Chapter 30 - What if she's the one?
AN: Hey all. Not much to say, love to all my regulars and hello's to all the newbies. :) BridgetLyn, it is so cool you like Lucy Mod. I'm from PEI, and so was she. Cool no? Anne was set in and around Cavendish Prince Edward Island and I spent my summer getting drunk there. ;) Well, partying at least. Just found that cool. Hope you still enjoy my story as it unfolds. Just to lay any feelings of it to rest, Harry is not a perv. He's just looking out for his Kitten. Now on with the story.
He knew that Dom had said that Kat wasn't the girl for him. But the thing that was making Leon panic was the knowledge that she was the girl for him but he'd gone and screwed it up. Since he'd never, in all his time picking up women ever wanted one for more then one night, how could she not be special? She'd made him want to give up his player ways and stay only with her.
What if there really only was one person in the world for everyone and he'd finally found his in Kat after years of searching through random blonde chicks and then he'd lost her before he'd ever really had her? He didn't know what to do, and he didn't have anyone to turn to. Dom was just as happy that Kat was out of their lives, Jesse would not doubt share Brian's anger over what Leon had done, just based on how mean he'd been to Kat and how much Jesse liked her. Brian still acted like he wanted to start throwing punches if they were in the same room and Leon had seen the disappointed look on Mia's face. Vince might listen to him, might understand after what he'd gone through with his own Ex, but Vince and Kat hadn't really gotten along either, ever since the word's they'd exchanged in front of the Racer's Edge that first day.
Leon had no where to go and no one to turn to. He drove around aimlessly for awhile then went home and went to bed. Sleep was a long time coming and he had vivid nightmares all night about Kat. He couldn't stop worrying that he might have driven her to try to harm herself again by what he'd said. He'd never be able to live with himself again if he had. He felt so guilty; he didn't know how he was going to move on from this. And he didn't know if he wanted to. He couldn't get the thought that Kat could have been 'the one' out of his head and if he'd messed up his only chance to be with that one special person he'd be left with another stream of random blonde girls while he looked for her again.
Kat woke up in a strange room the next day and was disorientated for the first few minutes. Then it all came back to her and she had to haul her butt out of bed forcefully. She didn't want to get up. She figured she'd head down to the store for awhile for something to do. She had to stay busy or she'd spend the whole day watching chick flicks and eating junk with Nikki. She checked the clock and saw it was after 11am. Harry would be long gone to the store by now and she had no ride. Her skyline was safely stowed at the Racer's Edge. She got dressed in a pair of grey baggy cotton pants and a little pink tank top and headed downstairs. She headed to the kitchen. Harry'd left her a note on the kitchen table.
"Hey Kat,
It's about time you got up. Ha ha. I bet it's late." He'd drawn a smiley face, and he was right. It was late. She giggled. "Have something to eat, the fridge is full of food, there's gotta be something you like so eat. There's a pool out back. Make yourself at home, don't be shy. You can swim, or watch TV, or just hang out by the pool if you want. Oh, and if you wanna go somewhere, if you have any running around to do before we go, you can use this key and take my 'spare' car out of the garage. Just be good to her. See you for dinner around 7pm. Be good kitty cat.
Love,
Harry."
She smiled. Harry was the best thing that ever happened in her life, outside of her guys and maybe Brian. She wondered what kind of car he'd left her. She could use some new clothes to travel in, maybe a new bathing suit. She didn't know how well the stars and stripes would go over in Japan. She needed a passport. Plus she wanted to go say hi to him at the store. She'd never make it through a day here alone. But first she was having a swim cause the pool looked too good to say no to. She changed into her bikini and dived in. She swam laps for about half an hour and then got out. She washed her hair and got dressed in the same outfit and headed down to the mall. She was gonna buy some new clothes to go with her new outlook on life. More casual, adult stuff. Less barely there skirts and tank tops in her future she felt. She'd some how come past that.
She hit the mall and shopped. But all the clothes she liked were still the funky, kind of show off your body clothes she'd liked before, or the kind of clothes she liked to wear around the cars. She figured that a tiger trying to change its stripes didn't make sense and bought some new clothes in the same style she'd always liked. Some cargo pants and funky tank tops and baby tees and some mini skirts and fitted tops. She did buy one very sophisticated red dress she hoped to get to wear while she was away. She hit the bathing suit store. The clerk came right over to her.
"Can I help you?" The lady asked with a smile.
"I hope so. I need a new bathing suit." Kat answered. "I'm going to Japan for a business/personal trip and I want something a little more adult then my current selection of boy cut bottoms and stars and strips string bikini top." Kat laughed to show she was both serious, but not taking herself too seriously.
"Ok. Well, did you want to stay with a two piece or did you want to look at one piece suits?"
"What do you recommend?" Kat was going to trust the woman's judgment; after all, all she sold was swim suits.
"On you, with your figure and hair, a two piece for sure. You'll have every man at the beach at your feet." The woman smiled, Kat found her to be sincere. Kat blushed; she didn't believe the woman had just complemented her like that. She figured them to be about the same age.
"Thanks. I leave it up to you. You're the expert." Kat smiled.
"You're what, a 4?" The woman asked.
"Naw, a 6." Kat answered.
"If you wear your clothes baggy, maybe. What do you do to stay in shape?" The clerk asked, eyeing Kat's flat tummy. "Don't say nothing or I'll have to kill you." The clerk laughed to show she was joking.
"Well, I'm sorta a mechanic, which is pretty physical, and I'll tell you what else if you promise not to laugh."
"Of course not." The woman smiled encouragingly.
"I dance." Kat looked at her feet.
"What kind of dance do you do?"
"Um, well, dancing, like in clubs." The woman looked at Kat like she wasn't buying that. "Ballet. I also do ballet." She elaborated at the other girls look. Kat was very, very shy of talking about it. Girls like her did not do ballet. Girls like her did bootie shake.
"I love ballet. Where did you learn?"
"New York. I was 14 when I stopped taking lessons but I keep it up at home. I just like to dance you know? My mom was a prima ballerina for a company in New York and she always wanted me to dance too. She went to Juilliard. I was good for my age I guess. I went on pointe at 9. I guess that's early." Kat was still bright red. She didn't know what it was about this other girl that made her open up like this.
"Wow, at 9. I took ballet lessons for years and never got on pointe, you must have been good."
"I guess so." Kat was finding it hard to talk about it. She didn't think that anyone would respect her for it out here, and it made her think of her mom. She missed her mom and if her mom hadn't died none of the recent events in her life ever would have happened.
"Well, I would definitely go with a two piece suit on you. In." the woman cocked her head and studied Kat's complexion. "blue, or red. You could go either way. Or even purple. You want to try on some in each color?"
"Sure." Kat tried on so many bathing suits but she had a great time, listening to the other girl's opinion of each and carrying on with the other girl. She had a good time, not to mention enjoyed shopping for swim suits, something she'd never enjoyed before. She didn't like to show off so much of her body, she thought she was too thin and wasn't ever really happy with how she looked, but she felt the need to dress the way others around her did, and that was why she wore two piece suits. But she liked the girl in the store and believed her when she told Kat what looked good. In the end she couldn't pick between a quite brief purple suit and a more conservative red one so she bought both.
"Listen, it was really nice to meet you. I'm having the week from hell, but you somehow made swimsuit shopping fun for me, you're really nice." Kat felt she had to tell the woman how much her attention had meant to her.
"Well, I enjoyed meeting you Katherine," Kat had felt the need to let this person, who knew she did ballet, and appreciated her for it; call her by her full name. "I'd like to see you again sometime, as a friend."
"I'd like that. I'll be gone for awhile but I can leave you my number and get yours. I don't have a lot of female friends."
"You don't say! Well, I'm Rayelyn, but you can call me Ray, and I'd love to get together some time when you get back. I'll give you my number and you can call whenever you get back and have some free time." Ray couldn't believe such a nice girl, who was the total opposite of stuck up didn't have a lot of friends.
"That sounds super! Thanks again for all your help. Oh and you can call me Kat." Kat left the store on a high note. She really liked Ray and that was a first. She made a girl friend that wasn't a racer chick or a friend from school. She headed out to her loaner car. Harry's baby car, the car he left for her was a cherry, flame red Chevy Chevelle SS convertible. She couldn't believe he was letting her drive it. She put the top down when she got out to the car and headed to the Racer's Edge.
When she pulled up she saw Dom's car out front. She bared her gritted her teeth and hissed at Dom's car, complete with clawing motion in its direction. She almost just headed back to Harry's house. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone on Team Toretto. 'But I work here god damn it and no one has the right to scare me out of my workplace' she though, and she really wanted to talk to Harry. She breezed in like she hadn't a care in the world and saw Harry talking to Dom at the counter.
Harry saw her right away and his face broke out in a soft smile for the young lady he saw in front of him. She looked much better then she had yesterday. Happy, almost. She'd fool a lot of people, but not Harry. He could tell Leon was still on her mind.
"Kat! What are you doin' here? I thought you'd just hang out at home today." Harry was worried seeing Dominic would upset her.
"Well, I got bored. I went shopping. I can't believe you left that car for me to use Harry. A cherry, torch red '69 Chevelle convertible. How did you know I had a weakness for old Chevy's huh?" She asked with a smile as Harry pulled her in for a quick hug.
"I didn't. I knew you had a weakness for convertibles since a certain silver one still resides in your garage." Harry laughed at her.
"Well, I had to let Stacy have it once he got attached. The fact that they always let me drive when I'm around and I knew I'd get to keep driving it if we kept it had nothing to do with it. Plus, how often does a girl win a convertible?"
"Not often Kat. Wanna wait for me in the office and I'll be there soon?"
"Sure." She smiled a small, polite smile at Dom for Harry's sake and went into the office, threw herself in Harry's chair and started to play MP3's while she started to do his paperwork. Harry could tell from the way she grooved along and he was secretly glad because he hadn't wanted to do that inventory form.
"So Harry, anyway, I'm sorry that you had to have that happen at your place. I'm totally embarrassed that he acted like that." Dom had to save his ability to shop here. It was the best place for parts in all of California. Harry had deals with company's right in Japan that didn't deal with any other American company's.
"It's ok Dom. I'd like it if you kept Leon away from the store for awhile, even after we come back though. I want Kat to have lots of time to get over what happened."
"I understand Harry. I just hope those friends of hers don't beat him into a grease spot and make this whole discussion moot." Dom could turn on the charm and education when he wanted to.
"I don't think that'll happen Dom. We spoke about it and the most I think Leon has coming is a big scare. They might put the fear of god into him as it were, but I don't think they'll hurt him. But don't tell him that." Harry gave Dom his best killer smile. After all when Dom raced he did have the kids pouring in to buy what he had. But Harry thought Kat had the ability to do that herself once she got back and got back into racing. She needed some practice too, but she was among the best racers Harry'd ever seen.
"Ok, that makes me feel better. I really care about Leon, and I somehow knew that our teams would be trouble for each other." Dom wanted to keep this diplomatic since it was obvious that Harry cared for Kat. "But you know how it is when you fall for someone, you can't always help it."
"So true Dom. I hope this all works out in the end. Poor Kat hasn't had an easy life."
"I know that now. I hope it all works out in the end too. After all, with the party's both our houses are bound to have, I don't want to be hoping they're not calling the 5-0 after every party I have." Dom laughed.
"I see why. Well Dom, thanks for coming down and clearing the air. I think everything's gonna be fine, with time."
"I hope so. See you man. Later Brian." With that Dom left and Harry and Brian entered the office.
"So you couldn't stay away from us for one day, huh Kat?" Brian asked with a smile and held out his arms. Kat gave him a hug.
"Nope. I couldn't. I went shopping all afternoon and I didn't want to go straight back to Harry's so I decided to come down here. I met a girl, at the mall. I never met a nice girl before. Well not since High school. I'ma call her when we get back. I've never had girl friends before that I didn't roll wit in high school."
"That's nice for you Kat. Everyone needs friends in their peer group." Harry answered. Kat hung out and worked some at the store, answering phones and general, light duty stuff. Harry and Brian understood that she needed to keep busy. Harry came to collect her at 7pm. They ran the Chevelle home and then went to dinner in Harry's car. They when home and made it an early night because they had to be at the airport at 10am the next day for their flight.
When Dom got home Leon started to quiz him. "Well, where are they goin'?"
"Leon." Dom sighed. "Why can't you let this go?"
"I just can't Dawg. She's the first girl that I ever really wanted to be with for more then one night and I messed it up. I need to make it better somehow." Leon kept thinking back to his theory that there might only be one right girl for him in the whole universe. If he was right then he needed Kat as much as she needed him. And Kat needed someone. He wanted that someone to be him. Once he'd calmed down he'd realized just how bad he'd screwed up.
"I don't know that you can Leon. For sure you can't till they come back. They're flying out first thing in the morning."
"What'd ya mean flying out?"
"Harry's taken' her to Japan with him on some sort of business trip. They figured the best thing to do for her was get her out of the country away from you for awhile. I don't know if you ever goin' near her again is a good idea Leon."
"Is she seeing Harry, like seeing Harry?" Leon had to know. It'd been eating him since he saw them together at Harry's house. In his heart he knew that Kat and Harry would never have that kind of relationship but a third party had to confirm that for him or he'd go nuts. Dom didn't disappoint him.
"Hell no Leon. Harry's not some perve you know." Dom couldn't believe that Leon would think that.
"Ok. I just had to know. You really just think I should try to move on Dom?"
"Yeah Leon, yeah I do. I just don't see how you can ever fix what you did, and you're from two different worlds." Dom looked genuinely sad for his friend. Leon was such a nice guy. He'd messed this up, sure. But he was generally very nice. He must have been really shook up to have done what he did. And Dom could detect the fear in Leon now, but he didn't know over what. He figured it must be worry about what Kat's friends were likely to do. He didn't know it was cold fear over the thoughts of never seeing or talking to Kat again. Over never getting to make her his girl in every sense there was. Leon continued.
"But how do you get Letty to overlook all the shit you do then?"
"God Leon, there's no comparison. I been wit Letty for years for one thing, you knew this girl all of what, 3 months? Plus, I haven't done anything to hurt Letty this bad since we were young and foolish." Dom knew that Letty should have left him long ago, but Dom was always sorry when he did stuff to hurt Letty. Leon had started out with a really defensive attitude with Kat, and as far as Kat knew Leon had meant every word he said to her. He sure hadn't been sorry about what he'd done. Or not that Kat knew at least. Maybe they could work it out, but Dom didn't see it happening. Dom didn't see how Leon would ever fix this.
"I guess Dawg. So that's it then. I'll write her an apology letter when she comes back and then try to forget her."
"It'd be best Leon." Leon just nodded. He didn't want to forget about her, or think he'd never see Kat again. He was genuinely sorry for what he'd done. He thought he might have to go cry. He hated the feeling but he was so upset and depressed over the whole situation that he was really down. He hated himself in that moment for what he'd done. He figured that cosmic paybacks were just a bitch because after all, what he was feeling now was just what he'd made Kat feel like, so maybe it was just karma catching up to him. Someone knocked on the door.
"I'll get it, it's likely my ass kickin'." Leon semi-joked on his way to the door. Dom looked concerned. Leon got up and opened the door.
AN: Hey all. Not much to say, love to all my regulars and hello's to all the newbies. :) BridgetLyn, it is so cool you like Lucy Mod. I'm from PEI, and so was she. Cool no? Anne was set in and around Cavendish Prince Edward Island and I spent my summer getting drunk there. ;) Well, partying at least. Just found that cool. Hope you still enjoy my story as it unfolds. Just to lay any feelings of it to rest, Harry is not a perv. He's just looking out for his Kitten. Now on with the story.
He knew that Dom had said that Kat wasn't the girl for him. But the thing that was making Leon panic was the knowledge that she was the girl for him but he'd gone and screwed it up. Since he'd never, in all his time picking up women ever wanted one for more then one night, how could she not be special? She'd made him want to give up his player ways and stay only with her.
What if there really only was one person in the world for everyone and he'd finally found his in Kat after years of searching through random blonde chicks and then he'd lost her before he'd ever really had her? He didn't know what to do, and he didn't have anyone to turn to. Dom was just as happy that Kat was out of their lives, Jesse would not doubt share Brian's anger over what Leon had done, just based on how mean he'd been to Kat and how much Jesse liked her. Brian still acted like he wanted to start throwing punches if they were in the same room and Leon had seen the disappointed look on Mia's face. Vince might listen to him, might understand after what he'd gone through with his own Ex, but Vince and Kat hadn't really gotten along either, ever since the word's they'd exchanged in front of the Racer's Edge that first day.
Leon had no where to go and no one to turn to. He drove around aimlessly for awhile then went home and went to bed. Sleep was a long time coming and he had vivid nightmares all night about Kat. He couldn't stop worrying that he might have driven her to try to harm herself again by what he'd said. He'd never be able to live with himself again if he had. He felt so guilty; he didn't know how he was going to move on from this. And he didn't know if he wanted to. He couldn't get the thought that Kat could have been 'the one' out of his head and if he'd messed up his only chance to be with that one special person he'd be left with another stream of random blonde girls while he looked for her again.
Kat woke up in a strange room the next day and was disorientated for the first few minutes. Then it all came back to her and she had to haul her butt out of bed forcefully. She didn't want to get up. She figured she'd head down to the store for awhile for something to do. She had to stay busy or she'd spend the whole day watching chick flicks and eating junk with Nikki. She checked the clock and saw it was after 11am. Harry would be long gone to the store by now and she had no ride. Her skyline was safely stowed at the Racer's Edge. She got dressed in a pair of grey baggy cotton pants and a little pink tank top and headed downstairs. She headed to the kitchen. Harry'd left her a note on the kitchen table.
"Hey Kat,
It's about time you got up. Ha ha. I bet it's late." He'd drawn a smiley face, and he was right. It was late. She giggled. "Have something to eat, the fridge is full of food, there's gotta be something you like so eat. There's a pool out back. Make yourself at home, don't be shy. You can swim, or watch TV, or just hang out by the pool if you want. Oh, and if you wanna go somewhere, if you have any running around to do before we go, you can use this key and take my 'spare' car out of the garage. Just be good to her. See you for dinner around 7pm. Be good kitty cat.
Love,
Harry."
She smiled. Harry was the best thing that ever happened in her life, outside of her guys and maybe Brian. She wondered what kind of car he'd left her. She could use some new clothes to travel in, maybe a new bathing suit. She didn't know how well the stars and stripes would go over in Japan. She needed a passport. Plus she wanted to go say hi to him at the store. She'd never make it through a day here alone. But first she was having a swim cause the pool looked too good to say no to. She changed into her bikini and dived in. She swam laps for about half an hour and then got out. She washed her hair and got dressed in the same outfit and headed down to the mall. She was gonna buy some new clothes to go with her new outlook on life. More casual, adult stuff. Less barely there skirts and tank tops in her future she felt. She'd some how come past that.
She hit the mall and shopped. But all the clothes she liked were still the funky, kind of show off your body clothes she'd liked before, or the kind of clothes she liked to wear around the cars. She figured that a tiger trying to change its stripes didn't make sense and bought some new clothes in the same style she'd always liked. Some cargo pants and funky tank tops and baby tees and some mini skirts and fitted tops. She did buy one very sophisticated red dress she hoped to get to wear while she was away. She hit the bathing suit store. The clerk came right over to her.
"Can I help you?" The lady asked with a smile.
"I hope so. I need a new bathing suit." Kat answered. "I'm going to Japan for a business/personal trip and I want something a little more adult then my current selection of boy cut bottoms and stars and strips string bikini top." Kat laughed to show she was both serious, but not taking herself too seriously.
"Ok. Well, did you want to stay with a two piece or did you want to look at one piece suits?"
"What do you recommend?" Kat was going to trust the woman's judgment; after all, all she sold was swim suits.
"On you, with your figure and hair, a two piece for sure. You'll have every man at the beach at your feet." The woman smiled, Kat found her to be sincere. Kat blushed; she didn't believe the woman had just complemented her like that. She figured them to be about the same age.
"Thanks. I leave it up to you. You're the expert." Kat smiled.
"You're what, a 4?" The woman asked.
"Naw, a 6." Kat answered.
"If you wear your clothes baggy, maybe. What do you do to stay in shape?" The clerk asked, eyeing Kat's flat tummy. "Don't say nothing or I'll have to kill you." The clerk laughed to show she was joking.
"Well, I'm sorta a mechanic, which is pretty physical, and I'll tell you what else if you promise not to laugh."
"Of course not." The woman smiled encouragingly.
"I dance." Kat looked at her feet.
"What kind of dance do you do?"
"Um, well, dancing, like in clubs." The woman looked at Kat like she wasn't buying that. "Ballet. I also do ballet." She elaborated at the other girls look. Kat was very, very shy of talking about it. Girls like her did not do ballet. Girls like her did bootie shake.
"I love ballet. Where did you learn?"
"New York. I was 14 when I stopped taking lessons but I keep it up at home. I just like to dance you know? My mom was a prima ballerina for a company in New York and she always wanted me to dance too. She went to Juilliard. I was good for my age I guess. I went on pointe at 9. I guess that's early." Kat was still bright red. She didn't know what it was about this other girl that made her open up like this.
"Wow, at 9. I took ballet lessons for years and never got on pointe, you must have been good."
"I guess so." Kat was finding it hard to talk about it. She didn't think that anyone would respect her for it out here, and it made her think of her mom. She missed her mom and if her mom hadn't died none of the recent events in her life ever would have happened.
"Well, I would definitely go with a two piece suit on you. In." the woman cocked her head and studied Kat's complexion. "blue, or red. You could go either way. Or even purple. You want to try on some in each color?"
"Sure." Kat tried on so many bathing suits but she had a great time, listening to the other girl's opinion of each and carrying on with the other girl. She had a good time, not to mention enjoyed shopping for swim suits, something she'd never enjoyed before. She didn't like to show off so much of her body, she thought she was too thin and wasn't ever really happy with how she looked, but she felt the need to dress the way others around her did, and that was why she wore two piece suits. But she liked the girl in the store and believed her when she told Kat what looked good. In the end she couldn't pick between a quite brief purple suit and a more conservative red one so she bought both.
"Listen, it was really nice to meet you. I'm having the week from hell, but you somehow made swimsuit shopping fun for me, you're really nice." Kat felt she had to tell the woman how much her attention had meant to her.
"Well, I enjoyed meeting you Katherine," Kat had felt the need to let this person, who knew she did ballet, and appreciated her for it; call her by her full name. "I'd like to see you again sometime, as a friend."
"I'd like that. I'll be gone for awhile but I can leave you my number and get yours. I don't have a lot of female friends."
"You don't say! Well, I'm Rayelyn, but you can call me Ray, and I'd love to get together some time when you get back. I'll give you my number and you can call whenever you get back and have some free time." Ray couldn't believe such a nice girl, who was the total opposite of stuck up didn't have a lot of friends.
"That sounds super! Thanks again for all your help. Oh and you can call me Kat." Kat left the store on a high note. She really liked Ray and that was a first. She made a girl friend that wasn't a racer chick or a friend from school. She headed out to her loaner car. Harry's baby car, the car he left for her was a cherry, flame red Chevy Chevelle SS convertible. She couldn't believe he was letting her drive it. She put the top down when she got out to the car and headed to the Racer's Edge.
When she pulled up she saw Dom's car out front. She bared her gritted her teeth and hissed at Dom's car, complete with clawing motion in its direction. She almost just headed back to Harry's house. She wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone on Team Toretto. 'But I work here god damn it and no one has the right to scare me out of my workplace' she though, and she really wanted to talk to Harry. She breezed in like she hadn't a care in the world and saw Harry talking to Dom at the counter.
Harry saw her right away and his face broke out in a soft smile for the young lady he saw in front of him. She looked much better then she had yesterday. Happy, almost. She'd fool a lot of people, but not Harry. He could tell Leon was still on her mind.
"Kat! What are you doin' here? I thought you'd just hang out at home today." Harry was worried seeing Dominic would upset her.
"Well, I got bored. I went shopping. I can't believe you left that car for me to use Harry. A cherry, torch red '69 Chevelle convertible. How did you know I had a weakness for old Chevy's huh?" She asked with a smile as Harry pulled her in for a quick hug.
"I didn't. I knew you had a weakness for convertibles since a certain silver one still resides in your garage." Harry laughed at her.
"Well, I had to let Stacy have it once he got attached. The fact that they always let me drive when I'm around and I knew I'd get to keep driving it if we kept it had nothing to do with it. Plus, how often does a girl win a convertible?"
"Not often Kat. Wanna wait for me in the office and I'll be there soon?"
"Sure." She smiled a small, polite smile at Dom for Harry's sake and went into the office, threw herself in Harry's chair and started to play MP3's while she started to do his paperwork. Harry could tell from the way she grooved along and he was secretly glad because he hadn't wanted to do that inventory form.
"So Harry, anyway, I'm sorry that you had to have that happen at your place. I'm totally embarrassed that he acted like that." Dom had to save his ability to shop here. It was the best place for parts in all of California. Harry had deals with company's right in Japan that didn't deal with any other American company's.
"It's ok Dom. I'd like it if you kept Leon away from the store for awhile, even after we come back though. I want Kat to have lots of time to get over what happened."
"I understand Harry. I just hope those friends of hers don't beat him into a grease spot and make this whole discussion moot." Dom could turn on the charm and education when he wanted to.
"I don't think that'll happen Dom. We spoke about it and the most I think Leon has coming is a big scare. They might put the fear of god into him as it were, but I don't think they'll hurt him. But don't tell him that." Harry gave Dom his best killer smile. After all when Dom raced he did have the kids pouring in to buy what he had. But Harry thought Kat had the ability to do that herself once she got back and got back into racing. She needed some practice too, but she was among the best racers Harry'd ever seen.
"Ok, that makes me feel better. I really care about Leon, and I somehow knew that our teams would be trouble for each other." Dom wanted to keep this diplomatic since it was obvious that Harry cared for Kat. "But you know how it is when you fall for someone, you can't always help it."
"So true Dom. I hope this all works out in the end. Poor Kat hasn't had an easy life."
"I know that now. I hope it all works out in the end too. After all, with the party's both our houses are bound to have, I don't want to be hoping they're not calling the 5-0 after every party I have." Dom laughed.
"I see why. Well Dom, thanks for coming down and clearing the air. I think everything's gonna be fine, with time."
"I hope so. See you man. Later Brian." With that Dom left and Harry and Brian entered the office.
"So you couldn't stay away from us for one day, huh Kat?" Brian asked with a smile and held out his arms. Kat gave him a hug.
"Nope. I couldn't. I went shopping all afternoon and I didn't want to go straight back to Harry's so I decided to come down here. I met a girl, at the mall. I never met a nice girl before. Well not since High school. I'ma call her when we get back. I've never had girl friends before that I didn't roll wit in high school."
"That's nice for you Kat. Everyone needs friends in their peer group." Harry answered. Kat hung out and worked some at the store, answering phones and general, light duty stuff. Harry and Brian understood that she needed to keep busy. Harry came to collect her at 7pm. They ran the Chevelle home and then went to dinner in Harry's car. They when home and made it an early night because they had to be at the airport at 10am the next day for their flight.
When Dom got home Leon started to quiz him. "Well, where are they goin'?"
"Leon." Dom sighed. "Why can't you let this go?"
"I just can't Dawg. She's the first girl that I ever really wanted to be with for more then one night and I messed it up. I need to make it better somehow." Leon kept thinking back to his theory that there might only be one right girl for him in the whole universe. If he was right then he needed Kat as much as she needed him. And Kat needed someone. He wanted that someone to be him. Once he'd calmed down he'd realized just how bad he'd screwed up.
"I don't know that you can Leon. For sure you can't till they come back. They're flying out first thing in the morning."
"What'd ya mean flying out?"
"Harry's taken' her to Japan with him on some sort of business trip. They figured the best thing to do for her was get her out of the country away from you for awhile. I don't know if you ever goin' near her again is a good idea Leon."
"Is she seeing Harry, like seeing Harry?" Leon had to know. It'd been eating him since he saw them together at Harry's house. In his heart he knew that Kat and Harry would never have that kind of relationship but a third party had to confirm that for him or he'd go nuts. Dom didn't disappoint him.
"Hell no Leon. Harry's not some perve you know." Dom couldn't believe that Leon would think that.
"Ok. I just had to know. You really just think I should try to move on Dom?"
"Yeah Leon, yeah I do. I just don't see how you can ever fix what you did, and you're from two different worlds." Dom looked genuinely sad for his friend. Leon was such a nice guy. He'd messed this up, sure. But he was generally very nice. He must have been really shook up to have done what he did. And Dom could detect the fear in Leon now, but he didn't know over what. He figured it must be worry about what Kat's friends were likely to do. He didn't know it was cold fear over the thoughts of never seeing or talking to Kat again. Over never getting to make her his girl in every sense there was. Leon continued.
"But how do you get Letty to overlook all the shit you do then?"
"God Leon, there's no comparison. I been wit Letty for years for one thing, you knew this girl all of what, 3 months? Plus, I haven't done anything to hurt Letty this bad since we were young and foolish." Dom knew that Letty should have left him long ago, but Dom was always sorry when he did stuff to hurt Letty. Leon had started out with a really defensive attitude with Kat, and as far as Kat knew Leon had meant every word he said to her. He sure hadn't been sorry about what he'd done. Or not that Kat knew at least. Maybe they could work it out, but Dom didn't see it happening. Dom didn't see how Leon would ever fix this.
"I guess Dawg. So that's it then. I'll write her an apology letter when she comes back and then try to forget her."
"It'd be best Leon." Leon just nodded. He didn't want to forget about her, or think he'd never see Kat again. He was genuinely sorry for what he'd done. He thought he might have to go cry. He hated the feeling but he was so upset and depressed over the whole situation that he was really down. He hated himself in that moment for what he'd done. He figured that cosmic paybacks were just a bitch because after all, what he was feeling now was just what he'd made Kat feel like, so maybe it was just karma catching up to him. Someone knocked on the door.
"I'll get it, it's likely my ass kickin'." Leon semi-joked on his way to the door. Dom looked concerned. Leon got up and opened the door.