Chapter 45 - She's Bonnie, I'm Clyde.
AN: Here it is. The ending of the story. Sorry for the wait but this was hard to write. I hope it turned out ok and that I didn't disappoint anyone with the ending. Better go to the bathroom and get snacks now because this is 10,000 words long. It took me that long to say what I wanted to say. So again, hope everyone enjoyed the ride and don't forget that there will be more of Vince and Nyssa in Adrenaline at some point. Shameless plug for me. No need to be depressed after all, I'll still be around. ;) Feedback is wanted and encouraged. On to the story.
On Thursday Dom drove to the hospital to collect Jesse. He took Leon with him but everyone else stayed home to prepare for Jesse's return. He was going to be confined to his room for the first week too. Other then when he went to physiotherapy. They timed his therapy so that he could go at the same times as Vince.
"I can't wait to have Jesse home." Nyssa said as she jumped up and down in place.
"Me neither." Mia answered, laughing at Nyssa's exuberance.
"It'll be good to have everyone home." Letty said. Nyssa bounced up and down some more and on one particularly high bounce Vince snuck up behind her and grabbed her out of the air.
"Argh." Nyssa screamed in shock. Everyone laughed as she struggled to get away till she recognized the arms around her waist.
"Stop bouncing Nys. It's making me dizzy to watch you go." Vince said as he set her down.
"Ok. Ok. Let's go for a drive and get all Jesse's favourite foods." Nyssa suggested. She couldn't sit still; she had to be doing something. It was still daylight and too early to go for a drive to do something that would really tire her out.
"Good idea." Vince said as he walked up to the door of the house and snatched up his keys. "Ready to go now?" He asked, turning back toward her.
"Yep, let's go." Nyssa followed Vince out of the house. They ran into Brian on the front walk. "What's up Brian?" Nyssa asked Brian with a smile.
"Lot's. I need to call a team meeting." Brian said.
"Sounds ominous. Dom'n Leon are gone to get Jesse. They should be home in about 15 minutes or so." Nyssa told Brian.
"Ok. You two were off somewhere were you?"
"Just to go shopping." Nyssa answered all Brian's questions. Like Vince had told them all, realizing Brian was an ok guy didn't mean that ol Coyote had to like him. Vince seemed to take a live'n let live attitude toward Brian since everything was cleared up. Or at least they hoped it was cleared up. Brian needing to call a team meeting might be a bad sign. "What we had to do can wait. Dom should be here any minute now."
Just as Nyssa said that the yellow Skyline that Leon and Dom had gone to get Jesse in pulled up. Dom and Leon got out of the front seats and then Dom helped Jesse out of the back seat. They started toward the house slowly.
"Good to have you home Jess." Nyssa called and waved.
"Jesse. Welcome home!" Brian exclaimed. Jesse smiled.
"Hey guys." Jesse couldn't stop grinning. It was good to be home.
Vince went to open the door for them and they all walked back inside the house.
"Guess who's home?" Dom called out and the girls came out of the kitchen.
"Jesse!" Mia said as she came running up and carefully hugged Jesse.
"Brian wants to talk to us as a team so lets all go hang in the living room for a few." Nyssa told them and they all did just that. Vince and Leon helped Jesse into a chair then sat down themselves. Nyssa waited till Vince sat down then crawled into his lap and started to play with his hair. They all watched Brian as he paced in front of the group.
"Well." He started. "I heard from my Sergeant this morning. He still doesn't believe me. I mean he didn't tell me that they thought I was lying but I can tell he thinks I am." Brian paused. "Anyway though, he told me that they've closed the investigation into the team. They didn't find enough to do anything so they have to believe my story and let it go. So we're in the clear. Unless someone starts popping trucks again and they reopen the case that is. But even then, since it won't be us doing it we'll still be fine." The whole team cheered. "I didn't quit yet, but I will in a few weeks. They already told me my next assignment is investigating some guy using the internet. So they're making me a desk jockey and I didn't get into police work to be a desk jockey. So I'm outta there just as soon as I think I can quit and not draw attention to myself and us."
"Damn, I'm sorry 'bout that Brian." Dom answered.
"It's ok Dom, really. The team means more to me then that job ever did at this point. But while I have you all here in front of me there's something else I need to do." The whole team looked at Brian, wondering what he was up to.
"Mia. I'm sorry for lying to you. Even though it all worked out in the end and at first I was just doing my job I'm still sorry. I know I was wrong in how I handled a lot of what went down. But I can't be sorry about how it ended up. About having you in my life. You're the best thing that ever happened to me. You mean more to me then any job." Mia smiled up at Brian happily. Brian went down on one knee in front of Mia on the couch. "I love you Mia Toretto and I would love nothing more then if you would please keep me forever and marry me." Brian took the ring out of his pocket and held it up as Mia started to cry. "Will you marry me?" Brian asked, hopeful but unsure look on his face. The rest of the team looked on. Letty and Nyssa had dreamy looks on their faces and the guys looked shocked.
"Yes. Yes Brian. I love you." Mia said through her tears and Brian slid the ring onto her finger. She stood and so did Brian and they embraced then kissed. The team cheered. Then the girls hugged while the guys all slapped Brian on the back and offered congratulations. Then Brian and Mia disappeared and no one followed them.
Leon and Dom helped Jesse down to his room and then Leon stayed with Jesse while Dom and Letty went down to the garage to do some work since it was clear that no one else was going to. Dom and Letty didn't get much work done anyway, as they were wont not to when they had the garage all to themselves.
Vince and Nyssa went for their drive. They had to grocery shop anyway so they figured they may as well go do it and make sure to grab goodies for Jesse while they went. Vince was thinking about Brian and Mia being engaged. He thought it was still sort of unreal. He was honestly checking himself to see if he really wasn't jealous of Brian for ending up with what Vince had always tried to convince himself he wanted. And with a glance at the girl who was sitting beside him singing along to his radio he realized he had everything he just never knew he wanted sitting in his car with him already. And she made Mia look like a second place substitute.
One thing he knew he was sure of was the girls were going to be jealous of Mia for having an engagement ring but Vince knew he wasn't ready for that. But he had to do something special for the girl who'd started all this in motion. The girl who'd showed him Mia wasn't where the sun rose and set. He didn't know what he could do. But it wasn't get engaged to anyone. He was just too unsure of what he wanted and he'd seen first hand in his own parents where it could get you to get married too young.
Dom was having pretty parallel thoughts as he held Letty in his lap. He found himself happy for his little sister; he wanted to see her married. Mia was the type who'd always wanted the big church wedding, with all the trimmings. But he knew that now Letty would be looking at him like something was wrong with them not getting engaged. After all they'd been together for a lot of years and Mia and Brian had only known each other 6 months.
But something in him rebelled at getting engaged. He didn't know why. It wasn't that he didn't love Letty because he did. He just didn't see himself as the marring type. Besides that he figured they had lots of time to worry about it. Dom had seen it around enough that people who got married young had troubles. He didn't want to get married more then once so he wanted to make sure he was ready first. He realized Letty was asleep in his lap. He got up and laid her down on the couch, covering her up and going back to work himself.
Leon was sitting with Jesse.
"Man, it was weird to see Brian ask Mia to marry him. Do you think they'll really get married?" Jesse asked Leon happily.
"I'd say so. I mean, look at them. They're so happy together. But I don't see the attraction to picken' one girl for the rest of your life myself." Leon laughed. The smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes though. Jesse didn't notice.
"Me neither. I can't wait till I can get outta this bed. Nyssa's cousin Manda is hot and she wants to go out with me." Jesse looked so much younger then he really was while he was as excited as he was.
"Well, you better not let me catch you outta this bed till the doctor tells me that it's ok." Leon turned serious for a moment.
"I won't man. I don't wanna go back to the hospital." The two continued to talk about girls and what Jesse had missed while he was gone and the story of how Nyssa had planned them out of trouble. Jesse hadn't been around to hear the story and he listened to Leon's tale with rapt attention.
"So Mia and Brian are getting married. Who would have thought it eh?" Nyssa said to Vince. She was trying to make him uncomfortable and she figured it was working when he glanced at her then quickly looked back at the road.
"It's nice for her and Brian I guess." Vince mumbled, not wanting to get into this conversation, thinking it was heading toward her asking him when he was asking her.
"Yeah, it's nice for any girl." Vince turned green. Nyssa laughed. "You should see the look on your face. I don't know if I should be amused you find this so scary or hurt that you clearly don't want to marry me."
"I.It's just.Well.I.I don't want to marry anyone just yet and we haven't known each other that long." Oh man, she was going to be pissed, Vince thought. That hadn't come out the way he'd planned at all. She was going to think he was telling her he didn't take 'them' seriously.
"It's ok V. I was just tormenting you. I don't want to get married either. I'm still young and I'm livin my life. I don't wanna get stuck taken care of and cleaning up behind some guy for the next 50 years or more. You can chill." She laughed. She knew he was terrified of commitment, but he'd come a long way and she wasn't complaining. "I bet you wanted to crawl away and hide when Brian asked Mia. You'n Dom both. I can just imagine you'n Dom thinking 'oh shit' the whole time he was askin' her." The 'busted' look was on Vince's face but he denied it.
"Naw, but I bet Dom was just like you say. After all, he's been with Letty for like 5 years now and I guess she has a right to be pissed off that her best friend got a proposal after 6 months and 5 years later I bet her and Dom have never even talked about it." Vince found himself perversely getting mad that Nyssa didn't want to marry him. What was wrong with him?
He knew she was young, but still, he thought they had a good relationship. Why wouldn't she want to marry him if he wanted to ask her? Was she hoping someone better would come along? Like she read his mind or at least saw the strange look on his face she asked him.
"What's wrong wit you?"
"Nothin'."
"No way is that look nothin'." She replied, and then realized they'd had this conversation before and it hadn't ended well.
"Yes it is." He snapped back at her.
"No it's not but if you don't want to talk about it just say so." She told him then added "ya big baby." Under her breath. He heard her.
"I'm not a baby. It's nothin'."
"Whatever you say." She looked out her window rather then at him, upset that he still didn't trust her enough to talk to her about things that bothered him. Vince sensed her pulling away from him into herself. He hated when she did that. It was like pulling teeth without pain killers to get her talking again. She held grudges. He'd found that out the hard way, sleeping in his empty bed for a week with no idea where she'd gone off to. They got to the store and she moved to throw the car door open to escape away from him. He'd really gone and done it now.
"Listen to me." He said and she stopped her headlong flight out of the car with a very loud slam of the door as she pulled it closed again and stared mutinously out the windshield at the cart coral. Vince winced on behalf of his poor car and looked at Nyssa. She refused to look at him. Vince grabbed her chin and turned her face toward his, to look into her eyes. He was ashamed to see them dark purple with her anger and upset not the glittering violet they'd been when Jesse had come home. He knew that he'd upset her. "It's nothing. For real. Just something that bothered me for a minute. It wasn't worth you worrying over and it doesn't matter. It was just a momentary thing. Ok? Don't go off all mad at me." He was still bothered by her attitude toward marrying him but he figured that it was his problem not hers and he shouldn't worry her over it. After all he'd told her he didn't want to get married just before she admitted the same thing. He figured that he'd just figured that Nyssa would want to get married just like any other girl and to find out she didn't had been a shock. He leaned over and kissed her. She didn't kiss him back very enthusiastically. He might not want to get married but he still knew he wanted her. "Truce?"
"Sure." He knew her answer wasn't sincere but at least she was speaking to him.
She'd had a good idea why he was mad at her anyway; she just hadn't really wanted to go into it in case it came out that she would really like nothing more then to be engaged to Vince, too young or not. She knew it would terrify him right into another round of acting like an asshole. She just hadn't expected him to turn around and get mad at her for telling him just want he wanted to hear. And they said women were perverse. Vince got out of the car and waited for her to do the same. They walked into the store and did their shopping.
Truce or no truce Vince knew that if Nyssa wasn't pissed off at him she still wasn't overly pleased with him either but he didn't know how to fix that. Then it hit him. He needed to see Dom. The thought he had had put him in a better mood and it seemed to rub off on Nyssa. She wasn't quite as exuberant as she had been before their little fight in the car, but she was happier. They headed home. Nyssa went off to help Mia cook and Letty 'helped' them too as much as the other girls would let her. No one wanted to eat Letty's cooking.
After supper Vince cornered Dom in the living room while the girls were all still in the kitchen.
"We need to talk Brotha." He started. Dom looked at him.
"What's on your mind V?"
"We need to take the girls on that trip you promised Letty."
"That's a great idea. How's it you came up with it?" Dom grinned at his friend.
"Well, I just wanna do something nice for Nyssa. You're the one who's gonna be in hot water over Mia and Brian getting engaged before you'n Letty. I think we all have some makin' up to do."
"You're right." Dom answered with a sigh. "And I bet you didn't get off too light either. But we can't go till Jesse's well enough to travel."
"Agreed. But keep it in mind." Vince thought for a second. "And don't tell anyone else. We should surprise them all with it when it's all planned and ready to go."
"Good idea." Dom answered, then the ladies came back into the room and they stopped talking with a glance at each other.
They put in a movie and let Jesse stay upstairs lying on the couch so he could be with the team. Vince sat in the big chair he always sat in but rather then sit on him Nyssa sat on the floor with Letty. Vince did a double take. He couldn't remember the last time Nyssa hadn't sat in his lap for movies. She always did. But there she was sitting on the floor with Letty laughing at something the other girl had said. Then she leaned over and whispered in Letty's ear.
"Wanna blow 'Super happy fun family movie night' off and take one of our cars downtown and play find the ricer? Then maybe hit a club? I hear that new place Nitrous is a cool club that racers go to."
"It's like you're readin' my mind." Letty grinned back at Nyssa.
"Kay, go get ready and I'll meet you down here in about 20 minutes ok?"
"Sounds good." They both got up. Nyssa turned back to the room. "We are going for a drive and will be back later." With that she headed downstairs.
Vince had an intense look of shock on his face. Not only had Nyssa decided not to sit with him she was taking off instead of spending time with the team. With Jesse. Who'd just gotten home. Vince stood up and went down the stairs to find Nyssa standing in her underwear in front of the open closet with an intense look of concentration on her face. Since when did anyone need to change clothes to go for a drive?
"Why you runnin out on the team girl?"
"I'm not runnin out on the team Vince. I'm going for a drive with a friend and fellow team mate. I don't consider that runnin anywhere."
"We were going to watch the movie as a team. Now you and Letty are taken off. That's not a team activity then. Besides that you should stay home and spend time with Jesse. He just got back."
"I'll spend the day with him tomorrow. Jesse'll be fine and I just don't feel like staying home tonight." She turned her back on him and reached in the closet for a black leather skirt and slid it on. Then she started flipping through her shirts, all the while mentally flipping Vince off for trying to make her feel guilty for going out instead of playing Mary Sunshine with the team while watching movies.
"Where you goin for a drive that you need to get all dressed up?" Vince smelled something fishier then Mia's awful tuna in this whole situation. Nyssa spun on him.
"I am going for a drive with my friend Letty. I am not yet sure where we are going. I expect to be home around 1am and I will call for a drive home if I need one, but I also have money for a cab should we need one. I'll try to remember not to talk to strangers. Is that ok Daddy?" She asked him in a tone of voice that showcased just how annoyed she was getting. Vince threw up his hands in surrender.
"Fine. Go. I'll see you later." He turned to leave the room.
"Only if I don't see you first." She mumbled with a mutinous glare then stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. "Like I wasn't going to if you still had a problem with it anyway." She realized she was talking to herself, pulled out a shear red singlet with 'bitch' on it in silver glitter thinking how appropriate it was, pulled it on, took the tie out of her hair and then pulled on her knee high 'hooker' boots and headed to the bathroom. She did her makeup heavy for her and sprayed on her favourite perfume. Then she headed up the stairs and found Letty wearing much the same outfit but with a blue top. Nyssa grinned. It was on. Let the games begin.
"You ready?" Letty asked her with a slightly worried look for her friend. Letty could tell something wasn't right. She figured that Nyssa and Vince had fought again and that never boded well for Nyssa's frame of mind for the next few days. Letty wasn't overly impressed with Dom either but since that was a common occurrence in her world she was a little better at dealing with it then Nyssa.
"I'm so ready. Let's roll." Nyssa said and picked up her keys, tucking them into her pocket. They walked out into the humid night air. "So, American Nissan or Japanese Nissan?" Nyssa asked.
"You up to driving?" Letty asked her.
"Of course. But we can take turns no matter who's car we take."
"You'd let me drive your car?" Letty asked, stunned.
"Yeah, why would you think I wouldn't?" Nyssa knew Letty was the better racer. Letty'd been doing it longer and she was just better at it. Nyssa knew she was good, but Letty could rival Dom, and that made her a rival for the best of the best.
"Because it's one hell of a car." Letty was shocked that Nyssa would share her car with anyone, except for Vince of course.
"Letty, you taught me to race it. I'll let you drive it. I'd trust you with my car before any of the guys and since you've seen V drive it you must know I trust you with it. Besides you're the best. I'd love to see how bad you can smoke people in this car after seeing how bad you can smoke them in your 240. Let's go. You can drive it downtown and take the first race if you want to."
"It's on." Letty shouted with a grin and they climbed into the Skyline. She was going to get to drive a skyline. The night just got a hell of a lot better. Letty fired it up and did a few practise shifts in the driveway to try and get the feel of shifting with her left hand and clutching with her right foot. It was strange but she was pretty sure she was going to pick it up fast.
"They're takin the Skyline, and Nyssa is letting Letty drive." Leon stated from his vantage point in front of the window.
"Nyssa is letting Letty drive her Skyline?" Dom asked from the chair he was sitting in and as soon as the question left his mouth they heard an ear- splitting squeal. "I guess she just answered my question." Dom said and chuckled. He was sort of miffed that Letty blew them off too, but he hadn't been in the mood to have a knock down drag out fight with her about it which is what would have happened if he'd said anything to her.
Vince looked irate. More irate then they'd seen him in recent history. Maybe even more so then when Leon had helped Nyssa break out of the house and get down to the hospital. He was sitting in his chair staring into space with a look on his face that just spelled out anger.
"What's wrong Vince?" Dom asked.
"I just can't believe the girls took off like this. What'd we do?"
"We didn't do anything. They just wanted to go for a drive." Dom answered him.
"You keep tellin' yourself that Brotha, but you're wrong. Nyssa as much as told me off downstairs and you know that if Nyssa's that mad and Letty took off with her then Letty's mad too. It's like they're one girl with two bodies when they get pissed at us." Vince said with a look at Dom.
"Letty didn't act mad at me today. But she sure just left the driveway like she was mad at me." Dom looked confused now that he started to think about it. Letty had acted like she was pissed but she hadn't told him or fought with him about anything. Letty never kept anger to herself. She always fought it out with him.
"I'm tellin' ya Dom, when that girl gets home the fight we're gonna have is gonna wake the house, so don't be too pissed at me guys. I need to get to the bottom of this."
"What's that gonna solve Vince?" Leon asked him. Nyssa had clearly showed Vince what happened when they fought time and time again and Leon didn't see where having a big fight was going to help Vince out with his girl.
"I just figure if we fight it out we can put it behind us." Vince answered with a small frown.
"I hope so Dawg." Leon's look clearly said that he didn't see the sense in it yet. They went back to watching the movie, and for the most part Vince put it out of his mind and enjoyed the movie.
"Damn girl, you learn fast." Nyssa said to Letty as they tore away from the house.
"I've always wanted to drive a Skyline but Leon isn't big on sharing his." Letty laughed.
"Yeah well Leon can kiss our asses. This car is way better then his." Nyssa said.
"What do you have against Leon all of a sudden?" Letty asked with a puzzled look.
"He has a penis. He is therefore the enemy at this point of the evening. I have nothing against him personally." Nyssa stated. Letty laughed.
"So this is an anti man night is it?"
"Why the hell do you think I didn't ask Mia? She'd be so full of 'Brian's a god.' It would make me sick." Nyssa pretended to stick her finger down her throat.
"Yeah, well she's entitled. Bitch." But Letty laughed when she said it and Nyssa knew she wasn't really trying to insult Mia.
"Yeah. Lucky Bitch." Nyssa giggled.
"You're not entitled to be pissed girl. You've only known Vince for 6 months. I've been with Dom for 5 years now and he's never even mentioned getting married."
"Yeah, well Mia met Brian right at the same time that I met Vince so there you go. And it's not that I want to get married anyway. It's this attitude that Vince seems to have that getting married to me would be a fate worst then death. I mean damn. I got lots of time to get married. I mean I love Vince but who says he's the one? I guess it was really just his attitude about the whole thing. He made it seem like getting his teeth pulled out would be more fun."
"Girl." Letty shook her head. "Vince is the one. Don't delude yourself. I'm not much older then you remember? And I'd still be thrilled if Dom asked me to marry him. It's not about age, it's about knowing you want to spend the rest of your life with the person your with. You tellin' me you have doubts that you want to spend the rest of your life with Vince?"
"No, I'm not. But he clearly has doubts about me and I can't let on I don't have any about him or he'll just get scared I'm trying to trap him into something. But then when I told him I didn't want to get married so young anyway he got mad at me. Oh, he wouldn't admit to it but I could tell. He was pissed off at me like I was saying he wasn't good enough for me to marry but then when he basically told me the same thing I was supposed to just take it and pretend to like it."
"So now the truth comes out." Letty laughed. "Let's race. That's what you need. Racing and drinking in that order."
"Let's run this beautiful car then." Nyssa laughed and they pointed the car for downtown LA. It didn't take them long to find someone who wanted to go. They pulled up to a light that had just gone red and a nanosecond later a kid in a tricked out Toyota MR-2 pulled up beside them.
"Hey baby!" The girls didn't look as the guys in the other car called out. "Come on you pretty little Chicas. How's it goin? You wanna pull over and let a real man show you how to drive a car like that?"
"You wanna go?" Letty asked with a sneer.
"I'll race you for a chance to see you two in the back seat!" Nyssa and Letty shared a look. Letty knew the answer.
"You want ass in the back seat hit Hollywood boulevard. You want to be schooled on how to race your car it'll cost ya 2 large." Letty held up her money. "What's it gonna be?"
"It's on baby." The other driver held up his money. They both looked straight forward while Nyssa set the stereo to pounding out "What means the world" by Ludacris and Trina.
What means the world to me? Breakin' law's. Racin' cars.
It was their world and the punk beside them was in for an important lesson about underestimating girls in general and certainly girls in Skylines. The punk was laughing with his friends; they thought they had this one in the bag. Nyssa and Letty shared a smug look as the light went green.
Both cars broke in unison. They cleared the intersection before the cars coming the other way had even noticed the light was green.
In this game two years boo, look at all the bullshit I've been through!
It was like Letty put all her frustration of Dom not letting her race at the warehouse into this one race against some punk kid downtown. The look of concentration on her face was intense. Her shifts were careful and tight yet violent. She was flying and she ran the car to the upper limit of the redline every time, every shift. They lost the punk behind them after about 6 seconds. Letty pulled into a parking lot and the punk pulled in too.
"Where's my money Chumpy?" Letty asked the kid as he came up to her window.
"How bout you ladies give me a consolation prize?" The kid asked, trying to be slick.
"How bout you." Letty started to tell him off.
"I got this Let." Nyssa stood up out of the car. She walked around the hood and up to the kid. She made like she was going to kiss him and then grabbed his 'package'. "You do not know who you are fucking with. That's Dominic Toretto's girl and I'm Vince's girl. Now give my friend Letty her money." Nyssa licked her lips and let go of the poor kid. He handed Letty the money.
"Sorry." He croaked out. "You're good." With that he and his friends got back into their car and took off. Letty cracked up.
"He thought he was gonna get some then you grabbed his bolas. ¡Pensé que él iba a cagar sí mismo cuando usted le dijo que éramos!" Letty slipped into Spanish then broke down she was laughing so hard. Nyssa was doubled over laughing. She and Letty switched up and Nyssa went looking for someone to race. She found another punk in a Nissan Maxima.
"Poetic Justice." Nyssa laughed and Letty joined her.
"Chica! You should find a man to drive you. You belong in the back." The kids laughed.
"Look who's talking. You're driving a pussy car!" Nyssa fired back. "I think since you drive a pussy car you should act like you have one. You belong in my back seat!"
"Ooohhhh!" Letty laughed.
"I'll show you bitch!" The kid answered back. His friends were laughing at him for getting into a verbal war and losing with a girl.
And I need my bread up front playboy, cause I can't trust ya
"Showin' me'll cost ya 2 g's. You have it?" Nyssa sneered.
"I have it." The owner of the Maxima held up his money roll and Nyssa did the same. They sat and waited for the light to go green.
I'm way way worse than them hustlin niggaz
"Show him how it goes Nys." Letty told her.
"Oh, I got this guy Let."
"I bet you do." Letty said with a glance at the red Maxima and the ironically scruffy guy driving it.
The light went green and Nyssa took off like a shot. Scenery was a blur. It was just schooling the ricers but Nyssa was taking it very seriously. This time it was personal. Letty was almost nervous just because of the intense look of concentration on Nyssa's face. Letty looked down and saw they were going 130 on city streets. It was like Nyssa realized that she'd won long ago and she pulled into a store.
Maxima guy caught up and just paid her with a nasty look for her. The girls heard his friends giving him hell as he opened his door to get back into his ride. They raced a few more random punks and always won before they pulled up to a red light beside a car load of chicks in a 2+2 Nissan 240sx. Letty was behind the wheel.
"I know we said we was done for the night but can I go wit them. Please?" Letty begged prettily.
The girl driving the 240sx revved her engine loudly with a glance at Letty.
"Smoke her." Nyssa answered.
Letty revved up the Skyline with a sneer at the girl in the other car. The other girl rolled down her window.
"You wanna go?" The driver of the 240sx had a very upper class, arrogant accent.
"Sure. The real question is do you really want to?" Letty laughed back.
"If you make it interesting. Say we go for 4 grand. First one to the set of lights a ¼ mile from here takes the whole 4 g's."
"It's on." Letty answered her and adjusted her seat in the car. She revved the car again. The light went green. Letty hit second before she ever left the intersection she was accelerating so fast. The other girl was doing alright for keeping up with them at that point.
Letty hit third and the 240sx was still keeping up with them. "What the fuck?" Letty said out loud. She'd expected to have lapped the other girl by now. They were over half way done of the stretch of road they'd picked. Letty floored the car and it shot forward.
It took a second but then the 240sx was right on her bumper. Letty hit fourth and kept the pedal to the floor. She gained some ground but clearly not as much as she would have liked because she swore again.
"It's ok Let, you're still ahead of her." Nyssa tried to reassure her friend.
"Yeah, but she shouldn't be keeping up with me like this." Letty ground out as she threw the car into 5th. She'd gained half a car length on the other car. The lights were right ahead of them when the 240sx pulled up beside them again.
"No fuckin' way!" Letty yelled. She wasn't letting some snotty rich bitch beat her while driving the same car as Letty herself owned. Letty knew there was no way that the 240 could keep up with her if she used NOS but it was incredibly dangerous to use it in the downtown core when the street wasn't blocked off by other racers. But Letty didn't see how else to win and she wasn't losing. She thumbed the NOS button uncertainly.
"Do it Let. We ain't losing to this chick. GO!" Nyssa told her friend, putting absolute faith in Letty's ability to control the car and keep them safe. Letty took a deep breath and pushed NOS 1 dumping a hundred shot of NOS into the already straining engine. The car shot forward and through the intersection two car lengths ahead of the girls in the 240sx. Letty again pulled into a store along the road and the girls pulled in. Letty and Nyssa got out of the car and walked up to the other group of girls.
"Where's my money?" Letty asked with a growl.
"What money?" The blonde who'd been driving asked.
"You owe me the 4000 that your stupid ass lost when you decided you wanted to race me. So hand it over or hand over the slip to your car." Letty was getting pissed off.
"You cheated." The blonde stated.
"Do you know who you're fuckin' with?" Nyssa asked the other girl.
"No one much." The blonde answered.
"Let's beat these buffy's down so we can head to the club girl." Letty said with a glace at the blonde and her friends.
"Let's give 'em one more chance to pay us first." Nyssa said with a snide look at the blonde girl. "You say we're no one much. You race often? Does your man?"
"I race and so does my man." The other girl quipped back.
"Well, you cheat Dominic Toretto's girlfriend outta the prize you put up in a race you lost fair and square and you see how often you or your man ever get to race again." Nyssa smiled but it didn't reach her eyes and it was clear the meaning behind it.
"You're Dominic Toretto's girlfriend?" The blonde asked Nyssa disbelievingly.
"Nope. She is." Nyssa answered with a head gesture at Letty. "We were just driving my car. Now pay up." Nyssa held out her hand. The other girl knew when she was backed into a corner and handed over the money then she and her friends got back into their 240sx and left in a cloud of burnt rubber and dust.
"Yes!" Letty yelled and she and Nyssa high fived. "You scared the shit out of two people tonight. I don't know what's gotten into you but I like it." Letty grinned at Nyssa.
"I like it too. Feels so liberating." Nyssa laughed. "Wanna sneak the car home and then we can both go get shit faced?"
"I like how your mind works." Letty took Nyssa's hand and they both walked over to the Skyline and laughingly got in. They drove back to Dom's as quiet as they could. They got out and Nyssa armed the security system with the code that made it not chirp. The two girls, giggling like children ran off down the street and called a cab to come get them. They were young, pretty, and filthy rich thanks to their earlier activity. And the night was young.
Vince got up for another beer and happened to look out the window on his way by. He saw Nyssa's car parked out front.
"When did the girls get back?" He asked the room in general.
"They didn't." Dom answered.
"Why is Nyssa's car home then?" Vince asked.
"I don't know. Is Letty's still home?"
"Yep."
"Then I don't know what they're up to but it can't be good." Dom answered.
"No it can't." Vince stated then muttered. "And she is so in for it when she gets home."
"I can't believe we blew off the team like this." Nyssa laughed as she and Letty piled into the back seat of a cab.
"Nitrous." Letty told the cabbie then turned to Nyssa. "It's fun though isn't it? To just be two girls out to have a good time. No team, no guys, no doing what Dom and Vince want or expect us to do."
"It's liberating." Nyssa told Letty again and they laughed. They arrived at the club and hopped out of the cab. As they walked up and saw the line up they groaned. It was only 11 and the place was already lined up. As they walked up to the club the bouncer recognized Letty.
"Letty Rodregez! How you livin? Who's your friend?" The large man at the door asked.
"I'm livin great since I just won about 8 grand downtown and this is my friend Nyssa. So you gonna make me wait in that line?" Letty smiled up at the bouncer.
"Make the queen of racing wait in line? How would that be smart?" The door was opened to them as if by magic and the girls walked in to a chorus of groans from the people who'd been waiting in line for hours.
"Whoa." Nyssa breathed out as they walked in and the atmosphere washed over her. The dance floor was made of clear panels that had neon lights under them, making the floor light up in a rainbow neon checkerboard. The walls were black with various car part supplier logos on them, much in the same way as racers put the logo's on their cars. The tables around the room perimeter were shaped like various import car logos.
The girls laughingly sat at the one shaped like a GT-R logo and ordered tequila shots off the passing waitress.
"GT-R came through for us tonight huh?" Nyssa asked.
"For real." Letty shouted over the pounding music. Their drinks came back and Letty picked up the first round. "To the GT-R" They downed a shot each.
"I wanna do one." Nyssa said.
"Go for it." Letty told her.
"To my brother." Letty looked at Nyssa with a puzzled expression. "For building the car and for leaving it to me and for teaching me to love cars."
"To your brother." Letty replied and they downed a shot.
"To us!" Letty yelled and they each did yet another shot. "Let's go dance!" Letty yelled and they headed out onto the floor. The music was pounding. They alternated rap and hip hop with trance music. Letty and Nyssa were just moving to the music dancing to song after song. They had a great time and got very drunk yet again. They stumbled out of the club and into the night air.
"We need a cab." Nyssa slurred.
"No kiddin. We have no car." Letty answered back but it wasn't the clearest thing she'd ever said.
"We couldn't drive it if we did." Nyssa laughed and pushed Letty's shoulder. "You're drunk."
"So're you." Letty laughed back.
"Are not." Nyssa stated then almost fell over.
"We could call Dom for a drive." Letty stated then the two girls shared a look and cracked up.
"Like he'd come." Nyssa laughed.
"Oh, he'd come. Just so he could kick my ass for goin' out without him and for racing on the streets in the middle of traffic. How'm I gonna explain where this money came from?"
"Don't. Why does he need to know? I'm not telling Vince. I'll hide it in the car."
"You're evil."
"I learned from the best. So how we getting home?" They both spotted Edwin at the same time.
"Edwin!" They called out.
"Hey girls. How's it goin."
"It's goin very good." Nyssa told him.
"I'll bet." Edwin laughed at the matching very drunk looks on the two dark beauties before him. "You need a ride home?"
"We'd love one." Nyssa answered. They got into Edwin's car and they drove to Dom's house.
"There you go ladies. Have a good one." Edwin let them off and left quietly, almost like he knew they were trying to be quiet.
"We need to go to bed. I vote we both sleep in your bed." Nyssa said in a stage whisper as they walked up to the house and Letty worked on getting the front door open.
"Good idea. Neither of our guys are gonna be pleased about us."
"True dat." Nyssa answered. Letty nodded. It wasn't going well. Letty dropped the key.
"Ah shit." They giggled while Letty looked for the key. Nyssa found it and then she tried to get the door open. The key finally slid in and the tumbler clicked over. The walked in slowly, in exaggerated motions, trying to be quiet. As they started up the stairs Letty tripped into Nyssa and they fell up the stairs, Letty on top of Nyssa and they both giggled while trying not to roar in laughter.
"Shush. Be quiet." Nyssa giggled out in an exaggerated whisper.
"I'm trying." Letty whispered back.
"We need to get to bed before we wake everyone up." Nyssa answered her.
"For real." Letty stood up and they made it to her room without further incident. Both girls changed into Letty's shorts and singlets from her drawers and went to bed.
"Did Letty ever come to bed last night?" Vince asked Dom at the breakfast table.
"Nope. Did you ever see Nyssa?"
"Nope. I'm getting worried though." Vince answered truthfully.
"It's not like them to just not come home." Leon interjected.
Just then a sleepy eyed Nyssa wandered into the kitchen, Letty's shorts low on her hips and one strap of her singlet off her shoulder. She ignored the guys and headed straight for two glasses of water and some aspirin. The aspirin was for Letty, who was sick as a dog.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Vince asked Nyssa.
"Out." She replied and started out of the kitchen sipping her water.
"I wanna talk to you." Vince called out as he watched her retreating form.
"Later." She called back. Vince and Dom shared a look.
Nyssa walked up the stairs and into Letty's room. "You really don't look good Letty." Nyssa told her friend as she walked in and sat on the edge of the bed beside her.
"I hate you the morning after we drink." Letty croaked out.
"I know you do sweetie. Here, drink this water and take the aspirin." Nyssa helped Letty drink the water and swallow the pills. "I think you'd do well to go back to sleep if you can Let."
"I'm gonna try. Will you be ok?" Letty knew Vince was going to be pissed off with Nyssa.
"I'll be fine." Nyssa stood up. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and then ran into something hard. She looked up and up and then into Dom's slightly peeved face.
"How're you?" Dom asked in a deceptively calm voice. Nyssa could feel a lecture about taking off with no one knowing where you were coming on.
"I'm great but still tired out. I'm gonna go back to bed I think." Nyssa moved to go around Dom.
"What's with Letty?" Dom decided since Nyssa was going to get enough of a lecture from Vince he didn't need to give her one.
"Hung over. Badly. I'd let her sleep and yell at her later." Nyssa replied as she headed down the stairs. Dom chuckled at how well Nyssa knew him and decided to do just as she said. He didn't want to have a huge fight with Letty and he knew if he tried to talk to her about anything while she felt so terrible it would go even worse then he thought possible.
Nyssa went downstairs and into her room. She decided she did want more sleep and got into the bed. The cool sheets felt good and she was soon back asleep. Vince went looking for Nyssa and couldn't find her again. He decided to check his room and there she was, sound asleep again. He was so mad he couldn't wait to talk to her any longer. He walked up to the side of the bed she was asleep on and shook her shoulder.
"Wake up."
"Wha?" She asked sleepily.
"I want to talk to you."
"Can you come talk to me later after I get about 3 more hours of sleep? I got home late last night."
"That's part of the conversation we need to have." Vince growled. "No one knew where you were."
"I was out. I told you that." Nyssa groaned out. She'd really wanted to sleep.
"You didn't tell me that you'd be gone all night."
"I didn't know at the time I would be. Letty and I decided to go out." Nyssa sat up in bed.
"Why didn't you guys come in and tell us you were going out when you dropped your car off?"
"We just didn't. God Vince. Is there a point to this?" Nyssa asked then yawned.
"Yes. I worried about you." He looked sincere but angry. The anger about the events of the previous day left Nyssa when she realized he was genuinely worried about her.
"I'm sorry. I had a bad day yesterday and happy family movie night didn't have much appeal. Letty and I had to blow off some steam so we did. I'm sorry you worried." She held her arms open to him.
Vince thought about it for a second and figured that they'd both done and said some stuff yesterday that could be taken as hurtful. He leaned down and picked her up into a big hug.
"You still wanna go back to bed?" Vince asked with a sly grin.
"I thought you'd never ask." Nyssa laughed back.
Three weeks passed. Things went back to normal for the team. Well, as normal as things had ever been for them. They worked in the garage and ran the store and went to races on Saturday nights and any other nights that the word went out racing would happen.
Dom and Letty fought and made up several times a week but that was nothing less then normal for them anyway.
Jesse and Vince went to their therapy. Vince finished a week after Jesse came home but he still took Jesse to every appointment anyway. At the end of the three weeks Jesse was cleared to go back to his normal routine. He wasn't as good as new but he was well on the way and the doctors said the only thing that would help him get even better was time.
Dom and Vince planned their surprise trip to Mexico. The girls had given up on ever getting to go. They didn't even talk to the guys about it, just each other. One day Letty, Nyssa, and Mia came home from shopping to find the rest of the guys in the living room waiting.
"What's up guys?" Nyssa asked.
"Dom'n Vince say they need to talk to us." Leon answered her. The girls filed into the room and pulled up seats while Dom and Vince stood up in front of them. Dom reached into his back pocket as did Vince. They both threw papers onto the table.
"Well, go ahead an look baby girl. I know you wanna." Vince said to Nyssa with a smile. She pounced on the papers. Then she squealed.
"They're taken us to Mexico." She shouted and Letty and Mia's jaw's dropped open.
"No shit!" Letty yelled as she looked over the literature on the table. She jumped up at the same time as Nyssa and they both grabbed their respective men in huge hugs. They were set to leave in a weeks time.
Their time in Mexico was like some sort of unreal fairy tale to the girls. They did nothing but eat too much, drive too fast and bake in the sun. Nyssa and Letty were matching shades of dark brown. Even the guys picked up more color from spending so much time on the beach.
Nyssa and Vince had taken to going for late night walks along the beach then sitting together in the sand. Nyssa loved every minute of it. On the last night of their stay in Mexico they went for another one of their walks and sat in the sand. Nyssa leaned back against Vince and listened to his heart beat against her while she reflected on the ride the last 6 months had been. It had been wild. But she found she wouldn't have had it any other way.
Vince was reflecting on a lot of things too. And the main thing was, he loved the girl in his arms, but he'd never told her that. He knew it was a mistake he had to rectify and he couldn't think of a better time or place.
"Nyssa?"
"Um baby." She asked him without moving.
"I need to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I love you." He waited for her reaction. He had no idea what it would be.
"I love you too." She answered simply and turned her face up to receive the kiss she expected following that statement. He didn't disappoint her. When they got back to their room some time later Nyssa looked around.
"I can't believe we have to go home tomorrow. This has been such a blast." Nyssa sighed wistfully.
"We can come back some other time you know." Vince laughed at the look on her face. She clearly enjoyed the days of doing nothing.
"I know, but it'll never be this trip again." The trip where you told me you loved me out loud for the first time ever, she thought.
"I have one more thing for you." Vince told her and handed her a piece of paper. "I know it's kinda corny but I heard this song and it make me think of you so I went and got the lyrics so you can see them. They say this kinda stuff better'n I do. I just want you to know you're my music." Vince looked more then a little uncomfortable and embarrassed. Nyssa began to read.
My Muzik
She's thick, she's bad, so clean, she's fine She loves, she hates, she laughs, she cries She hurts, she lies, she's Bonnie, I'm Clyde She's ghetto, she's real, she sings, she rhymes
She comes, she goes, she lives, she dies She sexy and bomb, she blows my mind She stays in line, she's smart, she's funny She's crafty and cunning, in the game she's running Her lips, her back, her waist, her thighs Her face, her skin, her hair, her eyes Her voice, her shape, her hips, her mind Her love, her smile, her touch, her time
My baby! Walk like six strings talk like she's my everything My baby! Loves me, hates me, leaves me, runs right back, that sexy... Baby! All I know, she shed's all my confusion, so... My baby! Will not run from anything, I swear, this goes
"Vince this is easily the sweetest thing anyone ever gave me." She through herself into his arms. He grabbed her like he was never going to let go. And of course, he had no plans on letting her go any time soon.
~Fin~
AN: Here it is. The ending of the story. Sorry for the wait but this was hard to write. I hope it turned out ok and that I didn't disappoint anyone with the ending. Better go to the bathroom and get snacks now because this is 10,000 words long. It took me that long to say what I wanted to say. So again, hope everyone enjoyed the ride and don't forget that there will be more of Vince and Nyssa in Adrenaline at some point. Shameless plug for me. No need to be depressed after all, I'll still be around. ;) Feedback is wanted and encouraged. On to the story.
On Thursday Dom drove to the hospital to collect Jesse. He took Leon with him but everyone else stayed home to prepare for Jesse's return. He was going to be confined to his room for the first week too. Other then when he went to physiotherapy. They timed his therapy so that he could go at the same times as Vince.
"I can't wait to have Jesse home." Nyssa said as she jumped up and down in place.
"Me neither." Mia answered, laughing at Nyssa's exuberance.
"It'll be good to have everyone home." Letty said. Nyssa bounced up and down some more and on one particularly high bounce Vince snuck up behind her and grabbed her out of the air.
"Argh." Nyssa screamed in shock. Everyone laughed as she struggled to get away till she recognized the arms around her waist.
"Stop bouncing Nys. It's making me dizzy to watch you go." Vince said as he set her down.
"Ok. Ok. Let's go for a drive and get all Jesse's favourite foods." Nyssa suggested. She couldn't sit still; she had to be doing something. It was still daylight and too early to go for a drive to do something that would really tire her out.
"Good idea." Vince said as he walked up to the door of the house and snatched up his keys. "Ready to go now?" He asked, turning back toward her.
"Yep, let's go." Nyssa followed Vince out of the house. They ran into Brian on the front walk. "What's up Brian?" Nyssa asked Brian with a smile.
"Lot's. I need to call a team meeting." Brian said.
"Sounds ominous. Dom'n Leon are gone to get Jesse. They should be home in about 15 minutes or so." Nyssa told Brian.
"Ok. You two were off somewhere were you?"
"Just to go shopping." Nyssa answered all Brian's questions. Like Vince had told them all, realizing Brian was an ok guy didn't mean that ol Coyote had to like him. Vince seemed to take a live'n let live attitude toward Brian since everything was cleared up. Or at least they hoped it was cleared up. Brian needing to call a team meeting might be a bad sign. "What we had to do can wait. Dom should be here any minute now."
Just as Nyssa said that the yellow Skyline that Leon and Dom had gone to get Jesse in pulled up. Dom and Leon got out of the front seats and then Dom helped Jesse out of the back seat. They started toward the house slowly.
"Good to have you home Jess." Nyssa called and waved.
"Jesse. Welcome home!" Brian exclaimed. Jesse smiled.
"Hey guys." Jesse couldn't stop grinning. It was good to be home.
Vince went to open the door for them and they all walked back inside the house.
"Guess who's home?" Dom called out and the girls came out of the kitchen.
"Jesse!" Mia said as she came running up and carefully hugged Jesse.
"Brian wants to talk to us as a team so lets all go hang in the living room for a few." Nyssa told them and they all did just that. Vince and Leon helped Jesse into a chair then sat down themselves. Nyssa waited till Vince sat down then crawled into his lap and started to play with his hair. They all watched Brian as he paced in front of the group.
"Well." He started. "I heard from my Sergeant this morning. He still doesn't believe me. I mean he didn't tell me that they thought I was lying but I can tell he thinks I am." Brian paused. "Anyway though, he told me that they've closed the investigation into the team. They didn't find enough to do anything so they have to believe my story and let it go. So we're in the clear. Unless someone starts popping trucks again and they reopen the case that is. But even then, since it won't be us doing it we'll still be fine." The whole team cheered. "I didn't quit yet, but I will in a few weeks. They already told me my next assignment is investigating some guy using the internet. So they're making me a desk jockey and I didn't get into police work to be a desk jockey. So I'm outta there just as soon as I think I can quit and not draw attention to myself and us."
"Damn, I'm sorry 'bout that Brian." Dom answered.
"It's ok Dom, really. The team means more to me then that job ever did at this point. But while I have you all here in front of me there's something else I need to do." The whole team looked at Brian, wondering what he was up to.
"Mia. I'm sorry for lying to you. Even though it all worked out in the end and at first I was just doing my job I'm still sorry. I know I was wrong in how I handled a lot of what went down. But I can't be sorry about how it ended up. About having you in my life. You're the best thing that ever happened to me. You mean more to me then any job." Mia smiled up at Brian happily. Brian went down on one knee in front of Mia on the couch. "I love you Mia Toretto and I would love nothing more then if you would please keep me forever and marry me." Brian took the ring out of his pocket and held it up as Mia started to cry. "Will you marry me?" Brian asked, hopeful but unsure look on his face. The rest of the team looked on. Letty and Nyssa had dreamy looks on their faces and the guys looked shocked.
"Yes. Yes Brian. I love you." Mia said through her tears and Brian slid the ring onto her finger. She stood and so did Brian and they embraced then kissed. The team cheered. Then the girls hugged while the guys all slapped Brian on the back and offered congratulations. Then Brian and Mia disappeared and no one followed them.
Leon and Dom helped Jesse down to his room and then Leon stayed with Jesse while Dom and Letty went down to the garage to do some work since it was clear that no one else was going to. Dom and Letty didn't get much work done anyway, as they were wont not to when they had the garage all to themselves.
Vince and Nyssa went for their drive. They had to grocery shop anyway so they figured they may as well go do it and make sure to grab goodies for Jesse while they went. Vince was thinking about Brian and Mia being engaged. He thought it was still sort of unreal. He was honestly checking himself to see if he really wasn't jealous of Brian for ending up with what Vince had always tried to convince himself he wanted. And with a glance at the girl who was sitting beside him singing along to his radio he realized he had everything he just never knew he wanted sitting in his car with him already. And she made Mia look like a second place substitute.
One thing he knew he was sure of was the girls were going to be jealous of Mia for having an engagement ring but Vince knew he wasn't ready for that. But he had to do something special for the girl who'd started all this in motion. The girl who'd showed him Mia wasn't where the sun rose and set. He didn't know what he could do. But it wasn't get engaged to anyone. He was just too unsure of what he wanted and he'd seen first hand in his own parents where it could get you to get married too young.
Dom was having pretty parallel thoughts as he held Letty in his lap. He found himself happy for his little sister; he wanted to see her married. Mia was the type who'd always wanted the big church wedding, with all the trimmings. But he knew that now Letty would be looking at him like something was wrong with them not getting engaged. After all they'd been together for a lot of years and Mia and Brian had only known each other 6 months.
But something in him rebelled at getting engaged. He didn't know why. It wasn't that he didn't love Letty because he did. He just didn't see himself as the marring type. Besides that he figured they had lots of time to worry about it. Dom had seen it around enough that people who got married young had troubles. He didn't want to get married more then once so he wanted to make sure he was ready first. He realized Letty was asleep in his lap. He got up and laid her down on the couch, covering her up and going back to work himself.
Leon was sitting with Jesse.
"Man, it was weird to see Brian ask Mia to marry him. Do you think they'll really get married?" Jesse asked Leon happily.
"I'd say so. I mean, look at them. They're so happy together. But I don't see the attraction to picken' one girl for the rest of your life myself." Leon laughed. The smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes though. Jesse didn't notice.
"Me neither. I can't wait till I can get outta this bed. Nyssa's cousin Manda is hot and she wants to go out with me." Jesse looked so much younger then he really was while he was as excited as he was.
"Well, you better not let me catch you outta this bed till the doctor tells me that it's ok." Leon turned serious for a moment.
"I won't man. I don't wanna go back to the hospital." The two continued to talk about girls and what Jesse had missed while he was gone and the story of how Nyssa had planned them out of trouble. Jesse hadn't been around to hear the story and he listened to Leon's tale with rapt attention.
"So Mia and Brian are getting married. Who would have thought it eh?" Nyssa said to Vince. She was trying to make him uncomfortable and she figured it was working when he glanced at her then quickly looked back at the road.
"It's nice for her and Brian I guess." Vince mumbled, not wanting to get into this conversation, thinking it was heading toward her asking him when he was asking her.
"Yeah, it's nice for any girl." Vince turned green. Nyssa laughed. "You should see the look on your face. I don't know if I should be amused you find this so scary or hurt that you clearly don't want to marry me."
"I.It's just.Well.I.I don't want to marry anyone just yet and we haven't known each other that long." Oh man, she was going to be pissed, Vince thought. That hadn't come out the way he'd planned at all. She was going to think he was telling her he didn't take 'them' seriously.
"It's ok V. I was just tormenting you. I don't want to get married either. I'm still young and I'm livin my life. I don't wanna get stuck taken care of and cleaning up behind some guy for the next 50 years or more. You can chill." She laughed. She knew he was terrified of commitment, but he'd come a long way and she wasn't complaining. "I bet you wanted to crawl away and hide when Brian asked Mia. You'n Dom both. I can just imagine you'n Dom thinking 'oh shit' the whole time he was askin' her." The 'busted' look was on Vince's face but he denied it.
"Naw, but I bet Dom was just like you say. After all, he's been with Letty for like 5 years now and I guess she has a right to be pissed off that her best friend got a proposal after 6 months and 5 years later I bet her and Dom have never even talked about it." Vince found himself perversely getting mad that Nyssa didn't want to marry him. What was wrong with him?
He knew she was young, but still, he thought they had a good relationship. Why wouldn't she want to marry him if he wanted to ask her? Was she hoping someone better would come along? Like she read his mind or at least saw the strange look on his face she asked him.
"What's wrong wit you?"
"Nothin'."
"No way is that look nothin'." She replied, and then realized they'd had this conversation before and it hadn't ended well.
"Yes it is." He snapped back at her.
"No it's not but if you don't want to talk about it just say so." She told him then added "ya big baby." Under her breath. He heard her.
"I'm not a baby. It's nothin'."
"Whatever you say." She looked out her window rather then at him, upset that he still didn't trust her enough to talk to her about things that bothered him. Vince sensed her pulling away from him into herself. He hated when she did that. It was like pulling teeth without pain killers to get her talking again. She held grudges. He'd found that out the hard way, sleeping in his empty bed for a week with no idea where she'd gone off to. They got to the store and she moved to throw the car door open to escape away from him. He'd really gone and done it now.
"Listen to me." He said and she stopped her headlong flight out of the car with a very loud slam of the door as she pulled it closed again and stared mutinously out the windshield at the cart coral. Vince winced on behalf of his poor car and looked at Nyssa. She refused to look at him. Vince grabbed her chin and turned her face toward his, to look into her eyes. He was ashamed to see them dark purple with her anger and upset not the glittering violet they'd been when Jesse had come home. He knew that he'd upset her. "It's nothing. For real. Just something that bothered me for a minute. It wasn't worth you worrying over and it doesn't matter. It was just a momentary thing. Ok? Don't go off all mad at me." He was still bothered by her attitude toward marrying him but he figured that it was his problem not hers and he shouldn't worry her over it. After all he'd told her he didn't want to get married just before she admitted the same thing. He figured that he'd just figured that Nyssa would want to get married just like any other girl and to find out she didn't had been a shock. He leaned over and kissed her. She didn't kiss him back very enthusiastically. He might not want to get married but he still knew he wanted her. "Truce?"
"Sure." He knew her answer wasn't sincere but at least she was speaking to him.
She'd had a good idea why he was mad at her anyway; she just hadn't really wanted to go into it in case it came out that she would really like nothing more then to be engaged to Vince, too young or not. She knew it would terrify him right into another round of acting like an asshole. She just hadn't expected him to turn around and get mad at her for telling him just want he wanted to hear. And they said women were perverse. Vince got out of the car and waited for her to do the same. They walked into the store and did their shopping.
Truce or no truce Vince knew that if Nyssa wasn't pissed off at him she still wasn't overly pleased with him either but he didn't know how to fix that. Then it hit him. He needed to see Dom. The thought he had had put him in a better mood and it seemed to rub off on Nyssa. She wasn't quite as exuberant as she had been before their little fight in the car, but she was happier. They headed home. Nyssa went off to help Mia cook and Letty 'helped' them too as much as the other girls would let her. No one wanted to eat Letty's cooking.
After supper Vince cornered Dom in the living room while the girls were all still in the kitchen.
"We need to talk Brotha." He started. Dom looked at him.
"What's on your mind V?"
"We need to take the girls on that trip you promised Letty."
"That's a great idea. How's it you came up with it?" Dom grinned at his friend.
"Well, I just wanna do something nice for Nyssa. You're the one who's gonna be in hot water over Mia and Brian getting engaged before you'n Letty. I think we all have some makin' up to do."
"You're right." Dom answered with a sigh. "And I bet you didn't get off too light either. But we can't go till Jesse's well enough to travel."
"Agreed. But keep it in mind." Vince thought for a second. "And don't tell anyone else. We should surprise them all with it when it's all planned and ready to go."
"Good idea." Dom answered, then the ladies came back into the room and they stopped talking with a glance at each other.
They put in a movie and let Jesse stay upstairs lying on the couch so he could be with the team. Vince sat in the big chair he always sat in but rather then sit on him Nyssa sat on the floor with Letty. Vince did a double take. He couldn't remember the last time Nyssa hadn't sat in his lap for movies. She always did. But there she was sitting on the floor with Letty laughing at something the other girl had said. Then she leaned over and whispered in Letty's ear.
"Wanna blow 'Super happy fun family movie night' off and take one of our cars downtown and play find the ricer? Then maybe hit a club? I hear that new place Nitrous is a cool club that racers go to."
"It's like you're readin' my mind." Letty grinned back at Nyssa.
"Kay, go get ready and I'll meet you down here in about 20 minutes ok?"
"Sounds good." They both got up. Nyssa turned back to the room. "We are going for a drive and will be back later." With that she headed downstairs.
Vince had an intense look of shock on his face. Not only had Nyssa decided not to sit with him she was taking off instead of spending time with the team. With Jesse. Who'd just gotten home. Vince stood up and went down the stairs to find Nyssa standing in her underwear in front of the open closet with an intense look of concentration on her face. Since when did anyone need to change clothes to go for a drive?
"Why you runnin out on the team girl?"
"I'm not runnin out on the team Vince. I'm going for a drive with a friend and fellow team mate. I don't consider that runnin anywhere."
"We were going to watch the movie as a team. Now you and Letty are taken off. That's not a team activity then. Besides that you should stay home and spend time with Jesse. He just got back."
"I'll spend the day with him tomorrow. Jesse'll be fine and I just don't feel like staying home tonight." She turned her back on him and reached in the closet for a black leather skirt and slid it on. Then she started flipping through her shirts, all the while mentally flipping Vince off for trying to make her feel guilty for going out instead of playing Mary Sunshine with the team while watching movies.
"Where you goin for a drive that you need to get all dressed up?" Vince smelled something fishier then Mia's awful tuna in this whole situation. Nyssa spun on him.
"I am going for a drive with my friend Letty. I am not yet sure where we are going. I expect to be home around 1am and I will call for a drive home if I need one, but I also have money for a cab should we need one. I'll try to remember not to talk to strangers. Is that ok Daddy?" She asked him in a tone of voice that showcased just how annoyed she was getting. Vince threw up his hands in surrender.
"Fine. Go. I'll see you later." He turned to leave the room.
"Only if I don't see you first." She mumbled with a mutinous glare then stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. "Like I wasn't going to if you still had a problem with it anyway." She realized she was talking to herself, pulled out a shear red singlet with 'bitch' on it in silver glitter thinking how appropriate it was, pulled it on, took the tie out of her hair and then pulled on her knee high 'hooker' boots and headed to the bathroom. She did her makeup heavy for her and sprayed on her favourite perfume. Then she headed up the stairs and found Letty wearing much the same outfit but with a blue top. Nyssa grinned. It was on. Let the games begin.
"You ready?" Letty asked her with a slightly worried look for her friend. Letty could tell something wasn't right. She figured that Nyssa and Vince had fought again and that never boded well for Nyssa's frame of mind for the next few days. Letty wasn't overly impressed with Dom either but since that was a common occurrence in her world she was a little better at dealing with it then Nyssa.
"I'm so ready. Let's roll." Nyssa said and picked up her keys, tucking them into her pocket. They walked out into the humid night air. "So, American Nissan or Japanese Nissan?" Nyssa asked.
"You up to driving?" Letty asked her.
"Of course. But we can take turns no matter who's car we take."
"You'd let me drive your car?" Letty asked, stunned.
"Yeah, why would you think I wouldn't?" Nyssa knew Letty was the better racer. Letty'd been doing it longer and she was just better at it. Nyssa knew she was good, but Letty could rival Dom, and that made her a rival for the best of the best.
"Because it's one hell of a car." Letty was shocked that Nyssa would share her car with anyone, except for Vince of course.
"Letty, you taught me to race it. I'll let you drive it. I'd trust you with my car before any of the guys and since you've seen V drive it you must know I trust you with it. Besides you're the best. I'd love to see how bad you can smoke people in this car after seeing how bad you can smoke them in your 240. Let's go. You can drive it downtown and take the first race if you want to."
"It's on." Letty shouted with a grin and they climbed into the Skyline. She was going to get to drive a skyline. The night just got a hell of a lot better. Letty fired it up and did a few practise shifts in the driveway to try and get the feel of shifting with her left hand and clutching with her right foot. It was strange but she was pretty sure she was going to pick it up fast.
"They're takin the Skyline, and Nyssa is letting Letty drive." Leon stated from his vantage point in front of the window.
"Nyssa is letting Letty drive her Skyline?" Dom asked from the chair he was sitting in and as soon as the question left his mouth they heard an ear- splitting squeal. "I guess she just answered my question." Dom said and chuckled. He was sort of miffed that Letty blew them off too, but he hadn't been in the mood to have a knock down drag out fight with her about it which is what would have happened if he'd said anything to her.
Vince looked irate. More irate then they'd seen him in recent history. Maybe even more so then when Leon had helped Nyssa break out of the house and get down to the hospital. He was sitting in his chair staring into space with a look on his face that just spelled out anger.
"What's wrong Vince?" Dom asked.
"I just can't believe the girls took off like this. What'd we do?"
"We didn't do anything. They just wanted to go for a drive." Dom answered him.
"You keep tellin' yourself that Brotha, but you're wrong. Nyssa as much as told me off downstairs and you know that if Nyssa's that mad and Letty took off with her then Letty's mad too. It's like they're one girl with two bodies when they get pissed at us." Vince said with a look at Dom.
"Letty didn't act mad at me today. But she sure just left the driveway like she was mad at me." Dom looked confused now that he started to think about it. Letty had acted like she was pissed but she hadn't told him or fought with him about anything. Letty never kept anger to herself. She always fought it out with him.
"I'm tellin' ya Dom, when that girl gets home the fight we're gonna have is gonna wake the house, so don't be too pissed at me guys. I need to get to the bottom of this."
"What's that gonna solve Vince?" Leon asked him. Nyssa had clearly showed Vince what happened when they fought time and time again and Leon didn't see where having a big fight was going to help Vince out with his girl.
"I just figure if we fight it out we can put it behind us." Vince answered with a small frown.
"I hope so Dawg." Leon's look clearly said that he didn't see the sense in it yet. They went back to watching the movie, and for the most part Vince put it out of his mind and enjoyed the movie.
"Damn girl, you learn fast." Nyssa said to Letty as they tore away from the house.
"I've always wanted to drive a Skyline but Leon isn't big on sharing his." Letty laughed.
"Yeah well Leon can kiss our asses. This car is way better then his." Nyssa said.
"What do you have against Leon all of a sudden?" Letty asked with a puzzled look.
"He has a penis. He is therefore the enemy at this point of the evening. I have nothing against him personally." Nyssa stated. Letty laughed.
"So this is an anti man night is it?"
"Why the hell do you think I didn't ask Mia? She'd be so full of 'Brian's a god.' It would make me sick." Nyssa pretended to stick her finger down her throat.
"Yeah, well she's entitled. Bitch." But Letty laughed when she said it and Nyssa knew she wasn't really trying to insult Mia.
"Yeah. Lucky Bitch." Nyssa giggled.
"You're not entitled to be pissed girl. You've only known Vince for 6 months. I've been with Dom for 5 years now and he's never even mentioned getting married."
"Yeah, well Mia met Brian right at the same time that I met Vince so there you go. And it's not that I want to get married anyway. It's this attitude that Vince seems to have that getting married to me would be a fate worst then death. I mean damn. I got lots of time to get married. I mean I love Vince but who says he's the one? I guess it was really just his attitude about the whole thing. He made it seem like getting his teeth pulled out would be more fun."
"Girl." Letty shook her head. "Vince is the one. Don't delude yourself. I'm not much older then you remember? And I'd still be thrilled if Dom asked me to marry him. It's not about age, it's about knowing you want to spend the rest of your life with the person your with. You tellin' me you have doubts that you want to spend the rest of your life with Vince?"
"No, I'm not. But he clearly has doubts about me and I can't let on I don't have any about him or he'll just get scared I'm trying to trap him into something. But then when I told him I didn't want to get married so young anyway he got mad at me. Oh, he wouldn't admit to it but I could tell. He was pissed off at me like I was saying he wasn't good enough for me to marry but then when he basically told me the same thing I was supposed to just take it and pretend to like it."
"So now the truth comes out." Letty laughed. "Let's race. That's what you need. Racing and drinking in that order."
"Let's run this beautiful car then." Nyssa laughed and they pointed the car for downtown LA. It didn't take them long to find someone who wanted to go. They pulled up to a light that had just gone red and a nanosecond later a kid in a tricked out Toyota MR-2 pulled up beside them.
"Hey baby!" The girls didn't look as the guys in the other car called out. "Come on you pretty little Chicas. How's it goin? You wanna pull over and let a real man show you how to drive a car like that?"
"You wanna go?" Letty asked with a sneer.
"I'll race you for a chance to see you two in the back seat!" Nyssa and Letty shared a look. Letty knew the answer.
"You want ass in the back seat hit Hollywood boulevard. You want to be schooled on how to race your car it'll cost ya 2 large." Letty held up her money. "What's it gonna be?"
"It's on baby." The other driver held up his money. They both looked straight forward while Nyssa set the stereo to pounding out "What means the world" by Ludacris and Trina.
What means the world to me? Breakin' law's. Racin' cars.
It was their world and the punk beside them was in for an important lesson about underestimating girls in general and certainly girls in Skylines. The punk was laughing with his friends; they thought they had this one in the bag. Nyssa and Letty shared a smug look as the light went green.
Both cars broke in unison. They cleared the intersection before the cars coming the other way had even noticed the light was green.
In this game two years boo, look at all the bullshit I've been through!
It was like Letty put all her frustration of Dom not letting her race at the warehouse into this one race against some punk kid downtown. The look of concentration on her face was intense. Her shifts were careful and tight yet violent. She was flying and she ran the car to the upper limit of the redline every time, every shift. They lost the punk behind them after about 6 seconds. Letty pulled into a parking lot and the punk pulled in too.
"Where's my money Chumpy?" Letty asked the kid as he came up to her window.
"How bout you ladies give me a consolation prize?" The kid asked, trying to be slick.
"How bout you." Letty started to tell him off.
"I got this Let." Nyssa stood up out of the car. She walked around the hood and up to the kid. She made like she was going to kiss him and then grabbed his 'package'. "You do not know who you are fucking with. That's Dominic Toretto's girl and I'm Vince's girl. Now give my friend Letty her money." Nyssa licked her lips and let go of the poor kid. He handed Letty the money.
"Sorry." He croaked out. "You're good." With that he and his friends got back into their car and took off. Letty cracked up.
"He thought he was gonna get some then you grabbed his bolas. ¡Pensé que él iba a cagar sí mismo cuando usted le dijo que éramos!" Letty slipped into Spanish then broke down she was laughing so hard. Nyssa was doubled over laughing. She and Letty switched up and Nyssa went looking for someone to race. She found another punk in a Nissan Maxima.
"Poetic Justice." Nyssa laughed and Letty joined her.
"Chica! You should find a man to drive you. You belong in the back." The kids laughed.
"Look who's talking. You're driving a pussy car!" Nyssa fired back. "I think since you drive a pussy car you should act like you have one. You belong in my back seat!"
"Ooohhhh!" Letty laughed.
"I'll show you bitch!" The kid answered back. His friends were laughing at him for getting into a verbal war and losing with a girl.
And I need my bread up front playboy, cause I can't trust ya
"Showin' me'll cost ya 2 g's. You have it?" Nyssa sneered.
"I have it." The owner of the Maxima held up his money roll and Nyssa did the same. They sat and waited for the light to go green.
I'm way way worse than them hustlin niggaz
"Show him how it goes Nys." Letty told her.
"Oh, I got this guy Let."
"I bet you do." Letty said with a glance at the red Maxima and the ironically scruffy guy driving it.
The light went green and Nyssa took off like a shot. Scenery was a blur. It was just schooling the ricers but Nyssa was taking it very seriously. This time it was personal. Letty was almost nervous just because of the intense look of concentration on Nyssa's face. Letty looked down and saw they were going 130 on city streets. It was like Nyssa realized that she'd won long ago and she pulled into a store.
Maxima guy caught up and just paid her with a nasty look for her. The girls heard his friends giving him hell as he opened his door to get back into his ride. They raced a few more random punks and always won before they pulled up to a red light beside a car load of chicks in a 2+2 Nissan 240sx. Letty was behind the wheel.
"I know we said we was done for the night but can I go wit them. Please?" Letty begged prettily.
The girl driving the 240sx revved her engine loudly with a glance at Letty.
"Smoke her." Nyssa answered.
Letty revved up the Skyline with a sneer at the girl in the other car. The other girl rolled down her window.
"You wanna go?" The driver of the 240sx had a very upper class, arrogant accent.
"Sure. The real question is do you really want to?" Letty laughed back.
"If you make it interesting. Say we go for 4 grand. First one to the set of lights a ¼ mile from here takes the whole 4 g's."
"It's on." Letty answered her and adjusted her seat in the car. She revved the car again. The light went green. Letty hit second before she ever left the intersection she was accelerating so fast. The other girl was doing alright for keeping up with them at that point.
Letty hit third and the 240sx was still keeping up with them. "What the fuck?" Letty said out loud. She'd expected to have lapped the other girl by now. They were over half way done of the stretch of road they'd picked. Letty floored the car and it shot forward.
It took a second but then the 240sx was right on her bumper. Letty hit fourth and kept the pedal to the floor. She gained some ground but clearly not as much as she would have liked because she swore again.
"It's ok Let, you're still ahead of her." Nyssa tried to reassure her friend.
"Yeah, but she shouldn't be keeping up with me like this." Letty ground out as she threw the car into 5th. She'd gained half a car length on the other car. The lights were right ahead of them when the 240sx pulled up beside them again.
"No fuckin' way!" Letty yelled. She wasn't letting some snotty rich bitch beat her while driving the same car as Letty herself owned. Letty knew there was no way that the 240 could keep up with her if she used NOS but it was incredibly dangerous to use it in the downtown core when the street wasn't blocked off by other racers. But Letty didn't see how else to win and she wasn't losing. She thumbed the NOS button uncertainly.
"Do it Let. We ain't losing to this chick. GO!" Nyssa told her friend, putting absolute faith in Letty's ability to control the car and keep them safe. Letty took a deep breath and pushed NOS 1 dumping a hundred shot of NOS into the already straining engine. The car shot forward and through the intersection two car lengths ahead of the girls in the 240sx. Letty again pulled into a store along the road and the girls pulled in. Letty and Nyssa got out of the car and walked up to the other group of girls.
"Where's my money?" Letty asked with a growl.
"What money?" The blonde who'd been driving asked.
"You owe me the 4000 that your stupid ass lost when you decided you wanted to race me. So hand it over or hand over the slip to your car." Letty was getting pissed off.
"You cheated." The blonde stated.
"Do you know who you're fuckin' with?" Nyssa asked the other girl.
"No one much." The blonde answered.
"Let's beat these buffy's down so we can head to the club girl." Letty said with a glace at the blonde and her friends.
"Let's give 'em one more chance to pay us first." Nyssa said with a snide look at the blonde girl. "You say we're no one much. You race often? Does your man?"
"I race and so does my man." The other girl quipped back.
"Well, you cheat Dominic Toretto's girlfriend outta the prize you put up in a race you lost fair and square and you see how often you or your man ever get to race again." Nyssa smiled but it didn't reach her eyes and it was clear the meaning behind it.
"You're Dominic Toretto's girlfriend?" The blonde asked Nyssa disbelievingly.
"Nope. She is." Nyssa answered with a head gesture at Letty. "We were just driving my car. Now pay up." Nyssa held out her hand. The other girl knew when she was backed into a corner and handed over the money then she and her friends got back into their 240sx and left in a cloud of burnt rubber and dust.
"Yes!" Letty yelled and she and Nyssa high fived. "You scared the shit out of two people tonight. I don't know what's gotten into you but I like it." Letty grinned at Nyssa.
"I like it too. Feels so liberating." Nyssa laughed. "Wanna sneak the car home and then we can both go get shit faced?"
"I like how your mind works." Letty took Nyssa's hand and they both walked over to the Skyline and laughingly got in. They drove back to Dom's as quiet as they could. They got out and Nyssa armed the security system with the code that made it not chirp. The two girls, giggling like children ran off down the street and called a cab to come get them. They were young, pretty, and filthy rich thanks to their earlier activity. And the night was young.
Vince got up for another beer and happened to look out the window on his way by. He saw Nyssa's car parked out front.
"When did the girls get back?" He asked the room in general.
"They didn't." Dom answered.
"Why is Nyssa's car home then?" Vince asked.
"I don't know. Is Letty's still home?"
"Yep."
"Then I don't know what they're up to but it can't be good." Dom answered.
"No it can't." Vince stated then muttered. "And she is so in for it when she gets home."
"I can't believe we blew off the team like this." Nyssa laughed as she and Letty piled into the back seat of a cab.
"Nitrous." Letty told the cabbie then turned to Nyssa. "It's fun though isn't it? To just be two girls out to have a good time. No team, no guys, no doing what Dom and Vince want or expect us to do."
"It's liberating." Nyssa told Letty again and they laughed. They arrived at the club and hopped out of the cab. As they walked up and saw the line up they groaned. It was only 11 and the place was already lined up. As they walked up to the club the bouncer recognized Letty.
"Letty Rodregez! How you livin? Who's your friend?" The large man at the door asked.
"I'm livin great since I just won about 8 grand downtown and this is my friend Nyssa. So you gonna make me wait in that line?" Letty smiled up at the bouncer.
"Make the queen of racing wait in line? How would that be smart?" The door was opened to them as if by magic and the girls walked in to a chorus of groans from the people who'd been waiting in line for hours.
"Whoa." Nyssa breathed out as they walked in and the atmosphere washed over her. The dance floor was made of clear panels that had neon lights under them, making the floor light up in a rainbow neon checkerboard. The walls were black with various car part supplier logos on them, much in the same way as racers put the logo's on their cars. The tables around the room perimeter were shaped like various import car logos.
The girls laughingly sat at the one shaped like a GT-R logo and ordered tequila shots off the passing waitress.
"GT-R came through for us tonight huh?" Nyssa asked.
"For real." Letty shouted over the pounding music. Their drinks came back and Letty picked up the first round. "To the GT-R" They downed a shot each.
"I wanna do one." Nyssa said.
"Go for it." Letty told her.
"To my brother." Letty looked at Nyssa with a puzzled expression. "For building the car and for leaving it to me and for teaching me to love cars."
"To your brother." Letty replied and they downed a shot.
"To us!" Letty yelled and they each did yet another shot. "Let's go dance!" Letty yelled and they headed out onto the floor. The music was pounding. They alternated rap and hip hop with trance music. Letty and Nyssa were just moving to the music dancing to song after song. They had a great time and got very drunk yet again. They stumbled out of the club and into the night air.
"We need a cab." Nyssa slurred.
"No kiddin. We have no car." Letty answered back but it wasn't the clearest thing she'd ever said.
"We couldn't drive it if we did." Nyssa laughed and pushed Letty's shoulder. "You're drunk."
"So're you." Letty laughed back.
"Are not." Nyssa stated then almost fell over.
"We could call Dom for a drive." Letty stated then the two girls shared a look and cracked up.
"Like he'd come." Nyssa laughed.
"Oh, he'd come. Just so he could kick my ass for goin' out without him and for racing on the streets in the middle of traffic. How'm I gonna explain where this money came from?"
"Don't. Why does he need to know? I'm not telling Vince. I'll hide it in the car."
"You're evil."
"I learned from the best. So how we getting home?" They both spotted Edwin at the same time.
"Edwin!" They called out.
"Hey girls. How's it goin."
"It's goin very good." Nyssa told him.
"I'll bet." Edwin laughed at the matching very drunk looks on the two dark beauties before him. "You need a ride home?"
"We'd love one." Nyssa answered. They got into Edwin's car and they drove to Dom's house.
"There you go ladies. Have a good one." Edwin let them off and left quietly, almost like he knew they were trying to be quiet.
"We need to go to bed. I vote we both sleep in your bed." Nyssa said in a stage whisper as they walked up to the house and Letty worked on getting the front door open.
"Good idea. Neither of our guys are gonna be pleased about us."
"True dat." Nyssa answered. Letty nodded. It wasn't going well. Letty dropped the key.
"Ah shit." They giggled while Letty looked for the key. Nyssa found it and then she tried to get the door open. The key finally slid in and the tumbler clicked over. The walked in slowly, in exaggerated motions, trying to be quiet. As they started up the stairs Letty tripped into Nyssa and they fell up the stairs, Letty on top of Nyssa and they both giggled while trying not to roar in laughter.
"Shush. Be quiet." Nyssa giggled out in an exaggerated whisper.
"I'm trying." Letty whispered back.
"We need to get to bed before we wake everyone up." Nyssa answered her.
"For real." Letty stood up and they made it to her room without further incident. Both girls changed into Letty's shorts and singlets from her drawers and went to bed.
"Did Letty ever come to bed last night?" Vince asked Dom at the breakfast table.
"Nope. Did you ever see Nyssa?"
"Nope. I'm getting worried though." Vince answered truthfully.
"It's not like them to just not come home." Leon interjected.
Just then a sleepy eyed Nyssa wandered into the kitchen, Letty's shorts low on her hips and one strap of her singlet off her shoulder. She ignored the guys and headed straight for two glasses of water and some aspirin. The aspirin was for Letty, who was sick as a dog.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Vince asked Nyssa.
"Out." She replied and started out of the kitchen sipping her water.
"I wanna talk to you." Vince called out as he watched her retreating form.
"Later." She called back. Vince and Dom shared a look.
Nyssa walked up the stairs and into Letty's room. "You really don't look good Letty." Nyssa told her friend as she walked in and sat on the edge of the bed beside her.
"I hate you the morning after we drink." Letty croaked out.
"I know you do sweetie. Here, drink this water and take the aspirin." Nyssa helped Letty drink the water and swallow the pills. "I think you'd do well to go back to sleep if you can Let."
"I'm gonna try. Will you be ok?" Letty knew Vince was going to be pissed off with Nyssa.
"I'll be fine." Nyssa stood up. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and then ran into something hard. She looked up and up and then into Dom's slightly peeved face.
"How're you?" Dom asked in a deceptively calm voice. Nyssa could feel a lecture about taking off with no one knowing where you were coming on.
"I'm great but still tired out. I'm gonna go back to bed I think." Nyssa moved to go around Dom.
"What's with Letty?" Dom decided since Nyssa was going to get enough of a lecture from Vince he didn't need to give her one.
"Hung over. Badly. I'd let her sleep and yell at her later." Nyssa replied as she headed down the stairs. Dom chuckled at how well Nyssa knew him and decided to do just as she said. He didn't want to have a huge fight with Letty and he knew if he tried to talk to her about anything while she felt so terrible it would go even worse then he thought possible.
Nyssa went downstairs and into her room. She decided she did want more sleep and got into the bed. The cool sheets felt good and she was soon back asleep. Vince went looking for Nyssa and couldn't find her again. He decided to check his room and there she was, sound asleep again. He was so mad he couldn't wait to talk to her any longer. He walked up to the side of the bed she was asleep on and shook her shoulder.
"Wake up."
"Wha?" She asked sleepily.
"I want to talk to you."
"Can you come talk to me later after I get about 3 more hours of sleep? I got home late last night."
"That's part of the conversation we need to have." Vince growled. "No one knew where you were."
"I was out. I told you that." Nyssa groaned out. She'd really wanted to sleep.
"You didn't tell me that you'd be gone all night."
"I didn't know at the time I would be. Letty and I decided to go out." Nyssa sat up in bed.
"Why didn't you guys come in and tell us you were going out when you dropped your car off?"
"We just didn't. God Vince. Is there a point to this?" Nyssa asked then yawned.
"Yes. I worried about you." He looked sincere but angry. The anger about the events of the previous day left Nyssa when she realized he was genuinely worried about her.
"I'm sorry. I had a bad day yesterday and happy family movie night didn't have much appeal. Letty and I had to blow off some steam so we did. I'm sorry you worried." She held her arms open to him.
Vince thought about it for a second and figured that they'd both done and said some stuff yesterday that could be taken as hurtful. He leaned down and picked her up into a big hug.
"You still wanna go back to bed?" Vince asked with a sly grin.
"I thought you'd never ask." Nyssa laughed back.
Three weeks passed. Things went back to normal for the team. Well, as normal as things had ever been for them. They worked in the garage and ran the store and went to races on Saturday nights and any other nights that the word went out racing would happen.
Dom and Letty fought and made up several times a week but that was nothing less then normal for them anyway.
Jesse and Vince went to their therapy. Vince finished a week after Jesse came home but he still took Jesse to every appointment anyway. At the end of the three weeks Jesse was cleared to go back to his normal routine. He wasn't as good as new but he was well on the way and the doctors said the only thing that would help him get even better was time.
Dom and Vince planned their surprise trip to Mexico. The girls had given up on ever getting to go. They didn't even talk to the guys about it, just each other. One day Letty, Nyssa, and Mia came home from shopping to find the rest of the guys in the living room waiting.
"What's up guys?" Nyssa asked.
"Dom'n Vince say they need to talk to us." Leon answered her. The girls filed into the room and pulled up seats while Dom and Vince stood up in front of them. Dom reached into his back pocket as did Vince. They both threw papers onto the table.
"Well, go ahead an look baby girl. I know you wanna." Vince said to Nyssa with a smile. She pounced on the papers. Then she squealed.
"They're taken us to Mexico." She shouted and Letty and Mia's jaw's dropped open.
"No shit!" Letty yelled as she looked over the literature on the table. She jumped up at the same time as Nyssa and they both grabbed their respective men in huge hugs. They were set to leave in a weeks time.
Their time in Mexico was like some sort of unreal fairy tale to the girls. They did nothing but eat too much, drive too fast and bake in the sun. Nyssa and Letty were matching shades of dark brown. Even the guys picked up more color from spending so much time on the beach.
Nyssa and Vince had taken to going for late night walks along the beach then sitting together in the sand. Nyssa loved every minute of it. On the last night of their stay in Mexico they went for another one of their walks and sat in the sand. Nyssa leaned back against Vince and listened to his heart beat against her while she reflected on the ride the last 6 months had been. It had been wild. But she found she wouldn't have had it any other way.
Vince was reflecting on a lot of things too. And the main thing was, he loved the girl in his arms, but he'd never told her that. He knew it was a mistake he had to rectify and he couldn't think of a better time or place.
"Nyssa?"
"Um baby." She asked him without moving.
"I need to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I love you." He waited for her reaction. He had no idea what it would be.
"I love you too." She answered simply and turned her face up to receive the kiss she expected following that statement. He didn't disappoint her. When they got back to their room some time later Nyssa looked around.
"I can't believe we have to go home tomorrow. This has been such a blast." Nyssa sighed wistfully.
"We can come back some other time you know." Vince laughed at the look on her face. She clearly enjoyed the days of doing nothing.
"I know, but it'll never be this trip again." The trip where you told me you loved me out loud for the first time ever, she thought.
"I have one more thing for you." Vince told her and handed her a piece of paper. "I know it's kinda corny but I heard this song and it make me think of you so I went and got the lyrics so you can see them. They say this kinda stuff better'n I do. I just want you to know you're my music." Vince looked more then a little uncomfortable and embarrassed. Nyssa began to read.
My Muzik
She's thick, she's bad, so clean, she's fine She loves, she hates, she laughs, she cries She hurts, she lies, she's Bonnie, I'm Clyde She's ghetto, she's real, she sings, she rhymes
She comes, she goes, she lives, she dies She sexy and bomb, she blows my mind She stays in line, she's smart, she's funny She's crafty and cunning, in the game she's running Her lips, her back, her waist, her thighs Her face, her skin, her hair, her eyes Her voice, her shape, her hips, her mind Her love, her smile, her touch, her time
My baby! Walk like six strings talk like she's my everything My baby! Loves me, hates me, leaves me, runs right back, that sexy... Baby! All I know, she shed's all my confusion, so... My baby! Will not run from anything, I swear, this goes
"Vince this is easily the sweetest thing anyone ever gave me." She through herself into his arms. He grabbed her like he was never going to let go. And of course, he had no plans on letting her go any time soon.
~Fin~