Gabriella's body shook that night, it shook until she could no longer hold her eyes open. Her brother, her hero, was now gone. They took him. She was certain that they were going to let him go but it didn't happen like that, they didn't even give him a chance. Vince rushed her out of the courtroom before she could even say goodbye to her brother. She kicked and screamed until her lungs gave out on her. She fought him all the way to the car as he put her in the front seat, fastening her seatbelt and driving away. Which brought them home, she laid in her bed not speaking, not eating, not doing anything. Her body shook but she wasn't cold, she was exhausted. She felt Mia's hand come across her forehead moving her hair out of the way as she climbed into the bed with her. She felt her sisters arms come around her body pulling the blanket up around them. "I love you Gabby." Mia whispered. The room was silent as Gabriella kept her eyes closed. She squeezed them shut knowing the dreams were going to come, she fought the sleep that was taking over her, but it was too strong. As she let the sleep take over Dom was the only thing on her mind. "I miss him." She whispered.
Two weeks later:
Gabriella stood outside waiting for Jesse to take her to school. She didn't fight him anymore about walking to school, it was definitely safer with him driving her. She felt the need to do everything by herself, like she needed to prove that she could get by on her own. She smiled at him as he shut the front door behind him.
"Sorry, I had to deal with Vince being an ass this morning." He replied putting his beanie on top of his head.
"Jess, it's like eighty degrees out here, why are you wearing that thing?"
"It's my style. "
Gabriella began to laugh. "Right, my bad."
"How much longer do I have to do this?" Jesse smirked.
"You're an asshole you know that? You offered to drive me, so you need to stop complaining." She threw open his door. "And it's a month."
"You know you can skip all the sass and just answer the question, it would be a lot easier."
"Jess…" Gabriella went to say something. "Just get in the car."
"Not until you say you are sorry." He stood at the driver's door refusing to get in.
"You are wasting your own time, I don't care if I go to school or not."
"You are such a pain in my ass sometimes." He threw open his door.
"But you love me." Gabriella smiled. She fixed her hair in the mirror as he looked over at her.
"I guess so." He started the car as she giggled at him. "I do love seeing you smile again."
She looked down at her hands. "You going to see him today?"
"Yeah, I think me and Vince were going to go down there. Its only two hours away, maybe we could all go this weekend."
"He told Vince he didn't want me to down there."
"I just think he is having a hard time with it right now."
"We all are Jess, he is just trying to make it go away and it's not going to do that."
"Well we won't be back till later, so can you please try and stay out of trouble tonight?"
She smiled over at him. "Me and Brianna are hanging out tonight thank you, so don't you worry about me."
"No racing." He pointed his finger at her.
"No racing." She smirked nodding her head.
"Mia said she would pick you up today if you wanted." He stopped the car.
"I got it Jess, you guys have fun today. Tell him I said hello."
"Do you have anything you want me to give him?"
"Nope." She got out of the car slamming the door behind her. She tried to contain herself before walking into the school. She knew Jesse was watching her as she walked in, so she tried not to draw any attention to herself. She smiled as she saw Johnny standing in the doorway.
"Hey you." She replied softly. He waited for her to come around the corner before grabbing her and kissing her softly.
"We still on for tonight?" He asked grabbing her hand in his.
"Yep, they will be in Lompoc so it's just Mia and Letty home."
"What did you tell them?"
"I was hanging out with Brianna."
He smiled down at her as he kissed her hand. "I will pick you up at Brianna's house then?"
"Yep."
"You sure you want to learn today?"
"I have been putting it off and off for about three weeks now, it's time."
"It's okay to not want to learn to drive since what happened…"
"Johnny." She stopped him. "Let it go."
He nodded his head at her. She sighed as she moved her book bag to the other side of her body. "Let me get that." He took the bag from her before kissing her one last time. "Let's go, I am sure you are dying to hear what Mr. Chapman has to say today."
Gabriella began to laugh. "We need to introduce Bri to Jake tonight, I think they would hit it off together."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I think he isn't so tough. I really think he has a good heart."
"Like me?" He smirked at her.
"Ha!" Gabriella mocked. He pushed her slightly before bringing her back into his arms wrapping them around her.
"Nice of you two to join us. Please take a seat so I can get started with my class." Mr. Chapman caught their attention causing Gabriella to pull away from Johnny and walk to her seat. She smiled the entire time she sat down looking over at Brianna who was snickering in her hands. "Now, we left off yesterday with Romeo and Juliet, who would like to tell me the irony of Mercutio when he says…"
"You still coming tonight?" Gabriella whispered over to her friend.
"Of course."
"There is a guy name Jake, I want you to meet him,"
"There will be no blind dates tonight."
"Ladies!" Mr. Chapman yelled causing Gabriella to sit up straight. They didn't speak for the rest of the class but she couldn't stop staring at the boy she now called her boyfriend. He looked behind him smiling at her.
Gabriella waited outside the school for her sister to arrive to pick her up. This was how it went every day for two weeks now, Jesse dropped her off and Mia picked her up. They looked at her like she was going to break or explode. They treated her like she was some mental patient that just got out of rehab. She was annoyed with it. Her brother was just sent to prison, she could deal with that.
"Sorry I am late. Traffic was backed up. You ready to go?" Mia had the window rolled down. Gabriella nodded her head climbing into the front seat. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yes." She shook her head staring out the window.
"Vince and Jesse made it to Lompoc okay, they just arrived a few minutes ago. I think they said they are going to stay the night there and go back and see Dom tomorrow."
"Good for them Mia..."
"Gab…"
"I need to get home and get ready to go over to Brianna's tonight."
"I am glad you are back hanging with your friends? I'm sure they are happy to see you too."
"Can you drive please?"
"How about tomorrow me and you hang out? We could go to lunch and then do some shopping?"
Gabriella didn't respond. She heard her sister sigh beside her.
"That's fine." She finally replied. "I would like that."
"You got a letter today in the mail." Mia replied pulling the envelope out of her purse. Gabriella looked down at it before taking in her hands and setting it in her lap. "You going to read it?"
"I will read it later."
Thank God the school was only ten minutes from the house. Gabriella was tired of talking. She just wanted to get up to her room and lay down for a few minutes before getting ready to go out that night. She jumped out of the car as soon as Mia put it in park. She threw her book bag over her shoulder and ran up to the house.
"Hey Gab…" Letty started but Gabriella rushed past her and up the stairs. "I'm good. How are you? Oh I'm fine." Mia walked in throwing her purse on the couch before plopping down herself.
"If this is punishment for being sixteen and treating my mother like shit then I apologize for everything I ever did to her."
"That bad?"
"I was never this bad."
"Well it was two years ago."
"She's just so angry all the time now. Like you speak to her, you get your head bit off."
"Just give her some time, she's young and just lost her father and her brother. It must suck."
"It sucks having to grow up that fast too." Mia slapped her hand on the couch before getting up. "Want to grab dinner tonight? She is going off with Brianna."
"Sure."
Gabriella moved upstairs throwing her book bag onto her bed before opening one of her drawers of her dresser and sticking the letter in under her pants. She looked down, there were four letters unopened waiting for her to read but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She just shut the drawer and walked away. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, found Johnny's number and dialed it.
"Hey, you want to go somewhere? Like right now? I just don't want to be in this house right now…I am fine, I just need to get out…okay. I will see you in a few minutes." She closed the phone holding it to her chest as she moved over to her closet. She changed her shirt before looking in the mirror and fixing her makeup. She heard his engine as she grabbed her purse before moving downstairs.
"Where are you going? I thought you weren't…" Mia started.
"I just need to talk to him for a second." Gabriella interrupted.
Mia sighed. "You know what Dom said…"
"I know that and that is fine, but I just need to talk to him."
"About what? What is there to talk to him about?"
"Life Mia, I just want to talk about life. Let me do this, I will be back in thirty minutes."
"Gab…"
"Let her go." Letty chimed in. "Thirty minutes, not a minute later."
Gabriella nodded her head looking over at Mia. "Fine." She spat. "You better not be late. You go for a walk, I don't want you riding with him."
She nodded her head. "Okay he is waiting, can I go?"
"Yes." Mia rolled her eyes walking away. Gabriella gave Letty a soft smile before quickly moving to the door before Mia could change her mind. She hurried down the stairs to Johnny's car.
"Hop in." He had the window rolled down.
"I can't, Mia is only letting me do this if we walk…"
"You're serious?"
"Very."
"Okay." He sighed turning the car off and climbing out. She wrapped her arms around his waist knowing Mia was watching. He smiled as he leaned down kissing her on top of the head. "Let's walk." She kept her hands around his waist as they began to walk down the street together. "So what's going on?"
"I've gotten four letters from Dom and I haven't opened one of them."
"Why?"
"Because I am so angry with him."
"It's okay to be angry."
"Is it? I mean he did what he did and that's fine, I think if I would have saw Linder too I would have flipped but he didn't even say goodbye. He didn't even look at me once in that court room. He doesn't want me to come see him, all I get are these damn letters. I don't know what they expect me to do Johnny, I am just sixteen years old. I can't do this anymore."
"You are one of the strongest people that I know Gab, don't think that you aren't."
"Maybe I am tired of being strong."
They stopped walking as he turned her towards him. He grabbed her by the shoulders. "You have been through so much these past couple of weeks that no one should go through especially at sixteen years old, you are allowed to be upset, you are allowed to be angry. Do not think for a second that you have to be strong all the time."
Gabriella nodded her head. "I just can't do it anymore." She bowed her head as the tears streamed down her face. "It's just too hard."
He sighed as he pulled her into his arms wrapping them around her. She cried in his chest until she couldn't cry anymore. After a few moments she lifted her head from his chest and smiled. She let out a little laugh when she saw that the front of his shirt was wet where she was hugging him.
"It's okay," He laughed. "It's just tears."
"Thank you." She whispered. He nodded his head before leaning down and kissing her softly. This wasn't a regular kiss, this one lingered. She stood up on her tippy toes as he deepened the kiss wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Gabriella!" Mia yelled. Gabriella jerked away from Johnny as she turned around, red faced to face her sister. Letty had the biggest smile on her face as Mia glared at her. "Get in the car!"
"Mia!" Gabriella yelled.
"NOW!"
Gabriella looked up at Johnny with an embarrassed look on face. He nodded his head at her. "Go on, it's okay. I will see you later." He whispered. She nodded her head at him as she slowly started her way over to the car.
"You said thirty minutes Gabriella, and it's been forty five, what do I find you doing? Making out on the side of the street."
Gabriella tried to control her laughter as she looked at Letty in the mirror. "You think this is funny?" Mia turned around. Gabriella quickly stopped as she shook her head. "I'm not dealing with this El, not while Dom is gone."
"Oh stop it. You act like you are my mother. Newsflash you aren't."
They pulled up to the house and Gabriella jumped out. "Thank God, I am going to Brianna's tonight. I can't stand to be in this house any longer." She slammed the car door and stormed up to the house. She ran up to her room slamming the door before going into her closet and picking out clothes for the night. She threw them in a bag and stormed out of her room. "I'm leaving!" She yelled. She didn't wait for anyone to respond as she slammed the door again to the house. Brianna only lived five houses down, so she didn't mind walking. She more like half walked half jogged to her friend's house. Brianna was there to open the door.
"You look pissed off!" She replied letting Gabriella in.
"My sisters a bitch." Gabriella growled. They walked into the young girl's room as Gabriella threw herself on her friend's bed. "She caught me and Johnny making out on the side of the street."
Brianna began to laugh. "Really?"
"It just happened, I was crying then we were kissing."
"How pissed do you think she would be if she knew we were hanging out with him tonight?"
"She probably would tell Dom who would find a way to get out of prison to kill me." She closed her eyes as she laid there.
"So who is this guy I am supposed to be meeting?" Brianna had sarcasm in her voice. Gabriella shot up from the bed with a smile on her face.
"His name is Jake and he is one of Johnny's friends. He is super cute and sweet, a bit arrogant, but I think you guys would hit it off really well."
"I don't know." Brianna shook her head.
"Just try it, if you don't like him then that's fine."
"Let's just get ready." Brianna shoved Gabriella before getting of the bed.
Nightfall finally came as the girls continued to get ready. Gabriella looked over at her phone as it began to go off. She squealed before jumping on the bed. "Hello…yeah we are ready…Her house is five down from mine….1322…ok we will be out front." She smiled over at Brianna who shook her head.
"Thank God, my parents are out. They would kill me."
"Thank God, Mia isn't here."
"I agree with you on that." Brianna smiled. The girls both looked in the mirror before leaving her room. "So you are really going to do this then? Learn to drive?"
"I am going to try."
"Just don't think about it Gab, just do what he tells you and everything will be okay."
"I just wish Dom was here."
They remained silent as they exited the house. Gabriella waited for Brianna to lock the door before moving down the steps to the driveway where Johnny waited for them.
"Hello." He smiled at her. "You girls look nice."
"Thank you." The butterflies entered Gabriella's stomach as she climbed into the Honda.
"You ready to go?"
"Yep." She smiled as he leaned over kissing her softly. She could feel her cheeks become red as she could feel Brianna staring at her from the backseat. She pulled away from him as she stuck her hand out the window as he pulled out of the driveway. No one spoke as they drove to the spot of the local street races. She smiled at the scene knowing Brianna was in for a ride. Johnny parked the car as the two girls climbed out.
"Are we seriously here right now?" Brianna whispered loudly.
"Just ignore them, they like to stare." Gabriella replied back as girls all around them stared at them. Johnny walked over to her putting his arm around her shoulder as they walked towards the normal crowd of people.
"Johnny!" Jake yelled rushing over to them. They slapped hands before he looked over at Gabriella with a smile. "I see he still has you, so he must be doing something right."
"Alright." Johnny nodded his head. "That's enough."
"Jake, I would like you to meet my friend Brianna. Brianna this is Jake." Gabriella pulled her friends hand over to him. Jake smiled at her as he shook her hand.
"It's really nice to meet you Brianna."
"Thank you." She smiled. Gabriella elbowed Johnny in the stomach as he began to laugh.
"Johnny you racing tonight?" A guy asked walking over to them.
"No man, I am going to sit on the sidelines for a little bit. Let people have a chance to win some." He winked.
"Come on man, you have to race."
"I am going to teach my girl how to drive tonight dude. You guys go ahead though, maybe next weekend."
The guy nodded his head before walking away. "So I thought maybe we could watch some races before we start, just get your nerves down a little bit."
"That obvious huh?" Gabriella smiled at him.
"A little bit. How was your sister when you got home?"
"Let's not talk about it. It was bad, really bad. She threatened to tell Dom…"
"Babe…Dom can't do anything to you."
"There is Vince, Jesse, Letty, and Mia all ganged up on me. It's not going to be a pretty sight."
"Right, I understand."
"I just want to learn you know, I need to learn."
"Well, if you can't do it then you just tell me, I am not going to make you do anything you do want to do."
She nodded her head at him as they walked along the road to where all the cars are. She looked behind her to make sure Brianna was still there but she was engaged in a conversation with Jake. She smiled to herself as she turned back around swinging Johnny's hand in the air. She was falling for this kid, hard. But she couldn't help but think about Vince and Dom and how much they hated Johnny. She couldn't understand why. He was perfect. She truly believed he would never let anything bad happen to her. He squeezed her hand bringing her back to reality. "You with me?" He asked with a smile.
"I was just thinking."
"Well how about we go back to my car and I teach you how to drive, does that sound like a plan?"
She nodded her head at him. "Bri…" Gabriella turned around. "We are going to go back to his car. You want to come with or you want to stay here?"
Brianna looked up at Jake before shaking her head. "I'll stay here."
"Okay…" Gabriella had a smile that covered her entire face. "We will be right back."
"No we won't." Johnny chimed in.
Gabriella climbed into the driver's seat of Johnny's Honda. Her hands were shaking as she tried to control her breathing. She closed her eyes as the tears threatened to escape but she wasn't going to let them. She was going to do this, she was going to learn to drive.
"Okay, the pedal all the way to the right is the gas, the one in the middle is the brake, and this one…" He pressed her foot down. "Is the clutch. This is what you use to change the gears."
"Should I really be learning on a stick shift?" She breathed out.
"I would rather you learn on this than a regular car knowing that you aren't going to be driving an automatic."
She nodded her head. "You are fine, you are going to do great. This is just one try Gab, I don't expect you to learn everything in one night."
"I'm really nervous."
"I can see that, just take a deep breath and calm down. Now to cut the car on, press down the clutch and then turn the ignition." She did as she was told and the car came to life. She gave a small laugh as she looked over at him. "Okay, you are going to be using both of your feet when driving. The left foot is only for the clutch and then you use your right foot for the gas and for the brake. Now let me get into the passenger side and we can slowly take it for a ride."
"What?" She yelled.
"You are okay." He laughed. He disappeared for a second before climbing into the other side of the car. "Okay, so this right here is the shifter. It goes into four gears. So go ahead and let you foot off the clutch…"
"Um, yeah I don't know."
"Gab you aren't going to hurt anything, just do it. You are fine."
She nodded her head. She slowly let her foot up as the car started to move forward. "Okay, give it a little gas."
She shook her head. "Gab…"
"Can we just…"
"No." He cut in. "Give it a little gas. You are doing great I promise. Don't press down too hard, just enough for the car to move forward." She put her foot down on the gas a little harder than expected as the car shot forward and cut off. She felt her body jolt forward as she let go of the steering wheel. "You are fine, its fine. It happens, just cut it back on."
"Johnny I can't do this." Her hands were shaking even more as she stared over at him with tears in her eyes.
"Baby…" He whispered. "You are doing so good. You didn't do anything…"
"Please." She begged. 'Please don't make me do this…." The tears fell down her face. He nodded his head at her as he caressed the side of her face.
"You are really brave…" He went to say but the car doo jerked open and he was ripped out of the car.
"VINCE!" She screamed jumping out of the car. The whole family was there, Jesse, Letty, and Mia. She glared at her sister knowing exactly what she did.
"What the hell man?" Johnny yelled pushing Vince away. Vince moved forward punching Johnny square in the mouth.
"Vince stop it!" Gabriella yelled moving over to him. Jesse grabbed her by the arm stopping her. She jerked her arm away from him as Johnny ran into Vince's stomach knocking his backwards. "This is ridiculous!"
"Johnny!" Jake yelled running over to him. He punched Vince in the face causing Vince to freak out. He shoved Johnny down on the ground before punching Jake repeatedly.
"VINCE! STOP!" She screamed. "Please!"
"Cops! Cops!" Someone yelled. Jesse pushed past Gabriella and rushed over to Vince grabbing his arm stopping him from hitting Jake anymore. He pulled him away as Mia jerked Gabriella's arm pulling her towards the car. Johnny got up from the ground moving towards her.
"Do not touch her!" Mia yelled. She tightened her grip on Gabriella's arm jerking her towards the car.
"Brianna is here!" Gabriella yelled.
"She can get a ride home!"
"I'm not leaving her!"
Vince groaned as he jerked Gabriella off her feet into his arms and over to the cars. He slammed her down in the backseat. "STAY!" He pointed his finger at her shutting the door behind him. Jesse was already in the driver's seat when Vince got into the passenger seat. Before Gabriella could react the car was in reverse speeding away from the race scene.
AN: Here is another long for you! Hope you guys enjoyed it! If you haven't checked out the video that Vin posted accepting the award for best on screen duo please go check it out you will cry your eyes. He is so amazing and he cries in the video for Paul and it just broke my heart into pieces. REVIEW!