Rock N Soul by Lauren Sattersby Page B

about your future as it is about helping you understand what’s going on now and what attitude you should have.” She shuffled the cards and fanned them out for me. “Pick one.”
    I thought for a moment, moving my hand over the cards, and then pulled one out. I turned it over and peered at it. “The Knight of Cups.”
    She nodded. “So there’s someone in your life who’s kind of an emo-narcissist?”
    Chris laughed out loud. “I’m not sure there’s a more apt description of me than that. Although really I’d argue I’m more goth or moody than emo.”
    I resisted the urge to shoot him a dirty look. Or just to shoot him. “Yeah, you could say that. He won’t leave me alone.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”
    “No,” I barked out. “God, no. I’d hang myself if he was my boyfriend.”
    “Thanks,” Chris said dryly.
    “You’re welcome,” I answered without thinking.
    Her other eyebrow shot up to join the already-raised one. “Who are you talking to?”
    I tried to appear super innocent. “Nobody. Sorry. I thought I heard my name.”
    She kept eyeing me suspiciously, but she didn’t press me for more information. “Well,” she said after a moment of awkward silence, “that’s your major issue right now, then. Whoever he is must be making your life difficult. You need to focus on fixing that part of your life.”
    Chris scoffed. “I don’t like the implication that I need to be fixed.”
    “How can I fix it?” I asked her, pointedly ignoring him.
    She shrugged. “The cards don’t tell you everything. Some stuff you have to figure out on your own.”
    “Well, can you maybe do a more in-depth reading?” I prompted. “I really want to know what’s going on with everything.”
    She glanced around the coffeehouse. “Not in here. I’m already getting stared at enough as it is.”
    “Where, then?”
    “In your bed,” Chris said. “That’s what you’re hoping for, isn’t it? You want to do a tarot reading off of her boobs.”
    “I don’t know,” she answered, then paused for a second. “There’s a new age bookstore nearby. They have some tables for customers, and I wouldn’t get stared at in there.”
    “Let’s go, then.” I stood and smiled. “I’m Tyler,” I said again.
    She gave me an appraising look, then visibly relented, standing and half smiling. “Gemma.”

“All right,” she said, spreading the cards out facedown in a wide arc. “So think about your friend and pick two cards. To symbolize what you think the problem is.”
    I eyed the cards. “Just . . . pick two cards?”
    “Yeah,” she answered. “Hover your hand over them and wait until one feels right.”
    “Okay. Sounds easy enough.” I did as she told me and held my hand over the cards.
    Chris squatted down beside the table. “This girl already seems more legit than Madame Destiny.”
    I pulled one card out and then hovered my hand again for a few seconds before picking another. “These two.”
    “All right, then turn them over.” Gemma pushed her hair behind her ear.
    I flipped the first card so that it was faceup. “The Devil,” I said, reading the title off the card.
    Chris snorted. “I can see how you’d think that about me.”
    My eyes darted over to him before I caught myself. Gemma must have noticed because she narrowed her own eyes slightly. I flipped the other card before she could say anything. “And the Moon.”
    She studied the two cards for a moment. “So he’s an alcoholic? Or is it drugs?”
    Chris stood up. “You’re shitting me. That’s got to be a coincidence.”
    “Probably both,” I told her. “But definitely with the drugs. Hard ones.”
    “So are you worried about him?” she asked.
    I thought about that. “Not really. He’s already dead.”
    Her eyes widened. “And he’s still your big problem?”
    I decided to go for it. “He’s haunting me. He’s a ghost.”
    Gemma snatched up the two cards, shoved them back in her deck, and stood. “I have to