Chapter 12 - Black and White, now with shades of gray.
"What's on your mind V?" She asked him. He looked pensive and it was a strange look for Vince. She knew he was not dumb, like Manda told her he was, but he wasn't as complex as some other guys she had known. That didn't make him dumb to her, it made him refreshing. But most things in Vince's world were, how did she put this, she wasn't sure how to think of it even. Well most things in Vince's world either fit or they didn't. She figured she was about the only grey area in his life; most of the rest must be pretty black and white. For instance, if someone picked on a member of his team he would fight them. There would never be a time when he didn't really want to, or wouldn't fight because he thought the other guy could take him. It was just a thing with Vince. If they hurt or insulted a member of Vince's family they would get pounded on. With most people it would be a conscious decision. Like does he deserve the beating? Yes. Can I beat him? I have a chance. Do I want to fight? Yes or no. Can I walk away from this? Yes or no. Then based on what they thought of during that process they would either fight or not. Not Vince. He would just do it because that's how he was.
He was thinking about her. He was wondering about whether she was going to make it on the team or not. She was cool, and funny, and really smart, but she didn't have much drive for learning to race. She was watching him drive. It was kind of unnerving. He answered her question. "You are."
"Well, that can't be good. Why do you look so, well, lost over thinking about me?"
"Because I want you to get on the team and I don't think you ever will if you keep up this attitude toward learning to drive your car."
"What attitude?" She knew she had lots of attitude, just not over driving the car.
"Never wanted to practise. Letting me drive everywhere. If this was my car I wouldn't want to let anyone else drive it ever. I would want to be driving it all the time. You seem happy to let other people drive it for you all the time."
"Vince?"
"Yea?"
"I wanted to drive the car. I just knew you did too. I figure I can drive it at the track all I want and I wanted to let you drive it on the way there cause you looked like you wanted to. Plus I am still not great with it and I don't want anything to happen to us on the public roads. We can practise every day after school. I want to race and I want to make it on the team. But let's face it V, even if I become the best driver on earth there is no guarantee that Dom will ever accept me."
"You only didn't want to drive to the track cause you knew I wanted to? Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"And I know Dom makes the final decision but if you are a good driver and you have proven your loyalty to the team then he won't say no. If he didn't like you at least some already you wouldn't be staying with us anymore. But you will need to practise more. Especially if you want to be ready for racewars in 4 months time. You need to get good at the track then race in a few small buy in races on race nights to see how you do."
She nodded. They were pretty silent till they arrived at the track. She strapped herself in on the driver's side and started the car. She was doing better this time. She got all the shifts right and also accelerated at a good rate. She was faster today, and more confident. She got up to 120mph too. Again Vince made her stop the car and take off from a dead stop up to 120 then stop and do it again. She did it about 10 times and the amount of time it took her to go from 0 to 120 was getting smaller. She had the shifting down now too.
Vince took over the controls again and did a run with NOS, full race style. She enjoyed the ride but she paid careful attention too. She wanted to learn all she could. She was getting into racing late to begin with and maybe she hadn't been taking it as seriously as she should have been. So after Vince got to do his run instead of letting him drive home she said she wanted to. She told him she had to drive it on the street sometime if she was going to get use to it, and since she would be racing on the street not a track she had better get use to it. Vince agreed with her and was visibly pleased that she took the initiative to decide to do so.
On the way back to the house she told him she thought that they should go get his car and take both cars to Dom's. He agreed and they headed toward her garage. She was nervous about driving the car in the street still and to tell the truth she was scared out of her mind on the freeway. Vince could tell she was trying to be brave about it but she was not having a great time. Maybe he was pushing her too hard. If she were more comfortable driving it on the track she might do better on the street. Well hell, he guessed he would have to take her to a quiet neighbourhood and let her get use to driving it on the street there, not on a busy freeway. He told her to take the next exit. She did and they switched seats.
"I was thinking, we'll take you to a quiet neighbourhood, like around home even, and let you get use to driving on the road there ok. I think you should drive my car home too."
"That sounds perfect Vince." She was visibly relieved.
"You did good though. I could tell you were scared on the freeway." He tugged on her ponytail then fired the car back up and got back on the freeway.
They arrived at her garage and he gave her the keys to his car. She ran in and pulled it out of the garage. He waved at her and took off. She followed him in his car. It was fast too. Not fast like hers but way faster then the mustang her dad had bought her when she turned 16. Her mom had made her leave it behind in the house when they left cause she said it was bought with her dads 'dirty money'. Nyssa knew her dad had broken the law but he had provided for them well. She found she didn't really care how he had made his money. She had missed him while they lived with Ed.
Her dad still owned the big house she had grown up in and she guessed the car was still there really. Now that her mom was gone she could likely have gone back and lived in her dad's house while she waited for him to get out of jail but it would have seemed sad and lonely without her dad and her brother. She had only gone to see her dad once while he was in jail and that had been to tell him about Danny. He hadn't wanted her to see him that way. But she was the one who had to tell him. Her mom wouldn't and Danny had been killed. Her dad had to know. Nyssa had been a child herself and shouldn't have had to be the one to break that news to her dad.
She couldn't hug him to comfort him while he cried over the loss of his son and it had about broken her heart. Most of the time she was able to deal with it in a matter of fact way. There was nothing she could do after all. But on that day it had gotten to her. They wouldn't even let him out long enough to come to the funeral. Her brother had been her protector and mentor ever since she was a little kid.
Vince was a lot like him in a strange way. Her brother had been gruff and quiet. He had loved to work on his car. Vince was a criminal and her brother had been a cop and of course that was different but they still had a lot in common. Her brother had lived in a pretty black and white world too.
Vince was driving pretty fast and in his car she was comfortable keeping up with him. She always had this sense of nervousness when she broke the speed limit like this however. She was always on the lookout for cops. What if she got pulled over? She hardly had any money. She supposed she should tell her dad she forgave him and then see if he could start giving her an allowance again. She laughed.
She had to talk to Vince about his behaviour around Brian before they hit the backyard. They both squealed to a stop in front of the house. She was just about to climb out of the car when Vince opened the door. She thought that was perfect she could grab him now before they got out back just in case Brain was already here. Vince held out his hand to her to help her out of the car. She took it and stood up. She hitched up her pants.
Vince grabbed her waist. He told her she did alright today. Nyssa thanked him and put her arms around his neck.
"Vince?"
"What?"
"We need to talk a second before we go up in the house."
Vince picked her up and carried her around to the back of his car and set her on the trunk, then stood between her legs. "What do we need to talk about little girl?"
"You and your behaviour due to the fact that Brian is going to be here. Did Dom get a chance to speak to you about that?"
"No. And we don't have to either." Vince bit out, looking at the ground. "I know how to behave." Nyssa grabbed his hair and tilted his head back to look him in the eye.
"Yes we do need to talk about it. We can not have a repeat of last night V. Brian is an invited guest of Dom's and for now he is just plain a nice guy. He treats Mia well and she likes him. He hasn't forced her into anything and he treats her well. If you feel this strongly that he is not what he seems then watch him. But you can't fight him or be obviously rude to him either V. You get me?"
"Yes. I get you. But he is hidin somethin. I don't want him to hurt Mia. Can we go eat now? Please."
"Yes, if you promise me that there will not be a fist fight for this one day at least. Please." He nodded. "Does that mean you promise me?" He nodded with an exasperated look on his face. "Are you going to help me down off the car?"
Vince turned around and told her to get on his back. He piggy backed her into the backyard. Everyone but Mia was sitting around the backyard. Vince set her down beside Letty and went over to talk to the boys. He gave Brian a dirty look but he held his temper otherwise.
Letty asked Nyssa if everything was ok between her and Vince now. Nyssa told her it was ok but not perfect. Especially since she had to give him the 'thou shall not mess up the pretty face of Blondie' speech in the driveway. Letty laughed at that and said poor Vince was likely to get it twice since Dom was going to say something to him too. Nyssa said that she was still confused over how she felt about him and she knew he was still confused about how he felt about her. Nyssa asked Letty if everything was ok with her and Dom. Letty told her it was ok but not perfect. And that she was getting sick of Dom picking up skanks, or just rubbing Letty's nose in the fact that he could.
Nyssa nodded and then they heard Mia call them. They went into the house and Mia told them the food was ready and she needed their help to carry it out to the backyard. They all grabbed something and headed out. Mia set up the table then called them all over to eat. Dom sat at the head of the table, Leon at the foot. Letty sat at Dom's right, then Nyssa then Vince, and Mia sat on Dom's left, then Brian, and finally Jesse. They ate after Mia said grace. Nyssa grabbed a Corona and took a big gulp. Vince scowled at her and Brian looked downright horrified. Dom just laughed. He liked Nyssa. He liked her attitude. She was underage after all but Vince was the one who offered her her first beer after all. She pointed that out to him. He gave her a dirty look. They finished eating; Vince and Brian tried to out stare each other over the whole meal. They talked about what to do after they cleaned up and they decided to go to the local drive in theatre after they ate. Nyssa had never been.
Letty and Dom took his car, Brian and Mia took Mia's car, Jesse and Leon took Jesse's car and Nyssa and Vince took Vince's car. They made quite a sight parked in a row near the front. They saw two movies and by the time they got home it was late. Since it was Sunday Nyssa had to get up for school in the morning and Vince had his big job to do tomorrow night. Nyssa didn't know about that. It was a secret. The team was involved in something other then racing. That was why Vince was so concerned about Brian just showing up. The timing was almost too convenient.
They were getting read for bed when Vince told her to go ahead and take his Nissan to school tomorrow if she wanted. She asked if he was sure and he told her it was fine unless she would rather he drove her cause if she would rather get a drive from him then he would take her to school before he went to work at Dom's. She told him she would love to take the car but she was scared something would happen to it. He told her just to be sure she turned on the security system when she got out and it would be fine. She told him that was great and he could feel free to drive her car while she had his. He kissed her good night and they went to sleep.
She woke up the next morning in Vince's arms. It never ceased to amaze her how they could go to sleep on their own sides of the bed and wake up together in the center. She found it hard to believe she had known him all of 5 days too. She untangled herself from Vince and got up. She got ready quickly and stopped to look at Vince asleep in bed. She could never believe how good looking she found him. Most girls went for Dom even though he had a girl. She just didn't see how anyone found Dom better looking then Vince. She guessed she was just into scruffy guys more then bald, muscle bound ones. She kissed Vince softly and let herself out of the house.
"What's on your mind V?" She asked him. He looked pensive and it was a strange look for Vince. She knew he was not dumb, like Manda told her he was, but he wasn't as complex as some other guys she had known. That didn't make him dumb to her, it made him refreshing. But most things in Vince's world were, how did she put this, she wasn't sure how to think of it even. Well most things in Vince's world either fit or they didn't. She figured she was about the only grey area in his life; most of the rest must be pretty black and white. For instance, if someone picked on a member of his team he would fight them. There would never be a time when he didn't really want to, or wouldn't fight because he thought the other guy could take him. It was just a thing with Vince. If they hurt or insulted a member of Vince's family they would get pounded on. With most people it would be a conscious decision. Like does he deserve the beating? Yes. Can I beat him? I have a chance. Do I want to fight? Yes or no. Can I walk away from this? Yes or no. Then based on what they thought of during that process they would either fight or not. Not Vince. He would just do it because that's how he was.
He was thinking about her. He was wondering about whether she was going to make it on the team or not. She was cool, and funny, and really smart, but she didn't have much drive for learning to race. She was watching him drive. It was kind of unnerving. He answered her question. "You are."
"Well, that can't be good. Why do you look so, well, lost over thinking about me?"
"Because I want you to get on the team and I don't think you ever will if you keep up this attitude toward learning to drive your car."
"What attitude?" She knew she had lots of attitude, just not over driving the car.
"Never wanted to practise. Letting me drive everywhere. If this was my car I wouldn't want to let anyone else drive it ever. I would want to be driving it all the time. You seem happy to let other people drive it for you all the time."
"Vince?"
"Yea?"
"I wanted to drive the car. I just knew you did too. I figure I can drive it at the track all I want and I wanted to let you drive it on the way there cause you looked like you wanted to. Plus I am still not great with it and I don't want anything to happen to us on the public roads. We can practise every day after school. I want to race and I want to make it on the team. But let's face it V, even if I become the best driver on earth there is no guarantee that Dom will ever accept me."
"You only didn't want to drive to the track cause you knew I wanted to? Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"And I know Dom makes the final decision but if you are a good driver and you have proven your loyalty to the team then he won't say no. If he didn't like you at least some already you wouldn't be staying with us anymore. But you will need to practise more. Especially if you want to be ready for racewars in 4 months time. You need to get good at the track then race in a few small buy in races on race nights to see how you do."
She nodded. They were pretty silent till they arrived at the track. She strapped herself in on the driver's side and started the car. She was doing better this time. She got all the shifts right and also accelerated at a good rate. She was faster today, and more confident. She got up to 120mph too. Again Vince made her stop the car and take off from a dead stop up to 120 then stop and do it again. She did it about 10 times and the amount of time it took her to go from 0 to 120 was getting smaller. She had the shifting down now too.
Vince took over the controls again and did a run with NOS, full race style. She enjoyed the ride but she paid careful attention too. She wanted to learn all she could. She was getting into racing late to begin with and maybe she hadn't been taking it as seriously as she should have been. So after Vince got to do his run instead of letting him drive home she said she wanted to. She told him she had to drive it on the street sometime if she was going to get use to it, and since she would be racing on the street not a track she had better get use to it. Vince agreed with her and was visibly pleased that she took the initiative to decide to do so.
On the way back to the house she told him she thought that they should go get his car and take both cars to Dom's. He agreed and they headed toward her garage. She was nervous about driving the car in the street still and to tell the truth she was scared out of her mind on the freeway. Vince could tell she was trying to be brave about it but she was not having a great time. Maybe he was pushing her too hard. If she were more comfortable driving it on the track she might do better on the street. Well hell, he guessed he would have to take her to a quiet neighbourhood and let her get use to driving it on the street there, not on a busy freeway. He told her to take the next exit. She did and they switched seats.
"I was thinking, we'll take you to a quiet neighbourhood, like around home even, and let you get use to driving on the road there ok. I think you should drive my car home too."
"That sounds perfect Vince." She was visibly relieved.
"You did good though. I could tell you were scared on the freeway." He tugged on her ponytail then fired the car back up and got back on the freeway.
They arrived at her garage and he gave her the keys to his car. She ran in and pulled it out of the garage. He waved at her and took off. She followed him in his car. It was fast too. Not fast like hers but way faster then the mustang her dad had bought her when she turned 16. Her mom had made her leave it behind in the house when they left cause she said it was bought with her dads 'dirty money'. Nyssa knew her dad had broken the law but he had provided for them well. She found she didn't really care how he had made his money. She had missed him while they lived with Ed.
Her dad still owned the big house she had grown up in and she guessed the car was still there really. Now that her mom was gone she could likely have gone back and lived in her dad's house while she waited for him to get out of jail but it would have seemed sad and lonely without her dad and her brother. She had only gone to see her dad once while he was in jail and that had been to tell him about Danny. He hadn't wanted her to see him that way. But she was the one who had to tell him. Her mom wouldn't and Danny had been killed. Her dad had to know. Nyssa had been a child herself and shouldn't have had to be the one to break that news to her dad.
She couldn't hug him to comfort him while he cried over the loss of his son and it had about broken her heart. Most of the time she was able to deal with it in a matter of fact way. There was nothing she could do after all. But on that day it had gotten to her. They wouldn't even let him out long enough to come to the funeral. Her brother had been her protector and mentor ever since she was a little kid.
Vince was a lot like him in a strange way. Her brother had been gruff and quiet. He had loved to work on his car. Vince was a criminal and her brother had been a cop and of course that was different but they still had a lot in common. Her brother had lived in a pretty black and white world too.
Vince was driving pretty fast and in his car she was comfortable keeping up with him. She always had this sense of nervousness when she broke the speed limit like this however. She was always on the lookout for cops. What if she got pulled over? She hardly had any money. She supposed she should tell her dad she forgave him and then see if he could start giving her an allowance again. She laughed.
She had to talk to Vince about his behaviour around Brian before they hit the backyard. They both squealed to a stop in front of the house. She was just about to climb out of the car when Vince opened the door. She thought that was perfect she could grab him now before they got out back just in case Brain was already here. Vince held out his hand to her to help her out of the car. She took it and stood up. She hitched up her pants.
Vince grabbed her waist. He told her she did alright today. Nyssa thanked him and put her arms around his neck.
"Vince?"
"What?"
"We need to talk a second before we go up in the house."
Vince picked her up and carried her around to the back of his car and set her on the trunk, then stood between her legs. "What do we need to talk about little girl?"
"You and your behaviour due to the fact that Brian is going to be here. Did Dom get a chance to speak to you about that?"
"No. And we don't have to either." Vince bit out, looking at the ground. "I know how to behave." Nyssa grabbed his hair and tilted his head back to look him in the eye.
"Yes we do need to talk about it. We can not have a repeat of last night V. Brian is an invited guest of Dom's and for now he is just plain a nice guy. He treats Mia well and she likes him. He hasn't forced her into anything and he treats her well. If you feel this strongly that he is not what he seems then watch him. But you can't fight him or be obviously rude to him either V. You get me?"
"Yes. I get you. But he is hidin somethin. I don't want him to hurt Mia. Can we go eat now? Please."
"Yes, if you promise me that there will not be a fist fight for this one day at least. Please." He nodded. "Does that mean you promise me?" He nodded with an exasperated look on his face. "Are you going to help me down off the car?"
Vince turned around and told her to get on his back. He piggy backed her into the backyard. Everyone but Mia was sitting around the backyard. Vince set her down beside Letty and went over to talk to the boys. He gave Brian a dirty look but he held his temper otherwise.
Letty asked Nyssa if everything was ok between her and Vince now. Nyssa told her it was ok but not perfect. Especially since she had to give him the 'thou shall not mess up the pretty face of Blondie' speech in the driveway. Letty laughed at that and said poor Vince was likely to get it twice since Dom was going to say something to him too. Nyssa said that she was still confused over how she felt about him and she knew he was still confused about how he felt about her. Nyssa asked Letty if everything was ok with her and Dom. Letty told her it was ok but not perfect. And that she was getting sick of Dom picking up skanks, or just rubbing Letty's nose in the fact that he could.
Nyssa nodded and then they heard Mia call them. They went into the house and Mia told them the food was ready and she needed their help to carry it out to the backyard. They all grabbed something and headed out. Mia set up the table then called them all over to eat. Dom sat at the head of the table, Leon at the foot. Letty sat at Dom's right, then Nyssa then Vince, and Mia sat on Dom's left, then Brian, and finally Jesse. They ate after Mia said grace. Nyssa grabbed a Corona and took a big gulp. Vince scowled at her and Brian looked downright horrified. Dom just laughed. He liked Nyssa. He liked her attitude. She was underage after all but Vince was the one who offered her her first beer after all. She pointed that out to him. He gave her a dirty look. They finished eating; Vince and Brian tried to out stare each other over the whole meal. They talked about what to do after they cleaned up and they decided to go to the local drive in theatre after they ate. Nyssa had never been.
Letty and Dom took his car, Brian and Mia took Mia's car, Jesse and Leon took Jesse's car and Nyssa and Vince took Vince's car. They made quite a sight parked in a row near the front. They saw two movies and by the time they got home it was late. Since it was Sunday Nyssa had to get up for school in the morning and Vince had his big job to do tomorrow night. Nyssa didn't know about that. It was a secret. The team was involved in something other then racing. That was why Vince was so concerned about Brian just showing up. The timing was almost too convenient.
They were getting read for bed when Vince told her to go ahead and take his Nissan to school tomorrow if she wanted. She asked if he was sure and he told her it was fine unless she would rather he drove her cause if she would rather get a drive from him then he would take her to school before he went to work at Dom's. She told him she would love to take the car but she was scared something would happen to it. He told her just to be sure she turned on the security system when she got out and it would be fine. She told him that was great and he could feel free to drive her car while she had his. He kissed her good night and they went to sleep.
She woke up the next morning in Vince's arms. It never ceased to amaze her how they could go to sleep on their own sides of the bed and wake up together in the center. She found it hard to believe she had known him all of 5 days too. She untangled herself from Vince and got up. She got ready quickly and stopped to look at Vince asleep in bed. She could never believe how good looking she found him. Most girls went for Dom even though he had a girl. She just didn't see how anyone found Dom better looking then Vince. She guessed she was just into scruffy guys more then bald, muscle bound ones. She kissed Vince softly and let herself out of the house.