Disclaimer: Still don't own fast and furious. Also, I didn't not write The Outsiders and I have nothing to do with the magazine "Popular Mechanics". I do own a Wrangler- I'll take credit for that one. Slow- maybe- but drives over rocks & through rivers.
A/N: This is sort of a filler chapter because I didn't want to just jump really far ahead. Sorry for the delay in updating. After being unemployed for so long- I forgot how employment can cut into your free time.
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A couple of humdrum months had gone by. I had finally turned sixteen. It was probably the best day of my life. Vince was close to making the transition over to joining us in the driving world. I had only raced a handful of times and was working my ass off to pour money into my car. I wouldn't race unless I knew that I could win. Zack was a pretty good advisor in this area. He knew a lot of the drivers. And, I could pretty much look under their hoods and tell whether or not they could beat me.
No one had seen or heard from Yates since the party at Kershaun's house. But, Vince came to my house one day after school, as he usually did. He said he had the scoop. We went upstairs to my room and sat down. Vince explained what he had learned about Yates's situation.
"So he got sent to Central?" I said out of disbelief.
"Yep," Vince responded.
"Damn, that's some shit," I stated. I couldn't believe he was being sent to the Hall.
"I know, man," Vince replied. It was obvious that Vince really missed Yates. Vince wasn't really going to his house any longer and when he wasn't at my house or the garage, he was with Yates. He was even learning how to play the guitar from him. Of course, Vince only used this new found skill to try to impress girls.
"How do you know this," I asked. There were all kinds of rumors circulating about what had happened to him. In high school, it was nearly impossible to sort out the truth in a situation.
"Jack told me," Vince replied. Jack was Yates's stepbrother. I didn't know that Vince really knew Jack. I had never actually seen him, just heard about him. He was in his twenties.
"I ain't ever met Troy's parents but I assume he's got some. Why didn't they just release him to them?" I asked. As crowded as Juvenile Hall was these days in L.A. I just assumed they would release someone like Yates to his parents and save the space for gang members or something.
"This wasn't his first offense, Dom. Shit this wasn't his second offense. He's been on probation. He'd been court ordered to go to school. It was the only way he stayed his ass out of the Camp. And when they caught him they caught him with some shit," Vince admitted.
"What did he have on him?" I asked curiously.
"Like 2, 3 grams of yay," Vince speculated. However, his speculation seemed a little too accurate. I was skeptical. How did Vince know this? Maybe Jack had told him. Or, maybe Vince was doing it with Yates that night at the party. The only people that I knew that referred to cocaine in such slang terms actually used it. Thinking back, Vince and Yates had disappeared together for a little while and returned awfully chatty and happy.
"No shit?" I said, somewhat rhetorically.
"Yeah I know," Vince replied.
"So he was just walking around with it?" I said. That was just asking to get into trouble.
"You forget who we're talking about?" Vince asked.
"Good point," I said. But, Vince seemed weird about this whole situation. He had never been good at keeping things from me. And, finally, I had to call him out on it. "You were doing it with him at the party weren't you?" I asked him. I knew the answer, though.
"Not really," he said obscurely.
"How do you not really do coke?" I stated, annoyed. I could believe it but I was disappointed in him.
"Oh come on, man," Vince said, almost whining.
"Whatever, V, you ain't got to lie about it," I finally said. I didn't want to talk about it with him. I figured he had. And, a big reason that he had was most likely because he wanted Yates to think he was cool. It was the trap a lot of freshman guys got into. I had, with Zack, but just in a different way. I couldn't be hypocritical but this was just stupid of Vince.
Maybe Yates going to juvenile hall would be a good thing in the long run. I knew Vince too well to know that drugs were not something he needed to experiment with. As volatile as Vince could be, I didn't think any type of upper would be a great combination with his temper. He was crazy enough on his own.
But, at the same time, I knew why Vince wouldn't want to admit this to me. Drugs weren't really my scene. I wasn't naïve enough to not realize that coke and ecstasy were both pretty big around the crowd that hung out at the races. You get enough young adults that feed off the rush, feeling good, and have no respect for the law and it's bound to happen. But, it was never a big attraction for me. I didn't like losing control.
Vince and I essentially dropped the subject at this point. I didn't want to give him a hard time right now. I knew he was dealing with the loss of a buddy. But, I wasn't going to see someone that I would consider to be my brother slip off the edge either.
We went to the garage that afternoon. Letty was there already working with my Dad. She was putting a lift on a Wrangler.
"I want a Wrangler," she commented, while she and I were standing out front taking a break.
"Why?" I asked.
"If I had a dollar for every time I needed to drive over a rock or through a river…," she started joking.
"You'd be poor with a slow car," I said. I couldn't really see Letty in a Wrangler. She needed a fast car not a tall one. But, she'd probably look cute in anything.
"Yeah," she replied. "But, I could see it being fun."
"And really practical in L.A.," I said sarcastically.
"For sure," she agreed.
We went back in and Letty and my Dad were installing a winch with synthetic cables on the same Wrangler. This was new and slightly interesting for me, as most cables I'd seen in the past were steel or fiber core.
I heard her discussing the installation with my Dad. It was adorable.
"I think we need to make our own mount. I don't think the front suspension hangers will let us attach anything we could order to mount it on," she said, closely examining the front end.
She looked so serious.
"I agree," he replied.
When it came to welding, my Dad carefully instructed her about all the angle iron placements. I noted how attentively she listened.
It was awesome to watch her inverting bolts and drilling holes in the metal plates. They continued to work and finished with glossing it black. They had to wait for this to dry so were discussing the wiring and the fusing they would do the next day.
"You're fusing the winch?" I asked surprised, rolling out from underneath a car I was working on. Granted, altering off road vehicles was not really my specialty. Letty seemed to really have a talent for it though. But then, she seemed to be good at anything she put her mind to.
"Everything but the starter motor's fused on it already- don't know who did all that but I could take a guess. And, that's what he said he wanted us to do," she replied, not really paying me much attention. I rolled back under.
I had never really watched her work so much. But for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off her that day. She was doing car modifications that I'd never even attempted. And, she did them skillfully. It was really attractive. It was almost sexy, in a "Popular Mechanics" kind of way. No, wait, no it wasn't. This was Letty. It wasn't sexy it was just…cool.
But, then I stopped myself. What was I thinking? Was it what she was doing that was hot? Or was it her? Surely it was just what she was doing. Rarely, no wait, never, did I see other girls attempting shit like this. And here was Letty, owning this task.
I realized, at that point, I had made zero progress on the Honda I was supposed to be replacing the exhaust on. In fact, I'd laid under the car for a couple of hours, only removed the stock exhaust, and not even gotten to the hangers yet. Oops.
Luckily Dad didn't notice that I hadn't done anything while I was there. We closed up the garage and Vince left to go home to get changed. We had plans to go to the races tonight with Zack. I figured that Vince needed a distraction. There was nothing like half naked girls and fast cars to entertain a high school fellow.
Dad was closing up the shop while Letty and I walked the couple of blocks back to the house. He did not really trusted my to stick around the shop after he left ever since Vince and I took the car. On the way back to the house, I contemplated inviting Letty to the races tonight. I knew that she always wanted to go. And, I was sure that she would have an amazing time. But, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to exhibit the persona that I wanted to if she was there. I wanted to have her there though. She was very disheveled, hair completely out of place, sweating, and greasy. It was awesome. She had worked hard. I could tell that she was on cloud nine from the things she had been able to do and learn from my Dad. I decided to ask her.
"So, what are you up to tonight," I asked, hesitantly.
"I don't know. I
hadn't gotten that far yet," she replied.
"Want to go to
the races tonight with me, Vince, and Zack?" I asked casually.
"Sure," she replied.
"Cool, we hadn't really hung out in a while, " I said. Really, this slipped out. I should have stopped after 'cool' but instead I had to add. I wanted to revoke this but I couldn't.
"We were together all afternoon," she said, reacting to my previous statement.
"You're just too cool to hang out," I said, trying to recover.
"Yeah, that's it. I'm too cool to hang out," she said sarcastically.
"So you admit it," I teased.
She gave me a weak punch and smiled. I knew what she was saying. I didn't make the time for her like I used to. But, every time I talked to her, was around her, or just saw her, it took me back. I felt like I was really myself around her. I didn't have to play any games. I could be honest. She liked me for me, and a me that no one else knew. The real me. I was comfortable, relaxed, and just enjoyed being around her. Something about her made me happy. I didn't have to worry about anything when I was near her. But, lately, I had been working so hard to build up an image and impress the rest of the world that I felt like I was leaving her on the sidelines. I had done a good job of building it up, though. But, at the same time, I felt like I was growing up so fast and she wasn't. She was definitely getting older but appearances were everything in my life right now. And, as long as she wasn't in high school, I didn't know what I could really do. I wanted to stay home every night and just hang out with her. And at the same time, I wanted to slowly start to introduce her to my new world. Maybe if I could somehow combine the two it would give me an even balance and I could relax a little bit.
On a positive note, though, she had become pretty good friends with Mia. She was helping Mia to chill out a little bit. Letty had that affect on people, though. She had the ability to make people relax- well, maybe not all people. Letty could be pretty damn intimidating when she wanted to. But, to others, those she knew and trusted, she was typically a very tranquil person. And this spread to those she was around.
We went back to the house and Mia and Dad made dinner. Letty took a shower. She used up all the warm water so by the time I got in it was cold. But, after today, a cold shower did me good.
A few hours later, Vince and Zack came by. My Dad had gone down to the basement to work on the plumbing. After, what seemed like a very long and laborious time, I had cleared all the shit out of the basement. The next step was to make sure everything was working properly. Dad was working on the bathroom because the toilet had been leaking.
Before we went to the races, the four of us stood outside of my house and had a beer. To my knowledge, this was Letty's first beer. I still don't know if it actually was or not, but I like to think it was and I was there for it. She was a natural drinker, clearly fitting in easily with the crew. Zack was excited that Letty was coming. He still really enjoyed her. I was apprehensive about this. Vince was just feeling very protective of her. I didn't want to let on that I felt anything about it. But, I didn't know how well I was doing this.
The strip was hopping. Everyone's team or clique was somewhat paired. But, there was always a lot of intermingling at the races.
"Dom Toretto," a voice spoke from behind me. I turned around from where I had been pointing various people and cars out to Letty. I was mainly doing this to keep any of the other guys from trying to talk to her.
"Johnny Tran," I verbally identified. This was our first real meeting. I had seen him around the races but never spoken to him. Ever since Zack and Lance got into the fight, the tension had been pretty thick between our two groups. I couldn't imagine why he picked tonight to come talk to me.
"I want to race you," he stated.
"I'm not racing tonight," I replied. We had ridden here with Zack. To my knowledge, he hadn't planned on racing either. We were here for the show and the party. But, unlike a lot of people, I studied the races. I noted what the engines sounded like before the drivers shifted gears and how they used their various performance parts for their optimal advantage.
He scoffed, "that's convenient."
"I'd say it's inconvenient because I'd love to kick your ass," I said, very serious. I would love to kill him on the streets. I didn't really know what he was running, but I disliked him enough to not care. Tran and his crew came from really wealthy families. They didn't have to work on their own cars or work to earn money to fix them up. We all resented that about them.
"Well step up," he challenged.
"If I had my car you better believe," I said, not wanting to back down from the challenge. But, my hands were tied.
"Guess I'll just have to wait for that day," Tran ridiculed.
"Yo, Tran, you got a problem," I said as he stood there, glaring at me, not leaving.
"No, Toretto. No problem, yet," he said slowly.
"If you got a problem we don't need cars to solve it. We can go right now," I said, opening up my arms as an invitation to fight. This seemed logical. Everyone knows that fighting makes problems go away. Regardless, I knew I could take him.
"Are you looking to rumble?" he asked. Was he serious? I was not Ponyboy and we were not in the The Outsiders. This remark made me laugh.
"Nope, just you and me. Let's go," I offered again.
"I'm not going to fight you," he replied, slightly taken back. I didn't think he would. It would have been entertaining though.
"Pussy," I said under my breath as Johnny turned to leave. I knew he heard me because he stopped walking. But, he didn't turn around. Instead, he just went back over to where his boys were standing. They stared at us the rest of the night but never did anything.
Letty had a great time at the races. I would have had a much better time if I had not been glaring at any guy that gave her a second look. I wished I would have had some type of indicator to signal to the guys at the race that Letty was off limits. But, all I could do was glare. It seemed, to work, for the most part. Letty dressed somewhat differently for the races than she usually did. She wore a pair of skintight black pants and a tank top. The tank top was pretty standard but I had no idea where she had gotten the pants from. I was a fan. She looked good and the boys noticed, mostly the younger one, the high school guys, but I didn't really want anyone to notice.
Kershaun ended up racing and cleaning up the streets. It was always awesome to have someone that you were friends with win the race. The after party was held at the house of Hector's cousin, Emilio. Emilio was a pretty cool guy.
Letty did not end up coming back to the party with us. She said that she had made prior plans with Mia to do something that sounded girlie and very uncharacteristic of Letty. I figured Mia had pressured her into it. I did not press her for details, though. It actually worked out better. The after parties were usually where people hooked up or at least entered into the precursors of hooking up. And, I didn't want Letty to have any part of this. Also, I didn't want Letty to see me taking part in this.
That night, I really wanted to hook up with Emilio's sister Jasmine. If she hadn't been Hector's cousin, and I had been a year or two older, I would have definitely tried to get with her. But, I could see from across the room that Kershaun's win had given him the confidence to try and hit it with her so I didn't even pretend to try.
"Yo, Dom, see that girl over there," Zack pointed across the room.
"Nah, where? I don't see any girls," I joked, there were girls everywhere. It was awesome.
"The one in the plaid skirt and white top. The Asian girl over there, you see her?" he pointed across the crowd.
"Yeah," I replied. She was pretty hot. She was kind of short but had a really nice body.
"That's Tran's sister," he informed me.
"What's her name?" I asked. It makes approaching a girl a little bit easier if you have any information on them.
"Oh, I have no clue," he said. Okay. Guess I'd have to do this with zero information.
"Well, guess I'll have to find out," I said cockily.
I moseyed over to her. She was standing by the keg so it was an easy "chance" meeting. I got into the line and eyed her. She glanced up at me and our eyes met. I didn't want to say anything. I wanted to see if she would make the first move. I didn't even notice that the joker in front of my started funneling beers. However, I did notice when Vince got up and started doing a keg stand. I had to cheer on my boy. And, he didn't disappoint. Vince could throw back some beer, even when it came directly from the tap.
"Hey," she said, eyeing me. So far my plan was working.
"What's up?" I said relaxed.
"You're Dom," she told me. This was information I was already aware of. It always baffled me when people told me my own name.
"Yeah," I stated.
"I'm Kim," she informed me. Now, I had her name. I would just have to remember it.
"Pleasure to meet you," I said, leaving the keg line and walking over to her.
"Is it now?" she asked. What kind of a question was that? Odd.
"Hopefully," I said.
"I think you know my brother," she said, knowing that I did.
"Who's that?" I asked, trying to play along like I didn't have a master plan to hook up with Tran's sister merely to piss him off.
"Johnny Tran," she said.
"Yeah, I know him," I replied, doing my best not to exhibit too much disdain.
"He doesn't like you very much," she said indifferently.
"Well, he's in good company," I said. Hanging out with Zack, and Vince, and going to the races, being as cocky and as willing to fight as I was, I had racked up quite a few enemies at this point in my high school career. But, I didn't care. It was all part of the game.
"I heard you weren't a very nice guy," she added, not really putting much feeling behind this. I felt like she was mainly looking for a response, or trying to get my riled up. I thought this was pretty funny.
"That depends, I can be," I said, moving closer to her. "I can be a really nice guy." With this, I put my arm around her. She leaned into me.
"Hm," she voiced.
"Where do you go to school?" I said, getting cozy with her by the side of the house.
"Marlborough," she replied.
"That's all girls isn't it?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Nice," I said enthusiastically. That is most teenage boy's dream. I knew that I would enjoy school if I were the only guy there.
"Well, I don't know. I'm sure you'd like it, though," she joked.
"I'm sure I would," I agreed. "You want a beer?" I eased up from the house a bit and reached out for her empty cup.
"Sure," she said, handing me the cup. I went over and pumped the keg and then poured her a beer.
"Good job, no head," she remarked, referring to my nearly practical transference of the beer to the cup with absolutely no foam on top.
"You say that now," I smiled. Sexual references were always key to a high school hook up.
"That's what you think," she replied, giving me a devilish grin. I could take this one of two ways, and I decided to take it in the way that would work to my advantage.
"This party is pretty lame. You want to get out of here?" I asked, downing my beer.
"This party is not lame," she laughed. "But, I'll get out of here with you."
"Nice," I said, leading her out of the crowd. I exchanged looks with Vince as we made our way to the street. We weren't far from my house. My Dad wasn't gone, but I figured it was late enough for everyone at my house to be asleep. Just in case, I'd take her in through the basement. This basement was going to come in handy.
TBC
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AJ