Episode #1

"I don't know, Dr. Cache.  I feel very...just...down.  I've been coming to you for weeks, and I feel the same."  Destiny was fed up.  For almost a month, she had been coming to see Dr. Cache to talk about what was going through her mind.  For the past five months Destiny had been trying to get a hold of the depression that had swept over her after her fiancé, Mike, left her as they began to plan their wedding.  For the first time in her life, she had opened up her heart and now she was left with this heavy, dull ache where her heart used to be.  Her girl, her cousin Sharay, tired of seeing Destiny like this, finally dragged her kicking and screaming into Dr. Cache's office to discuss her problems.

"You've been listening to me talk for weeks now," Destiny said, slipping her brown wavy locks behind her ears.  "Tell me SOMETHING, Dr. Cache.  Please."

"Okay," Dr. Cache said, taking a deep breath.  "I think you need to get back out into the dating world and find someone new."

"THAT'S your advice?"

"Yes.  It's about time you take that deep plunge and get back into the dating pool.  I know how much you loved Mike, but you're giving him too much of your life.  He broke things off, but you can't let him break YOU."

Dr. Cache was right of course, but listening to advice and following advice were two different things.  "I understand what you..." Destiny began, but got cut off from the sound of her cell phone ringing.  "Excuse me."  Slipping her phone off of her hip clip, she answered, "Hello?"

"GIRL!" exclaimed the voice on the other end.

"Sharay?  What do you want?"

"Well damn, that's a nice way to say hello to your cuz.  Where you at?"

Giving Dr. Cache an apologetic glance, Destiny said, "At the doctor's."

"Well leave the quack's office, Girl.  I'm on my way ova to your place."

"Can't.  Have to go drop my column off at work."

"Cool.  I'll meet you there then.  Peace."

"Yeah yeah," Destiny said, hanging up the phone.  "I'm sorry, Dr. Cache."

"No need," he replied.  "Actually our time is up for this week."  Destiny made her way over to Dr. Cache and shook his hand.

"Same time next week then?" she asked.

"I already have it marked down in my appointment book."

"Great, til next week."

With that, Destiny made her way out the office to her car to see what was so damn important with her cousin.

*****

"The mail is on your desk."  

Destiny breezed into her office, flipping open her laptop to check her e-mail.

"Thanks, Dara," Destiny said.  "Can you give this to Susan?  It's my column."  Dara took the folder from Destiny's hand, making her way back over to the door.

"Anything else?" Dara asked.

"Nope.  Gonna check my mail, wait on my cousin, and head on out.  Have a nice weekend."

"You too."  Destiny typed a couple of letters into her laptop and watched as three new messages loaded onto her screen; two being junk and one from her school chum, Adrienne.

"Lemme unhook this and I'll read her later," Destiny said to herself.  As she slipped her laptop into its bag, someone knocked on her open door, causing her to jump.

Destiny shot a look at the tall, handsome figure leaning into her doorway.  Devon Michaels.  Destiny wasn't surprised to see him at her doorway.  In fact, she set her watch to his arrival.  The past two weeks he made daily visits to her office for this or that...but always ending his visit with a proposal of a date.  A lil dinner.  A movie.  ANYTHING that might pair the two up.  And every time Destiny's answer was a resounding no...and it would be this time, too.

It's not that Devon wasn't attractive because the Lord knows he was.  His tall, caramel-complected body was made for playing basketball and "other" fields.  He had every woman at The Sentinel drooling over him.  Every woman except good ol' Destiny.  

"Hey there, Beautiful," Devon said, flashing his killer whites at Destiny.

"Devon," Destiny flatly responded.  "And you would want?"

"Besides you?  Nothing."

"Okay.  Well I'm a little busy, so how about we skip your five minutes of flattery and get to the real reason you are here."  

Devon laughed, a deep booming laugh.  "One day you're going to like me, Destiny.  It's destiny."

Destiny laughed.  He got her with that.  "Okay, you were funny."  Destiny sat on the corner of her desk and folded her arms.  "Now what can I do for you, Devon?"

"I saw you come in and I wanted to get my hellos in.  Hadn't seen you all day."

"Had out-of-office work to do today.  I'm sorry if I ruined your day."

"Ruined the ENTIRE day for me, yes you did.  I think I deserve SOME kind of apology."

"I said I was sorry.  You get nothing else from me."

"Come on, Des," Devon moaned, walking up to her desk to sit beside her.  "What harm would it do to go out with me?  Just one date?"

"Seeing that I'm not looking to go out right now..."

"But it would be one date.  I wouldn't ask you for another one.  I promise."  

Destiny looked up into Devon's eyes, smiling.  "And you think I'm going to take that promise, that you, a MAN, gave me and believe it?  You are a funny man.  Go somewhere and write a sports article or something."  Destiny hopped up from the desk as Devon pulled her to him.

"Des," he whispered, letting his left index finger swoop over her lips.  "What are you afraid of?  Might like being around me or something?"

The sound of knocking interrupted them.  "Uh Cuz...you ready, or do you want me to come back in about an hour?"  Sharay snickered, as she watched her cousin flush and step away from Devon, grabbing her laptop case.

"Noooo, Miss THANG," Destiny responded.  "I'm ready."  Destiny turned back to Devon and tried to smile.  "Have a nice weekend, Devon."

Smiling at her, Devon replied, "I will...you too."

*****

"How you gonna embarrass me in front of Devon, Sharay?" Destiny asked.  "The man already has some crazy notion that he and I are going to hook up some day."

Sharay laughed as she moved into the living room of Destiny's two-bedroom apartment.  Destiny's Haven is what they affectionately called it.   Sharay smiled to herself remembering how Destiny waited and prayed for the day when she would have her own space.  All the days she spent at Pier One Imports and IKEA to get the "cool" furniture and household needs in Destiny's fave colors:   royal blue and emerald green.  Destiny's home was bright and homey, just like its owner.

"Girl!" Sharay exclaimed, laughing.  "I thought you were going to kick my ass!"

"Believe me when I say I'm still thinking about it."   Sharay followed Destiny's lead, plopping onto the couch, watching Destiny as she turned on her laptop and logged online.

"I don't know why you tripping, Des.  The man is FINE, and it's about time you get out and have a lil fun!"

"You sound just like Dr. Cache."

"What's he saying?"

"He thinks I need to jump out into the real world and experience it."

"Well he's right," Sharay said.  "It's been half a year, girl.  I know your coochie is THROBBING!"

"Destiny smacked Sharay as she squealed in laughter.   "RayRay!!!  Go'on some where now!  I'm not one of those women who need sex.  I don't be "aching" for it."

"That's because yo ass ain't have the good shit yet!  I think Devon could awaken the sexual beast that lies within you."

"Okay." Destiny laughed.  "Anyway."   Destiny scanned the screen of her laptop and started in another round of laughter.

"What?" Sharay asked.

"Adrienne," Destiny answered.

"What's up with her?"

"Well, she says her job is hot.  The book she's currently working on is going to be all that."

"That sounds normal.  What's so funny?"

"Well she wrote about this guy she's seeing.  Guess where she met him?"

"Where?"

"Online.  Some site called "NoirLine".   She's been talking to him off line for about two...three weeks.  They have been kicking it quite nicely.  She thinks I need to check this site out."

"Maybe you should.  Lord knows you ain't about getting dressed and going out anymore."

"I'm going out with you tomorrow."

"Yeah and how long did I have to BEG you before you said YES?"

"Shut up!" Destiny said, nudging Sharay.  "I'm going and that's all that matters.  By the way...where are we going again?"

"See, you never listen.  We're going to this place out near D.C. called The Hitz.  Before midnight they have karaoke and all that corny fun stuff, but after MIDNIGHT, it's TAKE IT OFF!!! WOO WOO and all the fine ass chocolate men be strutting their stuff for us!"

"Man," Destiny said, laughing, "I can't believe I let you talk me into that.  Watching men shake their asses."

"Ain't no different than them watching us shake our asses.   I say if they can do it...I'm GOING to do it!"

"Okay, you got some truth up in there.  I feel ya.   So what's the attire for tomorrow?"

"Well you can come casual, but I say if you got it flaunt it, because one of those lil chocolate dips could be for you tomorrow night...want to show off the gams, the tatas AND the FAMILY BOOTY!"

"OH DAMN!" Destiny said, falling over on the couch in laughter.  "Well alrighty then!  Lemme get my hoochie gear out the closet now.  Where's that g-string and halter top I had?"

"Well I burnt that shit!  We don't do Jerry Springer type hooch....we do the real classy sistah hooch thang and I KNOW you got some of that up in your bedroom.  Don't worry.  I will be here to help you pick out the PERFECT outfit for stripper watching."

"GREAT!  My life feels so much better now."

"Shut the hell up, Des," Sharay said.  "You and your ol' sarcastic ass.  Now let's talk about NOW."

"What about now?"

"You need to hook yourself up with an online honey.  In fact, I'm making that your assignment tonight.  Go to this Noir site and see what they have on there."

"I don't think so.  ONLINE?"

"Look, Adrienne did it.  She's normal.  For the time being, the guy she met is normal.  You're fairly stable...."

"Sharay..."

"Okay okay.  YOU'RE stable...why not assume there's one more stable man out there?"

Destiny shook her head, rereading the name on the screen that was underlined; http://www.noirline.com.  It appeared to her that she had a lil DATE tonight.

*****

Destiny sat back on her couch, with the laptop resting upon her lap.  She kicked Sharay out about an hour or two ago and had been surfing through Noir Line's site and was actually pretty impressed with what she saw.  There seemed to be a lot of normal, intelligent brothers and sisters online that were looking to meet and talk to other brothers and sisters about a lot of things.

To play on the site, Destiny had to choose a username, and she selected DestinyLuv and posted up a bio about herself.  JUST enough to pique an interest, but not enough for people to know who she really was and where she worked or lived.  Destiny had to be a somewhat practical after all.  She had found an interesting page on careers and was about to browse it when she heard a ringing sound coming from her laptop's speakers.

"What the...?" she muttered, looking at the screen for a sign of what was going on.  A dialog box popped up onto her screen, telling her that someone by the name of Da1.4U wanted to initiate a one-on-one chat with her.  Did she wish to accept.  

"Da1.4U?" she whispered to herself.  "Awfully sure of himself."

But it was going on 1 a.m. and she had nothing else better to do, so Destiny selected ACCEPT CHAT, to which another box opened up and the conversation began:

da1.4u:  Hi

destinyluv:  Hi to you too.

da1.4u:  i know it's late, but i was browsing profiles and saw yours.  was hoping you were still online.

destinyluv:  Just signed up today.  Friend of mine suggested it.

da1.4u:  well i'm glad you did.  i like your name and the profile.  you sound like a sistah who has it going on.  brains and beauty.

destinyluv:  Oh, did I write about my beauty in the profile?

da1.4u:  (LOL)  um, no, but i wanted to throw in a compliment.

destinyluv:  I see.  What's (LOL)?

dal.4u:  it means 'laughing out loud'.

destinyluv:  Cool, so...tell me, what makes you DA 1 4 U?

da1.4u:  well, i don't want to jock myself, but i think i'm a fairly intelligent brother, with a good job, good heart, and a love for life and the people who love me.

destinyluv:  Wow.  Good answer.  Could I ask you a question then?

da1.4u:  sure.

destinyluv:  Why are you on here if you sound like this?

da1.4u:  sound  like what?

destinyluv:  Such a great guy.  I mean if you're all the things you just described, where's your woman at?

da1.4u:  well, the woman i want hasn't warmed to my charms yet.

destinyluv:  Sounds like she needs a swift kick of reality.

da1.4u:  :)  I'll tell her you said that.

destinyluv:  Okay.  :)  You know, this is kinda weird, chatting on here.  I mean I don't know you from ANYTHING, and I'm talking to you like we cool.

da1.4u:  so we not cool?

destinyluv:  That's not what I mean...just that I don't KNOW you.

da1.4u:  well think of it this way.  soon you will know me and will be wondering what you ever did without me.

destinyluv:  Now I think it's my turn to LOL. How do you even KNOW that I would be someone you would want to know?

da1.4u:  i don't...not right now, but i do have this feeling.

destinyluv:  What feeling?

da1.4u:  destiny.  love.  (grinning, thinking)  maybe it's destiny that we've met.    

destinyluv:  Online?

da1.4u:  people have met in STRANGER places! besides, after our first cyber date, you'll be more equipped to believe me.

destinyluv:  Cyber date?

da1.4u:  yep.  you and me.  we'll meet online....and let our imaginations create the perfect date.

destinyluv:  LOL.  Are you SERIOUS?

da1.4u:  very.  so what time is good for you?

destinyluv:  Uh, ummmm.  Hmmmm.  I dunno, this is just so different than what...

da1.4u:  (lol)  how about tomorrow, say 8 o'clock?

destinyluv:  Well, actually, I'm suppose to be going out with my cousin tomorrow around 10, and you know it takes a minute for a girl to get ready.

da1.4u:  yeah, (nod) i know about that.  where you going?

destinyluv:  Why?

da1.4u:  i'm not going to come and attack you or sumthin' (lol)  was just wondering.  maybe me and one of my friends can come and hang out with you and your cousin.

destinyluv:  Well, it's called The Hitz...some club near D.C.

da1.4u:  heard of it.  what will you be wearing?

destinyluv:  If it's destiny, then you will automatically find me, correct? (smile)

da1.4u:  (lmao)  i should have known you would say that.  well i'm gonna come tomorrow night and find you, but for now...can i get your email address?  maybe i'll leave a good morning kiss in an e-mail to you...:)

destinyluv:  LOL--it is WAY too early for you to think of kissing me, even in bits and bytes, but here's my e-mail address:  destinyluv@noirline.com.

da1.4u:  got it.  and mine is da1.4u@noirline.com.  i'm gonna go off to bed now, but i'll see you tomorrow night.

destinyluv:  Mm hmm.  Okay.  Will be on the look out.  Good night.

da1.4u:  sweet dreams...

Destiny laughed as she logged off her laptop and turned it off.  "There is no DA 1 4 ME out there, and it's definitely not this smooth brotha."

*****

Da1.4U logged off of NoirLine and signed off of his computer.  A dialog box popped onto his screen reading, "Devon, are you sure you want to sign off now?"  With a click of 'yes', the computer shut down.   

He rubbed his chin and laughed.  "Wouldn't that be a trip if destinyluv was my girl Destiny?"  Devon chuckled to himself, knowing that Destiny was not the type to go online and talk to people.

"But if it is," he said, smiling, "hmm, the possibilities are endless."

*****

Girl, you ain't dressed!  What the hell have you been doing?"

Destiny had managed to pull herself away from her laptop long enough to answer the door after the 10th very hard knock from Sharay.

"Well dang Miss THANG," Destiny said, smiling.  "Don't you look da shit?"

Sharay forgot momentarily that she was supposed to be mad at Destiny for not being dressed as she smiled, walked into the apartment, and did her runway walk and turn.   Dressed in a short black tank dress that hugged her full curves, Sharay knew heads would turn when she walked into the place.

"Thank you, thank you," Sharay replied.  "It took me a while to find this particular dress and when I did, I FLIPPED.  It's slimming AND just makes everything BOW BOW BOWWWWWW!"

Destiny laughed as she walked over to her laptop and shut it down.  "Well you all three of them B's, girl."

"Oh, before I forget," Sharay began, "why the hell ain't you dressed?   We suppose to be leaving out here in 30 minutes or less."

"Well, I just got out of the shower, my hair is done, and I'm just about to put my dress on."

"What did you choose?  You know you have to have my approval."

"Girl, shut up!" Destiny laughed.  "I chose the red ankle-length jersey dress."

"The one with the black stripes down the side and the two mid-thigh slits?"

"The VERY one," Destiny answered.

"Mmm hmm," Sharay said, nodding in approval.  "The men will definitely be all over you in that piece.  It accentuates your ass and breasts very well."  

Destiny burst into laughter, kicking at Sharay.

"What?" Sharay asked.  "I'm serious.  You look phat as hell in that piece.   Give 'em some gams, a lil T & A, that pretty face and smile, and you'll be filling that purse with digits in no time."

"I told you," Destiny said, picking up her laptop and putting it in its case.   "I'm not going to make a love connection... even though."

"Even though what?" Sharay asked, her eyes never leaving Destiny as she sat on the couch.  "Spill it."

"Nothing really," Destiny began.  "I just went on that Noir site last night and met this guy..."

"What guy?  Come on, give up the details."

"Well, I don't really know him...like I would, I just met him.  But we held a one-on-one conversation last night for about an hour and he wanted to have a cyber date with me tonight."

"A cyber date?" Sharay asked, her face scrunching up.

"Yeah, girl...cyberspace is all about the mind.  But anyway, I told him I couldn't do it because I would be out with YOU.  To make a long story short, he said that he might pay a visit at the club tonight with one of his boys."

"No wonder you threw on the FUCK ME dress," Sharay said, laughing.   "If this guy shows up, you want him to see ALL of you, huh?"

"Shut up, RayRay," Destiny said, picking up a throw pillow from the chair and wheeling it at Sharay, grazing her upside her head.  "We don't even know what the other looks like.  He was talking about how we would meet and just be BAM with one another...like it was DESTINY, so I told him if it IS destiny, then he will know what I look like AND will just be drawn to me."

Sharay shook her head and laughed.  "It's gonna be an entertaining night."

"Whatever.  Lemme go get dressed...I don't wanna be late to see the menz shaking their rumps!"

"Look at you." Sharay laughed.  "One minute all uptight, the next salivating at the mouth."

Destiny laughed.  "Do you think they will let me get up there and do the booty bounce with them?"

"Girl, if you bounce what you got, you gonna start some serious mess up in there."

Destiny and Sharay howled in laughter, taking several minutes to catch their breaths.

"Well maybe I need to start some mess, huh?" Destiny said, laughing hysterically as she sauntered away. "Let me go get dressed."

"Shake it, girl," Sharay said, "but don't break it.  Ol' boy might want to see it first."

Get even MORE into the LOVE BYTES drama by checking out Episode #2!