Author's Note: Decided to do a two for one tonight. This is a brief chapter with Dom and Letty. Working on the Chevelle
Chapter 13
It was a Friday night and for the first time in a few weeks Letty found herself working late at the garage. They'd closed up a couple of hours ago but she'd asked if she could stick around to put in some wrench time on the Chevelle and start getting her prepped to prime and paint. They'd been so busy with regular work that she hadn't had any time to work on it, and most weekends she found herself out with Dom or Mia or both of them or at the races.
Not that she was complaining about any of that, but she was ready to start driving her own car to the races and not having to bum rides off Dom, Vince or Hector anymore. Shotgun was okay but driver's seat was infinitely better.
She was just getting out the power sander to buff off the old paint and rust when she heard the back door. She straightened up, then relaxed when she saw Dom come into the shop.
"Hey," she said. "I thought you went home."
"Did," he said. "Showered and ate then decided to come back and give you a hand."
He came up beside her, brushing loose strands of hair from the back of her neck to press a kiss there.
"If you're here just to distract me you can go," she laughed, elbowing him away. "I really want to get this done."
"I'm here to help I swear," he grinned and reached over to take the other sander, hooking it together. "I'll start at the back and you can take the front?"
"Sure," she agreed, biting down on the naughty joke that wanted to come up. If she started that shit they really wouldn't get anything done.
She slipped on a pair of protective goggles and tossed another pair to Dom before moving to the front of the car. For a while they worked, the sound of the sanders on metal and the faint music still trickling out of the beat up old stereo the only sounds. Letty wasn't sure how long she'd been at it when she finally straightened up to stretch, her back screaming from being bent over for hours. After a full day of school and work. She felt it down to her bones. And her stomach was growling.
She sighed and observed the car. They were getting there, but it had a few coats of primer and more sanding to go before it was ready to paint. At least there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
She looked up when Dom shut off his own sander and looked over at her. "Ready to call it a night?" he asked her.
"Yeah. I need to eat."
They put the tools away and locked up the shop before heading outside where they got into Dom's car.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked.
"Just burgers is good," she told him and he drove to a nearby place they liked. They ordered and ate sitting outside at one of the picnic tables sandwiched between the shop and a neighborhood park.
They didn't talk about much, Letty wasn't interested in rehashing how classes were going and they both knew how busy the shop was. But it was okay just to sit together sometimes without anything to say. If you couldn't be comfortable without someone else's silence then you probably weren't really comfortable with them, or maybe just yourself.
When they were done Dom took Letty home.
"You coming over?" he asked as she climbed out of the passenger side.
She considered. She was damn tired, but the shower she was about to grab would refresh her and she preferred to be over at the Torettos' house on the weekends anyway, when her mother was most likely to be hitting the bottle again.
"Yeah. I'll be there in a bit," she agreed, then disappeared into the house.
After a shower and a change of clothes she walked down the block and went in the back door, which was always open.
"Hey Letty," Mr. Toretto said from where he was washing dishes at the sink. "I think the kids were talking about starting up a movie if you want to head on in." He motioned to the other room.
She nodded and went in to join them. Vince and Mia were arguing about what to watch without much input from Dom but they all looked up when she came in.
"Let, decide for us," Vince said. "I want to watch Face Off, and Mia is voting for Titanic."
Letty gave her friend an apologetic look. "I don't want to watch Leonardo DiCaprio having a doomed romance, so I'm going to go with Nick Cage and John Travolta, Sorry."
"Oh come on," Mia complained to Vince. "You knew she'd side with you!"
He laughed victoriously but put the DVD in question in the player while Mia grudgingly went to go make them popcorn.
Letty settled down with Dom on the couch and he put his arm around her. She burrowed her nose against his chest and fought a yawn as the previews started. He smelled like the soap he used, the faint bit of cologne she'd mentioned liking one day at the shop and still vaguely like motor oil. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear. He was warm and comfortable and her eyes slipped closed.
She was sound asleep before the movie even started.