Chapter Text
Charlotte raised her head from the open book on her lap, and directed her gaze towards the attractive voice she heard ordering “A coffee, black, no sugar”. She knew she had heard it before, quite recently… but where? She laid her eyes on the handsome man making himself comfortable in the nearby design chair, and she recognized him right away.
What a coincidence… He was not one of the usual customers in the Coffee&Book café. At least, she had never seen him there before.
Her curiosity about what transpired the last time she saw him was too strong, so as soon as the waitress left, she tilted her upper body in his direction and addressed him using a low tone that was almost a whisper. “Excuse me… I am sorry to bother you, but… you were at the fortune-teller performance on Saturday, right? At the civic center?”
He nodded and gave her a polite smile. A light blush on his cheeks made Charlotte notice his embarrassment, and she could totally understand it; that psychic lady really made a spectacle of him. She picked him out of the audience, summoned him to the small stage, and exposed him in and out to the astonished public. “I hope you don’t mind, but I sensed your uneasiness a while ago, when I was still in my dressing room…” she dramatically explained, fixing her pupils onto his “and I need to give you peace of mind”.
Clearly uncomfortable with the situation, he could do nothing but cooperate and let her do. The lady took his hand and focused on studying his palm. “This short line here represents the abrupt end of your most recent relationship. You were disappointed and although you’ve been trying to convince yourself that she was the one, the truth is that you never expected much from her, and you are more than ready to turn that page...“
The fortune-teller closed her eyes and softened her expression. “You must raise your head and look around. I can not see the whole face, but I can tell you that a beautiful smile is waiting for you, and a baby boy will be born to call you dad very soon” she opened her eyes, and continued examining his hand. “You are lucky, I haven’t seen that many happy futures in my life… and yours is at the tip of your fingers, Sa… uhmmm, Si…” she squinted her eyes, doubting on his name “Sidney?”
“Yes, my name is Sidney” he quickly answered, trying to escape the spotlight.
The audience gasped, and the surprise in his face was memorable. Any doubt Charlotte held about him being part of the cast vanished at that second.
The seer drank some water, and continued, “You have a lot going on in your life, but other people in the public require my attention… I can’t let you go without a warning, though: you need to stop this family member who is an energy vampire” she said, placing her finger on a certain point in his palm.
Sidney looked terribly anxious about what she would reveal next, and at that moment Charlotte understood why they had been requested to sign a form, allowing the show to divulge private or sensitive information. She braced herself and hoped that her uninteresting life would keep her safe from the psychic.
“Is it a brother perhaps? I sense how he is feeding on your willingness to listen and care for him, making you feel exhausted and overwhelmed…” she insisted. Sidney assented, without losing his composure, but his stern glare made clear to the lady that he had had enough.
He thanked her as he got up. And while the public clapped and the performer chose her next guest, Charlotte’s gaze followed Sidney, who was striding towards the exit of the humble theater.
“You missed the rest of the performance… the fortune-teller fell exhausted on the table after deconstructing her last victim…” Charlotte bantered, giving him a reassuring smile. That comment made the corners of his lips turn up, and she felt welcomed to go on. She rocked her chair further back, “May I ask you something?”
Sidney shrugged his shoulders, and answered playfully, “Go ahead, although I may disappoint you. My life, problems, and hopes are quite ordinary, regardless of what that lady made it look like”.
His remark made her laugh. “I just wonder… What do you think of her observations? Was she right? And, how does she do it?”
He gestured at the chair in front of him. “Would you like to join me? I have found myself giving it a lot of thought since it happened… and perhaps you saw something else”.
Without thinking twice, she accepted the invitation, and resolutely returning her chair to the right position, she closed her book, and moved her things to his table.
“Hi Sidney, I am Charlotte”, she spontaneously extended her hand to shake his, and surprised him by remembering his name “...and I can’t help my nosey nature”.
However, after detecting a self-satisfied male grin starting to form, she nervously added, “Someone will pick me up soon, so I hope I am not giving you the wrong impression…”
He quickly faked a poker face, shook his head and held up his hands innocently. “No 'wrong' impression received”.
It had been a while since she had met someone so amusing, and Charlotte rewarded him with her broader smile. “Perfect" she approved. "Now, enlighten me”, she said teasingly, moving her chair closer to him.
Sidney cleared his throat, and pushed away the fortune-teller’s vision of his love life, which had suddenly become real in front of him. “Well, Charlotte… I had never had that type of experience before, and to answer your first question: yes, her accuracy threw me off” he admitted.
“…and after going over and over the details, I’ve come to the conclusion that she is a great combination of actress, detective, psychologist, and sociologist…” he explained. "She is extraordinarily talented at making people out. Using her experience, and perhaps studies, she can intelligently guess anyone's worries and hopes. And the thorough scrutiny of her guest -age, sex, clothes, accent… - helps her to draft a story that she modulates as she closely reads his reactions.”
Charlotte assented, furrowing her brow. “And she uses her domain of the language to disguise facts as if they were opinions… Uhmm" she rubbed her chin. "She may even have an assistant, that spies the public, and helps prepare her game… However, it still amazes me that she could do such a convincing job”.
He nodded “Agree… although, I think she overdid it when she guessed my name. That led me to think that she probably did some research on the audience, since we had to sign up online”.
“Oh, my!” Charlotte laughed, and covered her mouth, embarrassed by her naivety.
“May I ask you why did you go the show?” Sidney inquired, giving her a charming side smile.
Charlotte blushed: “Well, I don't have any interest in the occult, if that is what you wonder... I am working on my particular ‘Just say yes’ challenge… so, when someone offered me the pamphlet, I couldn’t say no”.
“How about you?” she asked him back, hoping to get away from giving him further explanations.
And Sidney seemed to take the bait: “Mine is quite a pathetic story. My ex-girlfriend bought the tickets many weeks ago, when we were still together… and I attended, per inertia I guess, or perhaps hoping that she would show up…”
“Awww… I am sorry” she tilted her head, studying his expression.
“Thanks, but I am much better now” he shrugged. “I must admit that somehow that seer managed to liberate me from her…” he candidly shared.
“... and gave you a happy future to think of!” Charlotte finished his sentence.
They smiled at each other in silence, until a sudden knock at the window ended the moment.
“Oh, my family came for me…” she said, standing up quickly. “Goodbye, Sidney! It's been nice meeting you!”
“Goodbye, Charlotte” he gave a friendly hand wave, and watched her leave the bookstore café. Through its large window, he observed her crouching down to hug two identical little girls, and then jumping to her feet to give an affectionate peck on the cheek of a handsome guy that laced his arm around hers.
“What the…” Sidney murmured to himself.