"I have to piss." Abby announced when Nick and I caught up. The lights from the giant flashing CASINO sign created a red glow on half of her face.

"I do too." Owen jumped in with an uncomfortable look peeling at his face. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys know where the bathroom is?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as an Elvis impersonator flashed as smile at me as he walked by.

"There's probably one in the casino over there." Abby pointed over her shoulder to the sign that was now lighting each letter of the word one at a time starting from C and ending with O.

"You cannot walk into a casino with all that money on you." I told her and she glanced at the crumbled bills in her hand.

"I take offense to- '' She paused and thought. "You're probably right." I nodded and she handed me the money.

"Don't you have to go, too?" Owen asked and I shook my head.

"No, I'll just wait here for you guys."

"Are you sure? I don't know how comfortable I am leaving you here-" Nick started.

The psychic at the table a few feet from us, an older lady with white hair and a kind smile, butt in. "I can watch your girlfriend for you, dear. A pretty thing like her might need the protection of a scary old lady like me."

"See? I'll be fine, just go." I smiled at Nick and he returned with wavered one. He sighed and the three of them started making their way over to the casino.

"Have a seat, dear." The psychic motioned at the chair on the opposite end of her foldable table. There was a crystal ball sitting on the center of the table and a stack of cards in front.

"You don't actually have to babysit me. I'm a tough girl." I told her with a polite smile.

"That you are, I can sense it. But a promise is a promise." She gestured to the chair with both of her hands this time.

I shrugged my shoulders and put the money in the back pocket of my jeans. When I sat down, the psychic started shuffling her stack of cards.

"Oh, I don't want a reading. We don't have enough money."

"Nonsense," She waved me off and smiled, "This one is free." I raised my eyebrows at her at her complimentary offer. She pushed the crystal ball to the side of the table and spread the cards out into a half circle row. "Pick a card."

I studied the row before I pointed at one from the middle. "That one."

She pulled the card from the row and flipped it over on the table in front of me. It was an odd drawing of a sun with a face. Underneath it was a white horse being ridden by a person drawn in orange. The words read 'THE SUN .'.

"Ah, The Sun." The psychic smiled. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

I looked up at her in bewilderment; I could feel my eyes growing wide. "I-" I glanced around to see if Nick and the others were coming back. "How did you know?"

"The cards, dear. They never lie." She grabbed my hands into her icy cold ones. I shivered. "You're not far along, maybe two months? I sense fear with this pregnancy. Fear for your well being-"

"Okay." I stopped her and pulled my hands back. "That's enough."

"You still have two more cards, dear." She drew her hands back and smiled a sweet but somehow dismal smile. "Pick another."

Cautiously, I point at a card towards the end of the right side of the row. She flipped it over and it showed a drawing of what looked like a river of water running through a valley. There were branches coming through from the left side of the card, each branch had individual leaves growing on it.

"Oh," Is all she said.

"What? What is it?"

She looked down at the card with furrowed eyebrows, her lips sat in a straight line. "The Eight of Wands reversed."

"What does that mean?"

She grabbed my hands again and she closed her eyes.

"You're on a trip. It was supposed to be a quick trip. This trip was supposed to answer a question you have, yes?"

I shifted in my seat. "Yeah, that's right." I felt a poke on my lower back and I turned around to see a mime walking past me. He smiled and tipped his invisible hat.

The psychic took a deep breath. "But things keep going wrong. It's delayed your trip unexpectedly." She recoiled her arms and opened her eyes. "Last card."

I pointed at a card towards the middle again. She flipped it and chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I should have expected this with such a pretty girl." She took my hands again and inhaled deeply. "There's a man in your life. He's loved you for some time now but he doesn't know how to say it."

I couldn't stop the inaudible gasp that came from my lungs. "Is it who I think it is?"

"The cards only say so much, dear." She smiled absently into her closed eyes. "But I'm seeing a second man; there's a family between you two."

I sat up straight in my chair when my heart skipped a beat at her words. "A family?"

She nodded. "Yes. I see a conflict between the three of you that's going to bloom. This conflict will cause a divide between you and your true love."

"Wait, wh-"

"What's going on?" I jumped back at the sound of Nick's voice and I snatched my hands back to my body.

I looked up to see Nick standing behind my chair, Owen and Abby bickering behind him.

"Nothing, we were just talking." I hastily stood up and smiled at Nick. "You guys good?"

"No! Owen dragged me away from a really hot guy playing Poker." Abby pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You are so dramatic, Abby." Owen rolled his eyes.

"We're good." Nick answered me with a smile. "I saw a chinese buffet just a little walk down."

"Great, let's go now." I nodded and shoved Nick forward with an impetuous force.

"Goodbye and good luck, Dylan!" The psychic called out as we cut our way through the crowd.

Her words left me wondering how she knew my name.

~ ~ ~

The line to be seated for the buffet was long. Too long. We stood there for half an hour; I could feel a blister forming on my heel from all the standing we've been doing for the past day. But all I could think about was how good it was going to be to eat something.

The restaurant was small but bustling with people. There was a long row of food that was wrapped around the outline of the seating area. I could smell the food from here and it was mouth watering.

"How many in your party?" The host asked us from behind his podium between the wait area and the seating room. I could see one of the employees dumping a fresh bowl of noodles in one of the rows.

"Four." Owen told him and he tapped something on his screen.

"That'll be twenty dollars."

"Who has the money?" He asked out to no one in particular.

"Dylan took it from me before we went to the bathroom." Abby said.

"Oh, right." I reached into my back pocket and grabbed nothing. I felt my heart stop. "It was right here..."

Owen's face dropped quicker than I could process. "You lost the money?" His voice was loud and serious.

"I-I...I put it in my back pocket. I don't know what happened-" I stopped as a dreadful memory popped into my head. "The mime."

"What mime?" Abby asked with a foreign sternness to her voice.

"When I was talking to that psychic lady, some mime walked by me and I thought he just bumped into me but I think he pick-pocketed me." I looked up into the dreadful faces of my friends wistfully.

Owen turned towards the host with a slow reluctance and told him to never mind about the table before he turned around and walked past me. I followed him out of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry, guys. Maybe Nick can get that guitar guy to-"

"Shut up, Dylan!" The sudden booming of Owen's voice snapped my mouth closed. "Just shut the fuck up."

"Owen, I'm sorry. It's not my fault-"

He looked up at me with a rage in his eyes I've never seen before. My heart sank to my feet. "Not your fault? This whole God forsaken trip if your fault, Dylan."

I took a step back from Owen, a hot blush rising to the surface of my cheeks.

"Calm down, Owen. It's not Dylan's fault." Nick stuck up for me and he placed his hand on Owen's shoulder.

"Stay out of this, Nick!" Nick's eyebrows rose and he took a step back so he was standing next to Abby. She stood idly as she watched what was unfolding between Owen and I.

"It's not my fault I was pick-pocketed. You make it sound like I just handed him our money like an idiot."

"It's not just the fucking money, Dylan! I lost my phone, my wallet, and my luggage. I got lost in the desert of Nevada and we have no way home because of you." He seethed with anger. Tears stung in my eyes and I quickly wiped them away. "You're so irresponsible, you know that? We never would have needed to go on this trip if you had just kept your goddamn pants on."

"Wait, what are you guys even talking about?" Nick's voice jumped into the conversation and I looked at him with teary eyes.

"Oh, right! Nick doesn't know because you were trying to play with his emotions. You know lead him on because you knew he would never want to be with you if he knew you were pregnant."

Through the blurry tears I saw Nick's head turn towards me. The hurt I could see on his face was ineffable. It felt like someone grabbed my heart and squeezed it.

"What?" Nick's voice wavered. I squeezed my eyes shut and two tears rolled down my cheeks. "Are you pregnant?"

I looked at him with no words. I tried to speak. I tried to scream I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I didn't tell you! But my throat felt like it was closing in. It was dry. So, so dry.

His lips rolled back to his teeth and he stumbled backwards a few steps. I could see the tears on the brim of falling from his eyes. It was something I never wanted to see; I never wanted to hurt him like I just did.

"Owen." Abby scolded incredulously.

Owen looked at Abby for a moment with thought, but he ultimately shook his head and walked over to sit on the curb.

My heart ached with heavy regret. I hated myself. I hated myself for being stupid enough to get pregant. I hate myself for not knowing who the father was. But most of all, I hated myself for lying to Nick.

With another tear rolling down my face, I turned around and walked away. I walked away from the people I continued to hurt over and over again because of my irresponsibility. I walked away even when Abby started screaming my name.

~ ~ ~

In honor of my 17th birthday being this week (February 12th), here's an update!