Ride Home To Me

Chapter 24

"Yo why aren't you dressed yet?" Letty hugs me from behind as I stand in front of the mirror.

"I don't know if I really feel like partying Letty," I sigh. I turn around to face her.

"Oh come on, we need the break, and it's New Year. Tell you what, we stay for a bit, have a beer or two, get the countdown done and over with, and then we can come home and get as wasted as we want. Your ma won't be here anyway and she's not gonna be back until tomorrow."

I watch her pleading face and notice that though she's pulled away a bit, she hasn't unwrapped her arms from my waist. I try not to shiver when she absentmindedly rubs my side with her thumb. She really does look good. She's got a black skirt on and this tight-fitting white tank top. There's a hint of gloss on her lips but not much, and her hair is brushed out falling over her shoulders.

She raises her eyebrows at me. "What?"

I blink, trying to come up with something, but a voice in the back of my head just says oh fuck it.

"You look good Let," I say simply. I watch her eyes widen ever so slightly as I quickly tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks flush and she turns, muttering a thanks. I sigh and grab her arm. Letty grins, already knowing she's won.

"Hey okay, fine, I'll come. You guys go ahead and I'll get ready real quick and meet you there. Chris or Hector's place?"

"Hector's," she sings, clapping my shoulder before going downstairs. I hear her and the team wishing my ma a happy new year before the door shuts and the sounds of their cars disappear down the street. I dig through my closet and pull out some cargo pants and a tight black top, then put on some hoops, mascara, and lip balm before brushing out my hair. I head downstairs and grab my keys, popping my head into the kitchen to say bye to my ma.

"Happy New Year Ma. You sure you're gonna be okay?" I ask, going over to give her a kiss.

She waves me off and smiles. "I'm gonna be fine baby, I promise. You go enjoy your party."

"I'll be thinking of you when we do the countdown," I mutter, stepping into her embrace. She kisses my head.

"Me too mi amor," she says. "Okay vayas ya, and you be careful when you're driving, there's lots of pendejos out there on the roads tonight, yeah?"

I chuckle and head out to the car, driving away and pulling up in front of Hector's house within ten minutes. When I get inside I feel the eyes that land on me, a feeling I'm learning to grow comfortable with now that I'm making bank off the races.

I go over and say hi to Hector and Chris. Hector reaches a fist out and I pound it.

"What's up guys," I say, smiling.

"Man you lookin' fine tonight Gabi. Sure I can't take you out?" Chris says, making a big show of stroking his chin and looking interested. I laugh and make a big deal of being annoyed before clapping his hand and letting him pull me in for a hug. As I slowly made my sexuality known to more and more people, it slowly spread among our community, which is something I found myself being surprisingly okay with. After Chris tried asking me out and receiving that information in response, it became kind of an inside joke for him to ask me out every time he sees me.

"How you doin' Chris? Still recovering from when I dusted your ass last weekend?" I grin. Hector whistles and starts laughing.

"Imma get my money back, Hernandez, just you wait," Chris scoffs.

"In your dreams," I laugh. "You guys seen Letty?"

"She's out back with Vince," Hector says. "Lemme get you a drink, I'll take you. Want a corona?"

He takes my grin for an answer and grabs me a beer before sending me in Letty's direction. She's standing with Vince, wingman-ing him as he chats up a pretty girl standing by his side. As I head over I get lots of calls, handshakes, and short greetings from people I recognize from the street racing scene. I whistle lightly as I come up behind my friends, and Letty turns. I don't miss the look of shock that flashes across her face when she sees me. I catch her eyes looking me up and down before something switches back to normal and she grins at me. I slide an arm across her shoulders and feel her lean into me as I look Vince's girl up and down. She's pretty cute, and being blonde, tall, and leggy, is definitely his type.

"Sorry V, I'm gonna steal our girl for a bit," I say, before leading her away. We go and sit down in a couple of chairs on the other side of the yard.

"Thanks. I was getting bored," Letty says. I chuckle, finally starting to really get into the party spirit.

"Aight so I got an idea," I turn to her, smirking.

"You look scary. What's the deal," she leans in.

"We still got four hours until midnight," I start. "First person that gets laid before the countdown gets to pick the drinking game when we get home."

Letty narrows her eyes, smiling, and looks at me for a moment before reaching her hand out.

"Aight Hernandez, let's do it," she smirks. I take her hand and we shake, before leaning back and scanning our surroundings. I catch a girl right on the other side of the glass door leaning on the wall, sipping a beer and watching me. I smile at her, then turn and smirk at Letty, who just grins and waves her fingers at me. I get up and go inside.

"Hey," I say, sliding up next to the girl. I actually recognize her from the races and some of these parties. "It's Angela, right? Gabi."

"Yeah, I know," she smiles coyly.

"Is that right?" I chuckle.

"You did great last weekend. I loved your car."

We chat and flirt for a bit before I take one last swig of my beer and put it down on the nearest table.

"You know," I say, looking her up and down. "That nice car that you liked is parked right outside. If you want, I could take you for a ride."

I grin when she bites her lip and looks me over.

"Okay Gabi, let's go."

•-•-•-•-•

"Look at you, miss ladies' woman," Letty nudges me. "Where'd you drop her off?"

"Different party in the neighborhood," I smirk. "What about you? You get lucky?"

Letty clears her throat and shakes her head. "You know, uh, after seeing the assholes around here, not sure I'm quite in the mood to get laid right now."

I chuckle. "Aight fair enough. Men suck." I grab her arm and start walking towards the living room. "Come on. Ain't that long until the countdown."

People start gathering by the TV to keep an eye on the countdown, but when it reaches about 12 seconds left I feel myself being dragged away. I turn to see Letty leading me by the arm towards the hallway.

10... 9...

"Let, what are you doing? It's at ten seconds!" I ask. She says nothing, just continues to lead me away as we hear the group in the living room counting down.

8... 7...

Letty takes me down the hallway and past couples making out against the wall.

4... 3...

She ushers me into the bathroom and locks the door.

2...

"Letty what the hell is going on-?"

1...

"Happy new year Gabi," Letty says. Then she crashes her lips onto mine.