A Better Boyfriend (GirlxGirl)

Forty-three- Scarlet

When Destiny's father and I had finished working on dinner, we started dishing it out into bowls and went to sit in the living room.

"It's been a while," Phillip said, after a moment.

Destiny turned to him with an expression of curiosity.

"Since we've had a meal like this," he pointed out.

"I know," Destiny said, with a small smile. "It's nice."

"It is nice," he replied. "The company is even better."

I felt my chest warm at that comment. I felt like I really was home. I was with family.

It was a really good feeling.

I reached over to Destiny's plate with my fork and stole a meatball.

Her jaw dropped.

"Oh no, she didn't," she said.

I popped the meatball into my mouth and ate it.

"It's alright. I'll steal dessert off you later," she said with a wink.

Phillip shook his head in amusement.

"What? We have ice cream, don't we?" Destiny asked.

Ice cream sounded amazing right now.

Destiny moved her hair over one shoulder, revealing her collar bone and I felt my jaw go slack.

How was she so incredibly beautiful?

She stole the whole show.

I continued to eat my dinner to distract my mind from the many, many thoughts I had of kissing Destiny and being close to her.

I ate a meatball and smiled. It tasted so good.

Phillip was an amazing chef.

I had helped, though, so I supposed that made me a pretty great chef, too.

Destiny's face lit up, as she continued to eat her food.

"This is so, so good. Thanks dad," she said.

I was glad the two of them were getting along again. It warmed my heart to see them close.

Philip brightened.

"You're very welcome," he said.

After dinner, Destiny and I helped her dad clean up and then went to the refrigerator to grab some chocolate ice cream.

Once we had eaten it, we made our way back upstairs to Destiny's room.

"You want to stay up tonight?" she asked.

"What would we do?" I asked.

"We could watch a movie and you know..." she trailed off.

I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

"I really want to kiss you again," I blurted.

"What's holding you back?" she asked.

I shook my head and moved closer to her, to entangle my fingers in her soft blonde hair as I brushed my lips against hers.

Destiny soon deepened the kiss, as her sweet tongue flirted with my own.

She pulled away for a second, so I was faced with two sapphire blue eyes.

I could get lost in them. I already was getting lost in them. I had been getting lost in her eyes for a long time now, honestly.

"You know," Destiny said, after a moment, "I would never quit on you."

"Likewise," I replied with an assuring smile. "Would you have really tried to steal me from Chase?"

"I was sort of hoping you would work out on your own that you deserved better, but that was plan B," Destiny explained with a smile.

"You do treat me well," I said.

I wanted to treat her well, too.

We weren't official yet, but I wanted to be the best girlfriend she had ever had.

"I've got something for you," Destiny said, causing my eyes to widen in slight surprise.

"What's the occasion?" I asked.

"Baby, there doesn't need to be an occasion to give you presents," she said. "You've been deprived."

That much was true.

She reached into the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out a little box.

"Here. I'll let you open it," she said.

I opened it and inside was a beautiful necklace with a pearl pendant on it. My birthstone.

"Dest, this is so pretty. Thank you so much!" I spoke.

"Consider it a late birthday present," she replied, with an affectionate smile. "I'm glad you like it."

I loved it.

I would love anything she got for me, honestly.

"My grandfather got it for my grandmother after he had got home from the war, initially," Destiny said. "Then she gave it to me on my twenty-first birthday...but I barely ever wear it. It would suit you more. I want you to have it."

"Thank you," I said again.

"My granddad was always getting into trouble when he was younger," Destiny said. "For various reasons. Before he was in the army, he was a troublemaker. He got into prison for fights quite a couple of times. Rival gangs or something like that. He would get gifts for my grandmother every time he got out as an apology."

Criminals were rare in our neighbourhood, but as soon as we got into town it tended to be mass chaos.

"He got into the military to do something good...to try to stay out of trouble," Destiny said. "There used to be a lot of hostility, you remember our history classes."

I didn't realise Destiny's grandfather had such a huge involvement with those historical events, but I was fascinated by everything she said. I had never really known what my own grandparents had gotten up to. My parents hadn't spoken much about them when I was growing up.

"They think it's going to happen all over again," she said.

"Like...a civil war?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Have you read the news lately, journalist girl?" Destiny teased.

"I try to avoid it, if I can," I admitted. I got the pieces of information for my articles, for sure, but I tried to avoid anything that could be upsetting.

"I can understand that much," Destiny replied. "It's not just on a global scale...people are constantly fighting with each other. It's no use worrying about it, I know that, but I can't help thinking about it."

"I understand," I said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "It's okay."

"It will be. I hope," Destiny replied. "You smell like flowers," she said, changing the subject entirely.

I felt tempted to laugh at the random change of subject, but hey, that was Destiny.

"It's my shampoo," I said.

"It reminds me of the meadow we used to walk through outside school when we were kids, do you remember that?" she asked.