Fast Lane ━━ Brian O'Conner ¹

𝟬𝟴. tender lips and fingers

CHAPTER EIGHT
he knows how to get the best out of me

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     𝐓he ambiance of the restaurant was different than the rest of the world. Cha Cha Cha Cafe was packed with customers━mostly young and older couples going on dates and double dates. A Mexican tune blared out from a speaker somewhere in the restaurant, quite faint but the music blended well with the atmosphere. Dim orange lights coming from bulbs, candles, and fairy lights created a nice glow around them.

     Among the people, Josephine Toretto and Brian Spilner sat across from each other. Their half-eaten food lied on the table as they gazed at each other, talking about the most random things. Brian put down his ceramic cup of something on the table when he suddenly thought of something to ask her.

     "So, how is it, anyways, that the gang came to be?" Brian asked.

     "What?" Josephine laughed.

     "The gang."

     "The gang?" She shook her head. Her hazel eyes twinkled with amusement. "No, they don't call themselves a gang."

     Brian raised his brows. "Well, what do they call themselves?" 

     "They're a team," Josephine corrected him. "They call themselves a team, Brian."

     "All right." Brian nodded, a ghost of a smirk on his lips. "So how is it that the team came to be?"

     Josephine shrugged. "Well, that's━that's a whole lot of history."

     "I've got time."

     "Okay. Well, Vince grew up with my brother. I mean, he didn't ever actually grow up, as you can tell. But they were friends as kids." Josephine told the story like it came naturally to her. Brian could tell despite the problems and everything━her family was the center of her life. "And Letty, she just... she lived down the street. Always into cars, though. Ever since she was like, ten years old."

     Brian chuckled under his breath, sipping on his drink every now and then as he listened carefully to every word she said. The way she speaks about her family━the way she just sits there, looking so pretty, so wonderful without knowing the effects she had on people━Brian was absolutely smitten with the girl.

     "So, naturally, you know, my brother always had her attention." Josephine snickered, remembering all those times she got into trouble with the older girl and Dominic would come swooping in to save them. "And then she turned sixteen━"

     "And then she had Dom's attention," Brian realized.

     "Yeah," Josephine smirked, finding herself liking the way his eyes focused on her and only her. "Funny how that works, isn't it?"

     For a second there, they just looked at each other. Josephine tried to find anything not to like about him but it was kind of hard because Brian looked at her way the way she'd always wanted someone to look at her. Brian definitely thought at this moment that he was fucked. There was no going back now. And it was bad because he didn't want to change anything about everything that led him to this moment.