Chapter Thirteen

“You gonna stick by me?”

“Maybe…”

**

I was supposed to put Mia’s plan into action the next weekend, but as things worked out, I never got the chance to. Fate or something took over, and everything ended up happening all by itself. The day after my big talk with Mia, Leon got sick. Really sick, to the point where he was puking all day and could barely drag his ass out of bed. We were pretty busy at the garage, with more than Dom could handle by himself. So, suddenly, the two of them decided that my knee was healed up enough that I could start working on the cars again. They also decided that I could help out at the garage before school until Leon got better. I don’t know how the hell they thought either one of those decisions were up to them, and I almost threw a fit when Dom told me about it over dinner that night. But Mia kicked me underneath the table, glared at me every time I even looked like I was going to open my mouth to say something. So I stayed quiet.

The next morning, I woke up early to go help Dom out at the garage. I almost literally fell out of bed at five a.m. and got dressed, wearing just a bra and underwear under my coveralls. I was going straight to school from the garage, so I had all my clothes and shit in my backpack.

Dom was already at the garage when I got there, changing the oil on an old Buick, one of the cars that had been dropped off at the garage overnight. He looked all happy and shit, whistling away as he leaned under the hood of the car. I just glared at him. I am so not a morning person. He and Leon were going to owe me big for this, I’d just decided.

“Hey, Letty, how you doing this morning?” Dom asked when he noticed me.

“Ugh,” was my only reply, as I stifled a yawn. “Dom, it is way, way, way too early for conversation and shit. Just tell me which car to start working on and let me be miserable in silence.”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed. “Fine. You can start replacing the clutch on that truck over there while I get through these oil changes. Let me know if you need any help. So what’s your problem today? You get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something? PMS maybe? You’re not catching whatever Leon has, are you?”

“No,” I replied, exasperated. “No, I didn’t get up on the wrong side of the bed, and no, I don’t have PMS, and no, I’m not catching whatever Leon has. And, my only problem is that it’s five-thirty in the fucking morning and instead of being in bed, where I should be, I’m in this freezing cold garage with some asshole who doesn’t know when to just shut the fuck up!”

I guess Dom got the point, ‘cause he didn’t say anything after that. I got completely absorbed in replacing the clutch. It had been a few months since I’d done one all by myself, but I definitely wasn’t going to ask Dom for help and let him think I didn’t know what I was doing. When I finally finished, I stepped out from underneath the lift and looked over at the clock to check how long I had left before I had to leave for school.

I don’t know if it had taken me longer to finish with the clutch than it should have, or if Dom hadn’t meant for me to do the whole thing that morning or what, but it was about a quarter to eight. In other words, I had fifteen minutes to walk the eleven blocks to school and get there in time for the test I had first period. Maybe I could make it, if I left right that second and ran the whole way. Yeah, and that was so not going to happen.

“Dom!” I screeched, just as he stepped out of the office. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn’t you tell me what time it was?”

“What are you still doing here, Letty?” he said, at nearly the same time. “I thought you left nearly an hour ago!”

“You thought I left? You’ve kept track of where I’ve been for practically every single fucking second of every single fucking day for the past three weeks if not the past three months, and here you thought I just left without saying goodbye or anything, and you didn’t go rushing after me to make sure I was okay? Oh, that’s just rich.”

“Well, you seemed like you didn’t want to be bothered…I thought maybe you were mad at me or something…” he said, sheepishly. It would have been cute, if I hadn’t been so pissed.

“Uggh!” I growled. “Well, I was fine before, but I’m not too happy now! Okay. So, now that I have like fifteen minutes to get to school, here’s what’s going to happen,” I said, as I started walking towards the entrance of the garage, where Dom always parked. “Are you coming? I swear, Dom, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll be right behind me in ten seconds or less. Oh, and make sure you have your keys.” I unzipped my coveralls as I walked the rest of the way to the car, shrugging out of them before I slid into the passenger seat.

“Letty, what are you doing?” Dom asked, pausing outside the car.

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing, Dom?” I replied angrily. “I’m changing! What, you want me to go to school in dirty coveralls? I don’t think so! And, since I now have twelve minutes to get there, I don’t have time to change anywhere else but in the car. So will you get the fuck in, all ready? ‘Cause, if you don’t hurry the fuck up, I’ll completely miss my science test, which there are no make-ups for, since Mr. Wilson is the biggest dick in the entire school. And then, I’ll most likely end up failing the class this quarter, since I have a C in there right now. And then, my aunt would want to kick my ass. Except, given my strong survival instinct, I would have to tell her whose fault it was that I missed the test. And then, she would want to kick your ass. And she would, without hesitation. Probably Leon’s too, just for good measure. And after that, she’d probably drag me home to live with her, since she’d think that Leon obviously isn’t doing a very good job of keeping track of me and making sure I do well in school, like he swore up and down to her he would. That’s the only reason she let me stay here when school started up again, you know. Maybe you’d like that, huh? Wouldn’t have to keep tabs on the annoying little kid anymore, right? Well, I am not going to let you get rid of me that fucking easily, Dom, so you can just get in the car and prove what a big, bad ass street racer you are.”

Sometime during my little tirade he must’ve gotten the hint, because right after I finished, the engine roared to life and we took off, tires squealing. I almost bashed my head against the dashboard as Dom braked to shift from reverse into drive while I leaned down to rummage through my bag for my clothes, but he reached over and put his hand on my shoulder to keep me steady.

I found my jeans first, and got my legs into them before sitting up to pull them on the rest of the way. Dom looked over at me when I pulled up, and the expression on his face…it was just stone. I felt guilty as hell for making him look that way, and thought to myself, “Oh, great. Now he’ll really think he’s only going to fuck your life up and not want anything to do with you. Way to put Mia’s plan into action.”

“Well, at least you managed to change in front of him, girl,” I thought to myself after a few seconds, as I lifted my ass up off of the seat to finish putting my jeans on and noticed Dom looking over at me again. “Maybe it’s not completely hopeless.”

Dom somehow managed to get me to school within five minutes. Which, you know, is just one more piece of evidence that God or whoever runs things up there really hates me, because I still didn’t have a shirt on, and we were just early enough that there were still people hanging out in the parking lot and I’m sitting there in the front seat of Dom’s car, half-naked. And, as if that wasn’t enough, I somehow managed to get my hair caught in the hook on my bra. I didn’t even know shit like that was possible.

“Uhm, Dom?” I asked, hesitantly, after trying to get my hair uncaught and failing miserably. He just looked at me, didn’t even say anything. “Oh, shit,” I thought to myself, “he really does hate me now.”

“What, Letty,” he finally said, sighing. “Look, we’re here, you still have plenty of time to get to class…if you hurry.”

“Uhm…well…my hair is…kind of…stuck. Uhm…in my bra,” I muttered.

“Your hair is what? Where?”

“Stuck. In my bra,” I repeated, wanting to just crawl in a hole somewhere and die. Preferably quickly, but even a slow, agonizing death would have been a million times better than this. “Could you help me?”

He looked like he didn’t even want to touch me.

“Look, Dom, I’m sorry I yelled at you before, really,” I quickly said. “And it’s probably my own damn fault that I lost track of time. I probably took way more time finishing that job than I should have. I just…this is a really big test, and it’s practically my worst subject, and Mr. Wilson completely hates me, and you know how I am in the mornings, and…”

“Will you just turn around already, Letty, so I can see exactly what you’ve managed to do to yourself?” he asked, cutting me off.

I turned, and the feel of his warm hands on my back sent shivers down my spine.

“Now…how the hell do you work this thing?” he asked, his fingers fumbling with the clasp of my bra.

“What?” I replied, laughing a little. “Come on, Dom…are you saying you don’t know how to unhook a bra?”

“Hey, I just got out of jail, remember,” he replied, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. “It’s not like I’ve gotten a lot of practice with this type of thing, lately.”

Finally, he managed to get my hair free. “Hey, did you say you finished replacing that clutch?” he asked as I was pulling my shirt on over my head.

“Yeah, I did,” I replied. “I know, I know, you probably could have done it in half the time, but it’s been a while since I worked on a clutch.”

“Actually, I don’t think I could have. I thought I’d have to finish it up later myself,” he laughed.

“Really?” I asked, feeling all warm and tingly inside, proud of myself. I looked over to him as I opened the car door. “So…thanks for the ride, Dom. And I really am sorry I yelled at you earlier. Are we cool still?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I remember how stressful school can be. You’d better get to class, you know. Wouldn’t want you to be late after all this.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” I said, grinning at him as I got out of the car.

As I was halfway around the car, I heard Dom calling my name. “What now?” I asked, walking over to the driver side window, clutching my arms around myself. It was colder than I had thought it would be, and I hadn’t brought a jacket or anything.

Dom didn’t say anything at first, just got out of the car, and stood next to me, looking me over. Finally, he reached up and rubbed my cheek a few times. “You had a little spot of grease on you. There, it’s gone now. Figured you wouldn’t want to spend the whole day walking around like that. Might clog your pores, or something.”

“You’re crazy, Dom, you know that?” I laughed. “But thanks.”

“You cold?” he asked, noticing my shivers.

“Yeah, a little. Not exactly your typical LA weather today, huh?”

“No, definitely not the year-round 85 degrees they promise in the travel brochures,” he replied, turning away from me to reach inside the car. “Here, take this,” he said, handing me his new red leather jacket.

“Thanks,” I told him, smiling. “You know, you’d better be careful, people will start saying you’re a total softy, they see you doing stuff like this. Or they’ll think I’ve got you completely whipped.”

“Yeah, well, since when have I ever given a fuck about what people think? Besides, can’t have you getting pneumonia or some shit like that. Especially not now that I know how good you are. Replacing clutches and all, I mean.”

“Oh, of course. Have to get something out of putting up with all my bitchiness, right?”

I half turned to start walking away again, but Dom reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me back to him and into a loose hug. “Good luck on your test, Letty,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my hair.

Just then, the warning bell rang.

“Well, you’d better get to class,” Dom said as he let go of me, turned me around and pushed me off in the direction of the school entrance.

I walked off in a daze, wondering what exactly had happened that morning, if I had somehow dreamed the whole thing. “Maybe Mia was right after all,” I thought, smiling. As I passed a group of girls, I could hear them whispering, asking who that guy was and how he’d ended up with a girl like me. I had to laugh to myself; I’d thought everyone knew who Dominic Toretto was.