two- tarot

"Excuse me?" I snapped, and she laughed, putting up her hand.

"No, no, no. I mean for security."

"What?" I asked.

"Well, you've been on guard ever since the party started." She said, taking a drink from her red cup.

"Yea, well, I don't want puke on my floor or sex in my beds."

"Where do you suggest people do those things then?" She asked.

"Viv! Viv, what's it called." Cece said, coming over to me.

"What?" I asked; she leaned onto the counter, already stinking like a skunk.

"Those cards you play with?" She questioned.

"Gloom the card game?"

"No, the ghost crap."

"T... my tarot cards?" I asked.

"Yeah! Let's play with those."

"You don't play with those C, you use t-"

"Yea I know some spiritual crap, but use them."

"You want me to do a reading?" I rolled my eyes again.

"Yes! Come one. Joy wants a reading." She held up the arm of the girl beside her.

"Yeah. Come on, please." The grown woman pouted brushing her black hair out of her face.

"I... your not going to leave me alone till I do it will you." I sighed.

"Nope, shoo." I got up going into my bedroom and grabbed my tarot deck I wasn't too connected with. Drunk people get grabby and I'm not about to risk someone touching my good deck. I wiped off the counter and without speaking the girl who I thought had insulted me passed me the silk table cloth on the counter behind her. I eyed her up and then laid out the cloth, I shuffled the cards and the girl- joy was standing across from me.

"Can you tell me if the person I have a crush on likes me back?" She said nudging the girl who had spoken to me, she rolled her eyes and tucked her dirty blonde hair behind her ear.

"That's not how they work," I said as relief flushed the girl's face. She pushed the sleeves of her white baser up as Joy spoke.

"Can you see if our paths are lined up or something?"

"Are you up for a reading I asked her?" I found it weird the feeling I gotten from her. I could get a vibe off everyone in the room except her. I was told growing up I was an empath and I truly felt I was and I didn't like the feeling I was getting from the nameless girl. Because it felt like nothing.

"I don't really li-"

"Come on, please." Joy pouted again.

"Fine, just stop pouting your twenty-three."

"What's your name?" I asked out of pure nosiness.

"My friends call me E." Said said. I nodded. How mysterious.

"Ok. So-" I shovelled the cards and right away, the death card flew out. I stared down at it for a second and picked it up, putting it back in the deck. "First joy- is it?" She nodded. "Ok, Joy, your path is-" I shoveled the cards and pulled out one randomly. The first was the upright chariot. "Your self-control in whatever you're doing right now is going to pay off." I looked at the next card. "Judgment, that path you decided to go down is exactly where you supposed to be... have you switched majors."

"Again." E cut in.

"Yes..."

"This one is right- this here." I held up the third card. "Upside down hermit. It'll be a lonely thing, but in the end, it'll be worth it." She couldn't speak for a minute as she blinked.

"I... changed majors- I haven't told you guys yet but it'll move me out of state for a year to get the degree. I found an apartment there and it's the only one in a big empty part of the town..."

"It'll all work out ok? This is it, this is what you were missing." She nodded slowly then downed her drink.

"Now do you want me to see about E?" I asked and she nodded quicker. I shovelled the deck, and again, the death card flew out, I put it back in, and after a second of moving cards, it came out again. "Uh..."

"Is she going to die or something?" Cece asked.

"No, that's not what that card means... it means new beginnings. Ending one thing to start something new..." I looked up at E and she looked away.

"Are you leaving me?" Joy asked.

"Were not together, and no. It's just a random deck of cards Joy, don't let it get to you." E pushed herself away from the island and I quickly put my cards away before going out the back door; I felt like I couldn't breathe.