"Nice to know that you got my back Char."
"Ride or die." I told him, speeding up a little.
I realized too late where we were and muttered a long list of very creative expletives under my breath. This is going to be a long ass night. While I drove I saw the motorcycles that pulled up next to Dom and motioned something to him, then they pulled up next to me. When the driver realized who was driving he shot smiles at me and told me to follow as well.
We pulled up behind them in the empty parking lot of their family Chinese restaurant. It's been a long time since I've been here, very long time. The best chinese food in all of LA that's for sure, nothing in DC could quite compare. The company wasn't all that bad either. I spent my fair share of time here while I was in high school and let's just say I wasn't only eating the Chinese food but my hunger was quite sated.
I got out of my car just as Dom and Brian did and the guys on the motorcycles stood there watching us.
"Johnny Tran, it's been a while." I told him, walking up to hug him.
"That is has, you're legal now." he said, squeezing his arms around my waist.
"I was legal when I left, that didn't seem to bother you though."
"Barely legal. You look good Charlotte, very good. Doesn't she?" he asked his cousin, shooting me a knowing smile.
"That you do, looking good C."
"You look good yourself, in the snakeskin. Now can we get on with this, I've got a welcome home party to attend." I told them, walking back to my car.
"Right, I thought we had an agreement Toretto. You stay away, I stay away. Everybody stays happy." Johnny said to Dom.
"We got lost Johnny. What do you want me to tell you?" Dom replied.
"Who's "we"?"
"My new mechanic. Brian, meet Johnny Tran. The guy in the snakeskin pants, that's his cousin, Lance. So, when are you gonna give me a shot at that Honda 2000 of yours?" Dom asked him.
"This your ride?" he asked Brian.
"It was, it's his now." Brian replied.
"No it's not, I haven't taken delivery." Dom said.
"Then it's nobody's car. Somebody put in the wrench time. What do you think, Lance?"
"It's an amazing machine." Lance replied, his gun aimed at my cousin.
"Don't you think you can put the weapon down?" I asked.
"Precautions beautiful." Johnny said.
"I call bullshit." I told him.
"You haven't lost any of your attitude, I still like it. Let's go, I'll see you in the desert next month. Be ready to have your ass handed to you." Johnny said to Dom.
"Yeah, you're gonna need more than that crotch rocket." Dom said.
"I got something for you." Johnny told him and it made me think for a second.
I don't like the way he said that, the cockiness about it. There's something more there, he's definitely hiding something. I made my way over to the guys as Johnny and his little posse left on their bikes.
"What the hell was that about?" Brian asked.
"It's a long story." Dom and I said.
"I'll tell you later." Dom said when suddenly the guys came back in.
"Sorry Charlie." Johnny said.
He and Lance started shooting up the Skyline, making sure to keep any bullets away from the vicinity where I was standing. Dom threw his arms over me and pulled me into his side while Brian stood on the other side of the car. As soon as they stopped and drove away I started to run towards where Brian was since he was closer to my car.
"NOS!" Dom shouted suddenly and Brian pulled me towards him when the car blew the fuck up.
Both of us fell to the ground with Brian covering me. The flames were so pretty though, blue and green of all things. Dom ran over to us as soon as the initial explosion died down, pulling Brian off of me and looking me over.
"Estoy bien." I muttered, angry at the rips in my jeans. ( I'm good)
"Welcome home." he said.
"Let's go." I told him.
"Okay, so, what the hell was that all about?" Brian asked again.
"It's a long story." Dom repeated.
"Well we've got a long drive . . ."
"Excuse me?" I interrupted.
"Humor me." Brian said.
"A business deal that went sour." Dom said.
"He also made the mistake of sleeping with Johnny's sister." I said with a smile as they got into my car.
"Didn't you sleep with Johnny?" Dom shot at me.
"Maybe, maybe not." I said with a smile.
"We always thought something happened there, when we all got along." he said.
"You'll never know, it's none of your business anyway." I told him.
"Yeah, cause you were still a minor at the time to his 21." he argued.
"Like I said, you'll never know and it's none of your business. I was 18 by the way." I told him with a smile, making him shake his head.
"Where did you learn to drive like this? You were right behind me." Brian asked.
"That's a good question, how the hell did you learn to do that? I didn't teach you that shit." Dom said.
"You didn't think that I really went to DC just to study right?"
"You were supposed to take school seriously." he scolded.
"Meh." I commented, shrugging my shoulders.
"What did you go to school for?" Brian asked.
"Media journalism, you know that I only went to make mom happy. I basically wasted my time since she isn't even speaking to me anymore."
"She'll come around." Dom said.
"I'm not sure that I want her to, I'm better off here."
"That you are."
The drive was quick, it wasn't that far from the Chinese restaurant. I let the guys talk, they had lots of questions for each other. Every few minutes I would look into the rearview mirror and catch Brian looking at me, I'm sure Dom realized the same thing but he chose not to comment on it.
The difficult part wasn't returning home after everyone left Dom to fend for himself, no, the difficult part was finding a damn parking space. The house was party central and Dom was slowly fuming mad. I found enough space for me to squeeze into the driveway and find a spot between the team's cars. Dom and I got out, heading towards the door while Brian started going in the opposite direction.
"Take care." he shouted.
I gave Dom a look, one that he recognized very well.
"Yo, Spilner. You want a beer?" Dom called out, making me smile.
"Yeah, sure." he replied when he turned around but again, he looked at me instead of at Dom.
I opened the door and was hit with the nostalgia that is a street race after party at Toretto's. Racer chasers were here, there was beer and cigarettes, girls making out with girls, guys making out with girls, video games and music, everywhere. Letty was laying on the floor playing a game, Leon was hitting on some girl and Vince was in the far corner playing his guitar, with Mia sitting on his lap.
"Yo, Dom. Hey man, we were just about to go looking for you brother." Leon stuttered when he saw the angry look on Dom's face.
Dom walked by him angrily, knocking his beer out of his hand. Letty jumped off of the floor as my cousin strode over to his best friend and his sister.
"Where were you?" Dom demanded.
"There were mass cops there. They came in from every direction, that shit was orchestrated." Vince replied.
At that point I let them hash it out because I really had to go to the bathroom. Mia went upstairs right behind me and went to her room. Mia and Vince are a weird relationship, the guy is super overly jealous and Mia doesn't like that. At the same time they make each other so damn happy and they love each other so much. Whatever makes them happy, honestly, I mean who am I to judge.
I left the bathroom and went to Mia's room to grab a pair of sneakers to change into. Leaving her room I saw Brian go down the stairs while Leon, Vince and Jesse all watched him from the entrance to the room.
"Did you wipe the seat?" Vince asked.
I ran downstairs and got in the middle of them before Vince could get any closer. Honestly I don't know what his problem is but I don't want to deal with it again.
"Would you cut this shit already? I'm serious Vince, knock it off. Come on, come on. Let's go get me a drink." I told Brian, grabbing his hand.
"Come on, Charlotte. We were just about to get along." Leon said.
"Yeah, you were about to get along with my fist." I said.
"Down girl." Jesse said.
"You gonna keep going?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"Leave her be, we'll see the Buster again." Vince said, recognizing the look on my face.
"Try my patience Vince, you know the consequences." I told him.
"Let's go get you something to drink." Brian said, pulling my hand to avoid further issue.