Defiant Destiny

by Madison Cumbee

  I walked out in a green dress of my own. “His name’s Uriel, and he goes to High Point Academy with me.”

  She waited for more and then commanded, “Keep going.”

  I looked down at my dress. “First tell me what you think of this.” I held the material by my leg in between my fingers.

  “It looks great on you; the green’s a perfect match for your eyes. You should get it.” I nodded, happy with her answer. It was a nice, yet comfortable dress. “Next stuffy white straight jacket,” she appointed for me as she went back into her own room. “Tell me ’bout this boy,” she called over the make-shift wall that separated us.

  I slipped out of my green dress, put it in the “yes” pile, and picked up the umpteenth white formal dress to try on. “He’s a new junior, he lives with his two cousins and two friends, loves books and music, sweeps me off my feet every time I see him, and he’s beyond good-looking.” This dress doesn’t make me want to scream out in defiance, I decided and walked out to meet Elly. “Dang,” I complimented. My friend had on a pair of black pants that made her legs look like they went on for miles and a golden halter that fitted her perfectly and sparkled whenever she moved. Her brown curls came down to brush her almost bare shoulders. She looked like a movie star getting ready to go out for a night on the town. I was constantly amazed at Elly’s natural charisma; there wasn’t a single person who had a truthful bad word to say about her. Other than a few jealous, petty girls at her school, everyone loved being around her, including me. She just had that thing- that spark of uniqueness that made her forever special and interesting.

  “Thanks. Your guy sounds great. Do you have a picture for me?”

  “No. We’ve only gone out once.” I turned in a circle to see myself in the large mirror that was set up in the common area of the changing room.

  “You went on a date and I wasn’t called and told about it?”

  “It was last night, and I knew I’d see you today,” I reassured her.

  “How’d it go?” She was genuinely interested, probably since I hadn’t really ever been able to participate in the boy-talk between us. Elly, on the other hand, was never without a guy to call up on any given day so she always had tons to talk about.

  I smiled to myself at her question. “He took me to this amazing mountain, and we had a picnic.” I left out the uncanny mind similarity that must be between Uriel and me since he had packed the exact food I had thought of. I still had trouble believing it, so to anyone else I was sure it would sound like I made it up.

  “That sounds… why do you have that look on your face?”

  “What look?” I was suddenly and overly fascinated with my attire.

  “You just blushed.” She probed me with her eyes. “Why?”

  I gave up. “We fell asleep and I didn’t get back home until this morning.”

  Elly’s jaw dropped. She went back in to try on another outfit while thinking of how to respond to my announcement.

  “Pockets!” I exclaimed.

  “What?” Elly’s head popped up over her door.

  “This dress has hidden pockets that Mother wouldn’t know about,” I explained. Elly sighed as she went back to her own clothes. “Definitely one of the final three,” I decided as I returned to my little room.

  “So, what exactly happened on this date?” Elly masked an accusation.

  “Nothing.” I could almost hear my friend roll her eyes at me so I expanded. “He picked me up, we arrived, my stomach growled, we ate the most amazing picnic food I’ve ever had, we listened to music, he sang for me-” I broke off remembering what happened. Then I sighed. “Uriel has the most enchanting voice I have heard from anyone. Ever.” I returned to my list, “-we talked, I fell asleep, then he did, and when we woke up, it was morning.”

  “So nothing happened?” Elly implied.

  “Nothing. I swear.” We were silent for a few minutes, and then we came back out to examine each other’s outfits.

  “Keira’s got a boyfriend,” she sang. What is she- a four-year-old?

  I told her to shut up and went back in without waiting for her input on what I had on. After the next coming out monstrosity was instantly rejected, I switched the topic to her love life.

  “I’ve been seeing someone.”

  This was unusually nondescript and short-winded for Elly. “Go on,” I prompted for the first time in our friendship.

  “I don’t want to jinx it.”

  “Since when?” I asked without thinking. I slowly peeked out at Elly’s face, which was irritated, and tried to justify my discourtesy. “I just meant that you always like to talk about your admirers.”

  “Well, this one’s different,” she said appearing to have forgiven me.

  “Do I know him?”

  “No,” she said definitely. She’s hiding something.

  “Is there something wrong with this guy, Elly?” She had me curious.

  Her answered no sounded more like a maybe.

  “What? Does he have tattoos covering half his body and fifty piercings on his face alone?”

  “No, nothing like that,” she laughed.

  “Then what?”

  “You’ll meet him, if he lasts,” she promised. So I dropped the subject, and we returned to our shopping.

  Four extremely long hours later, I was driving home with three ceremony possibilities and five bags of clothes that I would actually wear more than once.

  ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀

  I got to sleep in on Sunday since Mother wasn’t there to deliver my rude awakening. It was wonderful! I woke up around eleven o’clock and then went downstairs for some breakfast. As is customary whenever the rents are away, Jerry made me whatever I wanted. I chose three chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes and about a gallon of maple syrup. The more fattening, the better. You see, Mother is a health nut so she never lets Jerry buy any sweets or anything that actually has some taste to it when she’s home, so we go wild not only in our slumber parties but also our sustenance- or lack of sustenance.

  I wonder what Uriel had for breakfast…

  After I was stuffed, I finished The Blue Girl which I had not been able to put down when I got back from shopping the day before. Charles de Lint did not disappoint. Creepy, small fairies were new to me, but I found them just as fascinating as the full-grown ones in my other books.

  I wonder what Uriel’s currently reading...

  I decided to get some homework done next. For some reason, my grades seemed to be slipping ever so slightly on the work I’d gotten back so far. I wonder why. What could possibly be distracting me?… I hauled my book bag down to the first floor study and pulled out some pre-cal work to start on. We had two lessons due the next day, and I hadn’t begun on either one yet. My mind always drifts while I attempt to focus on a subject that I don’t care for-

  I wonder if Uriel will have gotten over feeling badly about falling asleep by math class tomorrow…

  - but this was getting ridiculous. To try to clear my head of all of my wonderings, I took a swim. My favorite addition that was made to the house was the indoor swimming pool that had been put in when I turned thirteen. My grandma had been the one who taught me to swim, but I’d never really been a natural at it. I might not be the best athlete in the pool, but I still enjoy feeling the water rush past me as I make the practiced, fluid motions.

  After a few hours in chlorine, I was ready for a shower. The rest of the evening had already been designed as a movie night with Maria, Jerry, me, and all the junk food, pizza, and popcorn we could get our hands on. As always, we executed our parent-free plan with enthusiasm.

  ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀

  I waited in Study Hall impatiently for third period to start. Uriel met me at my locker with a smile on his face. Thank goodness. Then he walked me to our math class while speaking easily and casually with me. I didn’t want to chance his good mood being dampened, but I couldn’t help asking, “So you forgave yourself for falling asleep- even though there’s nothing to f
orgive?”

  “I’ve got a simple solution,” he said, maintaining the care-free expression on his gorgeous face.

  “I still don’t see what the problem was, but what’s your solution?”

  “No more hour-long drives late at night on our dates,” he stated frankly.

  That’s it? “… Okay.” Sounded easy enough.

  He flashed me one of those heartbreaking smiles of his and said, “I’ll demonstrate tonight at dinner if you would like to go out again.”

  Monday night. Volleyball night. Hhmmm. Playing as usual with a bunch of old people or going to dinner with a guy I’m hopelessly crazy about… No competition there. “Where are we going?”

  “How’s Italian sound?”

  “Perfect.” I love Italian. “What time should I expect you?”

  “Six. So I should have you home by nine.”

  “Whoa there. Nine PM? Isn’t that a little late Grandpa?” I teased. “My bedtime is a strict eight thirty on the week days.”

  “Oh. Then perhaps we should wait until Saturday,” Uriel said. His face was completely sincere.

  I started panicking. “N-no. I was just joking- nine o’clock is fine. I want to go out with you toni-” Uriel’s sudden laughter made me scowl. “That was not funny,” I insisted as sternly as I could. When he didn’t stop smiling, I informed him, “Tonight I’m asking you questions, and you’re answering every last one of them.” That wiped the smirk off his face. Ha. “You’re not so funny now, are ya? You asked most of the questions Friday, so I’ll ask you tonight.”

  Uriel seemed to put up the mask that he seems to carry with him everywhere. “My life was dull before.”

  “So you came to High Point to liven it up?” I asked incredulously.

  “Not exactly,” he admitted. Then he continued, “But this town has at least one thing that no other does.”

  I racked my brain but couldn’t think of an answer. “What?” I finally asked.

  Uriel’s stormy eyes fell on me. “You.”

  How could I tease him after that? So even though “public displays of affection” are “strictly prohibited” in my dinky private school, I took Uriel’s hand and, when the teacher wasn’t looking and everyone else’s attention was elsewhere, stretched on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. The bell rang and class began.

  While sitting there a couple minutes later, bored, my thoughts inevitably wandered from the teacher’s subject and I realized that I had only ever shown my affection for Uriel after he had done the same to me first- a kiss on the cheek for a kiss on the cheek- but I honestly wasn’t sure how seriously Uriel felt around me physically, and I wasn’t going to chance pushing him away by moving too fast. Not to mention, it was school, so I wasn’t going to throw myself at him right before we learned about logarithms. I was raised classier than that.

  After school, I raced the clock on my Wrangler’s dashboard home. By the time I got there, I had two and a half hours to look fantastic. It would take so much longer than that, a nasty little voice in the back of my head scoffed at me. Having been told before-hand by Uriel that we would be walking a considerable amount on the first date, I hadn’t been able to do the whole girl thing and freak out over clothes. Actually, I had been kind of relieved I didn’t have to worry about that stuff, and I hadn’t expected to be the type of girl who did worry about it. But tonight, I had hours to pick out clothes that didn’t have to look good after hiking a mountain trail. Still, I didn’t think I’d have a bad reaction from my nerves. Of course, my stomach, with its evil, energized butterflies, didn’t give a care about my expectations. I stood vacantly staring down at my bed which had almost my entire closet’s belongings laid out on it and thought to myself, Not a single thing looks good. When I was down to an hour, I pulled out my cell phone and called Elly asking for advice.

  She told me that I needed to pick an outfit, do my hair, and then sit down in front of the TV and forget that I was going out on a date. Supposedly, once I got my mind off my nerves, they would go away on their own. This was all well and good but I still had no idea what to wear. When I told Elly this, she suggested the green dress from Saturday. Yes! The green dress! How could I have forgotten the green dress? After thanking and hanging up on Elly, I saw the corner of some green fabric and dug the dress out from under the avalanche of clothes my freak out had instigated.

  Once the dress was on, I found some exceptional shoes and earrings to go with it. Elly had told me to do my hair, but when I took it down from the knot of an up-do I had worn it in all day and scraped a brush through it, it actually looked okay. Some waves throughout gave it a more formal appearance, so I decided not to deal with straightening or curling it. That left TV. When I saw Maria clearing out the downstairs living room we had trashed the night before, I decided that helping her clean would be more of a distraction than staring at a box with moving pictures flashing before my eyes.

  “Oh, Keira, you look beautiful!” Maria trilled.

  “Thanks. I’m going out with Uriel tonight.”

  “That boy who accidentally brought you home in the morning?” she said with disapproval coating every word.

  “Maria,” I gave her a hard look, “you cannot judge him on one day. He feels badly enough about forgetting, I don’t need you bringing it up tonight.”

  She went back to her cleaning, and I joined her. “What does it matter if I bring it up or not?” she asked.

  “Because you and Jerry are meeting him.”

  She straightened and looked at me. “What? Why?”

  “You know that you and Jerry are important to me. I want you to be on good terms with Uriel. Is that okay?” Maria looked like she was about to cry. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m just so happy with the fantastic young woman you’ve grown into.” She hugged me and then walked out of the room with the last of the trash. I felt like I might cry. But I can’t, I reminded myself. Uriel would be there any second and I didn’t want my eyes being all red and puffy. What a great way to start an evening looking like that. So I sat down, but doing so made me remember why I had originally come into the living room- to be distracted. Well, that wasn’t working now. I turned on the TV in a futile attempt to make the butterflies go away. Damn butterflies.

  A little while later, Maria walked back in pulling Jerry behind her, who looked as nervous as I felt. “What’s wrong Jerry?” I asked him when they both sat down with me.

  “I’ve never met one of your boyfriends before.” Oh, I realized. “Of course, you’ve never brought a boy home, so I never had to before.” He was sweating; there was literally sweat on his forehead.

  “You don’t have to meet Uriel,” I assured him, now rethinking my earlier plan.

  “Oh yes we do,” Maria insisted. She gave her husband a good-natured slap on the arm. “Jerry will get over his nerves, and we will be very hospitable to your young man.”

  I flinched when she said young man. I hoped she wouldn’t use her old-fashioned terms in front of Uriel. “It’s just going to basically be a ‘Uriel, this is Maria and Jerry. Maria and Jerry, this is Uriel.’ kind of deal, right? You’re not actually going to want him to come in and pronounce his intentions or anything because that conversation should not ever take place. And if it does, it will only ever happen once, and Mother and Dad will have to be there to deliver the interrogation because that’s Mother’s thing. You two are going to be saints, right?” I prompted.

  “Of course,” Maria assured me. “We just want to see him and make sure that he’s a good kid.”

  I flinched again. Good kid. “He has to be good since I’ve chosen him though, right?”

  “Of course,” she repeated.

  And so, I waited with Maria and Jerry for six o’clock to arrive bringing Uriel with it. When I started thinking about listening for a Ding-Dong, I remembered when Uriel rang the chime on Friday. “Maria?” my voice cracked.

  “Hmm?”

  “What do you have the doorbell chime set as?”

 
“I think I put on ‘I’m Yours’ by that charming Jason Mraz boy.”

  I heard an audible gulp shoot down my throat. I got out, in a whisper, “Change it. Please. Quickly!”

  Then the song resounded throughout the house.

  “Oh. My. Goodness.” I squeezed my eyes shut in a juvenile gesture to make it stop. “It’s too late,” I said as I got up, walked over, and opened the front door.

  There he was- perfect, as always. “I’m Yours,” I quoted instantly.

  “Are you now?” he asked cheekily. “I hope I can someday deserve you.”

  A dry laugh with zero humor escaped my lips. Could I act any more like a private schoolgirl who was, well, going on one of her very first dates? “I was just beating you to the punch in our favorite game, which apparently is Name That Tune whenever the doorbell rings.”

  An entirely sincere laugh danced from his mouth, and I relaxed a fraction.

  He drew a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “You’re exquisite.” His eyes were scintillating as he took in my appearance.

  “Thank you.” I looked down at myself making a mental note to thank Elly later. When I remembered how to breathe again, I asked, “Ready to meet Jerry and Maria?”

  “Yes, I am.” He strolled past me seeming completely at ease. Great, I thought bitterly, he doesn’t have butterflies, but I’ve upgraded to having bats host a dance party in my abdomen. Uriel had stopped a few feet in the house, waiting to be led to the adults. He was scanning the visible areas while I closed the door. “This way,” I told him as I walked to where I’d left Jerry and Maria. When we entered the living room, I relayed my recently rehearsed lines: “Uriel, this is Maria and Jerry. Maria and Jerry, this is Uriel.” While Uriel shook hands with two of my favorite people in the world, I noticed his apparel. He was looking striking in a pair of dark jeans and a button-up shirt that had different shades of blue in its stripes. I couldn’t blame Maria for seeming taken-aback by his appearance; I was, and I saw him almost every day. Jerry was still sweating up a local flood, but he was smiling and being his usual friendly and precious self. Uriel told them he was taking me to Carrabba’s Italian Grill and he would have me back by nine, nine thirty at the latest. I eyeballed Maria, and she thankfully understood and quickly came to a close with, “That sounds fine. Have fun you two.”