Destiny's Three Stars

10

Decuma was sitting on the porch reading a book when we got home. Nona was covered in bags of new clothes, her eyes bright and excited. She must have planned our shopping trip around sales because she got more outfits than usual.

Nona went inside, wanting to look at all of her new purchases, while I stayed back, setting the bags by the door.

Decuma looked at me, a small smile on her lips. She knew what was going on. "Did you two have fun?"

"Why don't you or Morta ever go with her?"

She closed her book. "Because she knows we'll make her hang out with us in return and she's not interested. You, on the other hand, just go shopping, no strings attached."

"I'm being screwed over here."

"You are."

I sighed and sat down beside her.

"Did Michael call you yet?"

"Of the three of you, I thought you would be the most level-headed."

She smiled. "We don't have relationships, Des. We have to live out our fantasies through you."

"It's like I'm the child of a mother who got pregnant in her teens. You're living vicariously through me."

She hugged me. "We love you, Des."

I stood up and leaned against the railing. "He hasn't called. It hasn't been three days yet though."

She stood beside me. "If a guy really liked you, he'd call before those three days were up."

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I loved the sisters but sometimes, they got on my nerves. Nona was still obsessing over her latest outfits and wanted me to watch her try them on. Morta wanted to go on a run with me and most likely talk about Michael. Decuma... well she wasn't bothering me but I was still avoiding her too.

The only way to do that in the house? Leave it.

I turned my phone on silent and left the house, not exactly sure where I was going. Going to the park alone sounded pathetic and I had no money to go shopping for the second time that day.

I decided to go to a small pond near the park. There were ducks that lived there and in the winter, it was a good place to ice skate. I parked my car in the dirt parking lot and got out.

There weren't any ducks in the pond. It was fall and winter was approaching. The wind was cold but the air was still warm and clinging to summer just as much as I was.

I sat down in the grass and hugged my knees to my chest. The ground was cool and the dirt was hard and dry. It hadn't rained in several days and the greenery needed it.

A mother with a child's stroller walked past me, the clinging of plastic keys filling the silence.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here." I glanced to my left to see Michael covered in sweat. He had a blue water bottle with him. He reminded me of Morta: even covered in sweat, he was attractive. If I tried to do that, I'd look like death.

"I needed to get out of the house."

He sat down beside me in the grass. "You and me both."

I raised my eyebrows.

"My father has been trying to talk to me."

"You don't want to talk to him?"

"The last time I did, he tried getting be to go back to Hell."

"You don't want to?"

He smiled and looked out at the pond. "Hell isn't a peaceful place. It's tolerable for me, being his son, but I have to deal with the pain everyone else is going through. I'm not going back to that when I could be here."

"Earth is really better?"

"It's better than Hell."

I looked away and took a deep breath. "Do you know... Are my parents..."

"They're not in Hell."

"Really?"

He nodded. "If they did, my father would know all there is to know about you."

"Does he know about me?" Typically when you tell your parent about someone it means you like them. It means you see a future with them. The circumstances were different for us but it still gave me some home that something would happen between us.

Michael smiled. "Before I really knew you I told him about you. I haven't told him anything since. I don't want him trying to find you."

That was even better than him telling his father about me. It was like he was protecting me.

He finished off his water before getting to his feet. "Wanna get something to eat? I'll pay."

Was he asking me out on a date? Being with Michael, as whatever we were, was so different from anything I'd ever done before. Any 'dates' I'd gone on before mostly consisted of dinner and a movie and an 'I'll call you' that never happened.

Trying my best to hide the smile that wanted to creep onto my face, I nodded and got to my feet.

Nona was definitely going to be pissed when I got home.