Dreamful

 

DREAMFUL

  CHAPTER:40

      ..."You're back already? Done with all the rides?", Ivy questioned as the trio reunited at the exit of the fair.

"No, but I think we should get going.", that's all she answered before walking away quickly. They got on the bus and looked at Destiny's silence, Grace and Ivy soaked in her sad look after she returned hanging out with Edwin. They had expected her to look happy as sunshine, radiating, glowing, smiling but she was all the opposite.

"We perfectly left Destiny with Edwin!", Ivy said, at last breaking the silence.

"And the irony is Dez didn't even ask if she could come with us!", Grace continued looking at her who didn't say a thing, just kept staring out the window.

"which only means one thing...!", Ivy said, trying to brighten up her mood.

"That Destiny and Edwin are-"

"Nothing Ivy.", Destiny completed.

"No, no, no, no! Wait! You need to tell us what happened, what did he do that makes you dejected? No one dares to make my best friend sad. No one means NO ONE!", Ivy said.

"It's nothing, he didn't do anything.", Destiny said, touching her pendant. Her necklace had turned into a double necklace now with both her dad's gifted pendant and the one she won. No, the one Edwin won for her.

"OHMIGOSH! Look at that perfect swan! Where'd you get it from?", Ivy asked again. She wasn't going to stop until she got a satisfactory answer.

"It's...we...Edwin and I were playing the claw machine, he got it for me.". Once again Grace scanned Ivy's face and vice versa. What had happened then that made her so off?

"Awww...that's cute!", Grace said, making a stupid voice, one which makes Destiny smile every time but that time it didn't work.

"Can you break the ice honestly? I'd be kicking myself if I don't know what's wrong with you!", Ivy said. It was after a minute, Destiny answered,

"I'm being stupid, I suppose.", she said before blurting out the whole story.

"Oh, Dez, listen-"

"It's nothing, Ivy, I think it was just the vibe of the fair and something went on along my mind and I thought I kinda liked him which is foolish thinking. Forget it. Forget everything I said.", Destiny said and smiled weakly.

'Yes, It has to be the pretty vibe of the fair, the music, the lights that had me gawking at him and I thought he liked me. So what if he calls me 'Dez'? He calls her 'Mira' as well and so what if he calls me cute in between talks? Doesn't mean he likes you, Dez. He probably does that to every other girl! And Mira...? Well, she did look like his-"

"So, are you gonna ask him?", Ivy said pulling Dez out of her thoughts.

"Ask him? Ask him what?"

"About whoever that Miranda is?"

"Why would I? I don't care, remember? So what if they're dating? I just 'KNOW' Edwin, we aren't even...-".NO.Destiny couldn't complete her sentence. Ivy raised one of her eyebrows and waited for her to complete the sentence.

"Just because he called her with a nickname does not mean he is into her, Dez!", Grace said for what seemed like the tenth time.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore.", Dez said, getting off the bus as it halted to a stop. Ivy and Grace were left to look at each other with question marks on their faces.

   That night when Dez closed her eyes to sleep, the picture of Edwin putting an arm on Miranda's shoulder appeared to her. SO WHAT!???, she wanted to scream.' I'm not letting someone as annoying as Edwin get to me!', she said to herself.

"Or are you...?", her subconscious replied.

                          **********************

   She woke up the next day and got ready for the gym. Going to the gym meant facing Edwin and facing Edwin meant that he won't stop asking her questions. Huh. 'I'll just not talk to him, I'll keep running away, that's the best way to TRAIN my mind.; Dez thought as she hurried away to the gym on her bike. As soon as she entered the gates, there he was, sitting on the stairs, texting on his phone, looking...NO! Destiny tried to walk past him, without trying to meet his eye but as she was walking upstairs, he said,

"No Hi? Quite in a hurry today?"

"I'm in a hurry.", she replied, without looking back.

"Where were you yesterday?", Lucas said when he saw her coming. Couldn't he shut up and continue with the training? 

"I was busy.", Destiny replied, putting in her ear pods and getting on the treadmill. She continued the rest of her workout and once she was done, the plan was to run, run, run.NOT.FACE.EDWIN.

"Destiny".No way am I waiting, my mind needs TRAINI-

"I don't know whether hearing which of the two news will make you talk to me, Dez but no.1, I've found a gig for you, it's for a new launch of their cosmetic product, and no.2. Mira and I aren't a thing, Dez...".Destiny turned around, to face him.

"What?!"

"She's more like a sister to me, my actual sister moved out of town after she got married...Mira reminds me of her". Destiny sunk in his words and felt like an idiot for her behavior.

"B-but I never asked you all this...".He shook his head and smiled.

"You never did. Your eyes spoke to me.", he said, coming nearer, making Destiny's heart skip a beat.'Was this a flirt sentence or did he really-?', NO. IT'S THE WAY HE SPEAKS DEZ, IT'S THE WAY HE SPEAKS TO EVERYONE! NOT JUST YOU.

"Mira appreciates you a lot, Dez...she's a fan of yours!", he said with a smile. Destiny rolled her eyes and smiled, a real one.

"So what made you talk to me? News one or news two?", he asked, God, did he look...'What was news one again? Or wait...'

"Umm...news no.1?", Destiny replied.

"You sure?", he laughed and Destiny was about to answer when Stephanie came jogging toward Edwin, she seemed out of breath and had a picture of hers displayed on the phone. Why did she always have to interfere in conversations?

"EDWIN! LOOK! THE GIG I DID LAST WEEK? THE ADVERTISEMENT IS HERE, IT'S READY!", she shouted. Edwin glanced at Stephanie's phone.

"It's wonderful Stephanie, Congratulations, you did it!". She made a face and came closer.

"Just wonderful?", she said as if 'wonderful' isn't a compliment. 'No way can I see this...', Destiny thought as she cleared her throat.

"I gotta go, Bye."

"Dez? Regarding the work? I'll call you today". Destiny nodded and from the corner of her eye, she could see Stephanie glaring with anger. She called Ivy once she was out of the gym,

"Dez!"

"Hey!"

"You remind me of a perfect sunflower? Good day? You seem happy? You spoke to him?", Ivy questioned in a row. Destiny laughed,

"He spoke to me."

"What did he have to say after making my best friend upset yesterday?"

"Ivy! Come on, he's not-".'This conversation is going wrong! Train my mind.'

"Hmm?"

"Ivy, you don't have classes today?"

"Look now who's changing subjects, after all, Dez you need to-", Ivy began but Dez didn't hear another word as her eyes landed on the white pup that walked on the road and the car that was about to hit-

"NOOOOOOOOO!!", she screamed as she ran and picked it up in a fraction of seconds and the car behind her screeched to a halt. She slowly opened her eyes to find that she was clutching the pup so tight, it seemed out of breath, she also realized that she had stopped vehicles and EVERY SINGLE PERSON was looking at her.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!", a middle-aged man came out of the car and shouted at Destiny. She looked at the pup and it didn't take her long to realize that it was Milo, Jason Kelly's pet. She gasped looking around.

"I'M ASKING YOU SOMETHING YOU-"

"Excuse me?! That's not the way to talk", she heard a familiar voice as she felt an arm wrap around her waist which gave her tingles. A shiver ran down her spine. Jason Kelly. How dare he-

"What do you mean? How is someone supposed to handle brakes when she just came out of nowhere? Don't you follow road safety?!", the man shouted. Destiny tried to jerk Jason's arm away, he was being stupid.

"Look, we are very sorry, that won't happen again.", Jason said, pretending to be a gentleman as he pulled Destiny out of the road, and onto the pathway. 'We? What is WE?!'

"HOW DARE YOU!", she shouted, trying to pull away her arm but his grip was too strong.

"How dare you? How dare you what, Dez?", he smiled, tightening the grip on Destiny's arm. She forcefully jerked away her arm and glared at Jason.

"You're such an idiot, Jason. I don't thin-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! I was defending you there on the road and what did you call me, huh? What did you just call me?"

"I GET IT! I GET IT, JASON! This was one of your dirty tricks of leaving Milo on the road so that I can get him and you can prove to be a hero in front of the traffic! The hero you aren't and the hero you can never be!", Destiny shouted. She knew she was grabbing attention but she just didn't care. He laughed as he tried to grab hold of her arm again,

"Look, we're making heads turn-"

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!"

"I've got something to say, Destiny and it's important, let's go to the coffee shop right there-"

"Coffee shop? With you? Jason, we're done! We're over, you need to get going and stop interfering-"

"Interfering? seriously? Look what modeling has done to you...my Dez....?she never spoke back...never.....", he said, this time trying to touch Destiny's face and she didn't quite understand what happened to her...what jolted inside her as her hand shifted up and landed with a loud thud. On his face.

"Next time you try to do any of this...consequences would be fatal. I hope you understand", she said, snapping her fingers at him and walking away. All he was left to do was touch the cheek where Destiny had slapped and look at the tall girl figure, moving away with confidence. What had happened to her? This wasn't the Destiny he dated...she never talked back, was timid and afraid, weak and apprehensive, dependent and panicky...the girl he dated would never. NEVER would have slapped him, in fact, he was the one who controlled her life morning to night and she quietly obeyed. Controlled who would she be meeting with, what time, which place, EVERYTHING! And she was too far timid to fight back, to say he had no right to ask her where she went or with whom did she hang out. GOD! She had changed! and Jason was determined to win her back in any way possible.

 

                                                **********************

'What's the big deal, honestly? It's just a phone call which is for work!', Destiny thought as hours later, her phone rang displaying Edwin's name.

"Hello."

"Got you a wonderful gig Dez! Would you be free this Saturday?", he said, sounding cheerful.

"Yes, absolutely...but won't I need a portfolio and-"

"They've seen your pictures from the photoshoot that we did for the pageant, so there's no need for a portfolio."

"Okay, but what do I need to do exactly? Where's this gig supposed to be?"

"I'll e-mail you everything, Dez! Don't worry, it would be awesome!"

"Cool, thanks, Edwin."

"Okay then and yes! Tomorrow we're having a golf workshop, well, kind of, so be ready for that!"

"Does it have to be tomorrow??!!!", Dez said, almost sad.

"Of course! it'll be fun! And you'll have content for your portfolio as well as our website. See you then?", with that he hung up. And now Destiny was left to think everything from what to wear to which hairstyle should she put on-in less than a day's time.

                                                                              TO BE CONTINUED...

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