Can't Fight Fate

Chapter two

Raegan

“Mom, dad, do I have to do this? It’s just…it’s not a good time.” I begged and pleaded with them. After the conversation with Levi and seeing how broken he was, I did what every best friend would do; help him. I love him after all. He has been there for me through thick and thin and I have been there for him and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. With that adding to the stress of the new job, housing Dylan wasn’t a question anymore, it was a no. “I mean, how about I go over to Austin and Hannah’s and clear out one of the rooms for him. Wouldn’t that make it easier for everyone? He will be home with his family and I’ll still, ya know, be doing my own thing.”

It’s been three days since they asked me about Dylan moving in with me. During the past few days, everyone has been calling and searching for a place for him to stay, but because of the fire in the apartment building, the once vacant apartments are filled with families and the hotel rooms are limiting who can stay there due to the Red Cross helping those who don’t have anywhere to go. My place was literally the last resort.

“Sunshine, please. I’ll even talk to him and have him pay rent. What do we need to do for him to be able to stay there? We checked everywhere. There’s nothing.” Dad begged. He never pushed something on me unless it was important and, to him, this was important. He looks at Dylan like he’s one of his sons. He was there for him during one of the roughest times of his life when him and Hannah got kidnapped by some psycho that’s in jail right now.

“Rent isn’t even an issue. You know what the issue is.” I exclaimed, trying my hardest to get them to change their minds.

“What did Summer say?” Mom asked, trying to change the topic slightly.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. Not because of my mom, but because of Summer’s response.

After the conversation with Levi, I went home after some light grocery shopping, anxious to make the next call. After I slowly put the groceries away, I took out my phone and facetimed Summer. It was now or never. Why was I nervous? Because I already knew what she was going to say.

“Hey girl hey!” she chirped as soon as we were face to face. She was gone for the next month visiting her family in Florida. She asked me to go with her, but I needed to get things finalized here for my master’s program and my new job at the elementary school. Well, at least I hoped it was going to be there. There was always a chance I would have to go to a different school.

“You look fantastic! The sun is really doing amazing things to your hair and skin. How is everyone? Are you having fun?” I tried to sound as happy as possible. If I fake it enough to the point where I believe it, maybe she won’t notice.

“It’s amazing here. I forgot how much I loved Florida. I mean, Texas is great and all, but it’s not Florida. I wish you were here with me though. It’s not the same without you. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Getting things situated before the start of the school year.”

“No, I mean how are you doing, like real real.”

“It’s still a struggle. Finally, I haven’t heard from him in months.”

“Any catch your eye yet?” she laughed, making me roll my eyes.

“You know it’s still the same ole crowd here. Plus, I’m not really looking.” I especially wasn’t looking now that Dylan was coming home, but I would never admit that out loud. But even if I could attempt to try to be with him, there was no way I mentally could. It was like my mind wouldn’t let me do the things I wanted, no matter how hard I tried, at least relationship or intimacy wise. It’s why, on the outside, I’ve become someone that wasn’t me. I was someone who used to wear her heart on her sleeve, now it’s locked up tight.

“So, what’s the meaning of this phone call? Not that I don’t love talking to you or anything, but when I got your message earlier today, it seemed kind of important.” I sighed and started to play with my ponytail and chewing on my bottom lip. “Uh oh, someone is nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.” I snapped and I took a deep breath, “I’m sorry Summer. It’s just, I felt like this whole week is starting to make my life crumble.”

“Then talk to me. Please. Don’t shut me out like last time.” I wiped away a tear, remembering what she was talking about when I became numb and shut everyone out.

“What if I told you that my parents and the rest of the parentals wanted me to house someone from my past for the next two months?”

“I would say okay, that’s fine…why are you asking me though? It’s your house, I just rent a room.”

I took in another deep breath. “Do you remember the guy that broke my heart when I was sixteen? The guy I told you about?”

“The one you obsessed over and still love even though you’re in denial. What was his name? Darian? Drake? Dominic?”

“Dylan.”

“Oh yeah, the football player we went to see in New York, the one that got hurt, right?”

“Yeah, it’s him.”

“So, what’s going on?”

“He’s coming home, I guess. For good, I think. I mean, no one has really told me many details, but I’m assuming it’s for good because he’s building a house down the road from where we live. Anyways, they had an apartment lined up for him until the house was ready, but the building caught fire and was condemned and there are no other places with openings for housing, since they are helping the families that were affected by the fire.”

“Okay, so what about Hannah and Austin? Why can’t they help? He’s their son.”

“I asked. They are in the middle of doing god knows what. I think remodeling or whatever. I don’t remember.”

“Your mom and dad?”

“I asked already. They moved to a smaller house, since all whose home is Brayden.”

“Well, that sucks. Looks like we have a new roommate.” She shrugged and then started typing something on her computer.

“What are you doing?”

“Research.”

“Summer!”

“What? I want to know what he looks like and oh…my…gosh…you didn’t tell me he was fuckin' gorgeous!”

“Summer!”

“Not Dylan. I mean yeah, he’s hot, but have you seen his friends? There’s this guy here, Jordan, that it looks like he used to room with and play football with. He is…oh my gosh. We went to the wrong school.” I rolled my eyes at her boy craziness. She was always like this, looking for the next hot hookup.

“Jordan is his best friend. They met at football camp. He used to come around a lot when they were here. He lived in the next town over. I’m sure with Dylan coming home he will be here to visit once in a while.”

“He better.” She had the biggest grin on her face, “Well, this is what I need you to do. I need you to go down to the salon and make yourself pretty. Haircut, nails, the works. Clean the house. Prepare his room and make sure it’s next to yours.”

“Why next to mine?”

“The beds are on the same wall and this way, he can hear you when you decide to use your BOBs.”

I blushed, “SUMMER!”

“Shut up. Most girls have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about.” I rolled my eyes, “Anyways, because girl, I know for sure once you see him, you’re done for.”

“Summer is fine with it. She especially wants to meet Jordan.” I rolled my eyes at the thought.

“I think they would be good together.” Mom giggled. “So, because Summer is okay with it, I’m assuming you’re okay with it?”

I paused. I didn’t know how to tell my mom and dad the next part. I don’t know what they would think or say but it came out like word vomit, “I’m engaged.” Well, there it is.

Silence.

Crickets.

Pin drops.

Awkwardness. Pure awkwardness.

“Congratulations honey. We’re happy for you.” The fakeness was evident. “Who are you engaged to? We didn’t even know you were dating. We didn’t even know you were ready to date.”

“Whose ass do I need to kick? What kind of guy proposes to a girl without asking for her father’s permission? Wait until Tristian and Austin find out.”

“Dad!”

“No, don’t ‘dad’ me young lady. You get engaged to a man we don’t even know and we didn’t even know you were dating. What kind of crap is that?”

“Who is it sweetie?” mom tried to ask calmly.

“How about I just bring him over for dinner tonight?” I sighed out. I knew this was a bad idea and I don’t know how to make it go away now that it’s out there. The things I do for him, I swear.

We pulled up to Austin and Hannah’s house around 5pm and to say I was nervous was an understatement. I wanted to throw up. Hell, I did throw up, twice, at home, waiting for this. He was pissed that I said something right now before we could talk more about it. He didn’t want it to happen like this and neither did I but I had to open my big ass mouth. We talked about this for a while, but to forcefully make it public was not part of our plan. Too late, I guess.

“You ready for this?” He turned to me, kind of glaring, but you could see the sympathy in his eyes. He did feel bad, but that’s what also makes him such a great guy. He would be there for anyone he cared about no matter what and this showed that, and I would do that same.

“No.”

“Too bad. Let’s get this over with so we can go home please?”

I sighed and nodded my head. I looked at my finger and took in the ring. It was pretty and it was something that any girl might enjoy. Looking at the ring, I couldn’t help but let out a small sigh. This isn’t how I wanted this to happen. I calmed myself down and plastered a smile on my face as we got ready to face my family. We got out of the car and held hands and made our way to the front of the house.

We always had dinners at Austin and Hannah’s since they had the biggest house with the most space. Plus, their house was in the center of all of ours, so it made for an easy meeting point for anything we all do. I would usually just walk right in, but it felt wrong to do so. So I rang the doorbell and we waited.

“Why did you ring the doorbell? You know to just walk right in.”

“Says the guy that doesn’t own the house.” I laughed, walking up to Tristian and hugging him. “Everyone outside?”

“You know it. Come on in.” I walked inside with Levi following me, “Levi?” he asked, c*****g his eyebrow in confusion, “What are you doing here?”

He took a big gulp and smiled up at him, “Yeah. We are, um…engaged.”

“Uh…I’m happy for you both?” he said in more of a question than a statement. “Sorry, it was just…a huge surprise is all. Come one, your mother is anxious to meet your fiancé.”

We followed Tristian to the backyard where Austin and dad were manning the grill and Riley, mom and Hannah were sitting at the patio table with iced tea. As soon as we walked through the door, all conversation stopped and everyone stared at us.

There it was. Crickets.

Silence.

Pin drops could be heard from miles away.

“Hey everyone. This is my fiancé, Levi. Levi, this is my mother, Bella, my father, Eli, Austin and Hannah and well, you know Tristian and his wife Riley.” I introduced him to everyone and they all looked at me like I was an alien.

“Sunshine…we know who he is…he does live in this small ass town.” Dad rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, force of habit I guess.” I laughed nervously. Everyone came over and either shook his hand or hugged him and congratulated us, but it was awkward, like they were forcing it. Soon after the pleasantries, we took a seat at the patio table while Austin finished up the food. I suddenly didn’t have an appetite.

“So, how did this happen? How long have you two been together?” Hannah asked.

“Well, we’ve been seeing each other for what, a couple of years on and off, right?” Levi nodded in agreement. I mean, it wasn’t a lie technically. “And well, we connected on a whole different level and things just snapped into place. Things just went slower and well, now we’re here.” I said, choosing my words wisely.

“I see. So, how did you propose?” Riley asked.

“Well, I, uh, we were having coffee one day and we were having a conversation about the future and the conversation went deep into our emotions and well, it just happened.” I can see he picked his words wisely as well.

“I have a question for Levi.” My dad stated, standing up and towering over him. I could tell it was making him nervous. “Why did you propose without asking for my permission? She is my only daughter. I have a right to play the part that was given to me when Bella pushed her out.”

“DAD!”

“ELIJAH JAMES SANDERS!” mom screamed at him while I yelled dad. His eyes went wide and he threw his hands up in defeat and sat back down.

“You’re lucky the girls are here Levi.” Levi let out a breath that he was holding.

This was going to be a long dinner.

One thing my parents needed to remember was that I never actually said yes to Dylan. A part of me will never give him a full ‘yes’, but it doesn’t matter. I know him moving in is inevitable.