SoulMates // 5sos

m.c. part two

In the silence that followed his revelation, Michael realised a few things. The first was that he didn't even know the name of the girl standing in front of him who was very possibly his soul mate. The second was that he didn't know much about her in general. Sure, he knew that it was her birthday, and that she liked chocolate chip pancakes and hanging out in music stores; but that was pretty much the extent of his knowledge.

She was cute; there was no doubt about it. She had blue hair which Michael thought was probably the coolest thing he'd ever seen, and she was wearing the t-shirt of one of his favourite bands. She was at least a half a foot shorter than him which was still about two inches taller than most of the girls their age. She just looked so effortlessly cool that Michael was slightly jealous.

The third thing that he realised was that she looked as if he'd just told her that she only had weeks to live. She looked terrified and confused and then Michael made the connection that it was his fault.

"Oh." She said, the word hanging between them in the empty store.

There was no other sound besides the soft music playing over the speakers and he was sure that she'd be able to hear his heart thudding erratically in his chest and the gears turning in his brain. He was searching for something, anything, to say that might freak her out a little bit less but he was coming up short.

"I'm really sorry." He spluttered out and it wasn't ideal but at least it was something.

When she didn't say anything else, just continued staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights, words started tumbling from his mouth and he had no way to stop them.

"That was, wow, I'm sorry. That was a lot to dump on you all at once. I probably should have tried to ease into it or something, it's just I was really surprised because you're nothing like I imagined - and oh my god this probably isn't making things any better. You're creeped out aren't you? I creeped you out, I'm sorry. I swear I had a better grasp of the English language about twenty minutes ago; usually I'm much better at forming sentences and talking to people. Oh my god, I'm sorry. I'm going to stop talking."

Michael fiddled with his fingers and refused to look at the girl in front of him. He was beyond embarrassed; his refusal to meet her eyes had just as much to do with not wanting to see her looking at him the way she had been as it did with the fact that he didn't want her to see him blushing.

"It's, um, it's cool. It's just a lot to process, you know." When she finally spoke he couldn't help but look up at her. "I mean, I literally turned eighteen a few hours ago. Aren't these things supposed to take a little longer than a few hours?"

He shook his head with a shrug. "I've got no idea. The whole thing is completely crazy, I don't know if logic can really be applied to it."

She nodded and looked back down at her shoes. "Michael - it's Michael, right?" He nodded before remembering that she wasn't looking at him and telling her she was right. "Okay, I think I'm going to go. I swear it's got nothing to do with you, I just need to think for a little while."

He scratched at the back of his neck and nodded. "I, uh, I work afternoons on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; and mornings on Monday and Wednesday. I just thought I'd let you know, in case you wanted to come back and talk or something."

She gave him a small smile and nodded again, making her way back towards the door. She put up her hood, preparing herself to walk back home in the pouring rain. When she was halfway through the door Michael called out to her.

"Wait, what's your name?" He asked, figuring that it was a pretty vital piece of information (he couldn't exactly keep referring to her as 'the girl').