Chapter 60 -
Torrie woke up on Friday nervous out of her mind. She'd never been on a plane before. The farthest away she'd ever travelled was Texas and they'd always driven. She didn't plan on going in to the garage that day at all because she hadn't packed. She always left things to the last minute; it had gotten her into trouble in the past. She knew she was only going for two days but she really didn't know what kind of stuff to bring with her.
She got out of bed and stood in front of her dresser and thought about it. She figured she'd need more dress clothes then anything since she couldn't imagine she'd be doing much of anything but going out to see the sights with Dom. It had been so long since she'd had a reason to wear real dress clothes that she started to get excited. It had been a long time since Dom had taken her anywhere but races and she didn't consider her revealing race clothes to be dress clothes. She found herself getting excited about going and it started to eclipse the nervous feelings. She and Dom hadn't gotten to go out on a real date that didn't involve catching a movie in so long she could hardly remember the last time.
She packed more clothes then she could wear if she stayed a week, but she couldn't decide on exactly what to bring. She was going to dress in what she was wearing to travel in but she figured she'd throw on shop clothes and head down to DT for awhile. She knew she was going to go out of her mind with both worry and excitement if she sat around the house alone waiting for 3 o'clock to come around when she had to catch her plane. Plus Vince was driving her to the airport and it would be easier to just leave from DT so she could say good-bye to the whole team before she left. She put on a pair of cargo pants and one of Dom's shirts, threw another outfit to travel in into a bag so she could change at DT and then headed out to her car.
'I wonder what Dom has to drive in New York?' She mused to herself. She'd bet it was some domestic rental car and he was about to go out of his mind. She giggled at the thought as she climbed into her car. "I'm gonna miss you baby." She said out loud to her car as she started it up. She always talked to the car when she was alone in it. Then she backed out of the driveway and squealed off down to the shop.
As she walked in everyone was sitting around the table in the back having lunch.
"You save me anything?" Torrie asked the group in general.
"What're you doin' here?" Vince asked. "I thought I was picking you up at home."
"Yeah, that was the plan but I changed my mind. I decided to make sure that you all weren't slacking off without supervision." Torrie answered him. Jesse threw a French fry at her.
"You're some supervisor, Miss I fell asleep under an Acura." Jesse cracked. The whole team laughed at her.
"Ok, ok. I need as much supervision as anyone. I'm surprised that the place hasn't fallen down around us without Dom." She laughed at herself good naturedly. She wished she could have seen how she'd looked asleep under a car holding a wrench. She thought it sounded funny.
"You looked awfully cute under that car Torr." Vince grinned. "Dom showed me before he took you home." Torrie blushed.
"So who is in charge down here with both the big Dawg and you gone girl?" Leon asked slyly. "I think I'm the best choice, the most level headed and shit." Leon laughed as Jesse threw another French fry at him.
"No one is in charge." Torrie held up a hand to stop the flurry of 'I should be' arguments being thrown her way. "The garage is closed two hours after I leave and I don't think anyone needs to be in charge for two hours. I think you should all be able to just do your jobs without anyone being in charge to tell you what to do. Besides, if I had to pick someone it would be..." She trailed off as they all looked at her hopefully; each thinking it would be them. "Letty." She exclaimed and Letty smirked while the guys all said "Awwww' and "Hell no!" Torrie giggled then sat down next to Vince and started to finish his sandwich.
"Hey, I was gonna eat that." He said, looking longingly at the rapidly disappearing sandwich half.
"Yeah, but you need to lay off man, in your old age and low activity level you're packing on the pounds." Torrie teased and slapped his gut pretending it was flabby. Vince laughed at her as she said ouch and looked at her now red palm. "Ok, so there's not much flab. But still, you eat too much."
"Now, Leon's the one goin' to hell." Vince said to his friend with a grin.
"Shut up." Leon said, hauling up his shirt to check out his abs. "Still looks good to me." Everyone laughed at his vanity and he turned slightly red when he realized he just checked himself out in front of the whole group.
"You're sooooo vain, you probley think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?" Torrie sing songed in Leon's direction.
"Shut up." Leon laughed. "Besides, I'm still doin' somethin right, there's no shortage of ladies that want to get to know me better." The team groaned.
"Yeah, too bad you can't just pick one and get to know her for longer then 24 hours." Torrie giggled.
"Where's the fun in that?" Leon asked then Jesse gave him an agreeing grin.
They finished up lunch and got back to work. Torrie helped Vince work on a car and then the next time she checked her watch it was 1:30. She went into the office to get changed and washed up. She was almost as nervous about what to wear to see Dominic again for the first time as she was about flying for the first time. It felt weird to be seeing him after missing him for two weeks. It felt even more strange to be flying to another state to see him.
She didn't want the people she was bound to meet to think she was some air headed Californian surfer. Torrie had no idea what it was like in New York, other then she'd bet it was cold there being as it was early October. She'd never been anywhere that got cold weather. She'd picked out a pair of knee high black boots, a black skirt cut to just above her knee with a wide belt and a red, fitted, v-necked sweater. She grabbed Dom's high school jacket from his closet before she left the house in case it was cold when she arrived. She pulled the elastic out of her hair and brushed it out so that it fell in a shimmering curtain all around her down her back. She made plans to get it cut to a reasonable length when she got back to California. She knew Dom liked it long but it was getting out of hand. It was just past the small of her back and that was longer then she'd ever let it get, even in her high school days when it had been in style for girls to have really long hair.
She left the office. She walked up to Vince. "I'm ready."
"Wow, where are you goin girl? I've never seen you dressed like that. Dom's gonna flip." Vince didn't recognize the woman in front of him. Torrie never dressed up like some sort of business woman.
"Well, I don't want people to think I'm some stupid surf chick or something. I've heard enough people talk to know that's what people think about Californians. Dom's not gonna flip."
"Well, either way we need to go now girl. You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Torrie took a deep breath and blew it out. She was nervous about the plane again.
"It's just Dom Tor, you've seen him a hundred times before." Vince misread the reason for her nervousness.
"I know that V. But I've never been on a plane before."
"I get it. Is that why Dom had to beg you for a week before you agreed to do this?" Vince laughed.
"Part of it. Plus I'm scared that seeing him for two days will make it even harder for me to make it through the last two weeks. I wish we could afford for me to stay there with him but I just can't see how we could do it."
"I can, considering you never stay awake to do much anyway. Then when you are awake half the time you'n Dom are 'workin' in the office and not helping us anyway." Vince shoved her backwards gently. "Stay in the big apple for two weeks if you want to. We'll be alright. But I mean, how can you miss him when you have me?" Vince asked with a wink.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep that day. I was tired." 'And I don't have you anymore.' Torrie tried to explain. She wasn't going to touch the bit about time spent with Dom in his office. She thought the last bit to herself. Vince and his stray had been getting closer and it still pissed her off on some levels.
"I know that Torrie. Come on, say bye to everyone and let's go. If you miss that plane I'll never hear the end of it." He put his arm around her waist and started to walk her to the door.
"Ok, but I'm not staying there for two weeks. I didn't pack enough clothes." Torrie told Vince as they started toward the door of the shop. "Bye everyone."
The rest of the team came out from under their respective cars and hugged Torrie goodbye.
"Take carea you girl." Letty said as she hugged her newest friend.
"See you on Monday Torrie." Jesse said as he released her from a stranglehold hug.
"Have fun." Leon told her with a wink.
"We'll take good care of the place while you're gone Tor. Have fun." Brian told her with his famous smile.
"We gotta go if we're gonna stop by to say bye to Mia." Vince said as he started to move Torrie off toward the door. She was not sure how she was feeling. She was almost giddy at the thought of seeing Dom again, but scared of leaving California and scared of something else she didn't quite understand and couldn't put her finger on.
It was like if she left things were never going to be the same. She didn't know why that was but she just had this gut feeling that something was going to happen while she was gone. But she allowed Vince to lead her out of the car and put her into his Maxima. They then drove to Toretto's to say bye to Mia. They pulled up to the store and walked in.
"We're here to say bye Mi." Torrie called as she walked into the store. Chris was manning the counter. She glanced at the other girl as she went to walk out back. She still wasn't really on speaking terms with the other girl. She noticed that Vince sat down at the counter to talk to her while Torrie went to find her friend in the office.
"You're on your way to the airport then are you?" Mia asked as Torrie walked through the office door.
"Yep, on the way out. Wish me luck."
"What do you need luck for?" Mia looked puzzled.
"I need luck so that I won't find out everyone in New York that Dom knows hates me, so that I won't get air sick, so that I won't miss Dom even more when I come back. I need luck." Torrie still couldn't put her finger on what was really bothering her.
"Those are silly worries. You're worried about something else too aren't you Torrie?" Mia asked.
"I don't think so." Torrie thought about it. There was something else but she didn't want to talk about it, even to Mia.
"Yes there is, you can tell me about it Tor." Mia looked very concerned. Torrie made sure Vince and Chris couldn't hear her and sat down. She didn't have much time.
"Well, I'm scared that Dom will have found some sophisticated New York girl and that he'll see me as some silly California racer chaser chick. He could have any girl and I'm scared that he won't see me the way he did before he left. Plus I'm scared that while I'm gone things'll change here and I'll miss out on it."
"Torrie. Dom loves you. He's not going to find anyone else. And nothing will change here over two days. Stop being silly and go catch your plane. Tell my big brother I miss him and have fun. Dom'll show you a good time." Mia winked then shuddered. "Go." Mia shoved her toward the door.
"Well, that sure did change. It must have happened right under my nose but I never saw it comin." Torrie said as she watched Vince and Chris smile and carry on together.
"Yeah, that is a change." Mia laughed. "A very nice one." Vince pretty much left her alone now that he had Chris. And it was nice to see that Chris seemed to return Vince's feelings. Unlike Mia.
"I guess." Torrie said without much enthusiasm.
"You can't be jealous of Vince finding a girlfriend when you have Dom Torrie. You thought what, that he'd stay single forever just to be your friend?" Mia gave Torrie a look like she should know how silly that was.
"No, of course not. But I'd hoped he'd fall for a girl I'd like at least. Damn, he seemed to like my friend Lex for awhile there but then that fell through. Don't know who's fault that was. But at least I get along with Lex. Chris and I practically can't stand each other."
"Well, you might have to make an effort to get to know her Torrie. I mean, she needs to make the same effort but the two of you are never gonna get along if you both just call each other names behind each other backs."
"I never call her names." Torrie protested. She didn't either, she just acted cold and occasionally made cracks about her, but only in her own head, never out loud.
"No, but neither of you ever seem to make an effort to get along either." Mia pointed out. Torrie hated the way Mia was so often right about issues like this one. Torrie did continue to act like the wounded party and acted bitchy to Chris. Torrie did not, however, see that changing. She'd gotten it into her head not to like Chris and she didn't even want to change that fact.
"Torrie, we gotta go if you're gonna make your plane." Vince called as he stood up.
"Kay V. I'm comin." She called back. "Thanks for the chat Mi. You always know just what to say when I'm feelin down." Mia and Torrie hugged and then Torrie walked out into the main part of the store. "I'm ready."
"Ok girl, let's go. See you two later." Vince and Torrie walked out to the car and got in, and then sped off to the airport. Torrie called her dad on the way there.
"So I'm heading out now, I'm on the way to the airport. But I'll be home in two or three days. If you need anything you can call Vince 'n Brian ok?"
"Sure sweetie, have fun." Her dad answered her. He hated the fact she was going to stay with Toretto but he was happy to have her out of the state while he and his brother were on the trail of Ken, hoping to get some answers. But if Ken had been behind the attacks on Harry and had faked Harry's death, plus attacked Torrie, then Harry didn't want Torrie anywhere close to him.
"I will. See you next week."
"See you then princess." Harry ended the call. Vince pulled up to the drop off area of the airport and insisted on carrying Torrie's only bag up to the check in counter. Torrie checked in and then since they were pushing things to the last second she boarded the plane.
As she sat in her seat waiting for the plane to take off she started to think about the logistics of the huge piece of machinery taking off into the air and moving along at a very fast rate at a very high altitude. It scared the holy hell out of her. But she wasn't chickening out now. She did up her seatbelt and then checked it over again. The plane slowly filled up and the people all sat down and did up their belts too. Most of them were in couples laughing and talking as they boarded and stowed their carry on luggage. The others sat down and started to read or use laptop computers. It both made Torrie upset that she was all alone and upset that she seemed to be the only scared one on the plane. She had the window seat and if all the seats on the plane were sold there would be someone on the isle beside her.
Just as she thought that a tall man came down the isle and sat down beside her. He did up his belt then spared her a glance. He must have seen something of her fear on her face because he asked her "First time flying?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess?" She asked with a rueful smile.
"The look of pure terror on your face. It's pretty safe you know."
"I know but I've never done it so it's still scary." Torrie laughed.
"Why's that funny?" The man asked. "I'm not normally in a laughing mood when I'm scared."
"Me neither but the thing is I race cars. I can take a car up to 160, 170 miles an hour and while I find it a rush I don't find it scary. But here I am in a nice safe plane scared out of my mind."
"You drive race cars?" The man asked incredulously.
"Sure do. I'm Torrie by the way." She said with a smile, holding out her hand. She realized that chatting to this man had made her miss the whole take off. A fact she was incredibly grateful for.
"I'm John." The man answered with a smile. "You don't look like what I think of when I think of race car drivers. So is it formula one, or NASCAR, what kind of racing do you do?"
"Well, those are all legal kinds. I street race. It's not quite as legal but it really pays better." Torrie grinned at her companion. "And it's much more fun."
"What kind of cars do you use for that?" The man looked intrigued.
"Everyone's different. I drive a Nissan 240sx myself, so does one of my friends. We have a team and everyone has a different car. There's a lot of Nissans on our team though."
"So people just drive their everyday cars in these street races?"
"Most of us, yep. But we all have tens of thousands of dollars of mods to do it. I can get my 4 cylinder car up to 160 in less then 10 seconds. You show me any factory Nissan that can do that. It's all about the tuning." John looked interested. "What do you drive?"
"I don't own a car. I'm never home and my job makes me travel too much to make it worth my while to own a car. I get a rental when I get where I'm going. So why are you going to New York? Business or pleasure?"
"Pleasure I guess. My boyfriend is teaching a course out there and I haven't seen him in weeks so he's flying me out for the weekend. You?"
"Business." He looked slightly crestfallen to hear she was meeting her boyfriend. "So where are you from?"
"LA of course. You?"
"I'm from Seattle but I hardly ever get home." Torrie and John spent the rest of the flight chatting about their homes and families. It made the flight pass swiftly and it even made her forget to be scared. Both of the flight and of seeing Dom again. John talked her through touchdown and landing then they both disembarked. Torrie realized the plane was 30 minutes early. She and John found their bags and Torrie looked around for Dom again. He still wasn't there.
"So where's this boyfriend of yours eh?" John asked her.
"Well, we're early. I'm sure he'll be around soon." Torrie smiled and sat down.
"Well, I'll wait with you. I'm not in any rush." John sat down beside Torrie.
"That would be nice." Torrie hadn't been looking forward to waiting for Dom sitting all by herself.
Dom was running late. He'd gotten out of the school late and traffic had been terrible. By the time he got to the airport he was only 5 minutes ahead of when Torrie's plane was due to land. He parked and walked into the airport. He walked to the gate he was told her plane had landed at and looked around. There were two people sitting in the plastic chairs but that was it. He heaved a sigh, thankful he was still early. He checked the arrivals list and realized that Torrie's plane had landed about 15 minutes prior to his arrival. He didn't know where she would have gotten off to.
He looked around again. He still only saw the couple down the row. He looked closer at the two seated people down the isle of chairs. The man wasn't anyone familiar to him, but the girl was. She had Torrie's hair, he thought. He started to walk their way. He watched as the curtain of dark hair fell away as she turned her head and spotted him. He realized that the sophisticated woman whom he'd assumed was some business woman was his girl. He walked her way faster and she stood up.
"Dom!" She called out and started his way.
"Torrie!" He answered her as he reached her side and swung her up into his arms. He swung her around in a circle before setting her down on her feet and kissing her deeply. When he let her come up for air she giggled and turned to her companion.
"Dom, I'd like you to meet John. We sat together on the plane. He stopped me from screaming 'let me off' while the plane took off."
"Nice to meet you." Dom said as he shook the other man's hand.
"You too. Nice to have met you Torrie, Enjoy New York." John said with a smile as he walked off with his bags.
"Bye John." She called after him and he waved.
"So who was that?" Dom asked her.
"Just the guy who had the seat beside mine." Torrie said and smiled up at Dom.
"You look good, I thought you and that guy were a couple of business people on your way to some meeting. Where'd you get that outfit?" Dom asked her.
"I've always had it, just never had an excuse to wear it around the shop or races so you've never seen it. But I mean look at you." She leaned out of Dom's arms to look him over again. He was wearing a white dress shirt open at the throat, exposing his neck and the cleft between the muscles of his chest. He had black dress pants on and 'wonder of wonders' she thought, dress shoes, not boots. "You look good enough to eat."
"Well then, let's go. That sounds interesting." Dom said with a smile, clear in its meaning. They headed out to the parking lot. Torrie hauled Dom's old jacket out of her bag and threw it on, it was colder then California for sure. "Where'd you find that?" Dom asked with a smile.
"Your closet. I didn't have a coat and someone told me it was likely cold up here at this time of year. And they were right."
"Looks good on you. I like seeing you in my coat with my name on it. Too bad you weren't around to wear it in high school." Dom took in her long black hair and pale skin surrounded by his red high school jacket.
"So, which car is yours baby?" Torrie asked, scanning the assembled mass of brightly colored Chevy's, Fords, and Dodges.
"You can't guess?" Dom asked her with a grin.
"Nope. All I see is compact non-descript econoboxes. Which is yours." Torrie grinned up at him.
"Well, the domestic part is right, unfortunately, but it wasn't worth flying my RX out for a month. It's the red mustang." They started toward the car.
"And you're goin crazy driving this aren't you?" Torrie asked as they settled into the car.
"Yeah. The thing's a v8 and it still has no power compared to the RX-8 and the charger. I'm not a big fan of mustangs. But it's only for another two weeks then I get my real cars back." Dom grinned at the thought of his own cars, and the warm weather waiting for him in California, and Torrie in his bed every night. "Let's go, I'll show you where I'm staying."
"Sounds good. You have a lot for us to do planned?"
"Of course." Dom grinned wickedly.
Torrie woke up on Friday nervous out of her mind. She'd never been on a plane before. The farthest away she'd ever travelled was Texas and they'd always driven. She didn't plan on going in to the garage that day at all because she hadn't packed. She always left things to the last minute; it had gotten her into trouble in the past. She knew she was only going for two days but she really didn't know what kind of stuff to bring with her.
She got out of bed and stood in front of her dresser and thought about it. She figured she'd need more dress clothes then anything since she couldn't imagine she'd be doing much of anything but going out to see the sights with Dom. It had been so long since she'd had a reason to wear real dress clothes that she started to get excited. It had been a long time since Dom had taken her anywhere but races and she didn't consider her revealing race clothes to be dress clothes. She found herself getting excited about going and it started to eclipse the nervous feelings. She and Dom hadn't gotten to go out on a real date that didn't involve catching a movie in so long she could hardly remember the last time.
She packed more clothes then she could wear if she stayed a week, but she couldn't decide on exactly what to bring. She was going to dress in what she was wearing to travel in but she figured she'd throw on shop clothes and head down to DT for awhile. She knew she was going to go out of her mind with both worry and excitement if she sat around the house alone waiting for 3 o'clock to come around when she had to catch her plane. Plus Vince was driving her to the airport and it would be easier to just leave from DT so she could say good-bye to the whole team before she left. She put on a pair of cargo pants and one of Dom's shirts, threw another outfit to travel in into a bag so she could change at DT and then headed out to her car.
'I wonder what Dom has to drive in New York?' She mused to herself. She'd bet it was some domestic rental car and he was about to go out of his mind. She giggled at the thought as she climbed into her car. "I'm gonna miss you baby." She said out loud to her car as she started it up. She always talked to the car when she was alone in it. Then she backed out of the driveway and squealed off down to the shop.
As she walked in everyone was sitting around the table in the back having lunch.
"You save me anything?" Torrie asked the group in general.
"What're you doin' here?" Vince asked. "I thought I was picking you up at home."
"Yeah, that was the plan but I changed my mind. I decided to make sure that you all weren't slacking off without supervision." Torrie answered him. Jesse threw a French fry at her.
"You're some supervisor, Miss I fell asleep under an Acura." Jesse cracked. The whole team laughed at her.
"Ok, ok. I need as much supervision as anyone. I'm surprised that the place hasn't fallen down around us without Dom." She laughed at herself good naturedly. She wished she could have seen how she'd looked asleep under a car holding a wrench. She thought it sounded funny.
"You looked awfully cute under that car Torr." Vince grinned. "Dom showed me before he took you home." Torrie blushed.
"So who is in charge down here with both the big Dawg and you gone girl?" Leon asked slyly. "I think I'm the best choice, the most level headed and shit." Leon laughed as Jesse threw another French fry at him.
"No one is in charge." Torrie held up a hand to stop the flurry of 'I should be' arguments being thrown her way. "The garage is closed two hours after I leave and I don't think anyone needs to be in charge for two hours. I think you should all be able to just do your jobs without anyone being in charge to tell you what to do. Besides, if I had to pick someone it would be..." She trailed off as they all looked at her hopefully; each thinking it would be them. "Letty." She exclaimed and Letty smirked while the guys all said "Awwww' and "Hell no!" Torrie giggled then sat down next to Vince and started to finish his sandwich.
"Hey, I was gonna eat that." He said, looking longingly at the rapidly disappearing sandwich half.
"Yeah, but you need to lay off man, in your old age and low activity level you're packing on the pounds." Torrie teased and slapped his gut pretending it was flabby. Vince laughed at her as she said ouch and looked at her now red palm. "Ok, so there's not much flab. But still, you eat too much."
"Now, Leon's the one goin' to hell." Vince said to his friend with a grin.
"Shut up." Leon said, hauling up his shirt to check out his abs. "Still looks good to me." Everyone laughed at his vanity and he turned slightly red when he realized he just checked himself out in front of the whole group.
"You're sooooo vain, you probley think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?" Torrie sing songed in Leon's direction.
"Shut up." Leon laughed. "Besides, I'm still doin' somethin right, there's no shortage of ladies that want to get to know me better." The team groaned.
"Yeah, too bad you can't just pick one and get to know her for longer then 24 hours." Torrie giggled.
"Where's the fun in that?" Leon asked then Jesse gave him an agreeing grin.
They finished up lunch and got back to work. Torrie helped Vince work on a car and then the next time she checked her watch it was 1:30. She went into the office to get changed and washed up. She was almost as nervous about what to wear to see Dominic again for the first time as she was about flying for the first time. It felt weird to be seeing him after missing him for two weeks. It felt even more strange to be flying to another state to see him.
She didn't want the people she was bound to meet to think she was some air headed Californian surfer. Torrie had no idea what it was like in New York, other then she'd bet it was cold there being as it was early October. She'd never been anywhere that got cold weather. She'd picked out a pair of knee high black boots, a black skirt cut to just above her knee with a wide belt and a red, fitted, v-necked sweater. She grabbed Dom's high school jacket from his closet before she left the house in case it was cold when she arrived. She pulled the elastic out of her hair and brushed it out so that it fell in a shimmering curtain all around her down her back. She made plans to get it cut to a reasonable length when she got back to California. She knew Dom liked it long but it was getting out of hand. It was just past the small of her back and that was longer then she'd ever let it get, even in her high school days when it had been in style for girls to have really long hair.
She left the office. She walked up to Vince. "I'm ready."
"Wow, where are you goin girl? I've never seen you dressed like that. Dom's gonna flip." Vince didn't recognize the woman in front of him. Torrie never dressed up like some sort of business woman.
"Well, I don't want people to think I'm some stupid surf chick or something. I've heard enough people talk to know that's what people think about Californians. Dom's not gonna flip."
"Well, either way we need to go now girl. You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Torrie took a deep breath and blew it out. She was nervous about the plane again.
"It's just Dom Tor, you've seen him a hundred times before." Vince misread the reason for her nervousness.
"I know that V. But I've never been on a plane before."
"I get it. Is that why Dom had to beg you for a week before you agreed to do this?" Vince laughed.
"Part of it. Plus I'm scared that seeing him for two days will make it even harder for me to make it through the last two weeks. I wish we could afford for me to stay there with him but I just can't see how we could do it."
"I can, considering you never stay awake to do much anyway. Then when you are awake half the time you'n Dom are 'workin' in the office and not helping us anyway." Vince shoved her backwards gently. "Stay in the big apple for two weeks if you want to. We'll be alright. But I mean, how can you miss him when you have me?" Vince asked with a wink.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep that day. I was tired." 'And I don't have you anymore.' Torrie tried to explain. She wasn't going to touch the bit about time spent with Dom in his office. She thought the last bit to herself. Vince and his stray had been getting closer and it still pissed her off on some levels.
"I know that Torrie. Come on, say bye to everyone and let's go. If you miss that plane I'll never hear the end of it." He put his arm around her waist and started to walk her to the door.
"Ok, but I'm not staying there for two weeks. I didn't pack enough clothes." Torrie told Vince as they started toward the door of the shop. "Bye everyone."
The rest of the team came out from under their respective cars and hugged Torrie goodbye.
"Take carea you girl." Letty said as she hugged her newest friend.
"See you on Monday Torrie." Jesse said as he released her from a stranglehold hug.
"Have fun." Leon told her with a wink.
"We'll take good care of the place while you're gone Tor. Have fun." Brian told her with his famous smile.
"We gotta go if we're gonna stop by to say bye to Mia." Vince said as he started to move Torrie off toward the door. She was not sure how she was feeling. She was almost giddy at the thought of seeing Dom again, but scared of leaving California and scared of something else she didn't quite understand and couldn't put her finger on.
It was like if she left things were never going to be the same. She didn't know why that was but she just had this gut feeling that something was going to happen while she was gone. But she allowed Vince to lead her out of the car and put her into his Maxima. They then drove to Toretto's to say bye to Mia. They pulled up to the store and walked in.
"We're here to say bye Mi." Torrie called as she walked into the store. Chris was manning the counter. She glanced at the other girl as she went to walk out back. She still wasn't really on speaking terms with the other girl. She noticed that Vince sat down at the counter to talk to her while Torrie went to find her friend in the office.
"You're on your way to the airport then are you?" Mia asked as Torrie walked through the office door.
"Yep, on the way out. Wish me luck."
"What do you need luck for?" Mia looked puzzled.
"I need luck so that I won't find out everyone in New York that Dom knows hates me, so that I won't get air sick, so that I won't miss Dom even more when I come back. I need luck." Torrie still couldn't put her finger on what was really bothering her.
"Those are silly worries. You're worried about something else too aren't you Torrie?" Mia asked.
"I don't think so." Torrie thought about it. There was something else but she didn't want to talk about it, even to Mia.
"Yes there is, you can tell me about it Tor." Mia looked very concerned. Torrie made sure Vince and Chris couldn't hear her and sat down. She didn't have much time.
"Well, I'm scared that Dom will have found some sophisticated New York girl and that he'll see me as some silly California racer chaser chick. He could have any girl and I'm scared that he won't see me the way he did before he left. Plus I'm scared that while I'm gone things'll change here and I'll miss out on it."
"Torrie. Dom loves you. He's not going to find anyone else. And nothing will change here over two days. Stop being silly and go catch your plane. Tell my big brother I miss him and have fun. Dom'll show you a good time." Mia winked then shuddered. "Go." Mia shoved her toward the door.
"Well, that sure did change. It must have happened right under my nose but I never saw it comin." Torrie said as she watched Vince and Chris smile and carry on together.
"Yeah, that is a change." Mia laughed. "A very nice one." Vince pretty much left her alone now that he had Chris. And it was nice to see that Chris seemed to return Vince's feelings. Unlike Mia.
"I guess." Torrie said without much enthusiasm.
"You can't be jealous of Vince finding a girlfriend when you have Dom Torrie. You thought what, that he'd stay single forever just to be your friend?" Mia gave Torrie a look like she should know how silly that was.
"No, of course not. But I'd hoped he'd fall for a girl I'd like at least. Damn, he seemed to like my friend Lex for awhile there but then that fell through. Don't know who's fault that was. But at least I get along with Lex. Chris and I practically can't stand each other."
"Well, you might have to make an effort to get to know her Torrie. I mean, she needs to make the same effort but the two of you are never gonna get along if you both just call each other names behind each other backs."
"I never call her names." Torrie protested. She didn't either, she just acted cold and occasionally made cracks about her, but only in her own head, never out loud.
"No, but neither of you ever seem to make an effort to get along either." Mia pointed out. Torrie hated the way Mia was so often right about issues like this one. Torrie did continue to act like the wounded party and acted bitchy to Chris. Torrie did not, however, see that changing. She'd gotten it into her head not to like Chris and she didn't even want to change that fact.
"Torrie, we gotta go if you're gonna make your plane." Vince called as he stood up.
"Kay V. I'm comin." She called back. "Thanks for the chat Mi. You always know just what to say when I'm feelin down." Mia and Torrie hugged and then Torrie walked out into the main part of the store. "I'm ready."
"Ok girl, let's go. See you two later." Vince and Torrie walked out to the car and got in, and then sped off to the airport. Torrie called her dad on the way there.
"So I'm heading out now, I'm on the way to the airport. But I'll be home in two or three days. If you need anything you can call Vince 'n Brian ok?"
"Sure sweetie, have fun." Her dad answered her. He hated the fact she was going to stay with Toretto but he was happy to have her out of the state while he and his brother were on the trail of Ken, hoping to get some answers. But if Ken had been behind the attacks on Harry and had faked Harry's death, plus attacked Torrie, then Harry didn't want Torrie anywhere close to him.
"I will. See you next week."
"See you then princess." Harry ended the call. Vince pulled up to the drop off area of the airport and insisted on carrying Torrie's only bag up to the check in counter. Torrie checked in and then since they were pushing things to the last second she boarded the plane.
As she sat in her seat waiting for the plane to take off she started to think about the logistics of the huge piece of machinery taking off into the air and moving along at a very fast rate at a very high altitude. It scared the holy hell out of her. But she wasn't chickening out now. She did up her seatbelt and then checked it over again. The plane slowly filled up and the people all sat down and did up their belts too. Most of them were in couples laughing and talking as they boarded and stowed their carry on luggage. The others sat down and started to read or use laptop computers. It both made Torrie upset that she was all alone and upset that she seemed to be the only scared one on the plane. She had the window seat and if all the seats on the plane were sold there would be someone on the isle beside her.
Just as she thought that a tall man came down the isle and sat down beside her. He did up his belt then spared her a glance. He must have seen something of her fear on her face because he asked her "First time flying?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess?" She asked with a rueful smile.
"The look of pure terror on your face. It's pretty safe you know."
"I know but I've never done it so it's still scary." Torrie laughed.
"Why's that funny?" The man asked. "I'm not normally in a laughing mood when I'm scared."
"Me neither but the thing is I race cars. I can take a car up to 160, 170 miles an hour and while I find it a rush I don't find it scary. But here I am in a nice safe plane scared out of my mind."
"You drive race cars?" The man asked incredulously.
"Sure do. I'm Torrie by the way." She said with a smile, holding out her hand. She realized that chatting to this man had made her miss the whole take off. A fact she was incredibly grateful for.
"I'm John." The man answered with a smile. "You don't look like what I think of when I think of race car drivers. So is it formula one, or NASCAR, what kind of racing do you do?"
"Well, those are all legal kinds. I street race. It's not quite as legal but it really pays better." Torrie grinned at her companion. "And it's much more fun."
"What kind of cars do you use for that?" The man looked intrigued.
"Everyone's different. I drive a Nissan 240sx myself, so does one of my friends. We have a team and everyone has a different car. There's a lot of Nissans on our team though."
"So people just drive their everyday cars in these street races?"
"Most of us, yep. But we all have tens of thousands of dollars of mods to do it. I can get my 4 cylinder car up to 160 in less then 10 seconds. You show me any factory Nissan that can do that. It's all about the tuning." John looked interested. "What do you drive?"
"I don't own a car. I'm never home and my job makes me travel too much to make it worth my while to own a car. I get a rental when I get where I'm going. So why are you going to New York? Business or pleasure?"
"Pleasure I guess. My boyfriend is teaching a course out there and I haven't seen him in weeks so he's flying me out for the weekend. You?"
"Business." He looked slightly crestfallen to hear she was meeting her boyfriend. "So where are you from?"
"LA of course. You?"
"I'm from Seattle but I hardly ever get home." Torrie and John spent the rest of the flight chatting about their homes and families. It made the flight pass swiftly and it even made her forget to be scared. Both of the flight and of seeing Dom again. John talked her through touchdown and landing then they both disembarked. Torrie realized the plane was 30 minutes early. She and John found their bags and Torrie looked around for Dom again. He still wasn't there.
"So where's this boyfriend of yours eh?" John asked her.
"Well, we're early. I'm sure he'll be around soon." Torrie smiled and sat down.
"Well, I'll wait with you. I'm not in any rush." John sat down beside Torrie.
"That would be nice." Torrie hadn't been looking forward to waiting for Dom sitting all by herself.
Dom was running late. He'd gotten out of the school late and traffic had been terrible. By the time he got to the airport he was only 5 minutes ahead of when Torrie's plane was due to land. He parked and walked into the airport. He walked to the gate he was told her plane had landed at and looked around. There were two people sitting in the plastic chairs but that was it. He heaved a sigh, thankful he was still early. He checked the arrivals list and realized that Torrie's plane had landed about 15 minutes prior to his arrival. He didn't know where she would have gotten off to.
He looked around again. He still only saw the couple down the row. He looked closer at the two seated people down the isle of chairs. The man wasn't anyone familiar to him, but the girl was. She had Torrie's hair, he thought. He started to walk their way. He watched as the curtain of dark hair fell away as she turned her head and spotted him. He realized that the sophisticated woman whom he'd assumed was some business woman was his girl. He walked her way faster and she stood up.
"Dom!" She called out and started his way.
"Torrie!" He answered her as he reached her side and swung her up into his arms. He swung her around in a circle before setting her down on her feet and kissing her deeply. When he let her come up for air she giggled and turned to her companion.
"Dom, I'd like you to meet John. We sat together on the plane. He stopped me from screaming 'let me off' while the plane took off."
"Nice to meet you." Dom said as he shook the other man's hand.
"You too. Nice to have met you Torrie, Enjoy New York." John said with a smile as he walked off with his bags.
"Bye John." She called after him and he waved.
"So who was that?" Dom asked her.
"Just the guy who had the seat beside mine." Torrie said and smiled up at Dom.
"You look good, I thought you and that guy were a couple of business people on your way to some meeting. Where'd you get that outfit?" Dom asked her.
"I've always had it, just never had an excuse to wear it around the shop or races so you've never seen it. But I mean look at you." She leaned out of Dom's arms to look him over again. He was wearing a white dress shirt open at the throat, exposing his neck and the cleft between the muscles of his chest. He had black dress pants on and 'wonder of wonders' she thought, dress shoes, not boots. "You look good enough to eat."
"Well then, let's go. That sounds interesting." Dom said with a smile, clear in its meaning. They headed out to the parking lot. Torrie hauled Dom's old jacket out of her bag and threw it on, it was colder then California for sure. "Where'd you find that?" Dom asked with a smile.
"Your closet. I didn't have a coat and someone told me it was likely cold up here at this time of year. And they were right."
"Looks good on you. I like seeing you in my coat with my name on it. Too bad you weren't around to wear it in high school." Dom took in her long black hair and pale skin surrounded by his red high school jacket.
"So, which car is yours baby?" Torrie asked, scanning the assembled mass of brightly colored Chevy's, Fords, and Dodges.
"You can't guess?" Dom asked her with a grin.
"Nope. All I see is compact non-descript econoboxes. Which is yours." Torrie grinned up at him.
"Well, the domestic part is right, unfortunately, but it wasn't worth flying my RX out for a month. It's the red mustang." They started toward the car.
"And you're goin crazy driving this aren't you?" Torrie asked as they settled into the car.
"Yeah. The thing's a v8 and it still has no power compared to the RX-8 and the charger. I'm not a big fan of mustangs. But it's only for another two weeks then I get my real cars back." Dom grinned at the thought of his own cars, and the warm weather waiting for him in California, and Torrie in his bed every night. "Let's go, I'll show you where I'm staying."
"Sounds good. You have a lot for us to do planned?"
"Of course." Dom grinned wickedly.