Fate (GXG)

Chapter 9

Domino’s POV

Having a best friend like Alexis was both fun and draining. Fun because she’ll always make you laugh, smile, and you’ll never be bored. However, you better have the stamina to keep up with her because it’s like chasing a naked toddler that didn’t want to get dressed for bed.

“Domino! We finally made it.” She yelled as soon as we got off the plane.

“Slow down Alexis. I know you’re excited but you can’t leave me!” I said chasing after her. I mean seriously where does she find the energy? Maybe because she slept half of the flight. I just couldn’t sleep. I just felt there were just too many people watching. We flew economy, not that I’m complaining but I didn’t know that it was that many people packed into a plane. Lexi wanted to take her parents' jet here but I refused. I had to get out of that house immediately. And I couldn’t risk them telling my parents where we were going.

Lexi pulled my hand to go faster. We grabbed some of her bags from the luggage claim. I only brought a carry-on. I didn’t have enough time to pack. I just needed to leave.

“Do you have everything Lexi, since you're in such a hurry?” I said, barely catching my breath.

“Yeah, and if I missed something I’ll replace it. We’re finally here Pookie! California!” She was so excited she yelled when we got outside. “Besides I finally get to buy you a whole new wardrobe. That was the only way you were going to get me to actually start school early.” She said with a smirk on her face. Oh, how could I forget that I struck the deal of a lifetime for her? I remember when she called me…

                    *flashback*

It was twelve in the morning and my mom had finally just gone to bed. It had been a few weeks since graduation and Jocari’s proposal. My life was beginning to become hell on earth but it was tolerable because I’ve been locked up in my room. My mother has knocked and banged on my door to try to convince me to come out and talk. She has even sent my father. Yes, the man that she hates so much. She sent the man she hated so much to try to convince me on why I should come out of my room. I almost fell for it too thinking theirs no way he would agree that I should mary Jocari but, then he actually agreed with my mother that I should accept Jocari’s proposal. So much for being my daddy's baby girl and getting whatever I wanted.

I knew I needed to eat and use the restroom so of course, during the day I would eat, shower, use the restroom and chill around like no one ever lived there because my mom had to work. A few times I would have Lexi over but then that stopped after my mom said 'if I wasn’t coming out to talk to them that I couldn’t see her anymore.' Tonight was like most nights but I had caught a conversation between my parents that I guess I shouldn’t have before she went to bed. She was in her bedroom arguing with him.

“Jonathan, I don’t care we had an agreement. Once she has graduated she marries Jocari and they go to school together.” She paused for a brief moment listening for my fathers’ reply. “I hate repeating myself to you. What part do you not UNDERSTAND? You agreed to this. You got what you wanted.” She yelled at him. I was confused. He got what he wanted? What did he get in return? Was it Serenity? Did he agree to sell my love life for her? No there’s no way he would do that but at this point I don't know anymore. My mother continued yelling at my dad, “and what if she gets to university and it happens? what happens if it’s not him? What happens if your-'' I'm guessing he cut her off. “I DON'T CARE IF SHE DOESN'T LOVES HIM SHE CAN GROW TO LOVE HIM... That’s it tomorrow she will come out of that room. I don’t care if her heart is set on Grand Ridge. I’ll send her overseas if it means that she won’t fall victim like you. She’ll marry him or else.”

Hell no, I immediately ran into my room and slowly locked the door. What should I do? What should I do? There’s no way I can just get up and leave here and if I were to leave where would I go? I can go to Lexi's house. But our parents are friends and they would tell on me immediately. I couldn’t just leave. My mother locked my debit card that I had for my allowance and asking my father was out of the question. He clearly was siding with her. I began pacing back and forth. I couldn’t believe this. Suddenly my phone rang. I looked at it and prayed it was Alexis and it was.

“Hey girl, how are you holding up in prison?” She said as if I was an inmate. Well at this point I might as well be.

“I’m about to be sent to maximum security if I don’t come out of this room and accept Jocari’s proposal,” I said in a whisper only she could hear.

“b***h, what? What the f**k do you mean maximum security? What is she going to do? Send you away?”

I kept quiet. I couldn’t face the fact that what she actually was saying would be happening if I didn’t accept. I just couldn't say it out loud. By me not saying anything at all Lexi knew that she was correct.

She gasped loudly, “No, no, Pookie tell me I'm exaggerating. She didn’t actually say that… Tell me she's not actually considering on sending you away?” she paused and was waiting for me to say it was a joke. But it wasn’t. “f**k that no Domino. What about your father? What did he say about it? There’s no way he would-“

I immediately cut her off, “He agreed with my mother Alexis. She said he got what he wanted and that he had to get me to marry Jocari. I don’t know what he got. What am I supposed to do now?” I was on the brink of tears. My love life and my future have been sold and I got nothing in return there was nothing I could do. “She told him that I could maybe fall in love with him. Maybe she’s right… I mean I never gave him a fair shot I guess.” Even though I don't feel a thing for him I never gave him a chance. We just held on to a title. We never went on dates really. The dates we went on were with my mom or with his mom. I've never kissed him or anything. Nothing ever felt right with him 

“Domino you can’t-“ she spoke and I cut her off again. “What choice do I have? Be sent away from you and from my dream school? To become a nun or whatever she has planned for me all because I won't accept his hand?”

“You can run.” She said in a whisper. I swear I couldn't hear her correctly. Maybe I missed heard her.

“Run? I can’t run Alexis, I have no money she froze my account. Asking my father for help would be out of the question. So where would I run? Where would I even go? How would I get there without their help?” I said in defeat. I could feel myself giving up. Maybe marrying him wouldn’t be that bad.

“You go to straight to your dream. Grand Ridge. Don’t worry I’ll pay for it. I’ll pay for your flight. I'll get you on the plane and get you out of there. Please you can’t do this. Marrying him isn't what you want. I know it isn’t Domino.”  She was serious. Alexis was pleading hard for me not to go. She was almost in tears like I was.

“So I go to California then what? I can’t start school till August. So where will I live until then Lexi? What about food? It’s not that simple, you can’t pay for all that. I can’t let you do all that.” I said sitting down on my bed.

“I can pull some strings and get you our dorm suite until I get there. I have weight at the school, or have you forgotten our parents graduated there. Mine just so happens to donate a ridiculous amount to the school every year. Also someone owes me a favor in admissions. We can do this.” She spoke with fire in her voice pleading that I’d do this. That I don’t give up and marry him.

“I can’t just leave you behind. I don’t want to be alone either…. Alexis.”

“If you want me to go you have to strike a deal. You’re going to ruin my hot girl summer and put me into summer school.” She groaned.

“Fine, whatever you want,” I said knowing I’m going to regret this but she was right I never wanted a loveless marriage like my parents. I wanted my freedom to choose what I wanted to do

“Remember what you’re saying, it'll be whatever I want. That could be dangerous. Even if that means your virginity.”

I gasped “ALEXIS TIANA EDWARDS. NO!”

“Hey, hey, okay enough with the full name calling. Jeez, it was a joke. Fine. I want to get you a new wardrobe of my choice no if and or buts.”

“Fine. So when do we leave.” I could sense she was smirking on the other end after I agreed to the terms.

“Tonight.” She said,

*end of flashback*

So here I am in California with my crazy best friend and running away from my parents. I really do feel like I didn't have a choice; running was the only option. I don’t think I could ever love him. I didn’t even like him. He wouldn’t be happy and neither would I. “No, no, no we need to get to campus and talk to your friend that owes you that favor. We can’t risk wasting time.” I said as we got into the Uber. “Sir please take us to Grand Ridge please.” The Uber driver looked back at us in his rearview mirror grinning at us. “So you girls are attending there. You gals must be really smart because school is expensive as all hell.” He started to drive and said.

“Yes sir, we’re looking to get a head start on our studies and not party all the time right Alexis,” I said nudging Alexis.

“Hey stop, the sun is beautiful here. My skill is glowing. Let me snap a few pictures for my i********:. It’s so many fine guys and girls here. I need to make sure my selfie game is up to par.” She said snapping some photos. “Come take one with me pleaseeee.”

“Ugh Lexi, no, you know I hate social media that’s why I don’t have one. I don’t see why you like it so much.”

“You’re such a cutie pookie. You would probably have millions of followers. If only you’d let me take your pictures and get an i********:. How are you supposed to get guys? What are you going to do? Give them your real number? Then what if they’re crazy? Then you got a bunch of crazy dudes calling you. When you can just ignore them on social media. Numbers can be tracked.”

I just looked at her. She really had this thought out. I didn’t know how to respond. She was exaggerating of course. “I mean she does have a point, ma’am. You're maybe eighteen years old? It may be good to get a social media account.” Our driver said. I just looked at him with that ‘please don’t encourage her’ Look. “Anyway, you girls will surely have a good time, all their sports teams are amazing, especially their women’s basketball team. My daughter just is in love with the game and she loves this one player on the team. I forget her name,” he paused and was really trying to think of it “but yeah, they have rich kids, smart kids, and crazy talented athletes. You girls look like you won’t go down without a fight so I have faith that I’ll be seeing you famous one day.” He said as he pulled up to the school. We thanked him so much for his encouragement and grabbed our stuff.

“Maybe he should do our orientation. Instead of whatever old bat, they're going to have there. Maybe I’d listen.” Alexis said jokingly

“What Alexis? You’d listen? Nooooo….. not you.” I joked with her. She pushed me lightly on our way to the admissions office.

***

Alexis clearly has connections not only because she is the daughter of two politicians…

“Alexis, how exactly and why exactly do you know the HEAD OF ADMISSIONS?” I questioned. Not once did I actually think we’d be talking to the head of admissions straight away. I thought we would be at least talking to someone who would be getting a meeting with the person in charge. Knowing Alexis of course she knew the head of admissions. I don’t think there’s a place she could go that she doesn’t know at least one person. Perks of having a best friend like Alexis: she'll always get things done.

She laughed as she opened the door to the building for me. “Are you sure you really want to know? I mean really? Because I don’t think you truly do.” She teased as we walked up to the directory. She was still smiling with a mischievous smile. She’s right though normally I wouldn’t want to know but now I’m curious.

We got into the elevator. The director's office was eight floors up and was a floor under the dean’s, so if this was a long story we had time. The building itself was updated nicely as if it was updated last year. It had a very nice elevator that had pictures of students along with encouraging words on them. “You know what? Tell me in the most PG way you can.” I challenged.

Alexis just looked at me with an even more mischievous look, “Okay then. I’ll make it fast. Remember how after spring break my parents needed us to come to California for some fundraiser. Well turns out our Dean and the head of admissions are looking to poke into politics. We were here just to grab some connections and donate a little. It was a pool party after the luncheon. It was an exclusive thing. And our very director was there. Let’s just say she got caught doing something she shouldn’t have.” She chuckled a little as the doors opened. I knew I couldn’t ask more questions but of course, I was going to as soon as we were done here.

We were walking in the hallway when we finally approached the door. “Hey, stay here. Let me talk to her alone. I got this. I’ll let you know when I’m done. I promised her no one knows so you can’t be there with me.” She said

“So what am I supposed to do until you’re done? How long is it going to take ?”

She laughed “Just depends on how cooperative she is and what kind of mood she’ll be in. She’s expecting me so we’ll see. Just stay here, I'll find you when I’m done.” And just like that, she walked straight into her office.

Here I was alone sitting on the bench waiting on my best friend to secure us a spot in summer school. I just hope she wasn’t selling her body just to do it. To be honest I didn’t want to think about it. I started to contemplate if I should turn my phone back on. Since I left Lexi I turned my phone off. I didn’t want to hear the threats or have them have me tracked down. But I was so bored I didn’t have a book and they didn’t have anything to read but books on what major you should take. At the current moment, I didn’t even want to stress myself out more about that either. I closed my eyes and sighed really hard. The stress was getting to me.

“Hey, you okay?” A voice said.

I didn’t even look to see who it was, I just responded “Yeah, if you call running away from home, parents forcing you into an arranged marriage, and now your best friend is doing god knows to get you into summer school, if you call that okay then I’m freaking wonderful.”

“Wow, my mom always said pretty girls have more stress than the average girl. And I must say you’re one pretty girl, probably even beautiful If I could see your eyes too" The voice responded. The voice was clearly a girl and her voice was smooth. I really don’t really know how to describe it. But I knew I liked it because I was blushing at the fact she called me pretty. Now I was afraid to even open my eyes. Was she flirting with me? I couldn't really tell. No other girl other than my mom and Alexis has called me pretty not to my face. I didn’t know what to say. She has me choked up. I slowly opened my eyes to just try to catch a small glimpse of what she looked like.

She laughed, “I promise I’m not that ugly. At least I hope I’m not to you.”

I blushed even more. Oh god, I probably looked like a crisp potato. I finally fully opened my eyes and inspected the person in front of me. Jeez, she was beautiful and she was calling me beautiful? She had full lips turned into a beautiful bright white smile. Her skin was flawless with no errors, It was a medium brown with a slight reddish undertone. Her eyes were a soft almond shape with a dark brown color. However, if you look hard enough you can see a slight gold in her eyes. She was standing up looking down at me still standing. I couldn’t help myself but inspect her furthermore. Her hair was a deep brown color and was wavy. She had it laid down. It was past her shoulders. I could tell it was soft. I wanted to run my hand through it. The length of it was a bit past her shoulders. Moving down the way she dressed was a loose comfortable sweatshirt and sweatpants. She was really tall. Well taller than me that’s for sure. And I could tell underneath her clothes she had and. Athletic build. I was going to inspect her body even further until she laughed a little. “Wow, I was right, you are beautiful. Hopefully, I’ll see you soon. Glad you think I am too.” She left.

Never, and I do I mean never, have I ever looked at another woman the way I looked at her. “Holy, jeeezzzzzz.” I sighed out loud. The next thing I heard was laughter and it was Alexis laughing.

“I promise, I promise, okay thank you. We’ll be here tomorrow. Thanks, yeah I’ll see you later.” Alexis smiles as she is talking to the director closing the office door. I shook my head immediately trying to shake the girl off my brain. Her effects were still taking a toll on me. “You okay pookie. We got in. I got our room keys right here… why do you look bothered?” Alexis questioned me looking at me up and down. She pulled me up from the chair. Grabbing my arms.

“I’m not bothered, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, do you think something's wrong I’m fine.” I said really fast. And when I talked fast it was a dead giveaway I was lying.

She laughed hard and we got into the elevator “oh yeah? You’re fine? You look and sound hot…hot and bothered more than a mother fucker. So who is he? Only took you one day to get over that asshole well f*****g done.”

“Alexis shush,” I said as I walked off the elevator without her. People were smiling at me and I smiled back. Alexis wasn’t too far behind me she yelled out “I hope he didn’t make you too wet the way you’re rushing to the dorm or are you rushing out to meet him?” She let out a big laugh.

“ALEXIS! TIANA, EDWARDS!” I yelled back. I can never show my face here ever again if this keeps up. Still, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact she was right in a way.