Chapter 11

Cassie let the music blast from her stereo as she sped her Skyline through the familiar streets of Echo Park. It had been forever and a day since she was last here and nothing had changed.

She pulled into each street with ease and slowed down as she approached the Toretto house. Mia's car was parked in the front and it seemed peaceful. Just as she remembered it. Rarely did the neighbours come outside, and most of them were used to the amount of noise that came from the one house, and all the cars, so none of them complained. At the beginning they all did, but soon they got used to it and even they were probably thinking it was too quiet and something was up.

As she pulled into the driveway she turned down her stereo, not wanting it to blast on when she turned the car on again, and then she shut off the engine. She got out of the car and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

She hiked up her pants by the belt loops and slipped her phone into her back pocket. She checked the other pocket to make sure all the other things she kept, like money and licence were still there.

Slowly she made her way up the driveway, making sure to press the lock button for her car alarm. She flipped the keys around her finger as she jogged up the porch steps and pressed the doorbell. She pushed her glasses to the top of her head and waited for Mia to answer.

She hadn't slept. She'd been thinking too much of how she'd soon be talking to Cassie, someone who'd left her life a long time ago. It wasn't even the fact that she hadn't been there that was pressing her, it was because she knew that she'd want to talk. Mia was sick of talking. Sick of everything. She just wanted peace.

As she listened to the ringing of the doorbell, nerves shot through her body. She'd been trying to do some work to keep her mind off of it, but had failed. She put down her pencil on top of the blank sheet of lined paper and headed for the door, running her fingers back through her hair as she did.

She grasped the door handle, hesitating in turning it. Though when she did, it was a question of why. All the feelings for Cassie she'd had for her being a big sister to her and whatnot flooded back to her upon setting eyes on her. She drew in a breath, and without admonition, sobbed it out.

Cassie held her hand up in a nervous little wave, "hi." She smiled a little, almost apologetically for having called Mia in the first place and putting even more stress on her.

She bit her lower lip and shifted her weight to one foot, "miss me?." She chuckled and shrugged shyly.

Mia smiled wide as she pulled her in for a hug. "Of course I did," she said holding back more sobs. "You look good," she said gently, embracing her friend as if she never would get the chance again.

Cassie embraced Mia happily. "You look like crap girl. You need more sleep, and less stress." She stated flatly and rubbed her hand up and down Mia's back to calm her a little.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds before they hesitantly pulled away. Cassie tapped Mia under the chin lightly and smiled, "you wanna go out for lunch?"

---

She put the glass down on the table and swallowed the contents in her mouth before speaking. "Tran got pissed off because Jesse drove away with his supposed winnings. He got really pent up and followed him all the way back to the house." She took a deep breath and sighed it out. "Just when we thought it would all be over. As if Vince wasn't enough to deal with. He could've died; the state he was in." She played a little with the food on her plate. "Dom's just like..." She thought about what she wanted to say a little. "..He's...it's as if he doesn't care. He just does what he wants to do, and no matter who gets hurt in the process he continues like it's a matter of life or death in HIS case. And look at Vince; injured, look at Jesse; he's dead. And Dom pissed off to Mexico as if he didn't give a shit about what would happen to them both."

Cassie stared at the plate in front of her and sighed. "I don't think it's because he doesn't care, Mi. Maybe he doesn't wanna show it that's he hurting or that he's done wrong. It could be he just... doesn't realise the full extent of his actions. He's like me in so many ways. Spontaneous. Doesn't think about the future. Only now." She paused and leaned forward with her elbows on the table, "he cares for you, and everybody... really he does. He just has a weird way of showing it. And in some ways he does it for attention. He wants everybody to tell him what he's doing is wrong or whatever - but because his stubborn side comes through then, he just doesn't stop and he's made out to be an asshole who doesn't care or whatever." She let out a chuckle and picked up her Coke, "plus, he just likes the adrenaline rush of being in a car and... doing all that shit." She took a sip and put the bottle back on the table. She cleared her throat and looked at Mia's reaction for a second. She obviously wasn't believing anything Cassie was saying, but she could understand why, "trust me Mia. He knows what he's done wrong. Now he knows that. It may be late, and it may have cost a life of somebody so close to us - but if that's what it took, then that's what it took. It's too late to take it back now - so why hold a grudge?" She leaned back in the chair and slumped slightly as she jabbed the fork into her food on the plate.

Mia shook her head a little. "I'm not holding a grudge. I'm holding his cash. The dirty money that got him into this. And it's just a matter of time before he asks for it." She raised her glass to her mouth and looked out across the street. Ever since the death of Tran and disappearance of her brother, things had been a lot cooler. Sometimes a little too quiet for her liking.

"I don't think that's all that important to him anymore. I mean, he'll always be Dom and want the money ... but somehow I don't think he'll ask for it. Not after all that happened to get it in the first place." Cassie let out another sigh and called over a waitress and ordered another drink for both her and Mia.

When they were set down on the table she continued, "I didn't come here to talk about Dom. I said that on the phone." She smirked, "I came to catch up. So what have you been doing with yourself? Still doing accounting at college?" She opened the bottle with a loud fizz and took a sip.

She nodded her head as she sipped off her drink. "In my last year." She put down the drink and twirled it a little. "How is everyone doing, is Vince okay?"

"Yeah. He's fine. Same old self. Leon -" she sighed and shook her head, "he's... um... coping. Letty and Dom were arguing, but they're together - but they're not. They're all screwed up." Cassie rocked the bottle against the table and watched it as she spoke, "they're staying with me and a friend of mine, Faith. She's being really hospitable about all this... surprisingly." She chuckled and looked up at Mia, "they really miss being at home. It's just not the same there than it is here in LA."

Mia nodded slightly. "I don't doubt that. It must be hard." She failed to say anything else as she thought about how it must be, everyone in Mexico, and her, here. She felt her eyes beginning to well up with tears, and passed a hand over her face to hold them back. "Em...Are they thinking of...coming back?" she said quietly, as if someone else in the restaurant would be listening to them.

"No doubt about it. They just have to wait until all this dies down. Nobody knows what Brian said to the cops, or if they know anything. From what I saw, they don't seem to be watching the house - but I could be wrong. Hell, all your neighbours could be in it and we would never know." Cassie shook her head and rolled her eyes slightly as she brought the bottle to her lips and swallowed another mouthful. "But as soon as it's safe, they'll be here faster than a hit of NOS." She smirked and leaned over on the chair to pull out some money from her back pocket. She pulled out some notes from the wad of cash in her hand and dropped it on the table and replaced the money back into her pocket. "I'm sure you're sick of me by now," she smirked and leaned forward on the table again. She glanced down at her watch and sighed, "I gotta go take care of some stuff now, but I'll be free for the rest of the day if you wanna do anything together."

Mia nodded slowly and sat back whilst Cassie made a move to go.

Cassie leaned forward, ready to stand when she thought of something and sat back down in the seat, "come back to Mexico with me. You don't have to stay - just come and see everybody. They're all worried about you, and I'm sure you are feeling the same about them. You don't even have to stay the night if you don't want to - just for a few hours."

Mia looked into Cassie's eyes for a moment, contemplating what she had said. "I'll get a bag packed, you do what you have to do and come back and get me after," she said resolute.

Cassie smiled and nodded. "Deal." Then they both stood and headed back out.