The Pull of Destiny

by Hotcheri

  “Hey, you know we got a piano at home, right?” Luke asked from behind me.

  “Yeah, I saw it,” I replied, deciding not to bring up the elbow to the nose thing again. Now that we were ‘friends’, such things were better forgotten. Curiously I asked, “Do you play?”

  He snickered derisively. “Me, play the piano? God, no! The only person who even touches it is Faith. She thinks she’s some maestro. She makes the keys a bit sticky, but its fine.”

  I shuddered slightly. Did the Astor’s realise how rare their piano was? Why would they let anyone get the keys sticky? And who was Faith, anyway?

  “You should come play it one day. It’s just crying to be played.” I felt and heard Luke come up behind me and swallowed as he slid his hands onto my shoulders and leaned down till his lips were right by my ear. “I mean, the keys are practically dying to be touched.”

  Squeezing my shoulders once, he stood upright again. “See you later.”

  I turned around, just in time to see him saunter casually out of the cubicle, whistling as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, the back of my neck was still tingling and my mind was racing.

  Did Luke Astor just invite me over?

  CHAPTER 8

  start of something new.

  Celsi’s Point of View

  “This event is turning into a circus,” Shazia remarked as she pressed the end button on her phone and slid it into the pocket of her blazer.

  “What is it now?” Robyn asked her, picking pieces of lint off of her black pants. It was after lunch and we were walking to our lockers to collect some books.

  “You know I told you about my cousin, the fashion designer?” Shazia started, pushing back her thick hair with both hands and looking quite frustrated.

  Robyn pursed up her lips. “Is she the one who’s holding a fashion show?”

  Shazia nodded. “Yup, that’s her. She’s launching a line of children and teen wear and she asked me and Ahmed to be models.”

  I slung an arm around her shoulder, hugging her to me. “This is the first step to fame, girly! Why don’t you look happy?” I joked.

  Shazia wasn’t the type of girl to get excited about doing things like modeling. She was a feminist and was often known to rail against the ‘oversexualisation of our youth’ in Social Science. The only reason she had agreed to be in her cousin’s fashion show at all was because her mother had made her. But Shazia didn’t give in without a fight.

  “Trust me, I was getting used to the idea of modeling Aisha’s clothes, until I saw them,” she said, her voice laden with doom. I giggled.

  “Um- isn’t Aisha the one who failed Art?” I remembered. Shazia nodded glumly. Her clothes are probably awful.

  “Do tell! Are they ugly?” Robyn asked curiously, unconsciously smoothing back her curly hair, just in case she happened to run into Todd.

  I wasn’t sure how someone who failed art could go on and actually become a fashion designer. Only in America. And only if you have more money than you know what to do with.

  “Ugly isn’t quite the word to describe them.” Shazia shuddered prettily while Robyn hooted with delighted laughter. “Let’s just say that they have to be seen to be properly appreciated.”

  “Aw, poor baby,” I said in a soothing tone. “You’ll make the outfits work. You got style.”

  Shazia grinned. “The people I really feel sorry for are the kid models. Aisha’s making them dress up like mermaids. That’s why I said it’s turning into a circus.”

  We all giggled.

  “I don’t know, she could be on to something,” I conceded, a teasing grin on my face. “10 years from now, maybe we’ll be dressing our kids in a bikini tops and tails and sending them to school.”

  Now that would be a sight.

  “Celsi, you’re a trip,” Robyn joked, pulling my ponytail gently.

  “When’s the show?” I asked Shazia. “And tell Aisha not to be stingy with the invites. This is probably the only chance I’ll get to see kids dressed like mermaids apart from Halloween.”

  Probably not even Halloween. Last time I checked, the Dollar Store didn’t stock mermaid costumes.

  Shazia patted my arm. “She gave me and Ahmed two invites each. You can come, but you have to promise not to make me laugh when I’m on the catwalk,” she warned me.

  I nodded brightly. “I’ll try my best not to.” Giggling, I added, “Shazia strutting her stuff on the catwalk. Who would have thought it?”

  “The only reason I’m even doing this is because I love Aisha,” Shazia declared.

  “And because your mom forced you to do it,” Robyn put in.

  Shazia nodded. “That too. But mostly it’s the whole love thing.”

  I cocked my head to one side. “I can’t believe Ahmed agreed to be a model,” I said musingly.

  “It was kind of easy for Aisha to convince him. She just told him it would score him points with the ladies and he was in.”

  “Isn’t he dating Wendy?” Robyn asked absently. Shazia and I exchanged knowing looks. Robyn knew full well that Ahmed was dating Wendy. She knew practically everything about every single relationship at our school. She was just nosy like that.

  “They have an open relationship,’ Shazia snorted. “I mean, what’s the point of saying you’re exclusive if you continue to date other people?”

  She shook her head in disgust. Shazia didn’t like many of the things that her brother got up to. Sometimes, I thought she didn’t even like her brother. Then again, if I had a brother as jerky as Ahmed, I probably wouldn’t like him much too.

  “When’s the show?” I asked again, preempting a rant against Ahmed.

  “Next week,” Shazia replied, a resigned tone in her voice.

  Robyn pouted. “Aw! I wanted to go,” she wailed.

  “There’s nothing stopping you from going. I do have two invites,” Shazia told her, giving me a look as if to say ‘you see what I have to deal with?’

  “I have to go to the stupid charity gala with my dad,” Robyn explained petulantly.

  I shot my BFF’s a mock glare, making the time out sign with my hands. “Okay, both you guys are getting on my nerves,” I said, pointing at Shazia. “You don’t want to be in the fashion show.” I turned on Robyn, stabbing a finger in her direction. “And you don’t want to go to the ball. Do you know what I would give to be at either place?” Grabbing Robyn by the shoulders, I shook her till she burst out laughing. “Do you?”

  “Ah, save your theatrics for drama class,” Shazia said dismissively, my act not fazing her one bit. “If you can be in two places at once, you are so welcome to take our places.”

  Robyn nodded in agreement. “Yeah. An evening with old rich guys looking down the front of my dress is something I’m not looking forward to.”

  I sighed dramatically, closing my eyes. “Alas, I’ll probably be at home, reading on that night. Just me, a book and some hot chocolate.” I shrugged. What was I saying, that sounded pretty appealing! So what if I didn’t have much of a life, at least I enjoyed myself!

  I felt a tap on my shoulder and swiveled around, only to find myself looking at a handsome, all too familiar face.

  Luke.

  “Hey,” he said, grinning at me, his hands stuck in his pockets.

  “Hi!” Take it down a notch. “Uh, how are you feeling?”

  Because yesterday wasn’t good to him at all. But here he was, a big smile on his face, looking remarkably healthy and happy. And he was talking to me! In the middle of a busy hallway while students pushed past us on their way to get to wherever they were going, some looking curiously at me and Luke as they passed. In front of Robyn, the biggest gossip at Dalton! This wasn’t going to end well for me.

  Luke shrugged. “I’m alright,” he said. “I got some more of that medicine, plus I got some sleep last night, so I feel human again.”

  Behind me, Robyn asked, “Did the medicine work for you?”

  Eavesdropper.

  Luke waved over m
y shoulder at her, a grin on his face. “So good. Thanks, Rob. Hey, Shazia.”

  I heard a mumbled ‘hi’ from Shazia (she’s always shy around her brothers friends) and a hearty ‘no problem,’ from Robyn.

  Ignoring the weird looks we were getting, Luke leaned in closer to me.

  “So, I was kinda wondering- about yesterday, you know?” he started, looking unexpectedly apprehensive as he licked his lips. Because of me? Luke Astor was nervous around me? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

  I went the positive route, took it as a good sign and grinned. “That doesn’t qualify as a sentence. In fact, it doesn’t even mean anything.”

  Luke snickered, showing off his perfect teeth. “You know,” he said. “You offered to help me with my list.”

  I blinked. “Oh. Oh, yeah.”

  As if I had forgotten about that. But I mustn’t lie to you, I thought he wouldn’t remember. It had just been one of my random spontaneous speeches and I was positive that he wouldn’t take me up on it, but- here he was.

  Luke scratched his head, giving me a puzzled look. “Or where you just being nice?”

  I shook my head immediately. “No, I meant it,” I assured him. “But- I thought you were just being nice when you said you’d hold me to it.”

  Note to self- try not to remember everything that emerges from Luke Astor’s perfectly shaped lips. Note to self- stop staring at Luke Astor’s perfectly shaped lips.

  “I don’t say things that I don’t mean.” He paused for a second, bit his lip, and then grinned. “Well, usually.”

  I processed this piece of information. “Oh. Okay.”

  “So, I was just wondering if you were free anytime soon, we could get started? I mean, you could look over my list and- I don’t know, just check it out?”

  The shy look was on his face again, and I sighed. How could I say no to this guy? And why would I want to? Besides, it wasn’t as though he was asking a lot from me.

  “Sure, I’m free this afternoon,” I said automatically.

  Luke grinned, punching me softly on the arm, the slight touch making me twitch (unnoticeably, I hoped). “Sweet. I’ll see you this afternoon, then. At the penthouse. I gotta go.”

  “Okay, bye!”

  I said turn your enthusiasm down, Celsi!

  I watched him walk down the hallway, slapping palms with people as he passed them.

  A poke in the back reminded me where I was and I turned back to Robyn and Shazia, trying and failing to mask the guilty look on my face.

  “What was that all about?” Robyn asked nosily, her arms folded over her chest as she stared at me.

  I decided to play dumb. “What?”

  “Don’t act all coy with us; you were making plans with Luke Astor!” Shazia’s eyes were glowing with excitement as she looked at me. “‘I’m free this afternoon’- free to do what?”

  “Yeah, we wanna know!” Robyn exclaimed. “I mean, he was looking for you yesterday.” Her brown eyes widened. “Is something going on between you two?”

  I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Between me and Luke? Nothing’s going on!”

  Robyn stuck her tongue out at me. “That’s what she said!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, ha-ha. For your information, we have a- Science project that we’re doing together.” I shrugged, proud of my spontaneous lie. “It’s nothing important.”

  Robyn grimaced. “Ick. Better you than me,” she said.

  “So we want to get it over with as soon as possible,” I continued.

  “How come you never said anything about it before?” Shazia asked, a small frown creasing her forehead.

  I spread my hands out in front of me, palms down. “I just found out yesterday,” I lied.

  Robyn was an easy mark; I could tell she believed me. But Shazia had an unconvinced look on her face so I decided to play my trump card.

  Putting a hand on my hip, I said, “Do you guys really think I wouldn’t tell you if a guy like Luke was inviting me over to his place for something other than school work?”

  It worked!

  Shazia nodded grudgingly. “I guess not,” she said slowly.

  I pouted, linking arms with the two. “You guys should have more trust in me.”

  “We’re sorry,” Shazia said, hugging me.

  “You should be,” I joked.

  Because although Luke wasn’t inviting me over to do schoolwork, (I lied to my best friends, I feel bad, I’m a terrible person) if it wasn’t for his list, he wouldn’t be inviting me over at all.

  He invited you over to play the piano.

  Shut up, mind. That had been the meds talking. I think.

  Shazia was looking at me like she knew exactly what I was thinking, which was awkward. Because even I was creeped out with what I was thinking. Luke was charming, sure, but any interest he had in me was purely friendly. Apart from his aneurysm secret and the list, there was nothing between us. And that’s how it would stay.

  ***

  When school was out, I hugged Shazia and Robyn goodbye and walked down the sidewalk, my hands stuffed into the pocket of my jacket. Although it was sunny, the chill wind whistled around my ears. I couldn’t wait to be in the relative warmth of the subway. My plan was to go home, change then head out again to help Robyn pick out a dress for the gala. I hunched my shoulders, wishing my jacket had a hood to combat the wind.

  All of a sudden, a limo slowed down next to me and I almost shrieked as the window rolled down. Was I about to be kidnapped? My mouth opened, (probably to squawk ‘I’m not a Legacy student, I’m on financial aid! Don’t kidnap me’) but I heaved a sigh of relief as Luke poked his head out of the window, a happy grin on his face.

  “God, you scared me!” I admitted, placing a hand over my thumping heart. Of course, now it was thumping because Luke was looking infinitely gorgeous (as usual) but it was a darn sight better than having a mini heart attack because I thought I was going to be kidnapped.

  Luke laughed, a low, husky sound that made the short hairs on the back of my neck rise. “Sorry,” he said, opening the door. “Where are you going? I’ll drop you off.”

  “I was just headed to the subway,” I replied, clutching my bag as I stood on the sidewalk, eyes darting left and right. Oh Lord, if anyone from school saw this- hell, if Ahmed saw me standing here with this limo door opened like this, he would totally think I was actually giving out sexual favors. I couldn’t just get into Luke's limo though, could I?

  Celsi, it’s cold!

  Shut up, mind.

  Snorting, Luke made a ‘come here’ motion with one hand. “Get in; we’ll give you a ride. It’s freezing out there.” He smiled, his dimples popping, and just like that, I melted. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

  What would you have done?

  I got into Luke’s personal limo (a personal limo. For a 17 year old boy. The things rich folk spent their cash on) and Luke offered to get his driver to drive me home. I baulked.

  “You can just drop me off at the subway,” I said. I wasn’t embarrassed of where I lived; I just didn’t want to know what Nate would do if he saw me being dropped off at home by a limo. And I didn’t want to find out.

  “You sure?” Luke asked, a frown creasing his forehead.

  “You’d probably get lost in Harlem. Anyway, I like taking the subway.”

  Luke didn’t look too convinced but he agreed to drop me off at the nearest subway.

  “So- I heard you live with your aunt?” he asked, once we were back in the car. I nodded.

  “My aunt and my cousin,” I told him.

  “Is your cousin older or younger than you?” he asked, then grinned. “I just realized that I don’t know that much about you.”

  “He’s older.”

  Luke nodded, staring at me thoughtfully. He didn’t say anything else about my family and I was glad. I just didn’t feel like explaining my history to him right there.

  "Hey, do you have a cell phone?" A grin appeared on his face as he asked
me this and he ran a hand through his hair. "God, I'm such a ditz. Who doesn't have a cell phone these days?"

  I grinned back. I begged to differ. Nate didn't have a phone, not since he sold his for gin.

  "Yeah, I do," I replied. Short silence as Luke stared at me expectantly, and then I almost smacked myself on the forehead. He wanted me to give him my number! Duh, Celsi! "Oh, okay, here's my number," I said, feeling like a ditz too. I wrote it on a piece of paper because Luke said he left his phone at home and handed it to him.

  "Thanks." A wicked gleam appeared in his eyes as he added, "I promise I won't be waking you up in the middle of the night, crying."

  I giggled. "I'm actually pretty good with cry-babies," I joked.

  He accompanied me down into the subway, keeping one hand on my back the entire time and staring down the hobo who always hit on me. It was sweet, his concern. My aunt was always too busy and Nate- he didn’t care about anyone but himself these days. So it was nice that Luke cared enough to even think about escorting me down here.

  “Thanks for escorting me down here. You can leave now, I’m safe,” I joked, a teasing grin on my face. “My trains coming pretty soon.”

  Luke gazed down at me, biting his lip. “Thanks, CiCi,” he said softly and sincerely as I stared up at him in surprise. “For everything you’ve done. I’m really grateful.”

  I smiled gratefully. “You’re welcome,” I said, clutching my book bag closer to me.

  To my surprise, he spread his arms. “Can I hug you?” he asked, that endearingly shy look on his face again. Feeling shy myself, I nodded.

  “Sure.”

  And I held my breath as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands rubbing up and down my back as he whispered, “Thank you,” in my ear again.

  Being around the guy was a hazard to my health. It wasn’t natural that he made me feel so- into him. Not cool.

  He brushed his lips against my cheek as he let go. “I’ll- see you tomorrow?” he asked.

  I nodded, totally forgetting that tomorrow was Saturday.