Destiny's Detour

by Mari Brown

  To show their thanks for a home cooked meal, the guys clean up the dinner dishes. Amy and I relax and watch an episode of Sons of Anarchy while the guys horse around in the kitchen. At one point during a commercial break, I go to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge. I almost wish I had stayed out of the kitchen. Troy grabs me around my waist, and presses me back against his chest. Oh, it feels good, but it’s not how I want to be with him right now while I try to separate my feelings for him. As he holds me, he hollers out, “David, man, does your sister look dirty to you? I think she needs to be cleaned up, too.” The next thing I know, my loving brother sprays me with water from the sink. I scream. I want to kill him, but at the same time, I can't stop the laughter that escapes me. I manage to get away for them, go upstairs, and throw my wet shirt in the hamper. I pull out a tank top, slip it on, and make my way back to the living room.

  We all turn into bed early because tomorrow morning, we start our intense practice week. As I lay in bed, my thoughts drift. I am so thankful that Troy and I are still able to be normal with each other.

  The next morning, I wake up ready to get my day started. After a quick shower, I put on a coat of eyeliner and some lip-gloss. There really is no point in going all out with makeup when I’m just going to sweat it off at practice. I pull on a pair of yoga pants with a sports bra and tank top, throw some dance clothes in my dance bag, and head down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

  Troy is in the kitchen already, pouring himself a cup of coffee. I almost die when the wonderful aroma hits my nose. Coffee is the nectar of the gods. As I make my way over to grab a cup for myself, Troy mumbles ‘morning’.

  “Good mornin’,” I say as I look up at him.

  While we sit here drinking our coffee in silence, Amy comes dragging into the kitchen. Holding back a chuckle because my best friend will not be human until she gets some caffeine in her, I do not even try talking to her before she has had her first cup. She doesn’t say a word as she grabs a mug of coffee, and a few minutes later, David joins us, yawning as he pours himself a cup, and then leans back on the kitchen counter. I look up because I can feel their eyes burning a hole through me.

  “How does French toast and bacon sound?” I ask with a heavy sigh. I get three smiling faces with eager nods to my question. I chuckle. “You’re lucky I love your asses.” As I begin our food, I tell the group, “Since I’m cooking, someone better get everything else ready. I am not your maid.”

  Amy moves first and begins pulling dishes out and placing them at the kitchen bar. The guys scamper off to parts unknown. Assholes! Amy and I talk as I cook, and she goes about getting everything set out on the counter for our breakfast.

  “Are you ready for our first day of dance?” Amy asks.

  “Yes, I feel like I’m missing something. It’s been so long since we danced in any organized fashion”

  “I know what you mean.”

  “I am looking forward to working with our new coach Mandy. She is like my hero to have been a Rockette, danced on Broadway, and a former college dancer herself.” I sigh as I think about Mandy accomplishing all that I dream to do one day.

  “I know this is a new opportunity for us. We will be living our dream of dancing together on Broadway,” Amy states with glee.

  I smile at my friend. She is right. We are starting a new chapter in our lives. That is one of the exciting things about being away at college. I just hope my incident with Troy doesn’t make things awkward at any point. So far, we are doing okay handling it, and I hope it stays that way.

  Once I finish cooking, like magic, David and Troy appear back in the kitchen, their noses telling them the food is ready.

  “I cooked, Amy helped, so y'all clean.”

  No one argues with me. I don’t expect them to. I can already see that cooking is going to become the new normal for me. That is fine because I don’t mind cooking, but they sure as hell will be handling all clean up. I am no one’s maid here.

  We eat quietly for a while and then David asks, “So, how long do y’all have dance today?”

  “We start at 9am, go until 1pm, and then come back from 3pm to 5pm. It should be the same schedule all week,” I reply.

  “Football is the same except we go to 6pm.” David nods his head as he tries to sneak a piece of bacon off my plate.

  “I’ll make dinner for us tonight. Any requests?” I smack his hand, but I’m not fast enough to snatch the bacon back. He just grins at me when I shake my fork in his face.

  “I don’t care what you cook,” Amy says, throwing a smirk at the guys. “You cook it, and we sure as hell will eat it. Isn’t that right?”

  The guys enthusiastically agree, and I can’t help but laugh at the eager looks on their faces.

  “Look, I don’t mind cookin’ for everyone, but let’s get some things straight. You need to let me know if you can’t make it to dinner. Also, I am not cookin’ for the entire football team. That’s way too much work. And y’all need to decide amongst yourselves who cleans up after each meal.”

  Everyone agrees to my terms. They’d better or they’ll starve.

  As Amy heads upstairs to shower and I head to the living room, I look back to see David at the sink washing dishes. Troy is standing with his back up against the counter, watching my every move. This surprises me, but even more shocking is the heated, lustful look in his eyes. I am not sure that it’s a good thing, considering my body heats at his lingering gaze. I decide that is my cue to exit and I rush up the stairs, shaken by the effect Troy has on me.

  “So, things don’t seem too awkward between you and Troy.”

  “No, we seem to be handling this like two mature adults. Who knew we could do that shit?” I chuckle. “We can still be ourselves with each other.” I don’t share yet about this morning’s lustful look.

  “So, what did you think of Ryan and Chase?”

  “Well, they are both hot, but I am not too sure if I want to get mixed up with anyone on the football team. I mean, first my brother would be having fits, plus we have to deal with them all season.”

  “True, but they are some delicious eye candy!”

  I laugh but can’t help but agree.

  When we arrive at the gym on campus, we make our way to the dance team dressing room. It reminds me of a small personal locker room with a row of 12 lockers along one wall, and one long vanity complete with wall mirrors and lights. On the other side is the private shower area and bathroom. A couple of decent couches for us to relax on are scattered in the open area, but really, I don’t see us using those much. Everything is such a bright white that it’s almost blinding.

  Four girls from the team are already there when we walk through the door. The first person I notice is our Captain, Buffy. She is your typical blonde haired, blue-eyed girl. Even though she is of average height, her athletic build and the obvious muscle tone in her legs scream dancer. She’s talking with the Co-Capitan, Vicky, who is the same height as Buffy but has a thinner build. I can already tell from the daggers that these two are throwing our way that they are going to be major bitches. Oh, the joys of being a dancer. There is always competition to be the best and the star of the team. The other two girls, Jessica, a brown haired cutie, and Megan, the red head of the team, greet us with warm smiles. They seem like they will be fun to work with this year.

  There are eight of us in the group so we’re still missing two of the girls. We may be a small dance team, but that is okay with me because small is often better. Lindsey, with her beautiful black hair and curvy figure, and Sydney, another blonde who is tall and thin, are the last two team members to finally walk in. Amy and I are putting our stuff away in our assigned lockers. They’re red with black numbers to match the school colors for National University, the home of the Eagles.

  Coach Mandy comes in and says, “Girls, first 30 minutes will be running laps on the track, then we will meet back in here. Get changed and get out to the track.”

  Seeing the football players runni
ng laps comes as no big surprise. I hope this doesn’t cause problems, but as Buffy and Vicky primp on the sidelines, I have no doubt that they are going to get even cattier the minute Troy and David pay attention to us. At least one of the guys will speak up because they have never ignored us. Not once in our lives. Amy and I begin running our laps, and it isn’t long before I sense a body running beside me. When I look up, I’m not surprised to see David on Amy’s side and Troy on mine. I groan in defeat.

  “What? Not happy to see your two favorite guys?” Troy asks me.

  As we run around the track, I give into my frustration.

  “Guys, you know that I love you both, but this is going to be just like high school. I am going to have to put up with bitchy girls because the star football players talk to us.” Both guys give me knowing smirks. “You assholes are doing this shit on purpose, aren’t you?”

  They don’t say anything, just look at each other with a huge grin. That just irritates the shit out of me so I pick up my pace. Troy soon catches up with me.

  “Please don’t be mad, Destiny.”

  I sigh in defeat. Troy and David know I can’t stay mad at them. They have always been there for me when I’ve needed them and heaven help me, but they make me laugh like no one else. I am screwed. They have me right where they want me. I realize too, in this moment, they are sending a message to anyone who might be watching. Son of a bitch. They did this for more than one reason. They aren’t just doing it for kicks. They want guys to know I am off limits. I get why my brother is sending that message, but what is Troy’s motivation for it?

  “Troy, you know I’m not mad. It’s just gets annoying. Do you even realize how bitchy girls are?”

  He gives me a small laugh, and as Amy and David catch up to us, I notice Ryan and Chase are not far behind.

  “So, how do we handle the Buffy situation?” I look over at Amy.

  She ponders this for a moment, and then grins. “I say we just go ahead and knock out the bitches who say something.”

  This causes all of us to laugh. Coach blows the whistle, letting us know our 30 minutes are up. Thank God. The guys stop to talk to Amy and me while Buffy continues sending dirty looks our way.

  We turn to walk away and I’m not surprised when Troy yells, “Destiny, Baby! I’ll see you at home tonight.”

  I stop in my tracks, look back, and shoot him a dirty look. He smirks at me. Jerk. He would say or do something stupid. He always does.

  Leaning into him, I place my hand on his chest seductively. My hand slowly slides down to lightly brush his dick and as it pulsates, I say, “You know, Baby, payback’s a bitch.”

  His arm slips around my waist, tucking me into him. I go up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss on the mouth before I saunter off, putting an extra shake in my hips to make him really sweat. I hear two groans for two different reason. One comes from David, who does not like the little show I just put on. The other is Troy, who is probably suffering and trying to hide the serious semi he is sporting.

  Amy is already laughing when I catch up to her.

  “Keep laughin’ it up, Bitch. You know it’s fixin’ to get ugly in that locker room.”

  “He so did that on purpose. He wanted to get under your skin.”

  “What’s new? Always being an asshole. It’s ok, though. He is gonna need a nice, long cold shower now,” I say while laughing.

  Jessica and Megan smile as they fall in line beside us.

  Jessica is the first to speak. “You live with Troy?”

  I groan. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. I like these two girls, so I try not to take my anger at Troy out on them.

  “Yeah, Amy and I live with Troy and my brother, David.”

  “Why did he go out of his way to make it sound like you two were a couple?” Jessica asks.

  I explain that we have all known each other since childhood and messing with each other just comes with the territory. “This isn’t the first time he has done this to me, and it almost always involves pissing a girl off or getting some clingy girl to back off.”

  “Buffy looked ready to explode when he said he would see you tonight,” Megan chimes in with a warning.

  I can’t help the laugh that escapes.

  “That was his intent. He knew it would push her buttons. Troy loves to stir shit. Plus, something tells me that he and Buffy have a history, which just gives him more ammunition.”

  When we get back to the gym, we are instructed to go to the weight room for conditioning. Good for me, I have some pissed off energy to let out. The weight room falls silent as the four of us walk in.

  Buffy walks up to me and glares. It’s obvious to everyone that she is angry. In fact, if I were a weaker person, I might be tempted to cave under the look she is giving me.

  “Back off from Troy. He is mine. I do not share with what's mine, Bitch,” she bites out hatefully with malice in her tone. She is trying to frighten me, but really, I am amused at this point.

  I smirk at her.

  “Well, I hate to tell you, but maybe you should inform Troy of that. If y’all are so close, you would know who I am and that I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

  I turn on my heels and go begin lifting weights. Amy works out beside me, and keeps throwing comments out about Troy.

  Normally, this wouldn’t bug me, but today, every comment irks me. Having sex with him had been a bad move, and now, there is some truth to us being together. They aren’t just words this time. I pray that this won’t go any further. I need to find out what the deal is with Buffy and him. Troy shouldn’t have set me up like that. I do not like surprises, especially if they mess with my spot on the dance team. He knows how much dance means to me.

  After weight training, we spend the rest of the morning going over ballet skills. I enjoy every minute of it. There is something about the order and discipline of ballet that soothes me. It makes me feel as if I can take on anything the world hands me. It helps to calm my nerves and anger. Growing up with a famous father is not as easy as one would think. There has always been pressure to be on our best behavior in public because we can’t do anything to mess with Daddy’s image. This is what I have heard from the publicist my whole life. Dance gives me a method of coping and escaping from the pressure. My dad doesn’t give a shit. He just wants our lives to be as normal as possible, and tries to make that happen. His retirement when I was eleven was probably the best thing that has ever happened. By then though, dancing had become my stress reliever.

  “David said that they are waiting for us outside. They want us to go to lunch with them,” Amy yells over at me.

  “Great.” I sigh as I pull my yoga pants on over my workout shorts, fix my hair, and touch up my lip-gloss. Slipping on my flip-flops, I turn to Amy and say, “Let’s go meet up with the idiots.”

  I am surprised when we walk out to find David, Troy, Ryan, and Chase waiting for us, all standing with big smiles on their faces, propped up against the side of the building. It’s obvious they all took a quick shower as each of them has wet hair. They all are wearing football shorts and t-shirts. I can’t help but take a long gaze at Troy, scanning him from head to toe. He is giving me a smirk as if he knows a secret that I don’t know.

  I start to say something to him when I notice Buffy and Vicky walking towards us.

  “Shit,” I mutter under my breath.

  I start to walk off, but Troy grabs me and pulls me to him.

  “You didn’t think you could get away from me that easy, did you?”

  “One could always dream,” I deadpan.

  Chase and Ryan are laughing. Troy pulls me closer as Buffy approaches him.

  “Troy, what are you doing?” she whines.

  “Buffy, it’s not your business what I do. It never has been.” His arms tighten around me.

  I notice all the guys share a look, and can’t help but wonder what I am missing.

  “Plus, you heard me this morning. She lives with me.”

  Ugh, stupi
d Troy. It’s a good thing I’m wrapped in his arms, because the need to punch him is overwhelming.

  Amy is struggling to hold in her laugher. I turn to glare at her.

  “Thanks for helping, Bitch.”

  She just shrugs.

  “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go grab our lunch,” David finally says.

  The six of us start walking away, but Troy does not let me go. When I realize that Buffy is no longer in view, I shake him off and nail him in the arm, just for the hell of it.

  “Damn Girl, who taught you to hit like a man?”

  “I had no choice but to learn to hit like a man, you idiot. I grew up with you and David. Now explain to me why I am helping you piss off Buffy?”

  Troy does not reply to my question. Instead, he continues walking.

  We go to the Food Court on campus where we meet up with two other guys from the football team. Mark and Keith are just as big as the other guys are, but I’m taken by surprise when I notice they are twins with identical black hair and dark, almost black eyes.

  We’re sitting around talking and joking when the hair on the back of my neck stands at attention. I look around to find what is causing the sensation, and that is when I spy Buffy sending me death glares. Why did she follow us? I still haven’t gotten an answer from Troy about why he is going through all this trouble to piss off Buffy. I am getting irritated because everyone else seems to understand the situation that I am not privy to yet. Amy and I are the only ones left in the dark. Amy must find the situation hilarious because she keeps snickering at me. Of course, she would find it funny. She isn’t the one having to put up with Troy’s stunts. I am sure her time will come, though.