Love or Lust?
Chapter 9
Tina stared at Alex as she thought about what had just been said. Tina felt more than just a bit nervous because her mom had a confused look on her face. Her mom never looked confused or at the very least never showed it. Finally as Emma brought in their drinks, Alex let out a sigh.
“That’s just not possible dear,” Alex said as she took a sip of her tea, “No normal human can block out a psychic like that. She has to be a psychic.”
“She doesn’t feel like a psychic,” Tina said in frustration, “Even you can’t hide the feelings I get when I’m aware of you. I know when someone is a psychic and this Samantha girl isn’t.”
“And I’m telling you that’s impossible,” Alex’s voice got a little more firm, “Normal humans can’t block psychics. Not without extensive help anyways, but that kind of help has severe side effects and this Samantha doesn’t seem to be suffering from any of them.”
“Alright,” Tina let out a sigh, “If she is a psychic, why hasn’t she just taken Allan then? Surely she would be able to feel his love for me and knows it’s unlikely she’ll get him. You said yourself that psychics in love go crazy and do whatever they can to get it back.”
“That’s only if they’ve felt love directed at them,” Alex took another sip, “Odds are she just loves him and wants him to love her back. She probably saw a couple like your father and I once and wants it for herself. Thinking back she thought of Allan, decided to give it another go, and make that kind of relationship.”
Tina did her best not to show anger or project it. It was becoming increasingly difficult with how stubborn her mother was being, “Mom, something isn’t right. I just want you to find her and check her out. Make sure something really weird isn’t going on.”
“I have every intention of doing that dear,” Alex said calmly, “This town belongs to our family. A psychic just showing up and trying to claim my daughters boyfriend is not acceptable. I’ll be going tomorrow morning to find Samantha. I’ll get a read on her and make a decision from there. So far she hasn’t made any hostile moves and I would really like to keep it from coming to that.”
“Thanks mom,” Tina moved forward and gave her mom a hug.
“Get to bed now dear,” Alex replied after returning the hug, “Tomorrow is the last day of your testing. I want you feeling fully refreshed.”
Allan yawned as he headed for his morning shower. After knocking he carefully opened the door and took a peek inside. Cindy was known to not answer the door and just let him walk in. After confirming the coast was clear, Allan quickly moved inside and locked the door. Another habit of Cindy’s was to just walk in on him while he was inside without knocking first. Allan figured he might finally get a chance to have a shower without too much trouble.
As Allan opened the shower curtain though, he found Cindy laying in it completely naked except the mp3 player she was listening to, “Cindy!”
“Hey Allan,” Cindy replied smiling, “Wanna take a bath together?”
“Alright Cindy,” Allan took a deep breath and decided to try and tackle his problem from another angle, “Why are you so adamant on having sex with me?”
“Because you look so cute when frustrated,” Cindy stood up, pinched Allan on the cheek, and then kissed him on the forehead, “That and I never really had anyone reject me before. It’s a big insult to my pride.”
“Alright out,” Allan grabbed a towel and began to force Cindy out of the bathroom, making sure he touched only safe areas.
“Oh come on Allan,” Cindy smiled seductively, “It’s not like your brother is going to care. We cheat on each other all the time in this relationship. I can promise to make you feel real good.”
“I have a very wonderful girlfriend thank you,” Allan said as he got Cindy out the door, “Even if she would let me have the same kind of relationship you have with my brother, I still wouldn’t have any intention of sleeping with you. So can you please stop trying?”
“Not a chance,” Cindy smiled as she wrapped the towel around her and headed towards Gregg’s room.
“Still having problems with Allan’s ex?” Wendy asked as she sat next to Tina, “You look very stressed out.”
“I think I saw her this morning,” Tina answered as she frowned, “I know it’s not like Allan will just rush back to her arms at the first chance he gets, he’s already had plenty of opportunity to do that. I am concerned that she might get desperate though.”
“Sounds like a matter best left to police,” Wendy stretched in her desk, “I know if Allan was my boyfriend then I would give them a call. Does Allan know that she’s still in town?”
Tina leaned back and took a deep breath. Allan had suspicions that Samantha was still around, but so far Samantha still hadn’t revealed herself to him. He was beginning to think that she had actually listened to him and left town. Tina desperately wished for that to be true, she wouldn’t be having so many problems then.
“I don’t think so,” Tina began chewing on her pencil, “Allan is horrible at hiding secrets, if he knew she was still in town he wouldn’t be able to hide it.”
“I guess he does look like the type that can’t keep a secret. Moving on though, I managed to clear it with my parents to use the vacation house. They have no intention of going to Florida this year, so that means we will have the whole place to ourselves when we go.”
“I know Allan’s looking forward to it,” Tina grinned, “I got myself a sexy little red suit that I know will drive him crazy. I’m going to make sure that this summer is the best of his life.”
“Very nice,” Wendy giggled, “I’m going to use my blue swimsuit from last year. I think it still fits.”
“That’s not like you to use something used,” Tina looked deep into Wendy’s thoughts. Wendy was actually wanting to wear something conservative so she didn’t tempt Allan. Tina grinned as she reached in and began messing with Wendy’s thoughts, “Besides that blue swimsuit doesn’t look all that great on you. You need something that shows more skin. How about we go to the mall this afternoon and get you something better?”
Wendy didn’t offer much resistance since her attraction to Allan was still very much alive. She began grinning as Tina’s suggestions took hold, “Oh alright, I guess I could use something better.”
Allan yawned as he walked towards his house. Tina told him that she was going out shopping with Wendy and that he could actually use the exercise. He wondered if Tina was going to make him start working out to gain muscle. Start turning him into a jock or something. He quickly shook off the idea as Tina didn’t seem to be interested in looks. She was probably just looking out for his health.
“Looks like you could use a ride,” A familiar voice said from beside him.
“Samantha,” Allan grumbled, “I thought you had left town already.”
“You really thought I would give up that easy,” Samantha said a bit confused, “I told you I’m here to make you keep your promise. Now hop in and I’ll give you a ride. We can talk on the way home.”
“No thanks,” Allan shifted his backpack into a more comfortable position, “I’m fine walking.”
“You wouldn’t say that if I was Tina,” Samantha said with a bit of anger.
Allan let out a sigh, “Of course not. She’s my girlfriend. Now can you please go and leave me alone?”
“I’m afraid not,” Samantha said as Allan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck, “I’m sorry it had to come to this, but I’m not letting you get away this time.”
“What did you...” Allan turned to see a mischievous look in Samantha’s eyes as he began to black out.
“So what do you think?” Wendy held up two hot pink swimsuits that would better qualify as strips of cloth.
“I dunno,” Tina grinned, “I like them both.”
“You sure about that?” Wendy held one up to her body, “I’m willing to bet Allan might be tempted if he sees me in one of these. Not that I would mind, but I really don’t want to steal him from you.”
Tina suppressed a giggle. If only Wendy knew the plans she had for her, “You look fine Wendy. Allan’s not going to betray me. Besides, what’s wrong with giving Allan a bit of eye candy? It will give me plenty of excuse to punish him if he stares too long.”
“You’re evil,” Wendy grinned as she put both swimsuits into her basket.
“Hey girls,” Two young college boys said as they approached.
‘Oh no’ Tina thought as she read their minds ‘I don’t want to deal with this.’
“Picking out swimsuits for summer I see,” one of the boys said as he circled around to trap them, “Want some advice?”
“No thanks,” Tina said aggressively shooting them looks of anger, “Go find someone else to hit on you losers.”
“Now that’s not polite,” the two boys stepped in closer. Tina could smell the cheap cologne they were wearing. It was sickening.
“I don’t care,” Tina stood up straighter. Wendy seemed to slouch down trying to stay unnoticed and avoid trouble, “Leave us alone or you’ll be sorry.”
“Now now,” one of the boys put his hand on Tina, “No need to get violent. We just want to have a bit of fun that’s all.”
It was the final straw. Tina reached in and began messing with their heads. Instantly the boy took his hand off of Tina and blinked for a few seconds. For a moment Tina thought she had gone too far and they noticed her intrusion. However they accepted her commands without question and turned around to began to leave.
“Come on dude,” one of them said, “Let’s finds some girls who aren’t such prudes.”
“That was so cool,” Wendy suddenly said excited, “I had no idea you could do that.”
Tina swallowed hard as she looked into Wendy’s thoughts. The boys may have not noticed what she did, but there was some overflow that Wendy noticed. She even managed to trace it back to Tina. Taking a few deep breaths, Tina tried to collect herself.
“You noticed didn’t you?” Tina asked trying to appear calm.
“Yeah,” Wendy said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “How long have you been able to do that?”
“Awhile,” Tina replied vaguely. The less Wendy knew the better, she didn’t want another Alice, “You don’t seem freaked out by it though.”
“Should I be?” Wendy wrapped her arm around Tina’s shoulders, “Yeah it’s a unique power, but you don’t seem to be using it for evil. You just protected me there while I cowered in fear. I’m just a little upset that you’ve never told me about it before.”
“Wendy listen,” Tina said softly, “This isn’t the kind of thing you tell people about. They tend to freak out about it and before long you wind up in some top secret facility. Can you please keep this a secret for me?”
“Tinaaaa...” Wendy complained.
“Wendy,” Tina said more seriously, “This is important to me. As a friend, can you keep this a secret for me?”
Wendy lowered her head submissively. Tina could tell that Wendy was going to be good. Just to be sure though she gently nudged her mind, “Alright Tina, I guess I can do that for you.”
“Thanks Wendy,” Tina gave Wendy a friendly hug and let out a sigh of relief, “I knew I could count on you.”
“Now that I know I got one question for you,” Wendy said as she broke the hug, “Did you make Allan love you? I gotta say, your relationship seems way to weird for it to happen naturally.”
“I can’t make people love me,” Tina answered, “Emotions are a tricky thing to manage. I can give some commands and make people feel sensations. That’s about it.”
“Oh cool,” Wendy grabbed her basket and headed for the checkout lane, “You’re going to have to tell me more in the car.”
“I’ll tell you what I can,” Tina shrugged her shoulders. She would feign as much ignorance as she could about her powers. As much for Wendy’s safety as well as her own.
Allan woke up to some blurry images. He was in a small motel room of some sort. As his vision began to clear he could see Samantha folding up some clothes and putting them into a suitcase. She seemed very distressed as she hurriedly did her task.
“It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this,” Samantha said to herself, “You promised yourself you wouldn’t do this Samantha. You would get Allan to love you and then live happily ever after. You weren’t supposed to go crazy like this again.”
Allan tried saying something, but found his mouth was filled with something cloth. He also could feel some tape covering his lips. Everything came out muffled.
“Oh hi Allan,” Samantha said calmly, “I guess that drug wears off quicker than expected. I figured we would be halfway to Mexico by the time you woke up.”
Allan tried screaming as he attempted to escape. Samantha however was very thorough as Allan found his hands and feet tied securely to the chair. His screams were plenty loud enough, but unless someone was very close by, no one would notice him.
“Don’t be like that,” Samantha came over and ran her hands across Allan’s chest, “We can be happy together you know. I’m betting within a few years I’ll be the only thing you think of.”
Allan glared at Samantha. She merely looked back with longing eyes. Gently she bent down and kissed him on the tape covering his lips.
“I’ve got a secret,” Samantha whispered, “I won the lottery shortly after you left town. I guess it was the universes way of making up to me for how horrible I felt. Of course no amount of money can replace you, but we have plenty of money to live very comfortably wherever we go. I hear Brazil is a nice place. Every day you can watch me in very revealing clothing. I’ll have to buy you some new clothes also, designer brands just don’t suit you.”
Allan tried screaming again as Samantha got back to packing. He wondered how long it would be till his parents called him in missing. It could take awhile since he usually went to Tina’s after school. By then he and Samantha could be out of the state. All he could do was scream and hope that someone passing by would hear him.