Until I Found You

fifteen

~ ABBY ~

"It does seem like it's all anyone is talking about, doesn't it Joe?"

"You're certainly right about that Martha."

I'm woken up by the sounds of unfamiliar and annoyingly chirpy voices.

"What d'you want?" I grumble, face smushed into the pillow.

"For those of you just joining us today, we are covering the story of our very own Captain America finding his soulmate."

My head shoots up, off of the pillow, snapping in the direction of the noise. I was now very much so, awake. Awake enough to realize that I must have fallen asleep with the TV on. I don't even remember shutting my eyes, although the sunset I can see through the window is now well underway which tells me I must have taken a pretty hefty power nap. To be fair, it's been a pretty draining few hours. It's been a pretty draining few weeks really.

I'd called my dad once Steve had left the spare room. He had picked up after one ring, shouting into the phone like he was trying to make sure the entire state of Alaska could hear him all the way from Brooklyn.

"Shortcake is that you? Are you alright? I've been worried sick!"

I was on the phone with him for thirty minutes, telling him what he saw on the news was true. I told him that I met my soulmate and that I was staying where he lived for the night, at least until the press left the outside of my apartment. He had a million other questions. I had the answers to most, but knew that this needed to be a face to face conversation. I asked him to just trust me for now, and that I would explain everything in person as soon as I knew it was safe to do so.

He'd ended the call saying, "I wish you'd been honest with me, you know how I feel about all of the secrets and the lies."

And if that wasn't enough to make me feel like the worst daughter on the planet he added. "I'm glad you're safe. I love you so much shortcake. I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to you."

After that I'd turned my phone off. I had a bunch of missed calls and texts from Jonah, but I wasn't in the right head space to talk it out with him. He wasn't the only one texting me though. I had also found a number of texts from people I hadn't talked to in ages. Fizzled out high school "friends", college peers I happened to work on projects with, and a few cousins that I hadn't heard from since the funeral all wanting to know if it was true. I had ignored them all, flicking on the television in hopes of finding a distraction.

Between discovering the news had been leaked to public and the car ride from hell, the entire day had put me through the emotional wringer. I guess I must have fallen asleep watching an old "Entourage" re-run. Only now the channel had evidently switched to the eight o'clock news, the two anchors, a blonde woman with glasses and a brown-haired man that looked like the kind of guy with an all-inclusive Equinox membership and Peloton at home smiling back at me through the other end of the screen.

"It was confirmed earlier this morning that none other than super-soldier Steve Rogers has found a new present day soulmate." The Peloton man comments as he folds his hands across the news desk.

"Rogers had previously claimed to have found his soulmate in the forties, before he so historically crashed the plane carrying dangerous weapons into the ocean during World War II." The blonde girl adds, with a grin. "Of course, Rogers has yet to make a statement, but was spotted picking up his soulmate outside of her apartment earlier today."