could be fate

Chapter 7

What better way to spend your Sunday evening having dinner with your mom's boss and his family?

Josie's boss lived in a mansion on the outskirts of town. It wasn't the first beautiful house Vivian had seen in New town, but guaranteed, it was the most beautiful. The front yard alone was so impressive with flower gardens and a fountain decorating the place. The mansion itself was ancient, with a heavy wooden door as the front door.

Josie pressed the door bell. A few seconds passed by before it opened, revealing a smiling Caily. "Welco – V?" She wondered.

"Hi." Vivian hugged her friend, excited that dinner wasn't going to be as dull as she imagined it would. Caily moved to the side, allowing Josie and Mia to enter. "I didn't know your dad was my mom's boss." Vivian spoke while hanging her coat on the coat rack.

"I didn't know your mom was my dad's favorite employee. He can't shut up about how excellent she is at her job." Caily smiled.

Walking into the house was like travelling in time, while the house looked old outside, the opposite was true inside. Vivian stopped in her tracks, she thought she had seen Shawn. She was convinced her mind was playing tricks on her. She had been texting Shawn a lot today- she had swallowed her dignity and asked Kai for Shawn's number, which he was happy to give. Their last conversation was a few minutes ago, and now she was seeing him? Or at least she thought she was. He had crossed the hall Caily and Vivian were in, from one room into the other.

"Deshawn, get dressed, we have visitors." Erina popped her head into the hall, speaking in hush whispers.

To Vivian's shock, Shawn reappeared in the hall, wearing only a pair of black sweat pants, he stopped at the bottom of the stairs, with a confused frown he asked, "V?" And as if Vivian hadn't had enough surprises for the day, Jaxson descended the stairs, joining the three in the hall.

"V?" He sounded more excited than surprised. He removed his headphones, letting them hang around his neck.

It took Vivian a moment to gain her composure. "What are you doing here?." She asked them both, her head was spinning.

"We are siblings." Caily said, "I just assumed you knew." Now that she was looking at the three with this information in mind, she saw that they looked alike, especially Caily and Jaxson.

The grown-ups ate while engaging in conversation, and the kids ate in silence with Mia and Vivian having to occasionally answer questions from Mr. James. They were all academic related. Mr. James was pleased to hear that Mia was in College, studying biomedical engineering and that Vivian was very smart and a track athlete.

"Jax is captain of the track team." He boasted, as if Vivian wouldn't know.

"She knows, she beat him the other day in front of the whole school." Deshawn commented. Mr. James seemed shocked.

"She didn't beat me, it was a tie." Jaxson defended.

"Considering you won gold medals at the International Olympics a couple of times, I'll say she kicked your ass." Deshawn argued.

"Language Deshawn." Erina warned.

Silence followed.

Deshawn kicked Vivian's leg under the table to get her attention. "Wanna get out of here?" He whispered.

She smiled, nodding yes.

"V would you help me with dessert in the kitchen, since you're done." He spoke loudly for everyone to hear.

The two entered Deshawn's bedroom giggling after having successfully fooled everyone. His room was the contrary of what Vivian expected. The walls were painted light blue, his King bed was situated in the middle of the room, it was well made without a single wrinkle on the royal blue duvet cover, there was a black carpet covering most part of the floor, white, black and gray bean bags scattered across the room, a yellow leather sofa was sitting next to the balcony door, there was a 65 inches TV positioned on one wall and a display of trophies, medals and framed certificates on the other. Vivian noticed most of the trophies were football trophies.

"You play football?"

Deshawn threw himself on his bed, "used to. I was the captain of THPSS football team." He told her.

"Why did you quit school?" Vivian tried to throw that as casually as she could.

Deshawn shrugged, "it all seemed pointless at the time."

Vivian wandered to another wall, there was a college of pictures above his headrest. Among the faces in the pictures was Belle's . "How did you and Belle become friends?"

He chuckled at the memory, "I met her at the Mall. I thought she was someone else and she thought I was hitting on her," he laughed, "then we became friends, she met Jax and Caily through me." He explained.

Most of the pictures on the wall were of a girl Vivian had seen on Isabelle's f*******: page, she was one of her friends. The girl was pretty with her doll-like facial features being the most captivating thing about her, she looked like a Bratz doll with oversized upturned eyes, a small nose and big heart shaped lips.

"Was this your girlfriend?"

Vivian felt Deshawn's heat radiating into her as he was now standing behind her. "Her name was Ivy." She could tell he was smiling from his tone.

"How did she die?" She cringed the instant the words left her mouth.

"Car accident."

Vivian turn to face him, "I'm sorry." She consoled.

"It was her second death anniversary yesterday." He shared. Vivian felt a pang in her chest, she could only imagine the pain he must've been through.

"Thank you for not leaving when I asked you to." Deshawn spoke softly. Vivian knew not to dare look into his eyes, so she kept staring at her feet. Deshawn placed his index finger under her chin as he tilted her head up, boring his eyes into hers' he said, "I owe you."

Vivian was unable to speak, the speeding of her heart made her feel dizzy, the butterflies in her stomach going wilder as Deshawn slowly moved his thumb across her lips.

The loud banging of the already open door startled both of them, Jaxson stood in the door flame looking like he was going to murder someone. He looked at his brother with distaste, then at Vivian with hurt in his eyes, "your mom's leaving." That said, he left.