Chapter 1

Lies can hurt, even when made with good intentions. But can an unusual stranger light the way?

Today’s the day. I’ve got to tell her the truth… Or, at least enough of it so this doesn’t go any further than it has. This has to end. …Please don’t hate me.

“Tegan?”, a girl called the brunette youth from his thoughts. He looked to her distractedly and blinked. “Well, are we going in or not?”, she asked him before brushing a long stand of blonde hair behind her ear.

Tegan looked back up to the colorful sign that hung above the door. It read in elegant, gold letters, FORTUNE READINGS. He looked back to his companion with a frown. “Seriously, Pamela? You know these things are a scam. We go to a Catholic school for crying-out-loud!” 

“So what?”, she retorted, “You said we could go wherever I wanted, and I want to get our fortunes told!”

Tegan rolled his eyes. “I thought we already played this with your carrot cards.”

“Tarot!”, Pamela corrected him. But then she took a deep breath and smiled as she took him by the hand and said, “I just want to hear a professional reader confirm what a great match we make.”

Tegan looked away and gingerly pulled his hand from hers. “Fine… But we should talk after.”

Pamela looked concerned. “Are you alright? You seem a little… distant lately.” 

Opening the door for her, Tegan offered a smile and replied, “It’s nothing. Let’s go, okay?”

Still not so convinced, but seeing he didn’t want to speak his mind just yet, Pamela let the issue slide and went inside the small establishment, with Tegan following behind. A girl who couldn’t be much older than themselves sat behind a desk; dozing off with her arm propping up her head. 

Upon noticing the potential patrons, the dark skinned girl with even darker hair sprang to life. “Oh, welcome!”, she greeted the pair with a warm smile. 

“Hi,” Pamela said politely back. “Um, this is where we can get our fortunes told, right?”

“Sure is,” the girl replied cheerfully, “You interested? I can offer you a good deal.”

Pamela and Tegan shared a skeptical look. “You seem kinda, young for a professional,” she noted uncertainly. 

“I may be young, but I’ll have you know, I come from a long line of fortune tellers. My ancestors were gypsies that specialized in this sort of thing, my late grandmother included, so I’m plenty qualified,” the girl assured them.

“Wow, a real gypsy?”, Pamela spoke with amazement. 

“Yep,” the girl said smugly, “You’re looking at a bonafide gypsy descendent.”

But Tegan didn’t look so impressed. “So can you actually tell the future, or not?”

“Of course!”, the girl confirmed, “For a meager twenty bucks, I can prophesize your destiny!”

“Twenty bucks!”, Tegan exclaimed. Pamela gave him a pleading look. After a moment, he sighed. Maybe if he did this for her, she wouldn’t be as upset when they talked afterward. “…Fine,” he gave in as he pulled the money from his pocket and forked it over. 

The girl accepted the money happily and stashed it away. “Pleasure doing business with you! My name’s Gildi, and if you would just follow me to the back,” she told them as she led them through a doorway of hanging beads and into a dimly lit room. 

Gildi sat on a cushion before a low, round table with a crystal ball at the center and gestured for them to sit as well. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.” The pair sat on the cushions across from her. “Alright, let’s begin,” Gildi said before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Pamela smiled at Tegan as she took his arm and looked back on the girl with anticipation. Tegan swallowed the lump forming in his throat. Gildi opened her eyes and reached forward to ghost her hands over the crystals’ surface as she gazed deeply into it. “The two of you have been close for awhile now, haven’t you?” 

Palmela nodded. “Yeah, since middle school.”

Gildi smiled and nodded. “Yes, but only recently have deeper feelings been expressed.” 

“That’s right!”, Pamela confirmed; impressed. “We were just friends, but I’ve liked Tegan a lot for awhile now… And I finally confessed, and now, we’re actually dating! I couldn’t believe it,” she said with flustered cheeks. Tegan was staring hard at the floor.

“What a wonderful way to begin a relationship,” Gildi said; sharing in her enthusiasm. “It began as a friendship, but that gradually blossomed into love. I can tell a love like yours is genuine and pure, one meant to last a lifetime!”

Pamela was overjoyed. “You really think so? Tegan, isn’t that great!”

Tegan looked into her eyes. She was so happy… How could he take this from her? Maybe he could wait awhile longer. Who knew, maybe she would get tired of him and find someone else. He forced a smile and said, “Yeah.” Pamela laughed and hugged him.

“Yes, the two of you would never want to hurt each other,” Gildi told them. 

Tegan put an arm around Pamela. “Of course not.” She held him tighter.

The pair left the shop hand-in-hand. Pamela smiled at Tegan, who returned it. “Hey Tegan, I know what I want now.”

“Those earrings back on second-street?”

Pamela shook her head. “No. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but now I’m confident.” Tegan wasn’t liking where this was going. “Tegan… Let’s get matching tattoos!” 

Tegan’s eyes nearly shot out of his head. “What! Are you serious?”

“Look! There’s a tattoo shop right next to this one. It’s like fate!”

“B-but, if our parents found out, they’d kill us!”, Tegan tried to reason with her.

“Then we’ll just have to get them somewhere we can cover easily,” she spoke as she began pulling him along to the shop. They entered to find the artist already busy with a customer - a burly biker with no shortage of facial hair. 

The artist paused in his work upon hearing them enter and glanced back at the pair. He was tall with black hair, a dark complexion and piercing pale-green eyes. “I’m nearly finished here,” he spoke in a smooth tone, “You can wait over there if you’d like.” Pamela led Tegan over to the waiting area and sat with him. 

“Pamela, are you sure about this?”, he whispered nervously.

“Don’t be such a baby! It’ll only sting for a minute.”

“No, I mean… Tattoos last a long time.”

“I know. But so will we, right?”

Tegan cast his gaze to the floor; his mouth gone dry. It wasn’t long at all before the tattoo artist finished his work on the biker, who paid and thanked him before being on his way. The artist then regarded them with cold eyes. “…You seem a little young to be getting tattoos. Do your parents know you’re here?”, he asked them tonelessly. 

Tegan could feel himself beginning to perspire. This looked like a guy you didn’t want to mess with. “Well… Aren’t you a little young too?”

He held Tegan in his jaded gaze for what felt like an eternity to Tegan, before noting, “I give tattoos, not receive them.” And he was right; Tegan couldn’t find a tattoo anywhere on his toned, yet slender frame. Although, he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, so one could be hiding. 

“… There could be one under your shirt,” Tegan pointed out.

“…Would it put you at ease if I took it off to assure you?”

“W-what? No! I mean… It’s none of our business,” Tegan replied; a bit embarrassed. Pamela giggled. 

“Besides, I’m twenty. You two on the other hand, look like you’re still in high school,” the artist noted.

It was then that Pamela stood up and pulled her wallet out of her purse; opening it and flashing several twenty bills and a couple of fifties. “I have about three hundred here. Even if we’re young, money is money, right? So will you do business? Please?”, she bargained.

“Pamela! Where’d you get all that?”, Tegan stammered.

She smiled down at him and said, “I have a job, remember? Not everyone is as bad at saving money as you, Tegan.”

The artist looked from the money, then back to them. “…What were you planning on?”

Pamela was pleased to have caught his interest, saying, “Nothing big or flashy. Maybe just each others names. Oh! And how about one of us get a moon symbol, and the other a sun symbol? Something to match, you know? What do you think, Tegan?”

Tegan was a wreck, unable to look either in the eyes as he distractedly scratched the back of his neck. “Pamela… There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly got a crippling fear of needles,” she said jokingly.

Tegan grimaced. “…I wish that was all.”

Pamela was beginning to look concerned. “Um… Alright then. Of course you can tell me anything; I am your girlfriend after all,” she said sheepishly. 

Tegan clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. “…I can’t do this anymore.”

Pamela’s expression went blank. “What do you mean?”, she asked helplessly. 

Tegan finally worked up the nerve to look her in the eyes. That might have been a mistake however, because what he said next was devastating to the girl. “I can’t be with you like this, Pamela.”

Pamela looked like she had just been slapped across the face. “But… You said you loved me…”

“I do love you!”, Tegan exclaimed, “I just can’t love you the same way you love me…”

“If, if this is about the tattoos, then I don’t care! We don’t have to get them!” Pamela was becoming desperate.

Tegan shook his head. He hated himself so much right now. “It’s not the tattoos; I just can’t be with you. I’m sorry.”

Pamela’s lip quivered, but then she turned angry as she snapped, “Then why didn’t you just tell me from the start! You led me on!”

“I know, and I’m so sorry for that. I really did think I could love you as more than a   friend. I tried, but I couldn’t. I meant to tell you sooner, but you were so happy…”

“Why! Why can’t you love me as your girlfriend?”, Pamela demanded to know.

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

“I don’t want that bullsh*t excuse!”,  she fumed, “Am I not pretty enough?”

“No! I’t’s nothing like that-“

“Do I annoy you?”

“That’s not it, if you would just-“

“Is there somebody else? Is it Sarah?”

“I don’t like girls!”, Tegan spat out. Both teens fell silent and stared at one another in horror. The tattoo artist coughed awkwardly and pretended to be busy cleaning his tools. 

“…I don’t understand,” Pamela admitted.

Tegan just wanted to run. Just run and keep on running. “…I can’t like girls the same way other guys do.”

Pamela’s eyes grew wide. “Does that mean… You like-?”

Tegan gave her a miserable look. “Please don’t tell.”

But Pamela said nothing. She made a failed attempt to stifle a sob before running out the door. Tegan ran to the door after her and called out, but she was already flagging down a taxi. It stopped, she got in, and just like that, was gone.

“… D****T!”, Tegan cursed as he stormed away from the door, not sure what to do with himself. He settled for simply sitting back down in the waiting area; putting his head in his hands. 

What had he done? He’d broken the heart of one of his best friends, and now she knew his darkest secret. Would she tell? Normally he’d consider her trustworthy, but she was probably furious with him now, and this was a damning secret for a child of conservative parents and attending a strict catholic school. She could tell someone out of spite, and it would all be over. Or, hell, she could even tell on him out of some misguided attempt to help him. He groaned.

He heard footsteps come closer and peeked past his hands to find himself staring down at the tattoo artist’s shoes. “…Hey,” the artist spoke in his calm, cool tone.

“Yeah… I’ll leave,” Tegan said as he gloomily rose to his feet.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” said the artist. “I was going to ask if you’d be alright.”

Tegan blinked. “Oh… Well, I guess that depends on whether she tells or not.”

The artist frowned. “In the closet, huh?” 

“Hell yeah! I go to a catholic school. If word got out, I might as well pack my bags and leave the country.”

“Surely you have at least one close friend who understands.”

“What part of ‘catholic school’ don’t you get? I could never take the risk.”

“…Your parents?”

Tegan shuddered. “God, the way dad talks about gays… I don’t even want to think about it.” It was silent between them for a long moment. “Man, I am so screwed… I’m scared to even go home.”

“…Luca,” the artist said.

Tegan looked back up to him. “What?”

“My name,” he clarified, “And you’re Tegan, right?”

“…Yeah. But how’d you know that?”

“Your friend called you by that,” Luca reminded him as he walked over to the door and turned the open sign to closed. Turning back to Tegan, he asked, “Do you want a drink?” 

For a moment, Tegan could only stare dumbly at him. “I, I’m too young. And aren’t you too?”

“I didn’t say alcohol,” Luca clarified, “I meant a soda or something. I live real close.”

Tegan didn’t look so sure. “…You’re not, crazy or something, are you?”

Luca raised an eyebrow. “I’m not forcing you or anything. If I strike you as some kind of creep, then by all means, feel free to go.”

“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s only, I just met you.”

“And I just met you. For all I know, you could be crazy and end up shanking me in my own home. But I’m willing to bet you’re not. Are you?”

“Of course not!”

“Good. Now that that’s settled, are you coming?”

Tegan considered it. He didn’t feel like going home yet, and this was the first time anyone’s known his secret; it might be nice to talk to someone who sympathized with him. “…Sure.”

“Alright,” Luca said; satisfied. “Then let’s go.”

Author's Note

So, does it have a decent flow? Were the characters likable? Believable? Does the dialogue work? Would you be curious to know what happens and read more?