AN: *sing songs* Guess who's back? Back again Shady's back, tell a friend.
Well, not shady but someone better. .Hehe. I expect lots of reviews for
this people. *stamps foot* I worked really hard on this chapter and it's
long. So I hope it's good. Therefore let me know either way. You don't want
to create an angry tempest! It's not pretty. (by the way since pretty
begging didn't work to convince people to review I'm trying mild threats, I
hope it works. *crosses fingers* Soon I'll reach indifference but for now,
I'm still a review slut. ;)) And here is the story.
Chapter 45 - Wonder if Heaven got a ghetto?
Kat woke up the next day no more sure of what she had to do about her life and relationship with Leon then she had been the night before. She felt angry and upset. She knew she could take the head off anyone who crossed her.
She got up and dressed in short denim cutoffs, and a white singlet. She left the house with a terse 'later' for the guys and slid into the cockpit of the Skyline. She hit the freeway running and hit 150 within seconds of leaving the off ramp. She didn't even realize how fast she was going. All she was paying attention to was the other cars on the road with her.
Each one was seen as an obstacle, just something in her way, something trying to slow her down, interfere with her speed, her rush, her drug. She was darting in and out between the other cars on the road like they were standing still. Most people she passed didn't even have time to do more then register that they'd been passed by a black car with round tail lights.
Kat had her stereo cranked up so loud she couldn't even hear herself think, which was the point, and before she knew it, it was blasting out 'Shut up'. She caught herself singing along to the song as she darted in and out and shifted gears, her chrome rims spinning so fast they were nothing but a blur, her engine growling like the tiger that was painted on it's bonnet. She was driving on instinct alone and running on purest adrenaline.
While she sang along she started to allow herself to think back over the time she'd known Leon.
iWe try to take it slow but we're still loosing control and we tried to make it work but it still ends up the worst and I'm crazyyyyyy for tryin to be your lady. I think I'm goin crazy./i
They'd never cared about slow at first, things had been moving incredibly fast and for the first time ever Kat hadn't cared that she hadn't been in complete control over an aspect of her life. Leon was the X factor. She couldn't control him at all, and rather then that fact making her look for ways she could, she just revelled in the out of controlness of the situation. Sean was right, her life was all about control. She'd lived a crazy life with no control for so long that it made her scared to live that way ever again.
Then things got bad, and rather then give up they decided to try and take it slow. She'd tried to make it work but it really was looking like things were worse then ever at the point they'd reached. Kat felt like she was at some sort of crossroads. If a decision wasn't made, or something wasn't done she didn't know what would happen.
iGirl me'n you was just fine, you know? We wined and dined, did them things that couples do when in love, you know? Walks on the beach and stuff you know?/i
Before everything changed everything had been so good. Every time Kat had gone out with Leon it was almost like he'd given her back some of her normalcy. She'd been able to just be a girl. She hadn't had to be tough, or a leader. She'd just been able to be a girl. She was hardly ever able to just be a normal girl. She always had to be a leader for her team or tough, trying to keep her status. Her life was all about status, out of necessity. She'd had to be tough enough to keep her safe. Plus she'd never been able to trust men's motive for wanting to be with her. She'd known most of them were just trying to improve their own status and she wasn't willing to be that girl.
She'd known that to Leon their relationship was just about them. He didn't need her status. Where he was from his team already had more. He didn't need her, he had lots of girls waiting for his attention. He'd just wanted her. That was the quintessential difference right there. So many of the guys who'd asked her out in the past needed her for what they though she could give them. Leon didn't need anything from her, he just wanted what she wanted to give because he was intrigued by her.
iWe try to take it slow but we're still loosing control and we tried to make it work but it still ends up the worst and I'm crazyyyyyy for tryin to be your lady. I think I'm goin crazy./i
It had seemed like he'd wanted to take things slow with her too, right from the start. It had been Kat that had wanted to jump in both feet first. But that was her modus operendi anyway. She always jumped into things as fast as she could and most things had a way of working out. She always landed on her feet. "Merow" she said out loud and giggled despite herself.
She narrowly missed a transfer truck and swerved for a second before she recovered control. She wondered if she had 9 lives too as she fought to keep the car from spinning out. She fought down panic as she tried not to burn out on the busy, rushing freeway. She knew if she spun out she was as good as dead. She kept the car going in a mostly straight line by years of practise and innate skill only.
Once she was back on top of the situation she tore away. Instead of slowing down to 'reasonable' speeds to try and avoid another such incident, she sped up to get away from the people who'd seen her loose control. She never lost control and it wouldn't do for anyone to know she had. The irate trucker honked as she sped away and became nothing but a black blur on the horizon of the road.
iWhy does emotion gotta move so fast? Love is progress if you could make it last. Why is it that you just lose control, every time you agree on taking it slow?/i
If she could answer that question life would be good.
She hit the next button on her stereo violently. She didn't want to think about the lyrics of that song anymore. It hit too close to home. She was beginning to think she was crazy for trying to be with Leon. One thing that had become clear to her last night that no matter how cool he tried to convince her he was with what had gone down, no matter how willing to put it in the past he said he was, he wasn't and it showed.
It showed when she let herself look for it.
She didn't know how to move past it. She scanned over a few more songs, settling on some Ludacris track.
Without realizing it she'd ended up at the beach Leon had taken to her before. She hoped the girl Leon had said owned it wouldn't mind if she went for a walk because she felt like a good sprint to try and figure shit out.
Kat figured based on how Leon talked about that girl she was long gone and living somewhere else. Kat knew if she owned land like that of this beach she'd live there. But the land was barren except for a low building with a garage door on the front. It looked like it hadn't been used in some time. She parked the Skyline down the same road Leon had always used and got out.
She stood at the waters edge looking out over the cerulean surface of the water toward the distant horizon. The water looked warm, inviting. She contemplated walking in and taking a swim. She told herself that she shouldn't because she'd have to drive home soaking wet. Either that or go skinny dipping and she wasn't about to strip off in broad daylight when she didn't know who was around to see her. She thought on it for another moment and realized that if she went into the water to swim and simply never came back out then she wouldn't have to worry about the upholstery of her Skyline.
She imagined the water closing over her head, it's warmth would be comforting. She'd slowly run out of air and then she'd have to breath in but all that would be available to her would be water. She imagined that it would be like slowly going to sleep and never waking up again.
She took a step into the water and when the coolness of it hit her toes through her open toed sandals it brought her back to reality with a snap. She was beyond the point in her life where the idea of ending her life had much appeal, no matter how bleak things were. She knew better. And it likely would never be as pleasant as she'd let her imagination lead her to believe.
Besides, she was a strong swimmer and odds were she'd never let herself drown. She'd panic and swim to shore. She told herself she was being silly and rubbed the tears off her cheeks. She didn't know how they'd gotten there but she wasn't pleased about them none the less. She took off her sandals and tossed them up by the bank so she'd remember them on her way back.
She started off down the beach at a brisk jog and before she knew it she was running so fast her hair was flying straight out behind her. She ran full out for about 10 minutes before she came up on another girl on the beach. She hadn't expected to meet anyone. She slowed down and found she was actually out of breath. She almost never managed to get out of breath from running. She'd been the lead in so many ballets that she had to have a lot of stamina and it carried over into other things she did like running. She noticed the other girl had seen her and was heading her way.
"Hello." The girl called out. Kat looked her over. She was dark skinned, had long, curly, very dark red hair and the strangest eyes Kat had ever seen. They were some shade of purple.
"Heya." Kat answered back. It was a little known fact that she was shy around new people. She wanted to just turn around and run the other way instead of talk to this strange girl. If Kat had had friends or other people she knew around it would have been fine but meeting new people one on one was hard for her.
"How'd you get down here?" The girl asked.
"I ran." Kat answered. She didn't know what the other girl meant. And while the girl didn't seem mean, she didn't seem overly happy to have company either.
"I see that. I mean where'd you come from? This is a private beach."
"Yeah. I know. A friend of mine use to take me here and I guess I just came here because I had some thinking to do." About him. She added in her head.
"I see. Who's your friend? Cause this is my property, so I'd like to know who's bringing girls out here."
"Shit. Sorry. From the way Leon talked I figured you didn't live in California anymore. If I'd known you were still around I wouldn't have come without him." Kat was embarrassed.
"Leon? Leon use to bring you here? As in he brought you more then once?" The girl looked shocked.
"Yeah. Why?" Kat looked puzzled.
"Cause Leon never ever in all the time I knew him saw a girl more then once." The dark girl laughed, and then studied Kat intently. "I had a feeling you'd be blonde."
Kat looked at the dark girl, puzzled by her statement.
*~*
The girl was even prettier then Nyssa had thought she would be. She had the blonde hair that Leon seemed to fall for, white blonde and incredibly long, a very tiny figure, almost coltish, she wasn't very tall, but with incredibly long legs, big green cat's eyes, tilted up at the outer corners just enough to give her an exotic look, darkly tanned California sun lover skin, and it seemed she was a mechanic of some sort because she had grease under her nails. Figured Leon would fall for a mechanical girl. Nyssa got vibes of fun loving, but also deep sadness from the girl. She didn't think that she could be much older then the tiny girl in front of her but she felt like she was years older, figured she was years older mentally. Despite her small stature the attitude pouring off the blonde girl made her seem larger then she really was.
"What's your name?"
"Name's Kat. How do you know Leon?" Kat asked. The girl knew Leon pretty well it seemed. Kat didn't have any idea what the girl could have meant about thinking she'd be blonde.
"I'm Nyssa, Vince's ex."
"You're the girl who dumped Vince?" Kat asked. She cocked her head to the side to study the other woman, pale brows knitted together in concentration. The girl was pretty. No wonder coyote missed her. Something occurred to Kat then. This was the girl who'd hurt Vince so bad he didn't even date anymore.
Nyssa watched as the beautiful blonde's eyes narrowed into very feline slits. Her name suited her very well; the girl was so cat like it was uncanny. She'd run like a cat, very fast and graceful, she had the body of a feline, all supple muscle, lean sinue and barely concealed bones, and she acted like a feline too. Nyssa could almost hear Kat hissing out her anger. Something about finding out that she and Vince had been a couple obviously angered the other girl.
"Is there a problem?" Nyssa asked, getting mad. Who made it this girl's business what had happened between her and Vince? Why did Kat care? Had Kat gone after Vince since Nyssa had been gone? That didn't make sense when Kat had said she'd been with Leon, but something about finding out that Nyssa was Vince's ex had clearly pissed Kat off.
"Only that you're the idiot who dumped Vinnie." Kat practically hissed. Here was the girl who'd broken poor Vince's heart. Vince was very much looking like her hero after all the help he'd offered her and here was the girl who'd dumped him. Kat knew that Vince wanted another chance with this girl, but that didn't mean Kat had to like her right now.
"Idiot? Why am I an idiot for that? You don't know what happened! You weren't there." Nyssa was both intrigued and pissed off that this girl had dared to presume that she was at fault for her break up with Vince. "And when did he start going by Vinnie?" Or rather when did Leon's girl become close enough to Vince to have nick names for him?
"You're an idiot because you had a great guy like Vince and you dumped him and he doesn't go by Vinnie. I'm the only one who calls him that." Kat looked smug. "I can't believe you left Vince. You must be the stupidest person I've ever met. Just cause I wasn't there don't mean I don't know what happened." Kat was spoiling for a fight all of a sudden and she'd never been good at controlling her smart mouth. Kat's body coiled up to prepare for a battle.
Nyssa let her down. She didn't move in for the first strike like Kat would have if someone had said the same things to her. She sat down gracefully in the sand and kept talking. She didn't start throwing punches.
"What's so great about Vince? I can't believe you would leave Leon." Nyssa struck back verbally.
"What's great about Vince? He's steady as a rock. He's loyal to a fault. He takes care of people who need it. He cares about people. He'd never hurt someone he loved. Not like Leon. Leon takes little setbacks and turns them into screaming matches. Leon left me because the going got a bit tough. Vince's down for the ride, no matter what. It's obvious. Leon and Vince can't be compared. Leon left me not the other way around." Kat looked down at Nyssa.
Nyssa couldn't believe Kat would see Vince as a better catch then Leon. She decided to point out the reason why Vince was none of the things that Kat thought he was. Leon had never been anything but sweet to Nyssa. He'd even stuck his neck out for her with Vince and Dom on more then one occasion. Leon was too level headed to get into screaming matches. Unless of course his feelings for Kat had him thrown that far off.
"Well, in case your darling Vinnie didn't tell you, I found him in bed with another girl. I've never seen Leon raise his voice let alone get involved in a screaming match." It still hurt to bring it back up.
Kat couldn't believe even after all the time that had gone by the other girl still thought that Vince would have cheated on her with Letty. But the sadness on Nyssa's face was very real. Nyssa obviously believed she had caught Vince cheating on her.
"Well, Leon screamed at me. He literally flipped out. And Vince told me 'bout what happened. He also told me the girl was Letty and you didn't even wait for him to explain. You just yelled at him about how could he do that to you and took off." Kat couldn't believe the other girl was keeping her cool.
"I see. And finding Leon in bed with another girl wouldn't bother you." Nyssa knew that Kat was looking to fight but she wasn't that kind of person. She also didn't want to give the other girl the satisfaction. Kat answered her question as she joined her sitting in the sand.
"Not if the girl was my best friend and I knew that V had been looking out for her since she was like 10. It's what Vince does. He looks out for people he thinks need him to fight their battles because they can't do it themselves. And I don't have the right to care who Leon takes to his bed. He never took me there and we're not even really still together." It felt good to get it off her chest. She should hate the girl in front of her but she didn't. Oh, she was mad at her for what'd she'd done to Vince but she knew instinctively that Nyssa was a good listener and wouldn't spill her secrets. She didn't know how she knew that but she did. She also didn't know how Nyssa had made her forget she wanted to kick the living shit out of someone.
Nyssa cocked her head and looked at Kat speculatively. Nyssa very much wanted to know why it was that Kat and Leon were not together. Nyssa had seen Kat in Leon's future but she'd seen them as happily ever after, not getting broken up. She'd seen them on a roller coaster ride but not one that would see them broken up.
Nyssa had always been able to see things or sense things. It wasn't something she thought about too much or shared with too many people. But it was as much a part of her as her curly hair and her love of speed. Sometimes she saw glimpses of the future. It was patchy and didn't always show her things she wanted to know. Some called it the gift of Cassandra's tears. It wasn't always a gift, but it had helped Nyssa in the past. It was also sometimes almost more of a burden then she could bear.
She decided to see just what explanation Vince had given this girl for why they'd broken up. Kat seemed to have believed what ever it was whole heartedly.
"What reason did he give you for what Letty was doing in his bed then?"
"He told me that Letty and Dom had had a big fight. I'd believe it considering Letty almost fought me because she had some mistaken impression I wanted to go after Dom. As if. And Dom almost fought me too when we had an argument. I mean he almost hauled off and hit me that day. But anyway. So she'd fought with Dom and Vince says Dom didn't hit her. But Vince had a look on his face that made me wonder if he was covering for Dom. But Vince says while Dom didn't hit Letty he did throw her against a wall or something. So Letty ran out of the room. She ran right to the same person who'd had her back in her fights in high school and in all her other fights with Dom. Only this time had been different because Dom had never gotten really violent with her like that. Vince calmed her down and put her in his bed to sleep. Then he planned on going to talk or beat some sense into Dom but Letty wouldn't let him leave because she didn't want to be alone. He only planned on staying with her till she fell asleep but he fell asleep too. Then you walked in. And even though both of them had their clothes on and Letty was your best friend and Vince loved you, you accused him of cheating on you with Letty and took off on the whole team." Kat looked very sure of her story and Nyssa could tell she was not making it up.
Kat watched as Nyssa's pretty eyes filled with tears and she started to sob. She looked really heart broken.
"I really messed up."
"Yeah, you did." Kat still wasn't in much of a charitable mood.
Nyssa glared at her through the tears.
"But if it makes you feel better Vince still loves you. Loves you so much in fact that he hasn't been with any other girls since you left."
"Really?"
"Really." Kat answered with a smile. "You need to stop hiding from him and let the shit work out. Of course you owe him an apology. I bet that's a first. I'd bet he's done a lot of apologizing but I doubt you've ever had to apologize to him."
"Yeah, it is the first time I've ever had to." Nyssa smiled back. She felt better already. "And now you need to tell me the whole story of why you and Leon aren't a couple."
"It's a long story." Kat answered with a sigh.
"I got time." Nyssa told Kat encouragingly. "I'm really good with secrets and as you know I got no call to judge anyone on anything at this point." Nyssa smiled.
"Ok. Here goes." Kat told Nyssa the whole story. ".And he showed up at the club last night. But he didn't call or anything he just took a guess we'd be there. And I can just tell that something isn't right wit him. I mean, I guess we're not broken up again but it's only a matter of time. I know he hasn't let it go like he said he did and I can't go on like this. I'm going to have to end it. I don't want to because I want to be with Leon. But he only acts like he wants to be with me some of the time. I can't explain it any better then that. I'm so upset. It's tearing me up inside, and I can't take it anymore. I guess when people say I don't cope with shit well they're right after all. I just can't handle much more. Moving into a better neighbourhood was supposed to make my life easier instead I met Leon and my life's been nothing but more complicated ever since. I just can't do it anymore. It's gotten too bad. I thought about.Well, doing something stupid when I first got here." Kat blew some wisps of hair off her forehead.
"What's that?" Nyssa asked.
"Well, let's just say, I wonder if Heaven got a ghetto. Cause that's the neighbourhood I belong in, and well, if you know what I mean." Kat stuttered and obviously didn't want to come right out and tell the other girl what she was talking about. She avoided Nyssa's gaze by looking out over the blue water.
"I don't know what to tell you." Nyssa breathed out. It was a story that read like one of the soap opera's she'd gotten Leon addicted to. Kat had thought about ending her life over the whole situation? That's all she could have meant by wondering if heaven had a ghetto. She studied Kat in profile for a few seconds, noting the weariness on the slightly younger woman's face. "Maybe you need to just give him more time to come around, keep taking it slow."
"Maybe. But it's hard. I just still really really know I want to be with him but I don't think he feels the same way." Kat started to cry. She hung her head, hair hanging over her conflicted face. "I'm so confused. I'm just as confused now as I was before."
"You've forgiven him totally? For what he did and said that day? You're not giving him angry vibes or something and not picking up on them are you?"
"I don't think so. I've forgiven him." Kat looked within her heart and found it was true. She had forgiven Leon for what he'd done to her. But she didn't think Leon would honestly be able to look inside himself and answer he'd forgiven her. Kat didn't think he had and she was losing hope that he ever would.
"My only advice is to try and give him some more time to come around." Nyssa told the distraught girl in front of her. She wished she had a better answer for Kat but she didn't. She wished she knew what to say to someone who'd just admitted they'd thought of ending the spark of their life.
"Ok. I'll try. But only if you promise to go see Vinnie and put him out of his misery. He's so hurt that you didn't even trust him and he thinks you didn't even love him enough to ask him exactly what happened. That you thought so little of him you found it easy to believe he'd sleep with his best friend's girl who happened to be his girl's best friend." Kat found herself laughing. "And yes I know that makes little to no sense but I think you get it anyway."
Nyssa laughed back.
"I get it and I promise to give Vince a call so that we can meet on neutral ground and try to work it out. To be honest with you I've been missing him so much that I was almost to the point of forgiving him for what I'd thought he'd done and trying to get back with him anyway."
"Good. I really should go." Kat said with a glance at her watch. "My guys have no idea where I am."
"Guys?" Nyssa asked.
"Another long story." Kat giggled.
"I'll walk you to your car and you can tell me on the way." Nyssa stood up gracefully from the sand. The two girls walked off together and Kat told her all about her headlong flight across country and meeting her guys. She finished just as they were about to turn up the road the car was on.
"That's unreal." Nyssa told Kat after the story. Kat stopped and grabbed her flip flops off the edge of the sand and looked up at Nyssa.
"It's my life." Kat answered like she figured everyone had led a life like her. Kat's black beauty came into view.
"That's your car?" Nyssa asked, in shock.
"Yeah, it's my baby."
"I have one too." Nyssa was shocked to find another R34 had found it's way into the Toretto circle, no matter how unwelcome.
"No way!" Kat answered her.
"Yeah. My brother left it to me when he died. What year is yours?"
"It's a 99."
"Mine too!"
"What model is yours?" Kat asked.
"GT-R V-Spec. What's yours?"
"GT-R V-Spec II Nismo."
"Man. That has to be one of the rarest Skylines around. I bet it pisses Leon off to no end that you have a better Skyline then him."
"I don't think me having it was a problem but me beating him in a street race definitely was."
"You beat Leon in a street race?" Nyssa was in shock.
"I had no choice. They set up some Skyline race between Me, Leon and some kid. I couldn't back out. Racing's my life. I'd never have been taken seriously again."
"You race Dom yet?" Nyssa looked at Kat out of the corner of her eye.
"Nope, but I will. Someday soon too. I have to beat him. I just have to." Too much was riding on that race for Kat not to win it. She wouldn't allow herself to loose to Dom.
"You'd be the first in a long time. No one ever talks about a race he didn't win. He was so.I don't even know.So Dom that I just assumed he'd never lost."
"I know. I'm scared as hell I can't beat him. He's the great Dom Toretto. But I have to try and honestly I'll either beat him or die trying. I need to be the best in LA."
Nyssa nodded like she understood. Kat got in her car.
"Nice to meet you. I'm glad you and I talked and you didn't hold my being an idiot against me." Nyssa giggled.
"I'm so sorry I called you that." Kat blushed.
"Don't be. I was. I'll definitely see you around if you live across the street from the team."
"See you around then." With that Kat started her car and left, feeling good about the fact that at least Vince should be able to get back with his girl. The Kat realized that she hadn't told Nyssa about her 'close call' with Vince. She figured maybe that was for the best.
Nyssa stood watching the other Skyline drive off till she couldn't see it anymore. She had a lot of explaining to do and a lot of work to do if she was going to be able to see this thing with Kat and Leon put right. Finding out about Kat and her guys had at least made Kat's comment about belonging in the ghetto make sense. She walked off to her car and drove toward Echo Park. She figured she'd call Vince on her cell and make plans to meet him somewhere they could talk.
Chapter 45 - Wonder if Heaven got a ghetto?
Kat woke up the next day no more sure of what she had to do about her life and relationship with Leon then she had been the night before. She felt angry and upset. She knew she could take the head off anyone who crossed her.
She got up and dressed in short denim cutoffs, and a white singlet. She left the house with a terse 'later' for the guys and slid into the cockpit of the Skyline. She hit the freeway running and hit 150 within seconds of leaving the off ramp. She didn't even realize how fast she was going. All she was paying attention to was the other cars on the road with her.
Each one was seen as an obstacle, just something in her way, something trying to slow her down, interfere with her speed, her rush, her drug. She was darting in and out between the other cars on the road like they were standing still. Most people she passed didn't even have time to do more then register that they'd been passed by a black car with round tail lights.
Kat had her stereo cranked up so loud she couldn't even hear herself think, which was the point, and before she knew it, it was blasting out 'Shut up'. She caught herself singing along to the song as she darted in and out and shifted gears, her chrome rims spinning so fast they were nothing but a blur, her engine growling like the tiger that was painted on it's bonnet. She was driving on instinct alone and running on purest adrenaline.
While she sang along she started to allow herself to think back over the time she'd known Leon.
iWe try to take it slow but we're still loosing control and we tried to make it work but it still ends up the worst and I'm crazyyyyyy for tryin to be your lady. I think I'm goin crazy./i
They'd never cared about slow at first, things had been moving incredibly fast and for the first time ever Kat hadn't cared that she hadn't been in complete control over an aspect of her life. Leon was the X factor. She couldn't control him at all, and rather then that fact making her look for ways she could, she just revelled in the out of controlness of the situation. Sean was right, her life was all about control. She'd lived a crazy life with no control for so long that it made her scared to live that way ever again.
Then things got bad, and rather then give up they decided to try and take it slow. She'd tried to make it work but it really was looking like things were worse then ever at the point they'd reached. Kat felt like she was at some sort of crossroads. If a decision wasn't made, or something wasn't done she didn't know what would happen.
iGirl me'n you was just fine, you know? We wined and dined, did them things that couples do when in love, you know? Walks on the beach and stuff you know?/i
Before everything changed everything had been so good. Every time Kat had gone out with Leon it was almost like he'd given her back some of her normalcy. She'd been able to just be a girl. She hadn't had to be tough, or a leader. She'd just been able to be a girl. She was hardly ever able to just be a normal girl. She always had to be a leader for her team or tough, trying to keep her status. Her life was all about status, out of necessity. She'd had to be tough enough to keep her safe. Plus she'd never been able to trust men's motive for wanting to be with her. She'd known most of them were just trying to improve their own status and she wasn't willing to be that girl.
She'd known that to Leon their relationship was just about them. He didn't need her status. Where he was from his team already had more. He didn't need her, he had lots of girls waiting for his attention. He'd just wanted her. That was the quintessential difference right there. So many of the guys who'd asked her out in the past needed her for what they though she could give them. Leon didn't need anything from her, he just wanted what she wanted to give because he was intrigued by her.
iWe try to take it slow but we're still loosing control and we tried to make it work but it still ends up the worst and I'm crazyyyyyy for tryin to be your lady. I think I'm goin crazy./i
It had seemed like he'd wanted to take things slow with her too, right from the start. It had been Kat that had wanted to jump in both feet first. But that was her modus operendi anyway. She always jumped into things as fast as she could and most things had a way of working out. She always landed on her feet. "Merow" she said out loud and giggled despite herself.
She narrowly missed a transfer truck and swerved for a second before she recovered control. She wondered if she had 9 lives too as she fought to keep the car from spinning out. She fought down panic as she tried not to burn out on the busy, rushing freeway. She knew if she spun out she was as good as dead. She kept the car going in a mostly straight line by years of practise and innate skill only.
Once she was back on top of the situation she tore away. Instead of slowing down to 'reasonable' speeds to try and avoid another such incident, she sped up to get away from the people who'd seen her loose control. She never lost control and it wouldn't do for anyone to know she had. The irate trucker honked as she sped away and became nothing but a black blur on the horizon of the road.
iWhy does emotion gotta move so fast? Love is progress if you could make it last. Why is it that you just lose control, every time you agree on taking it slow?/i
If she could answer that question life would be good.
She hit the next button on her stereo violently. She didn't want to think about the lyrics of that song anymore. It hit too close to home. She was beginning to think she was crazy for trying to be with Leon. One thing that had become clear to her last night that no matter how cool he tried to convince her he was with what had gone down, no matter how willing to put it in the past he said he was, he wasn't and it showed.
It showed when she let herself look for it.
She didn't know how to move past it. She scanned over a few more songs, settling on some Ludacris track.
Without realizing it she'd ended up at the beach Leon had taken to her before. She hoped the girl Leon had said owned it wouldn't mind if she went for a walk because she felt like a good sprint to try and figure shit out.
Kat figured based on how Leon talked about that girl she was long gone and living somewhere else. Kat knew if she owned land like that of this beach she'd live there. But the land was barren except for a low building with a garage door on the front. It looked like it hadn't been used in some time. She parked the Skyline down the same road Leon had always used and got out.
She stood at the waters edge looking out over the cerulean surface of the water toward the distant horizon. The water looked warm, inviting. She contemplated walking in and taking a swim. She told herself that she shouldn't because she'd have to drive home soaking wet. Either that or go skinny dipping and she wasn't about to strip off in broad daylight when she didn't know who was around to see her. She thought on it for another moment and realized that if she went into the water to swim and simply never came back out then she wouldn't have to worry about the upholstery of her Skyline.
She imagined the water closing over her head, it's warmth would be comforting. She'd slowly run out of air and then she'd have to breath in but all that would be available to her would be water. She imagined that it would be like slowly going to sleep and never waking up again.
She took a step into the water and when the coolness of it hit her toes through her open toed sandals it brought her back to reality with a snap. She was beyond the point in her life where the idea of ending her life had much appeal, no matter how bleak things were. She knew better. And it likely would never be as pleasant as she'd let her imagination lead her to believe.
Besides, she was a strong swimmer and odds were she'd never let herself drown. She'd panic and swim to shore. She told herself she was being silly and rubbed the tears off her cheeks. She didn't know how they'd gotten there but she wasn't pleased about them none the less. She took off her sandals and tossed them up by the bank so she'd remember them on her way back.
She started off down the beach at a brisk jog and before she knew it she was running so fast her hair was flying straight out behind her. She ran full out for about 10 minutes before she came up on another girl on the beach. She hadn't expected to meet anyone. She slowed down and found she was actually out of breath. She almost never managed to get out of breath from running. She'd been the lead in so many ballets that she had to have a lot of stamina and it carried over into other things she did like running. She noticed the other girl had seen her and was heading her way.
"Hello." The girl called out. Kat looked her over. She was dark skinned, had long, curly, very dark red hair and the strangest eyes Kat had ever seen. They were some shade of purple.
"Heya." Kat answered back. It was a little known fact that she was shy around new people. She wanted to just turn around and run the other way instead of talk to this strange girl. If Kat had had friends or other people she knew around it would have been fine but meeting new people one on one was hard for her.
"How'd you get down here?" The girl asked.
"I ran." Kat answered. She didn't know what the other girl meant. And while the girl didn't seem mean, she didn't seem overly happy to have company either.
"I see that. I mean where'd you come from? This is a private beach."
"Yeah. I know. A friend of mine use to take me here and I guess I just came here because I had some thinking to do." About him. She added in her head.
"I see. Who's your friend? Cause this is my property, so I'd like to know who's bringing girls out here."
"Shit. Sorry. From the way Leon talked I figured you didn't live in California anymore. If I'd known you were still around I wouldn't have come without him." Kat was embarrassed.
"Leon? Leon use to bring you here? As in he brought you more then once?" The girl looked shocked.
"Yeah. Why?" Kat looked puzzled.
"Cause Leon never ever in all the time I knew him saw a girl more then once." The dark girl laughed, and then studied Kat intently. "I had a feeling you'd be blonde."
Kat looked at the dark girl, puzzled by her statement.
*~*
The girl was even prettier then Nyssa had thought she would be. She had the blonde hair that Leon seemed to fall for, white blonde and incredibly long, a very tiny figure, almost coltish, she wasn't very tall, but with incredibly long legs, big green cat's eyes, tilted up at the outer corners just enough to give her an exotic look, darkly tanned California sun lover skin, and it seemed she was a mechanic of some sort because she had grease under her nails. Figured Leon would fall for a mechanical girl. Nyssa got vibes of fun loving, but also deep sadness from the girl. She didn't think that she could be much older then the tiny girl in front of her but she felt like she was years older, figured she was years older mentally. Despite her small stature the attitude pouring off the blonde girl made her seem larger then she really was.
"What's your name?"
"Name's Kat. How do you know Leon?" Kat asked. The girl knew Leon pretty well it seemed. Kat didn't have any idea what the girl could have meant about thinking she'd be blonde.
"I'm Nyssa, Vince's ex."
"You're the girl who dumped Vince?" Kat asked. She cocked her head to the side to study the other woman, pale brows knitted together in concentration. The girl was pretty. No wonder coyote missed her. Something occurred to Kat then. This was the girl who'd hurt Vince so bad he didn't even date anymore.
Nyssa watched as the beautiful blonde's eyes narrowed into very feline slits. Her name suited her very well; the girl was so cat like it was uncanny. She'd run like a cat, very fast and graceful, she had the body of a feline, all supple muscle, lean sinue and barely concealed bones, and she acted like a feline too. Nyssa could almost hear Kat hissing out her anger. Something about finding out that she and Vince had been a couple obviously angered the other girl.
"Is there a problem?" Nyssa asked, getting mad. Who made it this girl's business what had happened between her and Vince? Why did Kat care? Had Kat gone after Vince since Nyssa had been gone? That didn't make sense when Kat had said she'd been with Leon, but something about finding out that Nyssa was Vince's ex had clearly pissed Kat off.
"Only that you're the idiot who dumped Vinnie." Kat practically hissed. Here was the girl who'd broken poor Vince's heart. Vince was very much looking like her hero after all the help he'd offered her and here was the girl who'd dumped him. Kat knew that Vince wanted another chance with this girl, but that didn't mean Kat had to like her right now.
"Idiot? Why am I an idiot for that? You don't know what happened! You weren't there." Nyssa was both intrigued and pissed off that this girl had dared to presume that she was at fault for her break up with Vince. "And when did he start going by Vinnie?" Or rather when did Leon's girl become close enough to Vince to have nick names for him?
"You're an idiot because you had a great guy like Vince and you dumped him and he doesn't go by Vinnie. I'm the only one who calls him that." Kat looked smug. "I can't believe you left Vince. You must be the stupidest person I've ever met. Just cause I wasn't there don't mean I don't know what happened." Kat was spoiling for a fight all of a sudden and she'd never been good at controlling her smart mouth. Kat's body coiled up to prepare for a battle.
Nyssa let her down. She didn't move in for the first strike like Kat would have if someone had said the same things to her. She sat down gracefully in the sand and kept talking. She didn't start throwing punches.
"What's so great about Vince? I can't believe you would leave Leon." Nyssa struck back verbally.
"What's great about Vince? He's steady as a rock. He's loyal to a fault. He takes care of people who need it. He cares about people. He'd never hurt someone he loved. Not like Leon. Leon takes little setbacks and turns them into screaming matches. Leon left me because the going got a bit tough. Vince's down for the ride, no matter what. It's obvious. Leon and Vince can't be compared. Leon left me not the other way around." Kat looked down at Nyssa.
Nyssa couldn't believe Kat would see Vince as a better catch then Leon. She decided to point out the reason why Vince was none of the things that Kat thought he was. Leon had never been anything but sweet to Nyssa. He'd even stuck his neck out for her with Vince and Dom on more then one occasion. Leon was too level headed to get into screaming matches. Unless of course his feelings for Kat had him thrown that far off.
"Well, in case your darling Vinnie didn't tell you, I found him in bed with another girl. I've never seen Leon raise his voice let alone get involved in a screaming match." It still hurt to bring it back up.
Kat couldn't believe even after all the time that had gone by the other girl still thought that Vince would have cheated on her with Letty. But the sadness on Nyssa's face was very real. Nyssa obviously believed she had caught Vince cheating on her.
"Well, Leon screamed at me. He literally flipped out. And Vince told me 'bout what happened. He also told me the girl was Letty and you didn't even wait for him to explain. You just yelled at him about how could he do that to you and took off." Kat couldn't believe the other girl was keeping her cool.
"I see. And finding Leon in bed with another girl wouldn't bother you." Nyssa knew that Kat was looking to fight but she wasn't that kind of person. She also didn't want to give the other girl the satisfaction. Kat answered her question as she joined her sitting in the sand.
"Not if the girl was my best friend and I knew that V had been looking out for her since she was like 10. It's what Vince does. He looks out for people he thinks need him to fight their battles because they can't do it themselves. And I don't have the right to care who Leon takes to his bed. He never took me there and we're not even really still together." It felt good to get it off her chest. She should hate the girl in front of her but she didn't. Oh, she was mad at her for what'd she'd done to Vince but she knew instinctively that Nyssa was a good listener and wouldn't spill her secrets. She didn't know how she knew that but she did. She also didn't know how Nyssa had made her forget she wanted to kick the living shit out of someone.
Nyssa cocked her head and looked at Kat speculatively. Nyssa very much wanted to know why it was that Kat and Leon were not together. Nyssa had seen Kat in Leon's future but she'd seen them as happily ever after, not getting broken up. She'd seen them on a roller coaster ride but not one that would see them broken up.
Nyssa had always been able to see things or sense things. It wasn't something she thought about too much or shared with too many people. But it was as much a part of her as her curly hair and her love of speed. Sometimes she saw glimpses of the future. It was patchy and didn't always show her things she wanted to know. Some called it the gift of Cassandra's tears. It wasn't always a gift, but it had helped Nyssa in the past. It was also sometimes almost more of a burden then she could bear.
She decided to see just what explanation Vince had given this girl for why they'd broken up. Kat seemed to have believed what ever it was whole heartedly.
"What reason did he give you for what Letty was doing in his bed then?"
"He told me that Letty and Dom had had a big fight. I'd believe it considering Letty almost fought me because she had some mistaken impression I wanted to go after Dom. As if. And Dom almost fought me too when we had an argument. I mean he almost hauled off and hit me that day. But anyway. So she'd fought with Dom and Vince says Dom didn't hit her. But Vince had a look on his face that made me wonder if he was covering for Dom. But Vince says while Dom didn't hit Letty he did throw her against a wall or something. So Letty ran out of the room. She ran right to the same person who'd had her back in her fights in high school and in all her other fights with Dom. Only this time had been different because Dom had never gotten really violent with her like that. Vince calmed her down and put her in his bed to sleep. Then he planned on going to talk or beat some sense into Dom but Letty wouldn't let him leave because she didn't want to be alone. He only planned on staying with her till she fell asleep but he fell asleep too. Then you walked in. And even though both of them had their clothes on and Letty was your best friend and Vince loved you, you accused him of cheating on you with Letty and took off on the whole team." Kat looked very sure of her story and Nyssa could tell she was not making it up.
Kat watched as Nyssa's pretty eyes filled with tears and she started to sob. She looked really heart broken.
"I really messed up."
"Yeah, you did." Kat still wasn't in much of a charitable mood.
Nyssa glared at her through the tears.
"But if it makes you feel better Vince still loves you. Loves you so much in fact that he hasn't been with any other girls since you left."
"Really?"
"Really." Kat answered with a smile. "You need to stop hiding from him and let the shit work out. Of course you owe him an apology. I bet that's a first. I'd bet he's done a lot of apologizing but I doubt you've ever had to apologize to him."
"Yeah, it is the first time I've ever had to." Nyssa smiled back. She felt better already. "And now you need to tell me the whole story of why you and Leon aren't a couple."
"It's a long story." Kat answered with a sigh.
"I got time." Nyssa told Kat encouragingly. "I'm really good with secrets and as you know I got no call to judge anyone on anything at this point." Nyssa smiled.
"Ok. Here goes." Kat told Nyssa the whole story. ".And he showed up at the club last night. But he didn't call or anything he just took a guess we'd be there. And I can just tell that something isn't right wit him. I mean, I guess we're not broken up again but it's only a matter of time. I know he hasn't let it go like he said he did and I can't go on like this. I'm going to have to end it. I don't want to because I want to be with Leon. But he only acts like he wants to be with me some of the time. I can't explain it any better then that. I'm so upset. It's tearing me up inside, and I can't take it anymore. I guess when people say I don't cope with shit well they're right after all. I just can't handle much more. Moving into a better neighbourhood was supposed to make my life easier instead I met Leon and my life's been nothing but more complicated ever since. I just can't do it anymore. It's gotten too bad. I thought about.Well, doing something stupid when I first got here." Kat blew some wisps of hair off her forehead.
"What's that?" Nyssa asked.
"Well, let's just say, I wonder if Heaven got a ghetto. Cause that's the neighbourhood I belong in, and well, if you know what I mean." Kat stuttered and obviously didn't want to come right out and tell the other girl what she was talking about. She avoided Nyssa's gaze by looking out over the blue water.
"I don't know what to tell you." Nyssa breathed out. It was a story that read like one of the soap opera's she'd gotten Leon addicted to. Kat had thought about ending her life over the whole situation? That's all she could have meant by wondering if heaven had a ghetto. She studied Kat in profile for a few seconds, noting the weariness on the slightly younger woman's face. "Maybe you need to just give him more time to come around, keep taking it slow."
"Maybe. But it's hard. I just still really really know I want to be with him but I don't think he feels the same way." Kat started to cry. She hung her head, hair hanging over her conflicted face. "I'm so confused. I'm just as confused now as I was before."
"You've forgiven him totally? For what he did and said that day? You're not giving him angry vibes or something and not picking up on them are you?"
"I don't think so. I've forgiven him." Kat looked within her heart and found it was true. She had forgiven Leon for what he'd done to her. But she didn't think Leon would honestly be able to look inside himself and answer he'd forgiven her. Kat didn't think he had and she was losing hope that he ever would.
"My only advice is to try and give him some more time to come around." Nyssa told the distraught girl in front of her. She wished she had a better answer for Kat but she didn't. She wished she knew what to say to someone who'd just admitted they'd thought of ending the spark of their life.
"Ok. I'll try. But only if you promise to go see Vinnie and put him out of his misery. He's so hurt that you didn't even trust him and he thinks you didn't even love him enough to ask him exactly what happened. That you thought so little of him you found it easy to believe he'd sleep with his best friend's girl who happened to be his girl's best friend." Kat found herself laughing. "And yes I know that makes little to no sense but I think you get it anyway."
Nyssa laughed back.
"I get it and I promise to give Vince a call so that we can meet on neutral ground and try to work it out. To be honest with you I've been missing him so much that I was almost to the point of forgiving him for what I'd thought he'd done and trying to get back with him anyway."
"Good. I really should go." Kat said with a glance at her watch. "My guys have no idea where I am."
"Guys?" Nyssa asked.
"Another long story." Kat giggled.
"I'll walk you to your car and you can tell me on the way." Nyssa stood up gracefully from the sand. The two girls walked off together and Kat told her all about her headlong flight across country and meeting her guys. She finished just as they were about to turn up the road the car was on.
"That's unreal." Nyssa told Kat after the story. Kat stopped and grabbed her flip flops off the edge of the sand and looked up at Nyssa.
"It's my life." Kat answered like she figured everyone had led a life like her. Kat's black beauty came into view.
"That's your car?" Nyssa asked, in shock.
"Yeah, it's my baby."
"I have one too." Nyssa was shocked to find another R34 had found it's way into the Toretto circle, no matter how unwelcome.
"No way!" Kat answered her.
"Yeah. My brother left it to me when he died. What year is yours?"
"It's a 99."
"Mine too!"
"What model is yours?" Kat asked.
"GT-R V-Spec. What's yours?"
"GT-R V-Spec II Nismo."
"Man. That has to be one of the rarest Skylines around. I bet it pisses Leon off to no end that you have a better Skyline then him."
"I don't think me having it was a problem but me beating him in a street race definitely was."
"You beat Leon in a street race?" Nyssa was in shock.
"I had no choice. They set up some Skyline race between Me, Leon and some kid. I couldn't back out. Racing's my life. I'd never have been taken seriously again."
"You race Dom yet?" Nyssa looked at Kat out of the corner of her eye.
"Nope, but I will. Someday soon too. I have to beat him. I just have to." Too much was riding on that race for Kat not to win it. She wouldn't allow herself to loose to Dom.
"You'd be the first in a long time. No one ever talks about a race he didn't win. He was so.I don't even know.So Dom that I just assumed he'd never lost."
"I know. I'm scared as hell I can't beat him. He's the great Dom Toretto. But I have to try and honestly I'll either beat him or die trying. I need to be the best in LA."
Nyssa nodded like she understood. Kat got in her car.
"Nice to meet you. I'm glad you and I talked and you didn't hold my being an idiot against me." Nyssa giggled.
"I'm so sorry I called you that." Kat blushed.
"Don't be. I was. I'll definitely see you around if you live across the street from the team."
"See you around then." With that Kat started her car and left, feeling good about the fact that at least Vince should be able to get back with his girl. The Kat realized that she hadn't told Nyssa about her 'close call' with Vince. She figured maybe that was for the best.
Nyssa stood watching the other Skyline drive off till she couldn't see it anymore. She had a lot of explaining to do and a lot of work to do if she was going to be able to see this thing with Kat and Leon put right. Finding out about Kat and her guys had at least made Kat's comment about belonging in the ghetto make sense. She walked off to her car and drove toward Echo Park. She figured she'd call Vince on her cell and make plans to meet him somewhere they could talk.