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Chapter 11

Destiny's POV

I smiled at Chres and grabbed his hand to get off the floor. I nervously looked towards Tara and she had a blank expression. I bit my lip, waiting for her to say something. Chres and I had been working on this dance for two weeks trying to make it perfect. Getting the stunts, leaps, turns in perfect unison. I wanted her to like it. We only had one more week left to make a new dance if she didn't like this one. After Christmas break we wouldn't have time to change anything else. I started biting my nails, a habit I had dropped years ago but seemed to come back now. Tara finally looked at us and cracked a smile.

"It's perfect. I love it!" Chres and I let out a collective sigh of relief and smiled at each other. I gave him a hug and he kissed my head. "Just looked for your costumes over break and email them to me." Tara gave us another smile and left the room, heading to her office. As soon as she left the room, Chres and I went crazy. I jumped into his arms and he spun me around

"We did it!" I laughed at Chres's excitement and jumped down.

"I can't believe she liked it. I expected her to change something about it." Chres kissed me and grabbed my hands

"The dance is perfect. You did an amazing job choreographing it." I smiled at him and gave him a kiss. "Come on lets go." Chres grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. We stopped and grabbed some food and then rode to our house. Did I forget to mention I moved in with Chres? We figured since I was always over there anyway, I might as well live there too. It took a lot of convincing on Brandon's part but we finally broke him and after I left Bre moved in. I threw my bag on the floor and took of my sneakers. I sat on the couch and looked over at the corner of the room. I smiled at the huge, lit Christmas tree sitting there. Christmas was only two weeks away and I had got a gift for everyone except one person.

"So what do you want for Christmas?" Chres came and sat next to me on the sofa. He pulled my feet into his lap and started messing with them.

"I don't really want anything. What do you want?" I smiled at him. He never wants anything. I try to buy something or pay for dinner and he plain refuses. I don't know how he pays for everything but he doesn't let me pay if he is with me.

"You already got me the earrings I really wanted so I don't want anything." I shrugged my shoulders and Chres looked like he was mulling it over in his mind. "So when is your sister and mom getting here?" Chres smiled and looked at me.

"Next Sunday." Chres tried to hold back from smiling bigger and I couldn't help but smile myself. He would never admit it but I knew he was excited to see his mom and sister. He was the baby of the family but he was very protective of them. I remember when we were looking at pictures of his sister and Jacob said she was hot. Chres nearly killed him just with his stare.

"I hope they like me." I looked down at my hands and Chres sucked his teeth

"Why wouldn't they like you." I threw up my hands and looked at him

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm living here and we aren't married. Maybe they just won't like my personality or think I'm not good enough for you. I mean you're their baby and they may think I'm interfering. " Chres laughed at me and I glared at him. He leaned towards me and kissed my nose.

"Don't worry. They are going to love you and if they don't, they can leave. I like you and their opinions aren't going to change that." I was shocked he actually said that. He would pick me over his family, not that I wanted him to. I would never make him choose. Chres looked at his watch and let out a sigh.

"I gotta go babe. I need to be at the shop in fifteen minutes." He stood up and leaned over me, planting a small kiss on my lips.

"OK. I'll see you later." Chres grabbed his keys and headed out the door. I looked around the room, trying to figure out what to do with myself. I had turned in all of my final assignments for this semester and I had finished the last part of the hip-hop dance for our class, so I had nothing to do. I sat up and grabbed my laptop. I started looking for something to buy Chres. He isn't a difficult person to buy for but I want this gift to be perfect. I searched for two hours and found nothing. I closed my laptop frustrated and set it on the coffee table.

I finally got up and headed towards the guest room. I decided to make it a little more homey. I'm not dissing Chres's decorative style but this room isn't somewhere I would want to live in for two weeks. I started moving furniture around the room, surprisingly most of it being lite. I finally finished it off with some new bed sheets and some pictures I found in the closet. Standing back, I admired my work and heard a cough from behind me. I jumped and turned around to see a smiling Chres.

"God you scared me. Don't do that." He laughed and started looking around the room, letting out a whistle.

"This looks great Destiny." I looked around again and fixed one of the photos on the wall.

"I just wanted to make sure that everything was set for your mom and sister." Chres grabbed my waist and pulled me towards him. He gave me a long lingering kiss and I grabbed onto his shoulders.

"It looks perfect." He smiled and gave me a wink. I nearly melted into a pool of goop. I felt my cheeks burning up and I knew my face was probably red. Chres laughed again and stopped when the doorbell rang. He turned towards me with a puzzled look.

"Were you expecting anyone?" I shook my head and he started walking towards the front door. I turned of the light in the room and was about to close the door when I heard loud screams from the front of the house. I quickly ran down the hallway, thinking Chres was hurt but stopped when I saw him hugging his sister. I let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the wall, trying to slow down my heart rate.

"Victoria, I thought you were coming next Sunday with mom." Chres smiled down at her and she smiled back.

"I got an earlier flight. I wanted to surprise my Chresy." She pinched his cheek and spoke in a mocking baby voice. Chres put down her hand and grabbed her bags.

"Come on we are adults now. Aren't we too old for nicknames, Vicky." She laughed and looked towards me. She started walking to me, giving me a huge smile. She stuck out her hand I put mine in hers.

"Hi. You must be Destiny. I've heard so much about you." I smiled back at her and shook her hand.

"Yes and I'm so glad to finally meet you. Chres is always telling me stories about you." She turned to him and raised her eyebrow

"All good I hope. Come help me unpack. I want to talk to my new sister." She grabbed my hand and took me to her room, Chres closely following with her bags.

"How about we go out for dinner? There is this new restaurant I think you'll love." I turned to Victoria and gave her a smile.

"Yeah we want to take you somewhere to celebrate." Victoria gave me a warm smile and turned to her brother.

"That sounds amazing. Let me just wash up and I'll be ready." Chres clapped his hands and smiled

"Great."



An hour later we were sitting in an Italian restaurant, looking at the menu. I was laughing at Victoria's stories about Chres as a baby. Chres looked a little embarrassed and I tried to comfort him.

"And then he put the underwear on his head and ran around the house naked until our mom gave him a cookie." We all burst into laughter and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. We tried to quiet down but we kept laughing.

"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." Chres put his napkin on the table and headed to the restroom. I turned to Victoria and gave her a smile.

"How about we go shopping tomorrow? I know this really nice boutique that-"

"Oh cut the crap will you." My eyes widened in surprise and I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me?" Victoria sipped her wine glass and set it back down on the table. She turned to me and gave me a fake smile.

"What? You expected me to like you? Please. I've seen girls like you come and go out of Chres's life. Trust me, you aren't going to last much longer. Believe me when I tell you that Chres is going to drop you like a hot potato and I'll be there to say I told you so. You aren't good enough for him anyway. Chres has been through more than you ever will. You come in here batting your pretty little lashes and expect for everything to be perfect. A happy ever after. Well that's not happening with my brother. You can forget it. I won't let it happen." She took another sip from her glass and I sat there with my mouth open. I couldn't believe she said that. I tried to process what she had just said to me and couldn't fathom where it came from. Chres finally came back and sat down.

"Are you guys ready to order? " Victoria gave him a huge smile and nodded. I just stared into space, Victoria's words stabbing my thoughts. I snapped out of it when I felt Chres's hand on my arm.

"Are you OK?" I nodded and gave him a smile, picking up my menu. The rest of the night I just sat at the table quiet. Neither of them seemed to notice and I was relieved when Chres paid the check, so we could leave. I sat in the car looking out of the window. I saw Chres look at me a couple of times with a puzzled expression but didn't ask anything. When we got in the house, I went straight to our room and ran a hot bath. Before I could get in I heard a knock on the door and Chres walked in.

"Hey, what's up with you? You haven't said anything since dinner. You OK?" He looked at my face concerned and I gave him a fake smile and nodded.

"Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind." Chres looked at me and pulled me closer

"You wanna talk about it?" I shook my head, getting out of his grasp and took off my heels.

"No I just need a soak and I'll be fine." Chres put his hands in his pockets and gave me a concern expression.

"OK. I'll be in the room if you need me." I nodded and he left, closing the door behind him. I stripped down and got in the tub, enjoying the burning feeling on my skin. I finally got used to it and leaned back closing my eyes. Victoria's words still clouding my thoughts. You aren't good enough for him anyway. Trust me, you aren't going to last much longer. Well that's not happening with my brother. You can forget it. I won't let it happen. I dunk my head under the water, trying to drown out her words. I finally resurfaced and grabbed the soap, ruffly scrubbing my body. Eventually I got out and threw on one of Chres's shirts.

I walked out of the bathroom and Chres was in bed on his laptop. His shirt was off and he looked like he was studying something closely. When he heard me, his head shot up and he quickly closed his laptop. When he did that again Victoria's words came back to me. Trust me, you aren't going to last much longer. I never saw Chres cheating on me before but after tonight my thoughts were completely shot. I walked over to the bed and climbed in. Chres turned off the light and laid down next to me, pulling me closer to his body. Feeling his warmth around me soothed my nerves a little and I was finally able to fall asleep.