soulmates. | sean lew

22. loving someone

"jesus christ, sean!" she yells and hits his shoulder. "i'm not speaking to you again!"

"after you just confessed your love to me?" he pouts and places his hands on his hips.

"first off," she points her finger to sean. "you said it first. secondly, we did not say love."

"maybe you just don't want to admit it," he shrugs and starts walking towards the store.

"whatever," she rolls her eyes. "can you tell me where we're going now?"

"getting costumes," he replies.

"why do we need costumes?" she asks as sean pushes open the door.

"it's halloween, why wouldn't we?" he says as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

sean walks to the back of the store and finds the section of halloween costumes with only a few left.

"jeez," he says, looking at the sad mess of fabrics in front of him.

"these are the leftovers, what'd you expect?"

"hey, this one's alright," he picks up a halo headband and places it on mia's head. he picks up julian's camera that's been sitting around his neck and points the lens and mia, "perfect."

sean then turns back to the pile and rummages through before finding devil horns.

"suits you," mia says.

"why's that?"

"it's like you're not even wearing a costume,"

"real funny," he rolls his eyes. "let's go pay."

on the way to the counter, sean picks up a bottle of wine. mia stops him and grabs his arm, looking at him warily.

"sean, you shouldn't be drinking,"

he looks at mia, his eyes meeting her worried ones. "i can handle myself, mia. it's one night. i'll be fine, i promise."

mia sighs but she can't protest further as sean hands the items to the cashier.

the exit the store, and sean pops open the bottle. he takes a swig, then hands it over to mia, smiling, "happy halloween!"

-

an hour later, mia and sean finish half the bottle and tossed it away somewhere they can't recall.

the two are walking along the sidewalk, when sean stops in his tracks. it's as if an imaginary light bulb has popped up above his head.

"come with me," he says, taking mia's hand again as he rushes off to whistle for the taxi passing by them.

they hop in, and the driver turns around, waiting for them to say their destination.

"times square," sean says.

-

they pull up to half a mile before times square, and sean pulls out a bag of candy from his backpack.

"when did you get that?" mia stares at the massive assortment of sweets in sean's hands.

"stole it from julian before we left the house," he says as he stuffs chocolate into his mouth. "makes up for not being able to trick or treat ...you know, being a twenty year old and all."

"i've actually never been trick or treating before," mia admits as she takes a piece of chocolate from sean.

"no way!" sean says in disbelief. "what kind of childhood is that?!"

"it just wasn't that big of a deal,"

"not that big of a deal?!" sean places his hand to his heart, pretending to be hurt by mia's response. "this just means we have to go next year."

"what makes you sure there's a next year?" mia jokes.

"you can't get rid of me that easy, mia mendoza," he teases. "i'm stuck in your heart forever." he places his arm around his shoulder and continues to chuck pieces of candy into his mouth.

the arrive in the middle of times square and are surrounded by the bright lights and billboards with advertisements flashing across them.

"i never really liked times square," mia says, contrasting to the look on her face as she looks up at the night sky above her.

"thanks for telling me now instead of in the car ride over," sean scrunches his face.

"it's just too many people, too touristy, too crowded," she then shifts her attention from the crowd over to the sky above. "but the sky looks way too beautiful tonight for me to hate it."

"yeah, it does look amazing," he says, keeping his eyes on mia rather than the stars.

"i wish stars existed like this daytime," she sighs, staring at the starry night above them.

"but you already exist?"

she looks back at sean. but before she can even respond, as if on cue, the music in times square changes to 'outro' by majid jordan.

sean puts out his hand in front of him, "may i have this dance?"

mia's expression softens as sean places his hands around her hips. she places her arms around his ever so gently, and it feels like everything in the world has fallen into place, even just for a moment.

they sway to the music, not minding the dozens of people passing by them and the blinding lights flashing down on them.

"thank you," sean says quietly to mia as they sway.

"for what?"

"being there for me," he says. "it means more to me than you know."

she doesn't say anything back but instead hugs sean tightly.

"thank you too," she whispers. "for being my soulmate."

- 

hours later, sean and mia are walking around times square even if a majority of the shops are already closing.

sean's phone buzzes from his pocket, and he grabs it to check who it is. julian's name flashes on the screen.

"hey, what's up?" he answers.

mia looks at sean, seeing his expression instantly.

"where are you right now?" he says seriously. "okay we'll be there as soon as we can."

he ends the call, and mia stares back at sean worriedly.

"what happened?"

"we have to go now," he says coldly. "julian's in the hospital."

a/n
yuhh queen of cliffhangers and updating once a month
but!!!! next week is my last week of school so i'll be updating almost everyday and the book will end before new years! eep