Watch Me: Teen Paranormal Romance (A Touched Trilogy Book 3) (4 page)

“Where’s Bastian?” she asked, pressing her face back to the gap and shooting at whoever she found down there.

“Most likely plotting with his brother.”

“What?”

“I may have turned on him.”

“Chloe, now we’re never gonna win.” Her mouth drooped and the laser gun hang listlessly at her side.

She’d pout if I didn’t get her to realize I’d done the right thing. Luckily, one of the benefits of being a best friend was that I knew exactly how to do that.

“He said girls can’t win at laser tag. That we lack the…” I scrambled to think of any necessary skills for this game, “the attitude.”

“Are you serious?” Her eyes narrowed. “Those boys are going down.”

We didn’t win. That distinction went to the group of boys we originally set out to take on. We did, however, outscore Bastian and Jayden.

Even better was that for the span of twenty minutes I’d been able to put away all thoughts of the future.

When I got home a few hours later, I found Lily lying in wait for me in the living room.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice filled with such regret it was hard to be mad at her for her harsh words.

“It’s okay. I assumed you were possessed by Phoebe.” That got a slight smile out of her, though she was still pale enough to make her freckles stood out more than usual. It would take more than a little joke to stop Lily from worrying. And a worrying Lily meant a conversation I couldn’t run from. My adrenaline high came to an abrupt end.

Lily’s eyes settled on me. “I just want you to be happy, and I don’t think you are.”

My chest tightened and I sank into Dad’s recliner, curling my legs up to my chest. “Maybe I’m not.”

“What’s going on, Chloe? You’ve been acting strange the last few weeks. Especially with the talking during your visions.”

Moisture pooled in my eyes, but I refused to cry. My head dipped to rest my check on my knees so I could still look at her. Lily was so different from Phoebe and me. She was small and delicate. I always thought she’d break so easily. After learning what she’d gone through, not only since Dylan died, but for every day of her life, I realized that of the three of us she was probably the strongest. If she were in my position, she wouldn’t be sitting around crying over the pointlessness of it all.

“I used to be able to use it when I wanted, you know?” I said. “Just turn it on and off like a light switch. It was great. See what I wanted and block out the rest.”

“And now?”

“I can’t control it. At least not completely.”

“Do you remember when Phoebe started hearing the voice in her head?” she asked and I nodded in response. “You told her to talk to Nanna.”

“I know.” Knowing didn’t mean doing though, and maybe that’s where Phoebe and I were more alike than I cared to admit.

“What did you and Nadine do tonight?” she asked, obviously trying to go for some normalization.

“Painted our nails then played laser tag with Bastian and his brother.”

“I didn’t think you were friends with him.”

“I’m not. He just happened to be there.”

The thing with Lily is she never had the need to fill silence with chatter, yet sitting with her I always felt compelled to talk.

“I’m going out with Andrew this weekend.”

“So, are you guys officially dating again?”

Good question. Were we?

“He and Nadine are gonna hook up behind my back.”

Lil’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s really…”

“Sucky.”

“How can they do that to you? Or to Owen?”

“That’s the question of the day.”

She watched me for a few quiet moments before saying, “You like to torture yourself, don’t you?”

I snorted. “Pot meet kettle.”

“It’s not the same, Chloe. My gift didn’t give me a choice. I touched, I healed, and I hurt. Now I know how to not feel that pain, I don’t.” She stood and walked to the hallway entrance. “You have a choice. You always have. And you choose to do nothing.”

Chapter 5

Spending the day alone with Andrew wasn’t my best idea. I didn’t look into his future or even mine to see how things would go, mainly because I wanted to be with him, even if only for a few more weeks. But I never considered how difficult it would be pretending everything was back to normal. With Nadine, it was easier. She didn’t make me shiver and want to kiss her.

Andrew, on the other hand, sent me into sensory overload. The entire ride into the city he played with the hair at the back of my neck, sending a constant stream of shivers through me.

“We should go play laser tag,” he suggested as he threw an arm over my shoulder and squeezed.

“Nadine and I did a few days ago.” I didn’t mention Bastian, though I wasn’t sure why. For some reason it seemed like something Andrew shouldn’t know.

“Come on, it’ll still be fun. Besides, Lily’s gonna start the zombie apocalypse any day now and all these gun skills will come in handy. It’s all about preparation, baby.”

I rolled my eyes as he referenced the rumor that Lily brought his dog back from the dead in sixth grade after being hit by a car.

“You better not bring that up again. She’s still pissed you started that rumor. She swears she still hears people moaning behind her back.”

“Dang, she could hear me?” He laughed and grabbed my swatting hand. “I’m joking! I stopped doing the moaning thing last year when Mr. Mason thought I was…well, you can guess.”

“That’s just wrong,” I said and shuddered at the very thought of Andrew even thinking about Lily like that. Any association between Lily and sex just seemed wrong. The idea of her and Micah having sex still weirded me out. I mean, she’s my little sister, if only by a few minutes. Lily always seemed like an angel. Way to pure for any extracurricular physical activities.

“Tell me about it. I’m not into fire cro-” his words cut off as my hand made contact with his arm this time.

“I so don’t need to hear that, especially about my sister. It’s a disgusting enough word that I’d be insulted regardless of my sister’s hair. Now can we please get something to eat?” I climbed into the car, ignoring his laugh.

By the time we pulled up to a burger joint for lunch, any disturbing images of Lily vanished as my stomach took over. I settled into a booth while he hit the restroom.

“Can I get you started with some drinks?” the waitress asked, handing me a menu. My hand slipped into the haze around her and glimpsed an overlap of our futures.

Letting go of the menu. I smiled. “Actually we’re ready to order.”

Andrew arrived back as she was leaving.

“Where’re the menus?”

“I ordered already. I got you the double bacon jack burger, no pickle, fries, and a coke.”

He looked like he was trying to decide if he should argue or if he should thank me for ordering exactly what he wanted without having told me. He settled on ignoring the weirdness of it.

“There’s an arcade around the corner. Want to check it out?”

“Sure.”

We spent our time waiting for our order, playing an ancient ninja game. Our food arrived as my stash of quarters dwindled to one.

“Are you going to Javier’s party?” Andrew asked, wiping the ketchup from the corner of his mouth with a napkin as we ate. “I thought we could go together.”

“No,” I snapped and my fork clattered from my trembling hand. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the question. Javier was one of his best friends and I knew Andrew would be going. If we really were dating again, it would make sense for me to go with him. But I wouldn’t.

“Chill, Chloe. It was only an idea.” His face scrunched up into a face that clearly asked ‘what the hell is wrong with you?’.

“Sorry. It’s all Phoebe’s fault I can’t go,” I lied then wanted to kick myself because no way could I convince Phoebe to skip the party. “She bailed on Nanna’s Thanksgiving dinner, so Dad told us we all have to go to my uncle’s Christmas party. Normally we don’t have to go, but now we don’t get a choice.”

“Man that sucks.” He shrugged and dipped a fry into the glob of ketchup on his plate. “I have to work the next two weekends and I’m spending the holidays with my dad in Arizona. Javier’s party is pretty much the only night I’m gonna be free. Maybe we can hang out the day after?”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

I took a sip of water, trying to force the knot in my throat down. He wouldn’t be doing anything with me on the day after the party. He’d be on the phone with Nadine trying to convince her not to tell me the details of the party. Nadine and Andrew would hook up  at Javier’s party. Even with the brief images I’d glimpsed, the horrible pink floral patterned wallpaper Javier’s parents’ had spread throughout their house was impossible to miss.

“So, since you nixed laser tag, we could go see a movie after the beach. How about the new action one with Chris Hemsworth?” He wiped a napkin across his mouth, muffling his words.

“Considering you spend so much time working at the movie theater, I’m always amazed at how much you love going back there when you’re not getting paid. Most people avoid spending their free time at work.”

“What can I say? I found my calling.” His deep chuckles joined my own.

Andrew’s obsession with film was well known. He talked a lot about going to film school and becoming a famous director. I felt bad knowing that his passion for film would never go anywhere beyond writing online reviews under a fake name. He’d drop out of film school after a semester to get the business degree his father wanted him to.

“Did you know that he actually beat out his brother for the role of Thor? And the makeup job on the Frost Giants took like five hours to put on. I still think they totally miscast the role of Jane-”

“Please no more! You and Dylan use to go on and on about movie trivia. Anytime he and Lily went to the movies, she came home complaining how you crashed their date to talk about the movie with Dylan.”

“That’s because he was the only one around actually interested in what I was talking about.”

Both of our smiles dimmed. Dylan was still a touchy subject for both of us. My feelings centered on my guilt for not seeing his death in time to prepare Lily. Andrew, though, lost a friend. They may not have been best friends, but you can’t go to school with someone five days a week for six years and work with them the other two days without feeling their absence.

Dylan had been at the core of my visions being messed up. I hadn’t seen Lily break up with him, or seen him shoot himself, and I never saw him die. What made everything worse was that not only did I not see it coming, I saw him living, happy, and with Lily. She told me something was wrong with him and I reassured her he’d be fine. In the visions I had, he
was
fine. In reality, he was anything but.

“Do you think he’d still do it?” Andrew rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. “I mean, if he had the chance to do it over. Knowing the way everyone felt after?”

“Yes.”

“You seem pretty sure.” He sat back, obviously not satisfied with my positive answer. I picked through my brain to find the right words.

“Dylan suffered from depressed. Yes, he needed help and maybe if he’d gone to therapy and possibly been medicated he would have made a different choice. But without it, he wouldn’t have been able to understand the devastation his family and friends went through. He still would have been sure that everyone would be better off without him. It might have even made him believe it more.”

An easy explanation didn’t exist and I couldn’t honestly say if my theory was entirely accurate, but in the end, my visions corrected themselves and I saw Dylan die. It would have happened.

Andrew took a long sip of his water silently nodding his head, accepting either my answer as fact or the impossibility of ever really knowing. Neither was a response I would have expected from him even a few months back.

I watched him finish eating and it was easy to see the young boy he’d been when I first met him in fifth grade. He’d been a scrawny little kid, with big ears and a duck lip caused by the braces he’d worn for over a year. At three inches shorter than me, he hadn’t looked anything like the hottie I’d seen him becoming.

“So? What do you want to do?” Andrew asked, tossing his napkin on his empty plate.

I focused myself and took a sneak peek into the hours ahead. I kept the visions vague enough that I didn’t spoil the end of the movie.

“Beach and then the movie.”

Andrew laughed. “You sound like you don’t have a choice. We can skip the movie if you want.”

He had no idea how right he was about my lack of choice.

“No, it’s fine. I know you want to see it.”

The waitress dropped off the bill and as Andrew counted out some bills, I pulled out a quarter. I slid it over to him.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“To make it even.”

He glanced at the amount on the bill again and then took the quarter with a weird smile, and laid it on top of the bills.

I’d seen the bill. Twenty-five twenty-five. This way she got a nice round twenty percent tip and he didn’t waste time digging around for a quarter. And despite the look he wore, he was used to me doing things like that.

We headed for the beach and found an overlook of the ocean. I leaned against the railing, looking out at the water. A cool mist drifted across my bare arms and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. I’d forgotten that the beach in November wasn’t always a good idea. Then Andrew pulled me back against his chest and rubbed his hands along my arms. Warmth spread throughout me and my shivers were no longer from the cold.

“You smell good,” he said, lips skimming my ear. “I missed being with you like this.”

My eyes closed and I tipped my head to the side. His lips pressed gently against my neck. Andrew was deadly to my control and I loved it. I loved him. I could admit that to myself though I’d never say it to him or anyone else. It would only make them pity me more when he and Nadine betrayed me.

“Are you ever going to tell me why we broke up at Homecoming?”

My eyes popped open. Pulling away a bit, I tried to get some space between us. “I already told you, I panicked. Everything was moving so fast.”

“Come on, Chloe. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying. I don’t need to be Phoebe to tell me that.”

I twisted around to look at him. How the hell did he know about Phoebe’s ability? “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He snorted and let go of me, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. “You don’t think I’ve heard all about the freaky Matlin sisters? Come on. I started the thing when Lily brought my dog back to life.”

“She did not bring your dog back to life.” I ignored the reference to the freaky Matlin sisters.

“No, but I’ve seen firsthand how she can heal people. Besides, Phoebe has a bigger mouth than anyone and for the last few months she’s been going around calling people out on the littlest lies. Not to mention all the times you’ve known exactly what’s gonna happen. You even warned me my dog would be hit by a car.”

“Well, you always let the poor thing run loose. It was an accident waiting to happen.” Dang, I sounded like Dad.

“It’s more than that. If you’re gonna lie, you better learn to be better at it.”

When I was younger I never bothered to hide my ability, but I was smart enough now to realize that letting people know wasn’t the safest idea.

Neither of us said anything else about it, the conversation simply drifted away like the mist coming in on the waves. Yet, the entire time we sat in the darkened theater, my mind kept going back to his suspicions of my ability.

“Do you ever think about the future?” I asked as we walked back to the car after the movie.

“Yeah, I mean my dad won’t stop talking about making a plan and all that shit.” He ran his hands up the sides of his head, checking the spike of his faux hawk. He smiled and winked at me. “I don’t think he’d be too happy knowing my plans are different than his. What does that have to do with us?”

“What if I told you - hypothetically - that I see the future?”

He sobered up immediately. “Like crystal ball, voodoo shit?”

“No.” I rolled my eyes. “I mean like honest to God visions of the future.”

“Uh, well if this is hypothetical and all, then I guess it would be kind of cool. To be able to know what was gonna happen if you do certain things. I guess you could stop bad stuff from happening.”

“What if I couldn’t change anything? What if everything we do - all the big, life changing things we do - are already set.”

He didn’t answer right away and I was just glad he wasn’t laughing this off.

“That would suck, I guess,” he eventually answered. “So all that Freaky Matlin stuff is real? You really can see the future. And Lily can bring things back from the dead.”

“Uh, no. Dead is dead. Like you said, it’s a hypothetical question.”

“Sure, and I suppose you handing me the quarter at the restaurant without knowing the total was normal, or you telling me about my dog getting run over was normal, or how about you dumping me at Homecoming? All normal, right?”