Dom always looked after Jezzie, why? Because they were two of a kind. They both had attitudes as hard as a stale roll, but then they could be loving. They never dated, as much as they were alike, they were too alike to date. Plus, Dom always had secret feelings for Letty. Dom loved Jezzie like she was his sister; he loved her like he loved Mia. Jezzie lived two streets away from Dom and Mia ever since she was 14. Dom knew she was different, ever since the first time they met, he knew she was different and that he would get along so great with her.
They were in 9th grade and Jezzie had just moved to LA with her family. It was after Christmas break and it was 3rd period, English 1. Jezzie was already of tired of meeting new people and starting new classes. She was tired of people, being fake, pretending like they wanted to get to know her only to dump her later. It was all the same crap to her. But when she entered into 3rd period and saw Dom, she knew that this was going to be the best class of the day...or the worst. The teacher sat her next to Dom.
"Hey." Dom said in his deep voice. Jezzie looked down at the desk. She wanted to make a good impression on this guy, for whatever reson. She remembered what she was wearing and rolled her eyes at herself; she had a Detroit Red Wings t-shirt on with worn out, loose jeans with crappy ass Converse Chuck Taylors. What a way to make an impression, she thought.
"Hi." She replied in a small whisper. Dom looked at her. She was shy, he could tell. Her short, bright red hair covered the sides of her face, but barely. It was a natural red, definitly dyed, he could see the black at her roots, starting to grow back in.
"I'm Dominic Toretto, but everyone calls me Dom." She looked up at him as he stuck out his hand.
"My name's Jezebeil Marks, but everyone calls me Jezzie or Jez." She hesitated but took his hand. He carefully grasped her small, dainty hand in his large one and shook it. They pulled their hands away and stared at each other.
"Jezebeil? Interesting name." Dom said, smiling. Jezzie nodded her head.
"My great-grandmother's name was Jezalyne, or something like that. My mom's side of the family is from Austria, or Belgium, or one of those countries." They laughed and then a silence engulfed them.
"Where did you move from?" Dom asked; he was annoyed by the silence. She didn't know what to tell him, she started freaking out. What if he asks why I moved here? What will I tell him, she thought.
"Waterford." The confused look on Dom's face made Jezzie smile faintly. "It's about an hour or so away from Detroit." Dom smiled and nodded.
"You into cars?" He asked, Jezzie smiled.
"Definitely. It's either cars or hockey up there, so naturally, I do both." They both laughed and began to feel semi-comfortable with each other. Jezzie loosened up, maybe he wouldn't be so bad, maybe they'd get along.
They had a tight friendship, along with Mia, Vince, and Letty. Letty lived down the street from Dom and Mia, she was also into cars. Vince lived a few streets away, he and Dom met in third grade. Vince always had a thing for Mia. Letty always had a thing for Dom, but Dom didn't ever notice her until she turned 16. Which, from that point, wouldn't be for another 3 years.
Two years later, Dom, Vince, Mia, Letty, and Jezzie were sitting in the basement of Dom's house, playing games.
"But it doesn't make sense...why would you want to put an 'a' on the 'o'? Bab is not a word, Vince." Jezzie said, putting a donut hole in her mouth. The group was sitting around play up-words. They had been playing for 2 hours and only had 4 words on the board. Most of the time had been spent arguing about words. Vince didn't seem to get the fact that you can't use names.
"It's is too, Jez." Vince moved to put the letter on and Jezzie slapped his hand, which made him drop the letter. He pulled his hand away and threw Jezzie a look; she flashed him a toothy smile.
"Bab is not a word Vince. Bab is a name. Well, a hooker name, but it's a name and you can't use names." Mia said. Vince looked over at her and frowned.
"And where does it say that we can't use names?" Vince asked.
"In the rules, Vince. Just pick another letter or something." Jezzie replied.
"But you used Bob!" He complained. Jezzie shrugged.
"Bob, you know, like you bob for apples. Just pick another letter." Vince grunted a 'fine' and picked his letter back up. He picked out another letter and put it on the board.
"Bib." Letty read. Vince smiled and everyone laughed. The game went on for another hour before everyone gave up. Letty and Jezzie sat on the floor and played Need For Speed. And that was how it was.
When Dom was 20, his dad died. They were all sitting in the stands at the race track; Dom, Vince, Mia, Letty, and Jezzie, cheering Mr. Toretto on as he neared the last lap. But then Kenny Linder hit his bumper on the last turn, sending Mr. Toretto into the wall at about 120 or more mph. All anyone remembers is hearing the screams and then seeing his car go up in a ball of flames. But it wasn't Toretto screaming...it was Dom. Dom swore it was his dad, but it was really Dom.
It was hard for them all. Nobody knew what to do. The group comforted Mia and Dom as best they could, but they knew nothing would bring Mr. Toretto back. Dom wasn't hearing anything anybody was saying, he didn't hear their words, and he didn't see their faces. And when he ran into Kenny Linder, he did the only thing he could do. He hit him with a wrench, and he hit him again and he just kept hitting him.
Dom did 2 years in Lompoc. He wasn't ever going to go back there, he'd do whatever it took to stay away from there. Everybody knew there was no way you could get Dom go back to prison, he'd die before he'd go back. And the team was willing to protect him and risk going to jail themselves. When he got out of Lompoc he set up a garage with Vince, Letty, Jezzie and 2 new people, Leon and Jesse. Mia ran the Toretto's grocery store, with help from Jezzie every now and then. The 7 made up the Toretto's Street Racing Team, with Dom heading the pack. Dom was the King of the L.A. racing streets, and Letty was the Queen, because she was Dom's girl. Vince always had a crush on Mia, but she never went for him, not that Dom would let him date her anyways.
Soon after Leon and Jesse showed up, Jezzie and Leon hooked up. Match made in heaven, the others said, and they were. For the first 5 or 6 months everything was perfect, they loved each other so much. But then the shit started happening. Jezzie caught Leon banging some chick in their bed. Even though she didn't break up with him, she didn't talk to him for a week. But then she went out and got drunk and almost banged some guy, but Letty stopped her.
Letty always told her that getting drunk and banging some guy wouldn't help anything, it'd just make it all worse. But a couple months later, Letty wasn't around to stop Jezzie from making that mistake. And it only made things worse.
On the eve of Jezzie's 24th birthday, the team found out that they were in deep shit...because of Dom. Dom had done something and now, in order to make everything right, they had to steal DVD players and expensive shit from trucks to pay the guys back. In two months they hijacked 3 trucks, bringing the total to about 6 million dollars.
"I just don't like the color." Jezzie said, settling down with her plate at the dining room table. It had been exactly 2 months since the team started hijacking trucks. Jezzie didn't like it one bit, but she hated to see Dom in trouble, and she would help him out as best she could.
"Who gives a shit about the color? We need to blend in with the night, that's all." Dom said, putting a spoonful of mash potatoes on his plate.
"But why black? Why not midnight blue?" Jezzie argued, shoving a biscuit in her mouth. "It's so much better." Mia's face shriveled up in disgust as she saw Jezzie's mouthful of biscuit. Jezzie smiled and swallowed the biscuit.
"Who cares? It'll be over soon enough, we won't have to worry about it anymore." Dom gave Jezzie a look finishing the conversation. Jezzie shrugged and sighed, sticking a spoonful of corn in her mouth. Leon leaned over to her.
"You know, people might think you're sexier if you didn't eat like a pig." He nudged her with his elbow and smiled. She turned to him and opened her mouth; her mouth was full of bits and pieces of corn and biscuit. Leon rolled his eyes and kept eating his food. Jezzie shut her mouth and smiled.
"Oh Mia, I need to head down to the garage tomorrow, so I'll only be working from lunch until closing tomorrow." Jezzie told Mia; Mia nodded.
"Sounds good." Mia was smiling and Jezzie knew why. There was the kid that had been coming into the store for lunch for the last 2 or 3 weeks. And everyday he'd get a tuna sandwich. Jezzie and this kid were the only two who even considered eating the Tuna Sandwich; everyone else thought it was gross.
After dinner was cleaned up, the boys sat in the living room watching a movie, while the girls sat at the dining room table and talked.
"I dunno Mi, I mean, Dom's bound to freak out about it. You don't even know the guy." Letty said. The three girls were once again talking about guys, which lead to them talking about Mia's mystery guy from the store. All they knew was that he liked her Tuna.
"Aw, come on Let. You know he's cute." Mia said, winking. Letty laughed and nodded her head, her brown hair falling in her eyes.
"Ok, maybe, but he ain't nothing compared to Dom." Letty replied, moving her hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ears. The three girls laughed.
"I will so not respond to that." Mia said, shrivling her nose in disgust of even thinking of her brother that way. It was bad enough that Letty and Dom's room was right next to hers.
"Is anybody?" Jezzie asked. Jezzie spun her empty Corona bottle on the table and stared at it with wide eyes. She wasn't totally sure what to think of this kid, nobody was. Jezzie didn't even think Dom gave half a shit, unless the kid messed with his team, then he would start caring.
"So what do you need to work on tomorrow Jez?" Letty asked, snapping Jezzie out of thoughts. Jezzie stopped spinning her bottle and looked up.
"I need to replace the lights under the chassis. I busted one of the bulbs the other night." Jezzie smiled at the thought of her beautiful Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. It was her baby and has been for the last 3 years. The team got it for her, for her 21st birthday. She's been doing mods on it for the last 3 years, with help from Jesse. The paint job was simple; it was a metallic blue, with stars on both sides. Jezzie drew a lioness on the hood, making it seem like it was jumping, and she airbrushed her name on it. She had Letty put the 'team mark' on the doors, like the others cars.
"You going to keep the lights blue?" Mia asked as she washed out the empty bottles. Jezzie stood up and stretched.
"Naw, I was thinking of going for yellow." Jezzie looked at Mia and Letty for approval. They both gave her the thumbs up.
"That would look pimpin J!" Letty said, standing up and hugging her. "I'm so proud of you." Letty said, being her stupid, funny self. The three girls laughed and headed upstairs together.
Jezzie slowly opened the door to her and Leon's room and she peeked her head in. Leon was already asleep on his side of the bed. Jezzie stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind her. She stripped off her dirty work clothes and slipped into her green frog pjs. She slipped into bed beside Leon and wrapped her arms around him. He turned around in her arms and kissed her nose.
"I was wondering when you would be comin' to bed. I was about to go to sleep." He said, sticking his lower lip out. Jezzie laughed.
"We didn't talk for that long Lee." Jezzie kissed him and he wrapped his arms around her slender figure. Leon loved the way it felt when they would lie in bed wrapped in each other's arms. Jezzie was the first girl that Leon had really and truly cared about, and he didn't want to let her go. He knew they had both made mistakes, but if she was willing, he would forget about all of that and start over, he didn't want to lose her. Her and this team were the best things in his life.
"Well I was getting cold here in this big, comfortable bed." Leon pulled her closer to him.
"You are such a dork Leon. But I love you." Jezzie used her right foot to rub Leon's legs and she purred in his ear.
"I love you too." Leon replied, breathing in the familiar scent of his girl, Cucumber Melon. She would only put lotion or a spray on if it were Cucumber Melon. Jezzie nibbled on the tip of his ear and Leon thought he would just melt in her arms. Leon growled and started nibbling on Jezzie's neck. She tilted her head back as he planted sweet, tender kisses from her neck down to her collarbone. There was something about the way Jezzie tasted that set Leon off. If he died right now, he would die a happy man.
"Mmm...Leon?" Jezzie asked, trying to contain herself.
"Huh?" Leon grunted as he continued to place kisses on her body.
"We have to oohhh go to work early tomorrow." She heard Leon groan and then he looked her in her dark brown eyes.
"So? We'll be quiet." Leon winked and Jezzie stifled a laugh.
"You know damn well we won't be quiet." Jezzie said seriously. Leon nodded.
"Ok, but we'll finish this tomorrow after the race, got it?" He said. Jezzie laughed and nodded.
"All right." Leon gave her a kiss and then they settled down to bed.
The next day Leon helped Jezzie change the bulbs on her car. He also helped her change the oil. At lunch time the team decided to head over to the store. Dom was already there, Jezzie wasn't sure why. Jezzie didn't want to take her car out so she rode with Jesse.
"You figure out what was wrong with Vince's car?" Jezzie asked on the way to the store. Jessie shrugged.
"It could be a number of things. My guess is it's his fuel map." Jesse replied, tearing off down the street.
"That would make sense. He's unloading in third, right?" Jezzie asked. Jesse nodded.
"Yeah." They sat in a silence for a while. "What was with the whole talk about wanting blue cars?" Jesse asked. Jezzie smiled.
"I'm telling you, blue cars would be so much better." Jezzie argued. Jesse sighed.
"No. Black is much better. Why would you want to go out chasing trucks in blue cars? It's noticeable." He replied, shifting gears to keep up with the rest of the team.
"I'm not talking about the blue like Vince's or my car's blue. I'm talking about Midnight blue." She replied, looking at Jesse. Jesse shook his head.
"Naw, I'm not surprised that Dom didn't go for it." Jesse said, turning a corner.
Jezzie sighed. "I know, but black is just too damn depressing." Jezzie looked out her window.
"Everything's too damn depressing for you Jez." Jesse paused for a minute and shifted gears after turning down another street. "I'm telling you, something's going on in your head. I can tell, you're always thinking lately. Is something going bad between you and Leon?" Jesse asked.
"No way. Dude, there's nothing wrong. Ok, well that's not true, but I don't think it's anything that can be fixed. Me and Leon have both made mistakes, maybe it's time to move on." Jezzie replied. They turned down one last road and park in front of the Toretto's store.
"Talk to me Jesse. This ain't working brotha." Vince said as he got out of his car. Jezzie and Jesse got out; Jezzie pulled up her dickies jeans and then let them fall down, exposing the straps of her g-string.
"It's your fuel map. It's got a nasty hole." Jesse said as he walked over to Vince's car. Leon popped Vince's hood. Letty, Leon, Vince, Jezzie, and Jesse stood and looked at Vince's engine.
"That why you're unloading in third Vince." Jezzie said.
"I told you it was third." Leon said.
"Shut up." Vince said. Jesse was explaining about what he would have to do. But Vince wasn't listening. Vince grabbed Jesse's chin and moved his head towards the truck he was pointing at.
"Huh?" Jesse asked as Vince moved his chin. They all saw a truck from The Racers Edge. They knew it was the same kid that came in everyday. They all turned and looked inside the store. There was the kid, sitting at the counter eating another one of Mia's tuna sandwiches.
"What's up with this fool? Is he sandwich crazy?" Vince asked, getting mad.
"Nah V. He ain't here for the food dawg." Leon replied, slightly glaring at the guy.
"Guys." Jezzie said, getting annoyed.
"Chill out bro, he's just slinging parts for Harry." Letty said, trying to smooth the tension.
"I know what he's slinging." Vince said. Jezzie knew how to piss Leon off, since he cared so much. Jezzie ran up into the store and sat on the counter next to the kid. She flashed him a big smile.
"How ya doing? I'm Jezzie." The kid looked up at her and smiled.
"Brian." Jezzie lowered her smile and leaned in towards him.
"Tuna's good, huh?" Jezzie laughed and turned around to face Mia. "Hey Mia." Mia gave her one of her looks.
"Get off the counter." Mia said, smiling. Jezzie cried out in surprise as Leon grabbed her and lifter her off the counter.
"He's trying to get into Mia's pants dawg." Leon said, walking past Vince, holding Jezzie's hand.
"Hey guys." Mia said. The team said hey to Mia.
"Hey Mia, save me some tuna, will ya?" Jezzie said, winking. Jezzie chuckled and Letty shoved her. Letty smiled at Mia.
"Ignore her." Letty mouthed. Mia smiled and turned back to Vince and Brian.
"You better share you two." Jezzie said to Leon and Jesse as Jesse tossed a bag of chips to Leon. They looked at her and smiled, she grabbed a pair of sunglasses from Jesse's hands. The three stood and watched Vince and Brian. Letty was busy talking to Dom.
"Aw, he's beautiful." Jesse said.
"I like his haircut." Leon said.
"I bet he has a cute ass." Jezzie said, smiling. Leon and Jesse looked at her and shook their heads; Leon frowned. "But not as cute as yours Leon." Jezzie said with a smile. The three laughed. Brian stood up and threw some money on the counter.
"Thanks a lot Mia. I'll see you tomorrow." He turned around and started walking towards his truck. Vince slammed his hands on the counter.
"I love this part." Leon said, smiling.
"Yo!" Vince stood up and started walking towards Brian. "Try Fat Burger from now on. You can get yourself a cheeseburger and fries for 2.95, faggot!" Jezzie and Letty barked and growled.
Brian kept walking. "I like the tuna here."
"Bullshit asshole! Nobody likes the tuna here!" Vince yelled after him. Jezzie shrugged.
"I like the tuna." She said, looking at Letty. Letty rolled her eyes.
"You would." Letty laughed and Jezzie playfully shoved her.
"Yeah well I do." Brian said. Vince pushed him from behind and they started fighting. Mia turned around.
"Jesus christ Dom! Would you get out there Dom? I'm sick of this shit!" Dom just sat there reading his magazine. "I'm not kidding Dom, get out there!" Dom sighed and stood up. He looked out at Brian and Vince fighting. He looked at Mia.
"What did you put in that sandwich?" He asked. Mia frowned.
"That's really funny." She said blantly starting to get really mad.
"Dom!" Letty almost screamed.
"Alright!" Dom sighed and walked past Jezzie, Letty, Leon, and Jesse. They followed him out of the store. Jezzie sat at the counter while she watched Dom pull Vince off of Brian. Leon shoved Vince back into the store. Vince sat next to Jezzie.
"Smooth Vince, very smooth." Jezzie said, patting his shoulder. He pulled his shoulder away from her and glared at her, wiping the blood off of his lip.
"Fuck off." Vince said. Leon hit the back of Vince's head and glared at him. Vince sighed and turned back to Jezzie.
"Sorry Jez." He said.
"It's aight Vince." Jezzie sighed. Jezzie knew how much Vince liked Mia, but now that Brian was in the picture, Mia most definitely would not return the feelings, and she almost felt sorry for Vince. That is, until she saw what he did today. Vince could be a big stubborn asshole sometimes, and other times, he was just Vince.