Destiny Gift (The Everlast Trilogy) - By Juliana Haygert Page 0,3

brilliant blond hair neatly combed into a bob and silver eyes. She was wearing one of her impeccable suits, a to-die-for designer purse, and matching shoes. She was now thirty-two years old, and I had asked her at least twenty times why she hadn’t become a model instead of a psychologist.

Before going to the psychiatrist’s office—and running away from it—I considered talking to Cheryl about my visions. I’d given up when I realized she was one of the few friends I had and couldn’t afford for her to think I was crazy. She might never come to see me again. That thought scared me.

“Hello there.” Cheryl smiled and patted the chair beside hers. I glanced around. Adam was busy and my manager was nowhere I could see. “Is spring semester over?” she asked as I sat.

“Not yet. One more exam tomorrow, then it’s over.”

Being accepted into NYU with financial aid made it possible for someone like me, who came from a poor background, to get a good diploma. Since it was rare to get financial aid to such an esteemed school, I figured my education should be the priority in my life.

“Deserved vacation, huh?” Cheryl munched the cupcake with inexplicable grace. Somehow she never got crumbs down her blouse the way everyone else did.

“Vacation?” I chuckled with a forced dreadful tone. “I’ll be working full time during the next two weeks, till summer classes start.”

“I get that you have to work.” She folded her napkin neatly, and I wondered if she had been a princess or a queen in a previous life. “So why not get a job doing what you like?”

“Like singing? In a bar?” I was in the pre-health program, but my true dream was to sing for a living. My voice was good, but I’d chosen a career path that would give me stability and guaranteed money. I felt like I owed it to my parents, like I should do this to please them, to give them a better life when they got older. They’d sacrificed so much for me, and now it was my turn.

“I bet it pays better than waiting tables at the university café.”

I glanced through the large windows and sighed. It was midafternoon and the streets were already too dark, too full of creepy figures lingering outside the campus walls. I couldn’t risk working until late at night, having a vision in the middle of a street, and waking up robbed or raped or being attacked by a bat.

So I offered my second excuse. “Most of my classes are early in the morning. I would never be able to keep up with them singing late at night.”

“That makes sense.” A slight crease appeared between her salon-perfect brows. “But you could work with something that added to your resume.”

“Like work in a medical facility?”

“I saw an opening for a Patient Care Technician at Langone in the newspaper and remembered you have that certificate.”

“I do.”

“I bet they have regular shifts.” Her gaze fixed on mine, as if she were trying to spy on my soul. “So, what’s holding you here?”

Without a good answer for her, I shrugged.

“Promise you’ll at least look into the position.”

I knew she wouldn’t rest until I agreed. “I promise.”

Her eyes gleamed in victory before she abruptly changed subjects. “Now, why didn’t you go out last week?”

I gaped. “Raisa put you up to this, didn’t she?” My naughty roommate loved a good party and she never understood my reasons for skipping them.

“She’s looking out for you. You’re young and beautiful. You should go out more.”

“No.” I raised my hand in protest. “Not you too, please.”

“Someday you’ll meet a guy who will rock your world. He’ll ask you out and you’ll barely be able to mutter a yes.”

“We’ll see,” I said, my mind yearning to meet with Victor in a vision. I missed him so much. I imagined him by my side, drinking coffee before my classes, his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

I glanced at Cheryl. While I imagined Victor with me in real life, I had never seen Cheryl with anyone. During the time I’d known her, she’d never mentioned a boyfriend, or talked about her family and friends. I’d never tried pushing her to tell me though. Who was I to demand the facts of her private life when I didn’t share all of mine with her?

She stood, bringing me to the present. “I gotta work too, you know. See you later.” After throwing me a kiss