Random One Shots

Zero

-A/N Oh, look, it's an Author's note! SKIP! Yeah I don't care if you read this I just want to let you know that I got this idea from a Tumblr AU. I saw it and couldn't resist.-

What if you had a clock on your wrist that would tell how long it would be until you met your soulmate? What would that world be like?

I walked along the sidewalk, passing by people who were rushing to get to their jobs. Some were dressed up, which meant that they were either working at a fancy place or they were going to find their soulmate any minute now. They were lucky.
I looked at the numbers on my wrist, supposed to be ticking away at the time. "Any minute now," My mother's voice ran through my mind, sounding hopeful. She knew it wouldn't happen. I knew it wouldn't happen. I didn't have a soulmate. My soulmate didn't exist, I was destined to live my life alone.
Still, it stung to look at the numbers, because the only number that was there was zero. It had always been that way, I'd always had zero. I would watch my friends get so excited over who they were going to have as their soulmate. I had nothing to look forward to, so I made sure I was happy for them.
It wasn't long before I'd crashed into something in the midst of my daydreaming; it was a magazine stand outside a little café. Quickly, I made sure nothing fell off and began to walk away, slightly embarrassed. I looked back, to make sure no one there was staring at me when I bumped into someone's shoulder.
"Oh, sorry," I quickly apologized, turning around to see this person.
"It's fine, I'm not in a rush to go anywhere anyway." Standing there before me was a man about my age with hazel green eyes and messy blonde hair. Freckles were splattered across his cheeks and nose, making his crooked smile seem artistic. Then I noticed his outfit.
" For someone as dressed up as you, I'd expect you to be going to your job or meeting your soulmate or something." I spoke quickly, wanting to escape the rest of the world for a bit.
"My numbers aren't low, I'm not going to meet my soulmate anytime soon. My job gave me a day off after a year's worth of work." He stood there awkwardly, probably in the same situation as I. "Say, what do your numbers say?" His eyes lit up with curiosity and he pointed to my wrist.
"Zero." I said quietly. "My numbers have always said zero." As soon as that was said, you could feel the tension.
"Oh. Mine too." I stared at him, bug-eyed.
"B-But you just said-" He chuckled, shifting his weight onto his right foot.
"It's called a lie, ever heard of it?" He looked straight into my eyes when he spoke. Then it occurred to me that I was talking with a complete stranger, I didn't even know his name. "What's your name? I forgot to ask." Apparently, we had the same thought.
"Autumn Falls. Yours?" I tilted my head to the side, giving him a half-smile.
"Daniel Scieszka. Nice to meet you." He responded blankly.
"You too." There was a moment of silence between us. "So, your numbers have always been zero too?"
"Yeah," he glanced at his shoes. "Don't know why."
"I guess we could be zero buddies then, since I've only met one person in the same situation." I smiled. "Uh, I guess you could, like, call me or something sometime." I took my bag off my shoulders and started searching for a piece of paper.
"Sounds nice." He was quiet. I was not. That's the first thing to check off the opposite list.
"FOUND ONE!" I yelled out, causing some people to glance our way. Quickly, I jotted down the number and handed the paper to him. "So, uh, see you around?" I put my book bag back on my shoulders and waited for him to respond. He flashed a smile and quickly said back,
"Yeah, I'll see you around." With that, he turned and kept walking as I did the same.

-A/N Yay! I did the first one. I saw the AU and it bothered me because I've had this idea since I saw it but hadn't written it down so it nagged at the back of mind, but here it is! BYE!-