Quarter Mile High
By TempestRaces
Chapter 7 – Belonging
"You guys go on. I'll catch up wit you in a few at the garage." Vince called after the team as they started to leave the restaurant. Only Mia seemed to understand why and Vince was grateful for the fact she marshalled the rest of the team out into the morning sun quickly, saving him from answering any further questions.
"What can I do for you Vincent?" Mary asked the tall man in front of her. She always used his full name just to make him angry with her. She was just that kind of woman. She'd also never forgotten how hard he'd been on her Brian when they'd first met.
"Um, I wanted to get an order of breakfast to go." Vince looked uncomfortable.
"Now, I know you can eat young man but don't you think two meals is a bit much?" Mary clucked her disapproval.
"It's not for me!" Vince was quick to protest. "We got a guest at home who wasn't feelin good 'nough to come out today. I'ma take some food home to her before I go to work. 'Sides, if anyone's packin on the pounds it ain't me!" Vince patted his flat abs appreciatively. "It's a certain blond that hangs around my team and lets his mama feed him too much." Vince smiled his sly Coyote grin to take the sting out of his words. Mary knew the discord between him and Brian was for the most part now just for show. Or at least she was pretty sure it was.
"That's not how to sweet talk me into a slice of my lemon meringue pie for a certain coyote with a sweet tooth to take with him you know?"
"I'll be good!" Vince promised with a wink. "Just put the pie with the breakfast."
"You're lucky I think you're cute when you try to be all tough." Mrs O'Connor didn't take guff from anyone and she was one of the few people Vince could think of who wasn't even scared of him when he was in a bad mod. He watched her as she started to make up his order of eggs and toast to go and watched with considerably more interest as she put a huge piece of pie into a Styrofoam container. She handed him the two packages a few minutes later.
"Thanks Mary. You're alright." Vince winked again as he headed out the door of the shop.
"Well thanks!" Mary called back sarcastically, as though it was the best compliment she'd ever gotten. All she got was a jaunty wave from Vince, who was already out the door and climbing into his car.
He left the parking lot in a cloud of white smoke, leaving two black streaks of rubber to show for his efforts with his clutch and brakes. Mary tsked to herself. She was always worried that one of her son's friends, or Brian himself, would wind up a statistic. She wasn't sure if she was more worried about Brian now that he was racing then she had been while he was a cop. With a sanguine shrug she went back to wiping off her counters. Brian and his friends were grown. There was very little she could do to stop them from doing what they pleased, dangerous or no.
xox
Vince zipped into the driveway of his house and stopped with a small squeal as he locked his brakes up on the gravel. He dashed up the stairs and got the door unlocked. He pounded up the stairs, boots still on and after a perfunctory knock on Mira's door shoved his way into the spare room.
"Time to wake up!" He called as he tossed the curtains open.
"Ug, close those!" Mira moaned and pulled the blankets over her head.
"Nope. Get up. I got work for you today. You ain't in school yet so you're gonna get up and come to the shop. You can clean shit up and get us shit we need."
"I can't." Mira looked serious about what she had said and yet lost in thought about something else. "You know I coulda been in here naked or some shit. You never waited for me to answer."
"But you wasn't so just sit up and eat your breakfast." Vince tossed the take out container on the bed next to the sullen teen.
"I ain't hungry." Mira even deeper into her sullen mood. "I don't wanna eat."
Vince pulled the desk chair over to the side of the bed and straddled it. "I know you don't. But you're gonna anyway. 'Member that conversation about trying? You gotta make the effort. Eat." Vince flipped open his own take away dish and started to eat his pie, despite it only being 9:30am.
"How can you eat that junk for breakfast?" Even though her attitude was still sarcastic and petulant she pulled the food onto her lap as she sat up and started to eat with the plastic fork that had been thoughtfully included.
"I got up at the normal hour and had a real breakfast before I brought that shit home for you. This is just desert."
"You don't eat desert with breakfast." Mira informed Vince as though she were talking to a ten year old.
"When you're me, you eat desert with everything. Hell, you have desert after desert." Vince retorted, his full mouth making him slightly hard to understand. Mira shook her head in wonder but finished her breakfast. Vince watched her surreptitiously to make sure she ate it all.
"You seriously gonna make me go to this garage with you? I don't know shit about cars. I don't even drive."
"You don't need to drive to hang out at the garage. We'll find stuff to keep you busy there. You can't stay here alone all day feeling sorry for yourself."
"Why not?" Mira was back to bemoaning her fate. "I got nothin to wear outta the house anyways."
"Wear what you had on yesterday. You didn't have time to get it dirty." Vince answered matter of factly. Of course to a man, wearing yesterday's clothes was no big deal if they didn't smell too bad or have obvious dirt on them.
"I can't wear the same clothes two days in a row." Mira looked scandalized. It occurred to her that the day before she'd been wearing the same cloths as the day before and the day before that. She wrote it off, thinking that it had only been ok because she never saw the same group of people twice and she'd had no way to have clean clothes anyway.
"Sure you can. You got no choice for now anyways. We'll get Mia to take you shopping later. You could always spend the day with Mia at the café instead of the garage if you wanted too."
"I like Mia."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'd love a nice day of talking all about hair and makeup and boys too. Oh, and clothes and celebrities." Vince tried to look sincere. He watched the look of horror cross Mira's face.
"Um, maybe this garage won't be so bad." Mira was quick to take her protest about the garage back rather then face a day talking about hair and makeup. None of that girlie stuff really interested her and she couldn't imagine making a day of talking about it. She really did like Mia, but she didn't want to be bored out of her mind all day. It'd let her think about what she really wanted.
More drugs.
No matter how much she told herself she didn't need them, didn't want them, and wanted to not be an addict anymore the cravings were starting again.
"Yeah, if you're really nice to her you might even get Lett to take you shopping for some new clothes instead of Mia. It's Letty's stuff you got yesterday or you'd be wearin Mia's skirts and little ruffled things."
"Letty?"
"Yeah, Dom's chick. She's cool. You'll meet her at the garage."
"She work there?"
"Yeah, she's a mechanic like the rest of us. She might just be a better mechanic then Dom. Not Jesse though, no one's better then him."
"I think I'd like to get to know Letty better. She sounds really cool. I bet no one gives her shit."
"Not very many people live to tell about it if they do so it's hard to know." Vince winked. "Get a move on and we'll head down."
"Vince?"
"Yeah?"
"I got no money to go shopping."
"I know. I'm sure Dom'll give you an advance on the salary you'll be earning when you start workin for him in the garage or the café after school though. Everyone has to do their part in this house. You'll pull your own weight and we'll make sure you got everything you need."
Vince didn't know where he was finding it in himself to be good to this kid, but he just couldn't let her think that she wasn't going to catch a break this one time. Leon's apology hadn't been the most sincere thing Vince had ever heard and he was willing to bet Mira knew that too.
"How'm I gonna go to school anyway? You can't enrol me without parental consent. Even I know that much."
"I'm sure Leon will find a way to get your dad to either consent for you to go to school here or to take over as your guardian."
'Shit, Leon don't care if I get to go to school or not."
"Well, he'll damn sure learn to care quick if you keep talking like some hillbilly. And someone your age got no call to swear as much as you do."
"You swear."
"I'm an adult."
"Yeah, well so am I." Mira didn't look smug when she said it, she looked world weary. Vince realized she wasn't being factious. In a lot of ways she was just as adult as the rest of the team. But in a lot of other ways she was still just a kid. He partially capitulated.
"Ok, maybe we'll have to have slightly more relaxed rules for you then we would for other kids your age, but you still ain't grown, and you will take that ass to high school."
"Well, maybe you ain't grown either, Mr. 'I eat pie with breakfast'." Mira did smirk then. Vince laughed out loud, even though he really didn't want to encourage her to be sassy or be talking back to her elders.
"Maybe I ain't either." He agreed, still chuckling. "Get up and get dressed. You got 20 minutes to meet me downstairs ready to roll. Do something tidy wit your hair. Can't have it getting caught in stuff around the shop."
"Yes sir." Mira sassed back, smiling. Vince liked it better when she was sassing him then moping around like she had no reason to go on.
Vince left the room and Mira got out of bed. She discovered that some time during the night Mia must have finished up her washing as her clothes were all in a folded stack on the dresser across the room. She started to look through for a shirt of her own to wear, figuring she'd keep Letty's borrowed combat pants for the day. She picked out her favourite shirt, a royal blue tee shirt that wasn't too stained. Mira picked it up and inhaled the clean laundry smell. It had been so long since anyone had used brand name soap and fabric softener on her washing that the smell of her shirt took her straight back into her childhood before her mother and brother took off. Back when her life was pretty much normal.
After she was dressed she rooted around in her bag, also thoughtfully placed in her room by Mia, she assumed, and found her hairbrush and toothbrush. She went to bathroom quietly, hoping Vince wouldn't know she was out of her bedroom yet. When she was finished she put the stuff back in her borrowed room and headed down the stairs. She was starting to feel unsure about going with Vince.
If her brother was at this garage did she really want to go there? She felt sure he didn't want her around. She wasn't sure if spending the day around him was a good idea if he didn't even want to see her in the evenings. She froze on that thought, three quarters of the way down the stairs.
"You ready?" Vince called, standing up from his chair in the living room.
"No." Mira answered, her lack of confidence obvious.
"Well, a few minutes ago it seemed like you were seeing this as a good idea. What's up now?"
"Does my brother work at your garage too?" Mira studied her socks intently, following the path of the cat who was stitched into them intently.
"Yeah. Is that what this is over? You don't want to see Leon?"
"I guess."
When a better answer was not forthcoming Vince sighed. "Listen, you don't even have to talk to him if you don't wanna. Just stick with me or Letty for the day."
"It shouldn't be like that. He's my brother but he'd rather I just went away and never came back. You don't even know me and you care more about me then he does." Mira looked up, the anger that had replaced her sadness making her eyes flash. "I should just run away again. Maybe if I ended up dead on the news or some shit he'd at least be guilty about it. That'd be better then this sorta half ass not wanting me around he's pulling right now."
"He'll come around. It was a bigger shock to him then us to find you here. He thought you were safe at home and then here you were. Leon never did take to change well kid. He'll adjust."
"Yeah well, if he'd come home I wouldn'ta needed time to adjust. I'd justa been glad he was there and safe."
"He's been just takin care of himself for a long time. You might have to cut him some slack for awhile at least while he gets use to the fact he's responsible for someone else too. I'm sure when he realizes that the rest of us are behind him too and you ain't exactly 10 he'll come around. Just ignore him for awhile. They'll be enough to keep you occupied that you won't have time to think of it anyway. You'll see, the day will fly by."
"If I don't wanna stay will you take me to Mia?" A pair of disturbingly familiar green eyes stared up at Vince out of a too thin, too pale face.
"Yeah. If you give the garage two hours."
"Damn, you sure you don't got kids runnin around somewhere?" Mira asked cheekily. Her moods seemed to switch as fast as ac current. Vince turned slightly red, thinking the girl somehow knew how, um…unparticular he'd been with his affections in his youth.
"No!" He answered a little more firmly then he'd intended. "I don't have kids. Why?"
"Cause you sound just like a dad. Well, a real dad, like some of my friends had when I had friends. Not like my dad." Mira broke off, taking the stunned look on Vince's face for a lack of understanding of the point she was trying to make. "You get the idea!"
"Get in the car." Vince opened the door of the house and gave Mira a playful shove out into the sun, thinking the sun was certainly something she could stand to see more of. He was literally in shock inside. He sounded like a real dad?
They started toward the garage. They had the windows down to enjoy the beautiful day and Vince had his favourite hard rock station on blast. All in all, things were going well. He had his tunes, the sun, he'd had pie for desert with breakfast. What else could a man want?
His idyllic mood was shattered when the radio switched from hard rock to hip hop in a split second.
"What are you doin?" Vince asked, staring at the radio in shock.
"I hate that tragically hip shit. This is way better. Feel the beat!" Mira giggled as she sat back into the seat of the car.
"No one and I mean no one plays with my radio. No way, no how." Vince was still slightly shocked that Mira had had the audacity.
"Looks like I just did. You're not gonna subject me to listening to that crap are you? It'll give me a headache. And how am I supposed to try to get along at this garage if my head is splitting?" She blinked up at him innocently. He saw right through her.
"You and every other woman on earth thinks that a set of long eyelashes will win you whatever you want." Vince growled. The blinking turned into a pout. Vince groaned. "Ok you win. This once. I drive you anywhere else and we listen to my music."
"We'll see." Mira answered back and looked out the window with a smile. The day was looking up already. Vince sighed and took a turn toward the shop.
They arrived a few minutes later, parking around the back.
"Well, this is it." Vince said as he got out and went around to the passenger side of the car to wait for Mira to climb out.
"It doesn't look like much." Mira commented as she looked at the garage.
"It's not what it looks like that's important. It's what we do there that's important. We build such fast race cars that half of L.A. comes here to let Jesse work on their engine and have Dom do their builds."
"I see. What does my brother do?"
"Just works on cars, same as all of us but Jesse. Jesse designs and builds engines mostly but he can pretty much do anything to a car that you can think of."
"Think I can have a car after I get my licence?"
"Sure, can't see why not. Mia and Letty both got cars at 16."
"Mia and Letty had someone to get them a car and to teach them to drive." Mira sighed, finding herself mad that her brother was an ass for the millionth time since she'd gotten into L.A. He should be offering to buy her a beater and fix it up with her. He should be eager to teach her to drive. But she knew he wouldn't want to put the time in with her and it made her so angry she wanted to just start beating on the brick wall of Dom's garage.
"We'll find you a car and I'll teach you to drive. You may as well learn from the best right?" Vince smirked and Mira chuckled.
"Wouldn't that be Dom from what I hear about who's king of the streets?"
"We just let him think that so it doesn't hurt his feelings."
"Yeah, ok."
They reached the door of the shop. Vince went to open it. Mira took a deep breath and waited for Vince to open the door.
"It's gonna be ok. Alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be ok." Mira looked up and forced a smile. They walked in the shop.
"Yo Dom!"
"What V?" Dom came out from under the car he was working on. Vince motioned him over with a flick of his head. Dom walked up to them.
"I told Mira we'd find something for her to do to keep her busy."
"Ok, um…" Dom looked around the room. "You can just help Letty. She'll tell you what to do."
"Ok." Mira answered in a tiny voice, clearly ignoring her brother who was trying to ignore her too.
"Hey Lett!" Dom called.
"Wha?" Letty roared back from under some sort of black car. Mira had no idea what kind it was.
"You're gonna have Mira work with you today, ok?"
"Sure." Letty rolled out from under the car she was on. "Come'ere girl." Letty called and motioned Mira over. Mira went dragging her feet. "I'm Letty Rodriguez." Letty held her hand out, realizing that she'd never been formally introduced to the girl.
"Mirabella De Luca." Mira shook Letty's hand. "But I go by Mira cause it's way easier."
"No kidden." Letty leaned closer to Mirabella. "My full name is Leticia but don't tell on me." Letty raised her eyebrows to accentuate the sentence and was rewarded with a small chuckle out of Mira.
"If you call me Mira we got a deal."
"Good." Letty started to get back onto the creeper she was using to slide under the car. "Who dressed you in my clothes?" She asked with a laugh.
"Mia. She said that her stuff wouldn't be my style."
"No doubt she's right. Miss girlie girl." Letty started to slide back under the car. "You know anything about tools?"
"Not really. I know what most kinds of screw drivers look like."
"Ok, well I'm gonna get you to hand me tools. I know where they all are so I'll tell you what drawer to look in and what what I need looks like ok? Then you can just hand it to me."
"Ok." Mirabella sat on the floor next to Letty's legs to await the first tool request. Letty asked her for a 15mm wrench and told her where it was. Mirabella passed it under.
"So, what grade were you in at home?"
"Ten, but I was failing so I guess it doesn't matter."
"Why were you failing?" Letty asked, trying to keep it light and like she was just being curious. She didn't want the girl to think she was coming down on her for her poor performance.
"Cause I hardly went and I was high a lot of the time when I did." Mirabella looked almost shocked to have admitted that. "Sorry but I'm supposed to be honest about it because that's the only way I'm gonna get help." She parroted what Vince had told her.
"We all make mistakes. If you want help I'll help you."
"I do. I need new clothes and Vince told me to ask you to take me shopping because Mia will try to dress me like her."
"Yes she would." Letty laughed. "We'll go after lunch. I'll have this done by then."
"But um…" Mirabella trailed off uncomfortably.
"What?"
"I'm supposed to ask Dom for an advance on what I'll make when I really start working for him but I really don't know him and he kinda scares me."
"He kinda scares everyone. Can you get me a 18mm wrench?" After she had her wrench Letty picked up the threads of the conversation. "Don't worry too much about it. We don't so much pay a salary to the team as we do just let them buy what they need. I'll take you shopping and you'll work around here or with Mia after school when you can."
"I don't want to be a burden to you all."
"Hey, Leon's family so so are you. Don't sweat it."
"Leon wishes I wasn't even here." Mirabella didn't know what had made her open up to Letty but she liked her a lot already. She liked how she hadn't judged on why she was failing school and how she was so ok with taking her out and spending time with her too.
"He'll come around."
"That's what Vince says but I don't really believe it."
Letty decided to let it drop and she kept asking Mirabella for the tools she needed, subtly teaching the girl what they all were and did while she was at it. Shop had been a life saver to Letty and she was determined that Mirabella would get in and not be behind her class in high school too. She finished up the car she was working on and rolled out from under with a pile of tools on her tummy.
"You put those back where you found them and I'll clean up. Just be sure to put them back in their proper place. If you take good care of your tools they'll last forever and you'll always know where they are when you need them." Letty told Mira in a matter of fact tone. She wanted to impart the knowledge but not sound condescending. Mirabella nodded like she understood and started to put the tools carefully back into the same drawers she'd gotten them out of.
Letty went and washed up then walked back over to her toolbox and Mirabella. "You ready?"
"Yep, ready as ever." Mira stood with her hands in her pockets and looked at her scruffy sneakers.
"Yo Dom!" Letty called.
"Yeah?"
"Me'n Mira are goin out to lunch and to do some shoppin and stuff. So in other words I'm taking the afternoon off. I got that probe finished."
"Ok." Dom called back, clearly unphased about them spending 'his' money and taking the afternoon off. Leon stood up and walked around the car he was working on. "I can't give you money to go shopping right now."
"I didn't ask you to." Mira refused to look at Leon, she looked off to the side of the shop.
"I won't have you being a charity case to my friends either." Leon growled. Mira studied the patterns the sunlight was making on the dirty glass in the window in the wall she was staring at even more intently, trying not to let his words hurt her.
"Leon, damn boy, she'll work here and with Mia same as everyone else. You need to calm the f down." Letty retorted for Mirabella, her flashing black eyes belaying her casual words. Her message was clear. Letty had taken his sister into her small litter of underdog cubs and if he messed with her he'd end up mauled.
"Well, it's just that I know we don't have a place for kids in our life here and I don't want to force anything on the team without asking first, but I had no choice here."
"Leon! Enough." Letty was getting really angry and it showed.
"It's ok. He's right. I never shoulda came here. I shoulda just stayed where I was and let dad beat me up instead. At least then I wouldn'ta inconvenienced anyone." Mirabella started for the door. With a look for Leon that made him worry how bad his life was going to get when Letty got a hold of him later, she stalked off after Mira.
xox
"Do you have a damn brain?" Vince snarled at his friend as soon as the shop door slammed closed behind Letty.
"Hey dawg, I'm just trying to do what I know you guys all want me to do. You can't want to be responsible for a 16 year old kid. I mean, think about what that means! No more parties. No more doing what we want when we want. No races on school nights. No more takin girls home when ever we want to. We'll have a kid to think of."
"She ain't exactly a toddler here Leon. She's old as Mia was when Dom started racing. It's not like your girlfriends ever get invited to spend the whole night and with her room upstairs she's not likely to know what goes on down in the basement anyway."
"Damn Vince, you can't think having a teenage kid in high school livin with us isn't gonna change how we live."
"I'm sure it might, but it won't be as bad as you're makin it out to be. She won't need a babysitter to be left home alone ya know? I bet she's actually been takin care of herself for so long anyway that she won't appreciate us takin too active of a role in her life to begin with."
"I'm just sayin that I never signed on to be raisin' my teenage kid sister."
"She never signed on to have you run off on her years ago or to have her father beat her up either. Not to mention I doubt she ever planned on being a drug addict at 16 either. She's got a chance to have a normal childhood for what's left of it."
"Yeah, with us being the parents to her child." Leon continued to pout.
"Hey man, she's your sister. If you'd rather know she's out there coked outta her damn mind bein a prostitute for her paper then it's up to you I guess. I won't stand in your damn way. Send her packen when Letty brings her back. Be my guest." Vince, finally fed up with his friend's attitude snarled his retort and stalked away while Dom watched. Dom hadn't had much to say up until then.
"If this is over her stayin with us and you bein worried about me not likin it, you can stop worrying. I don't mind. Might be nice to have a kid around the place. Letty and Mia certainly have taken to her at any rate."
"Ok dawg but I don't want to be actin like anyone's father."
"Leon, I know how you feel. I was there remember? Mia wasn't much older then Mira when dad was killed. I can tell you from experience, Mira isn't lookin for a father. She had one, and in her case it wasn't even a good experience. She's lookin for a brother and that's all you have to be. Don't try so hard and stop worrying about something stupid like how it'll affect parties. We partied with Mia home and we'll party with Mira there too. It's all about teachin her right from wrong and letting her make smart decisions, not about protecting her from every little thing."
"I guess Dawg." Leon didn't look sure.
"It'll be strange with her around all the time but when we get her in school it'll start a routine. Would you rather think of her like V said, selling her self for drugs on the street?"
"No!" Leon was quick to protest that idea.
"Well then, just make an effort to be her brother." Dom turned to walk away, to get back to wrok. A thought occurred to him then and he turned back to Leon. "Oh, and you gotta get a hold of your dad and either get him to sign her enrolment forms or get him to release custody of her to you. Otherwise we can't put her into classes."
"Man, I haven't spoken to my dad in 5 years. What if I tell him where she is and he comes to get her back?"
"Then we'll deal with him then. Just call Leon. I'm sure Mira remembers the number if you don't." Leon knew it was phrased as an order, not a request and he knew he'd have to act on it right away. He did know the number, he didn't think he'd ever forget it.
xox
"Girl, hold up." Letty chased Mira down in the parking lot and hauled her to a stop to talk. "He's bein a jerk, true 'nough, but forget him. He's just off his game with the ladies lately and it's put him in a bad mood."
"He doesn't give a fuck about me, he wishes I'd just go away."
"Listen, when Mia told him you hitched the whole way here alone he was rippen. He cares about you he just doesn't know how to express it right now. Plus he's scared now he's gotta grow his ass up and act like a big brother not some overgrown kid like him and Vince are always goin on like."
"I just want a brother. He doesn't have to be my dad. Look how well my first dad worked out."
"He'll realize that on his own but in the mean time you got me and my car at your disposal and since Dom said no problem we got some shoppin to do. Just forget Leon and think of me as crazy aunt Letty."
"You like to shop?" Mira asked. Letty dragged her over to her purple Silvia. She put Mira in and got in on her own side.
"Love it, but don't tell anyone."
"Me too." Mira smiled shyly.
"Good. Since we got away with no Mia we should have a good time."
"What's wrong with Mia?"
"All she wants to shop for is dresses and shoes. That's no fun." Letty squealed out of the parking lot. Mira watched her control the powerful car with interest.
"Wow, you think you can teach me to drive too?"
"You don't know how?"
"Nope. My dad wouldn't want to do anything that involved spending time with me and there was no one else to ask. Vince said he would but I just, I dunno. I think I'd rather learn with you."
"You need a car to learn on. I'll start to teach you in this but it's not really a beginners car. No offence but it's too powerful and touchy for someone just learning."
"I wouldn't want to wreck it, but I have no way to get a car. I can't even know how long it'll take me to work off what we buy today." Mira said, clearly worried about being in dept to Dom. Letty brushed it off, blowing a raspberry in the air.
"Don't worry. We'll find you something nice and fast but not too fast that we can modify for you as you get better with it."
"You think I could have something before I start school? I always hated being the kid on the bus while it seemed like everyone else had a car."
"Sure." Letty made up her mind that Mira would have something by the end of their shopping trip. She felt for the kid. She'd had a rough childhood too and she knew if she hadn't had Dom's father, and through him cars, in her life she'd likely of ended up like Mira herself was on the fast track to becoming. Another kid lost to drugs and the pursuit of money to get more drugs.
They pulled up to a thrift store. "It's always fun to buy army surplus and ripped jeans." Letty told Mira as they piled out of the Slivia. "Mia hates coming here." Mira had never been to a thrift store before. She thought they were only for poor people. Letty showed her how wrong she'd been. They found lots of funky cargo pants and some neat tee shirts. Mira found that Letty wasn't dressing her like a mirror image, it was just that Mira actually had really similar tastes.
"You think you could help me pick out my courses when I get to go to school?" Mira asked Letty, getting more and more familiar with the older girl.
"Sure. I'll help you out." Letty said as she handed over the shop credit card to the employee. Mira was floored by how far 60 dollars had gone in the second hand store. She knew she could actually be happy only owning as many clothes as she had managed to find in the second hand shop. They took the many bags and piled them into the trunk of Letty's car. "Now we can go to the mall."
"Oh, that's ok. You already got me enough." Mira assured Letty and looked at her feet.
"I know even tomboy girls need underwear Mira." Letty winked. "And you definitely need some new shoes. We got a few more stops to make." Mira knew she should continue to protest so her brother didn't find out how much Letty had spent on her but she couldn't. She was really looking forward to having some nice things of her own. Her father had gone out of his way to make sure she never had anything. Mira figured it was because she reminded him of his wife who'd run off, and he resented both Mira and her absent mother for leaving him to raise a girl after his only son had run off.
As soon as they reached the mall they got lunch in the food court. After that, they shopped for Mira's under things and socks. Finally, Letty forcefully dragged her young charge into a shoe store and sat her down. She went up to the clerk alone and Mira couldn't hear what they talked about but the clerk came back with a fair sized box a few minutes later. He crouched in front of Mira and opened the box.
Inside was a pair of lug soled combat boots just like Letty's but with blue flames not orange.
"You like? I noticed that blue seems to be your favourite so…" Letty smiled smugly at the stunned look on Mira's face.
"I love them, I really do, but I'll never work enough to pay back for something so expensive."
"You don't have to worry about it, this is my treat." Letty said, forcing Mira to try the boots on and Mira found they fit like they were made for her. She truly looked like slightly younger, paler version of Letty as similar as they were now dressed. Letty had her pick out a pair of running shoes too and then they were done.
"Thanks for taking me. I had a good time." Mira told Letty when they were back in the car headed back to the shop.
"Don't thank me yet. We still have one more stop."
"No, you don't need to do anything else for me."
"I'm not doing this for you, you'll pretty much be working to pay for this. But it'll be worth it I promise you." Letty said as they pulled up to a rather shady looking used car dealer. "No matter what we see you really don't like it, but just look like you don't like it. Leave the talking to me." She parked the Nissan and got out, motioning Mira to follow her. A sales man was not long coming out of the office to help them.
"So ladies looking to trade into something a little more your speed?" The man asked with a patronizing tone to Letty as he took in the highly tuned and detailed Silvia.
"No, I'm looking to buy my…" Letty's hesitation was almost unperceivable. "Sister her first car." Letty knew exactly what car she was after but she didn't see it. She was always looking at the seedier car dealerships, watching for good deals. She'd seen the car she was after today on this lot a few weeks ago and had wished she had a reason to buy it, knowing it was a good deal. Now she had that reason.
"Well, I have this great Toyota over here. Just came in, was driven by a sweet little old lady to go to church and to get her shopping once a week. It's got low milage and an automatic transmission. Perfect for her to learn on."
"I don't think so. I hate white cars." Letty said with her nose wrinkled as she started to stride toward the back of the lot. She was starting to worry the car she was after was gone. But she found it around the back, wholesale sign hanging from the rear view mirror. "I like this one." Letty pointed. She was pointing at a car that could be called purple or blue, depending on how the light was hitting it when you looked. It had four doors, a power moon roof and leather seats. The interior was black, and filthy. It had ugly factory rims with shot tires. However it had a tasteful factory spoiler and the power antenna worked.
"You don't want that one little lady. It needs a lot of work. I'm selling it as a mechanic's special."
"That's fine by me. Can you grab the keys?" Letty asked sweetly, batting her eyes sarcastically. She'd known she'd get this attitude out of the sales man but it still pissed her off. While he was gone she turned to Mira.
"Don't look happy but be honest. Do you like it?"
"The little blue one you pointed at?"
"Yeah."
"It's really nice. It looks sort of like a four door version of yours."
"It sort of is." Letty winked and then forced as scowl to her face as the sales man came back. Mira aped her new 'sister's look.
"Here you go, but I promise you I got a lotta nicer cars on the lot then that one. Plus you don't want her learning on a stick."
"I don't want her learning that driving is sitting behind a wheel and pointing the car where you want it to go as a matter of fact, is what I don't want her to learn. I want her to learn that driving is about taking control of every aspect of the car and being on top of it all at once. So I do want her learning stick. She'll have lots of years to drive automatics when she's the little old lady driving to church on Sunday and the store on old age pension day." Letty snatched the keys and unlocked the car. She popped the hood and started checking things over. She was careful to tsk at various times like she didn't like what she was seeing. The engine compartment was filthy, but that was pretty common on a car never used for showing. There were no obvious oil leaks or anything else out of the ordinary. Letty checked the oil and coolant condition and they seemed like they were generally well maintained. After she'd closed the hood and walked all around the car tsking at the tires, paint job (which was actually nearly flawless) and the fact the windshield was cracked she got down on her knees and looked all under the car too, checking the brakes as best she could with the tires on and the condition of the underbody.
"I don't know what you hope to see down there." The sales man said. Mira and Letty both turned identical scowls to the man.
"It needs work." Letty said, dusting off her hands.
"I told you that. Would you like to see that Toyota now?"
"No, I'd like to talk price on this. What you're asking is too much." Letty named a figure almost two thousand less then the price on the tag of the car.
"I can't go that low!" The sales man threw up his hands. "I'll lose my shirt."
"Ok, we'll look elsewhere."
"I told you this was a mechanic's special lady! That's a fair price if you can fix it yourself. You paying someone else to fix it isn't my problem" Letty knew the man was trying to con her into paying more because he assumed that as a girl she couldn't possibly know enough about cars and how they worked to know what was fair and what wasn't.
"I am a mechanic and even with what I can get the parts through Harry for this is still too much. Even if my wrench time is free." Letty named a new price, 1500 less then asking.
"It's been here so long I'm gonna have to take it but you're killin me here." The man moaned as he accepted her offer.
"Yeah yeah, if you paid more then that for this on trade you paid too much, don't mean I gotta too." Letty said as she again handed over her credit car to the man, who was slightly shocked to charge a car on a credit card, even if Letty had talked him down to a mere 2900 for the vehicle.
They got back into Letty's Silvia as soon as the payment was done and Letty had all the keys and papers for the car. It was going to be delivered to DT in an hour or so. Since it was only 3pm Letty was glad she'd have time to help Mira get started on it. "How's it feel to own your first car?"
"I'm still shocked. You didn't have to do that." Mira said and almost started to cry she was so overwhelmed by all that Letty, a virtual stranger, had done for her that day.
"Hey, I've wanted that car for like a month now but never had an excuse to buy it. I happen to have done the research and that car was owned by one person since it was new and then he was killed a few months ago. His loser brother sold the car there for a few bucks a few months after he got it from his mom. The car's a wreck inside because the brother abused it but he only had it for a month so with a bit of work you'll have a next to new car that never saw a day of hard driving 'til you got it."
"What kind of car is it exactly?" Mira asked, loving Letty's confidence.
"It's a 97 Nissan Altima GLE. It's got lotsa power for while you learn and it's easy to modify when you get ready for more power."
"It was awful pretty." Mira thought of the deep blue with purple tones the car had been painted. It was like her favourite shade of nail polish that she'd had at home.
"I somehow knew you'd like that color." Letty laughed. They pulled into DT's parking lot and stopped with a squeal. They walked in the shop together and Dom walked up to them.
"You get everything?"
"And then some." Letty gave Dom an enigmatic smile.
"What's that mean?" Dom groaned, knowing that in his life he either loved or hated his girlfriend's surprises. There was no in between.
"You'll see in about half an hour." Letty wouldn't elaborate, only smile in that secret way that Dom hated but that secretly drove him crazy.
"Letty…" Dom growled, hoping to intimidate her.
"I'll never tell." She singsonged as she went back to her bay and started to tidy up, figuring they'd put Mira's car back in her bay until it was road worthy and the girl could start to learn to drive it.
Both girls noticed Leon sulking around the car he was working on. He was still pissed off and upset by the lectures he'd been delivered by Vince and Dominic. He was still sulking under the hood when Mira's car arrived. Letty had the tow truck driver put it in her bay.
"What'd ya got there?" Dom asked as he walked over.
"I got Mira's car. Can't have a 16 year old takin the bus to school in this family now can we?" Letty asked, daring Dom to contradict her. He didn't, just started to walk around the car.
"It's rough." He grumbled. "What year?"
"97." Letty answered, waiting for him to get to the price tag. Even rough she knew she got a good deal and Dom was gonna know it too.
"How much?"
"2900." Letty's carefully expressionless face was lost as she broke into a grin.
"Really?" Dom asked, looking up.
"Yeah."
"You did good." Letty's smile got even bigger, if that was possible. Coming from Dom that was high praise indeed.
"And starting right now she's gonna help me get it ready for the road."
"I am?" Mira squeaked.
"You are." Letty confirmed. "Let's get started. We need one of those oil filters on the back shelf there and a jug of that Mobil one 5w30 synthetic engine oil."
"Can't run synthetic in a car this old Lett." Dom said gruffly.
"Can if it only has 40,000 miles on it." Letty smirked playfully.
"You did real good." Dom said as he walked away.
Letty and Mira started to work on her new car, all the while Leon watched them and scowled. A car meant his sister wasn't going anywhere. She was officially part of the team.
Great! He growled to himself and stalked out of the garage.