DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters belong to the genius Don Winslow. This story was written purely for fun and entertainment; no infringement was intended, and no profit was made.

Song: Nothing Left To Say But Goodbye, Audioslave

just like a rescue of a stray dog in the rain

I was hungry when you found me

and you could tell by my tail and my rib cage

what was once around me

They were done eating, but their conversation was far from being over; Nina had been silent while wondering what happened with him. She didn't ask, though, as she felt it was not the right time. They had just met and she knew Chon well enough to know that he wasn't about to spill out the last years over breakfast. She thought about ambushes and trenches and landmines and everything that could have gone wrong but it didn't because he was right there in front of her, bruised, but whole; the quiet buzz of her phone snapped her out of her thoughts and she shot it a glance before picking it up.

"Allo, Nicolas. Ca va?"

Chon watched as she carried on a conversation in French, and even though he didn't understand what was being said, he knew by the tone of her voice that she wasn't too happy about it. Moments later, she hung up with a sigh, fingers tapping on the phone screen.

"These girls are unbelievable, it's like they're doing me a favor of working for me. I'm this close to hiring a male hostess."

"Only it would be a host."

Nina rolled her eyes at him. You don't say. He changed subjects.

"So, I guess going to France really paid off."

"Yes, it did", she replied, without giving it too much thought about why he made that remark. Bringing that up wouldn't do any good and they had managed to keep their bitterness under control until then. "This will only take a second", she said, making another call, one finger held up in the air.

"Russ? It's me. Look, I need you to call Jean and tell her that I know it's her night off, but I really need her at La Roja tonight. Eva just called Nicolas to tell she's quitting... yeah I know. Oh good. Perfect. Ok, talk to you later. Thanks."

She put the phone down as a waiter took away their empty plates.

"Russell told me that the van just left. So it's over."

He snickered.

"La Roja? Seriously? You named a restaurant that?"

"Well yeah", she replied with a grin. "She deserved it."

"She sure did. Do you still have it?"

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Nina stood there at the gym entrance for a moment, her eyes scanning through the bleachers, trying to find Michele amidst the loud crowd. "So this 'pep rally' thing is quite the event", she thought. She finally spotted a hand waving at her and a face hidden under bright ginger hair, and climbed up to meet her friend.

"What did I miss?"

"Nothing", Michele said, her voice straining to overcome the noise, not taking her eyes off the court, "they haven't showed up yet."

"All right", Nina said under her breath. The place was packed and she soon found herself clapping slowly to the music, to try and get into the mood. A couple of minutes later, a voice boomed through the speakers, announcing the football team, and Michele screamed so high Nina thought she might had gone a little deaf.

"Look look look", she jumped up and down, pointing at the team coming up to the small stage they had set up on the court. "There he is, number 6!"

For the past ten days Nina had been alternating between having lunch with Michele and listening to her talk about her platonic feelings for the quarterback; and with Chon, when they spent more time in silence than talking to each other. But she enjoyed Michele's company; Nina was aware that she had approached her because the "cool" girls thought Michele was weird and Nina was in no position of rejecting new friends. That was all right with her, though. Michele turned out to be a slightly crazy, upbeat girl who was unlucky enough to be in love with the single most popular guy in the school. It was a good fit for Nina, since she was growing more and more interested in Chon, who was close to being the least popular.

The crowd cheered them up for quite some time; her quarterback smiled and waved, and Michele smiled and waved back but he didn't notice - half the girls were doing the same.

"Is that it?", Nina asked after they left the stage.

"No", she replied with a grin. "Just wait."

"Come on Mich, I'm hungry!"

Her lips moved but Nina couldn't hear her over the presenter.

"And last but not least, here comes our stellar volleyball team! Give it up... for... the Breakers!"

The crowd went wild. Nina thought football was the most popular sport around, but this volleyball team seemed to be worshipped. A dozen players came in to stand on the stage, in sleeveless white jerseys, and she was taking a good look at some of them when she recognized a familiar head of hair. She smiled big and Michele winked at her.

"I told you to wait!"

Chon wasn't that amused by all the cheering, and managed to keep his everyday face as the others waved at the bleachers. Nina clapped and yelled his name, but he was looking the other way; that was when she took her fingers to her lips and blew a whistle. The only problem was that the cheering was already fading, the whistle came out really loud and he had no problem tracking it back to where she was standing, her cheeks burning. Nina threw her hands up and mouthed "sorry"; he shook his head and she could swear she saw a hint of a smile.

"I didn't know he played volleyball."

"He's a spiker and he's really, really good. He has one hell of a right arm."

"I can see that much", Nina said, laughing, her eyes still on him as the team left the gym. "Can we go now?"

"Did you forget about the taco eating contest?"

"Oh god. Why do we need to stay for that?"

"Because... Gabriel is in it."

Nina rolled her eyes with a sigh. People were already bringing in carts with food and Michele wasn't going anywhere until number six was stuffed with tacos.

"All right", she said, picking up her helmet. "I'll wait for you outside, I'm way too hungry to watch people eating like there's no tomorrow."

"If Chon was competing you'd stay!", she heard Michele yell on her way down, and raised a hand with a thumb up.

Nina walked around outside the gym not really knowing where to go, just waiting for the muted cheering to be over so that they could go and grab a bite. She had run for half an hour, took a shower and came over to meet Michele; so eating something soon became a critical priority. She was thinking about the dinner she had dismissed at home when something caught her attention; she looked to her right, to a kind of alley that led to the locker rooms and there was someone in there, leaning against the wall, smoking.

"If you're going to join the eating contest, this is the equivalent of cheating", she said, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Chon wasn't surprised to get caught, even though he was smoking a joint in a school, of all places. He simply extended his arm towards her, and Nina waved him off.

"Thanks, but no thanks."

It was dark, but there was a small lamp lit above a door and the light hit him just enough for her to see the outline of his features, one foot up against the wall, the curve of his bare arm, his nose so straight it looked like it was drawn with a set square. A thick white smoke came out of his lips and she wondered why girls weren't lining up to be with him: he was cool and he knew it, but he simply didn't care.

"Ever tried?", he asked, his voice low and husky.

"Yeah."

"What's the matter then? Don't like breaking the rules, Spaniard?", he teased, giving her a sideways glance.

"I have no problems with breaking the rules when it's worth it, and I just don't think this is."

"Why not? This dope is pretty good."

Nina took a deep breath and came closer to where he was, hoping her answer wouldn't sound as dorky as it did in her head.

"I'm not into making fake memories. I like to experience things the way they happen. I want to remember people the way they are."

The look he shot her spoke volumes. Basically, it said, loud and clear, fuck you. Fuck you and your perfect TV-commercial memories. Because when all you have are shitty memories and the people you have in your life are worthless, you'd want to change that if you could. So don't stay there telling me I can't make my own memories.

Nina shoved a hand in her pocket and pursed her lips together, feeling a bit guilty about having judged him even if she didn't mean to. Thankfully, he changed subjects.

"That was one hell of a whistle you blew there", he said, putting the joint off on the wall and placing what was left of it in an Altoid tin he pulled out of his pocket. She chuckled and looked back at him.

"My father taught me when I was little. It's a very useful skill, you know."

He stared back at her, from behind the loose strands of hair that fell on his face, narrowing his catlike eyes and finally breaking down with a laugh.

"It's really not."

"It got your attention, didn't it?", she asked, waiting for his reaction. He nodded and followed her movements as her arm started to tire and she put her helmet on the ground.

"You ride a bike?"

"No, I just like to walk around carrying a helmet."

"You're kidding."

"What's the big deal?", she shrugged.

"You're... a girl", he said, moving away from the wall and standing in front of her, hooking his fingers in his belt loops.

"Oh I'm sorry. When they said I needed to have balls to ride a bike, I thought they were figuratively speaking."

He tilted his head and Nina knew that he was doubting her.

"Wanna see it?"

"Absolutely."

He followed Nina to the parking lot and she was sure he was waiting for a small bike, given the look in his eyes when she stopped where her bike was parked.

"Holy fuck!"

"She's beautiful, isn't she?", Nina said, with a satisfied smile. It was a red Honda CB500; she hadn't paid for it, obviously, but she was very proud she could drive it. Chon spent some time walking around it, checking the handles, the tires, the panel.

"Must be real fast."

"Got her to ninety last week on PCH. Don't tell my mother", Nina whispered, passing by him. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know, I think I'll tell her... unless you let me test drive it."

She burst out a laugh at his unreasonable request, but he kept on.

"I'm serious. You're gonna be in trouble when Mrs. Spaniard hears that her precious daughter is speeding up with her 500cc bike, risking her life on the highway."

"You know", she said in between chuckles, "I hate to break it to you, but I don't need your help to get in trouble with my mother, I can do that all by myself thank you very much. And that's not gonna happen, sorry. I barely know you, how can I trust you to ride her?"

He leaned back on the bike and Nina did the same, leaning by his side.

"We can work it out. Let's see... I'm John McAlister Junior, I'm 17 years old and I've lived in Laguna all my life."

There was a deliberate pause as he considered how much information he was willing to share in exchange for a test drive.

"I hate having to go to school even though I like to know stuff. I love playing volleyball but I'm a terrible team player. I like guns, cars and bikes. There you go."

She shook her head, feigning disappointment.

"You can do better than that", she said, digging the idea of getting to know more about him without being nosy. And if he didn't feel comfortable about it, he could just stop talking. She nudged his shoulder; their arms touched for a moment and neither of them seemed to mind.

"Surprise me."

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I... I live in a trailer by myself and if I don't get a job in a week or two, I'm gonna be sleeping in my car."

Her reaction was a simple "oh" as she realized just how very lonely that boy was, not only at school, but outside as well. No wonder he was so moody and didn't really want anyone to be around him; what he had said sounded like a confession and Nina treated it as such – she heard it and forgot about it, at least for a while.

"Yeah. So do I deserve a test drive now?"

"I don't know. What if you crash her?"

"That's not gonna happen. I'm an excellent driver."

"I bet you are, but... La Roja needs to trust you first, Chon", Nina said, patting the bench.

"La what?"

"La Roja. It means the red one."

"The bike has a name. You're something else, Spaniard."

"The bike is not the only one that has a name, you know."

"I know, but Carolina is boring. Like John. Boring."

"You can call me Nina... I mean, if you want."

"Nina", Chon repeated, staring blankly ahead. There was a fleeting silence and her stomach growled, prompting both of them to laugh.

"What did you smoke?", he asked her, with a winning smile.

"Nothing! I just ran for a while before I came here, and I should have had dinner at home but I was running late and now I'm starving."

"Me too."

"Figures", she scoffed, raising her brows.

"You wanna...?", they asked at the same time, talking over each other.

"Sure, just let me go back in there and tell Michele I'm leaving", Nina said, moving away from him. She stopped as his fingers trailed down her forearm and got entwined in hers, in an awkward move. Her eyes widened as she looked back at him, unable to hide her surprise. She stared at their hands for a moment before meeting his gaze again. He let go of her hand and cleared his throat.

"I'll wait here."

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"Yeah, I sold her."

"That's a shame."

"Bought a bigger one. Sold that, bought a bigger one."

Chon laughed.

"How big are you going now?"

"1100", Nina said like it was a secret, a playful grin on her lips.

"That's pretty big", he nodded. "Look, I should get going. You have your hotels to go back to, and I have business I have to take care of."

"I know. Things to do, people to meet", she said with a fake smile that didn't quite hide her frustration. They stood up in silence and he followed Nina to the main lobby. She looked into his eyes and saw a brief glance of the grumpy, handsome boy she once fell in love with. The boy who once made her feel like she belonged.

"I'm thankful that that bastard OD'ed so that I could see you again."

"That's mean", she said, and he shrugged as that was the kind of remark people should expect from him. "But I'm kinda thankful too."

"I guess I'll see you around then."

"Sure, yeah."

He took a few steps back and turned around to leave. Nina stood there at the lobby and watched as the valet brought his Mustang; he jumped on it and sped away. It felt like a gap was closed now that they had met, but another huge one was open. Too many questions were left unanswered. She put a hand over her chest, as if she could make her heartbeats slow down.

"Mrs. Powell? Mrs. Powell?", a man called from behind her. It was the waiter from the breakfast, walking hurriedly towards Nina.

"What happened?"

"You forgot this", he said, handing her the card she had given to Chon. She couldn't help but be disappointed. He didn't even want that.

"Thanks", she sighed, flipping the card around and wondering whether he had forgotten it or left it.