This is a round-robin type collaboration between myself and two of my best friends. We're big fans of the movie and wanted to write a fiction regarding it. We're fairly new to the site and this is our first story. We're not American, so please don't complain about spelling or geography. We hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoy writing it. Please drop us a review and let us know your thoughts on the first chapter.
xox Danielle
TAKING THE PLUNGE
Chapter One by Danielle
"Hey, Vincent, you ready to get your ass up out of bed?" Sara - Vince's young and voluptuous nurse - questioned as she wandered into his hospital room pushing a wheelchair.
"God yes!" Vince exclaimed from where he sat fully clothed on his bed, making Letty and the nurse laugh. "This place gives me the shits."
"Well, now you can go home and get a whole new type of shits," Sara retorted.
"You're probably right," Vince laughed, earning himself a playful scowl from Letty. The nurse then patted the wheelchair seat, which made Vince groan. Letty and the nurse simply laughed as Vince slowly dragged himself off the bed, a hand supporting his side where the gunshot left him still feeling a little tender. Collapsing down in the chair, he looked behind him up at Sara. "Tell me Sare, why is it hospitals insist on discharging people in wheelchairs?"
"Because if we don't dump you right outside the door ourselves, you could sue us if something happened," Sara replied as she began to wheel Vince out of his room, Letty following behind with Vince's bag in hand. "And we barely have enough money as it is; damn government don't give us enough funding."
"Okay, fair enough," Vince answered. Once downstairs, Letty guided Sara over to where her car sat parked near the main entrance.
"You're taking scruffy here home in that?" Sara squealed, staring at Letty's car like it was poison.
"Yeah, so what?" Letty snapped.
"Nothing," Sara sighed. "You just make sure you look after Vincent."
"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Letty said before she unlocked her car and climbed in, throwing Vince's bag in the back.
"I don't think she likes me very much," Sara announced as Vince stood up.
"Ah, don't worry 'bout her, she's always like that," Vince replied.
"Well, you take care of yourself now, Vincent."
"Will do."
Sara then turned and wandered off with the wheelchair, leaving Vince staring after her.
"Get in the car, V," Letty stated.
Vince climbed in slowly. "You weren't very nice to Sare, Letty," Vince teased.
"She's all boob anyway. Her brains are probably in her ass."
"Let, she's the one who's been taken care of me. If you think about it, without her, you might not have me."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"You'll keep," Vince growled as Letty laughed and pulled out of her parking space.
"How's it feel to be going home?" Letty asked, playfully punching Vince's shoulder.
"Weird," Vince answered, toying with the bandage that was still around his right arm.
"Weird how?"
"Things aren't the same anymore Let. There's no Dom, no Jesse, no team."
"Ya still got us."
"Yeah, but it's not the same."
Letty glanced at the sadness in Vince's eyes and sighed. "I know exactly what you mean."
The pair drove in silence for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts. The easygoing relationship they once had seemed strained. It was like they were strangers. They were forever finding themselves unable to think of things to say, and they all seemed to find themselves spending a lot more time on their own. Their self-made family had vanished into thin air.
"So, ah, how are you?" Vince inquired; restarting the conversation with the closest thing to a best friend he had left.
"I'm good," Letty replied. "I had a check up the other day; doc says my ribs are well healed."
"I'm not talking 'bout your broken bones, Let. I'm talkin' 'bout up here." Vince pointed to his head.
"Oh, okay. Mia, she gets a little teary over Brian and Dom every now and then, and I get a little crazy about Dom, but we're keeping it together."
"What about Leon? He didn't come to see me even once in hospital."
"He – he's changed, V," Letty began seriously, hurt present in her voice. "You wouldn't even recognise the guy anymore. He spends most of his time locked away in his room, and will barely even talk to us. We've gotta knock on his bedroom door and hear him tell us to get lost just to be assured he's still alive. He's – he's just so bitter about everything, V."
"It's been over a month since the shit hit the fan," Vince pointed out.
"I know, and Leon's only gotten worse. Just the other day, Mia went to start cleaning out Jesse's room and Le went completely off his brain at her. So a word of warning would be to stay out of Jesse's room."
"Where's Jesse's Jetta."
"Leon locked it in the shed. I wouldn't go in there either."
"What about Dom's Charger."
"Found it at the wreckers last week. Mia just told me to leave it there. She's a little angry about the whole car situation. I think she'd be happy if we never went to a race again."
"Why would she think like that?"
"Cars were what got us into trouble, V."
They remained quiet the rest of the trip home, Vince turning up the radio to try and drown out his thoughts. Things shouldn't have been the way they were. Vince shouldn't have been in hospital, Jesse shouldn't be dead and Dom shouldn't have had to run away, and yet, that's how things were. They all needed to finally face up to that.
As Letty drove into the driveway, Vince felt an eerie sort of feeling slither up his spine. There was something oddly different about the house. It was still the same old Toretto house that had been sitting there for years, only now it looked ghostly. There was no love and happiness oozing from the edges – both things necessary to create a home. The house was just that now: a house.
Mia had tried her best to keep the front yard tidy, but the now sepia coloured grass was beginning to appear overgrown and what flowers they once had were now dead. Mia and Vince's cars sat unused in the driveway, while Leon's Skyline looked dirty, something that never happened. Leon had always prided himself on have a respectable looking car. Calling going home weird was an understatement.
"You coming V?" Letty questioned, snapping Vince out of his daze. The radio had long been turned off and Letty now stood on his side of the car with his door open, his bag in her hands.
"Ah – yeah," Vince said as he unclipped his seatbelt and climbed out, starting up to the house as Letty closed his door and locked up her car. Lingering at the front door for a long moment, unsure of what he'd witness inside, he finally threw the door open and marched in just to find Mia in tears.
"Leon, come on," she was pleading through her sobs as she pounded on Leon's bedroom door. "Come out and get something to eat. You're going to waste away if you just stay in there."
"I told you Mia, I'm not hungry!" Leon bellowed in reply. "I just want you to leave me the fuck alone!"
Letty wandered in behind Vince and dropped his bag to the floor, listening as Mia began slamming kitchen cupboard doors on purpose while she continued to cry.
"Damn, I didn't know Leon had a grumpy side," Vince stated. "Talk about moody."
"That's what he's been like since Jesse's cremation," Letty explained. "All he does is yell at us and demand us to leave him alone. If he's not locked in his room, he's out at all times of the night driving like a reckless fool in his Skyline. He's going to kill himself one day."
"He sure upset Mia."
"He does that a lot." Letty then stalked off for the kitchen. Vince followed behind slowly and found Mia sobbing on Letty's shoulders. Letty whispered something in Mia's ear and the Italian woman's head snapped up, her eyes falling on Vince. She rushed forward, throwing herself at Vince. Had she done something like that a few months earlier, he would have thought she was feeling for him what he was sure he felt for her. Now, all he wanted to do was protect her.
With her arms clasped tightly around his neck and her face buried in his neck, Vince wrapped his own arms around her unusually cold body and stroked her hair. After a few minutes, Mia's sobs stopped and she pulled away, brushing tears from her eyes. Letty handed Mia a tissue, which Mia took greedily.
"You doing okay now Mi?" Letty asked softly as she put an arm around her best friends shoulders.
"I don't know what to do about Leon any more," Mia sighed, looking up at Vince desperately. "Maybe you can talk to him."
"By the sound of things," Vince began. "Leon's not going to listen to anyone. I think all he needs is time."
"He's going to be okay though, isn't he?" Mia questioned.
"Eventually," Vince assured. "Now, how about you go upstairs and freshen yourself up while Let and I order some Chinese for lunch. You deserve a break from cooking."
Mia smiled as she wandered weakly out of the kitchen; Vince pulling a Chinese menu out of one of the drawers. Sitting up on the kitchen bench, he began analysing a selection he knew by heart just to stop himself from thinking about how upset Mia was.
"V, we gotta do something," Letty announced.
"Like what?" Vince retorted, looking up from the menu.
"I don't know, get out of his house maybe. I mean, being here is just driving Leon further into his depression and there's only so many memories in this house that even I can take. We need to get away and find ourselves again."
"Where would we go and with what?"
"Well we have all that money so we may as well use it. Where to, I don't know, Mexico perhaps."
"Why Mexico?"
Letty sighed. "When we picked up the Civics before that last heist, Dom said we were going to take a holiday…"
"I remember that."
"Well, he told me to imagine us being on a beach in Mexico, so we should just do that anyway. We deserve that holiday. Who knows, Dom could have gone there. Maybe we'll find him."
"If after numerous attempts at calling his cell hasn't worked, I'm sure us going to Mexico won't make him appear."
"Well, then, lets do it for us," Letty declared, an excited sort of smile on her face. "Do it for Jesse. He wouldn't want us moping around here. Imagine it, us on a deserted beach in Mexico."
"Sounds good," Vince laughed.
"Then lets go. Dom can't be having all the fun."
"But how are we going to get Leon out of the house?"
"I have no idea," Letty said as a smile crept across her face. "But I have faith in you figuring something out."
Later that day, Vince, Mia and Letty sat in silence around the television eating out of white cardboard Chinese containers. Letty and Vince had put the idea to Mia, who had agreed getting away from Los Angeles was a good idea. She too, however, had the same concerns Vince had about getting Leon out of the house, but had unanimously sided with Letty, claiming Vince would be able to think something.
Vince had no idea what was on TV – for all he knew it could have been some girly b-grade soap opera – and was finding the noise made it hard for him to concentrate on coming up with a plan. He figured women were the last thing on Leon's mind, so using them as a reason wouldn't work. It was also apparent that cars wouldn't do the trick either. He seemed to only use his Skyline as a kamikaze escape. He didn't think visiting Jesse's dad in jail would even be enough of an incentive for Leon to leave.
Vince had pretty much agreed with himself that the only way they were going to get Leon out of the house was to drug him, bind and gag him, shove him into one of their cars and just drive. They'd have to deal with his unpredictable nature once in Mexico, but the fact that he was out of the house was all that really mattered. From there healing was as simple as ABC.
"How's the moo-shoo?" Leon asked monotonously from where he stood to the lounge room's entrance. Mia, Letty and Vince all snapped their attention towards him, noticing almost immediately just how pale and thin he looked. His eyes were downcast, a dull sort of glaze over them and he seemed to shuffle places rather than actually pick his feet up. The small amount of scruffy facial hair he normally sported hadn't been shaved in so long it was beginning to look like an overgrown mass attached to his face. It was like he couldn't be bothered to do anything.
"It's good," Mia answered, a smile on her face in a desperate plea to allow her to help him. "Would you like some? There's some more in the fridge."
"No," he answered quickly. "I just came to remind you that you have to be up early in the morning."
"Up early for what?" Vince inquired.
"For the spreading of Jesse's ashes," Leon replied in a tone that implied he thought Vince was rather dense.
"Oh."
As Leon turned to leave, Vince decided in a matter of micro seconds that he was just going to ask Leon outright whether he wanted to take a trip to Mexico or not. Once he had an idea of where Leon stood, then he could decide what course of action needed to be taken.
"Hey Leon," Vince stated, attracting Leon's attention. "What do you think of the idea of us all taking a trip to Mexico?"
Leon looked at Vince blankly. "What for?"
"I don't know, to get away from here for awhile to put some things into perspective." Vince couldn't believe the bullshit that was coming out of his mouth, but Leon seemed to listening, so he decided he could handle the bullshit if it meant he was getting somewhere. "I mean, imagine us four in a budget hotel near a deserted beach. Could be fun."
"When are you going?" Leon asked.
"Not sure," Vince replied.
"But Let and I were going to do some ringing around after lunch," Mia pointed out. "I s'pose the earliest we could leave is tomorrow."
"Whatever," Leon muttered as he turned to leave again.
"Whatever what?" Letty retorted.
"Just whatever," Leon mumbled. "I'll pack a bag and when you make up your mind, then, whatever." He then shuffled back down to the basement, closing his door quite a bit more respectably than how he had been. The three of them sat staring where Leon had once stood feeling stunned. It had been way too easy to convince Leon to take a trip to Mexico. They weren't sure if he was for real or if there was a catch. Either way, they were sure that the real Leon was finally on the comeback.
"Well," Vince began, sounding overly proud of himself. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be." He then turned and looked at the girls, who simply beamed. Things were looking up.
Leon had made the effort to shave, so all he was left with was his normal five o'clock shadow. His hair was washed and brushed under one of Jesse's beanies he had pulled down almost over his eyes and on his feet were a new pair of sneakers he'd bought impulsively while out of one of his kamikaze drives. To try and add a touch of class, he had found a black dress jacket in the back of his closet that he'd pulled on over his jeans and singlets.
Vince wore something similar, while Mia had put on a black dress with a pair of casual sandals, and Letty had donned a black pair of pants and a red blouse, the only thing she owned that resembled feminine semi-formal wear.
They all stood on a deserted selection of beach just after sunrise. Leon stood near the waters edge, his hands clasped tightly around an elaborately decorated urn. Vince, Letty and Mia lingered behind him, the girls snuggled up close to either side of Vince, his arms round their waists in a protective manner. There was a strong early morning breeze that whipped Letty and Mia's loose hair about, the girls finding it hard to keep their hair tucked behind their ears. All of them had solemn expressions on their faces and pools of unshed tears resting in their eyes.
"Jesse was more than just a best friend to me," Leon announced over the waves crashing upon the sand. "He was my brother. He helped me out after I ran away from home and brought something into my life I'd never had before." He then lowered his eyes as he brushed away the tears that threatened to fall. Without turning, he then addressed the team. "You guys wanna say something?"
Mia, Letty and Vince all exchanged glances.
"He was one smart kid," Vince began, letting out a small laugh. "He always put me to complete shame. There were things he just knew that I wouldn't have believed existed if it weren't for him. He definitely was the mad scientist." Everyone shared a laugh and big smiles remained on their faces at the thought of their much-treasured friend.
"He had this innocence and positivity about him that made me look at things differently," Mia continued.
"And he always knew how to put a smile on my face or make me laugh," Letty added. "I'm going to miss the way his hyperactive presence just shined."
"He certainly had an incredible way with cars," Vince said. "Had he treated women the way he treated cars, he would have found himself a nice little chica to settle down with for sure."
"Imagine Jesse as a dad," Letty laughed. "He would have been amazing. Would have taught them about cars even before their first birthday and would have had them praying about car parts at the dinner table." Everyone laughed again.
"I just love him," Mia announced, everyone silently agreeing with a nod of his or her head. Leon then pulled the top off the urn and stepped right up to the waters edge, not caring that the water seeped into his new shoes or dampened the bottom of his jeans. Taking in a deep breath, he then tipped the urn upside down, Jesse's ashes falling out. Some fell and spread across the top of the water, while the breeze caught some of them and whipped them about the beach.
With his face contorted in anguish at the onslaught of the tears he'd tried so hard to contain, Leon put the top back on the urn and pulled his arm back. He then hurled the urn out into the ocean, the urn landing meters out to sea with a splash. Letting out a sob as tears streamed down his face, he took tentative steps backwards, stumbling slightly.
"Dom should be here," Letty muttered angrily under her breath. Leon furiously brushed away his tears and turned.
"Well, Dom isn't here," Leon declared, his voice growing louder. "And if he was, he doesn't deserve to be here! He did absolutely nothing to protect Jesse and now look at us. Jesse's dead and we're here picking up the pieces of his stupid mistake while he's off having the time of his life probably street racing and fucking every bitch he can get his hands on!"
Leon then stalked off up the beach, storming past them with tears still running down his face.
"Leon!" Mia called out after him desperately. She wanted nothing more than to put her arms around Leon and give the boy a hug bigger than any he'd ever had before.
"Are we going to Mexico or what?" Leon snapped as he continued walking briskly up the beach.
"Don't worry, he'll get better with time," Vince assured the girls, leaving kisses on their foreheads before they wandered up to the car park, Vince with his arms still around their girls' waists. He let them go up where Leon's Skyline and Letty's 240SX sat and headed over to the passenger door of Leon's car, Leon perched inside with the radio blaring loudly.
"V?" Letty caught Vince's attention. Vince turned and glanced at Letty.
"Yeah?"
"You mind if I ride with Le?"
"Not at all."
The original plan had been that the boys would ride in Leon's car and the girls in Letty's. But Letty had felt a sudden need to ride with Leon, if only for part the way, just to try and get him to talk. And as much as she loved Mia, Letty didn't think she could handle much more of her best friends tears. She needed Vince to try and convince her that everything would be okay.
Grabbing the things she needed to cross the border into Mexico, she met Vince halfway and handed him her keys. Normally she trusted noone else with her car, but for now, she trusted Vince enough to hand her keys over. Vince then gave her a quick hug before he and Mia climbed into the 240SX.
Letting out a deep breath, Letty marched over to Leon's Skyline and climbed in, slamming the door shut and turning down the music.
"You don't mind me riding with you?" she asked Leon, who sat with his wrists draped over the steering wheel.
"Whatever," Leon grunted as he turned his engine on and followed Vince out onto the main road.
Letty felt someone poking her arm and snapped her eyes open. Leon was nowhere in sight and Vince and Mia were standing outside Leon's car, Vince tapping her awake through the open passenger window. Her surroundings were in complete darkness except for the odd flicker of a street lamp. Across the road from where they were parked outside a Budget Hotel, Letty could make out foamy waves coming in onto the sand. Despite it being very much like what they'd left behind in LA, there was a new air about. It was without the hustle and bustles of busy outer LA and had a very traditional Mexican twist.
"Where's Leon?" Letty asked as she climbed out of the car. Around her everything was still, and the peacefulness of a small town was inviting. To the left of the Budget Hotel was a caravan park where a dog was barking, and slightly up on the hill where the main part of town was situated there was a building that displayed coloured flashing lights, Letty just making out the words on the neon sign. Black Magic. She guessed it was probably just a nightclub.
"Dunno," Vince replied. "He wandered off down the street saying he was hungry. Guess he's gone to look for something to eat."
"This place is pretty dead," Letty pointed out.
"I know, but the guy I was talking to back in TJ said this place really comes alive during the day," Vince said. "You know, busy little Mexican market town. He said this place is great for tourists who are soul searching."
Mia began to giggle and Letty simply raised her eyebrows at Vince's choice of words. "Soul searching?" she repeated in amusement. "That's bullshit."
"The guys words, not mine," Vince defended, raising his hands in a defensive manner.
"We'd better go check in," Mia stated.
"Okay, well, I'll wait here with the cars for Leon," Letty said.
"Okay." Mia and Vince then headed off to the hotel's entrance.
Letty wound up the passenger window then leaned up against Leon's Skyline rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The entire trip to the border she had spoken non-stop over Leon's music trying to get him to open up to her. But he simply remained his moody self, grunting the odd answer when it was completely necessary. Once they'd crossed the border and had stopped in Tijuana for a break, Letty had pretty much given up. When they were back on the main road, she had fallen asleep to pass time, and while asleep, they'd diverted off the main road and had ended up in this small seaside town a few hours outside of Tijuana.
Letty secretly hoped that they'd end up somewhere fast paced and exciting, like Guadalajara or Mexico City, but for now, the pokey little Mexican town would do. Perhaps getting away from everything was what they needed more than a cultural escape to a big city just to push the pain aside.
Trying to transfer her thoughts to something more pleasant, like going commando on the markets just to forget for a moment she was a tomboy who had a bitch reputation to uphold, Vince and Mia reappeared.
"We got conjoined double rooms," Vince explained. "Singles beds, large bathrooms, kitchenettes and ocean views. Plus there are laundries downstairs and an all you can eat restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner."
"Then you'll be right, Coyote," Letty laughed. "How long did you book us in for?"
"Two weeks at the moment," Mia answered. "But the owners said if we want to extend our stay all we have to do is let them know. They don't have the demand for rooms, so they try to keep as many people in them as they can to get as much money as they can."
"Cool," Letty said as she motioned for Vince to hand her back her keys. "Well, lets go on up, cos I don't know about you, but I'm in dire need of a hot shower." Vince and Mia agreed as Letty and Mia went to collect their luggage as Vince collected his and Leon's. As they were about to head into the hotel up to the rooms, Leon reappeared, locking up his car without receiving a word from anyone. He then snatched his bag off Vince and followed them inside.
In the elevator, Vince gave Mia a key to the room they had decided the girls would share and kept the other for he and Leon. Standing outside the door Mia and Vince hesitated slightly before they both opened their door. Stepping in, a fresh sort of smell fell over them. The rooms were quite large and a huge window filled the entire back wall, the pulled back curtains exposing the perfect ocean view. Despite being a Budget Hotel, the rooms were equipped with everything a person could need and were anything but budget.
Patterned quilts adorned the beds, fluffy white towels sitting proudly at the end. Mia went through the kitchenette, finding it fitted out with more than the necessary equipment, and Letty was overjoyed at the prospect of soaking in the spa bath, although she kept her excitement to herself.
Opening the door that joined their room to the boys' room, Letty laughed at the sight of Vince already sprawled out on the bed watching television completely at home amongst his new surroundings. Leon sat outside on the balcony with a beer and Mia stopped examining the room to join Vince on the bed, fighting him for the TV remote.
"Ah, home sweet home," Letty laughed to herself as she pinned back the curtains in her room and opened the window, letting a light Mexican breeze into the room. Scrounging through her bag for her pyjamas and toiletries, she gathered them up as well as the towel on that sat on the bed she'd chosen and glanced back one more time at Vince, Mia and Leon before disappearing into the bathroom with a strange sort of feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It was just a feeling, but somewhere deep inside she just knew that things would eventually turn out okay.
