Think of the Devil

Sixteen

Jane slid one of the pizza boxes down the counter towards Angélica. "You never told me what project you were working on the other day."

The girl straightened up on her stool behind the counter. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Raising a brow, Jane looked between her and Alberto. "The other night, Alberto said you went to a friend's house to work on some project for school."

"Oh, right," she mumbled. Internally, Angélica was screaming (Shit, shit, shit!), and it piqued the psychic's interest. What was she hiding?

The teenager took a long sip of her soda before answering. "I had to work on that art project. Remember? We went to the High Line so I could take pictures?"

Jane nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly. She was suspicious, but she tried to keep her tone neutral. "I remember. I thought that was a solo project?"

She visibly gulped. "Yeah, it was. But my friend wanted to show me a new way to edit photos."

"Which friend was it again? I forgot," Alberto asked before he took a bite of his pizza, completely oblivious to the undertone of the conversation.

(Rosalyn.) "Uh, Ysabel. Remember, you met her when she came to my quinceañera?"

Jane's face betrayed her, so she turned her frown towards her lap to hide it. Angélica was lying. Why would she do that?

As the father and daughter spoke, Jane focused on taking a peek into her thoughts. Maybe it was invasive, but she felt like she had to. As someone who'd been a teenage girl once, she knew to expect that Angélica would start lying about things one day. But it still caught Jane off guard, and she wanted to make sure that the girl wasn't in trouble.

The teenager was thinking about the other night now, remembering how it went. She really had gone to Ysabel's house for a couple hours, so it wasn't a total lie. But once the dark had totally settled into the night, she left and made her way to a subway station, taking it up to Harlem. There she met a girl about the same age, presumably Rosalyn, and Jane could feel her excitement when the two embraced. Her eyebrows raised into her forehead when Angélica flushed as she remembered the kiss they exchanged next.

Angélica was seeing someone? No wonder she was lying about it. But she'd taken the train all the way to Harlem to see this girl, and she hadn't told anyone where she was going. They didn't know anything about this girl Rosalyn, and while Angélica was fairly street smart she was still only sixteen. Such a young, small girl alone at night in New York sent a shiver down Jane's spine. How was she supposed to bring it up, though?

She didn't want to make the girl feel bad for seeing someone. Why hadn't she just come out and said something, though? It's not like other Alberto or Jane would have a problem with her starting to date, as long as Rosalyn was a decent person of course. But sneaking out to Harlem? How had they even met? Maybe if they could meet this girl, talk to her parents--

(Are you busy?)

Jane almost jumped when she heard Matt's voice. She glanced around as if he would be in the shop with them, even when she knew he wouldn't be. Alberto and Angélica were still talking, so she slowly raised herself from her seat and started towards the stairs. Under her breath, she muttered, "Give me a sec."

"Where are you going?" Alberto asked.

She was halfway between the counter and the stairs now. "Oh, I uh, have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"You can use the one down here," Angélica commented.

Shit. What was she supposed to say? "Well, I um..." She glanced back and forth. "I'm having, uh, girl problems. You know?"