Love Is Only an Illusion

“We are so going to be late,” Sutton nervously spoke, biting on a hang nail. It was March 29, and currently 4:15 pm. They were 29 minutes ahead of schedule.

“Relax,” Henley said, hailing a taxi. When the car pulled up, she opened the door for Sutton, and told the driver, “45 East Evan Street,” as she handed him a five dollar bill.

As soon as Henley had slammed the door shut, Sutton realized what she was doing and quickly put the window down. “Where are you going?”

“Going to get coffee,” Henley explained. “You’re getting on my nerves.”

“Get me a hot chocolate!” she yelled as her taxi went one way, her cousin the other.

Sutton sighed. Henley would ditch her when they were only five minutes away. After all, it wasn’t Sutton’s fault she grew up being on time for every little thing.

“What are you heading to 45 East Evan Street for?” the taxi driver asked.

Sutton smiled kindly at the man. “It’s a meeting.” The driver nodded, not wanting to intrude.

As the taxi came to a halt outside an older looking building, Sutton told the driver to keep the change. He thanked her, reminding her to have a nice day. He pulled the yellow vehicle back into traffic slowly once Sutton was safely on the sidewalk.

“Wow,” she whispered, staring up at the great building before her. Back home, these structures were not common. The wind whipped her hair around her face. Brushing the red strands away, Sutton wrapped her arms around her waist tightly, in hopes of holding her body heat in.

Sutton contemplated waiting for Henley, but decided against it. After all, she had been ditched by her cousin. She made the short trip up the stairs, but was stopped dead in her tracks.

“Oh-Kay,” the man said, staring intently at her, “so, apparently neither of us was the first one chosen.” Sutton giggled slightly as the man looked at the ground. “Let me be the first one to kick my ego to the curb.”

The man appeared to be in his late 40s. A black fedora sat atop his head. Even though he wasn’t fancily dressed, Sutton felt well underdressed in her shredded blue skinny jeans, North Carolina Tar Heels sweatshirt, and Under Armour camo hat. The only “dressy” item on her body was the brown heeled lace up booties she loved.

“Are you-?”

“Wait, you know me?” the man asked, placing his hand over his chest in shock.

“Yeah, of course!” Sutton exclaimed. “You’re Merritt McKinney. I watched all of your acts. You’re the reason I started practicing mentalism.”

Merritt flushed red slightly at the base of his neck. “Well, I don’t want to pick my ego back up again, but what the he-“

“I think you know exactly what I’ve been up to, Danny. I saw all your anonymous postings on my website.”

“You have a website? That’s good, good for you. Get the word out.”

Sutton stood with her arms crossed over her chest beside the door knob as Henley and her new friend rounded the top of the stairs. Henley stared at her, eyes widening as she came to a stop. Her friend repeated her motions.

“Oh,” they said in unison.

“Wow, this really is an ego kicker, huh?” Merritt joked as the pair began walking again.

“Yeah, excuse me,” the young man with Henley said.

“Door’s locked,” Merritt told him.

“Is it? I’ll check,” he replied, coming closer to Sutton. He smirked slightly at her and jiggled the knob. Sutton watched as he moved his hand over the frame of the door, trying to find a way in.

“You,” Merritt announced, Sutton’s attention drawing to him. “Now, hold it, don’t tell me. Uh, Helen? No, no. Henley.”

“It’s on your coffee cup,” the younger man replied matter-of-factly. Henley held her coffee cup up, smiling.

“Thanks for keeping me honest,” the mentalist smiled at him. “That wasn’t mentalism, by the way. It was just an observation. Second observation, you are beautiful.”

Sutton rolled her eyes as Henley thanked the stranger, as if she hadn’t heard it so many times before.

“Oh, Sut,” Henley blurted, as if remember I was there. “Here’s your hot chocolate. I even got you extra whipped cream.” Sutton smiled lightly as she thanked her cousin.

The young man looked at Henley, then at Sutton, and back at Henley once more. “Wait, you know her?” he asked Henley.

“Yes, Danny,” Henley rolled her eyes. She walked over to stand next to Sutton. “This is my cousin Sutton, the other “Reeves Girl,” jackass.”

He stared at the two girls before him. He looked Sutton up and down, noticing the only trait linking her to Henley was her hair color. His eyes settled on Sutton before saying, “You look different when you perform.”

It was Sutton’s turn to roll her eyes. “It’s my day off, jackass. I wear my glasses when I don’t need to be on stage.”

Henley giggled as the young man threw a comeback. “Well, I can certainly tell you don’t care about your appearance when you’re not performing.”

Sutton’s mouth flew open and Henley smacked him. “Sorry not all girls dress to your standards, control freak,” Sutton mumbled.

“I was going to call him out on being a control freak!” Merritt laughed, coming back into the conversation.

“I’m sorry, have I met either of you before?” Danny asked.

“It doesn’t take a mentalist, or two, to figure that out,” Henley stated. “You are a control freak.”

“Well, I take that as a compliment.”

“Only he would take it as a compliment.”

“Good, another compliment.”

“So, that’s why they’re no longer a couple?” Merritt asked me. Sutton’s eyes grew wide.

“No!” Henley yelled, not wanting Sutton to get the wrong idea. “We were never a couple. He used to saw me in half.”

“She was a very good assistant.”

“Yeah, but I was too fat for Danny.”

“Uh, no. I said that one time because of the-the trap door.”

“No one could fit through there. No one.”

“Rebecca fit through. Rebecca fit for years. Hell, your cousin certainly could,” Danny stated, gesturing toward Sutton. He winked at her as she tried to formulate a sentence.

“Okay,” Merritt rescued her, “so he never made you feel special, and trust me you deserve to be made to feel special.”

Sutton almost threw up her lunch at that comment.

“That’s a really nice story,” Danny said. “Hope you guys enjoy each other’s company,” he whispered under his breath, turning away from the couple and toward Sutton. He raised an eyebrow at her as he noticed their closeness.

“No way,” a male’s voice arose. Sutton looked at him, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. She felt her knees go slightly weak. “J. Daniel Atlas. Dude, I’ve seen everything that you have ever done. I mean, you’re like- I-I idolize you, seriously.”

“From a true fan,” Danny replied, shaking the younger man’s hand. “No, it’s so nice to meet you.”

“I’m Jack, by the way,” he smiled, then turned his attention toward Sutton. Before they had the time to introduce themselves, Merritt interrupted them.

“So, this is all nice and everything, but did you get one of these?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jack said, rummaging in his pocket. “Death.”

“The High Priestess.”

“The Tower.”

“The Lover.”

Henley coughed, “Three minutes.” Sutton chuckled, receiving a glare from Danny.

“Hermit.”

“So, uh, what are we- are we waiting for someone? Why are we just-“

“The door’s locked,” they all replied to a stuttering Jack.

“Oh, no. Nothing, nothing’s ever locked,” Jack stated. They all gave each other a look as he took out a bobby pin and jimmied it in the keyhole.