The Countdown [Short Story]

the countdown;

"Abby, you wouldn't believe what happened last night." The guy, who happened to be my bestfriend said in an unbelievable tone as he sat down on the empty seat beside me.

"What is it?" I beamed as I took a sip of the mocha Frappuccino drink I ordered. My gut was telling me that he probably managed to hit it off with some college chick he met on his late night gigs. Which was fine for me... as long as that girl wasn't my bestfriend's soul mate.

He adjusted in his seat, ready to tell his story. "So I was working on a few songs last night, I fell asleep on my desk. When I woke up at around midnight to pee, my wrist suddenly felt warm."

No.

"It was an amazing sight to see-"

No. No... it can't be.

"Slowly, numbers that of the same color of my veins started to appear on my skin-"

No... Please... Not yet.

"I thought I was just sleep deprived or something so I just went back to bed and didn't mind it at first." He started to roll up the sleeves of his maroon sweater. "But then this morning, I checked it again and look!" he showed me the dark green numbers that seemed to be tattooed his wrist, meanly telling me the time left before my bestfriend meets his soul mate.

6:37:04

Six hours. Thirty-seven minutes. 4 seconds left.

"It's just amazing, you know? I never thought I'd meet her at 22." He grinned, profound excitement was evident in his forest green eyes.

"Which made me think about the times we talked about what we were going to do when the clock shows up on our wrist back when we were in high school. Man, this shit is spooky." He chuckled softly.

I couldn't keep my eyes off where his hands were. I wish I could just stare at his timer for it to go away.

"Ab? Are you listening?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, and his eyes met mine.

"Yes! Of course I was." I said. "I remember you saying you would instantly book a luxurious hotel for you two the moment a clock shows up."

Well, let's just say the high school Zachary was a pervert with 'class', or that's what he described himself in the past.

He laughed at the memory. "Well, what I did isn't really far from what the high school Zach had imagined doing."

My eyes widened. "You still want to Marvin Gaye and get it on the moment you meet your soul mate?!"

"No!" he chuckled as he exclaimed loudly. "Well... Instead of a luxury hotel, I actually booked for a dinner at Aureole tonight."

I gasped, Aureole is one of those fancy New York restaurants you would burn your money at. Literally.

"Dude... Aureole's like... paying a hundred bucks for sausages with green peas and grass as garnish."

"True. But I guess that's fine... I wanted to make whoever this girl is special." He exhaled with a smile.

A lump began to form in my throat. I tried to swallow it down but I failed.

"Oh! Is it a good idea to give her a bouquet of red roses?" he asked.

I cleared my throat in attempt to ease the heavy feeling in my chest. "What if she's allergic?" I said, in concern for people allergic to flowers... like me.