Thirteen
☢☢☢

We had our Girl's night out in the next four days on a Tuesday night. And so far, I hadn't seen Jay at all. We went to a fair to ride the Ferris wheel and then ended up at a psychic's booth out of Vanessa's insistence to have our futures read.

In a tiny room, dark and illuminated with purple and green neon lights, the three of us sat facing Hera, the psychic, across the table. A fancy name she fashioned herself with. She seemed to be in her late thirties. Black lipstick against her pale white skin and glittery eye-shadows that literally glowed in the dark made her look the part as she sat staring deep into Vanessa's eyes, tarot cards lay spread out before us on the dark table.

The atmosphere did feel different inside this booth. I figured it was probably something to do with the lighting and the location, which was at one far corner of the fair, where there weren't too many noisy activities for the crowd to indulge in.

Hera slowly and cautiously dropped her shoulders as she sighed, "I can feel your energy everywhere in this room."

Carli grinned.

Vanessa leaned closer over the table, "What do you see?"

"What do you wish to see? Your past, present, or future?"

Vanessa thought for a moment and replied, "Nothing left to do with the past. Present and future."

"We'll start with the present."

Hera picked up a card, glared at Vanessa to give that psychic-ish effect, and said, "The Emperor. I see a man!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Carli butted in.

"Quiet!" Vanessa clipped.

I couldn't swallow the smile on my face.

"What else?" Vanessa asked.

Hera picked up a blue stone from the bowl on the table and placed it over the card. She then drew in a deep breath whilst keeping her sharp eyes on the card. We waited for the next mind-boggling revelation.

"He's not far," she murmured.

"Nathan!" Vanessa gasped.

"What?" I turned to her.

"I mean, you know I like him a lot. Sorry."

Hera flipped another card. "A reversed Magician. Oh, it's sad that he's out of touch. So close and yet so far." She sighed at Vanessa with a sorry face.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Vanessa gaped at Hera. "So true! I see him every day and yet he doesn't even know I exist. What more does it say?"

"A reverse magician tells me that this knight-in-shining-armor of yours is not a man to be trusted. He's an illusion. He's not going to be a part of your future."

"For real?!" Vanessa frowned.

"You wanna marry him?" I asked.

"I don't know but he's hot. I wanna be his girlfriend at least for a day. So, what? Is there any chance he could at least notice me?"

Our psychic picked up another card. "Now this is interesting. Two of Swords. It's a hard decision to make. You will face this challenge."

"What do you mean?"

"It means there are two choices."

"Two guys?"

"Yes."

"Wow!"

"Follow your heart. Listen to your inner voice. It's trying to communicate with you every day."

"Okay?"

Carli screeched out laughing.

Hera rolled her eyes at her. "Honey, your laughter is offending the gods up there and it's intercepting with the divine signals here, alright?"

"Right, sorry."

"So, do I ever get a chance with Nathan?"

Hera shuffled the cards, spread them out on the table, and asked Vanessa to pick the one her aura most corresponds with. Vanessa picked one and leaped up from the stool.

"Yes! It's the lover's card!" She pumped her fists in the air, dancing.

Hera held out her hand. Vanessa gave the card to her with a victorious smile on her face and settled back on her stool, her divine energy everywhere again.

"Alright, ladies. You get a chance."

"Yes!"

"It's sexual."

Vanessa's palm slammed against her chest, thrilled. "What?!"

"I know right. Don't forget though. Two of swords. Listen to your inner voice. Trust your instincts and your heart will lead you straight to the right guy. You got a bright future, a happy married-life, ground-breaking sex. Amen. That's for forty dollars."

"Forty dollars? It says thirty out there?"

"Ten extra for the sugar-coated, spot-on conclusion, and your friend's interception with the divine signals."

"God!"

★

We drove back to campus in Carli's car, just as we came. On the way, we passed by a house party.

"Party on a Tuesday night?" I wondered as we parked at the side of the road and looked up to the noisy front yard.

"It's Nathan and his friends," Carli said.

I turned to Vanessa and saw her give me a devilish grin. "Who knows if our psychic actually saw into my future? Let's go check it out!"

"Remember the reverse magician," I warned her and followed them out of the car.

We entered the house packed with college kids. Going straight to the kitchen first, Vanessa and Carli grabbed a red cup each, filled them with booze, and downed them right away. I decided to take it slow since all three of us couldn't be wasted all at once. We hung around together for a while until we slowly split up to talk to our other friends. Drew called me and I had to go to the bathroom to talk to him. When I came out, neither Carli nor Vanessa was in sight. Then I decided to down a cup myself since the party started to get boring for me.

As I left the kitchen, I ran into Nathan at the door and I was surprised to find that he recognized me.

"Well, hey stalker."

"Hey."

He looked around me and asked, "You came alone?"

"No. I came with my friends. Uninvited. We were just passing through."

"That's cool. Wanna grab a drink?"

"No, I'm fine. I just downed a cup."

"Nice. Come join me and my friends."

Since I had no one I actually knew, I followed him. On the way, I saw Vanessa so I called for her to join us. We met his friends in the living room and ended up playing beer pong with them. I hadn't exactly planned to get wasted but I also hadn't played beer pong ever before so I decided to give it a shot 'cause why not?

Nathan downed two cups. Vanessa downed three cups. With every wink she gave me before she emptied a shot, I got the feeling that she was planning for something like a major confession or a kiss to Nathan and she needed to gather all the confidence before the big moment.

In a few minutes, a small crowd had gathered around our table, cheering and chanting us on as we emptied shot after shot. When I finally decided I can't drink any more, I had emptied 10 shots. Target hit.

I left the table and slumped down on a couch nearby, barely able to carry my own weight. Even as I sat, my neck lurched from left to right, almost snapping my head off. The heaviness in my head drowned out the music and through a very hazy vision, I saw Vanessa clinging onto Nathan and laughing. I laughed when I saw Carli kissing another dude by the wall, then I felt lonely. My mind raced back to Jay at once, wishing he was here with me. 

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and called him, this time with no second thought. I knew I missed him and I was determined to talk to him. And kudos to the alcohol, the moment Jay answered my call with my name and I heard his voice, a sudden burst of emotion gushed from my heart and I cried into the phone. "Jay! Jay, oh my God! I miss you! I miss you so much!"

I paused and heard him say nothing.

"Jay?"

"I'm here."

"Listen, Jay, I want you to know that I understand, okay? I understand why you said those shit to those guys. I understand you were only trying to protect me. Thank you. You're an angel and I miss you so much! I'm lonely. I'm so lonely. Like my heart is breaking into a thousand pieces. . ."

"Lola, are you drunk?"

"What? How'd you know that?!" I squealed and laughed into the phone. "Such a smartass."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at a party. On the way to college. Nathan and his friends, do you know them? Oh, God! I miss you! Like, Jay, seriously. Where have you been this whole time? Don't you ever think about me? I think of you all the time. All. The. Time. Like if Taylor Swift could see me right now, I bet she'd write the next chart-topping heartbreak song. Seriously. . . like seriously seriously."

"Are your friends with you?"

"You mean Vanessa and Carli, or the guy from the comic book store. . ."

"Vanessa and Carli."

"Yeah, we came here together and we're all just having fun. On top of the world. Mount Everest. Don't tell anyone else but I think Carli might jump that guy's bone! Do you see him?" I fell back on the couch laughing. "Oh my God, I think I wanna throw up."

"I'm coming to get you, Lola. Stay where you are."

"Wha. . . what? Now?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, no no no! You can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm in a mess right now. My hair is in a mess and my make-up, it's in a mess too. I'm a big mess right now. And even my clothes, I need to change first!"

"There's no need of that, Lola. Just stay where you are."

"No! I'm looking so ugly right now!"

"Stay. Do you hear me?" He asserted with a stern tone in his voice.

I huffed but agreed nonetheless. "Okay."

I sat on the couch for a while until I tottered up from it and went towards Nathan and Vanessa.

☢☢☢

Thank you so much for the wait!
Next to chapters on Inkitt! The latest chapter there has Jay's POV 🤗

Love, Hermyne