Seeing Shadows (Shadows 1)

I felt a stirring in my heart at his comment that didn't feel pleasant. His comment about us being friends should make me happy. I told myself that a pep talk would be in order later.

"Samantha might stop by," Marcus announced, interrupting my thoughts.

Sarah and Jenny both groaned. "Marcus," Sarah said with exasperation. "Why are you always inviting her to things?"

Marcus shrugged. "I thought you guys were tolerating her. I saw her at the supermarket today while I was buying stuff for the barbeque and it just came up."

Jenny glared at Marcus, who looked disheartened to be receiving such a look from her. "We're nice to her face - kind of. That doesn't mean we like her!"

I couldn't help snorting at her statement. Jenny was the least catty person I knew, and that comment seemed funny coming from her.

"Come on, guys," I said, trying to be the voice of reason. "It's not a big deal. She can be okay." I didn't like Samantha as much as Jenny and Sarah, but I also felt some pity for her. There had to be a reason why she was so insecure and draped herself over

guys. I understood what it felt like to have someone make you feel inadequate your whole life. I was just lucky that I had never felt the need to fill that hole with men. I wondered what had made Samantha try and fill that hole with the attentions of the opposite sex.

Sometimes I wished I didn't feel so much empathy towards people. I wished I could just dislike someone and not care why they were the way they were. But a large part of why I couldn't was because of my visions. Seeing so many people suffer, even in my dreams, made me realize the human frailty in everyone.

Sarah shook her head but smiled at me with affection. "Leave it to Caitlin to be the nice one."

"Oh, okay." huffed Jenny. "But I'm only going to be nice to her cause Caitlin's asking. She has more reason than anyone else to dislike her." Jenny looked over at me and wrinkled her nose. "Why do you have to be so nice to people?"

I laughed at her comment. "That's rich, coming from you," I said with a smile. "You're the nicest person I know."

"Hey," Simon protested with a grin. "Now you know me."

I smirked. "Like I said, Jenny is the nicest person I know."

Simon laughed and Sarah poked me in the leg. "What am I, chopped liver?"

I smiled at Sarah and wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a lopsided hug. I loved Sarah more than anyone else in the world, but she wasn't nice. But not in a bad way. She stood up for herself and the people she cared about. I believed in standing up for myself as well, but I was willing to cut people some slack, knowing we couldn't understand everything that other people were going through. Like me and my visions. Sarah didn't care. If you hurt her or the people she cared about, she could be ruthless "No," I replied with affection. "You're my sanity."

Sarah smiled in understanding and put her arm around my waist, hugging me back. "I knew you kept me around for a reason."

"Oh, wow," Grant said, widening his eyes. "Jenny, you should get in on the hug. And whatever else you girls feel like doing."

"Ew!" yelled Sarah, throwing a tortilla chip at him. He caught it deftly in one hand. "You're gross!"

Grant laughed uproariously. "Just joking!" he exclaimed, holding out a hand in supplication. "You know I don't go for that sort of thing." He dipped the chip he had caught into the chili dip and ate it with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"Ugh," I groaned. "You're a dork, Grant." But I couldn't help saying it with a smile. Grant liked to joke around but I knew he stayed on the straight and narrow when it came to girls. When he was on-again with Cara, he never looked at any other girl. Well, except for Sarah, but he treated it as a mild flirtation. Much to Sarah's disappointment.

Simon chuckled softly. "Grant wouldn't know what to do with more than one girl."

"And you would?" I asked indignantly, with a raised eyebrow. I immediately regretted my question. "Forget it, forget it!" I exclaimed, waving my hands. "I don't want to know."

Simon laughed, loudly this time. "I-"

"No!" I yelped, covering his mouth with my hand. "We don't want to know! Keep the sordid details to yourself!"

Simon raised his eyebrows and then got a devilish glint in his eyes as he lowered his gaze to my hand covering his mouth. I quickly jerked my hand away, feeling my body flood with warmth. I had clapped my hand over Simon's mouth without thinking, and it had felt like my hand was burning from the contact. I had quickly registered the warmth of his breath, the soft firmness of his lips, the slight stubble on his face, before I had pulled my hand away. The jolt of electricity that had gone through me at the touch was unfamiliar and I didn't know how to process it.

"Sorry," I muttered, feeling myself blush. "I just don't want to see anything I ate come back up."

Simon gave a sharp bark of laughter at my comment and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you, Caitlin?" he asked, with a wide smile.

I looked around the group. Everyone was watching our exchange with fascination and I felt my blush grow deeper. I didn't understand Simon's question so I didn't understand how to answer it. "Um..." I stammered.

Fortunately, Sarah saved me from having to answer by asking if anyone wanted another beer. I reminded myself to thank her later.