Chapter 20 - You big kid
Nyssa got to Manda's on time just barely and she had exceeded the speed limit severely to do it. Manda came out of the house and went around to the 'wrong' side and got in the car. They headed off. Manda wanted to know if Nyssa was looking to start shit dressing like that and driving this car. Nyssa told her no, she had woken up late, Vince helped her pick out her outfit and this was the only car she could drive that had not been blocked in in the driveway.
They arrived at the party. Her uncle John was a nice guy and he was glad to see his niece. First he went in at her for not calling him when she ran away from Ed, then he hugged her and told her if she ever needed anything to let him know. She told him she had been to see her dad and that everything was going to be fine now. He wanted to know all about Vince. She filled him in with as few details as possible. Then her aunt Karen came over. She sneered at Nyssa's outfit. Her aunt never liked her. She didn't know why.
"Well Nyssandre, that is quite the outfit you have on."
"Thanks Karen, Happy birthday by the way."
"Thank you dear." Said the ice queen. Man that woman got on Nyssa's nerves.
Then Nyssa's uncle noticed the car she had arrived in. They had thought Manda was picking Nyssa up because they didn't know that Nyssa had a car. They thought Danny's car was long gone, and had never seen it anyway.
"Nyssa were did you get that?"
"It was Danny's race car John. You like it?"
"Well it sure is different. I didn't think it was allowed to drive on the roads."
"Really? I didn't know that. Vince seems to think it's fine and one of the guys, Leon, has one too, but I will look into that. I have my mustang at home but it was blocked in the driveway by all four of the guy's cars so I couldn't take it."
"That is not a car for a young lady to drive Nyssandre! And what do you mean all four of the guy's cars?" Karen didn't want her daughter to get any ideas.
Nyssa hated it when her snotty aunt insisted on using her full name. "Really Karen? But it matches my outfit so perfectly. I would have thought you would appreciate that. And I mean that Dom, Leon, Jesse and Vince were all parked in the driveway behind my Mustang." Karen huffed and Manda drug her cousin off to mingle with other people closer to their own age.
"Well John, really! I don't know if I approve of Manda being around Nyssandre at this point. The girl is nothing but a bad influence. And we both know what that car is for. It looks just like the ones you see racing all over the city at night. And those people she lives with must be criminals. She is living with thugs and racing in the streets in a souped up car like white trash. This Vince character sounds shady."
"Now Karen, Nyssa is not a bad influence on anyone. She goes to school and does well even after all she has been through. She sure came into a new style of dress, but that is not so bad. She didn't have much of her teenage years to just be a kid. We can't judge the people she lives with till we meet them and besides that there are two other young ladies that live there and one of them is in UCLA. She helps Nyssa study. As far as the car goes I know that Danny raced it on the track so you are likely right about the street racing. I will have a talk about that with her and Mark. Have some patience with her Karen; her dad will be out of jail in 2 years or so."
"Well I don't want Manda to get any ideas about going to street races. They are nothing but gatherings of hooligans who do drugs and race cars on the street for crying out loud John. You better deal with your Niece. You are the only person around who can deal with her with her dad in jail. I mean imagine how this would affect us around the club if people found out your niece lived in some slum with a houseful of slackers."
"Karen, for the last time, her roommates are likely very nice, the man who owns the house also owns a garage and a convenience store and he has given Nyssa a summer job with him. I think she looks happier now then she has in years and I am not taking that from her. We'll keep an eye on her. And I will speak to my brother about the street racing issue. Manda and her cousin are best friends and if anything I think Manda has been the only influence on Nyssa. Nyssa certainly has come out of her shell since her and Manda became close again.
"You better talk to her John." John gave his wife one of the looks that clearly said time to be quiet. She took the hint.
Manda and Nyssa were talking on the way over to a group of family their own age. Nyssa filled Manda in on the new developments in her relationship with Vince on the way over to the group of teenagers. Manda couldn't believe her strait laced, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, cousin was sleeping and living with a gun toting thug. But Nyssa was happy which was nice, nice to see her happy for the first time since her brother died. And nice to see she could fall for a guy after what that jerk Doug did to her. But Manda felt her cousin could do better then Vince. She could not get the thought that he was just a stupid thug out of her mind. Of course Nyssa had never even introduced them. Which when she thought about it made sense considering that they all thought she had been trying to pick up the involved owner of the house.
She had to let Nyssa know she was past that and get introduced to Nyssa's new friends so that she could make sure that they were good to her cousin. Plus when Nyssa was on top of the racing world she didn't want her to forget her cousin. When Nyssa hit the top of this ride there were going to be hot, rich, single guys everywhere and Manda wanted to be her cousin's pretty, sexy sidekick. More so then some grease monkey thug.
They talked to the assorted cousins; some were related to both girls and some only to Manda. Nyssa didn't feel like she didn't belong for the first time ever. She thought she might owe some of that to Vince. Up till the time she started to hang with him she would have felt out of sorts in this situation. Since hooking up with Vince and his team she had gained confidence. Manda and she talked to the cousins for about an hour and they decided to all go out on the town some time soon. Manda and Nyssa were the youngest of the cousins at almost 20 for Nyssa and almost 19 for Manda, which of course made them too young to get into clubs. The cousins all knew this but said it should not be hard to get fake id in LA. Nyssa was strangely comfortable with the thought of getting and using fake ID. Manda, she knew, would have no issues with it.
They were then told the food was ready and they all went to eat. Nyssa had fixed her skirt to hide her underwear and she was on her best behaviour all through dinner. All the relatives would have thought she had the best upbringing of anyone if they all didn't know better. She was witty and funny. Only Karen still gave her the cold shoulder. She enjoyed herself more then she thought she would. Around 6pm she knew it was time to go. She asked Manda if she wanted a ride home with her or if she wanted to catch a ride with her parents. Manda decided to go with her parents this time. Nyssa said good bye to her uncle and took off. She decided to stir up some shit for fun and she squealed out of the lot like a bat out of hell.
She arrived home with a splitting headache from trying so hard to be nice. She believed that Letty had rubbed off on her more then she realized. She wanted nothing more then to tell the whole lot of them to go to hell, just like Letty would have, she figured. She walked in the front door and threw her bag down on the floor. Letty was in the living room playing on the PS2. Nyssa threw herself down on the couch and tipped her head back and closed her eyes.
"Vince told us where you went. Rough time?"
"You don't know the half of it. You know in the short amount of time I have lived here I have changed into a totally different person. My whole family short of my dad and uncle are so full of crap I just spent the last 4 hours wanting to tell every last one of them to go to hell and I wouldn't let myself. The new me wanted to though. The old me wouldn't even have thought that way. So that's progress I guess."
"What are they like that made you so mad?"
"Well, my aunt Karen started as soon as I got out of the car about the car, my outfit, my life, where I live, who I live with, who I chose to date. You name it she bitched about it Lett. My god, when I start to race, if they find out, you know they might just tell Manda she can't see me anymore at this rate. Karen is just the bitch to do it too. I like my cousin. I know you guys don't really but she is a good girl, if a bit materialistic and self centered."
"It would suck if you couldn't see her anymore. She's your friend too not just your cousin but you know I don't like any girls who try to get with Dom even though they know I exist."
"I know. And we had a talk about that, Manda and I. I told her it was not well done of her to go after a guy with a girl already, and that everyone knew, it wasn't a secret. She thought it was, I guess she told the wrong person that she liked him. I mean that is nothing new anyway. Half the girls at races have a thing for Dom, you already knew that Letty. And when I told her that other people knew she was embarrassed. She said she knew that nothing would ever come of it and she didn't want to mess with you." Both girls laughed at that.
"Well I am glad to hear there is one less girl I have to worry about Dom cheating on me with."
"How many times did you really catch him at it though Lett?"
"Enough."
"Well once is enough, but I thought maybe it was mostly just he went missing and then you assumed he was cheating again."
"No I've caught him at it enough. More then enough, trust me."
"Ok, that doesn't change the fact that the Manda issue is settled. Have you caught him lately?
"No, not lately."
"Well maybe he's making an effort not to. I've seen how he looks at you. He loves you. Man, I have a splitting headache."
Vince heard the last part only, that the Manda issue was over, thank god, and that his poor Nyssa had a splitting headache. Poor thing, well he knew just what was good for headaches didn't he. She was sitting on the couch, head thrown back and eyes closed. He put a finger to his lips to warn Letty to stay quiet and then he leaned over and kissed her. She felt the soft brush of lips against hers and the tickle of his beard on her forehead because of the position they were in. He picked her up over the couch and carried her downstairs. Letty thought about what Nyssa had said. Maybe she would do her pat and not accuse Dom of anything anymore and try to make it easy for him not to stray. She knew she started shit sometimes.
Nyssa was nibbling on Vince's neck as he carried her down the stairs and he was growling at her for it. They spend the next hour in his room, helping her get over her headache.
That night Mia and Brian went to see a movie and Nyssa and Letty played video games with Leon and Jesse cause Vince was off doing god knows what again and Dom was in the garage fixing some car for some guy who had to have it done by the next morning and was willing to pay. Vince had told her he would be gone awhile this time at lease and since she wasn't trying to run his life she didn't say anything. She was more curious about what he was up to but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to ask him in case it seemed to him like she was trying to get further into his life then he wanted to let her. She figured he would tell her when he was good and ready. All she knew was his gun was gone with him. Nyssa and Letty both left the guys around 1am and headed to bed. Neither Vince nor Dom had gotten home by this time. Nyssa was glad she and Letty, and Mia, were friends. It was nice having good girlfriends close by.
Vince came home at 2am and dragged his tired ass right downstairs, took a shower then went to bed. If he had thought Nyssa would wait up for him he was sadly mistaken. She was out like a light in the middle of his bed on her back. Her hair was fanned out around her head. He changed then tried to figure how to make room for himself in the bed with her right smack dab in the middle. Well he figured there was no way around it he was going to have to pick her up and move her off to one side. He slid his arm under her knees and back and lifted her up.
"Um, V is that you?" She asked in that sleepy voice he loved so much.
"Who else were you expecting?" He asked with a laugh.
"Vin Diesel," She giggled after naming one of the movie stars that her girlfriends at school went crazy over, "but I wasn't expecting you to wake me up in the middle of the night either."
"You were asleep in the center of the bed with your arms and legs and hair everywhere. It was move you or sleep on the couch. That ain't happenin." He said when she gave him a look that said she thought that's what he should have done rather then wake her. He set her down and slid in with her. "So how was your evening?"
"Fine, Letty and I beat the shit out of Jesse and Leon on the play station and went for a drive around in the skyline." Well really she and Letty had done more practise runs. She beat Letty one time out of 5 but she didn't know if that was because Letty let her or if she really was getting better.
"You letting Letty teach you to drive? I guess I need to make more time for you girl, I don't want anyone else to teach you to drive."
"No, I just wanted the company while I went for a drive. Oh and Vince I have no school tomorrow, so don't bother waking me ok? It is some sort of parent teacher thing and since I have no parent I just get the day off."
"I could go as the only adult in your life at this time."
Nyssa laughed. "You are not much of an adult you big kid. You spend your days working on and driving race cars. You are about as much an adult as rock stars and pro athletes."
"I'll show you how adult I am." He kissed her and it was much later before she fell asleep again. She didn't much care since she wasn't getting up early the next day. She got up around 10 and decided to hang out at DT with Letty and the guys for awhile since she was going to be working there soon enough anyway.
Nyssa got to Manda's on time just barely and she had exceeded the speed limit severely to do it. Manda came out of the house and went around to the 'wrong' side and got in the car. They headed off. Manda wanted to know if Nyssa was looking to start shit dressing like that and driving this car. Nyssa told her no, she had woken up late, Vince helped her pick out her outfit and this was the only car she could drive that had not been blocked in in the driveway.
They arrived at the party. Her uncle John was a nice guy and he was glad to see his niece. First he went in at her for not calling him when she ran away from Ed, then he hugged her and told her if she ever needed anything to let him know. She told him she had been to see her dad and that everything was going to be fine now. He wanted to know all about Vince. She filled him in with as few details as possible. Then her aunt Karen came over. She sneered at Nyssa's outfit. Her aunt never liked her. She didn't know why.
"Well Nyssandre, that is quite the outfit you have on."
"Thanks Karen, Happy birthday by the way."
"Thank you dear." Said the ice queen. Man that woman got on Nyssa's nerves.
Then Nyssa's uncle noticed the car she had arrived in. They had thought Manda was picking Nyssa up because they didn't know that Nyssa had a car. They thought Danny's car was long gone, and had never seen it anyway.
"Nyssa were did you get that?"
"It was Danny's race car John. You like it?"
"Well it sure is different. I didn't think it was allowed to drive on the roads."
"Really? I didn't know that. Vince seems to think it's fine and one of the guys, Leon, has one too, but I will look into that. I have my mustang at home but it was blocked in the driveway by all four of the guy's cars so I couldn't take it."
"That is not a car for a young lady to drive Nyssandre! And what do you mean all four of the guy's cars?" Karen didn't want her daughter to get any ideas.
Nyssa hated it when her snotty aunt insisted on using her full name. "Really Karen? But it matches my outfit so perfectly. I would have thought you would appreciate that. And I mean that Dom, Leon, Jesse and Vince were all parked in the driveway behind my Mustang." Karen huffed and Manda drug her cousin off to mingle with other people closer to their own age.
"Well John, really! I don't know if I approve of Manda being around Nyssandre at this point. The girl is nothing but a bad influence. And we both know what that car is for. It looks just like the ones you see racing all over the city at night. And those people she lives with must be criminals. She is living with thugs and racing in the streets in a souped up car like white trash. This Vince character sounds shady."
"Now Karen, Nyssa is not a bad influence on anyone. She goes to school and does well even after all she has been through. She sure came into a new style of dress, but that is not so bad. She didn't have much of her teenage years to just be a kid. We can't judge the people she lives with till we meet them and besides that there are two other young ladies that live there and one of them is in UCLA. She helps Nyssa study. As far as the car goes I know that Danny raced it on the track so you are likely right about the street racing. I will have a talk about that with her and Mark. Have some patience with her Karen; her dad will be out of jail in 2 years or so."
"Well I don't want Manda to get any ideas about going to street races. They are nothing but gatherings of hooligans who do drugs and race cars on the street for crying out loud John. You better deal with your Niece. You are the only person around who can deal with her with her dad in jail. I mean imagine how this would affect us around the club if people found out your niece lived in some slum with a houseful of slackers."
"Karen, for the last time, her roommates are likely very nice, the man who owns the house also owns a garage and a convenience store and he has given Nyssa a summer job with him. I think she looks happier now then she has in years and I am not taking that from her. We'll keep an eye on her. And I will speak to my brother about the street racing issue. Manda and her cousin are best friends and if anything I think Manda has been the only influence on Nyssa. Nyssa certainly has come out of her shell since her and Manda became close again.
"You better talk to her John." John gave his wife one of the looks that clearly said time to be quiet. She took the hint.
Manda and Nyssa were talking on the way over to a group of family their own age. Nyssa filled Manda in on the new developments in her relationship with Vince on the way over to the group of teenagers. Manda couldn't believe her strait laced, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, cousin was sleeping and living with a gun toting thug. But Nyssa was happy which was nice, nice to see her happy for the first time since her brother died. And nice to see she could fall for a guy after what that jerk Doug did to her. But Manda felt her cousin could do better then Vince. She could not get the thought that he was just a stupid thug out of her mind. Of course Nyssa had never even introduced them. Which when she thought about it made sense considering that they all thought she had been trying to pick up the involved owner of the house.
She had to let Nyssa know she was past that and get introduced to Nyssa's new friends so that she could make sure that they were good to her cousin. Plus when Nyssa was on top of the racing world she didn't want her to forget her cousin. When Nyssa hit the top of this ride there were going to be hot, rich, single guys everywhere and Manda wanted to be her cousin's pretty, sexy sidekick. More so then some grease monkey thug.
They talked to the assorted cousins; some were related to both girls and some only to Manda. Nyssa didn't feel like she didn't belong for the first time ever. She thought she might owe some of that to Vince. Up till the time she started to hang with him she would have felt out of sorts in this situation. Since hooking up with Vince and his team she had gained confidence. Manda and she talked to the cousins for about an hour and they decided to all go out on the town some time soon. Manda and Nyssa were the youngest of the cousins at almost 20 for Nyssa and almost 19 for Manda, which of course made them too young to get into clubs. The cousins all knew this but said it should not be hard to get fake id in LA. Nyssa was strangely comfortable with the thought of getting and using fake ID. Manda, she knew, would have no issues with it.
They were then told the food was ready and they all went to eat. Nyssa had fixed her skirt to hide her underwear and she was on her best behaviour all through dinner. All the relatives would have thought she had the best upbringing of anyone if they all didn't know better. She was witty and funny. Only Karen still gave her the cold shoulder. She enjoyed herself more then she thought she would. Around 6pm she knew it was time to go. She asked Manda if she wanted a ride home with her or if she wanted to catch a ride with her parents. Manda decided to go with her parents this time. Nyssa said good bye to her uncle and took off. She decided to stir up some shit for fun and she squealed out of the lot like a bat out of hell.
She arrived home with a splitting headache from trying so hard to be nice. She believed that Letty had rubbed off on her more then she realized. She wanted nothing more then to tell the whole lot of them to go to hell, just like Letty would have, she figured. She walked in the front door and threw her bag down on the floor. Letty was in the living room playing on the PS2. Nyssa threw herself down on the couch and tipped her head back and closed her eyes.
"Vince told us where you went. Rough time?"
"You don't know the half of it. You know in the short amount of time I have lived here I have changed into a totally different person. My whole family short of my dad and uncle are so full of crap I just spent the last 4 hours wanting to tell every last one of them to go to hell and I wouldn't let myself. The new me wanted to though. The old me wouldn't even have thought that way. So that's progress I guess."
"What are they like that made you so mad?"
"Well, my aunt Karen started as soon as I got out of the car about the car, my outfit, my life, where I live, who I live with, who I chose to date. You name it she bitched about it Lett. My god, when I start to race, if they find out, you know they might just tell Manda she can't see me anymore at this rate. Karen is just the bitch to do it too. I like my cousin. I know you guys don't really but she is a good girl, if a bit materialistic and self centered."
"It would suck if you couldn't see her anymore. She's your friend too not just your cousin but you know I don't like any girls who try to get with Dom even though they know I exist."
"I know. And we had a talk about that, Manda and I. I told her it was not well done of her to go after a guy with a girl already, and that everyone knew, it wasn't a secret. She thought it was, I guess she told the wrong person that she liked him. I mean that is nothing new anyway. Half the girls at races have a thing for Dom, you already knew that Letty. And when I told her that other people knew she was embarrassed. She said she knew that nothing would ever come of it and she didn't want to mess with you." Both girls laughed at that.
"Well I am glad to hear there is one less girl I have to worry about Dom cheating on me with."
"How many times did you really catch him at it though Lett?"
"Enough."
"Well once is enough, but I thought maybe it was mostly just he went missing and then you assumed he was cheating again."
"No I've caught him at it enough. More then enough, trust me."
"Ok, that doesn't change the fact that the Manda issue is settled. Have you caught him lately?
"No, not lately."
"Well maybe he's making an effort not to. I've seen how he looks at you. He loves you. Man, I have a splitting headache."
Vince heard the last part only, that the Manda issue was over, thank god, and that his poor Nyssa had a splitting headache. Poor thing, well he knew just what was good for headaches didn't he. She was sitting on the couch, head thrown back and eyes closed. He put a finger to his lips to warn Letty to stay quiet and then he leaned over and kissed her. She felt the soft brush of lips against hers and the tickle of his beard on her forehead because of the position they were in. He picked her up over the couch and carried her downstairs. Letty thought about what Nyssa had said. Maybe she would do her pat and not accuse Dom of anything anymore and try to make it easy for him not to stray. She knew she started shit sometimes.
Nyssa was nibbling on Vince's neck as he carried her down the stairs and he was growling at her for it. They spend the next hour in his room, helping her get over her headache.
That night Mia and Brian went to see a movie and Nyssa and Letty played video games with Leon and Jesse cause Vince was off doing god knows what again and Dom was in the garage fixing some car for some guy who had to have it done by the next morning and was willing to pay. Vince had told her he would be gone awhile this time at lease and since she wasn't trying to run his life she didn't say anything. She was more curious about what he was up to but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to ask him in case it seemed to him like she was trying to get further into his life then he wanted to let her. She figured he would tell her when he was good and ready. All she knew was his gun was gone with him. Nyssa and Letty both left the guys around 1am and headed to bed. Neither Vince nor Dom had gotten home by this time. Nyssa was glad she and Letty, and Mia, were friends. It was nice having good girlfriends close by.
Vince came home at 2am and dragged his tired ass right downstairs, took a shower then went to bed. If he had thought Nyssa would wait up for him he was sadly mistaken. She was out like a light in the middle of his bed on her back. Her hair was fanned out around her head. He changed then tried to figure how to make room for himself in the bed with her right smack dab in the middle. Well he figured there was no way around it he was going to have to pick her up and move her off to one side. He slid his arm under her knees and back and lifted her up.
"Um, V is that you?" She asked in that sleepy voice he loved so much.
"Who else were you expecting?" He asked with a laugh.
"Vin Diesel," She giggled after naming one of the movie stars that her girlfriends at school went crazy over, "but I wasn't expecting you to wake me up in the middle of the night either."
"You were asleep in the center of the bed with your arms and legs and hair everywhere. It was move you or sleep on the couch. That ain't happenin." He said when she gave him a look that said she thought that's what he should have done rather then wake her. He set her down and slid in with her. "So how was your evening?"
"Fine, Letty and I beat the shit out of Jesse and Leon on the play station and went for a drive around in the skyline." Well really she and Letty had done more practise runs. She beat Letty one time out of 5 but she didn't know if that was because Letty let her or if she really was getting better.
"You letting Letty teach you to drive? I guess I need to make more time for you girl, I don't want anyone else to teach you to drive."
"No, I just wanted the company while I went for a drive. Oh and Vince I have no school tomorrow, so don't bother waking me ok? It is some sort of parent teacher thing and since I have no parent I just get the day off."
"I could go as the only adult in your life at this time."
Nyssa laughed. "You are not much of an adult you big kid. You spend your days working on and driving race cars. You are about as much an adult as rock stars and pro athletes."
"I'll show you how adult I am." He kissed her and it was much later before she fell asleep again. She didn't much care since she wasn't getting up early the next day. She got up around 10 and decided to hang out at DT with Letty and the guys for awhile since she was going to be working there soon enough anyway.