When the Snow Falls|❄| Short Stories

1. Soulmates

"Felicity, stop fidgeting with your hands! He'll be here. Relax", I told my best friend as she stared at her wrist.

There it was, the timer. The timer that counted the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. To what? To the time you meet your soulmate. Felicity's read only ten minutes, and she was anxious as we sat in the coffee shop. Another person out there was having a count down of ten minutes on their wrist too. Everyone in the cafe was smiling and nodding  towards my friend. They looked at her with a look of encouragement, knowing the reason behind her agitation. She smiled​ back at them nervously​, and tucked a strand of gold behind her ear. She turned to me and stared at me in anticipation.

"Do I look okay? I haven't even dressed up well! Look at me, this grey dull shirt....if only I  had paid attention", She groaned and covered her face with her hands.

I patted her back and gave her a tight hug.

"You look pretty just the way you are, Fel. You don't even have to sweat over your looks. Any guy would swoon over you", I told her with a knowing smile.

"Thanks, Aidan. But still......I feel so anxious!", She whined.

I chortled softly. She'd always been that way, ever since the day we became friends. So over thoughtful of everything. I drank my coffee, and silently helped myself with hers as well, noticing she wasn't bothering about it anyway. As I sipped from the now cold coffee, Felicity jumped up from her seat and looked around. I spluttered on my coffee and slowly got up with her, wiping off the stains off of my shirt and face.

"Three minutes, Aidan!! Oh my god!", She hissed and covered her face again.

Time flew by so fast, I didn't realise only three minutes were left. Three minutes before my best friend would meet the love of her life. Even the people around us looked at her eagerly. It was a daily routine, once in a while someone would find their soulmate. But it was always an interesting sight, and one never got bored of the different ways they found each other. I lazily jingled my car keys in my hand, watching my friend losing her mind. It was funny, to see her that way. She'd never really cared about her looks.  Felicity was an open minded and friendly young lady, and​ self consciousness wasn't​ a trait in her wonderful personality. And I couldn't have found a better friend.

"Aidan! Aidan time's up! Where is he?", Felicity whispered worriedly.

Worry flooded me. Although I'd been keeping cool, I too was concerned. But I didn't show it. She was already worrying herself sick over it. A middle aged couple looked at her and gestured my friend to relax. She looked at me, terrified.

"Aidan, Aidan what if......", She trailed off.

Felicity yelped as she was toppled forward. Before I could catch her, another strong arm had caught her by her waist. I grinned at her, and she looked from me to her saviour. The guy had messy brown hair, and green eyes, the kind Fel always obsessed over. He looked at her apologetically, and then suddenly, a smile broke into his face. His wrist was out stretched, and both Fel's and his timer now read zero.

"I say, this is the most ridiculous way to meet your soulmate", He said, a genuine smile playing on his lips.

Fel relaxed her tensed shoulders and squealed in glee as she hugged the man tightly. She looked at me, and pulled me into a crushing hug.

"Thanks for sticking up with me, Aidan", she whispered.

"Okay, okay. Now go! Get to know each other!", I told her.

She nodded happily and skipped off with him, an applause following after her. I smiled to myself and walked over towards the cashier, paid, and walked back to my car. A young girl in her teens stood anxiously near the street. She looked around, no one in sight. I stalled right there and continued to watch her. Her gaze met mine, and she smiled at me nervously, just like how Fel had done so. Her brown hair was highlighted into a turquoise blue. I too, began to scan the crowd for someone just as expectant as her.

The traffic lights turned red, and the pedestrians quickly crossed over the black and white stripes of the zebra crossing. I looked for someone, no one in particular, in the crowd, and found him. He was probably a jock in high school, with sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. It wasn't hard to observe, as he neared the anxious blue girl. Blue girl and Sandy did a firm hand shake and hugged each other rather firmly, laughing and talking excitedly as they walked away. They looked happy. They were happy.

The familiar feeling of loss crept into my chest, as I settled into my car seat. I revved up the engine, and waited in the parking lot for a few moments. I looked down at my wrist, and vigorously tried to scratch the timer off of my hand, leaving my skin raw and red with scratch marks. The pain in my chest had now become an accustomed sensation, yet I couldn't help but wonder. Wiping the silent tears from the corner of my eyes, I pulled my car out of the parking lot and got onto the main road. The pain was still fresh in my mind. I missed my soulmate, even though I hadn't met her.

Its been four years since my timer counted down to zero.

She still hasn't come.

Based on a prompt. Hope you enjoy reading it. ;)