soulmates

Life

Six Years Later

I think my sentence is wrong. I mean, Tamara never died, and the trilogy's been over for six years. I took down all my posters, and the fandom t-shirts became pj shirts. And believe me, the fantasy of Wonderful Life with Your Soulmate fades with time. Lily and Jesse broke up and she's married to someone else now.

The truth is, just because someone's your soulmate doesn't mean you're going to end up with them. Kids don't really think about that.

So I'm okay with the fact that I probably ran away from my soulmate that day in the theatre. I sometimes regret it. I wish I could at least know who it was.

I finish work at the coffee shop and clock out so I can bike over to campus. Third year, baby- one more year and then I graduate. I still live at home- why move out? Mom likes me.

Oh, there's another soulmate pair gone wrong. Dad left for Chicago one day and never came back. Apparently some other girl said "Yeah, just past the library", and he took it to heart. Of course Mom and I know better. She lives with 'Howard Teffely Building' on her skin, after all. That's not something you hear twice in one lifetime. Especially not when the Howard Teffely Building is at your alma mater on the other side of the country and you're a fifty year old woman.

But like I said- soulmates aren't a guarantee. I think I'll just avoid them altogether. Find a nice guy, and be happy. 

"Twiggy!"

I turn around and see Ben running towards me, where I'm stopped on my bike at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green.

Ben. See, there's a nice guy. I'm not really 'interested', but I'm not opposed. He's a big soulmate believer, though. He posts about it all the time on Facebook- these soulmate predictions and estimations and science articles. So unless he up and says "I can't believe Tamara dies", I don't think he'll ever want to go out with me.

"Hey, Ben," I say. I slid off my bike as the light turns, and we walk across the street to campus together.

"You still want to meet for our group project tonight? I talked to Leslie and she said she couldn't make it, but we could still work on it."

"Yeah, sure."

"You want to do the verb thing? I can make the diagrams."

I grimace. "I guess so. I'm terrible at translating, though."

"You don't have to translate, just write down the different conjugations," Ben suggests.

I tilt my head. "Je ne l'aime pas."

He laughs, but I'm not sure he knows what I'm saying until he says, "Yeah, I don't like it either. Group projects suck."

He looks down at his wrist, and I know that's where his soulmate mark is. He's always checking it. I can't wait until he meets her, whoever she is. He's so nervous about it, and just wants to make sure everything's right. And he's got a butterflies and hearts one- "You, you're the one."

Can you imagine? I'm sure Ben can, he's probably been imagining it for five million years. There's so many ways it could be said.

1. In awe. "You," she'll say, her eyes wide with wonder and amazement. She'll reach for his hand. "You're the one." Cue sunset and wind machines.

2. Excitement. They'll run into each other at the store, and he says "oh, sorry!" (Assuming her mark says oh sorry.) And she'll start jumping up and down and squealing. "You?! YOU'RE the ONE!"

3. Sadness. She'll be driving, not paying attention, and she'll slam into him as he's jaywalking (Ben jaywalks all the time). And as he's bleeding out on the street, she'll cradle him in her arms, and he'll say "don't worry, it's just a scratch." She'll start sobbing. "You," she'll wail. "You're the one." Then he'll die.

Oh, I'm an expert at soulmate scenarios. I made up enough of them for mine. And when I exhausted my mark, I started making up scenarios for everyone else's. Then I started making up marks, and making up stories, and here I am - an english major, with my debut novel picked up by a publishing house in New York. I don't know if they'll actually publish it or not - right now they just asked to see more. That's honestly the biggest accomplishment of my life, though, so who cares if it plays out? A publishing company wants to read my book!

Ben runs into a lamppost, and I laugh at him. He rubs his forehead and shoots a look at me.

"You and your soulmate mark," I tease. "This girl is going to be the death of you."

"Doesn't it intrigue you? Any second now, she might come into my life."

I raise an eyebrow. He sees the look.

"Hey, I know you don't believe in soulmates, but I do."

"Believe, lover boy," I say, splitting off to head to my class.

"Someday, a guy will come into your life!" he shouts, but I ignore him.

Yeah. The only way my mark is coming true is if someone invents a time machine and rewrites the script for the final King's Angel movie.

Speaking of, it's about time for a marathon. I make a mental note to watch the first one when I get home.