We arrive at my mom's new house in Malibu and the first thing I notice are the French styled interior. Not surprising since she's about to marry some French dude. I hear my mom tell the driver to put my things up in my room upstairs.
"I can't wait for you to meet Pierre. He's a really good man Destiny." Mom says excitedly and what do you know, the man that's about to marry my mom comes out of a room. He was about 6'3" with brown hair and green eyes. He smiles when he sees my mom and I in the middle of the living room.
"Welcome back my love." He says giving mom a quick peck. "This must be the famous Destiny I keep hearing about." He turns to me still with his charming smile. "So lovely to meet you." He reaches for my hand and shakes it lightly. "You are as beautiful as your mother." He adds and I see mom blushing. It was true though even when I was still younger people would comment on how much I took after my mother. Mom even in her late 40's has maintained her beauty. She looks almost like in her late 30's if you ask me. It's no wonder she managed to make this man fall in love with her.
"It's nice to meet you Pierre." I say politely with a charming smile of my own.
"Come. You must be tired from your flight." He gestures towards the couch but I'm not really in the mood to socialize with my future stepdad.
"If it's okay with you Pierre, I'll rest in my room. I'm still having jet lag." I tell him.
"Of course." He nods and mom comes to my side.
"I'll show you to your room." She says to me and we walk upstairs. "I made sure your room will be comfortable so I put some things I know you'd like." She tells me as we reach a door. "Your dad and I talked before you came here and I made arrangements." She opens the door and I see what she means. Books lined up on the shelf, there's an empty desk near the bathroom and a keyboard. The window was a floor to ceiling type with some sort of reading nook in it. "I remember how much you love to read but I never knew you love playing the keyboard. I guess I never knew even when you spent your summer here." She grabs my hand making me look at her. "I hope that this summer we could bond Destiny." She says to me with hope glimmering in her eyes.
"I'm gonna rest now mom. I'm really tired and still adjusting." I tell her and she lets go of my hand.
"I'll call you down for dinner later. Have a good rest baby girl." She says before closing the door behind her. I look around the room before putting my backpack down on the floor and lying down the bed. I needed rest to have enough energy to face my brother.
I wake up to the shaking of my shoulders. When I open my eyes, I see my mom's face and see her lips moving telling me to get ready for dinner.
"I know you hate people barging in your room but I've been knocking on the door for a few minutes now so I figured you must be in deep sleep." She explains not that she needs to. This is her house anyway and she can enter the rooms whenever she wants and she's my mom.
"It's okay mom. You don't have to explain." I tell her as I sit on the bed. She gives me a smile before standing up.
"Jeff is already downstairs and the others will be arriving soon." She leaves after telling me that. Once the door closes, I get myself out of the bed and into the bathroom for a quick shower. It only took me 25 minutes to shower, change and prepare myself for the dinner. When I get to the stairs, I hear noises from the living room. I stop on the last step to assess the situation. Most of the people occupying the living room are mom's friends and possibly Pierre's relatives. My mom notices my presence and quickly comes to me. "Everyone, this is my daughter Destiny." She introduces me to the unfamiliar faces.
"Oh my! She looks like you Clarice." One of them says smiling. Mom looks proud with that statement. I make light conversation with her friends despite my want to go back to my room and stay there till the dinner is over. We go up to meet Pierre's relatives and have some small talk. They asked me why they've never seen me before and I tell them politely that I got busy with my studies. I try to keep up with their conversations until I see that familiar face a few feet away from where I am with mom and Pierre.
"I'm surprised you came at all." He says the moment he reaches me. He's grown taller over the past 3 years and he looks like a decent man in his gray suit. "When mom told me she sent an invitation to you and dad, I never thought you'd show up considering you have been ignoring her for 3 years." He continues on trying to get a rise out of me.
"Nice to see you again Jeff. You've grown a few inches." I tell him with a smile. "If it was up to me, I would never set foot in this place but dad insisted. Besides, I wanted to see my dear old brother to see how you're doing." I say while I look him up and down. "From the looks of it, you seem to have reached your dream of becoming a lawyer." He's about to respond when mom intervenes.
"Enough you two. Is that how siblings act after not seeing each other for 3 whole years?" Mom scolds us.
"We're only playing mom." Jeff says before pulling me into a hug. "Good to see you sis."
"I could say the same to you bro." I say flatly and he lets go immediately. Jeff and I never agreed on anything and instead of fighting we both chose to ignore each others existence. That's just how our relationship work and nothing will change that.