Chapter 31: Problems

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July and Mike spent the next day working on the Soarer. They had lunch at the house and Jesse showed up just as they were finishing.

"Hey Jesse, what are you doing here?"

"I came to finish helping with the car," Jesse answered taking off his jean jacket and setting it on the workbench.

"That's cool. You hungry? I can go make you a sandwich real quick." July asked.

"No, I already ate but thanks."

"So let's get started."

The trio spent the rest of the afternoon working on the last of the engine. It was around five when Jesse pronounced it ready to start.

"Let's see if it works," Jesse said wiping his hands on a rag.

"Wait, we need to switch out the gas first."

"That's right. I always forget something. I think we have a tank over at the house. I'll go get it while you start getting the old stuff out."

Jesse soon returned with the tank and once they had switched the gas out, July was bouncing around in anticipation.

"Here you go," Mike said handing her the keys. July took then and then got in the car.

"JJ, you're on the wrong side," Jesse said laughing at her.

"I'm now realizing that," July replied as she moved herself over the gearbox to the other side. She stuck the key in the ignition and turned it. It started to sputter and then started up with a roar as July pressed down the gas. July let out a whoop of excitement and she could hear Mike and Jesse doing the same thing. July cut the engine and got out, giving each guy a hug.

"Thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without you."

"You're welcome," Jesse said.

"We should go celebrate," Mike suggested and Jesse's face lit up at the idea.

"All right. Let me go over to the house and get cleaned up," Jesse said as he disappeared out the garage. "I'll see you in a bit!"

"Okay!" July yelled back as she and Mike headed into the house to get cleaned up too.

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Jesse was coming out the door when the team pulled up. Everyone greeted him as they passed by, Dom stopping him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Where you going Jess?" he asked.

"July invited me out to go celebrate," Jesse said.

"Celebrate?"

"Yeah we got the Soarer started," Jesse answered with a big smile.

"Jesse, you ready?" July yelled coming out of the house and heading in their direction. "Oh hey Dom," July said stopping a couple feet away from them.

"July. You guys got the Soarer running?"

"Yeah, I was going to call and ask you if it was okay to bring it down and use the paint booth."

"Sure, just bring it down in the morning, we don't have any paint jobs lined up."

"Thanks," July said staring him in the eye. Dom could see the confusion still written in them. "So Jess you coming?" she asked looking away from Dom to Jesse

"Yeah, I think so." Jesse turned his face to Dom. Dom stared at him for a second and then nodded his head.

"Okay," Dom agreed as a smile lit up Jesse's face. He couldn't even remember the last time he had smiled like that; wait, he could: before the accident. "Just remember your boundaries," Dom warned and watched as a dark shadow passed over Jesse's face.

"I will. See you later Dom," Jesse said and joined July.

Dom watched as they joined Mike, who was waiting for them at the car, and took off. He went inside to find everyone sprawled in the living room.

"Where's Jesse?" Leon asked.

"He went out with July," Dom said starting up the stairs. He needed a shower.

"With July?" Vince asked.

"Yeah, they went out to celebrate getting the car started. She's bringing the car to the garage in the morning to use the painting booth," Dom said disappearing upstairs.

"Well, guess I should go start making dinner," Mia said getting up.

"How about we go pick up something?" Letty suggested, wanting a way to get Mia away from everyone so they could talk.

"Yeah, I really don't feel much like cooking anyways. What do you guys want?" she asked looking around.

"Tacos?" Leon said and Brian and Vince agreed.

"Tacos it is," Mia said grabbing her keys.

"I'll come with," Letty said. Mia quirked her eyebrows at her but didn't say anything.

"Okay, what's up?" Mia asked once they were in the car and on their way.

"I've got a big problem," Letty said slouching in her seat. She explained her situation and how she had no clue what to do.

"Boy, when you've got problems, you've got problems. So let get this straight, you still love Dom?"

"I will always love Dom."

"But you love Leon?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I am in love with Leon."

"Let, I'm going to be honest. I think the best thing to do is to break things off with Leon and just be on your own for a while. Figure out yourself and what you want. Let everything settle and then do what you want. It's not fair to be leading on Leon either."

"I know. I feel bad as it is. But what about July? What if Dom and her end up together? What is Dom doesn't even still feel that way about me?" she finished in a quiet voice. This was the side of Letty that only Mia and Dom had seen. She hated appearing weak to anyone.

"Letty, you know that Dom still feels that way about you. Have you seen the way he looks at you sometimes? As for July, I don't think that Dom really likes her like that; I think he's just fascinated with her because she's not willing to do anything to be with him like other girls. Letty, you know what? She reminds me a lot of you sometimes. What happened the first time that you met Dom? You couldn't stand him and what happened? He ended up being stuck on you and you guys were together for like forever."

"Yeah but then isn't he going to go after July then?"

"Let, are you forgetting about Vince? Even though Dom wants to think he's all big and bad, he isn't going to ruin his friendship with Vince to be with July. Either one of them will step down for the other. They are going to let her pick who though, neither of them is going to force her. Personally, I don't think that July is going to pick Dom though. In a way, I want Vince to get her because he's already had let down, me being a point in fact. Plus, they are cute together," she added with a smile.

"Yeah…"

"So are you going to break if off with Leon?" Mia asked.

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Soon, soon," Letty said losing herself in the passing scenery outside.

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Once they had returned home and everyone had eaten, Letty was beginning to become nervous, and that wasn't something she handled well. Mia kept giving her looks and glancing at Leon. She was going to have to do it soon. Mia wasn't going to let her put it off.

Why had she told Mia again? That's right, for help, but at this rate it seemed more like she'd gone to her to get harassed from across the room. She shot Mia the hundredth glare and shook her head a bit to tell her no. Mia gave her an exasperated look and finally Letty couldn't take it any longer. She leaned over to Leon.

"Can I talk to you outside?" she whispered. Leon looked at her and then nodded his head.

They got up and headed outside with everyone watching their backs. It was quiet outside and the sun was fading on the horizon, giving out its last light of the day. Letty heard Leon sit at the table and could feel his stare on her back. She took a deep breath and then turned to him.

"Leon, I want you to know that I love you, but…" Letty could find the words.

"But what Letty?" Leon prompted, already having a feeling where this was going.

"Le, I'm not in love with you," she said quietly.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know how to explain it," Letty said sitting down.

"You still love him, don't you?" Leon questioned.

"Yeah, I do," she said quietly.

"And you just lead me on?" he asked but Letty didn't have an answer for him. "I don't get you. I took care of you, I looked after you, I never cheated on you, and he still has all of you. I could give you everything I have and you still wouldn't be satisfied because I'm not him."

"Le, that's not it."

"Then what is it? Tell me, I'd really like to know."

"I don't know Leon!" Letty yelled. It attracted the attention of someone upstairs in their room. Dom came to the window and looked down at them but neither one of them noticed him.

"You know what? Screw this, I'm out of here," Leon said going inside and down to his room.

"Leon, don't be like this," Letty said following his rigid back inside the house and down to his room.

"Your stuff better not be in my room when I get back," Leon ordered, grabbing a bag of clothes and walking past her out the door.

"Leon!" Letty yelled following him out the front door. By now everyone was watching and Dom had come down the stairs.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Jesse asked as he walked up. He took one look at Leon heading for his car and Letty coming down the porch, screaming his name and knew something was wrong.

"Jesse, you better grab her because I'm taking off whether she's near the car or not," Leon said as he slammed his car door.

"Leon!" Letty screamed. Jesse grabbed her as she marched past him. "Jesse, let me go! Leon!" Letty watched as Leon screeched down the street and disappeared from sight. Letty stopped her struggling and collapsed into a heap on the grass, bring Jesse down with her. She buried her face into his chest but the tears never came.

It wasn't until she was packing her stuff from Leon's room that the tears began to roll down her face. This wasn't what she was expecting. It hurt a lot more than she thought it would. Leon was the level headed, easy going one of the group and tonight he had proven that. He didn't scream, hit, or punch anything; he just took some clothes and left. She prayed that he didn't decide to do anything stupid or wind up getting hurt.

It would have been easier if he would have screamed and let her have it but he hadn't. He had raised his voice a bit and then left; and for some reason it left her feeling guilty. It wasn't until she felt the moister on her hands that she realized the tears were flooding down her face and she was clutching onto one of Leon's shirts. She closed her eyes and held to the shirt to her face, inhaling Leon's familiar scent. She folded it up and tucked it into one of his drawers.

She finished packing her stuff into the garbage bags that she had grabbed from upstairs and stood in the door, not really wanting to leave the room. She took one last look around the room and told herself that it was the right thing, that she couldn't keep playing Leon like this, and left the room.

Mia was waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

"Hey," she said quietly and gave her a hug.

"Hi."

"You okay?"

"As okay as I'm going to be."

"Do you want me to help you move in upstairs?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's not a good thing for me to be here right now," Letty answered.

"Letty, it's your house too," Mia insisted.

"I know, but me around is just going to be adding more tension. Maybe July will let me stay with her for a bit."

"She probably would."

"I'm going to go talk to her," Letty said grabbing her bags and dragging them out with her to July's front door. She pushed back the hair that had fallen in her face, wiped any remaining evidence of tears from her face, and knocked on the door. The door opened and July took one look at her and ushered her in.

"What happened?" July asked sitting her down on the couch.

"I broke up with Leon and it didn't go to well. Do you think it would be okay to stay with you for a while?"

"Yeah, no problem, you can stay here as long as you need to," July said and gave Letty's shoulder a squeeze.

July led Letty up to the other guest room and helped her settle in. Mike had already returned to his room so July stayed up with Letty talking for a couple of hours. Around one, July left to her own room.

Letty lay awake in bed long after July had left, thinking. She didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow. Work was going to be tense. She finally fell into an exhausted sleep around three with only one thing on her mind: how the heck was she going to fix everything?

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tbc…