Chapter Twenty-Two
“Cupcake - A small cake baked in a cup-shaped container.
Piper
I couldn’t get the vision out of my head. No matter how hard I tried to distract myself, no matter how much Chinese I ate, I still kept coming back to the picture that only lasted seconds in my brain.
Frankie was going to die.
No, I reminded myself, the future can change. It doesn’t have to happen.
God, please let it change.
Sometimes having the gift of sight didn’t feel like a gift at all.
Many people say they’d rather know when they were going to die…
not me. I don’t want to know. Knowing was too hard.
It was too stressful because then life would be reduced to the ticking of a clock.
Of how many hours, seconds, minutes you had left.
There’s no way you could fit in everything you wanted to do, and I think the knowledge of your impending death would be crippling and keep you from actually living anyway.
Frankie wasn’t just my best friend. She was my family, the person I counted on most, and the only person in this world I really trusted. Since the death of my parents it sometimes felt like it was Frankie and me against the world. I depended on her. If she died I’d be completely alone.
“Piper,” she said, interrupting my worried thoughts. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I mustered a smile. “Yes. I ate way too much.” I put a hand to my stomach like I was about to burst.
“Well, you know what the cure for that is,” Frankie sang, getting up and going into the kitchen.
“Don’t say it,” I warned.
A few seconds later she came out of the kitchen carrying a pink box and a smile. “Sugar!” she exclaimed, pushing some of the half-empty cartons of Chinese out of the way and setting down the box.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.
“Yep.” She flipped open the top of the bakery box and lifted out a perfect-looking cupcake. It had a pink baking wrapper around the bottom, the top was piled high with white icing and pink sugar sprinkles.
I snatched it out of her hand. “You went to The Iced Princess!”
She laughed and reached into the box to get another perfect treat identical to mine. “I figured after everything you’ve been through you need a little royal treatment.”
The Iced Princess was the best bakery in all of Alaska.
It was also way on the other side of town.
In the rich district. Everything in the store was pink.
Pink couches, pink rugs, a pink counter, and it even had a pink crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
They had a big poster just inside the door that read: The Iced Princess: Where everyone gets the royal treatment.
The place was so popular she usually had a line around the corner by the time she opened the doors at eleven o’clock every day.
It was one of my favorite places in town, but we rarely went because it was so far and because it was definitely not cheap.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I said as she reached under the box and pulled out a DVD. Magic Mike. It was a movie about a bunch of male strippers who basically paraded around in very little clothing the entire time. Or so I heard.
“I figured we princesses needed a little bit of naughty to go with our nice,” Frankie said, waiving it around in front of my face.
Tears sprang to my eyes as I clutched the cupcake in my hand.
She sighed and set the movie down on the table, then placed her cupcake on top of it. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I shook my head and blinked back the tears. “It’s nothing. I just love you is all. Thank you for all of this.”
“Well, it isn’t flowers,” she said, glancing at my bouquet.
“It’s better,” I whispered.
“Oh, don’t start blubbering,” she said, getting up from the couch to put in the movie. “No tears on girls’ night.”
I swallowed and the vision replayed in my mind.
Frankie lying on the floor, her glassy eyes staring upward—seeing nothing. The curls of her blond bob created a halo and her face was pale except for her red lips.
There was no blood.
There was no screaming or crying.
There was no sense of urgency.
I remembered nothing about the background or her surroundings—only her and the overwhelming sense of sadness and loss.
How would I live with that image forever burning a hole in my mind?
What would I do without her?
I blinked and looked up when I felt a hand on my arm.
“I know something’s wrong. That vision was bad, wasn’t it? That’s why you’re upset.”
“Upset? How could I possibly be upset?” I said. “I got the entire day off, a delivery of flowers, Chinese food, the best cupcakes ever, and I’m about to watch a thoroughly entertaining movie with my favorite person in the world.”
She nodded her head once. “You got it good girl. And to make it even better, I propose a slumber party.”
“We haven’t had one of those since high school.”
“We’re overdue.” She grinned, but I saw the brief cloud of worry in her eyes. She only wanted to sleep over to be certain I was all right.
I liked the idea of having her here tonight. I might not worry as much. I nodded. “That would be fun.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know.” She grabbed her cupcake and settled back onto the couch, picking up the remote to start the movie. Just as the credits were rolling on the screen, she hit the pause button.
“Oh, I forgot. Some guy came by to see you earlier.”
“A guy?” I asked, automatically thinking of Dex. “Was he wearing glasses?”
She shook her head. “Nope. And he looked like a Ken doll. Perfect hair, clothes, and teeth.”
“Well, that’s not Dex,” I mumbled to myself and Frankie laughed. “But he is good looking,” I added.
“Well, he can definitely pick out flowers.” We both looked at the daisies.
“Anyway, it was before you got here with the food and I answered the door. He must’ve thought I was you because he was being all slick and charming.
When he called me Piper, I laughed and told him he had the wrong girl.
Turns out Ken isn’t so perfect after all.
All that charm went right out the window.
He was arrogant, sarcastic, and rude,” she said with a how dare he tone to her voice.
“I took great pleasure in throwing him out.”
I laughed. “What did he want?”
“I have no idea. He was probably selling a vacuum and when he figured out I wasn’t buying he decided he didn’t have to be nice.”
“Well, I’m glad you had to deal with him and not me,” I said, using my finger to swipe some of the icing and pink sugar off the top of the cupcake. It melted the second it hit my tongue.
“Yes, well, I figure since I had the job of tossing him out I deserve two cupcakes.” She leaned forward to pull out another cake and held them both up, one on each side of her face, and grinned.
“There better be another one in that box for me.”
“You know it, sister,” she sang, then looked at the TV. “Now hit play. I wanna see some abs!”
I hit play and with the help of some very hot guys and some tasty dessert, I was able to forget about the vision. Even still, I knew the time would come when I would begin to worry again.