Watch Me: Teen Paranormal Romance (A Touched Trilogy Book 3)

by Angela Fristoe

  Talking and laughing with friends and the contents of my future drifted from my mind. I spotted Nadine across the room watching us with a sour expression wrinkling her face, which melted into a smile as she caught me looking at her. I was right not to trust her anymore.

  “Chloe!” she yelled, waving her arm.

  I made my way through the crowd. “Hey! Everything looks awesome.” If she was going to play nice, maybe I should, too.

  “I know, right? Daddy’s gonna be a bit upset when he sees how many people came.” She threw her arms around me. “Happy New Year!”

  The instant I entered the haze surrounding her, I fought the pull of her future. I didn’t want to lose the carefree feeling I had going on. Yet the longer I stayed in the present, the stronger the pull became. I closed my eyes and gave myself into it.

  There were no layers for her tonight, or even a fog. Instead, I saw clear images of what her night held. Dancing and drinking, talking with people at the party. Laughing as she tried to keep something away from Ricky. Then the images replayed, only with slight differences. Over and over, I saw all of the possibilities of how her night would transpire.

  The vision faded as Nadine stepped back.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  I gave a shaky smile. “Yeah, it’s just hot in here. I’m gonna go outside to cool off.”

  “Owen’s here,” she said as we headed out the door. “With Bianca. Like with Bianca.”

  “Is that weird?” Was that why she’d been wearing such an angry look? Had I completely misinterpreted things?

  “A little. I like him, but I don’t think we’re the right people for each other.” She leaned sat on one of the lounge chairs set up on the patio.

  “Why do you say that?” I asked, sitting in the chair beside hers.

  “He’s just so quiet. I never knew what he was thinking, or what to talk to him about.” She shrugged. “Besides, he and Bianca fit better, ya know? They always laugh at the same stuff, and… I’m not really surprised.”

  Maybe Nadine wasn’t as clueless as everyone thinks.

  “There’s someone out there for you.”

  “I want what Lily and Micah have or even what you and Andrew have.”

  Was that what had drawn her to him? Why she had planned to make her move? It didn’t matter though, because I knew how wrong she was. As good as we seemed together, we weren’t meant to be.

  “Sometimes things aren’t what they seem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you remember me asking you a few weeks ago if Andrew and I were good together?” I asked.

  “Kinda. Why?”

  “You said I played hot and cold with him.”

  “I’m so sorry I said that. I didn’t mean it. I was PMS-ing, and I’d just figured out Owen and I weren’t gonna work.”

  “It’s okay. You were right. I was doing the whole hot and cold thing with him. I love him, but I’m not sure we’re meant to be. Not like Lily and Micah.”

  “Well, who knows what the future holds. That’s what makes it exciting, right?”

  “Yeah, who knows?” For once, those words actually meant something. With the way my visions kept changing, I honestly had no idea what would happen.

  I did my best to avoid entering anyone’s future, which wasn’t exactly easy or successful. The place was packed and visions constantly bombarded me. If I thought my gift was malfunctioning before, then the images during the party were proof that I’d seen nothing yet.

  Each vision showed me a series of possible futures, but all of them were limited to the next few hours.

  As strange as it seemed, I preferred them to the foggy messes I’d been seeing for the past couple weeks. These were quick and not once did I do the weird talking thing. A few of them were funny, although the majority of them simply confirmed that the lives of teenagers in Beachgrove are beyond boring, even on one of the most exciting nights of the year.

  I noticed Lily sitting in a chair in the far corner of the room. Despite all of the progress she’d made in learning to control her healing abilities, I could tell she struggled with it tonight. I wandered over and sank into the empty seat beside her.

  “You look drained. Why are you even here?” I asked.

  “Because it’s a party?”

  “For everyone else in this room I’d accept that, but from you? That’s not an answer.”

  She sighed. “I wanted to come. Last year this party…”

  I tried to remember what happened last year and when I did, I felt crappy that I had forgotten. Dylan had still been alive and he got into a huge fight with Tonya’s boyfriend. I didn’t remember much about it, other than that had been when I started noticing how badly the healings Lily did effected her.

  “So, I ask again, why are you still here?”

  “I can’t hide from memories of him. I’m really okay with being here.”

  “You don’t look like you’re having any fun at all, Lils.”

  “Well, I drank a beer and apparently alcohol has a loosening effect on my ability to block people. Micah went to get me some water and then we’re gonna go.”

  “You’re not driving are you?”

  “No, Micah is and he hasn’t had anything to drink.”

  Lily closed her eyes and leaned her head back, taking in deep breaths. I hated that she hurt simply by being near others. In the weeks since she figured out how to work her gift, I’d almost forgotten the suffering she went through. I reached over and touched her hand, knowing she wouldn’t draw any pain from me. Maybe she’d even be able to feel some of the contentment I’d been feeling.

  What I didn’t expect was to be sucked into her future.

  The vision of Lily and Micah’s future was still there. Only something else had been laid over it. A sheet of darkness, void of anything. A blurry face threaded between the two layers, but nothing was familiar about its shape.

  “The choice will be made and all will end.” The words slip from my lips, yet I had no idea what they meant.

  Lily’s eyes opened and she gave me a curious look.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  A horrible feeling settled in my gut. So much for only seeing the immediate future tonight.

  “Was that from a vision? From my future?”

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “Then why do you look so sick?”

  Micah walked up with a bottle of water, and I used his appearance to avoid Lily’s question.

  “Please tell me you’re taking her home,” I said, staring up at him.

  “I am.”

  Lily gave him a slight swat on the leg. “Isn’t that a waste of a babysitter? You had a hard enough time finding someone to watch Hannah tonight.”

  “Well, then we’ll go somewhere there’s not so many people. Come on.”

  Micah took Lily’s hand and tugged her from the chair. Enfolding her in his arms, I could almost see him trying to push every positive emotion from himself into her and drive out the pain she felt.

  I went in search of Andrew. He was easy to find in the middle of a group of his friends. They were all laughing at Javier’s impersonation of Taylor Swift, which despite his lack of blonde hair and any ability to sing was dead on. I sidled up to Andrew and he threw an arm over my shoulder, drawing me closer. My lips curled into a smile that he kissed away.

  The rest of the night passed quickly. The fireworks were a tad anti-climactic, but the kiss he gave me made waiting for midnight worth it.

  The taste of him, the feel of him pressed against chased away all of the doubts I’d been having. They chased away the visions of the mystery man who would replace him in my life. When we finally parted, I rested my head against his chest, wanting to hold on to him for as long as possible.

  Eventually the last few bursts of fireworks ended and we went back inside along with everyone else.

  “I’m gonna go find Nadine. Do you want a drink?” I asked.

  “Sure. Th
e more soda I drink, the less I miss the beer,” he said, longingly staring at the red plastic cup Javier held.

  “I can drive,” I suggested.

  “Since when did you learn to drive a stick?”

  “Good point. Well, don’t say I didn’t offer.”

  Making my way through the throng of beyond tipsy and mildly sober partiers was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I edged along the outer rim of the room. Someone bumped into me and I was instantly thrust into a nearly black fog. The images were impossible to distinguish. Only slashes of brilliant red broke the mutedness of the vision.

  “Take the path. Right is right, the left is loss.”

  A loud giggle dragged me into the present and I saw Ricky, a guy from my English class standing only inches from me. I leaned back as the smell of warm beer accompanied his laughs. I’d never really talked to him a lot, but he was one of those constant faces that had been around for years, hanging at the fringes of Andrew’s circle of friends.

  Nothing about his future seemed right. That said, I’d never been pulled into his future before, so maybe that was normal.

  He swayed to the side, giggling. The guy was beyond smashed.

  “A freaky Matlock being all freaky,” he said between giggles.

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s Matlin. Freaky Matlin.”

  That only made him laugh harder and he stumbled to the couch and collapsed, half on top of a girl sitting there. She shoved him off and he slid to the floor still laughing.

  I swallowed convulsively, a pit of turmoil rolling through my stomach. A haze of red engulfed him. Whatever would happen to him was huge, and it was going to be soon.

  “I doubt he bites.”

  Sebastian. I turned and took in his costume. He should have been born a hundred years ago.

  The suspenders, flat cap, and bow tie suited him. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he actually looked hot. Kinda. What he didn’t wear so well was the thick haze whispering through the air from his body, spreading through the room.

  “Hey, I thought you weren’t going to come,” I said.

  “Well, a certain person was pleasantly persuasive and convinced me I would indeed be missing the party of the century.” Bastian looked pointed at me. “However, I have thus far failed to witness this epic event.”

  “I’m sorry Nadine’s party isn’t living up to your expectations. You could always leave and say you stayed. I doubt anyone would notice.”

  “Thank you, of course for pointing out my immense lack of popularity,” he said. “Although, in this case I do believe one person would notice. Ashley.”

  “Who’s Ashley?”

  He gestured to the girl Ricky sat on. She looked bored and unimpressed.

  “In another lifetime, she would be my paid escort, or perhaps the Cleopatra to my Mark Anthony. However, here in the early twenty-first century she is simply my date.”

  “Ah. You could have just said so to begin with.”

  “I suppose I could have, but think of how much less stimulating our conversation would have been if I provided such a direct answer.”

  Owen had been wrong. Bastian didn’t have a thing for me. He had a date.

  I had a date. I had Andrew. I gave myself a mental slap. Whether or not Bastian came with someone didn’t matter.

  He slipped his thumbs under his suspender straps and rocked back on his heels as if he might break out and begin dancing the Charleston. “So, where is your gentleman caller? Assuming, of course, that you have an escort.”

  “Andrew’s talking with his friends. I was grabbing us drinks and looking for Nadine. I’ve barely talked to her tonight.”

  “Ah, well don’t miss out on such a stimulating opportunity. She just went into the kitchen.” He pointed to the door.

  “Well, enjoy your time with your Cleopatra.”

  I found her in the kitchen and after grabbing a soda for Andrew, we went back to the living room. Just as I handed him the drink, the music changed. Nadine and I looked at each other and shrieked, jumping up and down. The song was an old one from the 90’s about drinking the night away that we used during squad practice warm-ups.

  We found the center of the group dance in the middle of the room, laughing and singing along with the song. A few of the other girls from the squad made their way over and I remembered how much I loved being part of the team.

  “Hey!” Nadine shouted angrily. I looked over to see her pushing away from Ricky. He stumbled a little and then lurched forward.

  “Do ya wan dance?” he asked, slurring his words.

  She laughed as she realized how smashed the guy was. “You’re drunk, Ricky. You need to go home.”

  “Jus one dance,” he said and attempted to rotate his hips.

  “Sorry, but I’m dancing with my girls.” She turned around and Ricky stared sullenly at her back before stumbling away. The party faded soon after and everyone cleared out, leaving the mess for Nadine to clean. I would have stayed but Andrew worked in the morning.

  The drive home was all too short. We never seemed to have much time alone together. When he pulled up to the house, we sat there a moment before he leaned over and kissed me again.

  I waited for the feel of him to encompass me. It didn’t come. Our time was fading and I knew it. Despite my attempts to pretend otherwise, what was between us wasn’t enough to keep us together. An invisible clock hung over us, counting down our time.

  I went inside, sadness tugged at me. I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. When I finally made it to bed, I collapsed into an exhausted sleep.

  Chapter 18

  The thump of a soft pillow across my face pulled me abruptly from my dreamless sleep. I jerked upright, whacking the pillow from Phoebe’s hands before she could strike again.

  “What do you want?” I snapped.

  “Did you know?” she asked, her voice filled with shock and a lurid sense of curiosity.

  I glanced at my clock. “Phoebs, it’s like three in the morning. I don’t care if it is New Year’s. No one should ever be up at this time of the morning for anything other than-”

  “Yeah, whatever.” She waved her hand through the air as she interrupted me. “Did you know?”

  “Know what?” How could she expect me to think coherently in the middle of the night, or did this qualify as mid-morning? Either way, it was too early. My head dropped and my eyes began to sag.

  “That Ricky was gonna kill that woman?”

  That, along with the pillow Phoebe smacked me with a second time, woke me up.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.

  “Ricky drove home after the party and Javier said he was all over the road. He must have been completely plastered.”

  “Javier got in the car with him when he was drunk?”

  “No. Javier saw the whole thing happen on his walk home. Ricky t-boned a car a few blocks from Nadine’s place.”

  “How do you know someone’s dead?”

  “When I dropped Nathan off his dad was leaving and said something into his radio about calling the coroner.”

  I wondered if Sheriff Lauer knew his son’s girlfriend was one of the biggest gossips around and that this would spread like wildfire?

  “You didn’t know?” she asked.

  “No. Why would I? I don’t check everyone’s futures all the time.”

  She gave me a weird look. “Chloe, I saw you run into him and zone out during the party. Then you said something to him.”

  Crap. She was right. I’d put it totally out of my mind, mainly because the whole thing with Bastian happened right after and distracted me.

  “So? What did you see? What did you say to him?” She leaned forward, practically shoving her face in mine.

  “I don’t remember. At least not the vision.”

  “But you remember what you said?”

  “Something like take the path. That right is right, and the left is lost or maybe loss.”

  She sat back. “What the heck do
es that mean?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it didn’t make much sense to him either since he laughed and brought up the whole freaky Matlin sisters thing.”

  “Can you blame the guy?” she asked.

  “For which part? For thinking I’m strange for saying weird things? No. I freak myself out on a regular basis lately. For driving drunk and killing someone? Yes.”

  “I just can’t believe he did that. I mean, who does that? He lives right down the street from Nathan. I could have given him a ride if he’d asked.”

  I thought of the way Ricky had stumbled around, laughing uncontrollably. There’s no way the guy would have been able to make any remotely responsible decision in that state. I might not have remembered my vision, but I knew something bad was going to happen and I hadn’t done anything. How easy would it have been for me to make sure someone was watching out for him?

  Two months ago, guilt would never have entered my mind. I saw it as the future is the future. Now though, I changed things once. Could I have changed it again? If I tried harder - if I tried at all, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

  “What do you think is gonna happen to him?” Phoebe asked.

  Shrugging a shoulder, I said, “I don’t know. This is crazy.”

  “I know. I just can’t even wrap my brain around it.” She shook her head. “I’ve never known someone who’s killed someone before.”

  My mind raced with thoughts of Ricky and how happy he’d been, laughing at every little thing. Life as he knew it was over. Even without the legal repercussions of what he did, he’d killed someone. The future he’d dreamed of was gone.

  Phoebe left as we both attempted to absorb the shock. Despite my exhaustion, sleep eluded me. Instead, everything I said to Ricky came back to me.

  Take the path. Right is right, the left is loss.

  The first part I understood now. He should have walked home. The rest though, made no sense. Right is right, the left is loss. The words played on repeat. They meant something. But what? What did going to the left have to do with loss?

  I squeezed my eyes closed and watched every interaction I’d had with him run through my mind. The bump, him falling on the couch. Ashley glaring at him. Nadine shoving him and him asking her to dance. Ricky walking away, turning down the hall. To the left. To the front door.