Not for you (FIN)

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I screamed to myself, mistreating the steering wheel with my fists. The tears in my eyes almost made me blind, but knowing that in this desert nothing could get into my way, I just pushed the pedal harder.

I just drove straight for about twenty minutes, when I finally noticed that it had become incredibly hot in the car. Good grief! I was driving through the desert with all windows closed in a car with a black roof. You're so fucking stupid, I thought.

I hit the brake hard, the small car sliding into an almost immediate stand on the sand. I pushed the door open, jumped out, dropped to my knees and hid my face in my palms.

Dominic Toretto had tried to kiss me. Well, actually he had kissed me. Or perhaps not; it was possible that I had mistaken a turn of his head. Anyway, he had touched my cheek with his lips, and it seemed that this cheek was still burning from this touch. I had to get something, anything, to get that burning off me...

I took a handful of sand, scrubbing it against my cheek. I cried, the tears moistening the sand, I scrubbed harder.

In that almost total blackout, which I could later only memorize from the marks on my face and my car and from what Dom would tell me, I finally jumped up, got back to my Corsa and started kicking it hard against one of its rear wheels. "Dammit!" I cursed. "Who the hell does he think he is? Who the hell do I think I am, inviting him to my trailer? And me, his bitch? Dana, he's not for you! Not for you! Not for you! Not for..."

While kicking the wheel, I noticed a shadow by my side. Someone was standing there.

I immediately ceased all action and slowly turned around, the hand with the sand still on my face. The only thing that was moving were my tears still falling down, mixing with an enormous amount of sweat that was streaming down my face. I felt as if I was being burned at stake.

He stood there, his face unreadable. I didn't even hear him coming. At a small distance, Brian was sitting in his Skyline, intensely studying me, shaking his head, waiting.

Dom didn't move an inch. He just stood there, arms crossed, and stared at me; a slight frown etched to his brow.

The world started spinning around me. I felt incredibly dizzy, and an unbelievable cold crept up my arms. "Dom? I feel... sick..." was all I managed to say, then the world went dark around me.

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When I woke up I was in my trailer, lying on my bed. Someone had stripped me from my clothes, leaving me with my T-shirt and panties. My skin smelled fresh, just as if I had showered.

I started to remember what I had done, in a dizzy kind of way. The two things I clearly remembered were that I freaked out in the bathroom about Dom's kiss, and the last thing was that he stood before me in the desert with that frown on his face before I finally blacked out; but the things that had happened in between were almost lost to me.

And, oh Gods, I had a headache. My head felt as if I was carrying a V8 as a hat.

Groaning, I pulled the coverlet over my face, when I suddenly noticed a movement in my bed. There was someone else here with me. I turned around as fast as my headache allowed and looked right into Dom's face. I groaned and pulled the coverlet to my nose, leaving only my eyes peek out.

"You have an interesting self destroying habit," he said.

"Still better than a general destroying habit," I replied. "How long did I sleep?"

"Couple of hours. It's three in the afternoon."

"Did I miss my race?"

"Not yet. You arrived late, so you'll race late."

The arm on which his head was propped lowered and came down right over my head. I notice a feather light touch on my head, but then saw from the corner of my eye that he obviously reconsidered, propping his head back onto the arm. I closed my eyes.

"Someone undressed and washed me." I said.

"Someone couldn't stand the smell after that someone had peeled you from your jumpsuit. Besides, it helped with the cooling. You were totally overheated."

"And who exactly was 'someone'?"

"Just me, don't panic."

"If someone else had told me a week ago that I shouldn't panic when Dom Toretto told me he undressed me while I was unconscious, that someone would have gotten him- or herself a bloody nose."

"It's nice you value my efforts in making the situation more comfortable for you. Interesting car you have there, by the way." He said.

"Huh?"

"Had to drive it back."

"It's not 'it', it's 'her'. She's female."

"Well, she's interesting. From what Vince had told me, I never expected that much would happen if I pushed the pedal down."

"Vince only knows her with a trailer hanging on to her back and with a driver who mustn't break any speed limits in order to not be thrown out of the country - moment - you drove her through the desert at high speed?"

"Not really, but I thought that in order to speed her up, I thought I had to push the pedal down a bit. Wanted to get you out of the sun, you know?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, your car buried its front wheels into the sand in reply, but I could still get her out."

"No, I mean, what happened before?"

"Nothing, you just fainted. Considering the temperature in your car, I'm not really surprised. I tried to put the roof down, but wasn't able to figure out how - another interesting detail, by the way. So I just lowered the side windows."

"I think I remember I... freaked."

"Somewhat, yes. Say, did your phone call this morning anger you that much?"

"Huh?"

"You got a phone call this morning."

"I thought you were sleeping."

"I thought that pretending to sleep would be better."

"Hm. Well, yes, it angered me a little."

"What was it about? I couldn't understand too much of it as I don't know that language of yours, I just understood something about Racewars, problems and my last name."

"And now - let me guess - you think I'm a cop."

"What would you think?"

"Just brilliant! Now I have two people on my neck who don't believe the truth! You know, the guy at the other end of the line thought you're my new bedtime companion - I think his exact words were 'Toretto's next bitch', if I would translate them to your language. And that guy, by the way, is my ex - he was one of the three friends of mine who built the engine for my car. Perhaps you two should talk to each other, then I wouldn't be standing in the middle of not believing."

"And where does he know my name from?"

"You think a guy I've been knowing for years wouldn't know your name, given the fact how much I researched and found about you on the internet? Besides, he has internet and is into racing, too, so..."

"Interesting story. If you hadn't freaked out like this, I wouldn't believe it."

"So good to hear that this little freak out of mine had positive side effects. Aren't there friends of yours waiting for you?"

"I daresay the friends of mine can wait a little longer. Listen. I know it's none of my business, and if you really wanna get rid off me, just tell me to go now and I'll do, as soon as you have answered me just one single question."

I opened my eyes, his eyes were still firmly on me. "Just ask, I can still kick you out."

He smiled a bit, barely noticeable, but it was an awkward smile, mixed with a sort of sadness etching his face that I couldn't place.

"Why are you so damn adamant about not being touched?"

"I don't want to be touched by anyone."

"I gathered that when I spoke to Vince after we returned. That was not my question. I asked why."

"None of your business," I mumbled into the coverlet. "Why don't you ask me something that I can actually answer?"

He snorted, combined with a headshake. "So a different question it is: What does 'He's not for you' mean?"

I broke the eye contact and stared the other direction, away from him. Suddenly, a hand came over my face, one finger barely touching my jawbone, then pressing against it, bending my head back into his direction.

"Don't.." I started.

The finger was instantly removed when I looked at him.

"What does it mean? Listen, I brought Bri to drive his precious Skyline about 20 miles into the open desert, practically frying his cooling system, just to find you uttering that while trying to remove your facial skin with a thorough sand peeling before dropping down with what I hope to be just a mild heat stroke. I think I have some kind of right to know what you meant."

I gave a short, but not merry chuckle. "You really want to know? This is not gonna be funny."

"But sure as hell not as non-bad as your cheek would look now if you had the chance to continue scrubbing either, Heidi."

"Good, if this is so terribly important to you then I guess you can wait for the answer until Racewars is over?"

"Why not give me an answer right now?"

"Because I have to think of one."

"You just have to tell me what that meant. I don't want you to make up any other meaning for it."

"I'm not making up any meaning, I'm just not ready for that. Listen, I promise you will get your answer, just not right now. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Will have to do. I mean, I can't force you to give me an answer, right?"

"Right."

Some minutes of embarrassing silence followed; me staring at the coverlet.

"I'm strange." I finally said.

"Strange behavior doesn't come out of nowhere."

"Well said. What do the others think of me now?"

"Oh, Vince just said he saw it coming."

"How wonderful."

"And Bri said that he'd never lend you his car."

"Why?"

"Because if you kick your own like that, he wouldn't want to know what you would do to other people's cars."

"Oh. I kicked my car?"

"Several times, yes. Just the rear wheel, though."

"Poor car."

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Dom ignored it and just kept staring at me; and as this seemed to be some kind of staring contest, I just stared back. By that time I had almost forgotten the knock but all of a sudden, the knock came again and then the door opened, which brought Dom to slowly turn his head towards it while my gaze had shifted the moment the doorknob was turned.

Brian stuck his head into. "Dom, you're here?" He shouted, clearly looking at him.

"So much for my trailer being safe and far away from the others." I commented dryly.

Dom groaned. "I'm not deaf, Brian. What do you want?"

"Racing."

Dom shook his head. "I'm not due before 6 p.m."

Brian grinned, stepping into the trailer. His hands propped to his waist, his gaze shifted from Dom to me, then to the bed construction. "No, Dom, you're not. But she is." He pointed at me with that trademark grin of his. "Anyway, how cool is that trailer here? We should move our parties to here, I think."

"No parties in here as long as I live," I grumbled and slowly climbed to the end of the bed, got up and passed Brian, walked towards the kitchen counter and grabbed a Coke from the fridge.

"Damn, who would have thought such a nice ass would hide under them baggy jumpsuits?"

I took a sharp look at Brian but instantly noticed that this was in vain as he was not looking at my face.

"Brian," I bellowed, "get out, or I'll kick you! You know I can!"

He grinned, shrugged, then turned to Dom.

"You come with me?"

"Yeah, you better go. I have to prepare myself for the race."

"You're not gonna hurt yourself again, right?" Dom grinned as he strolled to the door.

"Not planning to..." I answered.

"Good. You still owe me an answer, and scrubbing your cheek off could result in you not being able to speak. I'll wait for you at the starting line."

"You think my car can still race after being in the desert?"

"After you checked on it so thoroughly this morning, yes."

"You said Bri almost fried his cooling system?"

"Yes, but he's got a twin turbo running there; needs more cooling."

"I have a single turbo running 'there', and my air intake is just above the ground, while his is at the front, meaning away from the hot air over the sand, you took that into consideration?"

"Well, your turbo still whistled a happy tune for me when I drove it, sorry, her, so I guess it's still healthy. Hurry, you only got fifteen minutes!"

"Dom," I shouted through the by now half closed door, "the starting line is just a minute away from here!"

"Ah yes, I almost forgot you're not a real girl and don't need to dress up for the occasion," he laughed and winked at me from the door.

"What do you all have telling me I'm not a real girl?" I squinted my eyes and with a well aimed throw, the bottle of Coke flew to the quickly closing door, leaving a mess between me and it.

I sighed. "Typical! Boys in the trailer, and there's a mess. Great. What do they all have with that 'not a real girl'?"