I Needed You

22

Colby's pov

"Welcome back, Colby," Aura greeted me as she shuffled cards, "How are you?"

"I could be better," I smiled honestly as I sat down on the bench she had for her clients to sit on.

"Oh," She faked a sympathetic pout, causing me to chuckle, "You poor thing,"

It annoyed me how she belittled my openness towards her, and being that we really didn't know each other well I didn't know if she was serious or not.

"You've been here before. Have you had a reading since?" She continued to shuffle the deck, a rhythmic sound to fill the nearly empty room.

"Just friends who know how to do tarot cards and fun stuff like that," I rested my elbows on the desk, folding my hands in front of me.

"You know the drill. Pick a stack," She ordered quietly, splitting the deck and leaving them in two piles facedown for me to choose.

I chose the second one, and she pushed the other to the side.

"Uh," I cleared my throat, thinking through how I wanted to ask the questions, "I met this girl," I began, "do you know how it's going to work out, or?"

I trailed off, assuming that the less details I gave her, the more she would be able to guess and hopefully get accurate.

She laid a couple of cards out, maybe seven but I didn't look down to count. I watched her eyes, the blank chocolate drops in her eyes leaving me on the edge of my seat internally as I watched them flicker with concentration.

"You've been through a lot," She stated, and I found that quite obvious, "But there shouldn't be a reason that things won't get better," Aura stared at me expectantly, waiting for me to ask the next question.

"Last time you mentioned spirituality," I started, "Do you think I'm closer to God now or at least getting there?"

She pulled four cards, glancing up at me before looking back down and speaking, "Yes and no.  Your brain feels very close to God, yes.  But your heart seems preoccupied, as if it is lost in a foggy corn maze.  But the cards say you'll figure it out soon," She added with a promising smile.

I asked her a few more questions, her answers lengthy but answering everything I needed.

I walked out of there feeling as if I came out of a chiropractor.  I've never been to one before but I'm sure you'd feel loose, and relieved of discomfort.  So that's how I felt.

I climbed into my Corolla, connecting my phone to the aux cord and playing a random mix off Spotify for the ride home.

I didn't know what to expect when I got there as usual.  Who knew who would be there or what was being filmed without my knowledge.  I got no text messages of such notice so I'm guessing the house will be quiet.

I was right.  Sam's Tesla wasn't in its usual spot in front of the house, the only vehicle being Taylor's that hasn't moved since she had her.... incident.

Figuring I'd go check on her after I changed into something more comfortable, I walked up the stairs while checking my notifications, ignoring the ones from social medias.

To my surprise, when I got to my room, Taylor was on my couch, watching Youtube on my TV.  I felt nerves flutter up as I recognized myself on the screen, and knew instantly what she was watching.

"Hi Colby," She gave me a wave without looking at me, instead looking at the video version.

"Hi?" I pointed to the screen as I made my way over to the couch beside her, facing her as she continued to not look at me, "Why are you watching that?"

I hesitated before resting my hand on her thigh, and it instantly shot her eyes from the screen to her leg before meeting my eyes.

"I didn't realize all this happened the night I got back with Alex," She sighed, pointing to the title of the video: I Got Robbed - Part of my 2021 Story.

"It didn't," I reassured her, half with sarcasm as I added, "Like two weeks later,"

"Oh," Taylor stared at me for a moment with her beautiful dark eyes, so different to Aura who I had no interest in, "Whoops. My bad,"

"Don't worry about it," I said with a chuckle, lifting my hand and running it through her hair, careful to not tug on the occasional knot my rings would snag on.

"I usually don't watch your guys' videos," She explained, not reacting to my touch, "I just didn't know what else to watch and then I saw that-" Taylor nodded over to the screen once again, "I was going to apologize because if it wasn't for me holding y'all up it wouldn't have happened, but I was wrong there too. So its fine,"

I didn't understand how she could overthink so much but miss the important details.  It wouldn't have been hard to look at the date on the video, but maybe she did and just assumed I put it up later.

Even though Brian wasn't with us when we got robbed that time.

"You don't need to apologize for anything," I explained quietly, grabbing her hand and caressing her knuckles with my thumb, "I want you to know that I'm so lucky to have you in my life.  It makes me so happy to see you getting so much better every day,"

I was not expecting what she said next.  It was so unlike her, to be rude about compliments I gave her.

"I'm sick of being treated like a child," Taylor stared me dead in the eye as she spoke, "You tell me I'm getting better yet you and all your little henchman-friends hover over everything I do,"

I was taken aback.  I didn't even think that she thought we were being overbearing.  Hell, I don't think even we realized.

But I don't think Sam or I have ever dealt with something like this before.

I couldn't get angry at her, though I felt annoyance bubbling up inside me at the fact that she brushed away my words like they were dust and she were the broom.

"You know what," I squinted at her, trying to show her I really meant what I was telling her, "Let me prove to you that I don't think of you as a child. Come to the Conjuring with me, Kat, Stas and Sam and a friend you have yet to me.  Experience everything. with. me,"

She didn't dare object to the idea.  Not that I wanted her to.