(All characters, places, and objects from The Real Ghostbusters do not belong to me. They belong to Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Columbia Pictures. Television. OC's are only mine!)

Chapter Two

Not in the Cards

The next evening, Peter was alone in Weaver Hall and ready for his "date." The whole day had been tedious as he waited in anticipation to see Claire. With how slow it'd been, he thought cement would've dried faster. Everything was ready: electrodes, notebook, Zener cards, door wide open and even some ginger ale in the mini fridge. (If he'd been able to afford it, Peter would've had wine or champagne stocked up.) His little black book had some space left for Claire's number and he already had in mind some places for dinner afterwards. To top it all off, he was wearing a nice suit. He was confident the evening would go perfectly.

His heart beat faster upon hearing the soft clicking of high heels against linoleum. When he saw Claire's silhouette, he leaned against the door frame like he did against the bookcase last evening. Claire looked startled, but politely smiled back.

"Hello again," he greeted flirtatiously.

"Hi again," she greeted back. Her hair was in a low bun like last evening, but she was in a skirt and blouse. Besides her purse, she was carrying a Pepsi bottle which was filled with water. "Is Ray here?" she inquired looking around the room.

"He's busy with stuff," Peter replied, "something about a meter." He noticed Claire looked a little disappointed. "Were you hoping to take him out later?"

"No," Claire said with a head shake. "He's a new friend of mine so I was curious. Did you think I was dating him?"

"You want an honest answer?" Peter was up close to her with a playful grin.

"I'm not interested in Ray," said Claire who wasn't on keen flirting back. She seated herself before his desk.

"We'll wait a little for the male test subject," Peter said after a pause. Honestly, if he didn't show Peter would've been more than happy with just Claire. "It's more of a challenge getting the male test subjects," he added. "The guy said he'd do it for five bucks."

"I don't want to be paid," Claire interjected.

"Not even a free dinner?" Peter asked.

"I don't want to be paid for doing a favor," she explained. "I just want to help."

Peter was genuinely surprised. So far, nobody had done the test just to be nice. Half of the time, the female test subjects just wanted to flirt with him, which he didn't oppose.

"Well at least let me do something nice for you in return for volunteering," he grinned. "Until then, we'll go ahead and do some standard questions. Sometimes the answers help the results."

"Ask away," she said assertively.

When he walked past her, she smiled a little at the scent of his cologne. She guessed he was trying to impress her but at least he smelled good. Peter's roommates always knew he was going on a date when he sprayed three times more cologne than usual.

"Okay Claire; first one," he said while sitting back in his chair with the notebook. "Have you or any family members been diagnosed with any mental illness?"

"No." Claire's forefinger slowly tapped against her knee. Peter didn't notice and kept going on with his questions.

"Habitually using drugs, stimulants or alcohol?"

"No for all three."

"Are you menstruating?"

"What?" she suddenly gasped. "No!" Claire sounded more scared than offended. She shifted back in her chair.

"Whoa! Hey! Easy!" Peter quickly reassured. "Not being perverted it's just a legit health question. That's all there is." That was the first time Peter ever felt guilty for asking it. Women were more confused or mostly offended when he inquired that question. Why would Claire seem frightened? You're on thin ice Venkman, he thought to himself. Don't expect anything extra soon with her.

"I-I'm so sorry," Claire uttered as she sat up again. "I don't know why I acted that way." She randomly scratched her small nose and her eyes roamed to the floor.

"Don't worry about it," Peter chuckled. "I had one gal that was so offended by the drugs question she went on a rant about how dangerous they are for five minutes. Seemed to take forever to get to the stimulants and alcohol question."

"Must've been a long ESP test for you," Claire said with a small smile.

"Well after she went on two separate rants about stimulants and alcohol, time just flew by." Peter felt satisfied to see Claire's smile grow a little bigger.

"I better not tell you my mom's joke about time or you'll never want to use me as a test subject," admitted Claire. It seemed like she wanted to put behind her fright and confirm she wasn't upset. She didn't give any other hint of surprise as he attached the first electrode to her hand.

"You sure you're okay?" Peter inquired.

"Of course," Claire answered.

Peter noticed she wasn't making eye contact. She was hiding something. It'd have to wait because Steven, the male test subject arrived just in time. He was an economics major for Columbia and always dressed in bright colored polos. With his side swept brown hair and soft voice he looked and sounded like Norman Bates. Whenever Peter saw him, he could only here the Psycho theme play in his head.

"This better be harmless," Steven commented as he took a seat.

"Just answer the questions best you can, and you'll be fine," said Peter with some mischief in his tone.

Once strapped with the electrodes, Steven looked nervous. He'd been fine while asked the standard questions (minus the menstruation one obviously.) He rubbed his temples as if to concentrate. Peter seemed to be enjoying it. "Think hard and strong for this one," he said to Steven. "What is it?" He tapped his forefinger against the card.

"Um," Steven stuttered. He pressed his palms against his head. "St-star?"

"Good guess but no," said Peter. He turned the card over revealing it was the plus sign. He nimbly reached over and twisted one of the knobs for the electrodes.

Steven yelped and squirmed from the shock. Claire's eyes widened at him until she looked back to Peter. He gave her an reassuring smile.

"Take it easy and clear your head," he said to her as he held up the next card. "What is it?"

"Square," she breathed.

"You got it," Peter said with a grin. He didn't flip the card around for her to see but moved on to Steven. "Well, what do you think it is?" he said almost mockingly.

"It's the-the" Steven stuttered again. "The wavy lines?" He was anxiously rubbing his fingers through his hair, messing it up.

"Oh," Peter sharply inhaled through his teeth. With a quick turn he showed the card which had the star. "Close, but no cigar." He didn't hesitate to give another shock and poor Steven yelped louder. "Back to you Miss Teague," said Peter as he held up another card. He rested his chin against his free hand.

Claire frowned in concentration, but her eyes wandered to Peter's half-lidded stare. He mouthed "Come on" encouragingly to her. She managed to utter "circle" and appeared confused when Peter remarked that she was correct.

"Got it right again," he said as he reached for a new one. "You're doing really good Miss Teague."

"That's nice," she said without a smile.

"Nervous huh?" Peter said to Steven.

"Does that improve the results?" asked Steven with frustration.

"Sometimes," Peter simply answered. He held up the next card. "What is it?"

"It's the…the one with the plus sign?" Steven said after a long pause.

"Wrong again," Peter sighed. He sounded sympathetic, but there was a sardonic gleam in his eyes. Steven was dismayed to see a circle instead and whimpered in disappointment before he was shocked. "Back to you Claire. What is it?" He casually rolled his pen across the desk and back.

"Is it the wavy lines?" Claire inhaled in expectation for shocks when Peter suddenly frowned.

"Unbelievable," he said incredulously. "You got it again!" He moved the card around as if to examine it, but he never turned it around. "You're not cheating me, right?"

"No," Claire said hesitantly since she couldn't believe she was right.

"I should've known; you can't spell clairvoyant without Claire," Peter thoughtfully teased. He was pleased with himself by how things were going. "Okay back to you Champ," he added to Steven. "What's this one?"

"Square," Steven said quickly as if being fast would help him.

"Nope sorry," Peter laughed half-exasperatedly. He put the card into the used deck before shocking Steven again. He didn't notice Claire furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as he did.

That's weird, she thought. He didn't flip the card around this time. Maybe he forgot? No. How could he forget if he runs this test?

In fact, Claire had something of a clue. Steven had guessed right, yet he was still zapped. Even when Claire guessed the star for her next one, she kept trying to figure it out. She hated to admit it, but maybe Ray's other friend was right. (She couldn't exactly remember Egon's name.) How did she always get them accurate, and Steven was always incorrect? That had to be some bizarre chance.

The test didn't last too long. After getting to the tenth card and having been zapped each time, Steven had enough. He was so frustrated that he yelled two guesses at once: circle and plus sign. Peter didn't bother showing him the card and just commented that he was unlucky.

"I don't get the point of this!" Steven snapped. He angrily pried off the electrode. "This is nothing but negative reinforcement! It's a scam!"

"Said I'd pay you," Peter said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, well five bucks isn't worth it!" Steven marched out and slammed the door. Claire looked like she was about to call him back.

"Don't mind him," Peter said to her. "Some people have the talent, and some don't,"

"You think I have the talent?" Claire inquired him.

"You're the best I've ever tested," complimented Peter.

"I don't think that's true," Claire solemnly admitted.

"Hey, give yourself a lot more credit Claire," Peter sensed he could boost her confidence with more accolades, and she'd be head over heels for him. "I bet you're talented in anything you set your mind to."

Instead of smiling and shyly brushing her hair back like he expected, Claire frowned. She held out her arm with a clenched fist. "I want this off please," she sternly requested.

"I guess it's time for a break," said Peter who was keeping his cool. He got up and around his desk to Claire. "Maybe a drink or something?" He looked suggestively at her.

"No thank you." Claire grew fidgety as he took the electrode off her even though he was gentle. "I need to go home." She tried avoiding eye contact because she the more she saw Peter's eyes, the more annoyed she felt.

"We don't have to drink," said Peter taking back what he said before. "We still have to prove more of the-"

"I think this proved enough to me," Claire firmly interrupted. "You've proved this isn't accurate."

"You sound like Egon," smirked Peter. He still maintained that mischievous grin.

"You know what you sound like?" Claire commented as she gathered her purse and shoved the bottle inside. "You sound like those high school jocks that can smooth talk their way out of trouble and never do the real work." Without evening saying goodbye, she slammed the door behind her and left him alone in the heavy silence.

"She's good," Peter sighed to himself. He picked up the last card which she guessed was the plus sign, but it really was the wavy lines. "Guess it's not in the cards for us."