Hot Sugar

Matthew and Hanna were cozied up in a booth at Buena's Dias.

"My friend Jeffery wanted to double date with his girlfriend. Do you want to?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah, that should be fun but my friend Aria hasn't met anyone yet. I don't want to keep leaving her. Do you think you can find a guy friend to make it a triple?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I can find someone." Matthew lied. The only male friend he had was Jeffery but he was going to try and find someone.

"Thanks." Hanna kissed Matthew.

-v-

Téa was pushing the babies in their stroller at the mall when she ran into Dani coming out of her favorite store. She had so many shopping bags it looked like she had gone on a shopping spree.

"Mom!" Dani was surprised.

"Hey. Did you find a job already?"

"Um... Yeah! Totally found a job." Dani replied. Téa didn't believe her.

"Really? Where?"

"Um." Dani tried to think of somewhere Téa would never go. "The school library."

"Right. Well congratulations."

"Thanks! I guess I'll see you later. Bye Leon and Tori." Dani walked away.

"Your sister must think I'm an idiot." Téa said.

-v-

Dani went home and hid her shopping bags from Todd then got dressed up for dinner at The Palace with a man named Dario Sanchez.

Dario was obviously wealthy. He was a thirty year old Count from Barcelona and he was showering Dani with whatever she wanted.

"I got you something." Dario gave Dani a velor box. She opened it to find a beautiful diamond necklace with matching earrings.

"Wow. Dario, this is beautiful. Thank you so much!"

"I'm glad you like it." Dario said then got up and put the necklace on for her. After Dario sat down she saw Ty walk in. She tried to cover her face but the next thing she heard was...

"Hello Dani." Ty said.

"Oh hey Ty! How are you?" Dani asked.

"Good. You?"

"Great. Dario, this is Tyrone, Ty this is Dario."

"Nice to meet you." Ty said. "Dani, nice necklace, Foxy Roxy do, outfit. You look good."

"Thanks." Dani said.

"Nice seeing you." Ty walked away.

"Who was that?" Dario asked.

"My best friend's cousin. I've known him for years."

"Seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah..."

Ty was meeting Destiny. She met him there with Drew a few minutes later.

"Who's that old guy Dani's with?" Destiny asked.

"Dario." Ty replied.

"I didn't actually think you'd know the answer. Anyway, my new boyfriend wants to triple date with his friend and his friend's girlfriend's friend but his girlfriend's friend doesn't have a date so my boyfriend asked me if I knew someone to set her up with so..."

"No."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't do blind dates and you don't even know this girl."

"Jeffery says she's cute and smart. Good deal. Come on, just go. At least if you don't like her, you'll both meet someone new and probably have a good time."

"I'm a basketball player. I meet new people all the time but fine little cousin, I'll go."

-v-

Téa was kicked back watching a movie with a glass of wine. Del, the babies and Sam who was sleeping over were all asleep. There was a knock at the door and it was Antonio.

"Can we start over? I don't want you to think I don't trust you." Antonio said.

"You don't trust me." Téa said.

"I do."

"I can't say I really blame you, judging by the past but for the future could you not doubt me?"

"Yes." Antonio kissed Téa. "I'm sorry."

"Do you want to watch a movie with me?"

"I'd love to. And there's a charity ball coming up, would you like to go with me?"

"I would love to."

-v-

Finally, it was time for the triple date. Destiny, Jeffery and Ty showed up at Shelter. It was a restaurant in the day time. Jeffery spotted Hanna and Aria.

"That's my friend's date over there." Jeffery said. The three went over to the table. "Hi, Hanna. Where's-"

"He went to the restroom." Hanna said.

"Ty this is Aria, Aria, Ty." Jeffery introduced the blind daters.

"Wait, are you Tyrone Evans from The Sixers?" Aria asked.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you." Ty replied then joined the table.

"This is my girlfriend-" Jeffery started.

"Destiny?" Matthew questioned as he came back to the table. "Destiny's your girlfriend?"

"You two know each other?" Jeffery asked.

"Matthew's the friend you've been staying with? He's my son's father." Destiny said.

"Wait! Drew's your son?" Jeffery was shocked but it all added up now.

"You have a son?" Hanna asked angrily.

"You didn't tell her?" Destiny asked.

"Uh, I can explain." Matthew said.

"Can you?" Destiny and Hanna asked in unison.

"Ok. Look, this has started out very unexpectedly but can we just have dinner like some mature adults?" Jeffery asked.

"Of course we can sweetheart." Destiny said. Jeffery pulled out Destiny's chair then they joined the table. This should be interesting.

Dinner came and everyone was silent. This definitely wasn't the fun night they were all expecting.

"So, you must be busy this time of year, it being basketball season and all." Aria said, tired of the silence.

"Yeah I am but I try to get home as much as possible. Philly isn't that far away." Ty said.

"Further than you think when you ride the train pregnant to go see your comatose baby's father who keeps your son a secret from his girlfriend." Destiny said then looked at Jeffery. "I'm so sorry. I was just holding it in. It just came out."

"Why wouldn't you tell me such a thing?" Hanna asked.

"I didn't know how you would react. I'm a father. That's big." Matthew said.

"Yeah and I could've dealt with that but all this time you've been keeping it a secret from me and now I have a different opinion of you. You kept your son, your son a secret from your girlfriend. What kind of man does that?" Hanna said.

"I'm sorry." Matthew said.

"You should be." Hanna said.

"I had no idea you were such a big jerk." Jeffery said.

"I'm a jerk? You're the one staying with me and dating my ex-girlfriend." Matthew said.

"How was I supposed to know Destiny was your ex?"

"I showed you pictures." Matthew said.

"You did not. You showed me pictures of Drew." Jeffery said.

"Typical." Destiny shook her head.

"That's not what it sounds like." Matthew said.

"Yes it is. I know you, even if it was subconsciously." Destiny said.

"Come on, Des." Matthew said.

"Don't come on, Des me. This is what you've been doing for the past five years. I love you, I love you not, I want you, I want you not, friend zoning and what not with your confused ass. I am so over the bull, Buchanan. Just in case you haven't grasped this little fact yet, I don't need you. There are plenty of men who would love to be with Destiny, like Jeffery. And don't get it twisted, I still didn't need you before I lost all this weight either. I am fabulosity at its best and I have a good heart. So I guess you like this new body but I'm still me and no one has brainwashed me into forgetting the past so don't come running back to me when it's convenient... I'm sorry, Jeffery. I can't. Excuse me." Destiny left the table. Jeffery followed her.

Hanna then left the table and Matthew went after her.

"Not what I was expecting of tonight." Aria said.

"Yeah. I don't think anything is going to go too smoothly with any of them for the rest of the night. We could stay if you'd like. I can drive you home." Ty said.

"Yeah."

Destiny and Jeffery were outside talking.

"I'm so sorry I exploded like that. He just pisses me off sometimes with the same old nonsense. I'm fed up. The crazy thing is there was a time when our relationship was wonderful but it didn't last long and other than that it's been really rocky. I moved on, I have. It just hurts when it's right there in front of my face you know. I'm happy he found someone else, I like her." Destiny said.

"Any man who can't see how wonderful you are, doesn't deserve you." Jeffery replied.

Meanwhile, Matthew ran after Hanna.

"Hanna, wait!" Matthew exclaimed. Hanna finally stopped. "I'm sorry for that."

"Do you still love her?" Hanna asked.

"Um, no?"

"You sound real sure." Hanna said sarcastically.

"I don't know how I feel about Destiny to be honest but I know I really like you."

"That makes me feel real secure. You don't know how you feel about your child's mother. You obviously hurt her. Are you going to hurt me that way?"

"No."

"How do you know? Like Destiny said, you're confused. I was watching and listening and I could see the confusion. It's like one side was jealous and wanted her and the other side didn't. What's that about? Do you want me because she doesn't want you?"

"No. Not at all. From the moment you walked into my life I saw you as this beautiful, smart girl and I wanted to see where we could go with this."

"There's this other factor of keeping the secret about your son from me."

"I told you, I just didn't want to lose you because of it."

"See, that doesn't make me feel content if you would keep your own son a secret just to keep me. Who's more important to you, me or him? If the answer is me, I definitely have the wrong guy. I can't deal with any more secrets in my life. I just came from a world of secrets and I don't want that anymore."

"I will be honest from now on. I promise. Please, give me a chance because I really want to be with you and that, I know for sure."

-v-

Téa and Antonio were at the charity ball together. She looked gorgeous in a beautiful red gown and he looked dashing in his tux. Blair came over to them.

"Hey!" Blair exclaimed.

"Who's your date?" Téa asked.

"Todd." Blair mumbled.

"Say what now?" Téa asked.

"Todd." Blair said aloud. "I'm sorry Téa."

"Everyone knows you and Todd can't actually stay away from each other. It's your business. I'm sure Jack is giving you enough hell about it." Téa said.

"He would be if he knew." Blair replied.

"Just make sure your date doesn't annoy me." Téa said before she spotted Dani with a handsome man who was obviously way older than her baby. "My eyes are playing tricks on me, right? I need glasses now? Because that's not my daughter over there in that gorgeous Alexander McQueen gown with diamonds on her ears, diamonds on her neck and diamonds on her wrist."

"That's definitely Dani." Blair said.

"And that man is a lot older than her, right? We all see that?" Téa asked.

"Yes." Antonio said.

"Well then, Blair, you might want to make sure your date who doesn't have a problem pulling a trigger stays away from that man because if Todd sees him, he's a dead man."

Blair knew that was the truth. She went to go find Todd to make sure he didn't see Dani.

"Now I know where she's been getting money from. I'll be back. I have to have a few words with my darling daughter." Téa went over to Dani.

Dani was so caught off guard when Téa popped up it scared her.

"Hello sweetheart. I didn't expect to see you here." Téa said.

"Me either." Dani replied.

"Who's your friend?" Téa asked.

"This is Dario Sanchez." Dani said then Téa cleared her throat. "Dario, this is my mother, Téa Delgado."

"Nice to meet you." Dario said with his sexy Spanish accent. Téa flashed a fake smile.

"Dani, may I speak with you for a second?" Téa pulled Dani outside in the hall. "So he's where you've been getting money from, your new boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"He's just your sugar daddy?"

"He's a Count of Barcelona. He's a nice guy."

"You're going from one situation to another. I didn't raise you like this. I've taught you that you can get what you want on your own. I don't even know you anymore."

"You're so much better? You married a man for five million dollars. How respectable was that?"

Téa smacked her.

"You need to leave before Todd kills that man." Téa said.

"No. Todd can act like a human."

"Do you want to prove a point or do you want that man to live to see tomorrow? Go home, Dañiella." Téa walked away.

Dani did Dario a favor and said goodbye to him for the night but she didn't go home. She knocked on the door of a condominium. Moments later, Ty answered. She kissed him passionately as soon as he opened the door. He closed the door and they continued to kiss with intense passion as they leaned on the door. When they finally stopped, they looked into each others eyes, forehead to forehead. Ty finally took in what Dani was wearing.

"Damn girl, you look good. Where are you coming from?" Ty asked.

"A charity ball." Dani replied.

"With your sugar daddy?" Ty moved away.

"Ty."

"No, don't start. What do you need him for, anyway? Your parents are rich."

"My mom cut me off."

"So get a damn job. If she saw you were trying, she'd cut you back on. It's really that simple. You know your mom. This isn't you, getting some man to take care of you, shopping all the time, bling blinging. You're not flashy like that. I offered you diamond earrings and I had to convince you to take it. Who am I even talking to anymore? And don't think I didn't peep you trying to hide from me at The Palace."

"It's retail therapy."

"What you need is real therapy."

"You sound like my mom and Destiny."

"Because we're right. You need to talk to somebody. Are you still on drugs?"

"No!"

"Are you going to the meetings?"

"Yeah... Usually."

"Why are you playing? You need to go faithfully. I did my research on Ku Co. It's highly addictive. It could really mess you up in the head."

"I know. That's why I stopped. Even though I still want a happy pill from time to time, I don't take it. I don't even have any... When I was arrested, I was driving really fast and while I was doing that, I thought I saw my dad, Victor and I slammed on the breaks. I started feeling like I was losing my mind. I kept seeing him in my jail cell. I liked the feeling of being high and not feeling anything but happy but then I felt crazy and I didn't like it."

"Stop looking to the world to fill the void inside of you. The only way to fix what's inside is to fix it from the inside. I hate seeing you so unhappy and I can't fix it. I keep telling you, you have so much to offer the world."

"I know. I'm smart. I'm kind. I'm important. I'm also tired of hurting."

"Is pain all you can think about with all the good you have in your life? Why are you focusing on negativity. Get out of the dark."

"I'll go. I'll see a psychologist."

"Good. I want my baby back. Then maybe after that we can talk about why we're still playing this game of cat and mouse like we haven't been in love for a year now. We need to start making some decisions... You know, I had a date last night but all I could seem to think about was you."

"You had a date?"

"Oh, you're all ears now, huh? Yeah, I had a date. Cute girl but she wasn't you. I'm ready for the whole world to know who I love but you just have to be ready too."

Dani kissed Ty again. The next thing they knew, her gown was off, his pajamas were off and they were in his room getting some hot sugar.

-v-

Dani and Ty weren't the only ones getting some tonight. After the ball, Téa and Antonio went back to his place. Jaime was sleeping over at Carlotta's so Téa and Antonio had the whole house to themselves and they took advantage of it. This was the first time Téa had some since Victor died so... She was long overdue.