**Chapter Four**

"What the hell is up with this Brian?" Corrin asked as she skimmed his empty cupboards. "What do you do? Imagine the food is there?" She pushed away from the cupboards and went to sit down at the table.

Brian walked into the living room drying his curly blond hair. "Well if I knew I'd have company I would've done the grocery shopping." He reached into the cupboard then gave it a blank stare. "I'll go to the store." He quickly said turning around to grab his keys.

Corrin got up from the table before him and had her keys already in her hand. "Na, don't worry about it. I'll go down. Besides, I have to get to know this place if I'm gonna stick around."

She had absolutely no idea where she was heading; all she knew was that her stomach was navigating. It was almost lunchtime. Both her and Brian had overslept as they caught up on missed years last night. Finally finding a small Market/Deli she pulled over and stepped into the sun. She hadn't completely become accustomed to the warmer temperatures yet so today she had on tan 3/4 cargo shorts and a tight red singlet. Her belly was slightly exposed showing off her belly button ring. Due to the amount of sun she had been under since she had arrived off the plane, her hair had gone about four shades lighter than usual. It was now a caramel brown with blond highlights. Along with her tan, she could have easily fitted in as a Californian chick, if she didn't have the accent.

"Hi, can I get you anything?" the girl behind the counter asked as Corrin approached.

"G'day, can I get um." Corrin said as she stared at the meal board. "Can I just get a turkey sandwich on white, no crust and an orange juice thanks."

"Sure thing, I'll bring it over to you." The girl replied as she turned to make her sandwich.

Corrin had a seat at the bar and pulled over a car magazine sitting on the bench. Flicking through it she became intrigued by an article about a show they had out in the desert.

Mia placed the plate with the sandwich in front of the magazine and noticed Corrin's interest in the Race Wars article. "You race?" She asked as she pulled up a stool on the other side of the counter.

Corrin looked up and smiled. "Na. I wish though."

Mia looked outside and noticed Corrin's Eclipse. "Hey, I like your car. Very similar to mine. Body kit looks good. Who did you get to modify it?"

Corrin looked behind her and admired her handy work. "I did. I thought that the skirting may have been a bit too bulky for it, adding too much weight on the outer body, but once I took her for a spin it just felt, I don't know, I guess comfortable. You know?" Corrin tried to explain herself.

Mia nodded and laughed slightly. "I know exactly what you mean. I'm Mia." She said extending her hand.

Corrin smiled gratefully and shook her hand. "I'm Corrin. Nice to finally meet someone unlike the opposite sex who continue to try and get into my car or my pants."

They both laughed feeling at ease with each other. The only other real girl friend Mia had was Letty. She liked Letty no matter what but she had noticed the change. "So. I'm guessing you're not from this country."

Corrin laughed. "Wow, you guys are so perceptive. Na I'm just kidding. Excuse my sarcasm if it offends you in any way."

"Oh no don't worry about it. That's cool. So do you mind my asking where you're from?"

Corrin flipped the magazine closed and got comfortable in her seat. "I'm from New Zealand. Long way away from home over here."

"Damn I'll bet. You over here on holiday or to live?"

"Well, if things work out over here I'll be here to stay. Hopefully."

The girls continued to talk for ages. Business was slow and Mia had nothing else to do. She had finished studying for a biology test she had next week at college so she was bored. And it helped that she found Corrin really nice.
Corrin had totally forgotten poor starving Brian at home and was having fun talking with Mia. She found out that Mia and her 'extended family' as she referred to them as, used to race. Nothing about why they don't anymore was mentioned and Corrin wasn't the type to pry.

"You wouldn't be able to tell me the name of a mechanic around here would ya? Whenever I change from third to fourth I have to drop the clutch to five because my gear keeps falling out in fourth. It's gonna piss me off when I have to do a lot of around town driving. Coming from Arizona it wasn't so bad." Corrin asked as she reached over the bar and placed her plate on the other side.

Mia laughed and clapped her hands together. "I know just the place. Look, seen as though it's quiet over here I'm gonna shut up shop and take you there myself, so you can follow me. Is that alright?" Mia asked getting off her seat and going to the back of the shop.

Corrin smiled and began gathering her things. "That would be excellent, thanks. Do you need a hand?"

"COULD YOU GRAB THOSE TABLES AND CHAIRS FROM OUTSIDE AND BRING THEM IN. JUST THROW THEM ANYWHERE." Mia shouted from the back.

Ten minutes later Corrin was following close behind Mia in her car. The drive wasn't that long, maybe fifteen minutes from the Market towards town. Mia pulled down the long drive and parked around the back. Corrin stopped outside the garage opening and waited for Mia to come into sight. Once she saw her the car came to a purring stop and she climbed out.

"Now, I have to warn you. My brother may be a little intimidating but trust me, he's nicer to girls than he is to guys." Mia warned as the walked inside.

"I'd be worried if it were the other way around I think." Corrin replied, implying if Dom liked to play with the boys rather than the girls.

Mia laughed, "Trust me, he doesn't. DOM?" she called out.

"What?" he asked as he rolled out from underneath a car. "Hello" he said slowly, noticing Corrin standing there.

Corrin looked down and gave him a simple, "Whassup?"

"Dom, this is Corrin and she has a problem with her car." Mia introduced them.

Dom stood up from the ground and a very small smile spread across his face. "What's the problem?" he asked walking towards the car.

As he walked around the vehicle Corrin explained to him the problem with the gear change to four. Not knowing if he was listening or not she continued to talk anyways.

"You race?" he asked, his left eyebrow rose above his eye.

"No, never." Corrin replied.

"So what do you do when you get to fourth?" he said as he opened her door and sat in the drivers seat, pumping the clutch and fiddling with the gear stick.

"I drop the clutch and go straight to five. That way I avoid hitting fourth gear. It's been like this since I picked it up from storage over here so something may have gone wrong in transit. I hate it when other people drive my car."

Dom laughed a little before climbing out of the car and closing the door. "I'll tell you what. I can have it done by the end of the afternoon if you leave it here with me, but the thing is it may need a whole new gearbox installed. Could be a pretty expensive job."

Corrin didn't need to think about the answer to that. "That's not a problem. Go ahead."

"Here, while we wait for my brother to do his thing with the car, I'll go introduce you to everyone." Mia said grabbing Corrin's hand and dragging her inside to the offices.

Leon laughed as he finished his story, his beer in his hand jumping up and down with every laugh. "So Vince goes throws this hubcap back at the car it fell off and of course, cos it was bent it came flying back around and breaks his nose." Leon continued to laugh. "He comes home whining his ass of cos it hurts so bad but she didn't have a clue what was wrong, and when Mia wouldn't get an ice pack for it he asks her 'Who let you off your chain?'" Leon began to laugh even more but Vince didn't look impressed. Jesse was paying close attention to this story, one he had never heard of until now. "You should have seen Mia's face. All of a sudden Vince is down on the floor screaming in more pain cos Mia landed a good one right on his nose. She never knew it was broken!" By now Leon and Jesse were in hysterics.

"Excuse them but I'm not sure if they even know the difference between a joke and just keeping their fat mouths occupied" Mia said walking into the room.

"Oh Mia. We were just talkin about you doll." Leon said calming down a bit.

"Guys this is Corrin. Corrin that's Leon over there, Jesse and Vince."

"G'day" Corrin said, offering a slight wave.

"How you doing Mia?" Vince asked. He had always wanted her but it wasn't just for the reasons she thought.

Mia rolled her eyes in a playful way, as not to hurt his feelings. "I'm doing fine."

"YO VINCE! GIVE US A HAND WITH THIS" Dom called out from the garage.

Vince finished his beer then signalled to the garage. "Boss is callin'. I'll catch you girls later."

"So where's Letty?" Mia asked taking a seat on the desk. She motioned for Corrin to sit down where Vince had been.

"Oh, you don't know? Your brother and Letty broke up this morning." Jesse said as he sat on his chair backwards.

Mia's face turned to shock. "You're joking. Why? How? Oh God was it messy?"

Leon laughed. "Naw girl, it was mutual. It's all good." Leon got up hearing Vince swear at something. "Oo that's our call. Lets go help those goons Jess" Leon said patting Jesse on his back as he got up from his chair.

"Catch you guys later" Jesse said waving to the girls as they went to the garage.

"Sorry about them." Mia apologised as stood and went to grab a soda from the fridge. "You want?" she asked offering Corrin one.

"Yeah sure. So, that's your extended family I'm guessing?" Corrin said, making herself comfortable.

"Yeah, that's them. Letty, the one we were just talking about, used to be Dom's girlfriend. Don't ask me what happened there but things haven't been the same for all of us for a few months now."

"Wow, you're like another person I know who has had a shitty past few months." Corrin said, taking a swig of her soda.

"Oh, whoever it is, their situation couldn't possible be as bad as ours." Mia slumped back in her chair.

Corrin sat forward remembering the story Brian had told her. "Yeah well, a very close friend of mine would beg to differ. I'll tell you what. Wherever Brian O'Conner goes, trouble follows close by." Corrin hardly noticed Mia's face turn to shock. Not angry shock but more sad shock. "The story was something like he was working undercover, cos he was a cop - not anymore though, anyway he had to bust these people but he liked them too much, especially this one chick but he never told me her name." Corrin pulled some fluff off her pants, not taking any notice of Mia's shocked expression. "So anyway, he let them off cos there was some other conflicting issues that went along with it but now he really wants to see this girl, I mean he is pining for this girl but her brother wont let him anywhere near them after what happened. Sad really. He gave up his job for them all." Corrin looked up and saw Mia look down in disbelief. "Are you alright?" she asked placing her bottle on the desk.

Mia didn't know what to say. "Brian?" she whispered to herself.

"Mia? Whats wrong? Did I say something bad?" Corrin said rushing to Mia's side and putting her arm over her shoulder.

Mia shook her head then looked up at Corrin. She smiled then said, half in disbelief, "He still thinks of me?"