Thanks for the reviews! Things are looking a bit more positive, which in turn, has given me more clarity on the direction of this story. And for those wondering, Dom and Letty's meeting will be soon, though it won't be how you imagine.
Flashback - June '97
"So, when are you and my brother gonna admit you love each other? You know that's the only reason you're coming tonight. You hate these stupid after-parties."
Letty rolled her eyes at her friend Mia as she did a spin in front of the long mirror, silently approving of the tight, revealing leather skirt clinging to her thighs and the sheer top that stopped just short of her belly-button.
"There's nothing between your brother and I," Letty said while slipping into her chunky, flamed-tipped boots. She turned to Mia for approval, "I just want to have fun tonight. Has nothing to do with Dominic. Now... what do you think?"
"I don't think it matters what I think," the preppy fifteen year-old smirked, jumping from the bed to shove Letty into her make-up chair, "I think you both are kidding yourselves. Just standing in a room with you two makes me feel gross. The sexual tension is driving me crazy."
Letty scoffed in disbelief, "You're only fifteen, Mi and you haven't even had a serious boyfriend. What do you know about sexual tension?"
"Hey I've seen enough movies," Mia insisted and applied a little smoky mascara to Letty's eyes followed by some lip gloss before turning to her messy hair. "My brother has never been attached to a girl he's not 'involved' with. I think he hangs out with you more than he does Vince."
Letty brushed off Mia's ridiculous claims. She was more concerned about looking her best for their house party tonight.
It had been six months since Dom ran her down during a race, and the two grew to be close friends. Their chemistry was based on a flirty, tit-for-tat repertoire that was doused in sexual tension, but neither acted on it. Letty tried to convince herself that she had grown out of her crush on Dominic Toretto – especially now that she knew him personally – but he was making it extremely hard to hold her resolve. He flirted shamelessly with her, used every excuse he could to let his hands touch her body, and spent more time alone with her than any of his other friends.
Dom's main flaw? His refusal to be monogamous with anyone. He had a reputation for jumping from skank to skank, though Letty was happy to acknowledge that Dom hadn't been as 'active' since they grew closer together.
"Well your brother is the furthest thing from my mind tonight," she partially lied, "I just wanna crash his party and enjoy the night."
Mia gave Letty's outfit a proud once-over, smiled delightfully at her curls that hung just below her shoulder blades, and scoffed at the horrendous clunky boots, "Can't you wear heels for just one night?"
"I'm not compromising who I am for any man – especially not Dominic Toretto," Letty said sternly. "Be glad I'm even wearing shoes." She gave Mia's skimpy outfit a glance, "You should be more worried."
Mia rolled her eyes while tugging her blue spaghetti-strapped dress down, "I'm not. We look hot. Let's go."
When the two girls descended the stairs, they were entering a mash of loud music and dozens of people crammed into a small two-story home. Half-naked girls doubled the amount of men – most of whom were racers and fellow high-school classmates, and the foul smell of liquor, pot-smoke, and sweat reeked through the home.
Letty's eyes scanned the crowd and she finally spotted the bald man in a crowd of skanks near the kitchen. His eyes peeled away from the blonde rubbing up against him to meet with Letty across the room, and a fire set ablaze in her stomach. Instantly, she was the only woman in the room as his chocolate eyes followed her through the throng of people. Letty instinctively took her time fighting through patrons, flirting with a few drunken racers on her way to the kitchen for a drink.
When he broke contact to glare at the person behind her, Letty knew the games had begun. Dom pushed off the wall and away from his fans to meet the two teens in the center of the party.
"I thought I told you girls to stay out of the way tonight?" Dom asked both Mia and Letty, though his eyes were busy blazing holes through Mia's provocative clothing. He was close enough for Letty to smell the weed over his Armani cologne, and the red rim around his eyes said he had well over one drink, so she knew his attitude would be exaggerated.
"We will. But we want to have fun too," Mia replied while smiling sweetly at a guy across the room. Dom followed her line of vision to the boys he recognized from the races, and they quickly disappeared into the crowd again. She turned back to him with her arms crossed, "I'll end up being the one cleaning most of this crap before Dad comes home anyways."
"You know that's true, Dom," Letty co-signed.
"No way, Mia. The both of you need to get lost! Look at what... you're wearing," Dom's commanding voice cracked when his eyes moseyed down Letty's top. He had never seen her dressed so.. grown up. "You can't be down here dressed like that. Too many pervs in here."
Letty could see the hunger blazing in his glassy eyes and chose to taunt him more, pushing her chest out for him to get a better view, "First, you only have one sister, and it ain't me. Second, I don't see what the big deal is. Mia and I have on more clothes than half the bitches in here. Why can't we party?"
"Because I'm not babysitting you two all night. If I have to, I'll carry you both back upstairs."
Letty didn't budge from his threats and stood with her hands on her hips, her brown eyes daring him to try. When they didn't crack, Dom gave an aggravated huff, "No drinking, no smoking, no dancing with-"
"No fun, we got it!" Mia broke the intense stand-off between the two and pushed past Letty to plant a kiss on Dom's cheek before breaking off into the crowd. Letty only cocked a brow, waiting for Dom's next move.
"Keep her out of trouble. She's your problem tonight," Dom pointed at Letty with his Corona dangling from his fingers.
Letty swiftly snatched his beer and leaned up on her toes, planting a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. Her breath on his skin sent his buzz into a full-on high.
"Hey! I said no drinking!" he yelled to her back but the pulsating music made it impossible for her to hear. At least that what Letty wanted Dom to believe.
An hour later, Letty and Mia were lying in the grass in the backyard, giggling like school-girls while an audience of tipsy partygoers looked on.
"Dom's gonna kill us, bro," Jesse said as he leaned against his Jetta with Leon, watching the spectacle before them.
"Hey man – I didn't tell them to grab my joint when I wasn't looking," Leon defended as he pushed off the car. "Let, Mi, you girls gotta get up."
"Fuck off, Leo!" Letty growled while swatting away at his hand. She sat up as another brilliant thought came to mind. She slapped at Mia's arm, "Hey, where's V?"
"I.. I don't know. Probably in his cave, beating on his chest," Mia said with a straight face before they both erupted in laughter at the image of the brute they called Vince.
"Shut up Mi!" Letty said between giggles," Come on. I know where the Caveman stashes the good stuff."
Against Leon and Jesse's wishes, Letty dragged Mia to the garage shed. Once there, the fiery Latina moved to the deep fridge, which she practically climbed inside of to pull out a bottle of Whiskey from under a stack of steaks.
"Jackpot!" Letty grinned as she held up her prize.
"Yes!" Mia cheered and the two hurried to the picnic table for shots.
"Girls, I don't think that's a good idea. Vince is anal about his liquor," Jesse tried to reason with the stoned teenagers, but they were too engaged in unsuccessfully pouring the strong liquid into the tiny glasses.
"Letty!" she finally looked up at Leon through glassy eyes, "V and Dom are gonna kill you two, after strangling me for getting you girls high."
"You didn't force us to steal your joint. Relax, bro," Letty slurred while clanking her shot glass together with Mia's before both tipped their glasses back. She staggered down from the table to hand the boys each a shot. "Besides, Dom doesn't control me. He can't tell me I can't party-" she paused when she tripped on her way back up the table. "-if he's in there grinding on whores, wasted off his ass with Vince. Why can't we all drink together?"
"Because Dominic specifically said-"
"I don't give a shit what Dominic said!" Letty screamed suddenly, startling all outside partiers to silence. All except Mia, who was still giggling uncontrollably. Letty's low eyes darkened even more as her oldest friend Leon stopped looking like her sleazy pseudo-brother, and more like a cute Cuban playboy. She cocked her head to the side and began to stalk Leon like prey. "Oh, Leeeon."
Leon recognized the lust in Letty's eyes and quickly put his hands up, backing out of her reach.
"What're you doing, Let? Dom-"
"Oh shut up with the Dom shit!" Letty griped, running one hand roughly through Leon's curls while using her fingers to tip his glass toward the sky. He tossed the harsh drink back, letting out a harsh cough afterwards. Letty gave a satisfied smile, "Why don't we go hang out privately, Le?"
"You're drunk, and baked Letty," Leon fought her off, "You don't know what you're saying, Babygirl."
"I know that I just asked you to take me somewhere," she murmured, snaking her hand up his shirt to feel the hair on his toned stomach.
"And if you weren't my homegirl of five years I would've already-" Leon started but a low growl coming from the backdoor interrupted him.
The four friends looked over to the house where an angry, inebriated Dominic stood with an even angrier Vince at his side.
"Please, do continue Leon," Vince said with a smirk.
"Yo, Dom, it's not what it-"
"Shut up Leon!" Dom growled, taking the back steps to join them at the table, "It's exactly what it looks like. You and the Kid getting my baby sister and my-" Dom promptly cut off his words, "What the hell were you guys thinking?"
"Relax, brother," Mia slurred, moving to wrap her arms around his waist, "We're just having fun."
"Mia, are you... are you high?" Dom asked, his nose scrunched at the scent of marijuana coming off her clothes.
"No, never!" she sing-songed, sending both she and Letty into another laughing fit.
"Is that my Whiskey?" Vince finally noticed the half-empty bottle dangling from Letty's fingertips. "You guys are dead!"
Both Dom and Vince went from zero-to-sixty in only seconds. They lunged for Jesse and Leon, but Letty and Mia intervened.
"The hell is your problem? They are your best friends!" Letty yelled, her hands pushing against Dom's chest.
"No, they are your friends!" Dom replied angrily. "My friends would never give my baby sister drugs. And what are you doing, propositioning him like that?!"
It was Letty's turn to be furious now.
"Last time I checked, I didn't have a boyfriend."
Dom narrowed his eyes at her, "So that gives you a right to screw anything walking, huh?"
"If that's what I desire to do, then yes, it's my right. The same right you have to grind up on those walking STD's and bed a different one every week," Letty bit back without hesitation.
Leon stepped between the heated exchange, standing toe-to-toe with Dominic Toretto. He couldn't allow Dom to berate his friend any longer, "Yo, dawg, that's not cool."
"Tell me Leon – since you two are so close – is she always this slutty, or just when she get a little weed in her?" the word's spiked the tension to a whole new level. "'Cause I've been trying to get a piece of that for months now, and it ain't been that easy for me."
Leon shoved Dom hard, finally fed up with his drunken rage. Before Dom had a chance to strike back, Vince and Mia stepped between them while Letty pulled Leon away from a beating. Before she could stop herself, Letty was planting a vicious open-palm against Dom's cheek.
"To hell with you, Toretto," she hissed before pushing Leon back toward the house. "We're outta here. Later Mia."
"Letty, don't go!" Mia hollered after her friend, "Letty! Letty!"
"Letty! Letty, you gotta get up!"
Letty groaned as she was startled from her dream. As she rolled over, stuffing her head under the plush hotel pillow to ignore the yells of Brooke, Letty tried desperately to return to the fantasy world where her old friends were, but to no avail. Her aggravation grew when the duvets were yanked away from her chilled body.
"Seriously, Letty, you have to see this," said Brooke.
"B, please. I haven't been able to sleep in for like six months. Whatever it is, can't it wait?" Letty grumbled, her voice muffled from under the pillow.
"It's already ten-thirty, and checkout is at noon. And no, it can't wait. Don't make me sicc Ginger on you."
Letty growled in annoyance but sat up slowly, fearing Brooke's threats. Ginger was always happiest in the morning, and her way of showing it included face-licking and playful nips at Letty's toes that she wasn't in the mood for this morning. Letty squinted at the golden sunshine fluttering through the curtains, but the smell of fresh coffee seemed to wake her right up. She finally noticed Brooke standing there, the scrapbook from the night before and coffee in her hands.
"What the hell, Jackson?" Letty asked groggily while accepting the Joe. Ginger affectionately licked at Letty's bare toes, anxious for a greeting. Letty obliged her, petting her between the ears.
"I think I found your friend, Leon."
Letty paused, the cup pressed firmly between her lips as Brooke took a seat on the bed next to her. She decided against mentioning the dream that Brooke disturbed, and waited patiently for the information she had to divulge.
"Is he alive?" Letty asked hopefully.
"Very much so," Brooke gave a small smile before pulling her laptop into her lap, "I couldn't sleep much last night, partially on a count of you mumbling about him all night in your sleep, so I decided to look through your scrapbooks again to see if I could find out anything about him."
"Talking in my sleep?" Letty questioned with a quipped brow, "That's new."
"Not really – you've been doing it for months. That's why I let Ginger sleep with you. She'd crawl in bed with you, and one lick to the face would shut you right up."
Letty smiled at the pup who lay curled up at her feet. They found Ginger as a puppy on the side of the highway, a victim of abandonment by the people who claimed to love her as well. Letty's intentions were to drop the pup at a shelter and continue on her journey, but she had never had a pet before and found it hard in her heart to leave Ginger.
"Anyways, I wanted to see if there was anything about him on the Internet, so I searched his name. Found a last name – Diaz – on the back of one of the pics. This is what I found," Brooke turned the screen to Letty. "You recognize this guy?"
Letty's eyes watered as she stared at the familiar face on the screen. She analyzed the photo, dated only a few weeks prior, of her old friend closely. He was decked out in a tailored black suit, his hair slicked back and his perfect smile wide. He looked a lot more suave and mature than the young boy she saw in her dream. He stood next to a Hispanic man she recognized as Hector, another childhood friend. Hector's looks hadn't changed since grade school, he was still short, bald and smiling. Hector's gray suit was a change from the Dickies outfits she was used to seeing, but he looked truly happy with grin that mimicked Leon's.
Letty read aloud the quote under their photo, "Local mechanics-turned-race promoters open new restoration garage – The Lab – just three months before they unveil the return of Race Wars, a fan-favorite event."
"That guys looks like a lot like this guy," Brooke held up her cell phone to show a blurry, distant picture of the Suit from the bar. "Don't you agree?"
Letty held the phone in her hand, and the scrapbook in the other to compare the faces. There was no doubt that her old friend Leon was her new stalker from The Colony.
Brooke could see the emotion on Letty's face, so she wrapped her hand around Letty's and gave it a comforting squeeze. The tears began to fall, but Brooke wasn't sure if they were happy tears or tears of sadness. In the nine months of their friendship, this was the first time Brooke had seen Letty cry. It was the first time she had shown any emotion other than her usual "chill", and Brooke finally felt as if Letty was letting her walls down.
"Why are you crying, babe?"
"Because he was right there … for weeks he was right there, and I didn't even know. He must hate me," Letty sniffled as she tried to regain her composure.
"It's not your fault you're suffering from amnesia, Letty. You can't beat yourself up about it. And for what it's worth, it's not like he came right out and announced who he was. He probably just needed some time to figure out what to say to you," Brooke took back to the screen, scrolling and clicking a few links. "His shop is here in Pasadena, Letty. We can go see him.. you can talk to him."
Letty sniffled a few times, pulling away to wipe away her tears, "No. He's done good for himself. He has his own garage. The Lab," she tried the name on her tongue, "I remember he and Jesse always talked about opening their own restoration place together, somewhere to rebuild junkers and turn them into classics. Jesse always described his work as a science, that's why we called him the Mad Scientist. Glad to see he went through with it."
"Are you sure you don't want to-" Brooke started.
"No," Letty said firmly, standing from the bed. "Not right now. Right now I need a smoke, and food."
"So what's the plan here, Lett?" Brooke asked behind a mouthful of cheesy eggs an hour later, "What's next?"
Letty wiped her hands on a napkin before taking a drink from her steaming mug of coffee, "I'm not sure. We have enough money to find a place, relax for a while. I could probably find another garage for work."
"Here, though? Are we really not going to Los Angeles?"
Letty sighed heavily, fiddling with the fork on her plate, "Not yet, B. I'm not ready yet. I'm still trying to work some stuff out."
"Don't you think that'll be easier to do by seeing them again? I mean, I'm not saying move back in with them, but at least stop by. Let them know you're alive. Think about how they felt believing you were dead the first time around... holding a funeral for you. At least reassure them that they don't have to go through that again."
Letty thought about Brooke's words, and knew she was right. She left in the middle of the night, and had no contact with any of them ever since. She could only imagine how they felt about her now, and that was partially the reason she was hesitant to return.
"Let's get settled first," Letty took a bite of her crispy bacon, "then I'll face my fears."
Brooke was satisfied with that, so the two women went back to eating their breakfast. Letty's eyes went out the window several times, and she couldn't help but feel happy to be back in California. It was something about being in her home state that brought up feelings of child-like giddiness inside of her. The weather was always perfect, it was close to the beach, and the racing scene was always sublime. She was in her element here in California. Though she never had trouble adapting, it was always easier for her to navigate the life she had here.
"What're you smiling for?" Brooke asked, looking up from fiddling with her phone.
"Just feels good to be home," Letty shrugged.
"Well please keep thinking about home long enough for me to get to the car," she said timidly while standing from the table, her eyes trained on something behind Letty.
"What?" Letty asked while turning in her seat. Letty's heart hitched in her throat as she watched Leon head her way. She made her way to her feet, her anxiety through the roof as the well-dressed man stopped a few feet away from.
"I'm sorry, Letty. You can hate me later, but right now, you need to talk to him," the words rushed from Brooke's lips. "I'm gonna go feed Ginger."
Leon stood with his hands in his pocket, his eyes focusing on Letty's face for a long while before drinking in the rest of her. He had only seen her under the neon fluorescent lights in the nightclub, and hadn't realize just how much she had changed. The incredibly-attractive woman standing in front of him was unfamiliar. With long chocolate locks sweeping her shoulder blades and kind, but painfully lost eyes scanning the coffee shop anxiously, Leon didn't know this woman.
The Letty he knew held herself with confidence, and nerves of steel. This woman before him had very little of either.
"Are you gonna just stare at me?" Letty asked, her posture stiffening defensively. She admired how handsomely he had matured. Her cheeks burned with fire as his glare became too much. "Either sit, or get lost."
She flopped back down at the table and guzzled down her coffee, signaling the waitress for a refill. Letty could feel Leon's eyes burning into her head, with her migraine threatening to make a return soon.
He finally appeared on the other side of the table and scanned her face, drinking in the true beauty that was Letty. When she gazed up at him, her eyebrow cocked in annoyance and the inside of her cheek pinched between her teeth, it was then that Leon cracked a smile.
"Come on, man. You gotta say something, you can't just stare," Letty said, anxiously picking away at her half-eaten omelet. "I'm getting annoyed."
"I'm sorry," Leon slid into the seat across from her, his eyes never pulling away from hers. "I just can't believe it's really you. I mean, when I found you in Vegas, I still wasn't convinced I wasn't seeing a ghost. Until you nearly broke my arm."
Letty smirked, "Sorry about that. But you should've known better."
He chuckled, "That's true. You know, I came in there four nights a week – for three weeks – and you acted like you had no clue who I was. What's up with that? Where have you been?"
Letty sighed; she hated this part. It was always hard explaining her amnesia to someone from her past. Though it was something she couldn't help, that didn't stop her from nearly drowning in guilt on every occasion. But Leon played a huge part in her life, so she wanted to give him a proper explanation.
"I need a smoke," Letty pulled her wallet from her back pocket and tossed a couple bills on the table before waving Leon out with her.
Leon stopped her before she made it out of the diner.
"Would it be too weird to ask for a hug?" he murmured.
Letty hesitated. She felt a strong connection to him that made her want to trust him. She didn't feel uncomfortable, or a need to run, so she didn't. Instead gave in, wrapping her arms around his waist as he engulfed her in his arms.
"I don't know what happened to the old Letty, but I'm damn happy to see you."
His cologne made her belly tickle, so she stayed wrapped in the embrace a few seconds longer. Any worry or insecurity that she had washed away in an instant, and for a while, Letty felt at home. Safe in familiar territory.
Letty pulled away slowly, the genuine smile on his face completely flushing away her nerves. It was her turn to drink him in – the same tussled, dark curls... the same scruffy shadow that only he could pull off. When he met her stare with her bright green eyes, Letty then knew for sure it was her Leon. Her family.
If you're wondering how Leon makes his way into every story I write - it's because I love the original Team. Though it was only one movie, the makeup of Dom, Letty, Leon, Vince, and Jesse was my favorite. I loved the thought of them growing up together, and going through life together. Don't get me wrong, I love the Fast Family now, but nothing beats the original, IMO. A surprise cameo from Johnny Strong in F7 as Leon would give me life. Anyways - read and review!