Small rain drops were still slowly falling from the sky as me and Lola squeezed our way into the tiniest alleyway. As we went further in near the end of it you could see a small red wooden door barely hanging onto its hinges. I gave Lola one quick glance and she just shrugged. Almost like she wasn't the one that said we should go here.

I turned the crusty knob and immediately fell down as I took my first step inside, not expecting there to be such a steep drop. It looked like someone connected a ground floor door to the basement. This whole thing just screamed of a "Do It Yourself" project.

"Are you okay?", Lola gasped as she helped me up. I just nodded in response.

The only thing that kept the room we were in from being pitch black was the glowing light coming from the curtained off room in front of us. The purple curtains making the glowing light a purplish blue colour.

We slowly made our way further in. Behind the curtain stood Jules at a table filled with some… psychic objects and somehow still alive plants. They quickly noticed us.

"Ah, another costumer!", they smiled, clearly trying to hide how surprised they were to see us there.

I looked around the room. It was really small, it barely fit the table in the middle. The floor was covered in old carpets and the walls covered with curtains and filled with hanging plants and things I couldn't even identify. I looked back at Jules and questioned: "Another? Who else decided to visit this place?"

"Uh… that's conventional.", they mumbled while quickly avoiding eye contact with me.

Specifically with me. What person would they would want to hide from me? Oh, of course.

"It was Nathalie, wasn't it?", I noted.

Looking at Jules silently standing there told me I was right. Which left one more question on my mind; What the hell did Nathalie North want from a psychic?

Lola just glanced between me and Jules before wondering: "How did you know it was Nathalie?"

"Lucky guess.", I shrugged, "What did she want from you?"

Jules sighed, the kind of sigh one would give to something endearing happening. This, somehow, irritated me. I wanted to clarify I wasn't being protective of her, I just really wanted to know. Who knows she might have wanted to try some weird voodoo anti-love stuff or worse… okay, now that I say it out loud it does sound a little bit protective of me.

"That kind of thing stays between me and my client.", Jules smiled, clearly noticing me getting irritated and getting a kick out of it.

I almost tried to push further but then I remembered Lola was there with us. Would be weird of me to interrogate Jules on something that was none of my business. Knowing her if she even got the slightest hint of something happening between me and Nathalie she would have spilled the beans to everything that could walk.

I took a deep breath and just blankly stated: "We need your consultation."

"Consultation?", They chuckled a bit under their breath, probably didn't expect the dumb Fifi to use such a smart word like Consultation.

I pulled out my phone and showed Jules the photos of the plant They leaned in to see it better and based on their face it was clear they realised what this was all about. "You're still going with that story? I'm starting to believe you're going crazy."

"Like I'm not already.", I scoffed, "Tell us the plant, psychic kid."

After a moment I realised Jules was looking over at Lola and I did too. She was watching us, carefully, like a cat watching a bird through a window. Her eyes were practically glued to us, and I quickly got why. Before I could object whatever fanfic she was writing up in her mind she already started talking.

"You know… there is this nice ice cream shop that opened up recently.", she beamed.

"We know.", we both said at the same time, which did not make us look any better.

Lola's eyes immediately lit up as that mischievous smile covered her face. She was connecting the non existing dots. "You've been? Together? Alone?", she gasped, "Tell me everything!"

We both looked at each other. Yeah, there was no way we could have gotten away from this conversation now. Not like it was that bad, nothing really happened during our "date", so it shouldn't take that long.

I tried to recap the day as shortly as I could, making sure to make it sound as boring as possible: "We ate ice cream, talked about our problems and…"

Jules quickly jumped in: "We kissed."

"What?"

"What?!", Lola jumped as I stared at Jules.

What the hell were they thinking? Did they want to stall us as much as possible? Lola is like a wild fish, once she bites she is never going to let go. That annoying little smile showed up on Jules' face, making it clear they just wanted to screw with Lola. I just accepted my fade.

"Totally.", I mumbled.

She was standing there like a little kid waiting to play with a new toy. She was just beaming and barely standing in one place when she asked: "So, what? Are you guys going out now?"

"Uhh… still looking into it.", I awkwardly mumbled, "Jules, the plant."

Jules finally looked at my phone again. It lasted only a few seconds before they looked up.

"I don't know what to tell you. It's a regular Tree Peony. They grow everywhere around here, probably why it was at every location.", they shrugged.

Damn, just when I thought I had something. If I really wanted Nathalie to accept my story I needed something more than just dying flowers. Looking at Lola it seemed like she totally forgot what we came here for. She just stupidly smiled at us the whole time.

She suddenly suggested: "I think you guys should go on a second date, to feel things out."

I ignored her dating advice on the way out of that weird Jules Cave. The only thing I could focus on was the fact that we- I just lost the only connect I had. I was back at square one again.

Seemed like Lola realised I was barely listening to her ramblings and decided to talk about something that actually mattered.

"I'm sure we'll find something else.", she reassured.

"Why so sure?"

She shrugged: "You have to be optimistic sometimes."

As we walked onto the sidewalk she quickly dusted off some dust off her coat. That girl couldn't stand being dirty. "I suggest we take a break. Maybe think of a few ideas separately and then meet up for boba again!"

I couldn't believe it. Lola was actually making a good suggestion. Maybe being optimistic was a good thing, it certainly made Lola act reasonable. Until she wasn't.

"Now, about that second date…"

I really, REALLY didn't want to talk about my dating life with Lola Hill. Especially since said dating life was made up by Jules. But that did make me think…

"Lola, why are you so obsessed with me and Jules?"

She scoffed: "You guys just admitted to-"

"How is it going with Tobias?"

For the first time she was silent. I could hear the cold breeze pass through the town's alleys as her brain seemed to try its best at making up a good answer. Seemed like I found the reason for her sudden "optimism", or better said the optimistic facade she tried to forget her problems with.

After a moment it seemed like she had given up and just sat down on some steps. Seeing how she fidgeted with her skirt and breathed loudly it was clear she was trying to say something that didn't come easily to her, a feeling I knew all too well. I slowly sat down next to her, this seemed to finally make her talk.

"I lied to him today.", she admitted.

I didn't say anything. Just tried to listen, probably for the first time that day.

"I said I was going out with my friends to the movies in another town today.", she paused to take a breath, "And… it felt awful. Like there was this heavy stone on my chest."

She huffed, almost like just saying that relived something within her. After she realised she felt better she quickly continued: "He lied to me everyday since we started dating. How many times did he actually go to just hang out with his friends and how many times did he go do… some weird vampire hunting training?"

"And now he is doing this. My friends don't even text me anymore. I feel like everyone hates me!", her head snapped to me. She looked so… betrayed. There is no other word to describe it. Although venting it all out clearly made her more relaxed she still felt the need to say: "Sorry."

The only thing I managed to mumble back was: "I don't hate you."

She chuckled, my words clearly flying passed her like they were nothing. "You out of all people should hate me.", she smiled.

"I don't hate you.", I noted before adding: "I also think you deserve better than some lousy friends and a creepy boyfriend."

She scoffed, still carrying that smile on her face, although noticeable tears began forming in her eyes. I wasn't going to give up that easily. Before she could even think about standing up and leaving I tried something different, hoping it would get to her.

"For a long time I thought that I didn't deserve a family. Every morning I would wake up and think Everyone hates me, and that it will stay that way.", my voice empty, so monotone anyone could figure out I was trying to cover up my actually emotions, which was in contrast to Lola's small tears now running down her cheeks.

She looked at me for a moment. "…What changed?"

"I still think like that.", just as I said that I could see her eyes lose that shimmer a little. I knew she would be disappointed from hearing that. Maybe she thought I would say something to make her feel better.

I took a sharp breath. Why was this so weird to talk about? I just tried to push through: "People around me just keep proving me wrong now. Maybe some day they won't have to anymore."

Suddenly, finally, that weird fake smile fell and turned into a subtle gentle simper, which now complemented her tears.

"I think everyone deserves to be proven wrong, especially you.", I added.

"Okay, I get it.", she giggled through her tears.

We were silent for a moment, a long moment. I didn't really have anything else to add and it felt like I didn't have to. We just sat there, quietly thinking about nothing. I flinched a little when she suddenly leaned her head against my shoulder. I still wasn't really used to people touching me. For some reason I still thought it would be uncomfortable or unpleasant like it usually was. I guess I was too used to being punched in the face.

But when her head suddenly settled against me it felt like it was something natural, like it belong there. I could still hear her sniffling under her breath but not as much as before.

"Thanks.", she suddenly broke the silence.

I wasn't really sure what to answer to that. For a moment I contemplated not saying anything to her, but something made me hesitate.

"Anytime."