Claire was already planning her escape from the party she’d let herself get talked into attending. She stood near the door and watched everyone else talking to each other, drinking, and playing on their phones. She realized it was too late to escape cleanly when she saw Toni dragging along a woman by the arm, bee-lining straight for her.
“There you are!”, exclaimed Toni as he shoved a mystery drink in a red cup at Claire. “Did you bring your cards?”
Wrinkling her nose a bit at the obvious amount of alcohol in the drink, Claire sighed. “Yeah. I brought them.”, she admitted halfheartedly.
Toni grinned at her. “Great! You gotta do a reading for Hollie, then you can do one for me maybe?”, he said as he excitedly tugged the other woman closer as well.
Hollie stepped forward and offered a hand politely. “I’m Hollie. Just visiting the area and have an interest in paranormal experiences. Toni invited me to come, but don’t feel obligated if you aren’t up to it.”
Claire hesitantly shook Hollie’s hand and then used the excuse of getting her cards from her bag to pass the drink back off to Toni again. She held the white cloth wrapping in her hand for a moment before speaking again. “It’s okay. But just you two and then I really gotta get home.”
“Deal!”, said Toni as he nudged both women toward the kitchen table. The people he cleared out started standing around curiously to see what was going on.
Claire followed along quietly, feeling increasingly nervous as attention turned toward her. “Toni, I’ll start with you to knock the rust off if you don’t mind?”
Hollie took one of the chairs at the table first, resting her hands in her lap. “I think that’s a great idea. I’d love to watch.”
Toni wasn’t about to argue with going first and took a seat across from Claire. “Sure thing. You drunk enough for this? I wanna be sure you’re at top form.”
Claire held up a hand as she spoke. “I’m fine. I took an edible before I got here.”, she said before glancing apologetically toward Hollie. “It helps me, how to put this, bypass the filters my brain otherwise keeps in place. If that makes any sense?”
Hollie nodded as she watched Claire setting up and unwrapping her cards. “No judgment here. Makes total sense to me.”
Claire smiled at Hollie and then tried to focus on the cards in her hand, ignoring the growing group of party-goers who had gone quiet and started to gather around to watch. She shuffled for almost a full minute, and then passed the deck to Toni to cut the cards. “You know the drill: Focus on your intended questions and then hand it back to me when you’re ready.”
As Claire took the cards back from Toni, she started to turn the first one over and lay it on the table in front of her. “Now, I am going to be blunt with you because we’ve done this multiple times.”, stated Claire as she turned a few more cards over.
Claire studied each card as she put it down and then looked over the table as a whole before addressing Toni. “You’re never going to be happy with Steve as long as you’re still sleeping with Greg.”, she said as she indicated the cards.
An exasperated sighing sound was made by Toni as he looked at the cards on the table. “It was only twice. And, that wasn’t what I asked. Are they showing anything about a new job?”
“But that was what was on your mind.”, replied Claire. She gave the cards another look over and then pointed to a couple along the side. “There is a good opportunity here for you, but you’re going to have to fight for it. It won’t just be given to you.”
“Well, there is that.”, Toni admitted. “Guess that means breaking out the ol’ knee-pads, huh? Fine, I can accept that.”
Claire gathered up the cards on the table and started shuffling again as she looked to Hollie, who had been observing quietly from the side. “When I pass these to you, you just think of what you want to know about while cutting them, then hand them back when you’re ready. I don’t know you so I will apologize if it seems weird or vague. If you need me to stop before I say something you don’t want announced to the room, just slap the table with your hand.”
Hollie listened to the instructions and nodded in understanding. “Has that ever happened?”, she asked.
Toni laughed as he patted the back of Hollie’s chair. “Shit, yeah, Claire has almost outted some people before by accident. A few people have gotten really freaked out, too. So if you’re a serial killer or something, you might wanna save yourself the trouble.”
Claire took the cards back from Hollie while frowning a bit at Toni. “I try to keep things vague to avoid any kind of complications from things said aloud in a room full of people. I don’t record anything, and I don’t gossip about it to other people. Are you ready?”
Hollie looked around at the other party guests, some of which were on their phones, but nodded as she looked back to Claire. “I’m good. Go ahead when you’re ready. I don’t think I’ve got anything embarrassing you can blurt out.”
Claire smiled a little and took a deep breath before starting to lay out cards on the table in a circular pattern. She remained quiet until she had a few cards on the table, studying each one carefully. “There’s something about you that others may find funny, but that you hate with a passion.”
Without waiting for a response, Claire started putting down a few more cards. “You’re not here really on your own, but for someone else. Like, work? You’re looking for someone…”, her words trailed off as she looked from one card to another. “But you don’t know who it is. Not for yourself, not like a date, but for who sent you here. But it’s definitely a person you are seeking.”
Hollie looked from the cards on the table to Claire. “Can you tell me if I am close, or something about this person?”
Claire drew a couple more cards off the top of the deck and carefully placed them down next to one another on the table. She frowned without saying anything, and then turned over one more card.
After half a minute of curious stares in her direction, Claire finally found her voice again. “Uhm, you’ve crossed paths with them already.”, she said before starting to gather up the cards off the table. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel good… I’m really sorry. I think I need to go.”
Hollie watched Claire and got up from the chair. “You okay? You need a ride? It’s no trouble.”
Toni took a look at the cards on the table and then at Claire. “Don’t be sorry. Go get some sleep.” He got up from his chair and handed Claire her wrapping cloth. “We can make you give us a private session later.”, he teased.
Claire nervously chuckled and shoved her things in her bag, holding it close as she tried to make her way toward the exit. “I need to stand outside for a minute. I’ll call my ride.”, she said quickly and ducked through the remaining people between her and the front door.