3.30 – Meet the Family
“You brought me to a park,” Destiny asks slightly confused.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t take you for the park type.”
“We’re here for a special reason,” I smile at her.
“You think I’m going to marry you, and I haven’t even slept
with you,” she teases me.
“Yet.”
“Yet what?”
“You haven’t slept with me or married me yet,” I smile even
harder.
“Ouch,” I swerve the car as she punches me. “Don’t act like
this when you meet my family.”
“Your family,” she asks worried.
“Yeah, family cookout. The twins are having a birthday
party.”
“What? I didn’t bring a gift,” now she sounds worried for a
different reason.
“I brought gifts, and put both our names on them.”
As we make our way through the park to my families chosen
lot, she expresses all her fears. Meeting the family doesn’t always work out
for her. We’re not officially dating so it makes no sense for her to meet my
family. I’ve really never seen her this flustered before. She can just vampire
speed away, she’s done it before. Is she so nervous she just doesn’t know how
to get away or does she really want to meet my family? Admittedly, I should
have probably run this by her before just doing it. At the same time it’s odd
yet comforting to see her depend on me for something because she seems
completely out of her element right now.
“Hey, hold up,” I hear Elias call out from behind us.
“Hey,” I greet him with a quick hug as always.
“Destiny, how are you,” Elias attempts to get on her good
side.
“I’m fine,” she’s back to normal.
“You know, we’re going to have to get along if we’re sharing
custody of my brother,” Elias gets a laugh out of Destiny finally.
Ivory and Sage, the twins rush over in their matching
pigtails and birthday hats to greet Elias and I. The hugs are quick and after
some quick dancing they rush off with their gifts, placing them with the
others. Soon the gifts are forgotten as they rush off to the bounce house with
the other kids.
“Boy,” I hear my dad shout. “why do you keep bringing
different girls to family functions. I got six kids to remember and you bring a
different girl every time. I can’t remember them all,” my Dad lays into Elias.
“She’s not with me,” Elias gives his trademark smile.
“Then who is she with,” Dad asks confused.
“Me,” I raise my hand. “Dad, this is Destiny; Destiny this
is my father” I make the introduction.
“You really here with him,” my dad asks her.
“Yes sir,” she’s suddenly become proper.
“That’s crazy because I just knew he liked dick,” My dad
gives her a big bear hug.
“Dad, you don’t need to do all that,” I try to change the
subject.
“No, I do. I need to check out her neck. You were always
doing theater instead of football. You quit the basketball team to play dragon
dungeon and watch Japanamations. You didn’t give me much hope,” he continues.
“You can call me Brad.”
“Can I call you Brad,” Elias tries to make the save.
“You came out of my dick, she didn’t,” he tells Elias.
“If you ever want a real man, and not one of my sons, call
me,” Dad continues.
“Go away and stop being a perverted old man,” I step between
Destiny and my dad.
“Let’s go meet my mom,” I take Destiny’s hand and rush off.
The meeting with mom goes a lot better, she’s just happy I
found someone. Destiny is more surprised that my mom is rocking a green afro
than anything else. She picked up the idea from Elias. The two get along well
and quickly bond over a love of old movies.
“You should come to movie night sometime,” mom offers.
“I would love to Mrs. Aurora,” Destiny seems a lot more
relieved chatting with mom.
“You kids get down from there,” Mom yells as she rushes off
to pull some kids from a tree.
“How did she end up with your dad, and have six kids,”
Destiny asks.
“I wish I could tell you, he’s got three sons and we’re all
failures in his eyes.”
“Why is that?”
“Elias dropped out of college to be an artist, following his
passion. He doesn’t make a ton of money, but he’s happy. D’Andre isn’t here
tonight, he’s off at Indiana State attending college, dad dislikes him because
he’s on year six of college and still doesn’t really know what he wants to do.
As for me, I actually am pretty good at basketball, really good. But I quit,
because it stopped being fun and got too competitive. He also thinks I’m gay,
as you just saw, and he isn’t fond of gay people. I don’t even think he knows
any gay people.”
“Well dad is just a fucking homophobic asshole and bisexuals
exist, but it isn’t like it would make a difference to him,” my big sister
Charlene interrupts.
“This is Charlene, my foul-mouthed big sister. Dad loves
her,” I make the introduction.
“No, dad loves my pocketbook. If he loved me he’d let me cut
his hair at my salon instead of half assed shaving it bald himself,” Charlene
jokes.
“Your dad doesn’t sound very nice,” Destiny seems confused.
“He always kept a roof over our heads, and didn’t hit us. I
guess that’s something,” I explain.
“He fell short in the love category, pretty sure he never
wanted kids, but never wanted to wrap it up either. Hopefully he’s shooting
blanks at his age. I remember he was not happy about the twins,” Charlene
counters.
“You talking about dad? He sucks. He can’t be happy for
anyone else,” Elias joins the conversation. “Did you know he used to be painter
himself? Well nobody liked his work, he ended up just painting houses. That’s
why he hates me.”
“I’m sorry,” Destiny says looking down.
“For what,” I ask.
“I just thought, I thought you had,” Destiny pauses.
“Aww,” Charlene places a hand over her heart. “She thought
you came from some well-adjusted family, and didn’t expect to see fuck ups like
us,” Charlene picks up.
“We’re not that bad,” Elias says.
“I actually think we’re pretty good. Outside of dad anyway,”
I shrug.
“Okay, well we’re still fucked up,” Charlene makes us all
laugh.
As the party wraps up I promise to give Elias a ride home,
he did indeed ride to the party with another woman. I really hope he’s getting
regular STD tests. Charlene and Destiny exchange numbers and plan a shopping
trip. I’m really glad she gets along with most of my family. We joke about it
most of the car ride.
“So why does everyone in your family think you’re gay, or
bisexual,” Destiny asks a few blocks from her apartment.
“I’d rather not talk about it.”
“He kissed a dude,” Elias chimes in from the back seat.
“Shutup,” I yell him.
“Oh,” Destiny says looking away from the window somewhat
excited.
“It was for a play, and the other dude, well, he way over
committed. Dude put his tongue in the mouth and everything. Our boy here didn’t
complain about it no matter how freaked out he looked. I know he’s a virgin,
but pretty sure everyone else thinks he lost his virginity to a dude a long
time ago,” Elias tells the story bluntly.
“I hate you,” I try to stare a hole into his skull through
the rearview mirror.
“At least you’re kissing Destiny now,” Elias jokes as we
pull up.
“It’s dark, do you mind walking me to my apartment,” she
asks as we pull in to the parking lot.
“Sure,” even though I know she doesn’t need my protection.
She holds my hand into the building lobby and even into the
elevator. My hands used to get so sweaty when I’d be around her. They still get
sweaty, and my temperature rises whenever she touches me, but not enough for
her to complain anymore. Now there’s a sense of warmness and comfort when I’m
around her. I’m still attracted, but I’m way past lust now. She lets my hand go
to open her apartment door and walks in.
“See you later,” I start to walk away.
“Wait,” she calls me back.
Her lips touch mine and I almost feint from excitement but
she pulls me closer and wraps her arms around me, as our lips pull apart she
bites my upper lip. I can feel her fangs scrape at the soft flesh but not
enough to draw blood or be painful, just enough that’ll I’ll remember it. But I
want more. For a moment I compare it to the time Kesean forced his tongue into
my mouth on stage, the only other time I’ve been kissed, but this is different.
So much different. More lips, less tongue, less forceful but still leading. I
go back for another kiss and she obliges. As our lips part my eyes remain
closed, but I know her, can see her perfectly in my mind. I place my forehead
to hers, and hold her tight, hands just above her waist, not wanting the moment
to slip away.
“Now you’ve kissed a woman too. Think about it, let me know
who was better. Good night,” she smiles and gently closes the door.
“You were better,” I whisper into the air, not even having to think. “Way better.”
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