**Chapter Three**
Corrin sat on her bonnet for what seemed like years. She had been so eager just to call him and tell him she was finally here. And then there was the whole fuss of flying in to Tucson with her belongings, making sure her car had arrived a week before in perfect condition, finding where her adopted parents had moved to, and then arriving there only to find out Brian had moved to LA.
She was tired, exhausted, happy, excited, all of the above at one time and it didn't feel good. Just as she was about to pack it in and go find a motel to stay at a dark green Toyota Celica pulled up into the parking lot. She smiled when she saw him get out of the car.
"Do you know what frustrates me about having an answering machine other than having one?" Brian asked, smiling as he got out of his car. Corrin leaned against her car, arms folded across her chest. She laughed at him as he continued his speech. "When smart asses like yourself don't leave proper messages." He walked straight up to her, that big stupid grin across his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked, excited but trying to remain calm.
Corrin rolled her eyes and smiled cheekily. "Thought you missed me. Thought you might like your little sister to come over here and keep you in line. How's it going Brian?" She said as she enveloped him in a hug. Her thick New Zealand accent rang through his ears as he remembered the first day his mom had told him they were gonna have an exchange student staying with them for a year.
"Could be better. How about yourself?"
Corrin nodded her head relieved to finally have found him. "Bloody excellent. Do you know how hard it has been to track your ass down across this country! You tryin' to hide from me?"
He laughed as he leaned on the car beside her. "Something like that. Hey, nice car. When did you get this baby?" He asked as he walked around it, admiring the smooth lines and the shade of blue, almost identical to Corrin's blue eyes.
"Do you remember that last email I sent you about leaving University because it just wasn't my thing to do straight out of college?" Corrin asked as she followed him around the car.
Brian looked up and nodded slowly. "Vaguely. What were you studying again?"
"Accounting. Woohoo" she twirled her fingers in the air in an act of sarcasm. "Yeah well after I left I got into the whole restoring old cars and stuff."
"That's right" Brian interrupted her. "You came across that old beat up Mitsi Eclipse that had no doors and the engine was crap and everything." He looked at the car then at Corrin. "Is this it?" He asked half stunned.
"Gee nothing gets by you fast does it?" She said mocking him. "Come on. Enough about cars, I'm starved lets get something to eat."
The two cars sped out of the car park and onto the streets, Corrin following closely behind Brian.
Brian dipped the grease-drenched fry into the sauce, practically drowning it, and then shoved it in his mouth. "So, I let him take the car I had after he smashed his one up and he drove off. I never saw anyone of them again." He finished telling Corrin the story of the new family he had made then lost in a matter of weeks.
"Wow that's some pretty heavy shit Bri. Even though you let him get away he never thanked you for it?" Corrin asked, intrigued by the adventure and excitement Brian had been through, things she had only dreamed of.
"Well I owed him that much. Besides," he leaned back in the booth, relaxing more, "they weren't bad people, I mean they never hurt anybody. They stuck real close, you know? I just, I regret that things couldn't have been different."
Corrin could tell he was still obviously frustrated by the whole mess. "Well, now that I'm here everything should be sweet as."
"You know I still can't believe you're here. What possessed you to move? New Zealand not exciting enough for you?" He asked, mocking her a little.
Corrin picked up a fry and threw it at him. "Smart ass! Well yeah it was but I had always said I'd come back. And I never go back on my promises."
Brian nodded. "Glad to hear that. You're looking good, but do not take that the wrong way. I still think of you as my sister."
Corrin laughed.
It had been nearly five years since Brian and Corrin had last seen each other. Corrin had been accepted as an exchange student in her senior year at college. Her host family had been Mr & Mrs O'Conner from Tucson Arizona who had a son, then 19. She had stayed with her host family for a year before returning home to New Zealand but had vowed to Brian, the brother she had always wanted but never had, that she would come back.
Dom had just finished replacing a few piston rings on the motor of a 2001 Subaru WRX when he sat down for a coffee break. In his case, a beer. Just as he sat down on the bare concrete, the sun shining down upon his head, he felt the low rumble of an approaching fleet. Vince was the first to pull up in his blue Nissan Maxima, Limp Bizkit blasting from his windows. Jesse was to follow in the white Jetta, Leon behind him in his yellow Skyline GTR and Letty in her maroon Silvia.
"I did it all for the nookie" Vince sang as he got out of his car and walked over to Dom. They did their handshake as Vince walked straight into the garage and grabbed himself a beer.
"Hey Jesse man, you gotta watch that suspension of yours at the back man. Your mufflers scrapin' 'cross the ground. Mix those sparks with those fumes from the NOS and you wont have to worry about that Tran clan puttin' fire up your ass." Leon patted Jesse on the back as he walked up to him.
Leon pulled Jesse around the back of his car and pointed out where his suspension had been shot.
Vince and Dom looked on at the two as they watched Jesse explain to Leon how he could fix the problem.
Vince looked at Dom and noticed how tired he was. "Hey man I heard about what you plan on doing with the shop. Sorry. Wish there was something we could do".
Dom patted Vince on his shoulder. "Naw man, its all good. We'll be fine." He got up off the ground and walked back into the garage.
"You know," Vince started as he got up and followed Dom, "we could have raised that kind of money in a matter of weeks had we not stopped racing."
"You had to remind me didn't you?" Dom replied. He picked up a wrench and ducked inside the open hood.
Vince turned his back to the car and leaned against it. "Have you ever thought about, I don't know, maybe just going back for one more?"
All sound and movement halted inside the bonnet. Vince could tell Dom was thinking hard about his answer. "All the time. But it ain't gonna happen so why dwell on it?"
Vince nodded, a frown on his face. "Well, I'll tell you what. If I were in your position and had to take care of my little sis, then bro, I'd go for it." He pushed himself off the car Dom had been working on and walked outside to join the boys.
Letty walked in, dressed casually in tan Capri pants and a purple sleeveless shirt. "Hey."
Dom looked up and saw her revealing a little more skin than usual. "Hey" he replied back.
"Look, can we talk? Please?"
"Go ahead." Dom continued tinkering with the engine in front of him.
"What's happened to us Dom? It's like we argue all the time. Doesn't that bother you?"
"No what bothers me is that we don't argue enough. You think I've changed Letty, look at you. What is up with this nice girl exterior, what happened to the bad Letty?" He had lifted his head from the bonnet and had advanced toward her.
Letty backed away, he was right but oddly enough she liked the way she was now. But she missed the roughness of it all. Most of all though, she was suffering from severe lack of speed.
"I know I've changed, and I don't know why." She turned around and jumped on top of the car he had been working on. "We all miss it Dom but really, underneath it all, it's not everything. What are you gonna do when you're 40? You still gonna dream about racing?" She paused for a second and pulled him closer to her with her hands. "I can't do that Dom. I can't dream about something, you know that. I need to be doing it, not dreaming." She grabbed his bristly head and pulled it so their foreheads were touching. "I miss us Dom. But I don't miss the countless skanks in their push up bra's, the countless fights we've had over petty bullshit and I especially don't miss the number of times we've had to save our asses from being killed. Can you understand that?" She let go of his head and let her hands drop to his neck.
Dom stared at her, finally for the first time seeing her side of the story. "I understand." He let his hands fall upon hers, knowing that this would be the hardest thing the both of them would have to face. Lifting her hands and looking her straight in the eye he continued, "but I can't let go of my dreams." He held onto her hands as he let her see his side of things. "There is nothing out there for me, nothing except racing. I would have given anything up for you Letty, anything but this. I know you want this as much as I do."
Letty couldn't believe her ears but in a way, she felt relieved. Relieved that she didn't have to break his heart by breaking up with him. And relieved that she did feel exactly the same as him. A tear escaped her eye as she felt a sense of release within her. "You are a character Toretto. And I will always be here for you. To kick your ass and everything."
Dom lifted his hand to her cheek and cleared the solitary tear away. "You better believe it!"
Letty slid off the car and smiled to herself. Just as she went to walk out the door she turned and smiled, a smile Dom thought he had never seen before. "Live your dream Dom. I know you don't need me to tell you that".
Dom smiled as she walked out and as he heard her car start and pull out. He felt like a heavy portion of what had been getting him down lately had been lifted from his shoulders. What else was there for him to do?
Corrin sat on her bonnet for what seemed like years. She had been so eager just to call him and tell him she was finally here. And then there was the whole fuss of flying in to Tucson with her belongings, making sure her car had arrived a week before in perfect condition, finding where her adopted parents had moved to, and then arriving there only to find out Brian had moved to LA.
She was tired, exhausted, happy, excited, all of the above at one time and it didn't feel good. Just as she was about to pack it in and go find a motel to stay at a dark green Toyota Celica pulled up into the parking lot. She smiled when she saw him get out of the car.
"Do you know what frustrates me about having an answering machine other than having one?" Brian asked, smiling as he got out of his car. Corrin leaned against her car, arms folded across her chest. She laughed at him as he continued his speech. "When smart asses like yourself don't leave proper messages." He walked straight up to her, that big stupid grin across his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked, excited but trying to remain calm.
Corrin rolled her eyes and smiled cheekily. "Thought you missed me. Thought you might like your little sister to come over here and keep you in line. How's it going Brian?" She said as she enveloped him in a hug. Her thick New Zealand accent rang through his ears as he remembered the first day his mom had told him they were gonna have an exchange student staying with them for a year.
"Could be better. How about yourself?"
Corrin nodded her head relieved to finally have found him. "Bloody excellent. Do you know how hard it has been to track your ass down across this country! You tryin' to hide from me?"
He laughed as he leaned on the car beside her. "Something like that. Hey, nice car. When did you get this baby?" He asked as he walked around it, admiring the smooth lines and the shade of blue, almost identical to Corrin's blue eyes.
"Do you remember that last email I sent you about leaving University because it just wasn't my thing to do straight out of college?" Corrin asked as she followed him around the car.
Brian looked up and nodded slowly. "Vaguely. What were you studying again?"
"Accounting. Woohoo" she twirled her fingers in the air in an act of sarcasm. "Yeah well after I left I got into the whole restoring old cars and stuff."
"That's right" Brian interrupted her. "You came across that old beat up Mitsi Eclipse that had no doors and the engine was crap and everything." He looked at the car then at Corrin. "Is this it?" He asked half stunned.
"Gee nothing gets by you fast does it?" She said mocking him. "Come on. Enough about cars, I'm starved lets get something to eat."
The two cars sped out of the car park and onto the streets, Corrin following closely behind Brian.
Brian dipped the grease-drenched fry into the sauce, practically drowning it, and then shoved it in his mouth. "So, I let him take the car I had after he smashed his one up and he drove off. I never saw anyone of them again." He finished telling Corrin the story of the new family he had made then lost in a matter of weeks.
"Wow that's some pretty heavy shit Bri. Even though you let him get away he never thanked you for it?" Corrin asked, intrigued by the adventure and excitement Brian had been through, things she had only dreamed of.
"Well I owed him that much. Besides," he leaned back in the booth, relaxing more, "they weren't bad people, I mean they never hurt anybody. They stuck real close, you know? I just, I regret that things couldn't have been different."
Corrin could tell he was still obviously frustrated by the whole mess. "Well, now that I'm here everything should be sweet as."
"You know I still can't believe you're here. What possessed you to move? New Zealand not exciting enough for you?" He asked, mocking her a little.
Corrin picked up a fry and threw it at him. "Smart ass! Well yeah it was but I had always said I'd come back. And I never go back on my promises."
Brian nodded. "Glad to hear that. You're looking good, but do not take that the wrong way. I still think of you as my sister."
Corrin laughed.
It had been nearly five years since Brian and Corrin had last seen each other. Corrin had been accepted as an exchange student in her senior year at college. Her host family had been Mr & Mrs O'Conner from Tucson Arizona who had a son, then 19. She had stayed with her host family for a year before returning home to New Zealand but had vowed to Brian, the brother she had always wanted but never had, that she would come back.
Dom had just finished replacing a few piston rings on the motor of a 2001 Subaru WRX when he sat down for a coffee break. In his case, a beer. Just as he sat down on the bare concrete, the sun shining down upon his head, he felt the low rumble of an approaching fleet. Vince was the first to pull up in his blue Nissan Maxima, Limp Bizkit blasting from his windows. Jesse was to follow in the white Jetta, Leon behind him in his yellow Skyline GTR and Letty in her maroon Silvia.
"I did it all for the nookie" Vince sang as he got out of his car and walked over to Dom. They did their handshake as Vince walked straight into the garage and grabbed himself a beer.
"Hey Jesse man, you gotta watch that suspension of yours at the back man. Your mufflers scrapin' 'cross the ground. Mix those sparks with those fumes from the NOS and you wont have to worry about that Tran clan puttin' fire up your ass." Leon patted Jesse on the back as he walked up to him.
Leon pulled Jesse around the back of his car and pointed out where his suspension had been shot.
Vince and Dom looked on at the two as they watched Jesse explain to Leon how he could fix the problem.
Vince looked at Dom and noticed how tired he was. "Hey man I heard about what you plan on doing with the shop. Sorry. Wish there was something we could do".
Dom patted Vince on his shoulder. "Naw man, its all good. We'll be fine." He got up off the ground and walked back into the garage.
"You know," Vince started as he got up and followed Dom, "we could have raised that kind of money in a matter of weeks had we not stopped racing."
"You had to remind me didn't you?" Dom replied. He picked up a wrench and ducked inside the open hood.
Vince turned his back to the car and leaned against it. "Have you ever thought about, I don't know, maybe just going back for one more?"
All sound and movement halted inside the bonnet. Vince could tell Dom was thinking hard about his answer. "All the time. But it ain't gonna happen so why dwell on it?"
Vince nodded, a frown on his face. "Well, I'll tell you what. If I were in your position and had to take care of my little sis, then bro, I'd go for it." He pushed himself off the car Dom had been working on and walked outside to join the boys.
Letty walked in, dressed casually in tan Capri pants and a purple sleeveless shirt. "Hey."
Dom looked up and saw her revealing a little more skin than usual. "Hey" he replied back.
"Look, can we talk? Please?"
"Go ahead." Dom continued tinkering with the engine in front of him.
"What's happened to us Dom? It's like we argue all the time. Doesn't that bother you?"
"No what bothers me is that we don't argue enough. You think I've changed Letty, look at you. What is up with this nice girl exterior, what happened to the bad Letty?" He had lifted his head from the bonnet and had advanced toward her.
Letty backed away, he was right but oddly enough she liked the way she was now. But she missed the roughness of it all. Most of all though, she was suffering from severe lack of speed.
"I know I've changed, and I don't know why." She turned around and jumped on top of the car he had been working on. "We all miss it Dom but really, underneath it all, it's not everything. What are you gonna do when you're 40? You still gonna dream about racing?" She paused for a second and pulled him closer to her with her hands. "I can't do that Dom. I can't dream about something, you know that. I need to be doing it, not dreaming." She grabbed his bristly head and pulled it so their foreheads were touching. "I miss us Dom. But I don't miss the countless skanks in their push up bra's, the countless fights we've had over petty bullshit and I especially don't miss the number of times we've had to save our asses from being killed. Can you understand that?" She let go of his head and let her hands drop to his neck.
Dom stared at her, finally for the first time seeing her side of the story. "I understand." He let his hands fall upon hers, knowing that this would be the hardest thing the both of them would have to face. Lifting her hands and looking her straight in the eye he continued, "but I can't let go of my dreams." He held onto her hands as he let her see his side of things. "There is nothing out there for me, nothing except racing. I would have given anything up for you Letty, anything but this. I know you want this as much as I do."
Letty couldn't believe her ears but in a way, she felt relieved. Relieved that she didn't have to break his heart by breaking up with him. And relieved that she did feel exactly the same as him. A tear escaped her eye as she felt a sense of release within her. "You are a character Toretto. And I will always be here for you. To kick your ass and everything."
Dom lifted his hand to her cheek and cleared the solitary tear away. "You better believe it!"
Letty slid off the car and smiled to herself. Just as she went to walk out the door she turned and smiled, a smile Dom thought he had never seen before. "Live your dream Dom. I know you don't need me to tell you that".
Dom smiled as she walked out and as he heard her car start and pull out. He felt like a heavy portion of what had been getting him down lately had been lifted from his shoulders. What else was there for him to do?
