speed | paul walker

-THREE

" Rora we don't do reservations here, right?" Skips asks walking into the pool room. She shoots the cueball, feather touching the 11 ball. It falls in the hole and she looks up at Skips with a fishy glance.

" Uuuuh. No?" She rests her chin on the stick. A bar was no place for reserving spots. Especially here. " Did someone call asking for one?"

Skips flips his towel over his shoulder and heaves a sigh before clicking his tongue and nodding. " Gotta be from outta town yeah man?"

" Yeah I mean they obviously haven't been to this location either. Did you catch the name?" It's Aurora's turn to shoot so she quickly ends the game by knocking the 8 ball in, winning. She focuses her attention back to Skips. " I mean it really isn't that big of deal, probably just a couple richies from New York City or something."

The California night came and the canvas of a sky turned from a blue to a fiery orange and purple like someone took a pallet and swirled the colors together. Soon, nights would get shorter; the weather colder. An Eagles song played over the radio and couples swayed to the beat. Others finished their whiskey and left the tavern.

A crew of cars and their owners pulled up to the parking spots closet to Cheaper By The Barrel. The rumble of the motors surely making one hell of an entrance. The door popped open and Paul walked out, followed by Diesel and some other cast mates who wanted to come along. " Ooooh no way. Bobby's here! What are the odds!" Ludacris snickers, mouth agape at Paul's reaction and laughs. Parked up front was an '85 Camaro IROC-Z with a fresh coat of paint so new you could still smell it from afar. The hotrod was a rare to catch zooming by but of all people Bobby owned one here in California. Bobby was the son of the original owner of The Racer's Edge, who Paul was buddies with but unfortunately passed away last year. The store went to Bobby who turned it into a trash heap with girls, drugs, and a list of "VIP entry only". Paul had tried to get Bobby to give him the store but he refused so now things are weird between the two and could ugly very quickly.

Paul internally groaned and rolled his eyes looking at the vehicle. Vin whistled at the car. The gang entered the bar. " Alright now remember, I need to get home early and I don't want to be the soccer mom lugging ya'l alcoholics into my car so I'm out on being designated driver," Jordana says jiggling her keys in the air.

" O.K but real talk why does it smell like my grandma's BO in—,"

" Luda shut up. Why don't you be DD? Yeah? You don't really have to drink to have a good time," Vin says clamping a hand on Luda's shoulder. Ludacris was going to defend but grunted when Vin nodded for him. This happened a lot to Luda, but he just rolled with it like everything else he did.

" Oh sure sure my man, I got you covered! Now let's party!" The guy takes off towards somewhere leaving the rest alone. Paul looks around trying to look for the owner who reserved a spot for them. Although the place looked pretty low key that they could sit anywhere. Bobby was nowhere in sight Paul noticed.

" Hey man how's it going?" Paul turned to see a man with bushy faded blond hairdo and a name tag that read SKIPS. " Uhh I'm doing well, Paul," he reached for a handshake. Skips took and shook it twice. " Welcome to Cheaper By the Barrel, I'm the owner Skips, you wouldn't happen to be the whippersnapper that asked for a table like this was a Gordon Ramsey restaurant eh?"

" Yeah actually I'm the whippersnapper that reserved a table," Vin stepped in. Skips looked Vin up and down like he was a criminal, locking eyes with the actor and crumbled his fists. Paul was sure he could cut the tension with a butter knife. He frowned and was just about to say something when the unexpected happened. Skips and Vin started chuckling and then went in for a bro hug. " Dammit Diesel, you should've just stopped on by. I expected some daddy's rich boy to stop on by to have a glass of champagne with his side chick. Had me worried."