Cassie’s friend wants her to pretend to be a psychic in order to avoid the embarrassment of being caught in a lie. With the help of a bribe, Cassie decides to give it a whirl…
I blew gently on my tea before taking a cautious sip. Viktoria was notorious in the workplace for making scalding brews. Thankfully, this one was hot, but not molten-lava-temperature. At least I always knew the tea would be good once it cooled down enough. Viktoria was also well-known for the perfect cup of tea.
Eying Viktoria across the low coffee table in the staff break room, I took another sip. “You want me to do what?”
“I need you to pretend to be a psychic,” Viktoria said again, looking down at her fidgeting fingers. “Please, Cassie.”
“I’ll start with the most obvious question: why?”
She didn’t look up. “I don’t want to get into the details. Especially not here.”
I glanced around the empty staff room with a raised brow. “I doubt anyone will overhear us and I’m not actually psychic, so you’re going to have to give me something to go on here. What will I be getting myself into if I agree to your crazy request?” I took a larger sip of my tea. It really was one of the best I’d had. Viktoria must be desperate.
She let out a long sigh. “I told one of my friends that I knew a psychic, one of the best in the country. He doesn’t believe that psychics are real, but I boasted that my psychic had predicted my future and everything she’d said had come true so far.”
There was a long pause. “That still doesn’t answer the question,” I eventually prompted.
She groaned and put her face in her hands. “He wanted to know where I’d met this psychic and what her name was. I … I panicked and said the first name that came into my head.”
Rolling my eyes, I put my cup on the coffee table. “Not to claim suddenly being a psychic, but I think I know where this is going.”
“I told him you were the psychic. I’d met you in the workplace and although you were a fantastic psychic, you didn’t make a business out of it because you didn’t believe it was right to continually pester the spirits for information.”
“What? What kind of poppycock is that? Pestering the spirits?” I was glad I’d put my tea down. The urge to throw its contents at my colleague was suddenly overwhelming.
“I’m sorry!” She peeked through her fingers at me. “I didn’t think it would go any further than that, but every time I saw him afterwards, he’d ask what new insights my psychic had told me. I’d tell him something about my life that you had predicted to get him off my back. Before you ask, yes, I have thought about telling him the truth, but it’s gone on for so long now, I don’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of him.”
I shook my head. “Dismissing the fact that you are a complete moron, why do I need to pretend to be a psychic now?”
“He wants to meet this amazing psychic. He wants to see if you’re really as good as I say you are.”
“Not happening,” I said flatly. “You got yourself into this mess, get yourself out. Just tell him the truth.”
She dropped her hands. “Cassie, please! He’s so obnoxious and always has to be right. I don’t want to give him yet another thing to be right about. I’ll buy you that slinky blue dress you’ve been eyeing for months if you do this for me.”
Okay, now I was tempted. “If I agree, all I have to do is meet this guy once, make up some random predictions and be as psychic-like as possible, right? After that, no more Cassie the Psychic.”
“Exactly! I’ll tell him you quit your job or something.”
“That’s a bit extreme, but it’ll work, I suppose. Fine. I’ll do it. But remember, that dress is mine!”
“Thank you, Cassie! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll have the dress delivered to you tomorrow!” she gushed.
I gulped down the last mouthful of tea and rose. It might have been all the talk about being a psychic, but I had a sudden premonition that things were not going to be so simple…
This one could almost be a romance genre novel!
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