Countdown (on hold)

Two years, twelve months, three weeks, one day, fourteen hours before

            "Theo will be okay; he's staying with me. We're family, Shay. Our mothers have known each other since they were our age. You know your mom wouldn't let Theo go to another city without her or someone she trusts completely."

            I sniffled, "It's not just that Theo is leaving. I've been a horrible sister to him recently. I haven't paid attention to him when he was talking to me." I started to wipe my face with my shirt sleeve, but James handed me a tissue instead.

            "Here," he said, wiping the tears off of my face himself. I looked up and smiled at him. "You haven't been a horrible sister, Shay. Theo told me everything, and it seems you've just been preoccupied with being with Caleb than with Theo. He's not mad at you, either. He just wished that you weren't as close with Caleb as you are, but he's fine with your friendship because you seem happier when you're with Caleb. And even though I don't like Caleb that much, I have to agree, you do seem happier when you're with him."

            I thought about what James said. He was right about what he said about Caleb; I was always happier when I was with him, but that didn't mean I had to spend all of my time with him.  "When are you and Theo leaving?" I asked quietly.

            "Sooner than you probably thought; we're leaving tomorrow. Theo's probably packing now." My face fell; I only had one day to spend with Theo and make everything better between us. James tried to cover that bit of information up by starting to talk over me. "Do you think Aria is Theo's soul mate? I know she's a year younger than him, but it's possible."

            "I guess..." I let James continue with his fantasizing about him and me becoming soul mates.

            "Of course that explains why you still have two years left for your countdown, I never visit every year. When I get my bracelet, I'll write you right away to tell you how long my countdown is. But if Aria turns out to be Theo's soul mate, we would come here more often, so then your countdown would go down."

            I cut him off there, "Would you ever marry someone other than your soul mate?"

            I expected James to say 'no', but he surprised me. "Depends on who my bracelet says is my soul mate. If it turned out to be you, I would obviously listen to the bracelet. It just depends if my heart says that I love her and not just my mind." He looked at me before asking me the same question.

            "Like you said, it depends, I guess. I wouldn't want to marry someone who I didn't trust, or more importantly, didn't love." I trusted Caleb, but did I love him? And I loved James, but did I trust him completely? "What would your parents say if you ran off with someone other than your soul mate?"

            "Mom would cry and beg me to rethink everything, but I feel she would still be there for me. Aria would probably be like Mom, except she would most of her crying in private. And Dad would disown me the second I told them. You know him, trying to become the head of the government."

            I shook my head, "I didn't know that."

            "You don't pay attention to the national, and probably local, newspapers?"

            I shook my head again, "No, sorry."

            James shook his head, "You should at least read the front page."

            "I don't like to worry or bother myself with the news. If it was very important, our principal would either announce it to the whole school or my parents would tell me."

            He sighed, "You have a point, but you should glance at the front page every day. It changes every single day, you know."

            "Maybe if I paid more attention to Theo when he talked to me he wouldn't want to leave." I snapped back.

            James scooted over so that he was now in front of me. "Shay this is not your fault. Theo is going because he feels like he should. He's known he wanted to go for a while now and that's manly why I came to visit, so that he could go back home with me. He's a better pen pal than you are; he writes back more frequently than you." He said, answering my unspoken question. "We should probably go back inside now; I think Theo would want to talk to you." I nodded just as the back door opened.

            Theo came out and smiled at me. "I thought I would find you out here. James, can you go inside? I need to talk to Shay..." James was already back inside of my house before Theo finished speaking to him.

            It was just me and Theo now, and I didn't know what to go. I was mad at him for leaving, but I should be proud of him. It was considered a good thing if you and your soul mate lived in different cities. But it also made it harder to plan the wedding and to get to know them.

            "I'm sorry, Shay. I didn't think me going to the other cities would affect you so much."

            I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his middle. "Of course it would, you're my older brother."

            Theo wrapped his arms around me, "I'm only going to be gone two weeks, possibly only one." My face still didn't change from a frown. "Let's go horseback riding one last time before I leave. I didn't have time to answer because Theo threw me over his shoulder and started running towards the barn.

*Author's Note*

This is going to be the last chapter of Countdown for a little bit, until my heart gets back into it. My head is, but my heart isnt and I feel its important to put some of yourself into the charecters. I will be starting a new story in August and I have a shared account( @thirstyformusic ) that I write parts of a book on.  Thank you all for all the reads, votes, and feedback!