Disclaimer: I do not own The Fast and The Furious, it characters or its situations.
Chapter 11
Saturday afternoon came quickly for me. I was surprised that the prospect of letting yet another person in our extracurricular activities wasn't plaguing me. Then again I had much bigger walls to climb.
Dom had taken care of the second obstacle, lack of training. K.C., regardless of how sketchy he seemed to me, was going to teach us how to add nitrous to our cars. I was still amazed that Dom was able to swing all of this for free. Well maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Dom tended to act like a gravity machine at times, collecting people into his space without effort but able to throw people from his field of gravity simply by flipping a switch. We'd witnessed this before most often with girls of Dom's acquaintance. Roxy had been thrown from orbit quicker than kicking a soccer ball for throwing off the orbital balance of the other member objects of Dom's lunch table solar system. So I guess it wasn't that far of a stretch that Harry would be drawn to help Dom who's strong, confident, and loyal personality demanded respect and adoration from those around him.
In a way, as long as we played it safe and managed the output of some of the objects in Dom's solar system, we could maintain a hold over obstacle three, secrecy. As it stood, the planet Venus didn't know anything and wouldn't know anything remotely relating to street racing. Dom was very unyielding on this point. When I suggested that he should tell Mia to get her help in keeping our excuses to Mr. Toretto believable, Dom got stone faced. I didn't need him to say 'no' to get the message loud and clear. She would not be a part of either the illegal street racing world or embroiled in our web of secrecy regarding the illegal street racing world. Dom wanted her to be able to answer her father honestly: 'No, I don't know where Dom is…I didn't know what Dom was up to…I never went to a race'. Way to slide the protective older brother card out of your pocket Dom.
The Moon already knew and was doing an excellent job of keeping the secret. I was proud of Daphne. She was smart enough to allude to the races without arousing the suspicions of the uneducated members of the solar system. In fact, I was going to invite her to the races again even though I knew I would most likely sit on the sidelines the whole night. I enjoyed going with her twice more since our initial race date and she was a trooper. She even cheered Vince on when he raced the last time, putting aside old chip-stealing hurts for the team. I almost didn't mind that sometimes she wore orange dominated outfits or ate some of my munchies, the latter which she had no trouble taking from me even though she was very protective of her snacks at lunch.
The Sun was an unknown quantity. I already knew that the Asteroid Belt would do its best beat everything into submission, but I also knew that their close ties would make it difficult for him. Vince would probably end up trying to use threats of impending doom rather than his fists to keep Letty from telling, but then again, the Sun could pack a punch as painful as a stray asteroid. In all honesty, I was surprised that Letty didn't know about the races already. Whether she knew it or not, she hung around a lot of racers in Auto Shop. Hector, a couple of his cousins, Edwin, Vince, Dom, and I were all in shop and all present at races. She had gained respect from all of us too: unafraid to do the messy or heavy jobs, making up classes she missed, and kicking all of our asses on our written exams. The threat really was her temper. Just like the sun, she could let off a spurt of energy that could damage people when riled. Her mouth had already gotten her into scrapes in the school yard and she had left a trail of split lips, blackened eyes, and bleeding noses in her wake. Funny, but the only person who seemed to never to mind the powerful rays of the Sun was Dom. But then, can one force of nature really bother another?
I would consider myself Mars. I was silent. I could see things and experience things and yet be a complete mystery. I could stand being close to the Sun and succumb to Gravity. However, like Mars, I seemed to make people question themselves. Was there life on Mars? Possibly. Are there any other reasons to race besides winning? Yes, but do you need to have a reason to race in order to win? Thinking about my reasons for racing, I decided to call Daphne and invite her to the races tonight. Of course she agreed. After all, she was not going to miss an opportunity to see Letty get shocked speechless. It would be a rare moment.
I went to pick Daphne up at nine. We were going to meet up with Dom, Letty, and Vince at Toretto's Garage at ten, but I wanted to spend some time alone with her first. I parked at the curb of her house and started to get out of the car when the door to her house flew open. Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, Daphne was running to the car, pulling the handle and flopping into the car.
"DRIVE!" she yelled at me. I didn't argue. I quickly hopped back in the car, cranked the ignition, and spun away from the curb. As I looked in my rearview mirror, I saw a lady that looked like an older version of Daphne with shorter brown hair standing in the street, laughing her head off.
"What was that?" I asked her the moment we turned the corner. My heart rate had shot up the moment she commanded me to drive.
"Look, I just saved you from the modern inquisition back there," Daphne heaved, trying to catch her breath between words.
"Come again?"
"My mother, erm…"she seemed to be gathering her courage to tell me what was going on. "My mother, she…"
"What about your mother?" I was getting irritated and I wanted to get to the bottom of this. I turned into the driveway for Toretto's garage and turned off the car. Trying to seem casual, I slowly unbuckled my seat belt and turned to face her. I knew she told me before that she wasn't embarrassed to have me meet her family, but she was really making me suspicious. She took a deep breath and mirrored my actions.
"My mother wants to play twenty questions with you."
"What?" It came out as half cough, half incredulous laugh. She smiled.
"Ha! I know you were thinking that I didn't want you to meet them huh," she said shrewdly.
"Well I haven't actually made it to the front door Daph."
"That's because I am trying to save you the headache and myself the embarrassment. Father will tell you all these stories about when I was younger and did things like put bowls on my head. Mother will want to know everything about you from conception till this afternoon. Do you really think you want to sit through something like that?" Daphne started to blush profusely. I guess she was really embarrassed that her family would take such a vested interest in someone she was dating.
"Awww, I think it's cute," I said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the laughter out of my voice. She punched me in the shoulder.
"You know, on second thought I think that sort of torture would do you some real good. Don't want to spare the rod and spoil the child right?" I lightly punched her in her shoulder. Daphne gave me a withering look. "Hey!"
"Maybe we should invite your parents on the old dating standby."
"You want to invite my parents to a movie?"
"Yeah." Daphne gave me another withering look.
"You're expecting them to make out through the whole movie or something?"
"No," I said slowly as if explaining to a small child. "This way they won't have time to talk to us." I received another punch on the arm. "Then again we could make out instead of them."
"Maybe," Daphne said wistfully. I reacted on impulse. I reached out, cupped her face in my hands, and kissed her. For a moment her eyes stared at me, and then I felt them flutter close. She deepened the kiss. I was really getting into making out with her when the garage lot was lit up by the headlights of a car. I slowly pulled away and straightened up, tucking some errant strands of her hair behind her ears before she completely pulled out of reach. Vince arrived at the driver's side window and I rolled it down.
"We're ready to roll," Vince told me gruffly. I nodded and he headed back to his car and we followed Dom to the races.
"You jerks were keeping this from me?" Letty said her eyes wide, her stance defensive. So much for shocked speechless. Damn Sun was always letting of those unpredictable explosions.
"Hey, good to see you too," I said in my nonchalant tone that I had perfected for races. I sat on the hood of my car and Daphne leaned against it as well. I pulled my munchies out of my pocket, opened them, the offered her some which she took, just as casually, and began popping in her mouth. I was definitely rubbing off on her.
"Over half the shop class is out here. Why didn't you let me in on this sooner?" Letty seemed accusatory.
"You didn't have a permit till this week Letty," Dom told her laughingly.
"Yeah, well…you still could have let me in on it," she said petulantly.
"Look sunshine, we didn't bring you to get your panties in a bunch," Vince told her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Come on Letty, I'll show you around," Dom offered friendly. Letty frowned.
"I don't need you to escort me like a little kid," she replied defensively. Dom frowned.
"I didn't mean it like that Letty cut the shit." And there they were again, Dom and Letty in a contest of wills. It seemed like their emotions were always bubbling close to the surface where the other was concerned lately. Letty turned to glower at Dom and I felt Daphne push herself up off the hood of my car. She walked to Letty's side and smoothly positioned herself in between Letty and Dom.
"Come on, I'll show you around," Daphne said, steering Letty gently toward Edwin and his friends. Dom watched them walk away, shaking his head like he was confused.
"Whatever, let's see who's racing tonight," Dom snapped, walking towards Hector but still keeping an eye on the girls.
"Hey Holmes, what's good?" Hector said clasping hands with Dom and doing some complicated hand shake. Hector nodded at me and shook Vince's hand in that same complicated fashion.
"Who's racing tonight," Dom asked.
"Nobody yet. You setting something up?" Hector asked. Dom looked contemplative.
"Who's here tonight?" I posed the question to give Dom time to think and a way to save face. Dom could decide not to race if he found out a Tran was there.
"Just the usual crowd Holmes. Edwin is really itching to race tonight. Sam's done some recent upgrades to his ride too."
"You wanna race tonight?" Vince asked.
"I might," Hector said looking past us at something behind our backs. "It doesn't look like Tran's crew is running tonight. Lance mentioned something about the old man having a big family thing for Johnny's sister."
"Well then, we wouldn't want to disappoint anyone here by not having a race," Dom said with a slight smile on his face. "I'm in. Hector, you in?"
"Hell yeah man! What's the buy in?" I saw Dom's gears shifting. Not too low for reputation sake, not too high because he didn't have a whole lot of money.
"One g should do it," I said in a nonchalant tone again. "We're just playing tonight right?"
"Yeah, I'll go rustle up Edwin and Sam. See you at the line," Hector said, practically rushing past us to whatever he saw that was distracting him before.
"What the hell was he looking at so hard brother?" Vince snapped. The three of us turned around to view where Hector had run off to. I almost fell over laughing. Daphne was standing off to the side of what seemed to be a crowd of guys watching with an amused expression on her face. And bent practically double under the hood of Sam's hood was Letty. Well to be honest, all we could see were two rounded butt cheeks in a pair of tight low rise jeans. Dom's face turned red and his jaw dropped.
"What's she doin' man?" Vince howled. I understood the concern. Sam was twenty-one, five-eleven, blond, and a big player. He was a decent racer too. I don't think Vince was worried about Letty giving him tips to boost his car's performance. Any tips she gave him would be lost in translation anyway. He probably couldn't think straight since he was ogling her ass. Hector tapped Sam on the shoulder and started to convey the fact that he was getting ready to organize a race. That's when Letty arched her back to get a better look at something under the hood. I bet she didn't realize that her innocent move had even caught Hector's attention. He quit talking mid sentence and seemed to lose his train of thought altogether. Dom's face got stony. I caught Daphne's eye and we shared a knowing smile.
"We racing or what?" Dom shouted, catching the attention of the crowd at large. Most people turned to look at him. Sam, Hector, and Edwin nodded. Dom started walking back to his car, his eyes still on Letty. She hadn't bothered to look up; she was so focused on the car. Sam walked up beside her, placed a hand on her lower back, and bent to whisper something in her ear. She stood up quickly, her eyes narrowed, and then she grabbed Daphne and walked towards our cars.
"I guess this means I'm riding with Vince since you're racing," Letty stated, heading towards the passenger seat of Vince's car. Dom didn't say anything, just jumped into his car and sped off towards the start line.
As soon as Daphne and I got in my car, we started to laugh uncontrollably. We laughed all the way to the line and only composed ourselves before we hopped out to join Vince and Letty. We didn't need to say it, but we both were thinking the same thing. Those two are meant for each other. And it made sense in the solar system really. Gravity may be the force holding the solar system together, but it also made sure that the other objects paid respect by orbiting the Sun. The race began and was won in less than eleven seconds. Dom hadn't let Letty's frosty attitude damage his chances of winning. He swung back to the line and was greeted by the cheering crowd. While his back was being slapped and money was being pushed into his open palm, Dom scanned the crowd for us. He stalked over and handed Daphne the money. This was a first.
"Daphne, count this for me?" he said in a questioning tone so he wouldn't offend her. Daphne nodded and began counting the stack of bills. Letty looked at him really strangely, her head bent to the right, her eyes searching for a sign of what would happen next. Dom bent down, placed his arms around her thighs, and lifted Letty into the air. He gave her a twirl, let her slide down his body, and when they were at eye level said gruffly, "You're my trophy."
Jaws dropped. This was a first. Dom had actually laid claim to a girl in front of the race crowd. This from the guy who was a serial dater. I caught sight of Sam smirking and when Dom put Letty down, I could have sworn she gave Sam a wink. That sneak. She had set Dom up and spurred him into action. I didn't think she had it in her. Daphne finished counting, pronounced the earnings all accounted for, and the crowd dispersed. Daphne and I didn't say a word on the ride home but we held hands smiling.
"Hey, don't forget to ask your parents about the movies," I said as she opened the door to her house. I was standing by my car in case she signaled me to make a quick getaway. Daphne smiled then closed the door. I felt content enough to look at her house for a few moments before heading to my house. As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but smile to myself. Dom had not only stopped denying what was blossoming between him and Letty, but he had scored some case we could use for parts in his nitrous upgrade. Gravity is great.
