Chapter 8
Kyle and Liz sat at their table and listened to the speaker, both wishing they were at the strip watching the races. Although their dinner wasn't bad and the people at their table weren't total losers, they wanted to be somewhere else.
A little while later the speaker wrapped up his speech and the band started playing. Liz knew that in order to move up in the company she had to play their game, even though she hated it. So she and Kyle made their way to the dance floor so that the partners would see that she was being a good little girl and doing what was expected of her.
They had been dancing for a while when they decided to take a break. Making their way back to their table, they sat down and watched everyone.
"If I haven't told you already Kyle, thank you for coming with me tonight," Liz said.
He laughed. "I guess that's what I get for being single and having a woman for my best friend."
"Yeah, but look at what you have tonight . free food, free drinks, and all of these wonderful people to keep us entertained," she said, remembering earlier in the night when Kyle had pointed out one of her co-workers nodding off during one of the speeches. They were betting to see how long it would take for him to either fall face first onto the table or to actually fall out of his chair. Unfortunately neither won because just as he was starting to fall, the speaker finished and the applause woke him up.
"You forgot the most important thing, though," Kyle commented.
"What?" she asked.
Kyle looked at something over her shoulder and she turned to find Dom standing behind her.
"I think you forgot your date," Kyle said as he stood up and walked over to where Dom was. "Glad you could make it," he said shaking his hand. "How much did you win?"
Dom looked at Liz and then back at Kyle. "Ten grand. And that's not the best part either," he said, smiling.
"What man? Tell me," Kyle excitedly said.
He turned and looked at Liz. "It was Tran."
She smiled. "That's good, now what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to be here. I'm just sorry I couldn't get here sooner," Dom said. "The races were slow-going tonight."
Liz turned to Kyle. "I take it that you two were in on this."
All Kyle did was smile.
Liz got up from her seat and turned to Dom and Kyle. "Good night boys," she said, turning around and making her way towards the door as she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She quickly dialed one of the cab companies so she could catch a ride home. She was furious. How dare they gang up on her like that!
Dom looked at Kyle. "Thanks for standing in for me. I think I'll take it from here, although I have no idea what I'm gonna do," he said.
Kyle laughed and realized in that moment that Dom truly cared for Liz. He slapped Dom on the back. "I think you'll figure it out," he said before turning around and walking in the opposite direction.
Dom wound his way through the throngs of people and tables, finally making it to the door that Liz had just exited through a few moments before. He looked around and didn't see her. Walking out of the hotel, he saw her sitting on a bench, waiting for her cab.
"Liz," he called to her.
"Go away Dom."
He sat down beside her. "I'm sorry about this. I knew that you'd probably be pissed when I showed up, but I WANT to be here . with you. I'm sorry that I couldn't be here sooner. Hell, I'm sorry I wasn't the one who brought you in the first place. But I had to go to the races tonight and it's a damn good thing I did too."
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Dom, what's the most important thing in your life right now?"
He knew that he needed to tell her how he felt but didn't want to because he was scared. HA! He thought to himself. Dominic Toretto had never been scared of anything in his life. But yet he was scared to reveal his true feelings to her. But he knew that if he didn't, he would never know if she felt the same way. So he jumped in with both feet and hoped he wouldn't drown.
His features softened and he looked into her eyes. "You, Liz. You are the most important thing in my life right now."
Fresh tears rolled down Liz's cheeks. "Then why can't you act like it? Why couldn't you come with me tonight?"
He lifted his finger and brushed away the tears. "Because I'm scared, Liz. I'm scared of the feelings I have for you. I'm scared that I'm not good enough for you. I'm scared that I won't fit into your life. Look at me! I'm nothing! I own a garage and a grocery store for Christ's sake, and if that's not bad enough, I race cars illegally! How can anything good come from us being together? I can't give you what you want!"
Dom calmed down somewhat and continued. "Racing gives me what I need . freedom and cash. Cold hard cash. I've been saving in hopes that one day I'll be able to get away from it all, start over somewhere else. A different life, Liz. That's what I want. I want to be able to go to work and come home to a house that's not falling apart, that's not trashed every weekend from parties after the races. I want something different."
Liz's heart ached. "But Dom, would you truly be happy without all of those things? If you didn't race anymore, how would that make you feel? If you didn't have Vince and Leon and Mia around all the time, how would you feel? You'd be lost and you'd be alone."
He looked at Liz. "Not if you were there," he quietly said.
"Do you want me there, Dom? Do you want me in your life?"
"You already are," he said.
"Yeah, whenever we have an itch that needs to be scratched. That's not what I'm talking about."
He smiled. "I know," he said, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees.
"When I'm with you, I feel like I'm a different person. I'm not a nobody that has a dead-end job and shitty life. You make me want to be someone different, a better person. I've never wanted that before I met you. I was content to stay in the same place, have the same friends, and do the same things because I didn't know any better. And then you came along. You showed me that there is a whole other world out there and I want it. I want what you have. I want a nice place to live, I want friends who like me for me, not because I just happen to be a good racer."
"A damn good racer," Liz added.
Dom smiled.
Liz's cab pulled into the drive. She got up from the bench and walked over to where he was parked and told him that she didn't need a ride after all. She walked back over to the bench and held her hand out to Dom.
"Come on, lets go back in," she said. "I've got a proposition for you."
*****
Liz put her purse down on the table and kept walking to the dance floor while Dom just stood there and looked at her. When she didn't feel his presence behind her, she turned around and saw him still standing by the table. Dom wasn't the smoothest person on the dance floor and he didn't want to make an ass out of himself in front of Liz.
She saw the uncertainty on his face and walked back over to the table.
"Come on, it's not that hard," she said, smiling up at him.
"Easy for you to say. You've been doing this your whole life," he said, gripping the back of the chair.
"Dom," she said, prying his fingers away from the chair and linking them with her own, "just come dance with me. It's not that hard," she says softly.
He took a deep breath and let Liz lead him to the dance floor. He hadn't danced in years. But once he held Liz in his arms, it all came back to him. He held his left hand up and wrapped his right arm around her waist, pulling her close. Liz placed her right hand in his left and rested her left hand on his right arm. He wanted to wrap her in his embrace, but this was not the place for that.
They started dancing. Dom was worried that he would screw up and embarrass Liz, but he didn't. They moved around the floor several times before he started to relax.
Sensing that he had relaxed somewhat, she started talking.
"Here's what I'm proposing. If you want to do something different with your life, you have to be prepared to make some changes."
He smiled at her. "Like what?"
"You said you wanted a nice place to live. Where would you live?" she asked.
Dom thought for a moment. "With you," he said.
"You said you wanted friends to like you for you, not because of your status in the racing world. How do you propose to do that?"
"By taking you out and meeting your friends, maybe meeting some new people that neither one of us knows," he answered, swaying to the music.
"What about your racing? Would you be able to give it up?"
He smiled down at her. "I could try, but not until after Race Wars."
Liz thought about that and decided that because it was the biggest race of the year, she'd give him that.
"Ok, here's my offer. Move in with me for say, a month, become part of MY life, go out with my friends, and then tell me if that's what you really want," she said.
Dom tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "I'll take it," he said smiling down at her.
He was moving in with her ... into a nice neighborhood where you very rarely heard the wail of sirens and no engines revving at 2:30 in the morning. He was moving into a nice townhouse with furniture that actually matched. But the best part of it all was that he was moving in with her. For the first time in a long while, he was actually looking forward to something other than racing. And it was all because of the woman he held in his arms, the woman that he didn't want to disappoint, the woman who he was falling in love with.
They finished the dance in silence and he took her hand, leading them back to the table where he grabbed her purse as he walked by. They made their way outside to wait for the valet to bring his car around.
They stood there in silence until the valet pulled up in his car. Dom held the door open for Liz and then went around to the driver's side, pulling his coat jacket off in the process.
"Nice car," the kid commented. "Wish I had one like this," he said, holding the door for Dom.
"Thanks," he answers, throwing his jacket into the back and sliding behind the wheel.
"Wait a minute! You're that guy who races!" the kid exclaimed. "Toretto! Yeah, that's who you are!" he said excitedly.
It was at that point Dom realized that starting over with a new life wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. It sounded good in theory but real life always finds a way to slap you in the face.
They drove back to Liz's townhouse each lost in their own thoughts. He pulled the RX-7 into the driveway and went around to open Liz's door for her.
"By the way, you look beautiful tonight," he said before leaning down to capture her lips with his. Liz was wearing a strapless black mini-dress with matching black heels. He'd never seen her dressed up and he loved what he saw.
Liz pulled away from him and smiled. "You don't clean up so bad either yourself." Dom was wearing a black suit with a white shirt, but no tie. She looked down and laughed. Instead of dress shoes, he was wearing his black boots.
"Hey, you're lucky I wore the suit," he said laughing with her. "This is not something I feel comfortable in. Give me a pair of jeans and t-shirt any day over this monkey suit," he said, pulling the shirt from his dress pants, giving Liz a peek of his bronze skin . skin that she explored to her heart's content sometime later.
Kyle and Liz sat at their table and listened to the speaker, both wishing they were at the strip watching the races. Although their dinner wasn't bad and the people at their table weren't total losers, they wanted to be somewhere else.
A little while later the speaker wrapped up his speech and the band started playing. Liz knew that in order to move up in the company she had to play their game, even though she hated it. So she and Kyle made their way to the dance floor so that the partners would see that she was being a good little girl and doing what was expected of her.
They had been dancing for a while when they decided to take a break. Making their way back to their table, they sat down and watched everyone.
"If I haven't told you already Kyle, thank you for coming with me tonight," Liz said.
He laughed. "I guess that's what I get for being single and having a woman for my best friend."
"Yeah, but look at what you have tonight . free food, free drinks, and all of these wonderful people to keep us entertained," she said, remembering earlier in the night when Kyle had pointed out one of her co-workers nodding off during one of the speeches. They were betting to see how long it would take for him to either fall face first onto the table or to actually fall out of his chair. Unfortunately neither won because just as he was starting to fall, the speaker finished and the applause woke him up.
"You forgot the most important thing, though," Kyle commented.
"What?" she asked.
Kyle looked at something over her shoulder and she turned to find Dom standing behind her.
"I think you forgot your date," Kyle said as he stood up and walked over to where Dom was. "Glad you could make it," he said shaking his hand. "How much did you win?"
Dom looked at Liz and then back at Kyle. "Ten grand. And that's not the best part either," he said, smiling.
"What man? Tell me," Kyle excitedly said.
He turned and looked at Liz. "It was Tran."
She smiled. "That's good, now what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to be here. I'm just sorry I couldn't get here sooner," Dom said. "The races were slow-going tonight."
Liz turned to Kyle. "I take it that you two were in on this."
All Kyle did was smile.
Liz got up from her seat and turned to Dom and Kyle. "Good night boys," she said, turning around and making her way towards the door as she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She quickly dialed one of the cab companies so she could catch a ride home. She was furious. How dare they gang up on her like that!
Dom looked at Kyle. "Thanks for standing in for me. I think I'll take it from here, although I have no idea what I'm gonna do," he said.
Kyle laughed and realized in that moment that Dom truly cared for Liz. He slapped Dom on the back. "I think you'll figure it out," he said before turning around and walking in the opposite direction.
Dom wound his way through the throngs of people and tables, finally making it to the door that Liz had just exited through a few moments before. He looked around and didn't see her. Walking out of the hotel, he saw her sitting on a bench, waiting for her cab.
"Liz," he called to her.
"Go away Dom."
He sat down beside her. "I'm sorry about this. I knew that you'd probably be pissed when I showed up, but I WANT to be here . with you. I'm sorry that I couldn't be here sooner. Hell, I'm sorry I wasn't the one who brought you in the first place. But I had to go to the races tonight and it's a damn good thing I did too."
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Dom, what's the most important thing in your life right now?"
He knew that he needed to tell her how he felt but didn't want to because he was scared. HA! He thought to himself. Dominic Toretto had never been scared of anything in his life. But yet he was scared to reveal his true feelings to her. But he knew that if he didn't, he would never know if she felt the same way. So he jumped in with both feet and hoped he wouldn't drown.
His features softened and he looked into her eyes. "You, Liz. You are the most important thing in my life right now."
Fresh tears rolled down Liz's cheeks. "Then why can't you act like it? Why couldn't you come with me tonight?"
He lifted his finger and brushed away the tears. "Because I'm scared, Liz. I'm scared of the feelings I have for you. I'm scared that I'm not good enough for you. I'm scared that I won't fit into your life. Look at me! I'm nothing! I own a garage and a grocery store for Christ's sake, and if that's not bad enough, I race cars illegally! How can anything good come from us being together? I can't give you what you want!"
Dom calmed down somewhat and continued. "Racing gives me what I need . freedom and cash. Cold hard cash. I've been saving in hopes that one day I'll be able to get away from it all, start over somewhere else. A different life, Liz. That's what I want. I want to be able to go to work and come home to a house that's not falling apart, that's not trashed every weekend from parties after the races. I want something different."
Liz's heart ached. "But Dom, would you truly be happy without all of those things? If you didn't race anymore, how would that make you feel? If you didn't have Vince and Leon and Mia around all the time, how would you feel? You'd be lost and you'd be alone."
He looked at Liz. "Not if you were there," he quietly said.
"Do you want me there, Dom? Do you want me in your life?"
"You already are," he said.
"Yeah, whenever we have an itch that needs to be scratched. That's not what I'm talking about."
He smiled. "I know," he said, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees.
"When I'm with you, I feel like I'm a different person. I'm not a nobody that has a dead-end job and shitty life. You make me want to be someone different, a better person. I've never wanted that before I met you. I was content to stay in the same place, have the same friends, and do the same things because I didn't know any better. And then you came along. You showed me that there is a whole other world out there and I want it. I want what you have. I want a nice place to live, I want friends who like me for me, not because I just happen to be a good racer."
"A damn good racer," Liz added.
Dom smiled.
Liz's cab pulled into the drive. She got up from the bench and walked over to where he was parked and told him that she didn't need a ride after all. She walked back over to the bench and held her hand out to Dom.
"Come on, lets go back in," she said. "I've got a proposition for you."
*****
Liz put her purse down on the table and kept walking to the dance floor while Dom just stood there and looked at her. When she didn't feel his presence behind her, she turned around and saw him still standing by the table. Dom wasn't the smoothest person on the dance floor and he didn't want to make an ass out of himself in front of Liz.
She saw the uncertainty on his face and walked back over to the table.
"Come on, it's not that hard," she said, smiling up at him.
"Easy for you to say. You've been doing this your whole life," he said, gripping the back of the chair.
"Dom," she said, prying his fingers away from the chair and linking them with her own, "just come dance with me. It's not that hard," she says softly.
He took a deep breath and let Liz lead him to the dance floor. He hadn't danced in years. But once he held Liz in his arms, it all came back to him. He held his left hand up and wrapped his right arm around her waist, pulling her close. Liz placed her right hand in his left and rested her left hand on his right arm. He wanted to wrap her in his embrace, but this was not the place for that.
They started dancing. Dom was worried that he would screw up and embarrass Liz, but he didn't. They moved around the floor several times before he started to relax.
Sensing that he had relaxed somewhat, she started talking.
"Here's what I'm proposing. If you want to do something different with your life, you have to be prepared to make some changes."
He smiled at her. "Like what?"
"You said you wanted a nice place to live. Where would you live?" she asked.
Dom thought for a moment. "With you," he said.
"You said you wanted friends to like you for you, not because of your status in the racing world. How do you propose to do that?"
"By taking you out and meeting your friends, maybe meeting some new people that neither one of us knows," he answered, swaying to the music.
"What about your racing? Would you be able to give it up?"
He smiled down at her. "I could try, but not until after Race Wars."
Liz thought about that and decided that because it was the biggest race of the year, she'd give him that.
"Ok, here's my offer. Move in with me for say, a month, become part of MY life, go out with my friends, and then tell me if that's what you really want," she said.
Dom tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "I'll take it," he said smiling down at her.
He was moving in with her ... into a nice neighborhood where you very rarely heard the wail of sirens and no engines revving at 2:30 in the morning. He was moving into a nice townhouse with furniture that actually matched. But the best part of it all was that he was moving in with her. For the first time in a long while, he was actually looking forward to something other than racing. And it was all because of the woman he held in his arms, the woman that he didn't want to disappoint, the woman who he was falling in love with.
They finished the dance in silence and he took her hand, leading them back to the table where he grabbed her purse as he walked by. They made their way outside to wait for the valet to bring his car around.
They stood there in silence until the valet pulled up in his car. Dom held the door open for Liz and then went around to the driver's side, pulling his coat jacket off in the process.
"Nice car," the kid commented. "Wish I had one like this," he said, holding the door for Dom.
"Thanks," he answers, throwing his jacket into the back and sliding behind the wheel.
"Wait a minute! You're that guy who races!" the kid exclaimed. "Toretto! Yeah, that's who you are!" he said excitedly.
It was at that point Dom realized that starting over with a new life wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. It sounded good in theory but real life always finds a way to slap you in the face.
They drove back to Liz's townhouse each lost in their own thoughts. He pulled the RX-7 into the driveway and went around to open Liz's door for her.
"By the way, you look beautiful tonight," he said before leaning down to capture her lips with his. Liz was wearing a strapless black mini-dress with matching black heels. He'd never seen her dressed up and he loved what he saw.
Liz pulled away from him and smiled. "You don't clean up so bad either yourself." Dom was wearing a black suit with a white shirt, but no tie. She looked down and laughed. Instead of dress shoes, he was wearing his black boots.
"Hey, you're lucky I wore the suit," he said laughing with her. "This is not something I feel comfortable in. Give me a pair of jeans and t-shirt any day over this monkey suit," he said, pulling the shirt from his dress pants, giving Liz a peek of his bronze skin . skin that she explored to her heart's content sometime later.
