Think of the Devil

Twenty-Two

"You've never seen The Exorcist?" Jane almost shouted. "But you love movies. How did you miss out on such a classic?" She turned her gaze from her box of Halloween decorations towards Angélica.

The girl shrugged beside her, taking a sip from her coffee. "Papá gets freaked out by movies like that."

"Movies like what? Like horror movies?" Jane questioned, grabbing a garland of small plastic pumpkins and leaves.

"Nah, like religious stuff," she explained. She took a seat on the couch as she stared down at her phone. "Things like demons and possessions scare the shit out of him."

"Language," Jane scolded. She turned to her front door, grabbing a couple thumbtacks on the way. "And why are you sitting? You're supposed to be helping me."

"You're the one who's excited about Halloween," Angélica muttered. Her thumbs started tapping on the screen at a fevered pace.

The telepath couldn't help but wander into the teen's thoughts. As she hung the garland above the door, she watched Angélica's perspective on her phone. She was busy typing away a message to Rosalyn, a giddy feeling in her stomach. Jane tried not to pay too close of attention, but she did notice that they were talking about meeting up soon.

Returning to the bin of Halloween decorations, Jane considered how to approach the subject. It was something she'd been meaning to talk about, but she had to be careful on how to do it. Obviously she shouldn't know anything about this mysterious girlfriend, but she still wanted to ask. In her line of work, she had this dilemma pretty often. Fortunately for her, that meant she had a lot of experience with playing dumb.

"Who are you texting?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light. "Ysabel? I haven't seen her stop by the shop in a while. How is she?"

Angélica gave Jane a sideways glance, her anxiety picking up slightly. "Uh... yeah. I'm talking to Ysabel."

Raising an eyebrow, Jane pulled a plastic jack-o-lantern from the box. "And?"

"And... We're just talking about school," she lied. "She's been busy with her AP classes."

Jane hummed, walking past the couch to set the fake pumpkin on her coffee table. She'd have to try something else. Moving to sit in her chair, she asked, "Oh yeah, how did that art project go?"

The girl's anxiety spiked again as she looked over. (Does she know something?) Deflecting, she remarked, "What is this, twenty questions?"

Shrugging her shoulders, the psychic feigned ignorance. "I can't ask you about your life anymore?"

Angélica sat up, sliding her phone under her leg. "I guess," she said awkwardly.

"I'm not trying to interrogate you," Jane said, holding her hands up. "It's just that we've both been pretty busy lately. I'm trying to catch up, you know?"

It took a beat, but Angélica's head turned away. Her anxiety morphed into a kind of shame, one that echoed what Jane had felt when she'd been more withdrawn. "I'm sorry," the girl whispered.

"Don't be," Jane soothed. She reached up to grab her own cup of coffee from the table. "You just turned sixteen, you're a junior now. I'm glad you're busy with your friends and stuff. But I might want you to catch me up on things when I get some time with you, okay?"

Angélica nodded, a small smile on her lips. "That kind of goes both ways. Papá told me that you went out last week. Said you were all dressed up and everything." (Haven't seen that in a while.)

Rolling her eyes, Jane hid a smile behind her cup of coffee as she took a sip. "Something like that."

"I'm kind of mad I didn't get to see it," the teenager joked. "When you first moved in, I remember you going out all the time in that jacket with all those patches. I thought you were so cool." (I still do.)