AN: I'm finally updating again. Yeah! Ok. Now review me. Puweeze? I mean, I
updated before my story dropped off to the second page this time. That
should be worth something.
Chapter 41 - Making Up.
"Nikki, I need you girl." Kat opened the conversation on that dramatic note because she knew that'd get Nikki's attention right away.
"What's up kitty cat?" Nikki asked, using her old childhood pet name for her best friend.
"I fucked up and I think we need to talk in person. I need big time advice."
"Come over then girl. I ain't got a car, dad took my keys away when I didn't come home that Saturday night we all went out and I haven't got 'em back yet."
"Ok, I'm on my way." Kat left the house wearing what she'd already had on and headed back toward her friends house. Nikki didn't live in the exact same place as Kat had, but she lived in the general area. Kat got to her friends house and just let herself in. She'd been hanging out there for so long that she never knocked. She saw Nikki's dad on the couch. "Hey Mr. D." Kat called.
"Kat, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages. You use to be here all the time." Kat liked Nikki's dad, he was strict, but he clearly loved his daughter. Kat use to hang out at Nikki's all the time to try and convince herself that some people had normal lives. Nikki's mom had been dead for some time but her dad was cool. He cared about his only child and it showed. Kat loved to see them act like a family together. She answered the questions being tossed her way.
"I'm good. I got a job in an automotive supply store and me'n the guys moved."
"Good. Good. What store do you work for? If you don't mind me asking."
"Good lord, of course I don't mind. I work at 'The Racer's Edge". My boss Harry is a great guy."
"Yes, I know that store. Caters to street racers, has a lot of products that you can only get in the USA at his store."
"That's us. He took me to Japan with him just a little while ago and I helped him get even more exclusive products to sell and I got some cool stuff for my car. You may be seeing me around the tracks soon."
"Why's that?" Nikki's dad was the President of the tracks in southern California.
"Harry's almost got me hooked up with sponsors for NIRA." Kat smiled.
"That's wonderful. You know I never did like the fact that you, and all those other kids take your lives into your hands and race on the streets." Mr. D frowned.
"Well Mr. D, that's the only way to get play time when you're a 19 year old girl from the wrong neighbourhood. 'Sides, we do it safe as we can. Plus I can't think of anyone who's ever made NIRA without street time." Kat finished.
"There's been a few. This one guy, Danny, he raced a skyline too, he was that good that we took him without any street time. But I guess you're right, you pretty well need to prove you and your team got what it takes first on the street. But I don't have to like it." He waved her to the stairs. "Go to Nikki before she busts." They both laughed.
Kat walked into Nikki's room. Nikki was all over her the second she walked in the door, waiting for the drama. "Ok, spill. What happened?"
"Well, you know that guy that I was dancing with when we went out?"
"Cute butt, big green eyes, messy hair, has a thing for jerseys?" Nikki clearly remembered.
"Thanks the one. Well, I liked him. We were kinda dating." Kat made a face and started to pace around the room wringing her hands.
"Ok, well, he seemed aight. I mean, I always thought you'd end up with one of the guys from around Connor's. You know, a brotha, but I didn't see anything wrong with jersey guy. What's the problem?" Nikki looked confused.
"Let me finish and you'll see. Well we was kinda dating and that was goin' good. I have...had it bad for him. But remember that thing me'n the guys did that I told you about that I wasn't proud of?" Kat hadn't been able to keep it to herself. It had been eating her up inside and she'd had to tell someone. She'd told Nikki knowing that the other girl would never tell anyone else.
"Yeah."
"Well the guy that was involved in the thing I'm not proud of, the guy who was driving the delivery car in the whole thing I'm not proud of.Was that guy that I liked." Kat blew hair off her face and sighed.
"Holy shit Kat. So then what?" Nikki was sorry for her friend but this was playing out like a soap opera and Nikki loved drama. She lived for it. Kat brought it her way in spades. Nikki always thought that Kat had a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble.
"Well, what'dya think?" Kat shot Nikki a look like she figured the answer was obvious. "He figured it out. He guessed that it was me'n the guys that did that to him. And he figured it out that I hadn't ever planned on telling him at all. He was pissed and he said some really hurtful things." Kat trailed off. She didn't really want to tell Nikki exactly what was said. It was hard to think of it and she didn't want Nikki to hate Leon for what he'd said.
"Like what?" Nikki wasn't going to let it drop so Kat told Nikki exactly what was said, even though it hurt her to relive it again. Nikki was the first person to ever get the whole story, unabridged and unedited. Kat told her the whole sad tale, everything that Leon had said. It had hurt her so much she memorized it all. "Asshole." Nikki breathed out when Kat was done of the story. She was as ready to find this guy and kill him as the guys. For all her trash talking Nikki knew that Kat was a sensitive girl, she wasn't as hard as Nikki herself even was. Kat was mostly attitude and bluster. It was bad temper and an act to hide behind so she didn't have to get hurt. Didn't have to care. Nikki had looked out for Kat in school, to protect her from others who would have tried to take advantage of her, especially at first. And to find out that this asshole had said that stuff to Kat made Nikki want to go pound him. She started to grab her jacket.
"Well, we did do that thing I'm not proud of to him." Kat refused to say robbed him cause that was talking about it. She was still hung up on the idea of not speaking about the whole incident. More because she didn't want to think about it. She didn't want Leon to take all the blame himself either. She could tell Nikki was irate.
"Still." Nikki was quiet for one of the only times Kat could ever remember. Of course Kat didn't know that Nikki was contemplating justifiable homicide.
"Oh, it gets worse." Kat began again.
"How could this get worse?" It was getting to the point of too much drama, even for Nikki.
"Trust me, it gets worse." Kat went on to tell Nikki how she'd cooked up the plan with Vince to head over to their place, get drunk, dance with other guys to make Leon jealous and then she figured that they'd talk and get everything out in the open and stuff but that he'd been with some blonde skank and she'd gotten carried away with Vince. And how Leon had seen them go into her house together. "So now while Vince says that Leon is taking it rather well, and even partially blames himself, I don't know what to say or how to act or what to wear to meet him for the first time when he comes over. I'm so confused."
"That is worse. Well, tell him the truth. You were only into Vince because he was offering you comfort when you needed it and that nothing happened. Besides it sounds like him and Vince already talked about it and Leon's coming to talk to you about not making up sooner and for the fact you saw him talking to the ho." Nikki figured that this Leon guy had all that hurt coming and more for what he'd done to Kat. If seeing Kat with his best friend had hurt him then more power to Kat and Vince.
"You think?"
"Yeah girl. He wants you back. And if he doesn't he's a fool." Nikki hugged Kat. "Go home and get ready. Don't get all dressed up. Wear those grey baggy cotton pants you have and a yellow or pink tank top with them."
"You'd go that casual?"
"Yeah, you don't want him to know you knew he was comin', and if you partied all last night then you'd wanna be comfortable today. But with a tank in either of those colors then it still looks girly."
"You're right, I would wanna be comfortable. Thanks for listening Nik." Kat got up to try to get home before Leon came to talk to her.
"I love ya kitty cat, take care'a you." Nikki walked Kat to the door and watched her peel off, out of the driveway and down the street.
"Daddy, I'm real sorry I didn't come home, but I'm 19, do you think I could have my keys back? I just spent the night with Kat, not at some crack house." Nikki whined.
"Well, just because poor Kat has no one to care if she goes home or not does not give you the right to run around like you don't either." Nikki's dad didn't look up from his paper.
"I know. I'm really sorry. I'll call you fo sho' next time and let you know I'ma stay with friends, aiight?"
Mr. D. held the keys out with a sigh. He hated it when Nikki talked like she forgot the English language and would often do stuff he wouldn't normally do to make her stop or go away. Nikki took them quickly, before he could change his mind and went to her room. If the thing with Kat backfired Nikki wanted to be ready to get the chocolate and sad movies and head over to help her girl through the breakup.
Kat got home and ran up the stairs and into her room. She changed quickly and then put her hair up in a messy bun, like she'd spent the day doing not much of anything. Then she wandered downstairs to find the guys watching football.
"Anyone call for me or anything while I was gone?" She asked.
"Nope." None of them even spared her a look. It wasn't fit to talk to them while they watched sports of any sort. They didn't even really make time for her while they watched sports. She wandered into the garage and looked at the supra. She figured she may as well make herself useful while she waited, incase he never came too. She didn't want to just wander and wait all day. She had the turbo to put in, set up and add all the associated ICE onto, boost controller and turbo timer just to start. She popped the hood and grabbed her tools.
She was in the middle of bolting the turbo onto the manifold when she heard the garage door open. She couldn't stop in the middle of what she was doing so she just pretended she didn't know anyone was there. It was likely Sean wondering if she was working on his ride for a change. She was always messing with the Skyline and she knew that Sean wanted her to find time to do his car. She had more free time then he did. She kept trying to make the bolt holes line up but it just wasn't happening. She was getting really frustrated with it. She figured the fact that the person hadn't said anything yet made it Sean. He always did that sort of thing, he'd sneak up behind her and try to scare her and she'd almost bean him with a torque wrench. She looked back at the turbo and took one more go at it. She forgot all about who ever was in the garage. No matter what she did the bolt just would not thread onto the manifold where it had to go.
"Listen you fucker." She started to threaten the bolt. She always got like that with things that frustrated her. She started to tell them off. She was going to give this bolt a real going over. Even though she knew the bolt didn't hear her and didn't care it made her feel better to swear at it. It was like taking all her frustrations about other stuff out on the bolt that didn't care how much she yelled at it. She took a deep breath to let lose.
"Should I come back another time then?" Leon asked from behind her. He'd been caught up in watching her work. He'd forgotten how much he liked to see her bent over in front of him. She had a nice butt. But he figured she knew he was there and she was still pissed and swearing at him. He was wrong. Kat jumped and spun on him.
"Don't do that unless you want me to knock you out with this wrench, boy. Don't sneak up on me like that." Kat was use to watching her back and people sneaking up on her did not go over too well.
"Sorry I thought you knew I was here."
"I heard someone come in, since you didn't say anything I figured it was Sean. So how you been?" Kat asked. She was being cool but polite, even though she wanted to jump on him and never let go.
"I'm ok. How 'bout you?" Leon wondered if she was glad to see him. You'd never guess it if she was by how she was acting. She was acting like she couldn't care less he was there.
"I'm ok." She said and like he always could Leon saw through the brave act into the hurt little girl she was inside. She might be ok in general but she wasn't ok with him. She was still hurt and angry. So the cold indifference was just an act. She was trying to freeze him out so he wouldn't know how hurt she really was over the whole situation.
"So, what are you trying to do to this car?" Leon asked to try and steer the topic to something neutral for awhile. He knew they'd have to talk about the hurt feelings but he didn't want to rush it.
"I'm trying to install a turbo but it doesn't want to bolt onto the fuckin' manifold and I don't know why." Kat said with a sigh, blowing a little piece of hair that had fallen down out of her face.
"Can I look?" Leon asked.
"Sure." She handed him the wrench. He looked it over, loosened the first two bolts she'd already done, got the third one lined up now that he had some play to work with and then tightened all three.
"There you go."
"Thanks." She answered and leaned on the bumper of the supra.
"So, well, I, um, I came to tell you that I'm sorry Kat. I overreacted and I'm sorry. I hurt you just because I was mad and I know that wasn't right." Leon was happy with how that came out. He didn't try to pretend he didn't have a reason to be angry but he still admitted he shouldn't have reacted as strongly as he had. It remained to be seen how she reacted to his apology.
"Well, thanks Leon. I'm sorry for what I did too. I never thought I'd see you again and it came as a big surprise to find out you were Brian's friend. I should have told you." She was looking into the engine of the supra, not at him. Leon knew she wasn't as not angry with him as she would have him believe. But he could tell she also was sorry for what she'd done.
"I hope you can forgive me someday Kat. I'd like to think we can be friends." Leon thought that was a good place to start. She had still yet to look up from the car's engine bay to look him in the face. She looked up at him then.
"Even though I beat you on the street?" She asked him. She had to know if he was going to be able to live with that. Everyone had seemed so sure that he wouldn't be able to take it.
"Even though you beat me on the street. I mean I really tried, the best racer won and that's all there is to it. I admit I was really mad at first, but the more I think about it the less it matters to me. I mean you must be doin' somethin' right to get into the import tuner." Leon tried not to remember how she'd looked in that magazine and how mad he'd been imagining other guys staring at his girl. Whether she was officially his girlfriend or not at the time she was his girl. He honestly felt that way.
"You're mad about that aren't you?" She asked, perceptively. She could tell he didn't seem pleased about her pictures.
"No, why would I be mad?" Leon asked, wondering how she picked up on his anger. He'd thought he'd done a good job of hiding it from her. He generally was good at hiding his angry feelings from the world.
"Because you seem to think that I went away and was immediately over what I did and what I felt for you, that I was just having a great time making magazine articles. I just did it to take my mind off things and because Harry wanted me to. I never knew the articles would come over here, I assumed they'd only run them in Japan."
"I'm not mad. I was surprised as hell, I'll give you that. Your, um, car looks great." Leon didn't know how else to put it. "Plus, I'm not nearly as over you as I'd have the world believe and I was jealous of every last one of those other guys who were reading that magazine." Leon didn't figure admitting that could do him any harm. He figured he was right when she blushed. She could be so dense by times but so perceptive at other times. How'd she know that he felt she'd forgotten about him right away like that?
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." She seemed to believe him but then she moved on to other topics.
"Well, when I saw you with that blonde ho in your lap how do you think I felt?" Maybe she shouldn't have brought that up. It was like forcing him to bring up the Vince thing. But the first time she'd seen him since she'd gotten back she saw him all over some random skank at a party. That wasn't exactly what he'd do if he was hurting over her.
"I know. I'm sorry. But you got me back dancing with Vince like you did. Trust me."
"I guess it's time to talk about what Vince and I did, huh?" Kat scuffed her foot back and forth over the floor, looking at the floor instead of him. She was so embarrassed about what she'd done.
"I got the story from Vince and I can't blame you for that. I mean unless you have feelings for Vince, in which case I think you should go after him." She'd never know what it cost him to make that offer. She looked up in pure shock. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that he was willing to see her with his best friend? She looked into his eyes and realized he wasn't willing to see her with Vince. He just wanted her to be sure she wanted to be with him.
"Naw, I don't like Vinnie that way." She giggled. Leon laughed.
"Vinnie?" It was strange to hear his friend called that.
"If you call 'im that he'll kill you." She smiled. "So, we aight then?"
"Yeah. We're cool. I'd like to give it another try Kat. Maybe slower then before. Get to know each other better. Put the past behind us." Leon hoped that was what she wanted too.
"I think I'd like that. But it'll have to be really slow. Cause you really hurt me. I know I messed up too but you really hurt me. I'm just bein' honest wit you, It's gonna take a long time before I fully trust you not to hurt me again." She had to throw that out to him, it was true. After all, she might have done something really wrong but he'd gone out of his way to make her hurt like hell and she didn't know if she could live through that again if he should take it in his head to try to punish her like that again.
"Fair enough. Well, I'ma go now, I'll call you someday soon and we can make plans to do something. Go dancing or to a movie."
"Ok. Sounds good." Leon went home. Kat went into the living room and noted football was over. She was ok to talk to the guys. "We made up, sorta."
"That's nice Kat." Sean smiled.
"What do ya mean sorta?" Kale asked.
"Well, I told him honestly that he really hurt me and while I was willing to give it another try it had to be really slow because it was gonna take me a long time to get over it and be able to trust him again. I mean I know that we did something shitty to him we didn't know him when we did that, he knew me when he said all those hateful things." Kat looked at the guys. "Am I stupid to even have anything to do wit him?"
"Naw, you need to give it a shot or you'll always be wondering what if. You did good telling him that you'd need to take it slow Kat. If it works it works, if it doesn't then at least you'll know."
"Thanks Stacy, that means a lot." Kat smiled. "He says he's not mad I kicked his ass."
"He's lying but it's good of him to try'n let you think that." Sean said.
"That's what I thought too." Kat giggled. "You guys love me and you know I can kick all yo asses. Why's that? I mean ya'll don't get mad at me for it."
"We understand you Kitten, and when you understand the nature of a thing, you know what it's capable of." Stacy laughed. "Plus, you's a better racer, nothing to do 'bout that."
"Well, thanks anyway for always bein' there, and not hating the fact that a little girl can whoop yo' ass all over the track, street."
"No need to rub it in Kat." Sean said, but he was smiling.
"Alright. I know I'm that damn good and that's all that matters I guess." She smirked and headed into the backyard to relax in the sun.
Chapter 41 - Making Up.
"Nikki, I need you girl." Kat opened the conversation on that dramatic note because she knew that'd get Nikki's attention right away.
"What's up kitty cat?" Nikki asked, using her old childhood pet name for her best friend.
"I fucked up and I think we need to talk in person. I need big time advice."
"Come over then girl. I ain't got a car, dad took my keys away when I didn't come home that Saturday night we all went out and I haven't got 'em back yet."
"Ok, I'm on my way." Kat left the house wearing what she'd already had on and headed back toward her friends house. Nikki didn't live in the exact same place as Kat had, but she lived in the general area. Kat got to her friends house and just let herself in. She'd been hanging out there for so long that she never knocked. She saw Nikki's dad on the couch. "Hey Mr. D." Kat called.
"Kat, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages. You use to be here all the time." Kat liked Nikki's dad, he was strict, but he clearly loved his daughter. Kat use to hang out at Nikki's all the time to try and convince herself that some people had normal lives. Nikki's mom had been dead for some time but her dad was cool. He cared about his only child and it showed. Kat loved to see them act like a family together. She answered the questions being tossed her way.
"I'm good. I got a job in an automotive supply store and me'n the guys moved."
"Good. Good. What store do you work for? If you don't mind me asking."
"Good lord, of course I don't mind. I work at 'The Racer's Edge". My boss Harry is a great guy."
"Yes, I know that store. Caters to street racers, has a lot of products that you can only get in the USA at his store."
"That's us. He took me to Japan with him just a little while ago and I helped him get even more exclusive products to sell and I got some cool stuff for my car. You may be seeing me around the tracks soon."
"Why's that?" Nikki's dad was the President of the tracks in southern California.
"Harry's almost got me hooked up with sponsors for NIRA." Kat smiled.
"That's wonderful. You know I never did like the fact that you, and all those other kids take your lives into your hands and race on the streets." Mr. D frowned.
"Well Mr. D, that's the only way to get play time when you're a 19 year old girl from the wrong neighbourhood. 'Sides, we do it safe as we can. Plus I can't think of anyone who's ever made NIRA without street time." Kat finished.
"There's been a few. This one guy, Danny, he raced a skyline too, he was that good that we took him without any street time. But I guess you're right, you pretty well need to prove you and your team got what it takes first on the street. But I don't have to like it." He waved her to the stairs. "Go to Nikki before she busts." They both laughed.
Kat walked into Nikki's room. Nikki was all over her the second she walked in the door, waiting for the drama. "Ok, spill. What happened?"
"Well, you know that guy that I was dancing with when we went out?"
"Cute butt, big green eyes, messy hair, has a thing for jerseys?" Nikki clearly remembered.
"Thanks the one. Well, I liked him. We were kinda dating." Kat made a face and started to pace around the room wringing her hands.
"Ok, well, he seemed aight. I mean, I always thought you'd end up with one of the guys from around Connor's. You know, a brotha, but I didn't see anything wrong with jersey guy. What's the problem?" Nikki looked confused.
"Let me finish and you'll see. Well we was kinda dating and that was goin' good. I have...had it bad for him. But remember that thing me'n the guys did that I told you about that I wasn't proud of?" Kat hadn't been able to keep it to herself. It had been eating her up inside and she'd had to tell someone. She'd told Nikki knowing that the other girl would never tell anyone else.
"Yeah."
"Well the guy that was involved in the thing I'm not proud of, the guy who was driving the delivery car in the whole thing I'm not proud of.Was that guy that I liked." Kat blew hair off her face and sighed.
"Holy shit Kat. So then what?" Nikki was sorry for her friend but this was playing out like a soap opera and Nikki loved drama. She lived for it. Kat brought it her way in spades. Nikki always thought that Kat had a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble.
"Well, what'dya think?" Kat shot Nikki a look like she figured the answer was obvious. "He figured it out. He guessed that it was me'n the guys that did that to him. And he figured it out that I hadn't ever planned on telling him at all. He was pissed and he said some really hurtful things." Kat trailed off. She didn't really want to tell Nikki exactly what was said. It was hard to think of it and she didn't want Nikki to hate Leon for what he'd said.
"Like what?" Nikki wasn't going to let it drop so Kat told Nikki exactly what was said, even though it hurt her to relive it again. Nikki was the first person to ever get the whole story, unabridged and unedited. Kat told her the whole sad tale, everything that Leon had said. It had hurt her so much she memorized it all. "Asshole." Nikki breathed out when Kat was done of the story. She was as ready to find this guy and kill him as the guys. For all her trash talking Nikki knew that Kat was a sensitive girl, she wasn't as hard as Nikki herself even was. Kat was mostly attitude and bluster. It was bad temper and an act to hide behind so she didn't have to get hurt. Didn't have to care. Nikki had looked out for Kat in school, to protect her from others who would have tried to take advantage of her, especially at first. And to find out that this asshole had said that stuff to Kat made Nikki want to go pound him. She started to grab her jacket.
"Well, we did do that thing I'm not proud of to him." Kat refused to say robbed him cause that was talking about it. She was still hung up on the idea of not speaking about the whole incident. More because she didn't want to think about it. She didn't want Leon to take all the blame himself either. She could tell Nikki was irate.
"Still." Nikki was quiet for one of the only times Kat could ever remember. Of course Kat didn't know that Nikki was contemplating justifiable homicide.
"Oh, it gets worse." Kat began again.
"How could this get worse?" It was getting to the point of too much drama, even for Nikki.
"Trust me, it gets worse." Kat went on to tell Nikki how she'd cooked up the plan with Vince to head over to their place, get drunk, dance with other guys to make Leon jealous and then she figured that they'd talk and get everything out in the open and stuff but that he'd been with some blonde skank and she'd gotten carried away with Vince. And how Leon had seen them go into her house together. "So now while Vince says that Leon is taking it rather well, and even partially blames himself, I don't know what to say or how to act or what to wear to meet him for the first time when he comes over. I'm so confused."
"That is worse. Well, tell him the truth. You were only into Vince because he was offering you comfort when you needed it and that nothing happened. Besides it sounds like him and Vince already talked about it and Leon's coming to talk to you about not making up sooner and for the fact you saw him talking to the ho." Nikki figured that this Leon guy had all that hurt coming and more for what he'd done to Kat. If seeing Kat with his best friend had hurt him then more power to Kat and Vince.
"You think?"
"Yeah girl. He wants you back. And if he doesn't he's a fool." Nikki hugged Kat. "Go home and get ready. Don't get all dressed up. Wear those grey baggy cotton pants you have and a yellow or pink tank top with them."
"You'd go that casual?"
"Yeah, you don't want him to know you knew he was comin', and if you partied all last night then you'd wanna be comfortable today. But with a tank in either of those colors then it still looks girly."
"You're right, I would wanna be comfortable. Thanks for listening Nik." Kat got up to try to get home before Leon came to talk to her.
"I love ya kitty cat, take care'a you." Nikki walked Kat to the door and watched her peel off, out of the driveway and down the street.
"Daddy, I'm real sorry I didn't come home, but I'm 19, do you think I could have my keys back? I just spent the night with Kat, not at some crack house." Nikki whined.
"Well, just because poor Kat has no one to care if she goes home or not does not give you the right to run around like you don't either." Nikki's dad didn't look up from his paper.
"I know. I'm really sorry. I'll call you fo sho' next time and let you know I'ma stay with friends, aiight?"
Mr. D. held the keys out with a sigh. He hated it when Nikki talked like she forgot the English language and would often do stuff he wouldn't normally do to make her stop or go away. Nikki took them quickly, before he could change his mind and went to her room. If the thing with Kat backfired Nikki wanted to be ready to get the chocolate and sad movies and head over to help her girl through the breakup.
Kat got home and ran up the stairs and into her room. She changed quickly and then put her hair up in a messy bun, like she'd spent the day doing not much of anything. Then she wandered downstairs to find the guys watching football.
"Anyone call for me or anything while I was gone?" She asked.
"Nope." None of them even spared her a look. It wasn't fit to talk to them while they watched sports of any sort. They didn't even really make time for her while they watched sports. She wandered into the garage and looked at the supra. She figured she may as well make herself useful while she waited, incase he never came too. She didn't want to just wander and wait all day. She had the turbo to put in, set up and add all the associated ICE onto, boost controller and turbo timer just to start. She popped the hood and grabbed her tools.
She was in the middle of bolting the turbo onto the manifold when she heard the garage door open. She couldn't stop in the middle of what she was doing so she just pretended she didn't know anyone was there. It was likely Sean wondering if she was working on his ride for a change. She was always messing with the Skyline and she knew that Sean wanted her to find time to do his car. She had more free time then he did. She kept trying to make the bolt holes line up but it just wasn't happening. She was getting really frustrated with it. She figured the fact that the person hadn't said anything yet made it Sean. He always did that sort of thing, he'd sneak up behind her and try to scare her and she'd almost bean him with a torque wrench. She looked back at the turbo and took one more go at it. She forgot all about who ever was in the garage. No matter what she did the bolt just would not thread onto the manifold where it had to go.
"Listen you fucker." She started to threaten the bolt. She always got like that with things that frustrated her. She started to tell them off. She was going to give this bolt a real going over. Even though she knew the bolt didn't hear her and didn't care it made her feel better to swear at it. It was like taking all her frustrations about other stuff out on the bolt that didn't care how much she yelled at it. She took a deep breath to let lose.
"Should I come back another time then?" Leon asked from behind her. He'd been caught up in watching her work. He'd forgotten how much he liked to see her bent over in front of him. She had a nice butt. But he figured she knew he was there and she was still pissed and swearing at him. He was wrong. Kat jumped and spun on him.
"Don't do that unless you want me to knock you out with this wrench, boy. Don't sneak up on me like that." Kat was use to watching her back and people sneaking up on her did not go over too well.
"Sorry I thought you knew I was here."
"I heard someone come in, since you didn't say anything I figured it was Sean. So how you been?" Kat asked. She was being cool but polite, even though she wanted to jump on him and never let go.
"I'm ok. How 'bout you?" Leon wondered if she was glad to see him. You'd never guess it if she was by how she was acting. She was acting like she couldn't care less he was there.
"I'm ok." She said and like he always could Leon saw through the brave act into the hurt little girl she was inside. She might be ok in general but she wasn't ok with him. She was still hurt and angry. So the cold indifference was just an act. She was trying to freeze him out so he wouldn't know how hurt she really was over the whole situation.
"So, what are you trying to do to this car?" Leon asked to try and steer the topic to something neutral for awhile. He knew they'd have to talk about the hurt feelings but he didn't want to rush it.
"I'm trying to install a turbo but it doesn't want to bolt onto the fuckin' manifold and I don't know why." Kat said with a sigh, blowing a little piece of hair that had fallen down out of her face.
"Can I look?" Leon asked.
"Sure." She handed him the wrench. He looked it over, loosened the first two bolts she'd already done, got the third one lined up now that he had some play to work with and then tightened all three.
"There you go."
"Thanks." She answered and leaned on the bumper of the supra.
"So, well, I, um, I came to tell you that I'm sorry Kat. I overreacted and I'm sorry. I hurt you just because I was mad and I know that wasn't right." Leon was happy with how that came out. He didn't try to pretend he didn't have a reason to be angry but he still admitted he shouldn't have reacted as strongly as he had. It remained to be seen how she reacted to his apology.
"Well, thanks Leon. I'm sorry for what I did too. I never thought I'd see you again and it came as a big surprise to find out you were Brian's friend. I should have told you." She was looking into the engine of the supra, not at him. Leon knew she wasn't as not angry with him as she would have him believe. But he could tell she also was sorry for what she'd done.
"I hope you can forgive me someday Kat. I'd like to think we can be friends." Leon thought that was a good place to start. She had still yet to look up from the car's engine bay to look him in the face. She looked up at him then.
"Even though I beat you on the street?" She asked him. She had to know if he was going to be able to live with that. Everyone had seemed so sure that he wouldn't be able to take it.
"Even though you beat me on the street. I mean I really tried, the best racer won and that's all there is to it. I admit I was really mad at first, but the more I think about it the less it matters to me. I mean you must be doin' somethin' right to get into the import tuner." Leon tried not to remember how she'd looked in that magazine and how mad he'd been imagining other guys staring at his girl. Whether she was officially his girlfriend or not at the time she was his girl. He honestly felt that way.
"You're mad about that aren't you?" She asked, perceptively. She could tell he didn't seem pleased about her pictures.
"No, why would I be mad?" Leon asked, wondering how she picked up on his anger. He'd thought he'd done a good job of hiding it from her. He generally was good at hiding his angry feelings from the world.
"Because you seem to think that I went away and was immediately over what I did and what I felt for you, that I was just having a great time making magazine articles. I just did it to take my mind off things and because Harry wanted me to. I never knew the articles would come over here, I assumed they'd only run them in Japan."
"I'm not mad. I was surprised as hell, I'll give you that. Your, um, car looks great." Leon didn't know how else to put it. "Plus, I'm not nearly as over you as I'd have the world believe and I was jealous of every last one of those other guys who were reading that magazine." Leon didn't figure admitting that could do him any harm. He figured he was right when she blushed. She could be so dense by times but so perceptive at other times. How'd she know that he felt she'd forgotten about him right away like that?
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." She seemed to believe him but then she moved on to other topics.
"Well, when I saw you with that blonde ho in your lap how do you think I felt?" Maybe she shouldn't have brought that up. It was like forcing him to bring up the Vince thing. But the first time she'd seen him since she'd gotten back she saw him all over some random skank at a party. That wasn't exactly what he'd do if he was hurting over her.
"I know. I'm sorry. But you got me back dancing with Vince like you did. Trust me."
"I guess it's time to talk about what Vince and I did, huh?" Kat scuffed her foot back and forth over the floor, looking at the floor instead of him. She was so embarrassed about what she'd done.
"I got the story from Vince and I can't blame you for that. I mean unless you have feelings for Vince, in which case I think you should go after him." She'd never know what it cost him to make that offer. She looked up in pure shock. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that he was willing to see her with his best friend? She looked into his eyes and realized he wasn't willing to see her with Vince. He just wanted her to be sure she wanted to be with him.
"Naw, I don't like Vinnie that way." She giggled. Leon laughed.
"Vinnie?" It was strange to hear his friend called that.
"If you call 'im that he'll kill you." She smiled. "So, we aight then?"
"Yeah. We're cool. I'd like to give it another try Kat. Maybe slower then before. Get to know each other better. Put the past behind us." Leon hoped that was what she wanted too.
"I think I'd like that. But it'll have to be really slow. Cause you really hurt me. I know I messed up too but you really hurt me. I'm just bein' honest wit you, It's gonna take a long time before I fully trust you not to hurt me again." She had to throw that out to him, it was true. After all, she might have done something really wrong but he'd gone out of his way to make her hurt like hell and she didn't know if she could live through that again if he should take it in his head to try to punish her like that again.
"Fair enough. Well, I'ma go now, I'll call you someday soon and we can make plans to do something. Go dancing or to a movie."
"Ok. Sounds good." Leon went home. Kat went into the living room and noted football was over. She was ok to talk to the guys. "We made up, sorta."
"That's nice Kat." Sean smiled.
"What do ya mean sorta?" Kale asked.
"Well, I told him honestly that he really hurt me and while I was willing to give it another try it had to be really slow because it was gonna take me a long time to get over it and be able to trust him again. I mean I know that we did something shitty to him we didn't know him when we did that, he knew me when he said all those hateful things." Kat looked at the guys. "Am I stupid to even have anything to do wit him?"
"Naw, you need to give it a shot or you'll always be wondering what if. You did good telling him that you'd need to take it slow Kat. If it works it works, if it doesn't then at least you'll know."
"Thanks Stacy, that means a lot." Kat smiled. "He says he's not mad I kicked his ass."
"He's lying but it's good of him to try'n let you think that." Sean said.
"That's what I thought too." Kat giggled. "You guys love me and you know I can kick all yo asses. Why's that? I mean ya'll don't get mad at me for it."
"We understand you Kitten, and when you understand the nature of a thing, you know what it's capable of." Stacy laughed. "Plus, you's a better racer, nothing to do 'bout that."
"Well, thanks anyway for always bein' there, and not hating the fact that a little girl can whoop yo' ass all over the track, street."
"No need to rub it in Kat." Sean said, but he was smiling.
"Alright. I know I'm that damn good and that's all that matters I guess." She smirked and headed into the backyard to relax in the sun.