Ride Home To Me

Chapter 4

"Mia if Dom heard you talking like that he'd go back to school and drag the poor kid through the dirt," Letty says.

"I'm just saying he's really cute!" Mia defended. She grins and wiggles her eyebrows. "Think I could get him to ask me to winter ball?"

I let them bicker back and forth on Mia's bed while I sit on the floor, fiddling with the games on my phone. My mom, Leon, Jessie, and Vince are long gone, and so now Mia, Letty and I are in Mia's bedroom, Mia chatting away while Letty rolls her eyes. The bedroom door opening grabs my attention and quickly silences the girls. Dom pokes his head in and drops extra pillows and blankets on the floor.

"Here. You guys figure out what you wanna do. Gabi, you could probably fit into Mia's clothes but if not let me know," he says, then heads out and closes the door behind him.

We stay up for a while, but Mia gets tired and goes to bed before I even start getting sleepy. I end up lying on the carpet floor with Letty since Mia's bed is too small to share. I feel something poke my arm and turn to see Letty watching me.

"So what's your deal man?" she whispered. The friendly demeanor she'd taken on through the day and during dinner had disappeared.

"What do you mean?"

"You look nice enough but anytime we try being nice you look like you don't want it. I don't care. If you don't wanna be around us then just tell me, but Mia is a sweetheart so if you're gonna be an asshole leave soon cause she don't deserve whatever it is you're giving."

My mouth hangs open. "I don't know what you're talking about," I stammer.

"Don't play me, Gabi, I'm not stupid. And like I said, it's fine."

"Fine. You could've just not been nice to me though. I'm sure Mia would have listened to you."

She scoffs. "Girl, Mia does what she wants. I just keep it from blowing up in her face. Just don't be fake and we'll be fine."

"Look Letty, I didn't ask to stay the night and I didn't ask for you to take me to lunch with you or introduce me to Mia or be nice to me," I say, getting frustrated. I turn back around, muttering to myself, "I didn't even wanna come to this stupid city or go to that stupid school..."

Letty is silent for a moment. She pushes up onto her elbow to try and see my face better.

"Why'd you come to LA?" she suddenly asks.

I stare at the ground.

"My mom said already. We just wanted the change."

"Bullshit."

"And if it is?" I whip around and stare her down, letting my frustration get the better of me. "What are you gonna do? Try and embarrass me at school? Tell Mia I'm fake? Try me bitch. Ain't nothing you could do that hasn't already happened to me."

I curse myself as I turn around. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I shouldn't have gotten mad. Now she's going to get curious, I'm going to come off as the bitchy type, and I'll have to tell her what happened. Instead though, she just sighs.

"Look." She fumbles with the blanket. "I don't care if you got some bullshit that you don't wanna tell us about, that's fine. I mean damn, we only met you this morning girl, I get it. But I promise ain't nobody better at not judging you than the Toretto family. You can still be yourself without telling us anything."

She can't see me trying to keep tears from spilling over.

"That's where you're wrong."

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