Chapter 76 – Battle Plans
"I'd love to know where the hell she got to." Vince ranted at Mia as soon as he'd gotten back to the house.
"You didn't find her?" Mia asked.
"Oh, I found her. She was at the garage but when she heard me come in she took off and Letty let her leave. I haven't been able to find her since."
"Dom called again while you were gone. I think he's getting really worried."
"I'm sure she's fine, where ever she's hiding."
"Maybe she went to her dad's house."
"No one's there and I even went to the store and talked to Harry. He hasn't seen her today."
"I don't know then. We'll just have to wait till she comes back then."
"I guess." Vince was clearly not pleased about it.
*~*
Torrie looked up at the clock and it was 5pm. She looked down at what she was wearing and realized there was no way she could go to Cora's dressed as she was. She went out front to find her father.
She found him talking to someone at the counter. She waited till the person Harry had been talking to had left before walking up to him.
"I'm going to head to the mall. I need a new outfit for dinner."
"I thought you were just going with Letty? Is that like a hot date or something?" Harry laughed.
He thought to himself that he'd almost rather she dated Letty then Dominic. Of course he was looking forward to grand kids some day and at least Dominic was an Italian boy. Maybe not a nice Italian boy, but he was Italian. Torrie answered his question.
"No, but I can't go home to get a suitable outfit so I'll have to go buy a new one. Besides, a little shopping therapy never went wrong before a big ordeal." Torrie laughed back.
"You have enough money Princess?" Harry asked, worried about how she'd been making it through without him and with the mortgage on the store taking up every cent the store made.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Dom pays me after all. I don't work for him for free." Torrie giggled back. "He actually keeps track of my hours that I work for him too."
"He does?"
"Of course. Think I work for free?"
"No Princess, of course not. Go get something pretty to wear to meet your fate."
"I'll do that Daddy. I'll catch you again later in the week ok? We'll go to lunch sometime like Wednesday."
"Sounds good sweetheart. See you then." Harry seemed to think for a second. "Don't forget that if you need a place to get away to or someone to talk to I'm here for you Princess."
"Thanks Daddy." Torrie hugged her father then took off into the back to get Letty's car and take off.
Harry watched her go with a look that suggested he was not totally sure how things were going to go for Torrie when she got home to face her team. One thing was certain; no matter how disappointed he was about what she'd done to this Chris he wouldn't take anyone calling his baby a whore. If the girl ever said anything like that to Torrie again he'd be on Toretto's doorstep to deal with it himself.
*~*
Torrie hit the mall and parked Letty's car in one of the far out rows so that no one would hit it with their door. She ran into the mall and started to shop around the stores. She didn't know what she wanted but she knew she couldn't go the way she was dressed and like she'd told her father, shopping always improved her mood.
The second store she walked into had a rack of jeans that were split up the front of the legs and held closed with leather laces from the floor to the waistband. The way they laced would show flashes of the skin of her legs all the way till almost the very top. She picked out her size and tried them on. They were low rise, very fitted and she thought they looked good. She knew she'd found her new pants. Now she just needed to find a top to go with them.
She didn't find anything in the store where she bought the pants or in the next two stores she tried. But in the fourth store she found the top she knew she'd been looking for. The sides of the shirt were open and held closed with laces the same as her new pants and the front was also split up the front from the hem to the neckline and held closed with laces, and so were the tops of the sleeves from the cuff to the neckline. The back was many interlocking chris crossing laces instead of a panel of fabric. It was obvious it would not let her wear a bra but she didn't really have a problem with that. It was the same green as her eyes.
She checked the price tag and was very glad that pretty much every cent Dom had ever paid her was still in the bank. It was more then she could remember spending on one article of clothing in a long time.
She studied herself in the changing room mirror critically.
Her hair was definitely one of her best features she figured but it was too long.
She was pretty pale but she'd tried to get a tan. It wasn't her fault that she only ended up getting freckles. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to get some color. She didn't want to burn to a crisp just to make Chris think she looked better either.
She did have small breasts but she figured that was a plus when it came to wearing shirts that she couldn't wear a bra under. Her hips were a bit boney and it showed in the pants she had on. She knew all she had to do was stop stressing and eat but she wasn't sure if that was going to happen any time soon considering what she had coming to her later that evening. She saw lots of stress in her near future. And she knew it was only going to get worse if she hadn't gained back some of the weight she had lost before Dom got home. Dom would flip at her for getting any thinner.
She pulled a face at herself, sticking out her tongue and slanting her eyes in the mirror. She definitely wasn't overly proud of the maturity level of what she'd done yesterday. But she couldn't take it back, what was done was done and she couldn't change the past. But she could make an effort to go on in the future with a better attitude.
She wanted another drink. She didn't think it would be smart however to start that again.
She left the dressing room and headed to the mall bathroom to change her clothes. She had to meet Letty in 15 and she was at least that away from the restaurant.
She emerged from the washroom 2 minutes later wearing her new outfit and having brushed her hair out. She wasn't oblivious to the appreciating male looks she got on the way through the mall and out to the car. It went some of the way toward raising her lowered self esteem.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not what Chris had said to her had hurt her feelings. She'd really started to think she was ugly. Too skinny, pale and resorting to slutty dressing to get attention. But the way the men looked at her while she walked didn't make her think they found much wrong with her look at all. So what if her bathing suits were all bikinis? It wasn't like she was the only one. Letty and she dressed almost the same, she figured, and she didn't think Letty was a slut.
Torrie really didn't think she should have to have her self esteem crushed because Chris thought she got too much male attention and because Chris herself wouldn't dress the way Torrie did. It wasn't fair for Chris to take the fact that she didn't like her own look out on her, Torrie thought as she walked to the car. But it didn't mean that Torrie had had to highlight the fact that Chris didn't like the way she looked either. Torrie knew that since it had hurt her to hear what Chris said that what she had said to Chris likely had hurt the other girl worse. Torrie had been having a vulnerable moment but Chris had been having a vulnerable year.
She started Letty's car and pulled into traffic. She drove fast but carefully to the restaurant and parked in the first available spot, which happened to be right beside Letty in the 8. Letty was not in the car so Torrie figured she must already be in the restaurant.
She stood up out of the car and walked in the restaurant. She spotted Letty right away and walked up to the table she was sitting at.
"How you doin?" Torrie asked Letty as she sat down.
"Not as good as you. Where'd you get that outfit?" Letty asked.
"I did a little retail therapy this afternoon. It was good. You like?"
"Yeah, you might have to show me where you got it. That top come in white?"
"Sure does. We'll go back to the mall tomorrow. I'm willing to bet that we'll both need the pick me up of a little shopping."
"I bet you're right. How's my car running for you?"
"Like a champ. What do you think of the 8?"
"What's not to like?"
"I think Dom should drop a cosmo 20b in it but I don't think I want to live with him while he has no car for a few weeks."
"But can you imagine how fast it would be with a 20b in it?"
"No. Dom's so fast as it is I don't know if I want to think of him with all that speed under his foot."
"I know what you mean."
The waitress came over and gave them menus and glasses of water, which Torrie drained right away.
"Being on the lamb is thirsty business." Torrie said in response to Letty's questioning look and laughed.
"I bet if you spend it in the mall it is."
The waitress returned and the girls ordered.
"I can't tell you how much I want to order wine with this meal." Torrie told Letty with a frown. "I think I'm going to need the courage."
"I know what you mean. But just remember, we stick together."
"Is that the game plan, or are we gonna come up with a better one."
"We'll make a better one but the main thing to remember is to stick together. Whatever you say I agree with and vice versa."
"Agreed. So what are we gonna say?"
"Well, for one thing you took the 8 down to me because we had a prior arrangement."
"Agreed. But how did I miss Vince and Mia when I left the house if I didn't sneak?"
"Well, you did sneak. But you still took the car down because you were supposed to, not because you wanted to or whatever."
"Why'd you tell Vince you hadn't seen me when you had?"
Letty sighed.
"Good question. You might have to take some of that one on yourself girl. We could say you didn't want to speak to him so I told you to just take off and you agreed and did it."
"Yeah, that's the truth anyway so I guess I don't have any problems with that."
"What are you going to do about Chris?" Letty asked as she sipped her water.
"Nothing I can do. I'm going to tell them all I know I was out of line and said some things I had no business saying and did some things I had no business doing. Then I'm going to point out that Chris hasn't exactly been a saint since she moved in either and that we're both going to have to make some adjustments to how we treat each other."
Letty nodded.
"That's good. Am I correct in assuming Vince doesn't know the full story behind what you said to Chris?"
"That's right. He only heard me tell her that she was done for once you and Dom got done with her."
"You know I'm going to say something to her about telling people I dress like a racer chaser ho right? I mean she and I never had beef before so she started the shit wit me. It's not like she'n I had a history of anything before she threw my name into her fight with you."
"Go ahead and tell her off about it Letty. No matter how much I know I was in the wrong I still can't help but be happy if someone tells me they have a legitimate reason to be angry at her. I almost wish she'd just go away so things could go back to the way they were. But then I think if Vince really likes her then he deserves his shot with her because he's never gonna have a shot with Mia or you or me. He's gonna have to go outside the team and if he likes Chris then who am I to do something to mess that up on him. But then again she just irritates the hell out of me too."
"She don't have to live at the house just because Vince likes her." Letty interjected. "She could get her own place easily enough, or go live with some of her own friends."
"I know she doesn't but she was living with the guy that abused her and she has no other family or friends in California. I guess she moved here to rebel against her parents and the only other place she could go would be home to them and they live in some other state."
"Didn't know that. Ok. I'm still not having her goin around telling people I'm a ho. It just isn't gonna happen."
"I don't blame you. But I'm at the point myself where I can't say anything about it now. I had my say sort of thing."
"I hear that. So we know how we're going to handle the whole running away, yelling at Chris thing. What are you going to say to Dom when you talk to him?"
"That I know he didn't do what I thought he did and we should leave the in depth chat on it till he comes home. I don't want to talk about something so serious over the phone."
"Good plan. Better to talk to him face to face about that. Then you can 'make up' afterward."
"Letty!"
"Well, its true isn't it?"
Torrie only blushed in answer.
"Now what about Vince? What are you going to say to him about all that went on and what you tried to get him to do?"
"I was thinking nothing. I was thinking I might just say I was sorry for keeping him out all night and sorry he had to take care of me like he did." Torrie looked at the table cloth.
"Why?"
"So that if by some chance he's not sure what I was up to I don't bring it out in the open. I mean him knowing what I was up to if he doesn't already doesn't have a point. I mean it's not like I'd ever do anything about it if I was sober and not in a terrible mood. I'd never sleep with Vince just to get back at Dom. I was just so drunk. And I meant to take a stranger home but even drunk that got scary in a hurry. At least Vince was familiar."
"I don't know if I agree with you there Torrie. You might want to own up to it right away so he doesn't think you're hiding it or trying to pretend it didn't happen."
"But then if he doesn't know what I was up to things'll get all uncomfortable between us. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear and if I think he knows then I'll talk to him about it but if I think he doesn't then I'll just let it go. I know it was stupid, you know it was stupid. The less people other then that who know the less chance of someone telling Dominic."
"Good point."
The food the girls had ordered came and they stopped talking to eat. They finished their meal and talked about every day things. When they were done eating they paid the bill and walked out into the cool night air.
"Well, this is it I guess. No sense putting off the inevitable any longer." Torrie said on a sigh.
"Yep, it's time to go and do this thing."
The girls climbed into their own cars at that point and headed for the house, Torrie in the 8 and Letty in her 240. They pulled up to the house and parked. Then side by side they walked up to the front door.
"I feel like I should knock." Torrie said with a frown.
"I know what you mean. It sucks doesn't it?"
"Yep. Here goes nothing."
With that Torrie pushed open the front door and walked in, Letty close on her heels. The phone rang just as the girls got the door closed. Torrie didn't see anyone else around so she grabbed the phone.
"I'd love to know where the hell she got to." Vince ranted at Mia as soon as he'd gotten back to the house.
"You didn't find her?" Mia asked.
"Oh, I found her. She was at the garage but when she heard me come in she took off and Letty let her leave. I haven't been able to find her since."
"Dom called again while you were gone. I think he's getting really worried."
"I'm sure she's fine, where ever she's hiding."
"Maybe she went to her dad's house."
"No one's there and I even went to the store and talked to Harry. He hasn't seen her today."
"I don't know then. We'll just have to wait till she comes back then."
"I guess." Vince was clearly not pleased about it.
*~*
Torrie looked up at the clock and it was 5pm. She looked down at what she was wearing and realized there was no way she could go to Cora's dressed as she was. She went out front to find her father.
She found him talking to someone at the counter. She waited till the person Harry had been talking to had left before walking up to him.
"I'm going to head to the mall. I need a new outfit for dinner."
"I thought you were just going with Letty? Is that like a hot date or something?" Harry laughed.
He thought to himself that he'd almost rather she dated Letty then Dominic. Of course he was looking forward to grand kids some day and at least Dominic was an Italian boy. Maybe not a nice Italian boy, but he was Italian. Torrie answered his question.
"No, but I can't go home to get a suitable outfit so I'll have to go buy a new one. Besides, a little shopping therapy never went wrong before a big ordeal." Torrie laughed back.
"You have enough money Princess?" Harry asked, worried about how she'd been making it through without him and with the mortgage on the store taking up every cent the store made.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Dom pays me after all. I don't work for him for free." Torrie giggled back. "He actually keeps track of my hours that I work for him too."
"He does?"
"Of course. Think I work for free?"
"No Princess, of course not. Go get something pretty to wear to meet your fate."
"I'll do that Daddy. I'll catch you again later in the week ok? We'll go to lunch sometime like Wednesday."
"Sounds good sweetheart. See you then." Harry seemed to think for a second. "Don't forget that if you need a place to get away to or someone to talk to I'm here for you Princess."
"Thanks Daddy." Torrie hugged her father then took off into the back to get Letty's car and take off.
Harry watched her go with a look that suggested he was not totally sure how things were going to go for Torrie when she got home to face her team. One thing was certain; no matter how disappointed he was about what she'd done to this Chris he wouldn't take anyone calling his baby a whore. If the girl ever said anything like that to Torrie again he'd be on Toretto's doorstep to deal with it himself.
*~*
Torrie hit the mall and parked Letty's car in one of the far out rows so that no one would hit it with their door. She ran into the mall and started to shop around the stores. She didn't know what she wanted but she knew she couldn't go the way she was dressed and like she'd told her father, shopping always improved her mood.
The second store she walked into had a rack of jeans that were split up the front of the legs and held closed with leather laces from the floor to the waistband. The way they laced would show flashes of the skin of her legs all the way till almost the very top. She picked out her size and tried them on. They were low rise, very fitted and she thought they looked good. She knew she'd found her new pants. Now she just needed to find a top to go with them.
She didn't find anything in the store where she bought the pants or in the next two stores she tried. But in the fourth store she found the top she knew she'd been looking for. The sides of the shirt were open and held closed with laces the same as her new pants and the front was also split up the front from the hem to the neckline and held closed with laces, and so were the tops of the sleeves from the cuff to the neckline. The back was many interlocking chris crossing laces instead of a panel of fabric. It was obvious it would not let her wear a bra but she didn't really have a problem with that. It was the same green as her eyes.
She checked the price tag and was very glad that pretty much every cent Dom had ever paid her was still in the bank. It was more then she could remember spending on one article of clothing in a long time.
She studied herself in the changing room mirror critically.
Her hair was definitely one of her best features she figured but it was too long.
She was pretty pale but she'd tried to get a tan. It wasn't her fault that she only ended up getting freckles. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to get some color. She didn't want to burn to a crisp just to make Chris think she looked better either.
She did have small breasts but she figured that was a plus when it came to wearing shirts that she couldn't wear a bra under. Her hips were a bit boney and it showed in the pants she had on. She knew all she had to do was stop stressing and eat but she wasn't sure if that was going to happen any time soon considering what she had coming to her later that evening. She saw lots of stress in her near future. And she knew it was only going to get worse if she hadn't gained back some of the weight she had lost before Dom got home. Dom would flip at her for getting any thinner.
She pulled a face at herself, sticking out her tongue and slanting her eyes in the mirror. She definitely wasn't overly proud of the maturity level of what she'd done yesterday. But she couldn't take it back, what was done was done and she couldn't change the past. But she could make an effort to go on in the future with a better attitude.
She wanted another drink. She didn't think it would be smart however to start that again.
She left the dressing room and headed to the mall bathroom to change her clothes. She had to meet Letty in 15 and she was at least that away from the restaurant.
She emerged from the washroom 2 minutes later wearing her new outfit and having brushed her hair out. She wasn't oblivious to the appreciating male looks she got on the way through the mall and out to the car. It went some of the way toward raising her lowered self esteem.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not what Chris had said to her had hurt her feelings. She'd really started to think she was ugly. Too skinny, pale and resorting to slutty dressing to get attention. But the way the men looked at her while she walked didn't make her think they found much wrong with her look at all. So what if her bathing suits were all bikinis? It wasn't like she was the only one. Letty and she dressed almost the same, she figured, and she didn't think Letty was a slut.
Torrie really didn't think she should have to have her self esteem crushed because Chris thought she got too much male attention and because Chris herself wouldn't dress the way Torrie did. It wasn't fair for Chris to take the fact that she didn't like her own look out on her, Torrie thought as she walked to the car. But it didn't mean that Torrie had had to highlight the fact that Chris didn't like the way she looked either. Torrie knew that since it had hurt her to hear what Chris said that what she had said to Chris likely had hurt the other girl worse. Torrie had been having a vulnerable moment but Chris had been having a vulnerable year.
She started Letty's car and pulled into traffic. She drove fast but carefully to the restaurant and parked in the first available spot, which happened to be right beside Letty in the 8. Letty was not in the car so Torrie figured she must already be in the restaurant.
She stood up out of the car and walked in the restaurant. She spotted Letty right away and walked up to the table she was sitting at.
"How you doin?" Torrie asked Letty as she sat down.
"Not as good as you. Where'd you get that outfit?" Letty asked.
"I did a little retail therapy this afternoon. It was good. You like?"
"Yeah, you might have to show me where you got it. That top come in white?"
"Sure does. We'll go back to the mall tomorrow. I'm willing to bet that we'll both need the pick me up of a little shopping."
"I bet you're right. How's my car running for you?"
"Like a champ. What do you think of the 8?"
"What's not to like?"
"I think Dom should drop a cosmo 20b in it but I don't think I want to live with him while he has no car for a few weeks."
"But can you imagine how fast it would be with a 20b in it?"
"No. Dom's so fast as it is I don't know if I want to think of him with all that speed under his foot."
"I know what you mean."
The waitress came over and gave them menus and glasses of water, which Torrie drained right away.
"Being on the lamb is thirsty business." Torrie said in response to Letty's questioning look and laughed.
"I bet if you spend it in the mall it is."
The waitress returned and the girls ordered.
"I can't tell you how much I want to order wine with this meal." Torrie told Letty with a frown. "I think I'm going to need the courage."
"I know what you mean. But just remember, we stick together."
"Is that the game plan, or are we gonna come up with a better one."
"We'll make a better one but the main thing to remember is to stick together. Whatever you say I agree with and vice versa."
"Agreed. So what are we gonna say?"
"Well, for one thing you took the 8 down to me because we had a prior arrangement."
"Agreed. But how did I miss Vince and Mia when I left the house if I didn't sneak?"
"Well, you did sneak. But you still took the car down because you were supposed to, not because you wanted to or whatever."
"Why'd you tell Vince you hadn't seen me when you had?"
Letty sighed.
"Good question. You might have to take some of that one on yourself girl. We could say you didn't want to speak to him so I told you to just take off and you agreed and did it."
"Yeah, that's the truth anyway so I guess I don't have any problems with that."
"What are you going to do about Chris?" Letty asked as she sipped her water.
"Nothing I can do. I'm going to tell them all I know I was out of line and said some things I had no business saying and did some things I had no business doing. Then I'm going to point out that Chris hasn't exactly been a saint since she moved in either and that we're both going to have to make some adjustments to how we treat each other."
Letty nodded.
"That's good. Am I correct in assuming Vince doesn't know the full story behind what you said to Chris?"
"That's right. He only heard me tell her that she was done for once you and Dom got done with her."
"You know I'm going to say something to her about telling people I dress like a racer chaser ho right? I mean she and I never had beef before so she started the shit wit me. It's not like she'n I had a history of anything before she threw my name into her fight with you."
"Go ahead and tell her off about it Letty. No matter how much I know I was in the wrong I still can't help but be happy if someone tells me they have a legitimate reason to be angry at her. I almost wish she'd just go away so things could go back to the way they were. But then I think if Vince really likes her then he deserves his shot with her because he's never gonna have a shot with Mia or you or me. He's gonna have to go outside the team and if he likes Chris then who am I to do something to mess that up on him. But then again she just irritates the hell out of me too."
"She don't have to live at the house just because Vince likes her." Letty interjected. "She could get her own place easily enough, or go live with some of her own friends."
"I know she doesn't but she was living with the guy that abused her and she has no other family or friends in California. I guess she moved here to rebel against her parents and the only other place she could go would be home to them and they live in some other state."
"Didn't know that. Ok. I'm still not having her goin around telling people I'm a ho. It just isn't gonna happen."
"I don't blame you. But I'm at the point myself where I can't say anything about it now. I had my say sort of thing."
"I hear that. So we know how we're going to handle the whole running away, yelling at Chris thing. What are you going to say to Dom when you talk to him?"
"That I know he didn't do what I thought he did and we should leave the in depth chat on it till he comes home. I don't want to talk about something so serious over the phone."
"Good plan. Better to talk to him face to face about that. Then you can 'make up' afterward."
"Letty!"
"Well, its true isn't it?"
Torrie only blushed in answer.
"Now what about Vince? What are you going to say to him about all that went on and what you tried to get him to do?"
"I was thinking nothing. I was thinking I might just say I was sorry for keeping him out all night and sorry he had to take care of me like he did." Torrie looked at the table cloth.
"Why?"
"So that if by some chance he's not sure what I was up to I don't bring it out in the open. I mean him knowing what I was up to if he doesn't already doesn't have a point. I mean it's not like I'd ever do anything about it if I was sober and not in a terrible mood. I'd never sleep with Vince just to get back at Dom. I was just so drunk. And I meant to take a stranger home but even drunk that got scary in a hurry. At least Vince was familiar."
"I don't know if I agree with you there Torrie. You might want to own up to it right away so he doesn't think you're hiding it or trying to pretend it didn't happen."
"But then if he doesn't know what I was up to things'll get all uncomfortable between us. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear and if I think he knows then I'll talk to him about it but if I think he doesn't then I'll just let it go. I know it was stupid, you know it was stupid. The less people other then that who know the less chance of someone telling Dominic."
"Good point."
The food the girls had ordered came and they stopped talking to eat. They finished their meal and talked about every day things. When they were done eating they paid the bill and walked out into the cool night air.
"Well, this is it I guess. No sense putting off the inevitable any longer." Torrie said on a sigh.
"Yep, it's time to go and do this thing."
The girls climbed into their own cars at that point and headed for the house, Torrie in the 8 and Letty in her 240. They pulled up to the house and parked. Then side by side they walked up to the front door.
"I feel like I should knock." Torrie said with a frown.
"I know what you mean. It sucks doesn't it?"
"Yep. Here goes nothing."
With that Torrie pushed open the front door and walked in, Letty close on her heels. The phone rang just as the girls got the door closed. Torrie didn't see anyone else around so she grabbed the phone.