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“So, what problems were we having exactly?” Vie started the inquisition. “Did she…I mean I tell you about them?
she
corrected herself.

“No, you were leaning a lot more on Tess after your mom died. Don’t you remember?”
Kade
asked surprised by her questions.

“Not really…..it’s all still kind of fuzzy,” she said playing on the amnesia story.

“Oh, you mean the amnesia thing?”
Kade
said sympathetically.

“Yep, that old amnesia thing again,” Vie said acting frustrated and pointing to her head.

“Well, maybe you could talk to Tess, if you guys are
still friends that is
?”
Kade
said now probing Vie for details about the current status of their friendship.

“With Tess?
Are you kidding me? That girl is pure evil
Kade
!” Vie proclaimed.

“I was hoping you would see that eventually. I mean I understand you were going through a lot of rough stuff in your life. You were angry and I understood. I just hated that you wouldn’t let me help you through the pain. I mean we were friends…best friends. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you Vivian…I mean Vie, didn’t you know that?” 
she
asked.

“I do now,” Vie said touching
Kade’s
hand with a warm endearing smile.

The girls continued with their shopping fest putting all the serious issues behind them. Vie managed to find some suitable clothes that were much more her style than the inch long minis that hung in her closet at home. She found several pair of jeans that hugged every curve of her vessel, or rather Vivian’s perfectly sculpted bottom. She also bought adorable jogging shorts and plenty of soft multi-colored tee’s to interchange, making her wardrobe complete.

“Hey Vie, how about this?”
Kade
said holding up a short tight military like jacket. Vie looked at her, surprised by the find, thinking that while they had only spent a few hours together,
Kade
knew her better than anyone.

“It’s perfect!” Vie responded trying on the jacket. “I love it
Kade
, thank you,” she said sincerely.

“For what Vie?”
Kade
asked.

“For everything,” Vie said giving her a warm hug.

Kade
was surprised by
Vie’s
emotion and whispered in her ear “No problem Vie…that’s what friends are for,” she finished with tears in her eyes.

“Now let’s get you out of here and ready for your date with Carter!”

“It’s not a date…it’s an assignment,” Vie reminded her.

“Yeah, okay whatever you say Vie,” she smiled at her and they headed back to the checkout. Vie handed the cashier the card Henry had given her, hoping it was the right thing to do. The cashier looked at the card and then at Vie and continued ringing up the merchandise. She announced the total and then slid the black shiny card through a machine. She
bagged
her items and told the girls to have a nice day.

“Amazing,” she said looking at the shiny black card. “Who knew you could do all this?” Vie said holding up the multiple shopping bags of clothes.
Kade
came out behind her and the two girls headed to the car and back home. Vie thanked
Kade
again for shopping with her, especially on such short notice, and
Kade
wished her luck with her “assignment”, still laughing as she spoke the word again out loud. Vie rolled her eyes and said, “I’ll call you tomorrow” and
Kade
yelled back a quick, “You better!” before driving off with a honk and wave goodbye.

“Darn.” Vie looked at her watch, noticing she only had one hour to get ready before Carter picked her up. She ran into the house, up the stairs and quickly changed into one of the new pair of jeans she purchased with Henry’s magic black card at the mall. She grabbed a white tee that was soft and comfortable, but snug fitting and finished off her outfit with her new black leather hiking boots. Vie figured she wanted to be ready for any adventure Carter had planned, especially given their last encounter together at the ranch.

“There,” she said completing her outfit and checking it out in the mirror. “Now that is much better than these tiny skirts, don’t you think Vivian?” the beautiful Guardian was thinking out loud.  Vie couldn’t help but think that being inside Vivian’s body was like having company. She felt in an odd way that Vivian was watching her, even though Gabriel said it wasn’t so. Still, it felt nice to have company on her journey.

Vie grabbed a hairbrush from the dresser and brushed her hair up into a ponytail, twisting it around and fastening it in place with a sterling silver hair clip. Vie looked down at the dressing table and saw a beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings sitting out in front of her. She lifted them off the table and held them up to her ears. They sparkled like stars in the night sky. Vie wanted to put them on but suddenly she felt like she was violating Vivian somehow. It was as if the earrings were significant, special in some way to Vivian, so she put them back on the dressing table and stepped away. “Well this will just have to do,” she thought as she adjusted the pendant around her neck that Gabriel had given her.

Just as she finished up, the doorbell rang and Vie took one last look in the mirror before grabbing her little military jacket, taking a deep breath, and heading for the door.

“Here we go…….!”

Chapter 16

Star Gazing

Carter arrived looking spectacular as usual in his stone washed denim jeans and white V-neck fitted tee shirt, showing off his perfectly chiseled chest. Vie looked down and quickly noticed his black leather hiking boots and couldn’t help but think all he needed was a military jacket and they would be twins. They looked at each other and then both laughed at the irony in their matching wardrobe.

“I guess I should have called first to ask what you were going to wear,” Vie joked.

“I see you still have your sense of humor,” Carter replied back grinning with his ridiculously captivating and somewhat deviant smile that Vie had grown to love.

“You look…” Carter started to say before Vie interrupted him.

“Like a man?” she tried to read his mind but failed miserably.

“No, I was going to say unbelievable,” he finished his thought.

Vie was wondering how in the world he could think that of her when she was dressed like a man. She felt she had really underestimated the power of a pretty face here in this world. Even dressed as she was, he still saw her, well Vivian, as beautiful. She wished Carter could see her, the real her, and have the same thought as he did about Vivian’s beauty.

“So are you ready to observe the wondrous night sky?” he asked.

“
Ummmm
?” she pointed up to the sun in the sky. “I think it’s a little early for that don’t you?” Vie said.

“Well, that’s not all I have on our afternoon agenda. Now chop chop…your chariot awaits you princess.” Carter swung his body out of the way and glided his arm out toward his perfectly polished Jeep Wrangler parked out front. Vie headed toward the street and noticed a furry creature sitting in the back of the jeep.

“We have a back seat companion I see,” Vie said with a warm smile excited to meet the adorable tag along.

“This is Jake and Jake this is Vie.” Jake barked once to greet her.

Vie reached in the back of the jeep to pet the friendly creature while Carter opened her door, being the gentleman he was. While he was rounding the jeep to the driver’s side door, Jake had decided to jump into
Vie’s
lap and started licking her face. Jake’s wet tongue tickled her face, causing her to break out in a laughter that floated through the air like a sweet melody. Carter looked to see what was happening and loudly called out Jake’s name followed by a harsh, “No.”
Jake stopped immediately on command and looked at Carter with the cutest sad eyes Vie had ever seen.

“
Ahhh
, Carter you hurt his feelings,” Vie said nestling her face against Jake’s.

Carter pointed to the back seat, directing Jake to return to it. With his tail between his legs he followed his master’s command. Carter explained that it was weird to see Jake behave like that. He told Vie that Jake only acts like that with him, not with strangers. Vie objected to the word ‘stranger’ with an “uh
ummm
” and Carter quickly corrected himself, saying he meant “new acquaintances.”

Carter started the jeep and Jake leaned in, putting his nose on the back of
Vie’s
shoulder, sniffing her with delight. Carter just shook his head wondering why Jake was acting so strange with Vie. Vie was thrilled and told Carter she guessed he just liked her. Carter himself was making the exact same assumption about liking her.

Carter was still baffled by the fact that he has known Vivian Thorne for most of his life, but had never had any attraction to her personally or physically until now. He couldn’t imagine how he lived his entire life so close and yet so far away from her. “What was it about her now that had him walking on a cloud just thinking about her?” he wondered looking over at her.

“So,” Vie interrupted his thoughts, “where is this surprise place you are taking me to for our star gazing assignment?” she asked.

“Patience princess, patience,” Carter said accelerating the gas pedal to a crazy speed as they entered the open highway.

Vie loved going fast. She especially loved feeling the wind hit her face. It was a beautiful day in New Castle. The sky was clear with the exception of a few large white, puffy clouds that took the shape of animals in the sky. Carter caught a glimpse of Vie out of the corner of his eye, taking in everything around her as if she was looking at the world for the very first time. He could see the exhilaration she felt in the expression on her face.

Carter turned the radio on in his jeep and asked Vie what kind of music she liked. Not really knowing how to answer, she responded vaguely telling him she did not have a specific genre but that she liked all kinds of music. Carter picked his favorite station consisting of a variety of bubble gum type music. It was a top one hundred countdown and Vie liked it very much.

“So,” Vie said hoping to chip away at the wall around Carter’s soul, “How come I didn’t see you at church with your family last Sunday.
Or any other Sunday this past summer, huh?
Playing hooky?” she teased.

“Not exactly,” Carter replied.

Vie could tell by how uncomfortable he became that this was a touchy subject for him, but one she needed to pursue.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

“No, no it’s not that, it’s just something I don’t really talk about with anyone…outside of my family that is,” he added the exception.

“Oh,” Vie said feeling like she was rudely intruding into his personal business.

Carter could see Vie felt bad for asking and suddenly she was quiet. It bothered Carter. He wanted to tell Vie why he didn’t attend church but was not used to opening up to anyone, especially someone he hardly knew. But Vie was different. Carter felt as though he could tell her anything. He didn’t know why but he wanted to open up to Vie, to answer any question she had honestly. It was a huge step for him but one he was going to take.

“Vie, I need to tell you something, about the church thing…” he started.

“No, forget I asked. I didn’t mean to pry, really. I was…well just curious.  I never know when to shut my mouth and…”

“Vie, stop!” He shouted. “You are right about one thing. You really don’t know when to stop talking. I want to tell you why I don’t, why I can’t attend church,” he said nervously.

“I have something called
Ecclesiophobia
,” Carter said.