Destiny's Detour (8 page)

He is nibbling on my ear when David pipes up. “Dude, that’s my little sister. Not in front of me.”

I snicker.

“No, seriously. You’re making me a little nauseous.” The oven timer goes off, and David jumps up from his seat. “Saved by the bell.” When he walks by us, he smacks Troy on the back of the head, and then rushes into the kitchen.

Troy’s arms tighten around me as he stands up from the couch and races after David. I would complain, but it wouldn’t do me any good. Besides, things won’t get too out of hand, especially since Troy refuses to put me down and David would never hurt me. When the timer beeps again, Troy has no choice but to let me go, or supper will burn.

Everyone pitches in to set the table while I bring the food over, and moments later, we are all sitting at the table eating dinner. As the bowls get passed around, football and dance schedules are discussed, and eventually, the conversation makes its way around to Mark being kicked out of the dorm. It turns out he was busted for having weed.
Idiot.
This leads us to talking about where he could find a new place to stay.

Even though I am waiting for someone to bring it up, I’m surprised all the same when David says, “Why can’t we just let him stay here? He can pay rent to help with food or something.”

I look around the table and realize all of them are looking at me.

“Why are y’all looking at me?”

“Cause you hate change. If you don’t have any say or control in what happens, we will have to hear your mouth for weeks.”

“I don’t care. I like Mark. But where is he going to sleep? In case you have forgotten, all the rooms are taken.”

Troy pipes in. “Destiny, you can move in my room with me, and then Mark can have your room.”

I’m not sure what I think about that. It’s one thing to sleep in the same place, but totally different to actually stay in his room permanently. Not to mention, I love my room the way it is, and now I will have to figure out how to combine my style with Troy’s taste.

“Ya, that would work. It’s not like you wouldn’t be there every night anyway, Destiny,” David says.

I look over at Amy to see her smiling and trying not to laugh at my obvious discomfort. I look at Mark and he at least has the decency to look like he feels sorry for me.

I sigh. “Fine, I will move in with Troy so that Mark can have that bedroom. After our parents leave tomorrow, we can do all the moving. Which reminds me, no one mention Troy and I are together just yet to them. I am not in the mood to move back home.”

David starts laughing. “Dad is going to flip the fuck out. Not that he doesn’t like Troy, but no one is ever good enough for his little princess.”

“Well, I am going to tell them eventually, just not tomorrow. Troy and I haven’t even been official 24 hours, so it just seems a little early to bring it up with them.”

“Troy and you have been unofficial for half our lives. Mom and Dad aren’t stupid, Des.”

“This conversation is over,” I tell my brother with a slight blush to my cheeks.

I head upstairs and start getting some of my things to move into Troy’s room so that I will have what I need for bed that night and for my shower in the morning. Troy decides to come upstairs with me and I can barely get my stuff together with him touching me. He keeps sneaking kisses. We wind up laying in our bed together most of the night making out. That seems so weird, too, thinking to myself, our bed, and I guess it is now our room. I can’t believe how quickly Troy and I are moving into sharing a room together. It all feels natural though. There is nothing strange about it to us. The fact that we have known each other forever makes everything flow differently. We don’t really have a getting to know you phase. We have been in that phase our entire lives.

At some point, there is a knock at our door. I get up to see David standing on the other side. I motion for him to come in. He just wants to tell us that Mark, Amy, and he are going out and asks if we want to join them. I don’t because my parents will be coming in early and I really don’t want to be hung over when they get here. I tell Troy he can go if he wants to, but he opts to stay home with me.
What a sweet boy.

The next morning, I wake with a smile on my face when I realize I am laying all entangled in my sexy boyfriend’s arms. I think I am going to like this waking up next to him every morning. We spent hours making love last night, taking full advantage of having the house to ourselves. I have to stop thinking about that because my body is already tingling at the memories of last night. I lean over, give Troy a quick kiss, and begin untangling myself so I can get in the bathroom to shower. I need to get dressed because I have a feeling my parents will be showing up shortly.

Troy wakes up at some point after I get in the shower, and suddenly, he is in there with me. It’s not a huge shower, but it does have just enough room for Troy and me to comfortably be in here together. I am glad we have our own bathroom. It is going to be cluttered, though, by the time I move all my stuff in here.

“Thought you could sneak away?” he whispers.

“I was hardly sneaking off from you. I just know my parents will be here soon, and I guess I am excited to see them for the first time in almost a month.”

“Yes, I’m sure you are. After all, you are daddy’s little princess.”

“Troy, you aren’t jealous are you?”

“Hardly, Princess. I give you something no one else can.”

I playfully smack him, and we both go about finishing our shower and then getting dressed.

We make it down to the kitchen where I cook us a light breakfast and we wait for the others to wake up and my parents to arrive. My parents’ arrival comes first. I am literally throwing myself into my dad’s arms when I open the door. As I go to hug my mom, my dad is already greeting Troy, and then it is my mom’s turn as she wraps Troy into one of her hugs. My mom really is the best hugger
.
It is like you can feel all her love for you through it. The four us move into the house, and I fix everyone coffee as we wait for the rest to wake up. I tell my parents that they had all gone out partying while Troy and I had decided to stay in. That is why we are already up and functioning. I notice a look cross between my parents but they speak no words. I am sure they are wondering why Troy would choose to stay home with me.

I talk to my mom about how dance is going and Troy talks to my dad about football. As my mom and I talk, I realize just how much I miss talking to her every day. If you had asked me a year ago if I would miss my parents, I would have probably laughed. I remember that I couldn’t wait until I could go off to college. Now, I want to be back home with my parents, or maybe it is just nostalgia.

My parents have been here for about an hour when David finally comes downstairs. He greets our parents and then grabs some coffee before joining us in the living room. We talk for a little while, explaining about Mark, our new roommate. My dad then tells us to go wake Mark and Amy up because he wants to take us all out to lunch. I go off to wake Amy and one of the guys goes to wake Mark.

It takes everyone around an hour to get ready, and then we all make our way out to the cars. Amy and I ride with my parents while David drives the guys in his car. We wind up going to a Japanese Steak house for lunch. We have a great time talking with each other as we wait for our food to cook. We catch my parents up on all the craziness about college and Mark gets to take a few trips down memory lane with us. Rehashing all our childhood antics never loses its comedy.

Then I notice Charlie walking toward us. I can tell he has something up his sleeve. He greets me first, making me scoot closer to Troy. It is almost laughable that Charlie is not giving up. He recognizes my father and begins introducing himself. At first, my parents try to be polite. However, Charlie makes a mistake by asking me out in front of my dad.

My dad’s response shocks me. He looks dead at Troy and says, “Son, you gonna to let him get away with asking your girl out in front of you?” He has a knowing smirk on his face. I look at my mom to see the same knowing smile on her face.

“What? You don’t think we are smart enough to figure out you and Troy are finally together? The two of you have had a thing for each other for years. I also know that he promised your brother to wait until college.”

David speaks up then. “How did you know that, Mom?”

“I overheard you the day you made him promise that. Trust me, your dad and I are pleased about Troy and Destiny being together. We couldn’t ask for a better young man for our little girl.”

There we all sit in stunned silence, and my parents act all nonchalant. It is comical.

Finally, Troy looks at Charlie and says calmly, “Dude, this is the last time I tell you nicely. Stay away from my girl. The next time I find out you disrespected her or me, I will not be so nice about telling you. ”

He storms away from our table after that. Troy reaches out and grabs my hand in his. I am still in shock over my parent's whole reaction to everything. I guess I’ve been worried about nothing. They seem to have no problem with Troy and me being together. My family is really freaking me out lately.

It doesn’t take my parents long to figure out that Troy and I are sharing a bedroom in the house, either. Awkward. Dad even makes the big speech about killing Troy if he ever hurts me. I am getting beyond embarrassed now. Why do parents have this insane need to embarrass you? I mean really, what have I ever done to them? I have always been a good kid, right? Troy and David are both laughing at my obvious discomfort. Amy looks at me sympathetically and Mark, I don’t think he cares one way or the other.

Once we finish eating lunch, my mom decides she needs to take us shopping. David tries to tell her that I spent most of dad’s money at the mall yesterday. I punch him in the shoulder. Mom wants to buy something for us to have at the house, so we go to Bed Bath and Beyond. By the time we leave there, my dad probably really is broke. My mom goes a little crazy sometimes when it comes to shopping, but at least everyone knows where I got it.

Amy and I wind up stopping in at the Gap because I want to pick up some new jean shorts and jeans. We each come out with a bag full from the store. The guys have gone off to GameStop because they need a new video game. My mom and dad have stayed with Amy and me, and we shop for another couple hours before meeting up with the guys in the food court. We all have Starbucks and talk about whether everyone is ready for classes to start next week.

My parents decide they will head for home when they leave the mall so Amy and I ride back with the guys. Everyone pitches in to help move my stuff over to Troy’s room. For the rest of the night, Mark moves in, and Troy and I arrange our room.

I smile at Troy. “Still sure you want me in your room?” He grabs me close to him and gives me a deep kiss.

“I would like to see you try and stay away from me, Baby!”

I chuckle. It takes us about three hours to get me completely settled into our bedroom. I am ready to pass out but Troy has other ideas. I try hard at first to fight him off but soon he has my body humming, and me moaning. I am not complaining or anything though. I have just as much fun as he does.

The alarm is going off. I don’t want to get up, but today is the first day of classes. The only thing I am truly thankful for is that Amy and I are able to have the exact same schedule for this semester. Troy shifts in the bed next to me. He finally reaches over to hit snooze, and pulls me in to snuggle more. I don’t fight him because I figure it won’t hurt to lay there for a few more minutes.

I finally get up and dress for my day. Amy and I have History and English this morning, and then lunch followed by dance practice. We are meeting up with the guys for lunch, and won’t see them again until after football and dance practice. I am going to miss being with Troy during class.

Western Civilization is our first class. Like any freshman class at a large school, there are at least fifty or more students. Amy and I sit quietly talking while we wait for class to begin. A couple of guys sitting next to us keep sneaking looks at us. The single me would have loved the attention, but I am so happy being with Troy that I don’t even give them a second glance. Amy on the other hand is flirting away. Class finally begins and for the first half hour, the teacher talks about his expectations of us as college students and for his class. We have a major project to do in the class that we can do with a partner. Of course, Amy and I pair up. The second half-hour of the class we take notes as the teacher lectures. It is actually not a bad class. Walking out of our class, the guys Amy has been flirting decide to walk with us. I am laughing at something one of them says to her when I am suddenly being tugged away. I am instantly greeted with Troy’s smiling face.