bedroom.

"I just remembered something," I said as I made my way into Dom's bedroom.

"What are you doing?" she asked, peeking out of her room and following me over to Dom's.

"Dom hides liquor in here," I told her, turning on his light and surveying the room.

"Letty, come on," Mia said, as if I couldn't be serious.

"No, he does. And I bet he's shitty at hiding things." I made my way over the threshold. Just then, I stepped on something squishy. I looked down at my shoe and almost threw up. "Oh, God!"

"What is it?" Mia asked, coming into the room further.

"Fucking condom!" I yelled. "Get it off my shoe!"

"Ew! I'm not touching that!"

"It's gross! I'm gonna get herpes! Get it off, Mia! Get it off!"

"No way! Just take your shoe off. I'm not touching that. It's my brother. Disgusting!"

I reached down and tried not to gag as I delicately ripped the shoe off my foot and threw it across the room. "Why in the hell does your brother have used condoms on his floor?"

Mia shrugged, "I don't know, he's a disgusting human being. Why would I know?"

"I'm gonna puke. I probably caught some crazy skank STD."

"I don't think you're gonna catch it through your shoe. Let's just get out of here before anything else creeps out of the corners," Mia said, turning to leave.

I had not completed my mission, though. I walked over to his bed and looked underneath. Sure enough, two bottles of liquor and a stack of magazines, which I chose to ignore, littered the area.

"Ah ha!" I said, reaching under, careful to avoid touching the magazines. I pulled out a bottle of vodka and a bottle of whiskey. "Found it."

"You're not seriously gonna drink those, are you?"

"Not all of them. I don't wanna wake up tomorrow dead. But I may have a drink. You should too. This may be the chill pill you need to calm your ass down," I told her, heading out of the room.

"We really shouldn't drink, Letty."

"You are so after-school-special. I love it. Maybe if you have a drink you'll actually be able to say more than two words to Ryan instead of just standing back in the corner like you usually do." I could tell she was considering it.

I walked down the stairs as Mia finished up her primping routine. I made my way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I did not have a lot of experience with alcohol, besides what I had seen other people do and taking a sip of Mr. T's beer or a glass of my mom's wine once in a blue moon. I took out several different juices and sodas. I got down two glasses, filled them with ice, halfway with vodka, and then just began pouring splashes of the random mixers into each glass. The final product looking to be a dark shade of pink. I stirred each drink with a spoon and took a sip. It was the most wretched thing I had ever tasted. But, I was fourteen, so I continued to drink it.

Mia walked downstairs and I handed her a glass.

"What is this?" she questioned smelling it and immediately turning up her nose.

"I don't know," I smiled, taking another baby sip out of mine. She attempted to taste hers and started to cough.

"That's gross."

"Seems to be a theme for the night."

We sat down on the couch with our completely repulsive drinks and watched television while we waited for everyone to arrive. It didn't take more than thirty minutes before all the guests had arrived. A few of the guys had brought beer. I made Kate and Heather one of my horrid drinks. We put a tape in the tape deck and turned off the television.

After about an hour, the guys had gone through several beers and the girls had made a pretty good dent in their vodka creation. Everyone was in very high spirits. I noticed Mia and Ryan involved in a very deep conversation over to one side of the room. Kate and Spencer clearly just wanted to make out. But, everyone else was just singing along to the music and shooting the breeze.

"Letty has it," I heard Mia say mid-conversation.

"What've I got?" I interjected.
"That mixed tape we made with Dr. Dre and Naughty by Nature on it," she said. Mia was kind of drunk. It made me laugh. She was a lot more excitable after an insanely strong drink.

"Yeah," I said.

"Go get it!" she urged.

"It's in my bookbag," I told her.

"So?"

"I left it at the garage."

"It's like a block and a half away. Come on. Go get it. Please," she begged. I took it that Ryan probably wanted to hear it. I didn't really mind making the walk. After half of that drink, it might be fun to walk somewhere. I was considering it.

"Yeah, that'd be fun to listen to," Craig said out of the blue.

"You don't even know what all's on it," I laughed.

"Well, only one way to show me," he said. "Come on, go get it. I'll walk with you if you want."

"I think I can handle it on my own, but thanks," I told him.

I got up and made my way to the door. "Letty," Mia called, rushing over to me. "You sure you don't want Craig to walk with you? I think he likes you."

"Yeah, that's why I'm sure," I assured her. I put on a pair of her shoes because, God knows I wasn't going to touch mine anytime soon, and made my way outside.

All the stars were out and the air was warm. The breeze from earlier was still present. It was one of those great California nights. I heard all sorts of sounds in the distance, but I could still, faintly, hear the beginning sounds of summer. I got lost in my thoughts and before I knew it, I was at the garage. I checked my pockets for the keys, something I should have done prior to leaving the house, but luckily I felt them and quickly pulled them out.

As I made my way over to the door, I noticed that there was a light on. I heard noise too. It sounded like noise, but was hard to make out because of the thick walls. I assumed one of the guys left something on, and planned to point out their irresponsibility the next day. I went to unlock the door but noticed that it was already unlocked. Without a second thought, I pulled it open. I could not believe my eyes.

There, right on top of the Toyota I had been slaving over the past few days, was Dominic Toretto. But that wasn't what shocked me. He wasn't alone. There was Amber, practically naked, laying on top of the hood. They were…I had to rub my eyes. They were clearly about to start having sex. I couldn't move. My body was frozen. I knew Dom had had sex. But I'd never actually…seen progression of it. Fuck. My heart sank. It was one thing to hear about it. But there he was, kissing another girl- to say the least.

I don't know how long I stood there. Time was nonexistent at that moment. But then, Dom noticed me.
"Fuck, Letty, what are you doing here?" he yelled, jumping off her and picking up an article of clothing from the ground.

"I…uh," I couldn't speak. I wanted to run.

"Shit," he called out. "I mean. We were just…um. What, what, what are you doing here?"

That pissed me off. I think it was a combination of the complete devastation of actually seeing him with another girl, and his idiotic stammering that caused me to snap.

"Me! I just came to get something. What the fuck are you doing here? I've worked on that car all week!" I yelled, as if that was some sort of justification.

I suppose all that track training had really paid off because Amber was up and off the car so quick, I barely saw her movements. She started gathering up her clothes and mumbling something about needing to go home.

"Jesus, Amber. Fuck, listen Letty…can you maybe give us a second?" Dom yelled back.

"Whatever, asshole," I yelled, turning around and slamming the door. I just stood there. I heard Dom, his voice barely audible, but I imagined he was trying to calm the girl down. No doubt, trying to get her to pick up where they left off. What a man-whore. How could I ever have liked him?

I started to make a few steps away from the door when I saw a something blonde and tan run by me. It took me a minute to realize that it was Amber that had just flown by. I think the swift movements and the alcohol caused me to hesitate for a minute. What the hell just happened? That sucked! I'd seen Dom with another girl. I wasn't mad. I was heartbroken.

I don't know how many minutes had elapsed but Dom was by my side, fully dressed.

"So, I gotta be honest, you're really not an effective wingman," he joked.

I just glared at him. I couldn't decide which part of his body I wanted to punch first. I decided to just take a swing and see where my fist landed. Turns out, it landed in his face.

"Jesus. What the fuck was that all about? I'm the one with fuckin' blue balls here!" he commented, not mad, merely perturbed.

"Dom, you can't do that shit at the garage. That's our place," I said without even thinking. But then, I realized what I had said. I didn't want him to think anything of it. I had to correct it. Quickly. "I mean, you know, you, me, and Vince's place. It's sacred, man. You can't taint it like that."

Dom just let out a little chuckle, rubbing his jaw. "Sorry. Didn't realize it was practically your church, Let. I was just thinkin' it'd be hot and make a good story."

"You're…you're impossible," I said quietly.

At that point I realized that Dom and I was just an illusion. It was never going to happen.

"Well, looks like my date's over," he joked. "What are you doin' tonight?"

Just then I remembered the party. Dom couldn't come back to the house. I had to think of something.

"Nothing, we're not doing anything. Really. We're just watching stupid movies that Mia likes. You'd hate it. You should try to catch up with Vince or something. Really. You'd be bored out of your mind."

He looked at me funny. "You're a shitty liar," he smiled. "Come on. I can't wait to see the after-hours life that Letty leads. Where are we going?"

Shit. He was going to be pissed.

TBC