'Madam Estrella's Fortune Telling'. We stopped in front of the store and stared at the door.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Y/N?"
"Of course I am. Why, Pete? Are you wimping out?" I teased my best friend. He glared at me.
"Never. Let's go."
We entered the mysterious building. The sound of a bell ringing signaled our presence. A lady behind the desk looked up and smiled. She was dressed much like Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
"Welcome, young children. I am Madam Estrella, teller of fortunes." She introduced herself. "What can I help you two, love birds, with?" She questioned. My face flushed and I almost choked on my spit.
"I-uh- we're not, we're not-" Peter stuttered. I looked at him and saw that he was probably as red as I was right now.
"Uh-we're just friends." I explained. "And we would like to have our fortunes told."
"Hmm." Madam Estrella hummed. "Alright, come in through here." She made a hand gesture for us to follow her.
Now, you must be wondering how we found ourselves at a fortune teller but let me tell you there's a good reason.
Peter and I were sitting on his bed one rainy afternoon. The sound of raindrops falling filled the room as we sat in silence. Peter was doing his homework on one end of the bed and I was reading my horoscope for the day on the other.
"Oh my god, Peter! Look at this!" I squealed, excitedly. Peter laughed at my giddiness and moved to stand beside me. "Look at what my horoscope says today. ' You have a special way of seeing deeper into people's emotions than they show you up front. Don't shy away from following hunches and listening to your intuition.' Hmm, maybe this is a sign that I should talk to James." James was a boy in our grade that I was heavy crushing on. I looked at Peter and saw that he was clenching his jaw, looking quite angry.
"You really believe in that garbage?" He crossed his arms.
"I do." Peter scoffed at my answer. "What?"
"I can't believe you think any of that bullshit is believable. There's no scientific backing to any of it!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
"I think you're just scared that people can predict the future." I sassed. Peter gave me an incredulous look. We always had arguments like this in our 10 years of being best friends.
"They can't predict the future, Y/N. And I'm not scared." He fought back.
"Really? You're not scared?" I taunted him. He bent down to stare me in the eye. I felt my heart beat a little faster. Get yourself together, Y/N. It's just Peter.
"No." He simply said. I glared at him, pushing away the thought of how nice his eyes looked right now.
"Well, then you won't be opposed to join me in an innocent game of jenga. Am I right?" I saw the box of wooden blocks in one of Peter's shelves above his closet. Peter scrunched his eyebrows at me.
"What's the catch?"
"If you win, I won't read any more horoscopes ever again." His eyes lit up. "But if I win, you're coming with me to a fortune teller and we're getting our fortunes told." I smirked as he thought about my proposition.
"You're on."
And that's how I managed to drag Peter with me to a fortune teller with a game of jenga
Madam Estrella brought us into a room with a round table and chairs surrounding it. On top of the table, there was a single crystal ball set in the middle. The whole room was dark and gave an ominous vibe to the whole experience. Peter and I sat beside each other as Madam Estrella sat across from us.
"So, what can I predict for you?" She asked us. I looked at Peter. He gave me a look saying "This was your idea. You do it." I sighed.
"We haven't really thought about what we wanted to know but, um, could you just tell us anything that you can see? About the two of us?"
"Let's see what the crystal ball has in store for you." She then proceeded to make hand gestures around the ball. I looked at her, excitedly. This was something I found all too interesting. Peter scoffed silently which earned him a jab to his side courtesy of me. I saw him glare at me in my peripheral vision. I turned to him and gave him a sunny smile. His hard glare softened when our eyes met. He made a funny face at me which I giggled at. I turned back to Madam Estrella. She was looking at us, thoughtfully.
"Is there anything wrong?" I asked. She smiled at us.
"No, not at all. I have a reading for you." She said. "I see the both of you. Destined to be together and soon enough fate will lead you to who you are intended to be with. Each other." She gestured to the two of us.
Mine and Peter's jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry. What do you mean by "destined to be together"?" Peter asked.
"It means that you are soulmates." I felt my face grow warm. My throat went dry.
"W-we're just friends. Best friends to be exact!" He stuttered.
"Madam Estrella is never wrong, child." She told us in her accented voice. "Now, that will be $5."
We paid her and exited the shop. We walked back to our shared apartment building in silence, both of us still too shocked to say anything. We entered Peter's apartment and sat on the couch, staring at the wall in front of us.
"That was...something." Peter finally spoke up. I laughed at his awkwardness.
"It definitely was. I mean can you imagine us being together?" I definitely can. Shut up, Y/N. My mind argued with itself. "I-It's ridiculous." I cursed myself mentally for stuttering.
"Y-Yeah, r-ridiculous."
