Leon stared at the piece of paper on the coffee table. It had been three days since Dom's explosion in the kitchen and everyone was walking on eggshells. The last thing Dom needed to know was that Leon was about to call Niema and Pris.
It was Mia's idea, actually. She figured that if Leon called, neither woman would hang up on him. Jesse agreed with her and so did Vince. So here he sat, staring at Niema's phone number. "Ahh, fuck it," he muttered, picking up the phone and dialing the number. It rang two times and he heard Pris's drawling voice answer. "Your quarter; use it or lose it." "Pris, it's Leon. Please don't hang up," he said quickly, looking up as Mia and Vince came into the room. He shivered when he heard her laugh on the other end. "Why would I hang up on you, Leon? I like you," she teased. "What are you and Ni doing tonight?" he asked, his palms starting to sweat. "Ni's got a kickboxing class at 6 and I'm hanging out here. Why?" Leon took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you two wanted to come over for awhile." There was silence on the other end. "Chrome Dome gonna be there?" Pris finally asked rather nonchalantly. Leon chuckled. "No, he won't. Will you come?" Her laughter filtered through the phone once more. "Will you make me?" she replied, her voice low and husky. "Damn, Pris," he groaned softly, leaning back on the couch. Across from him, Mia and Vince were both giving him odd looks.
"Ni's class is over at 8 so how about we come over after she gets done?" Leon smiled. "That'll be great. You sure that Ni won't mind?" "She won't mind. She'll be too tired to mind," Pris laughed through the phone. "Okay. We'll see you around 8:30 then." "Cool. See you then, darlin'."
When Leon put the phone down, Mia was still staring at him oddly. Vince was grinning. "What was that about?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. Leon shook his head. "It's nothing," he replied, getting to his feet. "Where are you going?" Vince asked with a smirk. "I'm taking a shower. I stink. You know, kind of like you do," Leon retorted, heading for the stairs. Vince stared at Leon's retreating back and then looked at Mia. "Do I stink?" Trying not to laugh, Mia shook her head. "Not too much." Vince groaned and ran up the stairs past Leon. "I get the shower first!" he yelled. Leon ran after him. "Not if I get in there before you, asshole."
Mia couldn't hold the laughter in anymore. Those two were so predictable.
Pris laid the phone on its base and smiled. That was the first thing Niema noticed. "What did you do? Make a date with an obscene phone caller?" she teased. Pris shook her head. "We're going over to Toretto's after your class," she replied, trying to predict Ni's reaction. "Cool. I've been wondering how Jesse's hood is working," was all she said. Pris raised an eyebrow. This wasn't the reaction that she had expected. "You're okay with going over there? No doubts or anything like that?" Ni shook her head. "I don't have a problem with any of them, Pris. Mia's nice and so are Jesse, Leon and Vince. Dom's the one who seems to have a problem with me so he'll either talk to me about it or he'll ignore me." Pris nodded. "But you're still going to pretend that your kickbag is his head, right?" Laughing, Ni replied, "Most likely."
Leon bounced down the stairs fifteen minutes later, dressed in clean clothes and smelling strongly of cologne. Jesse looked at him. "Let me guess: Pris said yes," he commented and then sniffed. "Damn, bro! How much of that shit did you put on?" Leon laughed. "Not as much as V. He smells pretty. And he's trimming his fuzz," he informed Jesse with a grin. Jesse laughed. "Now that's weird." Mia came out of the kitchen and smiled. "You look nice, Leon," she said though she wasn't sure about the cologne. "Thanks, Mia. Let's hope Pris thinks so," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Don't worry, Leon. If she likes you already, it won't be a problem."
Everyone in the room stopped and stared when Vince came downstairs. Jesse whistled. Not only had V trimmed his beard and mustache, he'd also pressed out a clean shirt. "Dude, I didn't think you even knew what an iron was," Jesse teased laughingly. Vince snorted and glared at him. "Nothing wrong with putting on clean clothes, is there?" Jesse shook his head. "Not a thing, man. Not a single thing." "Well, I think you both look very nice," Mia complimented, smiling at both of them.
Leon and Vince smiled at each other. They just hoped that she wouldn't see what they'd done to the laundry room to look like this.
Corelli's Gym
"Awesome, Niema. Good roundhouse kick," Franco told her as her right foot viciously connected with the standing kickbag in front of her. She smiled and did it again. Of all of the things that could relax her, this was one of them. Kickboxing helped her get rid of stress and aggression. And lately, she'd really needed to get rid of some aggression, thanks to Mr. Dominic Toretto.
Ten minutes later, Franco signaled the end of the class. "Everybody have a safe night and I'll see you on Friday," he called out over the noise of people heading for the locker rooms. Catching up to Niema, he pulled her aside. "I heard about the race last Saturday. Good job," he congratulated with a wink. Niema stared at him. "How do you know about that?" she asked quietly, glancing around to see if anyone else had heard. He grinned. "My little brother races. He told me what happened. Nice work." Niema laughed softly. "Thanks." "See you on Friday. Be careful, okay?" he said before walking away. She nodded and headed to the locker room.
By the time she'd stripped off her sweaty clothes, she was the only one left in the room. She turned on the shower and stepped under the warm spray. As the water cascaded over her, she started to unwind. Her watch beeped and she looked at it. "Shit! Pris will be here in five minutes," she swore and grabbed her shampoo. Quickly washing her hair and rinsing it, she hurriedly washed the sweat off her body. She shut off the water, wrapped a towel around herself and hurried out of the shower. Her body was still damp when she started pulling on clean clothes.
"Yo, Ni! You ready?" she heard Pris call from the door. "Gimme a minute to run a brush through my hair," she called back, slipping her feet into her boots and grabbing her bag. She went to the long mirror on the wall and swiftly untangled her hair. It didn't take long for her to brush it back and put it in a ponytail. "You know, your hair looks better down," Pris commented, smiling at her best friend as she came towards her. Ni snorted. "No, it doesn't. Let's go," she told Pris. Pris shrugged and followed her out into the gym. Ni waved at Franco and his wife Carlotta as she and Pris went out the front doors. Pris had actually been able to find a parking space in front of the gym. That was a minor miracle in itself.
After Pris had pulled out into traffic, Ni turned sideways in the seat. "Does my hair really look better down?" she asked seriously. "Yes, it does. I wish mine was long enough to wear like you do yours," Pris replied honestly. She couldn't help but laugh as Ni pulled the scrunchie out of her hair and ran her fingers through it. "Better?" Ni finally asked. Pris nodded. "Perfect." With a smile, Ni sat back in the seat and relaxed.
When they pulled up in front of the Toretto house, they saw Leon chasing Jesse with what looked like a hose. "You're gonna pay for that, little man," Leon was shouting though he stopped when he saw the car. Pris climbed out of the car and smiled. "Why don't you come chase me, Leon?" she called out. He grinned at her. "You're too fast for me," he laughed, walking over to the car. "How's it goin', Ni?" he asked, wrapping his long arms around her. Ni laughed. "It's going. Why were you chasing Jesse?" Leon actually blushed. "Just something he said," he answered, shaking his head slightly. "I told him that he smelled like a French whorehouse," Jesse called out from behind his car. Niema only laughed
As Niema came up to the porch, Mia and Vince stepped out of the house. Her eyes widened when she saw him. "Hi, Mia, Vince," she said almost breathlessly. "Hi. Come on in," Mia invited softly, holding open the door. As she walked past Vince, she took a breath and sighed inwardly. He was wearing Cool Water, her favorite cologne. "Are you two coming in or not?" Mia yelled with a smile. "We'll be in as soon as Pris says uncle," Leon yelled to them. Ni turned and grinned. "You've got a long wait, junior," she replied, going into the house.
"Do you want something to drink?" Mia asked, noticing the looks that passed between Niema and Vince. "Sure, what have you got?" she replied. "Tea, beer, soda, water." "Tea's good. Thanks," she replied as Mia headed to the kitchen.
She and Vince stood in the middle of the living room looking at each other. "You look good with your hair down," he said quietly. "It brings out your eyes." "You look good, too," she told him almost shyly. From his place on the couch, Jesse rolled his eyes. "Kiss her or something, would ya? I'm gonna be sick over here," Jesse groaned good-naturedly. He was hoping for some fireworks between the two of them.
"Shut up, Jesse," they said in unison and then started laughing. But the laughter stopped when they heard, "What the fuck are you doing here, Cross?"
