The Pull of Destiny

by Hotcheri

  I hugged my knees to my chest, looking down at him. “I just think that’s the kind of job I’d like to do. Or I could be a social worker. What about you?”

  “Well, from the day I was born, my dad was supposed to groom me to take over the family business coz apparently, it’s tradition in our family,” Luke started, frowning slightly. “But somewhere along the road, he decided that I was no good and would be useless, even if I did manage to get hold of the company. I’m 17 years old, CiCi, and my dad hasn’t ever sat me down to tell me what he does every day at work. Personally, I think he just plays golf all day. But the point is, someday I’m expected to take over the company and I don’t even know anything about it.”

  “Maybe he’s waiting till you turn 18,” I suggested. I had never heard Luke sound so bitter. Bad relationship with his dad? Couldn’t he see how remarkable his son was?

  Luke laughed derisively. “Yeah right. He’s setting me up to fail. The man can’t stand me because I remind him of my mom, and he hates my mom. So for the past 12 years, he’s been giving me shit just because I have the same eyes as her, the same smile as her, even the same dimples as her.” He snorted. “My dad’s a jerk. I swear, the minute I turn 21, I’m out of here.”

  “Where are you gonna go?” I asked curiously. His dad didn’t sound like a nice person at all. More like a ‘Nate’ type of guy.

  “Travel the world. That’s what I see myself doing. I’ll have enough money, I won’t have to work. Maybe dad will groom Faith to be the CEO of his stupid company, I don’t care. I’m gonna be in Grenada, soaking up the sun.”

  “You sound like you’ve got it all planned out,” I said. Lucky him. I hoped he would write me a postcard when he was on his tour of the world. Then again, after his operation, he would probably forget about me once his life was back to normal. C’est la vie, Celsi.

  He nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yeah. When we were dating, Joanna and I would talk about stuff like that all the time. What we were going to do as soon as our trust funds kicked in, where we would go, people we would meet. Her home life is pretty crappy too, her stepdad is a jerk. So we- kind of found each other because of that.”

  I wouldn’t have pictured polished, refined Joanna having anything wrong with her perfect existence. Never judge a book by its cover. I guess rich people had problems of their own to deal with.

  “You know, I always wondered why you two broke up,” I mused out loud, then blanched. Uh-oh. Why had I said that out loud? “I mean- you don’t need to tell me- actually, forget I said anything.”

  Imbecile!

  Luke shrugged lazily. “No, I don’t mind. We broke up- well, she dumped me actually.”

  “Really?” I had to ask. “Why?”

  Because Luke and Joanna had been the most envied couple at Dalton for over a year. Good looking, rich, connected, hard partying- everyone had wanted to be in their shoes. Then overnight, they weren’t a couple anymore and nobody knew why. The grapevine never found out why they had broken up, or why they kept hooking up randomly in the supply closet after they went their separate ways.

  Luke wrinkled his nose, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “Because I couldn’t say ‘I love you.’”

  That was so unexpected that I burst out laughing. “Sorry,” I spluttered as Luke shot me an amused look.

  “You can laugh, but it’s true. And when I told her that I couldn’t say it coz I had to mean it, she really got pissed off.”

  “You could’ve just faked it,” I said, even though I didn’t believe it. Some things you had to mean before you said them. Luke echoed this.

  “I guess I didn’t love her coz I couldn’t say it,” he said regretfully. “Sad, but that’s the way it goes.”

  True.

  ***

  Three sandwiches later, I was ready to leave for work. Luke insisted on coming with me, slipping his feet into a pair of sneakers. “Nobody’s gonna laugh at me just coz I’m wearing PJ bottoms,” he pointed out as we walked out into the lobby.

  “I hope not,” I laughed, stealing a glance at him. He looked undeniably hot with his bed head hair, teddy bear print pajama bottoms and an AC/DC t-shirt.

  Hey, it’s New York City, people dress even weirder than that!

  The limo pulled up to Nino’s Deli, my workplace and I got out, Luke following.

  “This is where I work,” I told him. “Nino makes the best subs in Manhattan.”

  No boasting.

  “Really? I gotta buy one, then. What do you recommend?” Luke asked, a grin on his face as he shut the door. We started walking towards the store.

  “The special. Always a good choice.”

  “Man, my eyes are stinging,” Luke complained, rubbing them with the heel of his palm.

  I opened the deli door and stepped in, talking to Luke over my shoulder. “Too much video-oh!”

  My sentence ended in a gasp and I came to a dead stop, staring at the counter. The deli was empty apart from old surly Nino, the owner, and Nate, who was glowering at me. I shook slightly, goose bumps rising on my skin. Oh no.

  “Well, look here,” Nate said condescendingly, clapping slowly as he stared at me. “You go to the library and come back in a limo, with a boy? What kind of studying were you doing, huh?”

  “Nate.” My voice came out in a whisper and I gulped, trying to find something to say. “I-.”

  “You what? You were giving this kid head in the back of his limo? That how you been getting your money lately? Momma’s gonna have a field day with this one, you stupid ho!”

  “Hey, what’s your problem, dude? CiCi’s my friend! She wasn’t giving me anything,” Luke interrupted quietly, coming to stand next to me. Nate glanced at him and disregarded him.

  “Beat it, Richie Rich. I’m talking to ‘CiCi’, not you. Listen here, missy,” he said, stepping closer to me, a sneer on his face. “You told me you were going to the library. I see you come out of a white boy’s limo. What I tell you about boys, huh?”

  “Trouble,” I choked out, scared. Nate was mad. When he was mad, things got ugly. Oh, why did Luke have to be here!

  “But you don’t seem smart enough to listen, do you?” I shook my head as he continued. “How much he pay you for a back seat blow job?”

  “I wasn’t-,” I started.

  “Hey, man. What the hell is wrong with you? I told you, CiCi and me are just friends. No backseat sexual favors in exchange for money. Get your head out of the gutter,” Luke put in, moving till he stood in front of me, shielding me from Nate and glaring at him.

  Nate glared back, stepping forward till they were almost nose to nose. “Who the hell are you, rich boy?” he asked intimidatingly. Luke didn’t back down.

  “I’m Luke Astor,” he said confidently, staring Nate down. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m Celsi’s cousin, so you better step off before I make you step off,” Nate growled, clenching his hands into fists.

  Standing his ground, Luke said, “I’m not scared of you.”

  “Luke, you better go,” I said nervously.

  I was so glad that he was sticking up for me, but I didn’t want him getting into a physical fight over me, and not with my cousin. Nate fought dirty. There was no way Luke could win. But just knowing that he had stuck up for me was enough to make me feel better about what was coming for me.

  “Yeah, you tell your boyfriend to get out of here, little slut,” Nate commented as Luke turned to face me, an outraged expression on his face.

  “You want me to leave you with this guy?” he asked incredulously. “No frickin way!”

  “Luke, it’s okay. I can handle it. I’ll calm him down,” I lied. Whatever Nate was going to do, I didn’t want Luke witnessing it. It would be humiliating. “You can go. I’ll be fine.”

  “CiCi, I can’t just leave you here. I mean-,” Luke started, concern flitting across his face.

  “Nino’s got my back,” I whispered. I looked up at him, trying not to cry at the compassionate look
on his face. He cared about what happened to me! “I’ll be fine. Please, Luke.”

  Looking unconvinced, he finally nodded, much to my relief. “Okay. I’ll call you,” he said.

  “Okay,” I whispered and almost groaned as he hugged me close to him, disregarding Nate’s presence completely as he squeezed me. My scared eyes sought Nate out, he looked madder than ever as Luke whispered, “Take care,” in my ear, let go of me and walked out of the store.

  Immediately, Nate was in my face. “You hugging on that kid right in front of me? What did I tell you?”

  “Nate, he’s just a friend!” I protested as he breathed on me, his face twisted in anger.

  “Just a friend? How the hell are you gonna be friends with a rich kid like that? Huh?”

  He grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me till my teeth rattled.

  “Nate, I swear! He just gave me a ride,” I said, tears in my eyes.

  “If I ever catch you with a boy again....” His voice trailed off sinisterly as his eyes locked with mine. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me towards him. “You think momma will pay for your tuition if she knows you’re whoring your body to horny school boys?” He pulled my hair harder till I shrieked. “Huh?”

  “That’s enough,” Nino barked from behind the counter. “No violence in my store. Take it outside.”

  Nate let go of me, wiping his hands on his pants. He looked at Nino. “Can you pay her, then? I got to get outta here, it stinks in here.”

  Nino nodded brusquely, taking out his wallet and counting out some money. He gestured towards me. “Your pay,” he said.

  Still shaking, I walked to the counter and took my money from Nino. Wordlessly, I counted out thirty dollars and handed it to Nate, feeling a spurt of rage towards him as he snatched the cash out of my hand and saluted me.

  “I’m out,” he said cheerily, as though nothing had happened. He waved at Nino, who stared at him impassively, and left the deli. Immediately, I sat down at the counter, my legs giving out. I put my head in my hands, tears seeping out.

  “”Hey, kiddo, it’s alright. You’ll be okay,” Nino said, sounding unconcerned. I wasn’t mad at him. I knew he cared about what went on in our house, with Nate. But he never got involved in what he said was ‘personal familia business.’ Only when it seemed that things were escalating to violence did he step in. I respected that. He saved my butt countless times.

  “It’s never gonna end,” I wailed. “He’s always gonna be in my business. I can’t even have friends without him scaring them off.”

  Nate had definitely scared Luke off. Now he was probably going to avoid me and tell his friends about my insanely violent cousin.

  “Probably better that he scared that one off, kiddo. Rich boy, poor girl. Never work,” Nino told me, wiping a glass as I raised my head.

  “Luke’s just my friend. Nothing could happen between us,” I said.

  “That’s how it starts,” Nino said mysteriously as I eyed him. “Now. I give you 5 minutes to collect yourself then you get to work, yes?”

  CHAPTER 10

  funny feelings.

  Luke’s Point of View

  Lesson learned for the day: never judge a book by its cover. Because no matter how cheerful, sweet and helpful someone appears, you never know what’s going on in their lives.

  Case in point- CiCi.

  The deli scene managed to piss me off like nothing had pissed me off in recent history. All I wanted to do as I opened the door and got into the car was to go back into the store and beat the crap out of CiCi’s cousin. It made me sick to my stomach. Why would anyone, especially her own family member, want to treat a girl like CiCi that way?

  Of course, I knew a bit about strained family relations but even though I was ninety-nine percent sure that my dad hated me, he had never physically abused me. God, I hoped that Nate wasn’t physically abusing CiCi. As I thought of that, a wave of revulsion swept through me and only the image of CiCi’s stricken face kept me from marching back in the deli. I shouldn’t have left her alone to deal with that scumbag of a cousin, even though she had practically begged me to leave. She had said she could handle it, but I was sure she was bluffing. And that fat guy behind the counter wasn’t any help at all. Maybe this wasn’t the first time something like that had happened in his store and he knew to keep his distance.

  I groaned to myself in the back seat, massaging my temples. A steady, dull pounding had started again and I closed my eyes. The headache was Nate’s fault. I’d only known CiCi for a while but I knew she didn’t deserve to have that scared look in those pretty eyes. Leaning back in my seat, I remembered what Robyn had said about CiCi and her cousin.

  ‘Because you have no idea what Celsi goes through. I don’t want you hurting that girl, she’s got enough problems already at home. You know, with her cousin and the money and-.’

  At that time, I’d thought it weird and wanted to know more, but Robyn wouldn’t tell me. Now it all made sense. Well, the cousin thing did, I still wasn’t sure about the money issue. I made up my mind to ask CiCi herself what was going on. Maybe I could somehow be there for her like she was for me.

  “I’ll ask her on Monday,” I said to myself, feeling better now that I had a plan of action. Maybe I couldn’t do anything about CiCi’s situation but even if she didn’t want my help I’d sleep better knowing that I tried. It would make me feel better because I said something like what Nate said to her myself. So on Monday, I would casually ask her what was going on in her life, find out what she was hiding and be a friend. Oddly enough, even though the circumstance wouldn’t be good, I still found myself looking forward to meeting CiCi on Monday. Her cheerfulness rubbed off on me and God knows, I needed that. Anyone who could be cheerful in spite of having a jerky cousin like that was a star in my book.

  Faith ran to me as soon as I walked into the living room, holding up the pinkest dress I had ever seen in my life. She was beaming from ear to ear.

  “Look at my dress, Luke! It’s pretty, right?” she asked me.

  I made a face as I fingered the material. “Wow. It’s so- pink.”

  Faith’s face fell and she looked up at me, her bottom lip wobbling. “You don’t like it?” she asked in a dejected voice.

  I put a fake scowl on my face. “Course I don’t like it,” I lied.

  “Aw!” Faith turned to her mother, who was sitting on a couch, a black bag perched next to her. “Luke doesn’t like my dress,” she complained, pouting.

  I grabbed her, swinging her up into my arms. “I don’t like it; I love it, silly goose!” I exclaimed, tickling her. Giggling fiercely, she tickled me back.

  “You’re a silly goose!” she said happily.

  “I tried to talk her out of getting a pink dress but she was set on it,” Hope said from the couch.

  I looked at her over Faith’s head. “Why would you talk her out of it?” I asked. “Pink’s her favorite color.”

  Hope nodded, pushing back her hair from her eyes. “How many people at these galas wear pink?” she asked me.

  That was Hope in a nutshell. Always trying to conform, to be the same as all the rest of the Park Avenue Stepford wives.

  “Faith’s just a kid,” I assured her, setting Faith on the floor. “She needs to liven the color scheme up a little, right, Faith?”

  “Yeah!” Faith agreed, clutching the dress to her like she thought Hope would wrest it from her and trade it in for a boring white one. The kid had the right idea.

  Hope gave a long-suffering sigh. “Luckily you’ll conform,” she said, holding up the black bag. I gave her a quizzical look. “I got you a tux.”

  “For what?” I asked, baffled.

  “For the gala.” Hope held the bag out to me, an inviting smile on her face as I groaned. Why me? “Go try it on.”

  I shook my head, running a hand through my hair as Faith started playing with my shoelaces. “Sorry, not interested.”

  “Luke, your dad told me to get you a tux for the gala,
” Hope explained.

  “Really? But I’m not going to the gala,” I said honestly. Faith stopped tying my laces together and stared up at me, a puzzled look on her face.

  “Why?” she wanted to know.

  I bent down till I was at her level, smiling into her perfectly serious brown eyes. “Because I’m not interested in hanging out with boring rich people, princess,” I told her.

  “You can hang out with me! I want you to come to the party! We’ll have fun!” Faith flung her arms around my neck, almost tipping me over.

  “Oh, he’s going to the gala alright,” a deep voice said behind me.

  No points for guessing who the eavesdropper was.

  Faith’s face lit up and she scrambled to her feet, running over to hug dad.

  “Daddy! You’re back!”

  I sat down to untie my laces, not even bothering to look as dad said, “Yes, sweetie, I’m back.” There was a smacking sound as he (I presume) kissed Hope on the cheek. Because Astor’s aren’t into PDA. “Good afternoon, Hope.”

  How formal.

  Ever the perfect wife, Hope simpered, “Welcome back, dear.” I finally looked up to see Hope try to untangle Faith from dad’s arms. Dad looked annoyed, of course, standing in the middle of the living room in his neatly pressed suit. “I’ll just take Faith to Liv for her bath.”

  “Aw! I wanna tell daddy about my dress!” Faith clung to dad like a leech. It was kinda funny, seeing how irritated dad was getting.

  “Later, sweetie. Let’s go.” Hope yanked Faith off dad in one fluid movement and exited the room.

  Wow. Not even his own wife could stand to be in the same room with him for more than 5 minutes.

  Dad moved closer to me, a questioning look on his face. “What’s this I hear about you not going to the gala?” he asked without preamble.

  I leaned against the couch, looking up at him. “Dad, we haven’t seen each other in two days. Couldn’t you say ‘hi, son, how you doing, how you feeling, did the aneurysm get you yet’?”