Written in the Stars

by Sara Hantz

  “Well, as I said, she does like you but you’ll have to make the first move. Ask her out.”

  He leans forward slightly in his chair and his dark hair flops over his eyes. “Will you?”

  “Will I what?”

  “Ask her out for me.”

  “Look, I’m not running a dating service.” The corners of his mouth turn down and I feel really mean. It’s not like it would be hard for me to do. Especially if I think they’d be good together, which I do.

  A loud knock makes us both jump and Tara pokes her head around the door.

  “Your next appointment is here, Megan.” She looks from me to Harry and back again. “What? Stop staring at me like that. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Megan, you told me to let you know if you’re running late.”

  I swallow hard and Harry flushes a deep red. I’ll ask her.

  Chapter Eight

  “SAY THAT AGAIN. SLOWLY.” TARA’S EYES ARE LIKE SAUCERS. “Harry, who... came... to... see... me... wants... to... know... if...”

  “Shut up,” Tara growls. “Just tell me.”

  “But you know already.” I try to suppress a grin but fail, and resort to covering my mouth with my hand.

  “I need to hear it again. Then I’m going to pinch myself hard so I know I’m awake. Then I might pinch you too, just in case you’re lying.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Lying about what?” Tara and I both turn our heads toward the door when we hear Dan’s voice.

  “Nothing,” I say, feeling my cheeks heat and knowing that I’ve gone bright red, yet again.

  “Nothing,” repeats Tara.

  “Whatever.” Dan shrugs, and strides into the room, dropping down on the sofa next to Tara. “Don’t either of you try lying for a living. You’d never cut it.”

  “Do you want us?” Tara asks.

  “I just came to see if Mystic Megan has single-handedly solved the school’s dating issues.” He smirks, and two cute dimples appear in his cheeks.

  He should come with a government health warning: This guy will do dangerous things to your heart.

  “Just because you don’t believe, doesn’t mean that everyone else is skeptical,” Tara says.

  “Sorry, Megan. I’m not saying you’re making it up deliberately. Just that you know these people, so it’s easy to help them.” Dan’s expression becomes more serious.

  “I know what you’re saying, but you’re wrong,” I say. “And the only way to prove it is for you to have a reading.”

  Tell me I didn’t just offer to do a reading for him. I could no more read him than get an A grade at chemistry.

  “No thanks,” he says adamantly, shaking his head.

  “You say that now,” says Tara. “But one day you might need Megan’s help.”

  Dan emits a huge laugh. How come he has such perfect teeth? Most football players’ teeth are chipped and broken.

  “If you say so,” Dan says. “So, what were you not lying about?” Dan asks, locking eyes with me.

  “Someone wants to ask Tara out, and they came to me to find out if she likes them.”

  “A guy came to you for dating advice?” Dan sounds shocked.

  “What’s wrong with that?” I retort.

  “Well, it’s unusual. Who was it?”

  “Harry,” Tara says. “I couldn’t believe it when Megan told me. You don’t think he said it for a bet do you?”

  “Why would he do that?” Dan replies.

  “He wouldn’t,” I say. “I keep telling Tara that he wasn’t lying. I’d have known if he was.”

  “Yes, but can you be sure? I don’t want to agree to go out with him and then find it was all one big joke. How’s that going to make me look?”

  “Are you doubting my abilities?” I ask, arching an eyebrow.

  “No. Of course I’m not. Sorry,” Tara replies, waving her hand dismissively.

  “Will you go out with him?” I ask Tara, after we leave Dan’s house and are walking back to school. “He wants me to report back.”

  “Yes. I will. How cool would it be if Harry and I could double date with you and Dan?”

  “Like that’s ever gonna happen.”

  It was awesome spending time with him at his house, and it would never have happened otherwise, since it’s glaringly obvious he has no interest in me other than being Tara’s friend.

  “It could. It’s not like he’s with anyone. Maybe I should say something?”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t. We’ve talked about this before. I don’t want you to ask him. If he knows I like him he might not let us use his home any more.”

  “I suppose. Especially as I’ve booked us up for the next three weeks.”

  Chapter Nine

  THERE ARE TWO THINGS OF NOTE HAPPENING TODAY, BOTH OF WHICH ARE scaring the pants off me.

  The first, and most exciting, is I’m on my way to Dan’s house alone, because Tara has to stay behind to work on her photography portfolio (teacher’s orders) and won’t make it here at all. Which means I have Dan all to myself.

  Aside from my nerves, I’m okay with this because since we’ve been using his house he always makes a point of speaking to me at school, and even sat with us at lunch the other day. Although, I’m not sure if that was through choice or because there were no other seats left.

  The second, and most scary, is my last appointment this afternoon is with Alice Grant.

  Tara reckons I’m being paranoid. She thinks that because Alice needs my help she’s going to be totally cool. Well, that’s not what I’m feeling at the moment. The closer I get to Dan’s house, the more this feeling of impending doom is washing over me.

  “Hey, Megan.” Dan pokes his head out the front door just before I get to it.

  My heart picks up its pace and I resist the temptation to smooth down my hair which, thanks to the wind, is flying across my face, and in severe need of damage limitation.

  “Hi.”

  He goes back inside and I follow. Thing is, do I go through to the kitchen like we normally do for a drink and chat, or go straight to the sitting room and wait for my first client?

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Dan says. “I’ve got an English assignment to finish.”

  “Sure.” Crap. That’s answered my question. Hopefully he’ll be around later. I’ll need someone to help with the Alice aftermath.

  My eyes are drawn to his tight butt as he climbs the stairs.

  Once he’s out of sight I go to the sitting room and put my purse down. I also take off my watch and put it on the coffee table in front of me, so I can see it without making a show of what I’m doing. Tara’s drilled into me the need to stick to our schedule and not overrun.

  Before I have time to do anything else, the door bell rings and I jump up to go and answer it.

  “Hey,” I say, plastering a big smile on my face and pulling the door open. “Alice. You’re not meant to be here.” She scowls at me. “I mean, not yet. I’m seeing Sam and Ginny before you.”

  “Were seeing.” She pushes past me and walks into the hall, where she stops and looks around.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m busy later so I swapped with them.”

  “Okay.” There’s not a lot to say. Alice gets what Alice wants. Everyone knows that.

  “Is Dan here?”

  “He’s upstairs working. We’ll be going into the sitting room.”

  I walk down the hall, assuming Alice is following, except when I get to the door and turn around she’s not behind me.

  “Alice?” No answer. I walk back up the hall and catch a glimpse of her in the kitchen looking through a pile of papers on the table. “What are you doing?” My voice is really sharp and she turns around and glares at me.

  “Nothing. I went the wrong way.”

  “Sure.” I take a few steps into the kitchen and see the papers on the table belong to Dan. Why on earth would she want to look through Dan’s papers?

  “The sitting room’s this way,” I say,
walking out of the kitchen. I stop and wait for Alice to follow. This time she does, and when we get there I push open the door, step to the side and wait until she’s walked in.

  Her eyes are everywhere, scanning the photos of the family on the wall and all the surfaces. Yet, the huge wooden statue by the fire place, the one thing you think would capture her attention—as it’s a six foot naked warrior with his tongue sticking out—she totally ignores.

  Finally she sits on one of the chairs and stares at me. “Now what?”

  My stomach is in knots and I draw in a deep breath to try and relax. “I’d like something of yours to hold, please. It helps me focus. Anything will do.”

  She pulls off a big silver ring, with an oblong mother of pearl set into it, and passes it to me.

  “Don’t break it.”

  “I won’t. I’m only going to hold it.” I cup it in both my hands and relax my mind. Easier said than done, under the circumstances. “How can I help you, Alice?”

  She leans forward in her chair and fixes me with an icy stare. “Dan. I want to know when he’s going to ask me out.”

  “Dan?” Dan as in my Dan? This is awful. How can she be crushing on Dan, too? It takes me all my resolve not to lean forward and rest my head in my hands in despair.

  “Why are you staring at me like that? He likes me. I know he does. It’s obvious from the way he’s always staring at me when he thinks I’m not looking. You know he does, too. At least you would if you’re not making up all of this stuff about being psychic. So tell me when he’s going to ask me out?”

  In an ideal world, that would be never. But this isn’t an ideal world. I’m going to have to come up with something to satisfy Alice, or I can say goodbye to earning any more money. Because she’ll tell everyone I’m a fraud. And that will ruin everything.

  The thing is, it’s not that easy for me to tell if he likes her or not. This reading is all about her, not him. And I’m finding it really hard to fathom anything. All that’s coming through is indifference, verging on dislike. I don’t know if that’s connected to him or just what I feel about her. Or it could be what she feels about me.

  I might have said I wouldn’t lie in my readings, but all that’s changed, because what’s about to pour out of my mouth is exactly that.

  What alternative is there? Other than tell her she’s too difficult to read. And we all know where that will leave me. Clientless. With a huge debt.

  “I’m definitely getting a good vibe about you and Dan. Yes, I think you’re right. He does like you and he’s planning to ask you out in the not too distant future.” That should do it. And if he doesn’t ask her I can say that his plans changed and think up some reason.

  “That’s it?” Alice’s eyes narrow and her top lip curls. “I’m paying you fifteen dollars to be told something I already know. I don’t think so, girlfriend.”

  What does she want, for goodness sake? Details about when and where? I swallow hard. She does. She wants me to tell her all about it. Now I’m seriously in trouble.

  “It’s difficult for me to pin point exactly when he’s going to ask you out and...”

  “Well try harder. I want details. Like when he’s going to ask, and where we’re going to go. So I can be prepared.” She gives an impatient sigh, lifts up her hand and checks out her manicured nails.

  “I can’t get the exact day but definitely within the next week he’s going to ask you.”

  “He is?” Her eyes light up, making her seem almost normal. “Cool.”

  “Uh huh.” Why do I have a feeling that one day this is going to come back to bite me on the butt?

  “And where will our first date be?”

  Let’s think. Where would I like to go with Dan on our first date? How about a picnic by the river, so we can cuddle up on a blanket, watch the boats drift by and enjoy the sunshine. We’ll spend the whole afternoon getting to know each other and planning our future.

  “The movies.”

  The movies?

  I’m not going to give her my dream date.

  Anyway, it’s all hypothetical because it isn’t going to happen. Which means I have precisely one week to do something about it.

  Chapter Ten

  I CLOSE THE DOOR, AND LEAN AGAINST THE WALL. HOW I EVER MANAGED to do the last two sessions is anybody’s guess. All I could think about was Alice and that stupid, stupid prediction. And would you believe it, the only idea I’ve come up with to sort this mess out, is to try and persuade Dan to actually ask Alice out.

  Like, he’s going to do that for me.

  Of all days for Tara not to be here, she had to pick this one. Maybe I should wait until I chat with her before asking Dan. She may even offer to do it for me. Except, the opportunity to speak to him might not arise again and then it will be too late.

  “Finished?”

  The sound of Dan’s voice as he charges down the stairs startles me and I sort of give a half jump in the air. What is it with him that he makes me do the dumbest things?

  “Just got some loose ends to tidy up.”

  “Do you fancy a coffee, before you start?” His lopsided grin sends my pulse into overdrive.

  “I could certainly do with one.”

  We walk into the kitchen and he puts on the kettle. He takes two mugs from the dishwasher.

  “Had a tough one?” He asks, while spooning coffee into each mug.

  “You could say.”

  He turns around and stares at me. “Don’t tell me, the voices didn’t visit, so you had to think on your feet and come up with something.”

  How on earth did he know that? Maybe he’s got the gift, too. Unless he was listening at the door, which means he knows exactly what the problem is.

  “It’s not voices, actually. It’s kind of feelings and pictures. In a mixed up sort of way.”

  “Sounds very vague. Which makes it less easy to disprove.” He arches an eyebrow.

  “Look, Dan. I want to ask you something. I know what you’re going to say, but honestly it’s not like that. And it only happened this one time. I swear every other time it’s been totally genuine, and...” I have to stop to take a breath as there’s no air left in my lungs.

  I hold the back of the wooden chair at the kitchen table and inwardly order myself to relax. He’ll never agree to my idea if I’m panicking, because he’ll think it won’t work. He needs to think it’s no big deal.

  “Megan, stop.” He leans against the work surface and folds his arms. “What the hell is it?”

  I draw in a deep breath and continue holding the chair. “Alice Grant came to see me today.”

  “Lucky you.” His top lip curls into a sneer. Crap. I’ll just ignore it.

  “Yes,” I say, in a pseudo-bright tone. “And you’ll never guess who she wants to go out with.”

  “Which poor bastard has that pleasure? Because I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.” A look of disdain firmly etches itself on his face.

  Now what am I meant to do? What’s Alice done to make him so vehemently against her? “You don’t like her then?”

  “You could say.” He gives a hollow laugh, turns to pick up the kettle, which has just boiled, and pours water into our mugs.

  After he adds the milk he passes one to me. The silence as we stand there is decidedly awkward.

  “What did Alice do to you?” I finally ask, after deliberating whether to or not. But it’s not like I have much of a choice.

  “Nothing to me. It was Ben.”

  Of course. How could I have forgotten that? It was only the talk of the whole school last year. She went to the fair with Ben, and he caught her making out with one of the guys working on the Haunted House. What a bitch.

  Maybe that’s why I was getting such weird feelings when I tried to read Alice. Because Dan hates her so much. Now, I’m well and truly screwed. He’ll never agree.

  “I remember.” I let out a huge sigh.

  “So, who’s the latest victim?”

  “You,” I whis
per.

  “What?” Dan bellows. “Did you just say me?”

  “Uh, huh.” I nod my head, painfully aware of the flush careering up my face.

  “And what did your special powers tell her? That hell will freeze over first,” he answers, before I have time to say anything.

  “Not exactly.”

  He fixes me with an accusatory stare. I lower my gaze and begin to fiddle with the ribbed edge of my sweater.

  “What, exactly?”

  “Dan, I’m so sorry. You know what Alice is like. I couldn’t get anything that made sense. So, I decided to ad lib. And told her you will be asking her out...”

  “Noooo,” Dan says, spluttering into his coffee. He quickly puts his mug down on the table, and I follow suit.

  “I thought that when you didn’t ask her, I could say sometimes things change between readings.”

  “That’s helps, I guess.” His face visibly relaxes. “Except, I’m not cool with what you said. Alice doesn’t need any encouragement, and if she starts hanging round me...”

  “Okay. Stop.” I hold both hands up. “There’s more to tell you. I know you’re going to hate me. I’m so sorry. But Alice asked me to give dates and times... and you know what she’s like... so I had to say something or she would tell the others I was a fake... and then no one would want a reading from me... and I haven’t got enough money yet to pay back Tara’s parents... and so I told her.”

  The look on Dan’s face is indefinable. It could be shock, or it could be that I spoke so fast he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.

  “Can you say that again? Only slower.” Looks like the latter.

  “Alice thinks you’ll be asking her out next week, and taking her to the movies.” I bury my head in my hands and prepare myself. Except nothing happens. I wait. And wait. After about ten seconds his huge sound comes from Dan. I jerk my head upward, open my eyes and am faced with him laughing. Not just your average laugh. This is like a huge belly laugh, which goes from head to toe.

  I grin inanely at him. Then, caught up in the contagiousness of it, find myself joining in. I have no idea how long we stand there laughing, but it feels good.