Lucky 33 (Love in the District #2)

5. Consider Me Aware

CHAPTER 5

CONSIDER ME AWARE

A my was a little early for her weekly dinner with Laura, and she took that time to have a margarita, unwind from work, and let her mind wander. They had started their Wednesday night tradition a year ago during a stint Laura had done as Amy’s cleaning partner while Belinda was on maternity leave. Spending time with her sister was a priority for her, and she found she had to heavily rely on their weekly dinner as Laura spent more of her free time with her boyfriend, Jake.

As she sipped her margarita, Amy’s thoughts drifted to Laura’s relationship with Jake. There was a time when Jake was a sore subject between them. Laura had used her position with Sparkle and Shine to get insider information on Jake, who, technically, Amy had known first as her cleaning client. They avoided talking about that time in their lives since Laura hadn’t exactly acted in a sisterly way, and they had been in and out of fights at that time. If Amy were to be honest, she was still a little hurt from all of that. She and Laura had been close their entire lives, even when they were away for college. Being blown off for Jake and being lied to for months still didn’t sit well with her. She tried not to dwell on it, but the thoughts popped up in rare quiet moments like now .

She had accepted that Jake had replaced her as number one in Laura’s life. That was how things were supposed to go for sisters, but it was still a hard transition. Amy didn’t have a substantial history of romantic relationships, so she had more of an objective understanding of how Laura would want to devote her time to a partner instead of her than one from experience. She was over the moon for her sister, but she allowed herself the occasional thought that bordered on jealousy.

Amy was surprised when her straw made a loud sucking sound and only brought up the dregs of watery tequila. It was good that their drinks and tacos would be at the Happy Hour price. She wasn’t paying attention to how much she drank while thinking, and her head felt a little fuzzy when Laura arrived.

“So, has the Universe shown you its magic yet?” Laura teased.

Amy was feeling a little loose-lipped and ready to tell her sister everything. “Actually, yeah.”

Laura’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m detecting zero sarcasm. What is happening? Who are you? I’m scared, Ames,” she said teasingly.

“I know this is going to sound crazy. In fact, I think I might be losing it a little,” Amy began and then paused.

Laura’s eyes were enormous, and she leaned in expectantly. Amy knew that look. Laura had sniffed out a story.

“Fine, okay. But don’t judge me.”

“Never.”

“I’ve had some weird things happen.”

“Yeah?” Laura asked encouragingly, motioning for her to go on.

“Well, they’ve been along a spectrum of weirdness from coincidence to impossible. First, I’ve noticed the number 33 in many places. More than what you could just expect in normal life. I can almost write that off as just being more aware and subconsciously wanting to find it –”

“Take it down a notch, Freud. Let’s allow ourselves to believe for a little bit. ”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Anyway. That 33 stuff seems in the realm of possibility. Pretty much. Now, let me take you from reality to bizarre. I ran into Jessica Carson from high school while cleaning my new clients’ place. It ended up being her parents’ house. I had just been thinking about her.”

Laura opened her mouth to speak, but Amy held up her hand to stop her. “I know that sounds like an average coincidence, and I assumed it was. But get this. I was thinking—just thinking— about tracking down Mara.”

“Your roommate from college?”

“That’s the one. She’s not on social media and I haven’t spoken to her in years. Laura, she texted me out of the blue right then, just as I was thinking about her. At 3:33 p.m. Her phone number ends in 3333.”

“Wow, okay, that’s weird. Also, those are a lot of coincidences in a short time.”

“I’m not finished. Prepare yourself because this one is spooky.” When their server arrived, Amy was all set to make herself sound unbalanced with the pizza story. Her sister huffed in annoyance at the interruption, but Amy was glad to have a moment to be sure she wanted to share the story. They rushed through ordering since Laura looked like she would burst with curiosity, and Amy really wanted another margarita. She was positive she’d lose her nerve if she didn’t get the story out quickly. Last chance to change the subject.

“Tell me,” Laura demanded.

Amy prepared herself for judgment. She was judging herself, and she expected the same of her sister.

“The other night, I was sitting on the sofa with a few slices of pizza on a plate. I was so tired, and I dozed off just long enough to have the pizza slide off the plate and land face down on my new rug.”

“Not the rug! It was nearly impossible to talk you into treating yourself to it.”

“I had the same thought. I ran to get my carpet cleaning kit, but it was like time had rewound by the time I got back. The pizza was on the plate, and the plate was on the coffee table. No stain. No evidence of anything having happened.”

Laura’s opened her mouth in shock. She started and stopped, each time trying to say something. Amy figured she was trying to make it all make sense since she'd had the same reaction.

“Yeah, I know,” Amy agreed.

As they ate their meal, Laura bombarded her with every reason she should go with it and be open to a little magic from the Universe. The whole idea made Amy uncomfortable. But she had to admit that everything was coming up Amy these days, and that was kind of nice.

The bill arrived, and Laura slid it toward herself. “This week is my turn to pay.”

No arguments from me .

“You are not going to believe this,” she whispered, her eyes wide.

“What?”

Laura passed her the bill. It was for $33.33.

Just as Amy was processing the strange occurrence, Laura changed the topic to Amy's upcoming trip to Potomac to pick up her bridesmaid’s dress for Brit’s wedding.

Brit and Harrison had a meet-cute story fit for a Hallmark movie. They had been at a bakery, and Harrison had turned around and bumped into her, smashing his mom’s birthday cake right into her chest. They had ended up laughing about it and staying at the bakery for cupcakes and coffee despite Brit’s chocolate-covered dress. It was so adorable that it was gross.

Brit’s friends had immediately taken to the charming Harrison. He was the kind of guy who always thought about others and catered to Brit and the other women in every way. He only had eyes for Brit, though. They had a love-at-first-sight moment, and it was no surprise when he proposed on their first anniversary.

Amy wasn’t particularly a romantic, but she did love weddings. This one would be especially fun since it would be a mini reunion back in their college town, Charlottesville, Virginia. She was in the bridal party with Katie, Brit’s coworker Trina, and Lan, the maid of honor. Brit had chosen the cutest navy halter dresses with ruffle details for the bridesmaids. They were girly without being over the top. Amy loved hers and couldn’t wait to see how it looked on her now that the alterations were finished.

Amy spun around gleefully in front of the three-way mirror at the bridal shop. The dress was perfect. Amy rarely got to dress up with her type of work, and she enjoyed being able to have a new dress to look forward to wearing. She hoped the others would be as happy with theirs as she was. Amy snapped a photo in the mirror and sent it to their bridal party group chat.

“Looks good?” the seamstress asked in a clipped Russian accent.

“It’s exactly what I wanted,” Amy smiled. She returned to the dressing room to change her clothes, which were definitely less fun than her new dress.

The seamstress took the dress and put it in a sturdy garment bag with the shop’s name printed on it: Boutique Thirty-Three.

Come on . This is getting silly.

She carried her dress to the car and drove home, lost in thought. She was jarred out of her daydream by flashing lights behind her. She pulled over, feeling stupid for not paying attention to the speed limit. She really wasn’t herself lately.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“Sorry, officer, no.”

“This is a 25-mile-per-hour school zone; you were going 33.”

Amy’s head started spinning. 33…33…33…33 .

“I’m going to let you off with a warning this time. But you need to be more careful in the future.”

“Thank you so much,” Amy breathed, grateful for the reprieve .

“Drive safely,” he said over his shoulder, heading back to the cruiser.

As she eased back onto the road, paying full attention, her phone rang. She hit the button on her steering wheel for the speakerphone.

“Hey, Brit, what’s shaking?”

“I just wanted to tell you how hot you look in the dress. Are you happy with it?”

“So happy. Thank you for choosing a dress that I actually like,” Amy laughed.

“I’d never live it down if I made you girls look ugly. While I have you, what’s new? Anything interesting happening?”

“Normally, I’d say it’s same ol’ same ol,’ but actually, yeah. You know how that psychic said 33 was an important number and all sorts of things would happen for me?”

“Yep, but you weren’t exactly on board with that.”

“I’m on board.”

“What?” Brit said in a shocked tone.

“I won’t get into details now because I need to pay attention to the road. I just got pulled over for speeding.”

“You? Speeding?”

“I know. I don’t recognize myself, either. Let’s just say that lots of weird things have been happening. Coincidences that are beyond explanation,” Amy shook her head at herself. Even she couldn’t deny that something was going on.

“Maybe this is a sign that you should start paying attention to the potential around you. Coincidences can also be called synchronicities, which are little signs that things are falling into place and that you need to be aware.”

“Consider me aware.”