Chapter 74 – Keep Running
AN: Have some patience with me and the whole Vince/Chris situation will work out, OK? I do have a part where Vince sort of makes some decisions about her but you'll just have to wait till I'm done with Torrie etc first. So keep reading and we'll get there! ;) Oh and review review review please!
"Let, you have to start living at the house more or I have to move where ever you're staying. Things go to hell when you're not around." Torrie stated dramatically as she walked up to Letty and threw her keys on the work bench beside the car Letty was working on.
Letty rolled out from under the car and sat up slowly as she looked at Torrie from her vantage point on the floor.
"You look like shit!" Letty told Torrie and stood up. "I take it from that dramatic statement that something happened over the weekend while I wasn't home?" Letty started to lead Torrie toward the back of the shop toward the couch that was there.
"I don't know where to start!" Torrie wailed and Letty forced her down on the couch a la shrinks office and sat on the floor beside her.
"Start at the beginning. What caused this commotion you think you're in?"
"Well, it all started on Monday when I was packing to come home from New York. I was taking all my stuff out of the closet where Dom had piled it for me. When I got to the bottom of the pile I found one of Dom's shirts all balled up in the back corner. I took it out to hang it up for him and it had lipstick and perfume on it."
"That Bastard." Letty yelled and went to stand up.
"There's much more." Torrie told her friend and continued. "I took off for the airport without waiting for Dom. I told myself I didn't want to hear his lies. Didn't want to hear him say that nothing happened, then admit that she didn't mean anything to him and he'd never do it again. I didn't wait for him to come back. I changed my flight and I was out of the state before Dom ever realized I was gone."
"Have you spoken to him yet?" Letty asked, wondering what explanation Dom had given.
"Nope, only via Vince. When Dom realized I was gone he called Vince to make sure someone would be at the airport to meet my new flight. See, there was this girl in Dom's class that had a thing for him, and he didn't like her back. But one night she was all over him and he didn't want to humiliate her in front of all the other guys in the class so he just put up with it for a polite amount of time then left."
"But not before some of her perfume and makeup got on his shirt." Letty finished. "You believe that?"
"Yeah, cause he told Vince that nothing happened. I think if he had gotten with that other girl he'd have told Vince the truth." Torrie told Letty then looked at Letty, waiting for the other girl to agree or brush off that theory.
"I know he would have told Vince the truth cause he always did when he fucked around on me." Letty said, and her eyes looked sad, even if the hurt was a long time in the past.
"You know about that?" Torrie glanced over in shock.
"Yeah. I still love V, but that's why I'm not as close to him as you are. I use to be. He was like my big brother. I grew up with him and Dom. But then I realized that when Dom would cheat on me Vince would enable him by keeping it from me. I guess it's all about boys before broads or whatever code idiot men follow but it still hurt. I guess I figure that Vince shoulda at least told Dom not to tell him that shit. Not lapped it up and likely joked with the big idiot about it." Letty blew some hair off her face and looked back at Torrie.
"I kinda had a fight about Vince over the same thing. I told him that it was nice to know the one person I thought had my back would really know my boyfriend was fucking around on me and not tell me. Vince told me that he learned his lesson about doing that with you and he'd make Dom tell me himself, he wouldn't cover for him anymore."
"That's something at least."
"But then when I got home I was still thinking that maybe Dom had cheated. I know it's not fair but I think of how many times he did that to you and I guess since I had evidence I figured that he must have really done it. Even though I knew in my heart he hadn't, I was still insecure about it you know? I look at the fact he did that to you and I think if he could do something to you, someone who was so perfect for him and someone he'd grown up with it would be even easier for him to do it to me. I mean, I'm not half as pretty or good at mechanics or racing as you are so I mean I figured he'd be able to cheat on me in a heartbeat."
"You're not half as good at racing or mechanics then I am, you're just as good. But different. I think the way the team took me back without really making me own up to what I did when I just ran off then assumed that Dom would take me back right away like nothing happened did that to you. I was good with Dom, once upon a time. Those times ended long before our relationship did. I've seen how Dom looks at you. He's in love with you. I still say if he ever really does anything to hurt you then dump his ass but for right now you don't have to worry about Dom and his sincerity."
Thank you Letty. That means so much to me. I've been so insecure since Chris came to live with us and Dom left for New York. But I didn't stop at just running away. I came home and got this stupid idea to go out with my friend Lex and get drunk and pick up for the night. You know, sort of if he can have a one night fling so can I. I more or less just wanted to prove to myself and Dom that he wasn't the only one who could pick up for the night. I was still sort of unsure whether to believe Vince and Dom or not." Torrie looked sheepishly at Letty.
"You didn't do it did you?" Letty looked worriedly back.
"Well, I got all dressed up, dressed to kill was how Vince put it, and tried to sneak out of the house. I knew if Vince saw me going dressed the way I was he'd try to stop me, but he caught me anyway. I wouldn't take no for an answer on going myself so he insisted on coming with me. I told him he couldn't cause he was dressed like a grease ball and he went to change. That was about when Miss Thing, Chris, came into the room and started giving me more dirty looks."
"Not this chick again. What's up with her anyway?" Letty scowled.
"I don't know." Torrie knew she wasn't being honest. "Well, ok, I do know. She thinks I'm after Vince."
"Then she's crazy." Letty blew that theory off, she didn't think it had any merit.
"Well, let me finish." Torrie looked over at Letty guiltily.
"Oh shit." Letty breathed out. She knew all about the times that Dom had thought that Torrie and Vince were an item and how Torrie and Vince had been attracted to each other. "You didn't...?" Letty tried to prod more info out of Torrie. Torrie was more then willing to share the info.
"Chris and I had a big fight about her looking at me like she did again, I asked her what she was looking at, she said not much. I insulted her looks and told her to watch out because not only was I the one dating Dom, I could have her man too if I wanted him." Torrie was turning red with embarrassment over what she'd said now that she was calmed down and viewing the situation with a small amount of detachment.
Letty sucked in a breath, then laughed.
"Well, at least it's true, you didn't lie."
"Well, maybe not, but then Chris said I was too pale, too skinny, I was dressed like a slut, and I was a bitch. She said that you and I make fun of the racer chasers but we're not really any better because we dress just like them. She basically called us sluts."
"Oh no she didn't!" Letty yelled and went to get up.
"Yep, she did." Torrie put out a hand to stop her friend. "And then she told me it was no wonder that Dom had to take a month long break to get away from me. So I slapped her and went to run out of the house after telling her that when you'n Dom got done with her she was going to be very sorry."
"And again you weren't lying. I'm mad as hell." Letty growled. "But I can't believe you hit her."
"I know. So then Vince came up the stairs in time to see me slap Chris and run off. He followed me out of the house and got in my car as it was moving almost and I just about ran him over. Then he wouldn't get out, he said he couldn't let me take off on my own, but him being there against my wishes pretty much made things worse. I drove crazy to Lex's. I was going a buck eighty most of the way there and I was drifting off ramps and shit. Vince was trying not to have a heart attack."
"That's wild."
"Then I got Lex, we went out, got very drunk and dirty danced with all the cute guys we could get our hands on. I was pretty much out to get drunk and pick up, like I said. Vince waited till I was taking things too far then tried to make me go home. I then got the drunken brilliant idea that if I was to 'pick up' Vince it would hurt Dom more then any other guy I could pick up and it would also prove to Chris I could in fact have her man too. So I started to try and entice Vince to take me home as it were."
"Oh shit." Letty looked almost as upset as Torrie. "Did anything happen?"
"No, because Vince had more sense. But he had to take me home, put me to bed, help me change my cloths. I could tell he was pissed. Let, he knows what I was up to. It was written all over his face. He was so mad at me over it, but he still stayed with me all night cause I was so sick. He came into the room to check on me this morning but I pretended to be asleep and he was so mad at me he thought about waking me up and thought better of it. I could feel the anger when he left."
"What did he say when you talked to him today?"
"Um, well, I knew Mia and V would both be hella pissed at me so I just took off. They don't know I'm gone." Torrie cringed.
"How'd you manage that?" Letty inquired.
"I realized I couldn't very well prance out the front door so I went into your room to go out the window. I got out onto the porch and then Vince's car came flying into the drive. I hit the roof flat and he didn't see me but then I realized he'd had Mia block me in with her car. I realized I had keys to the 8 just before I started to bawl. So I took Dom's car and came here. They think I'm still asleep sick in bed." Torrie sighed.
"That's a big mess." Letty didn't really know what to say.
"I told Vince I hated him for making me come home. I think I meant for not finding me irresistible too. I wanted him to overlook the fact that I was Dom's girlfriend and get with me. I was pissed he didn't and he was pissed I tried to bring it about. It's a huge mess. I think I had a mental breakdown last night and now I'm so hung over. I haven't talked to Dom yet about any of it either."
"What are you gonna do?" Letty asked.
"Maybe go live with Dad till Dom comes home." Torrie glanced over to see what Letty thought of that.
"That's taking it a bit far. I think between the two of us we can keep things reasonably peaceful till Dom comes home. Then if the shit you tried to start with Vince comes out the shit will literally hit the fan. But you'll need to worry about that in two weeks when it happens. Now, Vince has a hellish temper, and if he's really pissed at you then you could have a fight on your hands. But he does get over stuff really quick so you basically just have to fight him and then it goes away as soon as he calms down."
Torrie nodded her understanding.
"Mia on the other hand holds grudges. If she thinks of Chris as one of her 'chicks' she's mother henning and you hurt Chris and Mia thinks it was out of line then she's liable to be mad at you for a long time."
Torrie groaned and covered her eyes.
"I think I'll go see my dad for a while now till I feel like talking to Vince. He's gonna find me here soon if I stay."
"You can't run forever girl." Letty answered wisely.
"Nope, but I can run till I'm not hung over and sick as a dog." Torrie answered and laughed. Knowing Letty had her back no matter how stupid she'd been was nice.
The front door of the garage slammed and both girls looked in that direction.
"Oh shit, it's gotta be V. Did you hear how hard the door slammed? No customer would do that." Torrie panicked.
"Sneak into the office and hide." Letty answered, starting to get into the drama of the situation.
"He's already seen the 8, he knows I'm here."
"Not if I tell him I took it here to change the oil and I haven't seen you."
"Where's your car?"
"Here too. Hey, sneak out the back and take my car for as long as you need. Just don't bring it back till you don't see the maxima. Leave the keys for the 8."
The girls switched keys and Torrie went into the office and out the window.
She thought with a laugh that windows must be her escape route of choice. She ran to Letty's car and got in. She left as fast as she could.
AN: Have some patience with me and the whole Vince/Chris situation will work out, OK? I do have a part where Vince sort of makes some decisions about her but you'll just have to wait till I'm done with Torrie etc first. So keep reading and we'll get there! ;) Oh and review review review please!
"Let, you have to start living at the house more or I have to move where ever you're staying. Things go to hell when you're not around." Torrie stated dramatically as she walked up to Letty and threw her keys on the work bench beside the car Letty was working on.
Letty rolled out from under the car and sat up slowly as she looked at Torrie from her vantage point on the floor.
"You look like shit!" Letty told Torrie and stood up. "I take it from that dramatic statement that something happened over the weekend while I wasn't home?" Letty started to lead Torrie toward the back of the shop toward the couch that was there.
"I don't know where to start!" Torrie wailed and Letty forced her down on the couch a la shrinks office and sat on the floor beside her.
"Start at the beginning. What caused this commotion you think you're in?"
"Well, it all started on Monday when I was packing to come home from New York. I was taking all my stuff out of the closet where Dom had piled it for me. When I got to the bottom of the pile I found one of Dom's shirts all balled up in the back corner. I took it out to hang it up for him and it had lipstick and perfume on it."
"That Bastard." Letty yelled and went to stand up.
"There's much more." Torrie told her friend and continued. "I took off for the airport without waiting for Dom. I told myself I didn't want to hear his lies. Didn't want to hear him say that nothing happened, then admit that she didn't mean anything to him and he'd never do it again. I didn't wait for him to come back. I changed my flight and I was out of the state before Dom ever realized I was gone."
"Have you spoken to him yet?" Letty asked, wondering what explanation Dom had given.
"Nope, only via Vince. When Dom realized I was gone he called Vince to make sure someone would be at the airport to meet my new flight. See, there was this girl in Dom's class that had a thing for him, and he didn't like her back. But one night she was all over him and he didn't want to humiliate her in front of all the other guys in the class so he just put up with it for a polite amount of time then left."
"But not before some of her perfume and makeup got on his shirt." Letty finished. "You believe that?"
"Yeah, cause he told Vince that nothing happened. I think if he had gotten with that other girl he'd have told Vince the truth." Torrie told Letty then looked at Letty, waiting for the other girl to agree or brush off that theory.
"I know he would have told Vince the truth cause he always did when he fucked around on me." Letty said, and her eyes looked sad, even if the hurt was a long time in the past.
"You know about that?" Torrie glanced over in shock.
"Yeah. I still love V, but that's why I'm not as close to him as you are. I use to be. He was like my big brother. I grew up with him and Dom. But then I realized that when Dom would cheat on me Vince would enable him by keeping it from me. I guess it's all about boys before broads or whatever code idiot men follow but it still hurt. I guess I figure that Vince shoulda at least told Dom not to tell him that shit. Not lapped it up and likely joked with the big idiot about it." Letty blew some hair off her face and looked back at Torrie.
"I kinda had a fight about Vince over the same thing. I told him that it was nice to know the one person I thought had my back would really know my boyfriend was fucking around on me and not tell me. Vince told me that he learned his lesson about doing that with you and he'd make Dom tell me himself, he wouldn't cover for him anymore."
"That's something at least."
"But then when I got home I was still thinking that maybe Dom had cheated. I know it's not fair but I think of how many times he did that to you and I guess since I had evidence I figured that he must have really done it. Even though I knew in my heart he hadn't, I was still insecure about it you know? I look at the fact he did that to you and I think if he could do something to you, someone who was so perfect for him and someone he'd grown up with it would be even easier for him to do it to me. I mean, I'm not half as pretty or good at mechanics or racing as you are so I mean I figured he'd be able to cheat on me in a heartbeat."
"You're not half as good at racing or mechanics then I am, you're just as good. But different. I think the way the team took me back without really making me own up to what I did when I just ran off then assumed that Dom would take me back right away like nothing happened did that to you. I was good with Dom, once upon a time. Those times ended long before our relationship did. I've seen how Dom looks at you. He's in love with you. I still say if he ever really does anything to hurt you then dump his ass but for right now you don't have to worry about Dom and his sincerity."
Thank you Letty. That means so much to me. I've been so insecure since Chris came to live with us and Dom left for New York. But I didn't stop at just running away. I came home and got this stupid idea to go out with my friend Lex and get drunk and pick up for the night. You know, sort of if he can have a one night fling so can I. I more or less just wanted to prove to myself and Dom that he wasn't the only one who could pick up for the night. I was still sort of unsure whether to believe Vince and Dom or not." Torrie looked sheepishly at Letty.
"You didn't do it did you?" Letty looked worriedly back.
"Well, I got all dressed up, dressed to kill was how Vince put it, and tried to sneak out of the house. I knew if Vince saw me going dressed the way I was he'd try to stop me, but he caught me anyway. I wouldn't take no for an answer on going myself so he insisted on coming with me. I told him he couldn't cause he was dressed like a grease ball and he went to change. That was about when Miss Thing, Chris, came into the room and started giving me more dirty looks."
"Not this chick again. What's up with her anyway?" Letty scowled.
"I don't know." Torrie knew she wasn't being honest. "Well, ok, I do know. She thinks I'm after Vince."
"Then she's crazy." Letty blew that theory off, she didn't think it had any merit.
"Well, let me finish." Torrie looked over at Letty guiltily.
"Oh shit." Letty breathed out. She knew all about the times that Dom had thought that Torrie and Vince were an item and how Torrie and Vince had been attracted to each other. "You didn't...?" Letty tried to prod more info out of Torrie. Torrie was more then willing to share the info.
"Chris and I had a big fight about her looking at me like she did again, I asked her what she was looking at, she said not much. I insulted her looks and told her to watch out because not only was I the one dating Dom, I could have her man too if I wanted him." Torrie was turning red with embarrassment over what she'd said now that she was calmed down and viewing the situation with a small amount of detachment.
Letty sucked in a breath, then laughed.
"Well, at least it's true, you didn't lie."
"Well, maybe not, but then Chris said I was too pale, too skinny, I was dressed like a slut, and I was a bitch. She said that you and I make fun of the racer chasers but we're not really any better because we dress just like them. She basically called us sluts."
"Oh no she didn't!" Letty yelled and went to get up.
"Yep, she did." Torrie put out a hand to stop her friend. "And then she told me it was no wonder that Dom had to take a month long break to get away from me. So I slapped her and went to run out of the house after telling her that when you'n Dom got done with her she was going to be very sorry."
"And again you weren't lying. I'm mad as hell." Letty growled. "But I can't believe you hit her."
"I know. So then Vince came up the stairs in time to see me slap Chris and run off. He followed me out of the house and got in my car as it was moving almost and I just about ran him over. Then he wouldn't get out, he said he couldn't let me take off on my own, but him being there against my wishes pretty much made things worse. I drove crazy to Lex's. I was going a buck eighty most of the way there and I was drifting off ramps and shit. Vince was trying not to have a heart attack."
"That's wild."
"Then I got Lex, we went out, got very drunk and dirty danced with all the cute guys we could get our hands on. I was pretty much out to get drunk and pick up, like I said. Vince waited till I was taking things too far then tried to make me go home. I then got the drunken brilliant idea that if I was to 'pick up' Vince it would hurt Dom more then any other guy I could pick up and it would also prove to Chris I could in fact have her man too. So I started to try and entice Vince to take me home as it were."
"Oh shit." Letty looked almost as upset as Torrie. "Did anything happen?"
"No, because Vince had more sense. But he had to take me home, put me to bed, help me change my cloths. I could tell he was pissed. Let, he knows what I was up to. It was written all over his face. He was so mad at me over it, but he still stayed with me all night cause I was so sick. He came into the room to check on me this morning but I pretended to be asleep and he was so mad at me he thought about waking me up and thought better of it. I could feel the anger when he left."
"What did he say when you talked to him today?"
"Um, well, I knew Mia and V would both be hella pissed at me so I just took off. They don't know I'm gone." Torrie cringed.
"How'd you manage that?" Letty inquired.
"I realized I couldn't very well prance out the front door so I went into your room to go out the window. I got out onto the porch and then Vince's car came flying into the drive. I hit the roof flat and he didn't see me but then I realized he'd had Mia block me in with her car. I realized I had keys to the 8 just before I started to bawl. So I took Dom's car and came here. They think I'm still asleep sick in bed." Torrie sighed.
"That's a big mess." Letty didn't really know what to say.
"I told Vince I hated him for making me come home. I think I meant for not finding me irresistible too. I wanted him to overlook the fact that I was Dom's girlfriend and get with me. I was pissed he didn't and he was pissed I tried to bring it about. It's a huge mess. I think I had a mental breakdown last night and now I'm so hung over. I haven't talked to Dom yet about any of it either."
"What are you gonna do?" Letty asked.
"Maybe go live with Dad till Dom comes home." Torrie glanced over to see what Letty thought of that.
"That's taking it a bit far. I think between the two of us we can keep things reasonably peaceful till Dom comes home. Then if the shit you tried to start with Vince comes out the shit will literally hit the fan. But you'll need to worry about that in two weeks when it happens. Now, Vince has a hellish temper, and if he's really pissed at you then you could have a fight on your hands. But he does get over stuff really quick so you basically just have to fight him and then it goes away as soon as he calms down."
Torrie nodded her understanding.
"Mia on the other hand holds grudges. If she thinks of Chris as one of her 'chicks' she's mother henning and you hurt Chris and Mia thinks it was out of line then she's liable to be mad at you for a long time."
Torrie groaned and covered her eyes.
"I think I'll go see my dad for a while now till I feel like talking to Vince. He's gonna find me here soon if I stay."
"You can't run forever girl." Letty answered wisely.
"Nope, but I can run till I'm not hung over and sick as a dog." Torrie answered and laughed. Knowing Letty had her back no matter how stupid she'd been was nice.
The front door of the garage slammed and both girls looked in that direction.
"Oh shit, it's gotta be V. Did you hear how hard the door slammed? No customer would do that." Torrie panicked.
"Sneak into the office and hide." Letty answered, starting to get into the drama of the situation.
"He's already seen the 8, he knows I'm here."
"Not if I tell him I took it here to change the oil and I haven't seen you."
"Where's your car?"
"Here too. Hey, sneak out the back and take my car for as long as you need. Just don't bring it back till you don't see the maxima. Leave the keys for the 8."
The girls switched keys and Torrie went into the office and out the window.
She thought with a laugh that windows must be her escape route of choice. She ran to Letty's car and got in. She left as fast as she could.