Dedicated to mom and dad.
May your love be everlasting.
Another evening lying in bed watching Netflix, with an open book next to me so I wouldn't feel as bad, was in order for me, I thought as I opened the door to my tiny apartment. I was lucky to get an apartment that I didn't need to share with a roommate. I took off my shoes and looked at the clock, it was little over half past five in the evening. I could almost taste the Chinese take-out that waited for me in the fridge. I had only taken one step into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. I looked longingly at the fridge but promised that I would get back to it as soon as I could.
I opened the door and saw that it was my friend Destiny. Out of the two of us she was the party girl, being one year older she had already made a large network of friends that brings the biggest of politicians to shame. By the looks of it she was not here to invite me with her to a party.
"Hi Arona, would you like to take a walk with me?" She asked and smiled. I couldn't say no; I had blown her off too many times already. "Sure, let me just grab my coat and a protein bar, I just got back home from the library" I said, already walking away from the door back into the kitchen. You just have to wait for me some more, I thought as I passed the fridge to get the protein bar. Soon we were on our way.
I thought we were walking aimlessly around the neighbourhood. It wasn't until she turned a corner and into a street that was a dead end that I realized that she had a destination in mind.
"Are we going somewhere special?" I asked her. I was not impressed I thought this was just a short walk and then we would go home and watch a movie or something. I didn't want to be dragged in one of her schemes, they always ended in some disasters.
"Well... I just thought that, now that we are so close to where one of my friend lives we should stop by." I tried not to be annoyed by her but so far it wasn't working. "Here we are, it's just here to the right." She said and turned to the house and knocked.
"I don't li..." But I was interrupted by the door opening. I looked up at the guy and could understand why Destiny wanted to get closer to him. He hot. Not in the "I go to the gym every day for five hours" but in the "I go there sometimes but prefer to go outside and go mountain climbing" in the geeky way.
"Hey Destiny... and Destiny's friend." He looked awkward standing in the doorframe looking at us back and forth. I could feel my face heating up, I could imagine my face looking like a tomato right now.
"Hello, are you doing anything tonight?" Destiny asked with a smile. The boy looked awkward.
"umh... you know my parents are here they are going on a vacation tomorrow."
"Hey, Randi who is out there?" We heard called from inside of the apartment. "Oh. Hey girls, I'm Randi's mum Laurette. Why don't you come inside?"
"We were just stopping to say hello." I said at the same time Destiny said "sure we would love that." We didn't say anything as she rushed us in and sat us down in the kitchen where they were playing a board game.
"Hello, I'm Andrew, Randi's dad." He was a tall man, with a dark hair and glasses perched on his nose.
"Hi, I'm Destiny and this is Arona. We are friends of Randi's" She shook his hand and sat down on the seat against him. I smiled at him and took the only seat left on the table. Soon we started to play the game with them. We decided to dived into two groups, girls against boys. The night went well. We played classic board games. Everybody was having fun and it was a great night filled with laughter.
"Girls, it's been a fun night, it is nice knowing that our son has found some friends." Laurette said as we were leaving. We said our goodbyes and soon we were on our way home. I said goodbye to Destiny and went on my way. I was still a little annoyed at her for using our walk as a way for her to get closer to a guy. I finally got back home to eat the Chinese takeout.
I started to notice Randi more and more in the halls. I was surprised me how often we crossed paths. The first time was in the library, we talked for some time and then went out for a coffee. We had been spending more and more time together. I always have a great time with him.
Life had been a bliss for some time. We had had a great time exploring the city and finding new places to go to. We didn't flaunt our relationship because neither of us was a much fan of PDA and attention. another part of me was a little ashamed of stealing the guy Destiny liked but for the most part I could ignore it.
I was having lunch when it happened. The doors of the cafeteria flew open. at first I didn't bother looking up but when I all off the cafeteria got quiet I glanced up from the book I was reading, and there she stood. The angry scowl on her face made everyone scoot a little bit away from her. She started to walk to my table. Her steps were full of purpose and before I knew it she was standing in front of me. "Why did you do it?" She was so angry, I wanted nothing more then the ground to swallow me up.
"I... I..." but I couldn't answer her. It wasn't intentional. I closed my mouth and swallowed hard.
"Do you hate me this much? I have been after Randi for over two months and when I think that I got him you come in and steal him away from me. I thought you were my friend!" She screamed at me.
By now the whole cafeteria was watching. I could feel my cheeks heat up. Both from embarrassment and anger. How could I know that? She had never talked about him before.
"Why don't we just calm down?" I said in my most soothing voice but it just angered her further. before I knew it she had raised her hand like she was going to slap me. I looked around me and saw all of the people watch me and her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said in the most strong voice I could muster. I was never a big fan of fighting but I knew a bit of self defence but I never had to use it and hoped I wouldn't need to use it now but the hand was already on the way down and landed on my cheek. I could sense it straight away that that wasn't enough for her. I thought she was going to slap me again and didn't anticipate her pushing me. I fell down to the ground and bumped my head on the table and then on the floor. I couldn't see anything for some time but when I regained my vision I could see that she was going to kick me.
I tried to scoot away but fortunately a couple of the guys from the room had come to my aid and dragged her away. I felt a pair of strong arms lift me up. I looked up and saw that it was Randi. I tried to smile to reassure him that I was okay but I'm sure it came more out as a grimace.
He held me until the ambulance came and took me to see if my head was alright. I didn't want to file charges against her. I was a little shaken up after this Randi was a lot of help and didn't let this incident get between us. He was my Rock.
He asked me to be his girlfriend after we had been dating for three months. I wasn't sure at first but right now I couldn't be more sure. We have been together for three years and I thought it was time to move forward.
I had planned it all, I made a reservation at a really fancy restaurant that had a great view of the city, I even made a little speech. The food was fantastic and the night was like a dream. Then I went down on one knee. His reaction was priceless. Then before I knew it he had gone on one knee too and pulled out a box nearly identical to mine. The laughing fit that followed attracted the attention of nearly everyone in the restaurant. We said yes to each other and stood up. The whole restaurant was clapping for us. It was surreal, knowing that we were going to spend the rest of our life together.
When we were walking out of the restaurant I bumped into Destiny, she looked at us and smiled. I had forgiven her a long time ago. We didn't have the same relationship as before but I still said hi to her if I met her and she had apologised to me. She had been meeting a therapist for some time now and it was really helping her.
Then it came to me, the pun of my life, Destiny, brought us together.
