Chapter 2

Did Pamela tell? And is it possible to know something before it happens?

Tegan followed Luca a few steps down the street, and was surprised when he suddenly turned into the fortuneteller’s shop. “Why are we going here?” 

Luca held the door for him and replied, “I live upstairs.” They both went inside to find Gildi looking through a magazine, appearing to be quite bored. 

She looked up to Luca and said, “I told you, you don’t have to come check up on me every other hour. I got this!” It was then that she noticed Tegan and recognized him. “Oh, hi again! …Say, where’s your girlfriend?”

“They broke up,” Luca answered simply.

Gildi’s eyes grew wide. “W-what! But, why?”

“Turns out that he plays for the same team. Don’t tell me you didn’t foretell that, Gildi.”

Her jaw went slack as she looked back to a now red-cheeked Tegan. “No way! …Um, you told him about our no refund policy, right, Luca?”

“Relax, he’s here because I invited him,” he explained as he ushered Tegan through a different doorway this time.

Gildi shot him a suspicious look. “Why?”

“I want to help,” Luca answered as he followed Tegan up the stairs.

“No funny business, Luca! He’s still a kid!”, she called up after him. 

Now up the stairs, they found themselves in a small living space. “What did she mean by that?”, Tegan asked sheepishly as Luca moved past him and into the kitchen. 

“Don’t mind her. My sister just doesn’t trust me with guys is all. But I won’t do anything,” Luca explained from the other room. He came back shortly holding two different sodas. “Pick one.”

Tegan pointed to the one in his left hand, which Luca then tossed to him. He caught it and looked at it with a worried expression. “Do what, exactly?”

Luca popped open his soda and let it fizzle for a second before taking a sip. “Listen, I want to help you.”

Tegan gave him a skeptical look. “How?”

After studying him for long moment, Luca simply told him, “Follow me,” before leading him back down the stairs.

As he followed, Tegan asked, “Are the two of you living here alone?”

“We lived with our grandmother here too, but she died a couple years ago.”

Tegan froze as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “…Oh. I’m sorry. But, what about-“

“Parents?”, Gildi finished for him, “They died when we were little.” Then she looked back to Luca and said, “What are you doing - giving him a tour of our home and telling him our life story?”

“Would you rather just give him a refund and send him on his way?”, Luca retorted. 

Gildi shot him a dirty look. “Whatever. I’m going out for a bit,” she announced as she walked out the door.

“Come on,” Luca told him as he went through the doorway of beads. 

“What are we doing in here?”

Luca paused to look him in the eye, and say in a deadly serious tone, “I’m going to read your future.”

Tegan stared blankly at him for a minute before frowning. “Like your sister did?”

“No. Gildi can’t really read fortunes. She just looks after the shop when I’m busy next door,” Luca explained as he sat before the round table and waited for Tegan to follow suit. “I’m the real fortuneteller.”

Tegan gave him skeptical look, but sat all the same. “If you say so,” he said in a sarcastic tone, “Go ahead and look into that dumb crystal ball or whatever.”

“The crystal is just a prop Gildi uses for show,” Luca informed him as he set the orb aside. 

“Then how does this work? Do you use cards?” 

Luca shook his head and reached his hands across the table surface. “Give me your hands.”

Tegan raised an eyebrow. “Palm reading?”

“I don’t need to look at them,” Luca told him, “Just touch them.”

A light blush dusted Tegan’s cheeks. They were totally alone and he wanted to hold his hands? Tegan cleared his throat before saying, “Um, alright.” He gingerly reached out his hands and placed them against Luca’s. He blushed now as Luca held them in his own and closed his eyes. His hands felt pleasantly warm.

And they continued to sit this way, hand-in-hand, for the next few seconds, until Luca opened his eyes and released Tegan’s hands. “Alright. Don’t take the stairs after the bell for second period,” Luca informed him. 

Tegan blinked. “That’s it?”

“For now, yes,” Luca said before standing. He then offered Tegan a hand.

“Everything that’s happened, that will happen, and that’s it?”, Tegan asked; a little disappointed. 

“Do you trust me, Tegan?”, Luca suddenly asked. 

Tegan didn’t know what to say, looking up into those striking pale-green eyes with his own hazel ones. “Y-yes…?”, he mumbled as he gingerly accepted the offered hand.

Luca pulled him to his feet and, for the first time that Tegan had seen, smiled; causing Tegan’s heart to skip a beat. “Then everything will be fine.”

The next day at school was nerve wrecking for Tegan. His parents hadn’t mentioned anything or acted any differently than normal. Now first period had gone off without a hitch, and as he walked down the hall to his second class, no one gave him  funny looks or judgmental stares. Pamela must have kept quiet after all.

But suddenly, “Tegan! What’s wrong with you? That’s messed up!” Tegan had a mini heart attack and froze as a taller, stronger built boy roughly grabbed ahold of him by the shoulder. “How could you leave me hanging all first period? You didn’t say a single word!”, the dirty blond complained. 

“B-Blake!”, Tegan squeaked; relieved but still not quite over his sudden panic. 

“Hey… You alright, man?”, Blake asked. “You’re acting a little weird this morning. Come to think of it, so is Pamela… Don’t tell me something happened on that little date of yours yesterday! You should have known better than to put the moves on her!”, he teased his friend.

Tegan frowned and shook his head as the two of them continued walking down the hall. “Actually, we broke up.”

Blake was shocked. “Shoot, really? Man, that’s too bad… What happened?”

Tegan sighed. “Honestly, it turns out I wasn’t that into her as a girlfriend. I just want to be friends. She took it pretty hard though. Jesus, I suck!”

Blake nodded his head. “I guess I can understand. Hang out with a certain kind of girl too long, and when you finally try dating her, it feels like dating a sister! I think she’ll be okay, though.”

“…You think so?”

“Sure. She’ll eventually realize she’s too cool for a dork like you anyways!”, Blake teased as he ruffled Tegan’s hair. 

“I am not a dork!”, Tegan snapped as he pushed Blake’s arm away and fixed his hair. 

“Don’t kid yourself! Only a dork would write as much as you do for fun.”

“So being literate and coming up with stories automatically makes me a dork?”

“You’re inability to see that only further proves my point.”

“Oh, so strapping into tight pajamas and slamming into other sweaty guys is a much better pass time?”

“Obviously! Wrestling is a man’s sport! A test of strength and endurance.”

“Kind of like enduring this conversation with you?”

“Watch it, Tegan. Just because we’ve been friends since elementary doesn’t mean I won’t toss you in the dumpster if you get on my bad side,” Blake joked.

Tegan rolled his eyes. “Typical jock. So I’m weird for writing, but it's totally normal getting up close and personal with a sweaty guy in tight clothing who’s also putting his hands all over you?”

“Ugh, you’re making it sound like we’re a bunch of f**s,” Blake said in disgust. Tegan’s smile and light-hearted demeanor vanished. “If any guy actually tried hitting on me, I’d rip his balls off!”, Blake exemplified his point by slamming his fist into his palm. “Makes my skin crawl.”

“…Yeah,” Tegan murmured. 

The bell signaling second period rang. “Shoot! We’re late! Come on, Mrs. McConaughey shows no mercy! Hope you remembered your book this time,” Blake said as he started to run. 

Tegan stopped in his tracks. Shoot, he had left his book in his locker on the second floor! This would be the third time in a row he’d forgotten to bring his english book to class, his final strike to getting detention! Tegan back tracked a little to the stairs, but froze. What had Luca told him? Not to be on the stairs after the second period bell?

He stared hard at those stairs. Do you trust me, Tegan? His words echoed through his memory. After another moment or so of thought, Tegan finally decided to simply go to class empty handed. He turned to see Blake running toward him, asking, “What gives? You trying to ditch?” Tegan shook his head and took a couple of steps toward Blake, before his friend’s eyes suddenly widened, and he screamed, “Tegan, look out!” 

And before he could even react, Tegan felt something rush past him from behind before there came a sound like a small explosion. In his surprise and terror, he fell to the ground and shielded his head with his arms in a defensive position. 

“Tegan! Oh my God, are you okay?”, Blake asked as he rushed to his friend and knelt by his side. 

Tegan peeked around his arms. “W-what happened?”

“Is anybody hurt?”, called a voice as two men hurried down the stairs. Tegan turned to find a piano smashed to bits, right where he’d been standing only moments ago. He felt like he might faint. 

“Jesus, you scared me!”, Blake laughed nervously as he helped Tegan sit up and held him tightly by the shoulders. Despite his trying to play his panic off, Tegan could feel Blake’s arms trembling and see the strained look on his face. “Just an inch or more back, and you could have-”, he couldn’t bring himself to finish.

After making certain no one had been injured, the men who had been moving the piano downstairs to what was to be the new music room assessed the damage. The piano was in shambles. Curious and startled students and teachers peeked out of the classrooms to see what that noise had been.

With so many eyes now on them, Blake finally managed to get a proper grip of his emotions and laughed it off, saying Tegan must have his own personal guardian angel watching over him. But Tegan stared at the splintered remains of the piano as if in a daze. His gaze then slowly panned to the stairs he would have certainly climbed without Luca’s warning. There would have been no way he could have dodged the piano. Tegan swallowed.

Author's Note

What do you think?

Reviews

[jessthekitten]

I really like it. Please write more.

[Hayden Bridges]

Thank you so much! That means a lot.