“You brought me to a park,” Destiny asks slightly confused.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t take you for the park type.”

“We’re here for a special reason,” I smile at her.

“You think I’m going to marry you, and I haven’t even slept with you,” she teases me.

“Yet.”

“Yet what?”

“You haven’t slept with me or married me yet,” I smile even harder.

“Ouch,” I swerve the car as she punches me. “Don’t act like this when you meet my family.”

“Your family,” she asks worried.

“Yeah, family cookout. The twins are having a birthday party.”

“What? I didn’t bring a gift,” now she sounds worried for a different reason.

“I brought gifts, and put both our names on them.”

As we make our way through the park to my families chosen lot, she expresses all her fears. Meeting the family doesn’t always work out for her. We’re not officially dating so it makes no sense for her to meet my family. I’ve really never seen her this flustered before. She can just vampire speed away, she’s done it before. Is she so nervous she just doesn’t know how to get away or does she really want to meet my family? Admittedly, I should have probably run this by her before just doing it. At the same time it’s odd yet comforting to see her depend on me for something because she seems completely out of her element right now.

“Hey, hold up,” I hear Elias call out from behind us.

“Hey,” I greet him with a quick hug as always.

“Destiny, how are you,” Elias attempts to get on her good side.

“I’m fine,” she’s back to normal.

“You know, we’re going to have to get along if we’re sharing custody of my brother,” Elias gets a laugh out of Destiny finally.

Ivory and Sage, the twins rush over in their matching pigtails and birthday hats to greet Elias and I. The hugs are quick and after some quick dancing they rush off with their gifts, placing them with the others. Soon the gifts are forgotten as they rush off to the bounce house with the other kids.

“Boy,” I hear my dad shout. “why do you keep bringing different girls to family functions. I got six kids to remember and you bring a different girl every time. I can’t remember them all,” my Dad lays into Elias.

“She’s not with me,” Elias gives his trademark smile.

“Then who is she with,” Dad asks confused.

“Me,” I raise my hand. “Dad, this is Destiny; Destiny this is my father” I make the introduction.

“You really here with him,” my dad asks her.

“Yes sir,” she’s suddenly become proper.

“That’s crazy because I just knew he liked dick,” My dad gives her a big bear hug.

“Dad, you don’t need to do all that,” I try to change the subject.

“No, I do. I need to check out her neck. You were always doing theater instead of football. You quit the basketball team to play dragon dungeon and watch Japanamations. You didn’t give me much hope,” he continues. “You can call me Brad.”

“Can I call you Brad,” Elias tries to make the save.

“You came out of my dick, she didn’t,” he tells Elias.

“If you ever want a real man, and not one of my sons, call me,” Dad continues.

“Go away and stop being a perverted old man,” I step between Destiny and my dad.

“Let’s go meet my mom,” I take Destiny’s hand and rush off.

The meeting with mom goes a lot better, she’s just happy I found someone. Destiny is more surprised that my mom is rocking a green afro than anything else. She picked up the idea from Elias. The two get along well and quickly bond over a love of old movies.

“You should come to movie night sometime,” mom offers.

“I would love to Mrs. Aurora,” Destiny seems a lot more relieved chatting with mom.

“You kids get down from there,” Mom yells as she rushes off to pull some kids from a tree.

“How did she end up with your dad, and have six kids,” Destiny asks.

“I wish I could tell you, he’s got three sons and we’re all failures in his eyes.”

“Why is that?”

“Elias dropped out of college to be an artist, following his passion. He doesn’t make a ton of money, but he’s happy. D’Andre isn’t here tonight, he’s off at Indiana State attending college, dad dislikes him because he’s on year six of college and still doesn’t really know what he wants to do. As for me, I actually am pretty good at basketball, really good. But I quit, because it stopped being fun and got too competitive. He also thinks I’m gay, as you just saw, and he isn’t fond of gay people. I don’t even think he knows any gay people.”

“Well dad is just a fucking homophobic asshole and bisexuals exist, but it isn’t like it would make a difference to him,” my big sister Charlene interrupts.

“This is Charlene, my foul-mouthed big sister. Dad loves her,” I make the introduction.

“No, dad loves my pocketbook. If he loved me he’d let me cut his hair at my salon instead of half assed shaving it bald himself,” Charlene jokes.

“Your dad doesn’t sound very nice,” Destiny seems confused.

“He always kept a roof over our heads, and didn’t hit us. I guess that’s something,” I explain.

“He fell short in the love category, pretty sure he never wanted kids, but never wanted to wrap it up either. Hopefully he’s shooting blanks at his age. I remember he was not happy about the twins,” Charlene counters.

“You talking about dad? He sucks. He can’t be happy for anyone else,” Elias joins the conversation. “Did you know he used to be painter himself? Well nobody liked his work, he ended up just painting houses. That’s why he hates me.”

“I’m sorry,” Destiny says looking down.

“For what,” I ask.

“I just thought, I thought you had,” Destiny pauses.

“Aww,” Charlene places a hand over her heart. “She thought you came from some well-adjusted family, and didn’t expect to see fuck ups like us,” Charlene picks up.

“We’re not that bad,” Elias says.

“I actually think we’re pretty good. Outside of dad anyway,” I shrug.

“Okay, well we’re still fucked up,” Charlene makes us all laugh.

As the party wraps up I promise to give Elias a ride home, he did indeed ride to the party with another woman. I really hope he’s getting regular STD tests. Charlene and Destiny exchange numbers and plan a shopping trip. I’m really glad she gets along with most of my family. We joke about it most of the car ride.

“So why does everyone in your family think you’re gay, or bisexual,” Destiny asks a few blocks from her apartment.

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

“He kissed a dude,” Elias chimes in from the back seat.

“Shutup,” I yell him.

“Oh,” Destiny says looking away from the window somewhat excited.

“It was for a play, and the other dude, well, he way over committed. Dude put his tongue in the mouth and everything. Our boy here didn’t complain about it no matter how freaked out he looked. I know he’s a virgin, but pretty sure everyone else thinks he lost his virginity to a dude a long time ago,” Elias tells the story bluntly.

“I hate you,” I try to stare a hole into his skull through the rearview mirror.

“At least you’re kissing Destiny now,” Elias jokes as we pull up.

“It’s dark, do you mind walking me to my apartment,” she asks as we pull in to the parking lot.

“Sure,” even though I know she doesn’t need my protection.

She holds my hand into the building lobby and even into the elevator. My hands used to get so sweaty when I’d be around her. They still get sweaty, and my temperature rises whenever she touches me, but not enough for her to complain anymore. Now there’s a sense of warmness and comfort when I’m around her. I’m still attracted, but I’m way past lust now. She lets my hand go to open her apartment door and walks in.

“See you later,” I start to walk away.

“Wait,” she calls me back.

Her lips touch mine and I almost feint from excitement but she pulls me closer and wraps her arms around me, as our lips pull apart she bites my upper lip. I can feel her fangs scrape at the soft flesh but not enough to draw blood or be painful, just enough that’ll I’ll remember it. But I want more. For a moment I compare it to the time Kesean forced his tongue into my mouth on stage, the only other time I’ve been kissed, but this is different. So much different. More lips, less tongue, less forceful but still leading. I go back for another kiss and she obliges. As our lips part my eyes remain closed, but I know her, can see her perfectly in my mind. I place my forehead to hers, and hold her tight, hands just above her waist, not wanting the moment to slip away.

“Now you’ve kissed a woman too. Think about it, let me know who was better. Good night,” she smiles and gently closes the door.

“You were better,” I whisper into the air, not even having to think. “Way better.”