Matched in London

1.

[Trigger Warning: Explicit language and content]
18 +

Kalina didn't believe in psychics. She didn't believe in astrology or tarot or crystals or "Spirit" (aka Wikipedia for the spiritually inclined). Nothing, no one, could predict the future. Not even LA meteorologist Dallas Raines (who Kalina relied on every day to tell her whether or not to skip class and go to the beach) could predict the future, let alone the weather.

Sitting there in the corner of the room, arms crossed, Kalina tried keeping a straight face as her friend Amber sat wide-eyed in front of "Jane the Psychic".

"You're saying I'm pregnant?" Amber's voice was shaking.

Kalina rolled her eyes.

Dumb hoe – should be on birth control for the amount of sex she's been having. But does she listen to her best friend? Of course not.

"No, the child left," replied Jane the Psychic. She pauses for a moment, appearing thoughtful. "Did you take something? Like Plan B?"

"Yes," Amber exhaled.

What woman hasn't taken Plan B? Yeah, real insightful Jane. Thanks.

This thirty-minute session was becoming increasingly painful.

The room Jane the Psychic practiced in was small and could barely accommodate three people. The walls were covered in dreamcatchers, religious iconography and pictures of wolves, lots and lots of wolves.

What was the obsession?

And what was worse, the room reeked of sage.

Kalina sniffed her shirt. Yup, she stunk. The shirt would have to be burned.

"Do you have any other questions my dear?" Jane asked.

Amber shook her head, her strawberry pink hair rippling with the motion. "No, but I think Kalina might want a session."

Kalina waved her hand. "I think I'm good."

"Come on," her friend pressed. "Don't you want to know what's happening between you and –"

She snapped.

"Do not," Kalina growled, her eyes narrowing. "Say his name."

"Kalina..." Amber sounded hurt.

Kalina hated seeing her best friend upset. She closed her eyes, resonating with the pain in her left hand – the hand that she punched Amber's slimy boyfriend with after he left for dead outside a bar.

The pain calmed her. 

"Fine," she grounded out. "But I'm doing this for you, not me."

Amber's smile lit up the entire room – like a ray of sunshine. She bounced up from her chair, grabbed Kalina's right arm and sat her down in her stead. Before Kalina could blink, she was sitting across from "Jane the Psychic".

"Kalina, what would you like to know?" the mystic of all mystics inquired.

Kalina opened her mouth, feeling unsure.

"She wants to know about her romantic relationships," Amber hastily commented.

"I see."

Jane looked at Kalina a moment before closing her eyes and clasping her hands. A thousand bracelets jingled down her forearm. When she opened her eyes a minute later, they were sparkling, like jade.

"You've experienced loss, hmmm? You've been without your love for a really long time, but you relive the loss every day?"

The sentence was a question, not a statement.