Page 54 of A Fool's Game
The girls throw on gloves and start the long process of stacking and stapling while I keep the printer humming along.
“How did you ladies end up with a Tuesday afternoon free to staple ‘Zines?”
Lana shrugs. “Marisol said she didn’t need us to come in.” She tosses a glance at her sister over the copier that you’d have to be blind not to read. “Again.”
My forehead creases with concern. “Shop is still slow, huh?”
“Marisol thinks it’s the holidays. Everyone busy and whatnot.”
What she doesn’t say, but all of us are thinking, is that December and January are usually some of the busiest months for shopping and readings. People need gifts, and they’redesperate for guidance in the new year. Something changed this year, and it’s got all of us concerned.
“It’ll pick back up,” I offer stupidly, worry clouding my mind.
“Once we get these Moon ‘Zines on the counter, the place will be flooded with customers,” Eva teases, tossing a few finished copies in the waiting box.
“Speaking of which…” Lana starts, and Eva tries to hide her giggles at her sister’s less than smooth segue. “We encountered a fair-haired prince in the hallway the other night. Care to share any salacious details?”
I blow out a breath, feeling myself blush slightly. “He’s the fool.”
The twins each let out murmurs in different pitches, neither of them positive.
I laugh and shake my head. “There’s nothing wrong with the fool.”
“No, not if you’re into all that new journey stuff,” Eva concedes. “Me? I need a king. Someone who’s got shit figured out.”
“I’ll take the devil,” Lana says, surprising no one.
“Ainsley’s…special,” I say finally after pondering it for a moment. “I think he’s the one.”
“Girl, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment with proclamations like that. You gotta take it slow.”
“It’s different this time. He just strolled into my life like he’s always been there. I don’t feel like I’m meeting for the first time at all. Actually, I’m not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Past life?” Eva asks, in no way joking. These two are as woo-woo as they come, and meeting a lover from a past life would be perfectly reasonable to them.
“My mom worked in his father’s house when I was growing up.”
Lana stops mid staple and glares at me. “The house where she died in some tragic ‘accident’ and left you an orphan? I thought the kids of those rich people were worthless and spoiled.”
“No, no,” I say quickly. “It was the house before that one. The one where she got fired for drinking on the job. I think that’s what she got fired for, anyway. She didn’t exactly tell me.”
“Okay, so, this new guy is the son of one of the rich fucks your mom used to clean for, and you lived in his house?”
“Yup. I remembered him, but he didn’t remember me. I actually spotted him when he first transferred to U-Dub a few years back. He was in a lecture class I TA’ed for. I knew the second I saw him he was that kid from the estate. He looked just as lonely as he did back then.”
“And as handsome?”
I shrug. “So, you approve?”
“We approve of you fucking the guy. We’re less sure about you deciding he’s the one and changing your whole life for him. I mean, you’ve already got a lot going on with your magician. Have you told him, by the way?”
“I think he knows after the two of them tag-teamed me the other night.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Eva says.
I can feel her stare, but I don’t turn around. “I’m going to talk to him soon.”
The twins click their tongues disapprovingly in unison.
