Destined

Nineteen

Vince was in my house that Sunday afternoon. He was really in my house, and he'd walked in through the door, like a normal human being, while both Liz and Talia had been there to witness it. I was having a hard time believing it. Not only was Vince there, so were Damien, Tyler, Jonah and Matthew.

The girls and I had decided to do a little spring cleaning. Yes, when you have a bunch of girls living together, you turn into hoarders. We had a lot of junk to get rid of. And we'd only been living together a few months. Of course, Maddie had tonnes of clothes to give away. The girl had never walked into a store without buying something. My room had gotten an increase of books and shoes I didn't need and shoved under my bed but now had run out of space down there. We all had our weaknesses.

Talia had gotten the guys to come over to help carry all the heavy boxes we filled up. Yes, thank God for big strong men to do the heavy lifting. Of course, as incentive, we had to make them lunch. So I'd invited Vince to join us as well. He and Matthew carried my box of books and shoes, which according to them, was the heaviest of the boxes and earned them a right to an extra serving of food.

We'd made Mac n cheese, our usual Sunday meal, on a much bigger scale, to cater for our guests. Maddie and Talia had gone to the store and bought so many beers and drinks that by the time we'd finished packing and eating, we were basically having a party.

In light of my conversation with Vince the previous day, I didn't drink any alcohol. Instead I filled up on soda with him and we all just hang out like old friends. It was quite surreal to see him amongst my friends but it was pretty easy to get used to.

I'd gone to the bathroom at some point during lunch and when I came back to my guests, I found Vince and Liz in the kitchen, doing the dishes. Matthew was wiping down the table. They all looked very domestic. It was still early out, and because I wanted to spend as much time with Vince as I could, I decided I'd ask him to a movie. We'd been hanging out a lot, but we'd never actually made plans to go out and hang out. As friends of course.

"Vince," I joined him at the sink and Liz discreetly left me with him.
"I like this scented dishwasher, think I'm going to start buying it too," he said to me. "What is it?"
I smiled, "It's lavender, the sticker must have come off,"
He nodded, "Do you need something?"
"Yeah, you actually,"
"Me?" He asked stowing the last of his dishes.
"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a movie?"
He stared at me for a moment, making me grow nervous with each passing second, "Kristina Sanders, are you asking me out on a date?"
My cheeks heated, "Uh, I, no, I just thought, you know, we could hang out, as friends, like we've been doing,"
"Hmmm, no,"
I gulped, "No?"
"No," he answered. "I don't want to hang out, as friends, I want a date,"

I was hearing his words, but I wasn't comprehending them. Charles Thornton wants to go out on a date with me. I should be screaming and jumping for joy. But I wasn't. Instead, I was panicking. I'd known him a few weeks, and already, he had so much power over my emotions. And I didn't like it. I didn't like feeling vulnerable, but I didn't know how to stop it. Asking him to a movie was clearly not the way.

"Kristina?" He asked, concerned.
"Uh, I...."

Matthew, whom I hadn't realized had left the room returned, grabbing something from the fridge.

"Hey Matt, would you like to join Kristina and I for a movie, ask everyone else too, my treat," Vince said.
Matt nodded, "Yeah sure, I'll ask,"

I watched in shock as Matt left the kitchen again.

"There, now you have nothing to be terrified of, all your friends will be there too," he said.

He didn't look hurt or offended by my hesitation. If anything, he seemed amused by it.