Destiny (3 page)

“You
can’t see this in the city. There are too many lights,” she said.

“How
did you find this place?”

“That’s
a story for when I know you much better.”

“Trust
me. Any secret of yours is safe with me.”

“All
right. My dad isn’t around anymore. He and my mom used to fight a lot. It
wasn’t just arguing either. It turned physical most of the time. When I was
nine, it got really bad. I snuck out of the house one night while it was happening.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew I had to leave. I made my way out here
eventually. It was so peaceful. It was almost like a lightshow had been created
just for me in my worst moment. I stayed out here most of the night, and when I
went back, my dad was gone. We never saw him again, or at least I didn’t. I
think my mom has talked to him since then, but she’s just not telling me. Sometimes
I come out here because I think things might work in the reverse order. Maybe
one day I’ll come here, and when I go back, he’ll be home.”

“I’m
sorry. I . . .”

“It’s
fine. Just remember that you asked.”

“I’m
glad I did.”

“Well,
at least now you understand my point of view about your life back in Miami. A
dad who’s there is better than no dad at all, no matter what kind of father he
is.”

“I
suppose you’re right. Thanks for bringing me here. I had no idea it would be
such an important place,” I said and grabbed her hand.

“Enough
about sad things. How have you liked it here so far?” she asked.

“I
love it. There’s this girl here who’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. I think I’m
falling for her.”

“Oh,
that’s real nice! Talk about some other girl while you’re with me,” she joked.

“What’s
she like, though?” Olivia asked.

“Let’s
see . . . she has the perfect light blue eyes. She’s a little too sarcastic at
times, and I get the feeling that she might be all talk, but I really like
her.”

“All
talk!”

“Yeah,
she flirts a lot, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”

“She
definitely sounds like a tease. I would steer clear of her. That girl sounds dangerous.”

“Oh,
she is. I think I’m willing to take the risk, though,” I said and gave her a
gentle kiss.

I
could have stayed with her all night just talking about who we were and who we
wanted to be. Under stars that seemed like they were made just for us, I had
found a girl I would never forget. A day hasn’t gone by when I don’t think of
that moment. It was the beginning of everything for me, and I see that young
girl’s face in my dreams every night. If only we could have stayed there
forever. I wouldn’t have wanted anything else.

Chapter 3

Finding
Confidence

The
following morning, I woke up late. It was almost noon, but I really didn’t
care. I stayed out with Olivia as long as we could stand it. The cold
eventually forced us to come home, but even then, I simply lay in bed and
stared at the ceiling. My mind wouldn’t shut off, but that wasn’t a bad thing.
For the first time, I had a reason to want to be awake. Unfortunately, my lazy
morning was about to be interrupted.

“Hey,
are you ever going to get up?” my sister asked as she walked into the room.

“Why
do you care if I’m asleep?”

“I
normally wouldn’t, but I’ve got to get out of this house. There’s not a lot
around, but anything’s better than just sitting here. I was going to take the
car and go to a movie, but Mom doesn’t want me to go without you, so I guess we’re
stuck together.”

In
that moment, it didn’t matter that Catherine was obviously irritated by the
fact that I had to come with her. It didn’t even matter that she had
interrupted my peaceful morning. I had an idea. Maybe I could invite Olivia to
go with us. Sure, it wouldn’t be ideal with Catherine going, but I planned to
take every opportunity I could get to spend time with Olivia until we had to
go. After all, I was only going to be in town for five more days. I had to make
every moment count, didn’t I?

“Well,
are you coming or not?” Catherine asked.

“Yeah.
Just give me a minute to get ready.”

After
a few minutes, I was dressed and walking downstairs. Aunt Kristen gave me twenty
dollars for us to have fun out on the town. For me, it was a little awkward
because I barely knew her at this point. Should I really take the cash? Then
again, she gave it happily. It was as if she was the fun aunt that I had known
my whole life. I was going to need more cash if I was inviting Olivia. I
ultimately decided to thank her and take the money. Once I was outside with my
sister, I brought up Olivia.

“I
want to invite someone, if it’s all right,” I said and took a step in the
direction of Olivia’s house.

“Wait
a minute. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Catherine said.

“What
do you mean?”

“Just
get in the car. I’ll explain on the way. If you feel like I’m wrong after we
get back, you can go see her, but you might want to hear what I have to say.
I’ve been dating for a while, and you have
how
much experience in that area?” she asked sarcastically.

She
wasn’t wrong, even if she had put it in an offensive way. I had no experience.
For all I knew, I could be doing everything wrong. Catherine had never been the
type to help me out. As a matter of fact, she had done the opposite of that in
the past, but it looked like she was trying to be a good sister then . . . at
least in her own way. I got into the car, and she started asking me questions
about Olivia.

“So
you saw this girl last night, right?”

“Yeah.
Why? What could be wrong with that?”

“Nothing.
How was it, though?”

“It
was great. I’ve never had a better night with someone.”

“Well,
you’ve never had a night out with a girl period, so that doesn’t say much. How
did she seem to feel about it?”

“I
know she had a good time.”

“Was
it the type of night that gave her something to think about?”

“I
think so. It certainly gave me a few things to think about.”

“Good,
so let her think about them for a while.”

“What
do you mean? I’m only going to be here for a few days. Why shouldn’t I spend as
much time with her as I can before we go?”

“For
two reasons. Odds are that you guys talked a lot last night. You think you’ll
always be able to come up with things to say to each other, and every night
will be like that one. You’ve probably both built up this picture of how good
last night was. It’s always better in your memory, and the next time you see
each other, it’s not going to be as good. Your words won’t flow as well, and
the feelings won’t be fresh. Somehow, it’ll have lost a certain spark. That is,
if you do this too quickly. If you give her a little time to miss you, she’ll
come to you.”

“Why
does it matter if she comes to me?”

“Because
it just does. I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s a certain way these
things work. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s just the way it is. If
you go over there right now and stare at her the whole time because you can’t
think of anything to say, you’re going to come off as weird. On the other hand,
if you wait for her to miss you enough to come see you, she’s not going to care
that much about what you have to say. She’ll just be glad to be with you. It
puts you in a good position, and it gives you both some time to come up with
things to talk about. It doesn’t hurt that it gives you time to let what seemed
like the perfect night fade from your mind. You don’t want the perfect first
date to make the second one seem bad.”

“Thanks.
There’s still one thing I don’t understand, though.”

“This
isn’t rocket science, Eric. Just do what I tell you, and you’ll be fine.”

“That’s
not what I’m saying. My question is about you. Since when did you start caring
about me?”

“I
suppose I should stop caring,” she said coldly.

“I
didn’t mean anything by that. I just don’t understand. You spend most of the
time pointing out what’s wrong with me, but right now, you’re actually trying
to help. I appreciate it, but it’s not something I’m used to.”

“You’re
my brother, and yeah, you freak me out. I know all too well how weird you can
be, but you’re still my family. I give you a hard time because I know you can
be more. While I’m always worried about grades, a social life, and finding
places to intern, you’re just slacking off. It usually seems like you don’t
care about anything. It’s a little irritating to see someone try so little when
you’re trying so hard. Most of the time, I can’t figure out if you care at all.
I don’t have to be a genius to see that you actually care about that girl,
though. I know you’re only going to see her for a few more days, so nothing can
really come of this, but it’s a start. I can see my brother working for something.
I guess I just think if you can care about this, then maybe that means you’ll
get with the program about everything else.”

“Thanks.
I do care. I just don’t always show it. I hope you know that.”

“I
do. You need to show it more often, though. Let’s talk about something else. I don’t
think all of this brother-sister talk really suits us. What movie do you want
to see?”

The
afternoon was actually pleasant, and I was left with something to question. Was
Catherine right? Should I do more back at home? I was starting to think so.
There was one other thing she said that really bothered me. I was only going to
be there for a few more days. That meant that whatever I had, or could have,
with Olivia would soon mean nothing. I was only fourteen, and what we were
developing wasn’t serious. As a man, I can see that now, but for a
fourteen-year-old boy, that was the most serious thing in the world. Even if I
had only known her for a couple of days, Olivia seemed like the best friend I
never had.

When
the movie was over and we were home, I followed Catherine’s advice. I didn’t go
see Olivia. I waited. It seemed wrong, though. Shouldn’t dating be simpler than
this? It felt like I was making a move in some game, and this was anything but
a game to me. Still, I wanted things to work out as best they could, and my
sister had a lot more experience with these kinds of things. Didn’t it make
sense to follow her advice?

At
seven that night, I heard a knock at the door. My aunt answered it, and then
she let the girl of my dreams in. Catherine was right. She had come to me. I
stepped into my room, and she walked into it with me. I was so happy that my
move had worked, but the conversation we were about to have would change that.

“Hey,
where have you been?” Olivia asked.

“I’ve
been here. Why? What’s up?”

“Oh,
I don’t know. I just thought we had a really great time last night. I told you
things I never tell people and took you to my favorite spot. I even gave you
your first kiss. Somehow I thought that might require a hello by you at some
point.”

“I’m
sorry. I just wanted to give you some time to think about things. I figured you
would come to me when you wanted to see me again.”

“Time
to think about things . . . what does that even mean?”

“I
don’t know. It’s just something my sister said.”

“What
did she say?” Olivia asked as she sat down on the bed beside me.

“She
said that if we really had such a good time last night, I should give you some
space to think about it and miss me a little. She also said that a great first
date always overshadows the second one unless you give it some time. It all
seemed like a move in a game, but I don’t have a lot of experience in this area.
She does.”

“It
was
a move in a game. I’m a little
disappointed. I don’t play games. I think you’ve confused the whole situation.”

“What
do you mean?”

“That
wasn’t a date last night, and I’m not going to compare every time we see each
other to then.”

“What
do you mean it wasn’t a date? That was the best time I’ve had with anyone. It
meant something to me.”

“You’re
misunderstanding. It meant something to me, too. That’s why I don’t consider it
a date. I don’t have a lot of experience with dating, but here’s what I do
know. It always feels like an interview. You go there with all these
expectations of how things should be, and you do the things that are expected
of you at the appropriate moments. It’s like one long boring dance where you
just go through the motions until it’s over. For me, it’s not fun. I had no
expectations last night. I just took a chance on trusting you because well, I
kind of caused you to get hit by two cars. We were just two people who wanted
to spend time together. There were no rules or expectations. That’s what I
liked most about it. For once, I could just be myself with someone. When you
turn it all into some weird dating game where we have to go back and forth
between pretending to care and not to, it’s a little tiring, though. Besides,
we don’t have time for that. You wasted one of the five days you have here. I
want to spend some more time with you, but I want it to be simple.”

“I
get it. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just really bad at this sort of thing.”

“You’re
better at it than you think you are. Listen to your instincts more often, and
don’t overthink things. If you want to see me, just do it. We only have four
and a half days to get to know each other. I don’t want to put a label on what
we’re doing, or even think about it, because I don’t think there’s enough time
to figure out what we are or could be. Let’s just go with the flow. What do you
say?”

“I
say that I’ve been an idiot. You’re too good for me. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,
I definitely do. I think I might like you a little, though.”

“Oh,
really? What is it that you like so much? Is it my good looks or the fact that
I’m such an amazing kisser,” I joked.

“Don’t
get cocky now! There’s a lot of room for improvement.”

“I
don’t see where.”

“For
starters, after a girl tells you about her deadbeat dad and gives you your
first kiss, you can, I don’t know, give her a call the next day. You know,
maybe you can even come see her instead of making her come over to your uncle’s
house and awkwardly ask for you.”

“Well,
I suppose there
is
that.”

“Now
that we’ve covered that, are you going to introduce me to your family? I’m not
big on first meetings, but since I did just come into your aunt and uncle’s
house, I think it might be appropriate.”

“Of
course. I figured you already knew them. You live right across the road.”

“We
see each other, but I wouldn’t say I really know them.”

I
introduced her to my family, and my aunt asked if she wanted to stay for
dinner. All throughout the meal, I noticed that my parents looked shocked. They
weren’t used to seeing me with a girl. They were surprised, but at the same
time, I think they were happy for me. It’s strange to reflect on how they
looked at me back then. It seems like such a world away now. Everything changed
through the years, and if I could . . . no, that comes later in the story. First,
I should tell you about what happened then. Times were so much simpler. After
dinner, I walked Olivia back to her house. She didn’t go inside immediately,
though.

“You
know, tonight was really nice. Your family is a lot better than you made them
out to be. I’m starting to think that theory I had about you being a little
rich boy whining about rich people problems is true,” Olivia joked as she
turned back toward me.

“They’re
not all bad. I think they were putting on a good show for you. They don’t
normally see me with a girl. They were probably pretty shocked by the whole
thing.”