Kennedy fidgeted through her last class of the day and was the first one out the door when the lecture ended. She hurried to her car, tossing her bookbag onto the passenger seat with a heavy thump. The weekend was too far away. She'd decided that she'd visit Charlie right now.

He was probably working and wouldn't be able to leave the shop, but she'd be able to say hello for a few minutes. Most of all, she wanted to apologize for how she'd acted the last time she'd seen him. He'd been trying to help her the best way he knew how, and she'd given him nothing but grief about it. If she hadn't been so dopey from her post-sex haze, she would have figured out a way to turn down his home-made medicine gently and saved his feelings.

Kennedy drove down the road in the near-sunset light of the late autumn afternoon, hoping he'd forgive her right away and not sulk for a while. She didn't think he was the type to hold a grudge, but this was the first time she'd done anything that she needed to properly apologize for.

She imagined that he would be happy to see her, brushing away her apologies as unnecessary. He'd pull her into his arms and give her one of those kisses that couples have in public when they want more, but are trying to be considerate of those nearby. She'd duck her head and tell him to behave himself, and he'd tell her that it was his shop and if he wanted to kiss his girlfriend, he would.

Kennedy parked her car a few doors down from Charlie's shop in the first road-side parking spot she could find. The back door, which they usually used, would likely be locked, and Charlie should be up front manning the shop. She walked down the sidewalk with a bounce in her step and a quiet tug of nerves in her stomach. It would be okay.

As she approached his storefront, she slowed and caught a glimpse of Charlie at the cash, giving a friendly smile and a paper shopping bag to a customer. From this distance, she couldn't quite tell if his smile was genuine or just courteous, but her body didn't seem to care. Even through a plate-glass window, he still affected her. He was more than just handsome. He was electric, compelling.

Kennedy drifted towards the door. As the customer walked away from the counter, Charlie looked up and spotted her. She froze like a deer in the headlights. She hadn't been prepared for his reaction yet. She thought she'd have a few more seconds to prepare herself.

Charlie smiled. Not the customer service smile, but the buccaneer-with-his-eyes-on-the-booty smile. Kennedy couldn't help but warm at his expression. He was glad she was there. Her earlier worries eased and she couldn't wait to clear the air between them.

When she approached the door, the customer, a woman about the same age as Kennedy's mother, was a few steps from exiting. Thinking she'd hold the door open for the woman, Kennedy reached for the handle and took a step back as she pulled the door wide. Her eyes fell to a small poster stuck to the door. Without deciding to read them, she absorbed the words in an instant and gasped. "Connect With Loved Ones in the Great Beyond. Special Price for Eight-Session Package."

Charlie had told her he wasn't psychic. He also said he didn't prey on the vulnerable. This sign was evidence, strong and damning evidence to the contrary.

He was a con-man.

Charlie was promising grieving, hurting people that he could connect them with people who had died, and he was pushing them to sign up for not just one, but a whole string of sessions. How could she have been so wrong about him?

Kennedy stepped back from the door, releasing the handle as though it burned her skin. Her eyes shot to Charlie, who was looking at her curiously. She shook her head and hurried down the street back to her car. With shaking hands, she pulled out her keys and unlocked the car. She thought she heard her name, but kept her head down.

She slipped into the driver's seat, slammed the door behind herself, and started the car. If she wanted to pull the car out onto the road, she really needed to look up. Charlie ran up to the side of her car, his face tight with worry and confusion. Kennedy made eye contact for the barest fraction of a second, then swiveled her gaze to her side mirror, watching for an opening in the traffic. She squealed her tires as she pulled into the first small gap between cars.

As she drove away, she couldn't help but glance in her rear-view mirror. Charlie stood on the sidewalk watching her drive away, both hands running backwards through his hair. Damn him. He was doing a very good impression of someone who cared.

Kennedy knew she should have pulled over and calmed down before driving home, but she was too upset to sit and fume in public. She wanted to be behind closed doors as soon as possible. With a few near misses, she made it back to the large student parking lot behind her building. That her phone had been ringing on and off for the entire drive hadn't helped her concentration one bit. Once parked, she turned off her phone, ducked her head low to avoid accidental eye contact, she hurried home. She stormed past her roommate, who was reading on the couch, and into the kitchen, flinging cupboard doors open and rifling through their contents.

"Chandra! Where are you hiding your good chocolate this week?" Kennedy hollered.

"What ever do you mean?" Chandra called back.

Kennedy stomped into the doorway between the kitchen and living room. "This is an emergency. Please just tell me where you've stashed your freaking chocolate."

"Kennedy, you look like hell. What happened? Are you alright?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to eat a thousand calories worth of chocolate and crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head for a couple hours."

It was a hundred years before Chandra made up her mind and spoke again. "In the oven."

"Thank you," Kennedy said, spinning back towards the kitchen before the words were out of her mouth.

She pulled open the oven and there on the rack sat a loaf pan filled with bars of chocolate. Kennedy pulled out a raspberry dark and a white chocolate with almond. She ripped open the raspberry and took an enormous bite. Without tasting it, she chewed just enough to swallow it, then took another huge bite.

As she walked through the living room towards her bedroom, she asked through a mouthful of chocolate bar, "Who keeps chocolate in the oven, anyways?"

"Someone who knows how often you cook!" Chandra called back.

Kennedy shut her bedroom door behind her, then sat in her chair long enough to finish the first bar. She opened the second, took two bites and pushed it away. She'd already eaten too much. Even chocolate was betraying her today. How could something so sweet make her feel so bad? It wasn't fair, and when she was queen of the universe, she'd fix it. Everything would follow clear and predictable laws. People would be born with a serial number on the sole of one feet and a list of the serial numbers of compatible life partners on the sole of the other foot. None of this muddling around trying to find someone smart and kind and interesting and at least somewhat attractive and good in bed.

Numbers didn't lie. People did.