My slacking off got to a point where I really had no choice but to get my act together. My grades for that year were pretty dismal, but I managed to pass. I realized that I'd gotten way too deep, way too fast. By the end of the school year I was really trying to get back on track. I didn't want to top out at sixteen. That entire summer I tried to keep the partying down to a minimum. I started really busting my ass at the garage. But, mainly, I tried to spend as much time that summer with Letty as possible. We went to the beach together pretty much everyday. And, as the summer started to taper off, I had stopped randomly hooking up with girls- with a few minor exceptions. Vince found this very suspicious.

School started back and Letty was there. It made school worth going to just to see her in the hall in between classes. Still trying to redeem myself to my Dad, I even started picking Mia up after school so she wouldn't have to ride the bus.

"So, what has been up with you lately bro?" Vince asked suspiciously one day after the first week of school.

"Nothing, just had a lot on my mind," I responded, not really wanting to get into it.

"Like what?" he pushed.

"Girl troubles, you wouldn't understand," I joked. Vince never managed to spend enough time with any one girl to have many problems.

"Fuck you," he responded. "What, hadn't been able to tap it with Kim again, huh?"

"I didn't say that," I smiled.

"So you did?" he asked, for clarification.

"Come on," I said, ambiguously.

"That ain't no answer," he said. He knew me. We all wanted to let on that we could sleep with anyone at any time. But, that was not necessarily true.

"Hell yeah I did," I said full of pride.

"Sweet, so is she becoming like a series regular?" he inquired. She was one of my minor exceptions. It was beyond just making her brother mad. She was pretty fun to hang out with. I would never want to date her seriously. But, she was able to distract me from thinking about Letty.

"Nah, I wouldn't go that far," I replied.

"I understand. So, and…how was it?" he questioned.

"And, it wasn't bad. That's why it's happened more than once," I let on.

"So, I don't see where all these problems are coming from," Vince said confused.

"It's complicated," I replied.

"Like hell it is," he said.

"Listen, you can't say shit to anyone about this. If you do, I swear to God bro," I threatened.

"I won't," he promised.

I hesitated for a minute before finally telling Vince what I had not told a single soul. I couldn't believe that I was doing this. But, he was my best friend. In a way, he kind of deserved to know why I'd been going to so nuts this past year. "Alright," I sighed before continuing. I cleared my throat and said, "I like someone but I don't really know if she likes me." I knew how cheesy it sounded as soon as I said it.

Vince smiled. I wanted to punch him.

"Aw, that's sad," he mocked.

"I'll be damned if I ever tell you anything again," I said punching his arm.

"Nah dude, who's the girl," he said, attempting to be a friend.

"That, I'm definitely not telling you," I said.

"It's Letty isn't it?" he smiled.

I hesitated, "nah".

"Yes it is. It's been Letty for like four years," he said. What? Was it that obvious? I felt blind sighted by this statement. I felt like my face was starting to get red. But, I didn't want it to. I tried to play it cool. My jaw tensed up and I tried to take my mind elsewhere. Maybe, if I thought about something else, I wouldn't show it.

"No, its not Letty," I stood my lying ground.

"Who is it then?" he asked, still knowing he was right.

I rubbed my eyes. I looked down at the ground and said, "alright, it's Letty. But don't say shit."

"I'm not. God, I'm not that big of a dick," he said. I just looked at him. Yeah right.

"Why don't you just hit on her and see what happens," he suggested. Vince, always offering such sound, golden advice.

"Because, that'd be weird," I responded. It would be. I could not see myself hitting on Letty. To be completely honest, I didn't even really know how to hit on Letty. She wasn't like other girls. I didn't anticipate the same rules applied with her.

"Then how do you expect to do anything about it?" he questioned. Vince had a hard time seeing a whole lot difference between girls. I knew that he recognized Letty as different, but not in the same way that I did.
"I don't know, fool, that's why I got problems," I told him.

"Well you gonna sit around and cry about it or are you going to do something about it," he challenged.

"When I figure out what I'm going to do, I'll do it," I said. I didn't want to tell him that I couldn't risk that chance of losing her as a friend. At least having her in my life as my friend was better than not having her in my life. I had no idea how she felt about me. I was afraid that I had waited so long that I had literally taken on a big brother role for her. And, I was pretty sure she wouldn't want to hook up with her big brother.

But, I couldn't just walk down the hall to her bedroom and say, 'Letty I just wanted to tell you that I think you're really hot. I really like you and I think we should start dating'. That wasn't really my style. When it came down to it, I didn't think I was really very good at talking to girls. For the most part, I didn't care about what they were saying. I never really had to get a girl, they were always just there. They were always really into flirting and seemed very willing to hook up. There was never a chase. I didn't think that I would be very good the whole dating game. But, Letty was so different. I cared what she had to say. I cared about what she thought and how she felt. I didn't think that she had ever flirted with me, intentionally anyway. There was a lot more to her than anyone else realized. And, a rejection from her would have killed my pride, broken my heart, and made my home life really uncomfortable. There was too much at stake. I wondered if I should even bother.

"Alright, man, well if there's anything that I can do…" he remarked.
"Yeah, I'll let you know," I said. What could Vince do? Hell, I didn't even know what I could do. I probably didn't want to know what Vince would do.

"Alright, well on a more important note. You ready for tonight? You got to defend your title against Tran," Vince said. Of course that was more important to Vince. You had to love his one-track mind.

"Oh I'm ready," I replied. A week earlier I had finally raced Tran, one-on-one. We had done group races, but the one-on-one was really where you could show someone up. And, I'd kicked his ass. It was probably one of the most amazing things I had ever done. Zack beating up Lance, me sleeping with Tran's sister, and now me beating him on the road- my group was definitely on top. I wanted to keep it that way. He had challenged me to a rematch. I loved a challenge.

TBC

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AJ

So I know it's short but it was a necessary component for the upcoming chapter. Things may finally be getting started for Dom and Letty. It's about time…