Alive
Chapter Twelve
Catriona finished arranging the bags of crystals on the shelf and stepped back, surveying her work. She
heard the bell above the door ring, and turned around to see JC walking inside.“Hi,” JC said.
Catriona flashed a small smile briefly at him. “Hi.”
“How are you?”
“Not bad. You?”
“A lot better now that I’ve talked to Faith. Did she tell you we’ve talked?”
“Yeah, she did. I’m glad you two were able to talk. She seems a lot happier now.”
“I don’t blame her for being upset and hating me. I think I’d hate me too.”
“Did you hate yourself?”
“Yeah, actually I did,” JC said softly.
“You shouldn’t, you know. Hating yourself is bad.”
“It’s worse than hating others,” JC agreed.
Catriona looked at him as she climbed a ladder so she could put more bolts of cloth on some shelves. “I
suppose that’s a vague reference to my hatred for jocks.”“I never said that.”
“But you hinted at it.”
“What if I did?”
“You probably want to know why I hate them so much.”
“You have a talent for putting words in people’s mouths.” JC grinned. “Have you always been like that?”
“I have a talent for guessing what people mean when they say things. No, I haven’t always been like that.
I only recently gained my talent for guessing at hidden meanings.”“I still say you’re good at putting words in people’s mouths.”
“Call it what you will, we both know I was right in guessing the meaning behind your words.”
“Are you going to answer the question that is supposedly the meaning of my words?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Why I dislike jocks is a personal concern, not something I want to tell people.”
“Okay, that’s cool. I was just wondering if you would tell me.” JC looked up at her. “Will you go on a date
with me?”Catriona blinked and looked down at him, her hair falling in her face. “Huh?”
“Will you go on a date with me?” JC repeated.
Catriona raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me on a date?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously, are you asking me on a date?”
“Yes, Cat- that’s what you go by, right?- I am.”
“Yeah, I go by Cat. My name’s Catriona, but everyone calls me Cat.” Catriona climbed off the ladder and
looked at JC. “You’re serious about asking me out?”“What, is it that hard to believe I’m serious?”
“Yes. You’re a jock- one of the people I dislike. What the hell am I supposed to assume with you asking
me out?”“I’m dead serious. Will you go out with me?”
“I’ll have to check my schedule, see if I have any time between all of my other dates, and get back to you.”
“I went through all of that just so you could tell me you’ll check your schedule and get back to me?”
Catriona laughed. “Yep.”
“That is just unfair.”
Catriona looked at him again, a twinkle in her eye. “I was joking with you.”
JC grinned. “I know.”
“Sure you did.”
“I did!”
“Uh huh, and you expect me to believe that because?”
“I’m cute and hot and you’re going to go to dinner with me Friday night.”
“No, I’m not. I’m working Friday. I can go Saturday, though.”
“I’m working until six, so how about eight?”
“You need two hours to get ready? Damn. You take longer than some women.”
“I don’t need two hours,” JC defended himself. “I just want to relax a little after work..”
“Sure you do.”
“You’re harsh, you know.”
“A girl’s allowed to be.”
JC shook his head.
Catriona laughed at him.
*~*~*
“Wade, I’m not helping you anymore,” JC told his ‘friend’.
“Now helping with what?” Wade demanded.
“With your little plan to bring down Cat and her friends.”
“You don’t help, Chasez, well, you just won’t be part of the crowd anymore.”
“Whatever man, I don’t care anymore.”
Wade watched with narrowed eyes as JC walked away. “You’re going down, Chasez. You’re fucking
going down.”*~*~*
Catriona flipped the cards over one by one, in the simple Celtic Cross spread, consulting her book every
now and then. She always had been terrible with remembering what they all meant.“The High Priestess,” she whispered. “That’s me. The King of Swords, representing-” she glanced at the
book here- “representing ‘an intelligent man in a position of trust’; mature; dark hair and eyes’. Sounds close
enough to JC, I suppose.” She flipped over the next card, and stared at it. “The Lovers. Well, no need to check the book there. The Wheel of Fortune, reversed. I remember that one. Bad luck and unpleasant situations. Then The Moon, also reversed. Hmm, I wonder,” she mused, flipping through the book until she found the page she was looking for. “This isn’t good. ‘Unforeseen perils, lies, and terrible risks. Hidden enemies lurk.’ I’ll have to keep my wits about me. And now, the last card.” She flipped it over. “Damn, this is not a good spread for me. The Devil. Unyielding power, tyranny, lust, and greed. I wonder if this could be telling me something about JC.” Catriona gathered all of the cards together and shuffled them once more before returning them to the box. “I’ll have to keep my eyes open and watch for anything suspicious about him.”{A/N: The Tarot card reading above is nothing like what a real reading is. I just messed with a reading so I could
get all of the information I needed into one.}