Cursed [Book 1] ✔

Chapter 3.2: Good Ol' Scary Boo Bees

The following morning, I met Rafe for more training. He wanted me at the store before opening to show me how to work the register. As such, we both arrived around 10 a.m, with me cautious of the look he held as I crossed the empty parking lot. He waited at the door with two Styrofoam cups.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I left it black. Brought plenty of sugar and creamer, though." He rattled a paper bag.

I loved coffee, but I also loved to be stubborn.

"No thanks," I said.

"Um, all right, but do you think you can hold the cups while I unlock the door?'

I handled the coffee cups as if they were radioactive.

He turned away with knit eyebrows. "You know, I don't remember you being this stuck up."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

I chose not to answer right away. He was my boss, after all.

Door open, we went inside. The usual goblins greeted us with their red LED eyes.

I couldn't bite my tongue for long:

"I am not stuck up."

Just averse to the idea of a man with no future is all.

Of course, I couldn't tell him this without explaining my power. That was a conversation I had only ever had with Rosalind. Not even my mother knew the full extent of my power, or how it worked.

It had crossed my mind that I could have tried reading his future again. However, I was scared at what I might see. Or not see.

"I remember a time when you were friendly. And if I can recall correctly, you used to love coffee," Rafe said. "There was also a time when you loved 'The Wizard of Oz,' and you would have appreciated that front display."

"Did you set it up that way for me?" I asked.

We were in the back office, a tiny space that made our discussion all the more uncomfortable.

"No, why would I do that?" He set one coffee cup on the desk, and slid the other into the trash.

I pretended not to notice. "I don't know. You're the one that brought it up. I haven't liked that movie for a long a time, and there's a reason for that. If you knew me as well as you thought you did, you would have known that, too."

Rafe met my gaze, and I withstood the compulsion to look into his future.

"What's the reason then?" He settled behind the desk.

"I'll tell you if you remove that stupid display."

"On the condition that you help me, sure."

"Well, I am your employee. I'm at your complete and utter disposal." Flirting with him was habit too.

"I'll keep that in mind." He gestured as if to say, now you go.

"Anyway, I hate that movie because...." Was I really about to explain to Rafe the details of Juliet's death and how it had scarred me for life? Did he deserve to know a deep, dark part of me? My mouth decided for me.

"Juliet. I hate that movie because when she died, it was playing in the background. Every time it comes on television, or I see a costume from the movie, it's one more reminder."

I wasn't expecting Rafe to say much after that, but he did. Not to say there wasn't a moment of awkward silence, because there was.

"Wow, okay. So...let's change it to a witch and wizard theme. That's easy enough, right?"