Ride Home To Me

Chapter 11

The first time Letty and Dom took me out was in a completely deserted area of the valley. We were all a bit shocked, I think, by how quickly I picked everything up. Pretty soon I had the hang of basic drag racing skills and was even able to keep up fairly well with Letty.

"When Dom picks us up today we should go out to the track," Letty says, shoveling food into her mouth.

"When Dom picks us up today we need to go home and study, hermana," I say. Letty groans loudly. "Shut up you know I'm right."

"I don't want to," she complains.

"Tough. We got finals starting tomorrow and so far all you've done is look at car magazines while I do all the studying."

Letty huffs. "Why would they even start finals on a Tuesday? This school is so dumb."

"So that they could divide up our classes better? I don't know," I mutter, distracted. Our classmate Maya Lopez catches my eye. She's waiting not too far down the sidewalk for her ride like us. What? Just because I'm closeted doesn't mean I can't admire girls from afar. Letty snaps her fingers in front of my face and I jump.

"¿Ay qué quieres?" I snap, turning to her.

"You were drooling," Letty says dryly. I clap a hand over my mouth, horrified. She bursts out laughing. "No you weren't. Who were you staring at though? Ow hija de-!"

I damn near shove her head into her fence. "Nobody. Shut up."

"Tell me! You eyeing somebody? Let's see."

"Fuck off Letty." I try not to smile too wide when Maya catches my eye and gives me a small wave, which I return with a small smile. Letty catches this and slaps my arm.

"Bitch she's cute! Why you holdin' out? Go talk to her!"

"Letty it ain't that simple." I huff, getting a little bit annoyed. "I can't just walk over and start flirting with her. I ain't even out to anybody here other than you and Mia. Who knows-¿¡qué carajo estás haciendo?!"

My eyes widen when Letty waves her over. I pinch my nose, muttering.

"You're dead, Letty, you're so dead, tonight I'm gonna climb through your window and fucking smother you with a pillow while you sleep-oh hey Maya." I force a smile and laugh, pinching Letty from behind my back.

"Hey guys what's up?" she says, leaning against the fence.

"You're with us in Johnson's fifth period, right?" Letty asks. "Any chance you could come over later and help me out? Gabi's tried but she ain't that great of a teacher." She ruffles my hair and I slap her hand away.

"Bullshit. You just need to get off your ass and study for once," I mutter.

Maya giggles and says, "Sure. Can I get your address?"

Letty pauses, having not planned that far. I sigh, scribbling on a scratch sheet of paper.

"Here, have mine," I say. "We're gonna meet there anyway. Letty's dad is gonna be out and he doesn't like her being home by herself."

Letty gives me a grateful look for covering for her, then smirks, knowing she's won. Mia joins us right as I hear the familiar sound of Dom's car horn. I grab Letty's arm and hastily throw a "see you later" towards Maya. Letty tries grabbing the front door but I shove her out of the way and fall into the seat next to Dom.

"Fuck off, Letty, I get shotgun after what you just pulled." She rolls her eyes and climbs reluctantly into the backseat with Mia.

"What's up sunshine?" Dom tries and fails to not laugh at my mood.

"Just shut up and drive, Toretto," I huff. "I guess I'm expecting company."

•-•-•-•-•

"That's supposed to be a negative sign Let," I sigh. Letty groans and erases the most recent step in her equation. "You know if you really wanna work on cars you're gonna have to be good at this stuff."

"Well it looks like you might stick around for a while so you can just do it for me. We'll just have to stick together," she shoots back.

I shake my head at her but a knock at the door grabs my attention. Letty grins at me and wiggles her eyebrows.

"You need to chill out man. She's just here to do homework. I don't think she's even gay so you calm your tits and focus on the math," I say as I stand to get the door. As expected, Maya stands there with her school bag slung over her shoulder. "What's up Maya come on in."

The next couple hours are filled with Maya and I slowly putting the math into Letty's head, Letty and I bickering back and forth, and Maya giggling at our antics. At about 6 pm my ma comes home and we have dinner before Letty leaves and goes home. I sit with Maya on the porch for a bit while we wait for her ride to get here.

"Your ma coming to get you?" I ask.

"My dad actually," she says. I nod and shuffle my feet. Shit. This is so awkward.

"You ready for the math final tomorrow?"

"I guess so. I mean, I was the one that was asked to come help you guys right?" she chuckles.

"Right, yeah."

We sit in silence for another moment. Maya picks at her hands and shuffles her feet, then faces me.

"Who you going to winter ball with?" she asks.

I chuckle. "Me having a date? That's funny."

"I'm serious!"

"I'm probably not even gonna go," I say honestly.

"Aw come on I bet somebody's asked you," she nudges me. I shake my head. How do I say that even if I wanted a date to winter ball I wouldn't be able to get one I liked? Mia's crush is taking her, even Dom is going with Letty. The only way I could get a date is if I prepare myself to get jumped again afterwards, and I'm not about to do that again. I watch Maya nervously chew her lip.

"Wanna go together?," she asks.

I almost choke on nothing but air.

"W-what?"

"Did I totally read this the wrong way?" she cringes.

"Uh, I kinda get what you're saying but I don't know if I totally get what you're saying," I stammer. She chuckles and I try to brush off the fluttering feeling I get in my stomach when she looks at me. She has a really cute shy little smile.

"Wanna go to winter ball with me Gabi?" she says.

I look at her, silently asking if she means what I think she means, and slowly start to smile. I lean back against the porch beam.

"Sure Maya," I say.

"And we can, uh, keep it under wraps right?" she asks almost guiltily.

I nod, understanding. "Of course. We'll just be the chicas that didn't get dates," I wink and she smiles shyly.

"Cool," she says. A honk on the street makes us both jump and then laugh a little bit. I stand with her.

"Uh, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for coming over," I say. She waves goodbye and climbs into her dad's car. I run inside, and am strangely giddy. I immediately pull out my phone and open the group text I have with Mia and Letty.

Gabi: guess who just scored a date to winter ball

Letty: I KNEW IT! u owe me for being a lil bitch

Mia: AHHH YAY GABI :D can I take u shopping now plz???

Gabi: i hope u know that while i am saying yes, i am groaning out loud

Letty: I hate shopping as much as you do but I'm comin too

Mia: ;)