I walked into the kitchen and found Dom, Letty and Mia sitting around the table.
"Hey Am," Dom said, flipping through a newspaper.
"Hey guys." I opened the 'fridge door, searching for something to make.
"What're you doing here so early?" Letty asked.
"I left a few things over here yesterday." I said. "Just came by to pick them up."
"Oh!" Letty sat up straighter in her chair. "I didn't know you stopped by yesterday..."
"Yeah." I said coolly. "Had to talk to Leon about the car and stuff..."
"Oh yeah?" Dom's low voice crept its way into the conversation. "How's that goin'?"
"Good." I nodded. "I guess."
I pulled out some eggs and butter and set them on the counter.
"Hey, Leon." Everyone muttered when he finally entered the kitchen. He threw me a smirk and muttered hello's back.
"Jesus, is everyone and their mothers here?" He asked.
"Oh, Amber." Mia tore herself away from the Cosmopolitan magazine she'd been reading. "Where were you last night?"
I stopped cracking the eggs. Leon didn't tell them anything? Nothing about what'd happened and that we went out? I laughed quietly to myself. I could just imagine Mia harassing him about going out on a date and he'd probably told them he was going out... just not with me.
Just to spite them.
"What?" I looked up.
"I tried calling you last night and you didn't answer..." Mia continued.
"Oh." I said. "That's 'cause, uhm, I went grocery shopping..."
"For, like, 5 hours?" Mia asked.
"... and then I went to this party."
"Oh!" Mia grinned. "Whose??"
"My cousin Sheila." I said quickly.
"I thought you didn't have any family in LA." Letty said.
"... My very distant cousin Sheila. She's like a 3rd cousin or something." I said, mentally smacking myself.
"Were there any cute guys there?" She grinned.
I pretended to think about it for a moment. "Oh, yeah." I smirked. "There were a few…" I knew that would make Leon a little uneasy... hell, he deserved it. "So why'd you call?"
"A new club is opening this week. I wanted to see if you wanted to go sometime soon to check it out. You know, there could be cute guys there..."
"Count me in!" I said quickly. A little too quickly because Leon walked past me and 'accidently' elbowed me.
"So, Leon." Dom spoke up again. "How's it going repairing the Honda?"
"Alright." Leon nodded, sipping his coffee.
"So did you guys come up with a plan on how to get it fixed faster?"
"Huh? Who?" Leon frowned.
"Us." I said slowly. "Uh, hello? We just talked about it yesterday, you know..."
"Oh." Leon nodded. "Oh! Right. Yeah, we figured a few things out."
"So what's the plan? Which part is it that needs to be fixed?" Letty asked.
"The driveshaft." Leon said.
"Engine block." I said at the same time.
I glared at Leon and he rolled his eyes at me. We both turned back to the rest of the crew, who stared back at us, confused looks on their faces.
"It's the driveshaft." Leon said, nodding.
"Right." I laughed nervously. "You know me, I'm not the mechanic here. I mean, I can't tell one part from another."
"Uh huh." Dom said slowly, getting up. "Well I'm heading out. Let me know if you need help on that, uh, driveshaft."
"Ditto that." Letty said. "See ya at the shop, Leon. Talk to you later, Amber."
"Bye." I smiled and went back to cracking the eggs.
"Well..." Mia drew out slowly. "I have some work to do; homework this week is to write some poetry. Is that lame or what?"
"Sounds exciting." I murmured.
"I'm sure." Mia snorted. "Excuse me while I go jump out of a moving vehicle."
"Talk to you later, Mia." I laughed.
"Bye guys." Mia said, standing up.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Leon turned to me, "Engine block?"
"Hey." I shrugged. "It was, like, the only thing I could think of. Besides, you were the one who told me it was the cracked engine head in the first place!"
"Oh." Leon said. "well, that's not exactly the engine..."
"And I'm supposed to know that?" I asked.
"That's true." He nodded.
"Damn right." I grinned. "It doesn't matter, anyway. I just told them that we met up yesterday and discussed the car trouble and all..."
"Discussed, huh?" Leon said, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
"Yes -- discussed."
"That's funny, 'cause I don't remember a lot of talking going on. In fact, I do remember you moanin--"
My hand covered his mouth instantly. "Oh shut up!" I blushed.
As a small reassurance that he was only teasing, Leon kissed the inside of my palm.
"So." I sighed, moving my hand. "Are we ever going to tell them?"
"Well yeah," Leon leaned against the counter and looked at me. "Of course."
"Oh yeah? When?"
"Soon."
"Soon." I said slowly.
"Mia would flip out if she found out about us... in a good way." He added. "I just want to make her squirm a little, you know? I mean, look at her now. She's itching to say something to you about my taking someone else out last night."
I smirked. "Mia's just..."
"Nosy?"
"Enthusiastic."
"Enthusiastic." Leon nodded. "Yeah, okay."
"...Okay," I said slowly. "Enthusiastic is a bit of a stretch..."
He snorted.
"But really, all she wants is..." I paused, trying to find the right words.
"Control over everyone else's love life?" He finished.
I laughed a little as Leon moved behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Something like that..." I said quietly.
"So whatcha making anyway?" Leon asked, kissing my cheek.
"Omelet's."
"Oh yeah? And do omelets usually have, uh, egg shells in them?"
"Well," I turned around to face him. "I never said I was Julia Child."
"It's okay." Leon kissed my forehead. "I wasn't really hungry anyway."
"Good." I smiled. "'Cause I really have to go to work."
"How's the car working for you?"
"Good." I nodded. "I can actually shift without grinding the gears now."
"That's my girl." Leon laughed lowly.
"But there's still the problem of hitting things..." I coughed.
"Wait. What??"
"Well *small* things..."
"Like what, exactly?" Leon asked.
"You know, small things...curbs, trash cans...children..." I mumbled.
He just looked at me.
"I'm totally kidding about the children thing." I added with a small smile.
"Yeah well, somehow it wouldn't surprise me if you weren't kidding..." Leon sighed.