Chapter 10 - Moments of Doubt.
I broke away from the group of friends on the wharf as soon as I could. There were several reasons for this. One, I had to go make a phone call. No matter how much I dreaded it, it was just putting it off. It wasn't going to go away no matter how long I convinced myself I could just do it later.
And two, I felt like an outsider looking in. These people, this group of Miami friends knew each other well. They were us. But I didn't fit in. I finally knew how Brian had felt when Dom had first brought him back to be on our team.
Most of us had been hostile toward Brian at first. Ok, well, really all the other guys were hostile. We had our team and we were happy with the status quo. We didn't think we needed another team member. I didn't really mind because it was obvious that Mia liked him and Mia deserved to be happy for a change. But the guys hated having him around at first. And we were so close. Me and Mia tried to include Brian but the guys never did so Brian must have known it was an effort to include him.
Maybe it wasn't for Dom. But Dom was just using Brian like he uses Vince. I mean, sure Dom might have really liked Brian too, but at first he just used Brian to show Vince and Leon that they were expendable. Dom brought Brian back into our party that night to say to us that he was pissed the guys didn't go find him sooner and that every last one of us could be replaced because so many people would love the chance to be on the team of Dominic Toretto. It was like his way of telling us to watch how we treated him.
I mean, look at what he did to me that night. He asked Leon what other girls were around when he knew I could hear every word he said. How what that supposed to make me feel? After years and years of us as a couple he has a bad night and he asked what other girls were around. He was just doing that to try and drive home to me that any number of other girls would love to be his girlfriend. I knew that already. But I was supposed to be his girlfriend. He was supposed to love me. Our relationship wasn't supposed to be some sort of reward to me for being a good little team mate.
It was supposed to be love. But he had to try and make me feel inferior to him. I mean for crying out loud, how was I supposed to know he'd been running from the cops? He had a cell phone like everyone else on the team. He could have called home for a ride, for help. But he figured that we should all go searching for him right away because life as we knew it would stop for us all without him. Well, at least I'm proving him wrong right now aren't I? My life is still going, without him.
And then, I had to drag him off upstairs. The team and the guests all thought it was so that I could keep him by my side with my body. Ha! It was to yell at his sorry ass for acting like a braying jackass. To make it clear I wouldn't tolerate him asking about other girls in front of me when I'd already caught him with other girls enough times to take him seriously. He seemed to get the message that night.
But it sure was funny to see the look on Brian's face when Dom told him that he still owed him a 10 second car. I meant 'oh shit' when I said it. No one owed a debt like that to Dom Toretto and didn't pay it back. Poor Brian didn't know what he was getting into that night but he sure paid Dom back. Twice over if you really think about it. Once with the supra and once with Dom's own freedom. I wonder which Dom found more valuable. Well, really I know the answer to that. You know, if Dom had gotten caught and gone back to prison I would have lost him forever. He'd have made the cops kill him to take him in or he'd have killed himself in jail. He said he'd never go back and he meant it. Every time he said it there was this cold look in his eyes. I could tell he meant it.
Dom had gotten in more fights because of his attitude around races then I can even count anymore. That 'I run the show, I'm the man, watch how you treat me' attitude turned people off and some got so mad at him they started a fight with him. Dom won most of the fights which just reinforced Dom's attitude. But when he tried that attitude on us it often blew up in his face.
That's one of the ways that he's selfish. I guess you'd have to say he's full of his own importance. Maybe less so now that I'm gone. Or maybe that's just me being full of my own self importance. After all, I sure was easy for him to dump.
I guess that's not even really fair. He just wanted to take a break after all. But he wasn't very forthcoming about what he planned to do on this break or why he wanted it. After all, what did he need a break for? Why couldn't he have just told me to move back into the spare room? It was where I stayed before Van died and Dom and I decided to share one room. His insistence that we had to 'take a break' made me sure he wanted to play around on me some more but didn't want to deal with the guilt he got when he cheated on me. After all if we were on a break and he slept with some other girl it wouldn't really be cheating. If he needed space you'd think he would have just asked for it, not told me he wanted to take a break.
I was almost back to the boat when Brian caught up with me.
"Where you going Letty?" Brian asked, out of breath from racing to catch me.
"I have to call home. If I don't check in with V every once in a while he'll decide I'm in some sort of trouble and form a search party."
"Does Vince have caller ID?" Brian asked. I didn't get it. Why was that important?
"I just call the house Bri. So yeah, we have caller ID. Why?"
"Cause B. O'Connor is likely not what you want to have come up on Dom's caller ID." Brian told me and winced.
"No, I guess not. Well shit. What am I gonna do? I have to call. Oh shit. I called from the motel here in Miami. What if Vince is already in Miami looking for me?" I started to panic. What if the team was here looking for me. I'd been so stupid to call from my motel room. I should have bought some sort of cell phone or something to call with.
"Well, chances are they'd have found you by now. If they found anyone who had anything to do with races then they'd know that Tej had a new girl staying with him who drove a purple Silvia because it's all over town. You beating that guy on your first night made the Miami racing news." Brian was walking toward the boat with me. He followed me in and went into his room.
"What can I do Brian? I need to call." I called out after him. Brian came back into the kitchen carrying something.
"Here." He handed me what he was carrying. It was a cell phone.
"What's this?" I knew it was a cell phone. But why would I use his cell phone to call. It would be just as bad as the house phone. "Isn't this just as bad?"
"Nope. The cops gave me that phone. It comes up as unknown name and private number. It's also totally untraceable. So you can call and talk as long as you want. They won't be able to trace the call. Not even Jesse can trace that phone."
"Thanks Brian."
"No problem." And with a smile he left me alone to make my call. I went into my room and threw myself down on the bed with a sigh. It was the moment of truth. Well, I had nothing to lose. Except my sanity if I had to talk to Dom before I was ready. I dialled and listened to the ringing.
"Hello." Leon answered the phone.
"Hey Le." I tried to sound up beat.
"Letty! Where the hell you been at?" Leon exclaimed. I hadn't spoken to Leon much since I'd left.
"I've been travelling. How's it going there?" I asked.
"Travelling huh? To where?"
"No dice Leon. I'm not telling. So, how's the garage?"
"Fine. Backed up without you there. I guess we never realized just how much work you do till you weren't around anymore. But it's ok. The big guy's not so good though." Leon tried to slip that into the conversation without pissing me off.
"Really? How's he not so good?"
"Well, he don't talk much anymore. He's always pissed. He even snapped at Jesse a few times. It's not like him. He asks Vince about you all the time too. Like Vince knows something he ain't telling or something."
"Really? He ever say he wanted me to come back. That he was ready to get back together?" Dom snapping at Jesse, while childish, was a good sign too. Dom had a soft spot for Jesse. He never snapped or yelled at Jesse. He knew Jesse was too high strung to handle it so he always went easy on Jess. He knew his displeasure was enough, he knew he didn't have to yell.
"Naw Dawg. He's just cranky." Leon didn't try to lie to me, even over the phone.
"Well then. Is Jesse ok? He dealing alright?"
"Yeah, the kid's ok. He's gonna be ok too. I guess you ain't coming home any time soon then huh?"
"Nope. I don't think so. I'm having a good time here." I lied so easily. Well, I was having a good time so far. That didn't mean I didn't want to go home.
"Must be nice for you girl. No grumpy Dom and no hotter then hell garage to slave in for you."
"Hey. I got a job in a garage too. I have to eat, and to eat I have to work. But it's a cool garage." I wanted to tell him more but I didn't want to give too much away. Tej's operation was pretty unique.
"Really? You got a job. I figured you was just gonna hang out and race where ever you ended up. You working as some grease monkey really ain't gonna go over well with Vince or Dom. I mean, you working with us is one thing but you working your ass off for some other guy.That just ain't right." Leon growled at me in concern.
I was touched by his worry over me but it wasn't going to change the fact that I had to work. I never wanted to take handouts. It's just not in me to do it. It was the same in high school. I knew that my teachers would have went easy on me knowing what my home life was like. But I never wanted them to. I work for mine. It's how I am. A girl has to take care of herself in this world. When you lose site of that you end up like me. With your world upside down because you let some man take care of you to the point of depending on it. And then when he realizes he wants a break from taking care of you, you're left in the cold learning how to take care of yourself all over again. Hell, it was hard enough the first time.
"I like where I work Leon. How do you know I don't work for a woman?" I giggled.
"I don't know that girl. Do you work for a woman?" Leon asked. He was thinking that a girl who owned a garage might be just the woman to make him stop his player ways I'd guess. I thought about pretending that Suki owned the garage but I decided against it.
"Naw, but I could. I could own my own garage you know. No reason why I couldn't." I grinned because the silence on the line got tense. Like Leon thought that I was mad at him for implying that girls can't run garages.
"No reason why you couldn't Let, but you're one in a million." Leon chuckled, having just saved his own ass.
"Glad someone thinks so, you green eyed flatterer." He laughed at me. "Put V on the line would ya?" I asked.
"Sure." He paused for a second. "I miss you Let." He finally added. Of course he did. His world was still messed up because he hadn't learned how to live is life without me in it yet. But he would. I hope he doesn't but I think he will.
"I miss you too Le." I answered him and heard him call out for Vince.
"Wha?" Vince said into the phone. Clearly Leon did not tell him who was on the line.
"Is that any way to talk to me V? Am I bothering you?" I asked, trying to sound hurt.
"Of course not Let. This idiot friend of yours just didn't tell me who was on the line." Vince answered, trying to save his ass from my anger. I heard Leon's yelp as he was on the receiving end of a Vince punch or slap. They were always carrying on like that. I loved to watch them do it. I miss them all so much. I hid it and continued talking to V.
"I see. So how's it going?" I asked him the same question figuring he'd have his own answer for me.
"Damn girl. I have to work twice as hard without you here."
"Yeah, you guys never knew how much of your slack I picked up huh?" I laughed out.
"No. When you comin home Let? I can't go much longer with Dom in this mood without killing him." Vince said and he sounded serious.
"But he's yo boy. You go way back. Why would you wanna kill him?" Vince always put up with Dom's shit with good humour. He never said anything about Dom. He just put up with the shit with silence. He said something to him once I think, about Brian. He was so convinced that Brian was a cop he wouldn't let that one go. He badgered Dom about that. But mostly he just kept his bitching to himself.
"Yeah, but he snaps at everyone and mopes around. It's getting on my fucking nerves."
Yep same old Vince. Same tuff attitude and foul mouth. But Dom being upset about me not being around made me feel good. Except that him moping around meant he wasn't getting over much of anything.
"Well, get him out more or something man. Remind him he had stuff he had to do'n shit." I told Vince.
"Yeah, like we ever get him to do much but go to work and yell at us all."
"You mean he doesn't go to races?" That would be something for sure. Dom never missed a race.
"He says he doesn't have the head for it right now. So Leon'n I have been going without him. Leon's getting to race for a change. I have a few times too. I don't know why he won't go. Likely has something to do with the fact that he's missing his partner in crime."
"He hasn't been my partner for a long time V. We've been two people with lives who happened to intersect for a while now."
"Yeah, well, he must be missing the traffic or something then." Vince laughed. "You sure you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm great really. I got it goin' on. You know when I told you I was going racing the other night?"
"Yeah."
"Well I won a car."
"No shit! You did?"
"Yeah. An MR-2. I sold it back to the kid for 20 g's. It was a sweet night. That's how I got my job here."
"Way to go baby. That's my girl. You always did have a way of taking care of yourself and a fuckin horseshoe up your ass."
"There was no luck in what I did V. It was all skill." I laughed. "Now that you know I'm ok and alive n'shit can you put Mia on the phone?"
"Sure." He turned his head. "Mia, phone!" He shouted. I bet the whole neighbourhood knew Mia had a call.
"Hello?" Mia sounded uncertain, like she had no idea who would be calling her.
"Hey Mi. How you livin'?"
"Letty. I'm ok. How're you?"
"Good, good. Mia, can we talk?"
"That sounds ominous. Talk about what?"
"Stuff. Like are you alone to really talk or do you have an audience?"
"I can be alone in a second. Letty are you really ok?" She asked and I could hear her walking up the stairs. The 3rd, 7th, and 11th stairs creak. I heard the door of her room close.
"I'm ok but confused about something and I want to ask you about it."
"Ok, shoot." Mia must have lain down on her bed because I heard it creak under her.
"Well. Where I am I got this job right."
"uhuh." She prompted me to continue.
"And there's this guy at my new job. I think he likes me. And I kinda like him. But I still love Dom."
"Shit Letty. A new guy? Is he cute?"
"Yeah. So the thing is I like the guy and he likes me but I still want to take Dom back. But while I'm here I want to have fun with the new guy." I started to cry. I tried not to but I couldn't. I was so confused about the whole Rome thing. "Am I a slut or something Mia? I mean how can I love Dom and want to be with this other guy all at the same time?"
"Oh Letty. It's ok. Really. I mean you're all alone. You have no one you know around you. You're on the rebound from your break up with my idiot brother. It doesn't make you a slut. Are you going to get with this other guy?"
"That's just it. I want to, but I think if I did I'd be some sort of slut. And it would be like cheating on Dom."
"Letty, you can't cheat on Dom. You broke up." Mia tried to reassure me.
"No we didn't." I yelled. I couldn't help it. I was all mixed up inside again. "We're on a break."
"Well, ok then sweetie." Mia tried to calm me down. "But either way it was his idea. You just want to have a good time with the new guy right? Have a few good times. There's nothing wrong with that. As long as you come home someday and either take Dom back and try to work it out or at least come home and explain to him why you're not going to. You're not a slut."
"Thanks Mia." It meant a lot to me that she didn't hate me for even thinking of seeing another guy other then her brother. And I guess it wasn't right of me to say sleeping with only the second guy of my life made me a slut. I didn't think Mia was a slut and I know she's been with more then two guys. I mean at this point I've only been with one.
"Hey. I love you Letty. I loved you before you dated Dom and if you don't date him anymore I'll still love you."
"I love you too Mia."
"So this other guy, is he cute?" Mia asked and I could hear the speculation in her voice.
"Oh yeah. He's cute. He's tall, and built and really dark. He drives a convertible eclipse. He's just really fun. He knows how to have a good time. I only met him a few times and I already know he's really fun."
"Well, that sounds exciting. It sounds like something you need." Mia reassured me.
"Thanks Mi. Well, I guess I should go." I didn't want to sever the link but I'd tied up the phone long enough.
"Ok. Call again soon ok. Let me know how it goes with your new friend."
"I will. Bye." And with that I hung up and went to the bathroom to try and fix my eyes. I sat down to watch some TV and a short time later Brian came back.
"How'd it go?" Brian asked me.
"Good. No one's gonna come hunting me down and I didn't have to talk to Dom." Brian laughed at that. "Brian, we never did talk about where I was gonna stay."
"Stay here if you want or I'll help you move up to Tej's." Brian told me and I couldn't read a preference out of his demeanour.
"You sure it's ok if I stay here. It's kinda cramped and I don't want to cramp your style or anything by being here."
"You won't. I don't have much of a life outside of racing. But if you're hinting that there's not enough space for you here you can go to Tej's. It won't hurt my feelings or anything."
"I'll stay here if it's ok then. I know you and I'm more comfortable here then I would be with strangers." I was just being honest.
"Sure. Stay here then. I don't mind. Really."
"Ok. And if you ever change your mind on that promise you'll let me know."
"I promise." Brian rolled his eyes at me.
"Ok. Now that that's settled, I'd guess you don't eat many home cooked meals around here."
"You'd guess right."
"Ok then. Take me grocery shopping and I'll cook us a real dinner."
"Alright!" Brian answered and looked genuinely happy. I don't know if he knew I wasn't much of a cook compared to Mia. But I did ok and it was better then the microwave crap that was all Brian had in the house.
"The way to any man's heart is via his gut so they say and Chumpy it seems you ain't different." I laughed. Brian laughed back.
We headed out to go shopping for food.
I broke away from the group of friends on the wharf as soon as I could. There were several reasons for this. One, I had to go make a phone call. No matter how much I dreaded it, it was just putting it off. It wasn't going to go away no matter how long I convinced myself I could just do it later.
And two, I felt like an outsider looking in. These people, this group of Miami friends knew each other well. They were us. But I didn't fit in. I finally knew how Brian had felt when Dom had first brought him back to be on our team.
Most of us had been hostile toward Brian at first. Ok, well, really all the other guys were hostile. We had our team and we were happy with the status quo. We didn't think we needed another team member. I didn't really mind because it was obvious that Mia liked him and Mia deserved to be happy for a change. But the guys hated having him around at first. And we were so close. Me and Mia tried to include Brian but the guys never did so Brian must have known it was an effort to include him.
Maybe it wasn't for Dom. But Dom was just using Brian like he uses Vince. I mean, sure Dom might have really liked Brian too, but at first he just used Brian to show Vince and Leon that they were expendable. Dom brought Brian back into our party that night to say to us that he was pissed the guys didn't go find him sooner and that every last one of us could be replaced because so many people would love the chance to be on the team of Dominic Toretto. It was like his way of telling us to watch how we treated him.
I mean, look at what he did to me that night. He asked Leon what other girls were around when he knew I could hear every word he said. How what that supposed to make me feel? After years and years of us as a couple he has a bad night and he asked what other girls were around. He was just doing that to try and drive home to me that any number of other girls would love to be his girlfriend. I knew that already. But I was supposed to be his girlfriend. He was supposed to love me. Our relationship wasn't supposed to be some sort of reward to me for being a good little team mate.
It was supposed to be love. But he had to try and make me feel inferior to him. I mean for crying out loud, how was I supposed to know he'd been running from the cops? He had a cell phone like everyone else on the team. He could have called home for a ride, for help. But he figured that we should all go searching for him right away because life as we knew it would stop for us all without him. Well, at least I'm proving him wrong right now aren't I? My life is still going, without him.
And then, I had to drag him off upstairs. The team and the guests all thought it was so that I could keep him by my side with my body. Ha! It was to yell at his sorry ass for acting like a braying jackass. To make it clear I wouldn't tolerate him asking about other girls in front of me when I'd already caught him with other girls enough times to take him seriously. He seemed to get the message that night.
But it sure was funny to see the look on Brian's face when Dom told him that he still owed him a 10 second car. I meant 'oh shit' when I said it. No one owed a debt like that to Dom Toretto and didn't pay it back. Poor Brian didn't know what he was getting into that night but he sure paid Dom back. Twice over if you really think about it. Once with the supra and once with Dom's own freedom. I wonder which Dom found more valuable. Well, really I know the answer to that. You know, if Dom had gotten caught and gone back to prison I would have lost him forever. He'd have made the cops kill him to take him in or he'd have killed himself in jail. He said he'd never go back and he meant it. Every time he said it there was this cold look in his eyes. I could tell he meant it.
Dom had gotten in more fights because of his attitude around races then I can even count anymore. That 'I run the show, I'm the man, watch how you treat me' attitude turned people off and some got so mad at him they started a fight with him. Dom won most of the fights which just reinforced Dom's attitude. But when he tried that attitude on us it often blew up in his face.
That's one of the ways that he's selfish. I guess you'd have to say he's full of his own importance. Maybe less so now that I'm gone. Or maybe that's just me being full of my own self importance. After all, I sure was easy for him to dump.
I guess that's not even really fair. He just wanted to take a break after all. But he wasn't very forthcoming about what he planned to do on this break or why he wanted it. After all, what did he need a break for? Why couldn't he have just told me to move back into the spare room? It was where I stayed before Van died and Dom and I decided to share one room. His insistence that we had to 'take a break' made me sure he wanted to play around on me some more but didn't want to deal with the guilt he got when he cheated on me. After all if we were on a break and he slept with some other girl it wouldn't really be cheating. If he needed space you'd think he would have just asked for it, not told me he wanted to take a break.
I was almost back to the boat when Brian caught up with me.
"Where you going Letty?" Brian asked, out of breath from racing to catch me.
"I have to call home. If I don't check in with V every once in a while he'll decide I'm in some sort of trouble and form a search party."
"Does Vince have caller ID?" Brian asked. I didn't get it. Why was that important?
"I just call the house Bri. So yeah, we have caller ID. Why?"
"Cause B. O'Connor is likely not what you want to have come up on Dom's caller ID." Brian told me and winced.
"No, I guess not. Well shit. What am I gonna do? I have to call. Oh shit. I called from the motel here in Miami. What if Vince is already in Miami looking for me?" I started to panic. What if the team was here looking for me. I'd been so stupid to call from my motel room. I should have bought some sort of cell phone or something to call with.
"Well, chances are they'd have found you by now. If they found anyone who had anything to do with races then they'd know that Tej had a new girl staying with him who drove a purple Silvia because it's all over town. You beating that guy on your first night made the Miami racing news." Brian was walking toward the boat with me. He followed me in and went into his room.
"What can I do Brian? I need to call." I called out after him. Brian came back into the kitchen carrying something.
"Here." He handed me what he was carrying. It was a cell phone.
"What's this?" I knew it was a cell phone. But why would I use his cell phone to call. It would be just as bad as the house phone. "Isn't this just as bad?"
"Nope. The cops gave me that phone. It comes up as unknown name and private number. It's also totally untraceable. So you can call and talk as long as you want. They won't be able to trace the call. Not even Jesse can trace that phone."
"Thanks Brian."
"No problem." And with a smile he left me alone to make my call. I went into my room and threw myself down on the bed with a sigh. It was the moment of truth. Well, I had nothing to lose. Except my sanity if I had to talk to Dom before I was ready. I dialled and listened to the ringing.
"Hello." Leon answered the phone.
"Hey Le." I tried to sound up beat.
"Letty! Where the hell you been at?" Leon exclaimed. I hadn't spoken to Leon much since I'd left.
"I've been travelling. How's it going there?" I asked.
"Travelling huh? To where?"
"No dice Leon. I'm not telling. So, how's the garage?"
"Fine. Backed up without you there. I guess we never realized just how much work you do till you weren't around anymore. But it's ok. The big guy's not so good though." Leon tried to slip that into the conversation without pissing me off.
"Really? How's he not so good?"
"Well, he don't talk much anymore. He's always pissed. He even snapped at Jesse a few times. It's not like him. He asks Vince about you all the time too. Like Vince knows something he ain't telling or something."
"Really? He ever say he wanted me to come back. That he was ready to get back together?" Dom snapping at Jesse, while childish, was a good sign too. Dom had a soft spot for Jesse. He never snapped or yelled at Jesse. He knew Jesse was too high strung to handle it so he always went easy on Jess. He knew his displeasure was enough, he knew he didn't have to yell.
"Naw Dawg. He's just cranky." Leon didn't try to lie to me, even over the phone.
"Well then. Is Jesse ok? He dealing alright?"
"Yeah, the kid's ok. He's gonna be ok too. I guess you ain't coming home any time soon then huh?"
"Nope. I don't think so. I'm having a good time here." I lied so easily. Well, I was having a good time so far. That didn't mean I didn't want to go home.
"Must be nice for you girl. No grumpy Dom and no hotter then hell garage to slave in for you."
"Hey. I got a job in a garage too. I have to eat, and to eat I have to work. But it's a cool garage." I wanted to tell him more but I didn't want to give too much away. Tej's operation was pretty unique.
"Really? You got a job. I figured you was just gonna hang out and race where ever you ended up. You working as some grease monkey really ain't gonna go over well with Vince or Dom. I mean, you working with us is one thing but you working your ass off for some other guy.That just ain't right." Leon growled at me in concern.
I was touched by his worry over me but it wasn't going to change the fact that I had to work. I never wanted to take handouts. It's just not in me to do it. It was the same in high school. I knew that my teachers would have went easy on me knowing what my home life was like. But I never wanted them to. I work for mine. It's how I am. A girl has to take care of herself in this world. When you lose site of that you end up like me. With your world upside down because you let some man take care of you to the point of depending on it. And then when he realizes he wants a break from taking care of you, you're left in the cold learning how to take care of yourself all over again. Hell, it was hard enough the first time.
"I like where I work Leon. How do you know I don't work for a woman?" I giggled.
"I don't know that girl. Do you work for a woman?" Leon asked. He was thinking that a girl who owned a garage might be just the woman to make him stop his player ways I'd guess. I thought about pretending that Suki owned the garage but I decided against it.
"Naw, but I could. I could own my own garage you know. No reason why I couldn't." I grinned because the silence on the line got tense. Like Leon thought that I was mad at him for implying that girls can't run garages.
"No reason why you couldn't Let, but you're one in a million." Leon chuckled, having just saved his own ass.
"Glad someone thinks so, you green eyed flatterer." He laughed at me. "Put V on the line would ya?" I asked.
"Sure." He paused for a second. "I miss you Let." He finally added. Of course he did. His world was still messed up because he hadn't learned how to live is life without me in it yet. But he would. I hope he doesn't but I think he will.
"I miss you too Le." I answered him and heard him call out for Vince.
"Wha?" Vince said into the phone. Clearly Leon did not tell him who was on the line.
"Is that any way to talk to me V? Am I bothering you?" I asked, trying to sound hurt.
"Of course not Let. This idiot friend of yours just didn't tell me who was on the line." Vince answered, trying to save his ass from my anger. I heard Leon's yelp as he was on the receiving end of a Vince punch or slap. They were always carrying on like that. I loved to watch them do it. I miss them all so much. I hid it and continued talking to V.
"I see. So how's it going?" I asked him the same question figuring he'd have his own answer for me.
"Damn girl. I have to work twice as hard without you here."
"Yeah, you guys never knew how much of your slack I picked up huh?" I laughed out.
"No. When you comin home Let? I can't go much longer with Dom in this mood without killing him." Vince said and he sounded serious.
"But he's yo boy. You go way back. Why would you wanna kill him?" Vince always put up with Dom's shit with good humour. He never said anything about Dom. He just put up with the shit with silence. He said something to him once I think, about Brian. He was so convinced that Brian was a cop he wouldn't let that one go. He badgered Dom about that. But mostly he just kept his bitching to himself.
"Yeah, but he snaps at everyone and mopes around. It's getting on my fucking nerves."
Yep same old Vince. Same tuff attitude and foul mouth. But Dom being upset about me not being around made me feel good. Except that him moping around meant he wasn't getting over much of anything.
"Well, get him out more or something man. Remind him he had stuff he had to do'n shit." I told Vince.
"Yeah, like we ever get him to do much but go to work and yell at us all."
"You mean he doesn't go to races?" That would be something for sure. Dom never missed a race.
"He says he doesn't have the head for it right now. So Leon'n I have been going without him. Leon's getting to race for a change. I have a few times too. I don't know why he won't go. Likely has something to do with the fact that he's missing his partner in crime."
"He hasn't been my partner for a long time V. We've been two people with lives who happened to intersect for a while now."
"Yeah, well, he must be missing the traffic or something then." Vince laughed. "You sure you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm great really. I got it goin' on. You know when I told you I was going racing the other night?"
"Yeah."
"Well I won a car."
"No shit! You did?"
"Yeah. An MR-2. I sold it back to the kid for 20 g's. It was a sweet night. That's how I got my job here."
"Way to go baby. That's my girl. You always did have a way of taking care of yourself and a fuckin horseshoe up your ass."
"There was no luck in what I did V. It was all skill." I laughed. "Now that you know I'm ok and alive n'shit can you put Mia on the phone?"
"Sure." He turned his head. "Mia, phone!" He shouted. I bet the whole neighbourhood knew Mia had a call.
"Hello?" Mia sounded uncertain, like she had no idea who would be calling her.
"Hey Mi. How you livin'?"
"Letty. I'm ok. How're you?"
"Good, good. Mia, can we talk?"
"That sounds ominous. Talk about what?"
"Stuff. Like are you alone to really talk or do you have an audience?"
"I can be alone in a second. Letty are you really ok?" She asked and I could hear her walking up the stairs. The 3rd, 7th, and 11th stairs creak. I heard the door of her room close.
"I'm ok but confused about something and I want to ask you about it."
"Ok, shoot." Mia must have lain down on her bed because I heard it creak under her.
"Well. Where I am I got this job right."
"uhuh." She prompted me to continue.
"And there's this guy at my new job. I think he likes me. And I kinda like him. But I still love Dom."
"Shit Letty. A new guy? Is he cute?"
"Yeah. So the thing is I like the guy and he likes me but I still want to take Dom back. But while I'm here I want to have fun with the new guy." I started to cry. I tried not to but I couldn't. I was so confused about the whole Rome thing. "Am I a slut or something Mia? I mean how can I love Dom and want to be with this other guy all at the same time?"
"Oh Letty. It's ok. Really. I mean you're all alone. You have no one you know around you. You're on the rebound from your break up with my idiot brother. It doesn't make you a slut. Are you going to get with this other guy?"
"That's just it. I want to, but I think if I did I'd be some sort of slut. And it would be like cheating on Dom."
"Letty, you can't cheat on Dom. You broke up." Mia tried to reassure me.
"No we didn't." I yelled. I couldn't help it. I was all mixed up inside again. "We're on a break."
"Well, ok then sweetie." Mia tried to calm me down. "But either way it was his idea. You just want to have a good time with the new guy right? Have a few good times. There's nothing wrong with that. As long as you come home someday and either take Dom back and try to work it out or at least come home and explain to him why you're not going to. You're not a slut."
"Thanks Mia." It meant a lot to me that she didn't hate me for even thinking of seeing another guy other then her brother. And I guess it wasn't right of me to say sleeping with only the second guy of my life made me a slut. I didn't think Mia was a slut and I know she's been with more then two guys. I mean at this point I've only been with one.
"Hey. I love you Letty. I loved you before you dated Dom and if you don't date him anymore I'll still love you."
"I love you too Mia."
"So this other guy, is he cute?" Mia asked and I could hear the speculation in her voice.
"Oh yeah. He's cute. He's tall, and built and really dark. He drives a convertible eclipse. He's just really fun. He knows how to have a good time. I only met him a few times and I already know he's really fun."
"Well, that sounds exciting. It sounds like something you need." Mia reassured me.
"Thanks Mi. Well, I guess I should go." I didn't want to sever the link but I'd tied up the phone long enough.
"Ok. Call again soon ok. Let me know how it goes with your new friend."
"I will. Bye." And with that I hung up and went to the bathroom to try and fix my eyes. I sat down to watch some TV and a short time later Brian came back.
"How'd it go?" Brian asked me.
"Good. No one's gonna come hunting me down and I didn't have to talk to Dom." Brian laughed at that. "Brian, we never did talk about where I was gonna stay."
"Stay here if you want or I'll help you move up to Tej's." Brian told me and I couldn't read a preference out of his demeanour.
"You sure it's ok if I stay here. It's kinda cramped and I don't want to cramp your style or anything by being here."
"You won't. I don't have much of a life outside of racing. But if you're hinting that there's not enough space for you here you can go to Tej's. It won't hurt my feelings or anything."
"I'll stay here if it's ok then. I know you and I'm more comfortable here then I would be with strangers." I was just being honest.
"Sure. Stay here then. I don't mind. Really."
"Ok. And if you ever change your mind on that promise you'll let me know."
"I promise." Brian rolled his eyes at me.
"Ok. Now that that's settled, I'd guess you don't eat many home cooked meals around here."
"You'd guess right."
"Ok then. Take me grocery shopping and I'll cook us a real dinner."
"Alright!" Brian answered and looked genuinely happy. I don't know if he knew I wasn't much of a cook compared to Mia. But I did ok and it was better then the microwave crap that was all Brian had in the house.
"The way to any man's heart is via his gut so they say and Chumpy it seems you ain't different." I laughed. Brian laughed back.
We headed out to go shopping for food.