The Celestial Curse (10 page)

Later that evening April is helping me pick out an outfit. Something date like but not slutty or trashy or will make him think he has a chance of getting lucky tonight. I never have intimate relations with a guy on the first second or third date. He would be lucky if he got to second base before the fifth date!

We settle on black skinny jeans, a short sleeve sweetheart style cream jumper and black ankle boots. My cream coloured clutch bag completes the outfit, now for the make-up. Bronze smoky eyes complete with black eyeliner for the eyes makes the blue of my eyes stand out and since I do want to make an impression I put on some false lashes. On top of the foundation I use a little illuminate face pearls to highlight my cheekbones and give them some colour and for my lips I go with a deep scarlet. Lastly I put up my hair into a messy ponytail and leave some waves around my face to soften the look.

April makes any tweaks that need to be done to my hair and then we go sit on the couch. She goes into her bedroom and you can hear her rummaging around and comes out two minutes later. She hands me some fancy earring and tells me to put them in. At five to seven there is a knock at the door. I open the door to find the last person I wanted to see standing in the hall way. He looks me up and down with appreciation but I am not falling for that this time. I have seen how freely he can show that sort of appreciation.

“Are you girls going out?” He asks April and myself. April smiles but I just nod.

“Amber has a date coming to pick her up. He should be here any minute.” Says April off handily. Caleb looks to me and if looks could freeze I would be a Popsicle right now. His eyes are so cold right now that I actually shiver in response and not in a good way. I pretend I do not care what he thinks and hold my head high while daring him with my eyes to say anything. Just at that moment Duncan walks out of the lift and straight towards us. Caleb looks at him with distaste and contempt in his eyes that I do not quite understand. Duncan calmly walks up the hall and as he gets closer Caleb turns in his direction. Caleb quickly schools his expression into to cool and calm. I say a quick by to April and meet Duncan before he actually reaches our door. I smile as I walk toward him and take his arm then lead him back down towards the lift. I can feel Caleb watching us as we walk away.

We drive to the cinema talking about random things. Duncan can make me laugh, which I find highly attractive in a date and I have a funny sense of humour myself that not everyone tends to understand. Duncan heads to the car park located underground at the shopping centre the cinema is inside. We had already decided to eat after the movie so we get out tickets, popcorn and drinks and make our way to the screen showing our film. We settle in to enjoy the movie.

Two hours and twenty minutes later, the film has finished and the reviews do not do it justice. We talk and laugh about the funny scenes as we head to a local restaurant inside the shopping centre. We talk some more as we eat and discover we have more in common for a lasting friendship than a relationship, so as the evening comes to an end we discuss this on the car ride back to the apartment. Duncan starts us off saying how he would really like to remain my friend and that a relationship could destroy the budding friendship we have going. 

“I agree, I mean you’re a great guy and all but I see you more as a friend than a boyfriend and I think if we did try to make it more serious, then we would end up making a huge mistake.” I look at him while telling him how I do not want to compromise our new friendship and see the relief in his eyes which I laugh at. We laugh and joke about the evening for the rest of the ride. As he stops outside I invite him up for a drink and to introduce him to April. Little do I know that we are being watched as we walk up to my building engrossed in what the other is saying. I guess to someone who did not know the nature of our new friendship could think it was more intimate than it actually was. And that is what Caleb sees just before he drives away.

Chapter Ten

April is sitting in the main room when Duncan and I walk in. She looks at me surprised knowing I have never brought a man home like this before and especially not on a first date. I tell Duncan to have a seat while I make drinks, knowing that April will follow me into the kitchen to ask the million or so questions running through her head. She dives right into interrogation mode as soon as the door closes.

“Ok spill it sister! Bringing a guy home like this is not in your nature so what is going on?” She demands. I laugh at her expression and answer her question with a question.

“Why does there have to be anything going on for me to bring a friend home for drinks? After all I live with you and you’re a friend.” I say knowing I am confusing her more by claiming to have a friend over for drinks. She narrows her eyes at me tells me in a deceptively calm voice to tell her what happened tonight on our date. So I tell her how our date went and that we had decided we make better friends than partners.

“Hmm well I think you should tell Caleb that. You should have seen him when he left. He looked kinda hurt.” She says sympathetically, the traitor. Does she not remember how he was the one flirting with bimbo down the hall way?

“Why would I want to tell Caleb anything? There is nothing going on between us. He is a friend of my aunt and that’s it.” I say dismissively. Catching on to my tone April shuts up about Caleb and helps me take the drinks into the main room. As the night progresses into the early hours of the morning, April accepts Duncan into our friendship circle. As those two swap stories about worse dates they have ever been on, I begin to feel like I am being pulled towards my bedroom. Any other time I would be freaking out a little, not because of the sensation which I am actually getting used to the energies when I handle the cards, but the fact that it is happening now while Duncan is here. This has never happened in front of anyone except Aunt Betsy, April, Caleb and now Duncan. Still I do not fight it; if the cards are calling me for a reason then they will not stop until I listen. I get up and go into my room and retrieve the box with the cards inside. I sit on my bed for a moment, just like my aunty taught me and centre myself. In my head I say the words asking for guidance and wisdom and with the last word spoken, I feel her next to me, ready to offer the support and guidance I asked for and I always feel kind of humbled at her presence. I close my eyes and take a moment to feel her energy mixing with my own and with the Celestial Tarots. When I feel we are ready I open my eyes and take a deep breath. I let it out slowly and centre my energy. Now I am ready to go back out and face April and Duncan.

I walk into the room and straight away April knows what is about to happen and raises her eyebrows at me in silent question. I give a small smile back to reassure her I am ok and that I know what I am doing. Duncan on the other hand, looks abit confused and looks between me and the box I am carrying. Keeping silent he watches me sit down at the coffee table and place the box on top. I have done this plenty of times since Aunt Betsy gave me the cards full time but this is the first I have been drawn to them and my guide has been resent.

As I take out the cards Duncan and April come closer.

“Do you believe in tarot card readings Duncan?” April turns to ask him.

“I don’t have any experience with tarot cards so cannot say either way.” He confesses.

“I will go first then if you and Duncan do not mind Amber?” April asks me.

“I do not mind, I would actually like to just watch first then decide if I want to have a go.” He says with a smile.

Always smiling is that guy, he is like the most positive person I have ever met. I tell him I do not mind so April shuffles her bottom into place eagerly. She has always liked tarot readings but never had time spare to indulge her hobbies like I have through Aunt Betsy. In my head I ask my guide to help me with April’s question, I expect a caress against my cheek but instead I feel my hand being given a quick squeeze of reassurance. Confident that things are going the way they are meant to, I start the reading.

I ask April to tell me her question as I start to shuffle the cards. I can feel the energies swirling around the room and I know April and Duncan can feel something too. April gently rubs her arms while Duncan stares transfixed at his own arms, not quiet understanding what is going on but not naive enough to ignore it either. It’s as if he is trying to see what is dancing upon his skin.

April asks a simple question.

“Will I get a good job?” She says with a smile. I focus on the question while shuffling the cards. Amber has done this multiple times with me practicing with her so she knows to stop me when she is ready. We cut and shuffle the cards three times before she finally picks a pile of cards that have been cut into three smaller ones. I place them in a past, present and future positions and I lay the rest of the cards with the bigger deck. I turn over the three cards on by one.

Past – The Chariot

Present – Seven of Cups

Future – Eight of Pentacles

I look at the cards before me and read them to April. I tell her that she has triumphed over difficulties in the past with the strength of her will, which has set a good foundation for the present and future. She is feeling overwhelmed with choices and knows one must be made. This could be in any area of life but needs to think of the reality of the choice she chooses. The future card is what most people want to know the most. What they do not seem to realise is that the future is ever changing, depending on our actions and the action of people around us, who can influence us either toward our goals or away from them. In this future position is the Eight of Pentacles. This card indicates a new job using existing talents. This card is also known as the apprenticeship card and can show April learning a new skill or a desire to follow a different career path.

April makes notes, as we always do, while I tell her the meaning of her reading. Duncan is sat quietly watching April. Once April is finished I ask Duncan if he would like a reading done.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.” He says. His question is about finance so I repeat everything I did with April. When I have the cards laid out before me, April offers to bullet point his reading too, to which he isn’t that fussed but she does so anyway so that we have a record of it.

The Hermit is in the past position and because I know he has just finished University the same time as me, this card would indicate that he had no help from anyone and earned his degree through his own hard work and determination. It also means that he has begun to look within himself to contemplate his career and personal goals in life. Duncan looks at me surprised that I would know something like that when he hasn’t told anyone that he moved away from home and defied all the odds, even though everyone said he would fail his grades which are nowhere near bad. The Wheel of Fortune indicates good fortune, which is placed in the present position. I tell Duncan that it can also mean going through a period of good fortune and he should make the most of this period while it lasts. And the last card, Page of Pentacles, occupies the future position. I advise Duncan that he will have some good news financially in the near future and that it could come in the form of a letter, cheque or property. 

Having finished the reading I thank my guide for her help and mentally say goodbye and watch her fade away. I smile to myself and pack away the cards taking the box back into my room. As soon as I had finished the reading on Duncan the compulsion towards the cards vanishes and I am left feeling slightly hollow.

Thirty minutes later Duncan has crashed on the couch and April and I make our way to our own beds. I have reluctantly been thinking about Caleb tonight. Since my tarot predictions keep coming true I think I may ask him if he wants me to do a reading on him.

Chapter Eleven

It has been two weeks since the night Duncan stayed over and I haven’t heard from Caleb once. I am not sure how to I feel about that right now so I busy myself with work. I started working this week and so far I love it. The pay is average but Gail and her girls, as I have started thinking of them, are a welcome distraction from my own guilt and heavy heart. I know it is my fault that Caleb is angry with me and to be honest I do not really blame him. A couple nights ago the woman that Caleb helped a while back confessed that she tried to flirt with him but he was nothing but a gentleman. She said she felt like she needed to tell me because she felt guilty thinking she had broken us up. What she doesn’t know is that we were not a couple anyway but I did not correct her assumption. I plan to apologize to Caleb the next time I see him. Which might be sooner than I thought if that is him walking towards the door. I am stood off to one side sweeping the floor and dive for the back room. I know I said I wanted to see him and set him straight but I didn’t expect to have too so soon! And now that I’ve hidden myself in the back I feel like a buffoon!

I take a deep breath and go out to face Caleb. I walk out the door and bump straight into him. He steadies me by holding my upper arms, he doesn’t push me away at first but then an iciness seeps into his eyes and my hope plummets. Gail’s next customer comes in the door so reluctantly leave Caleb to show Mrs Newman to back room where the tarot readings are done. I make sure she is settled with a drink of her choosing and let Gail know her client is waiting for her.