Countdown (on hold)

Three years, two months, five days, thirty minutes before

            When Caleb was walking me back home, we continued to talk. We mostly talked about our families and what we wanted to do in our adulthood. Live in this city or move to a different one? Have only one child, a rarity I might add, or many? I came from a family with two children and Caleb came from a family with three children.

            It was easy for me to talk to Caleb. He might be opinionated, but he did listen to me, which many people didn’t do. And we had enough in common that we didn’t talk about the same things over and over again. Caleb did bring up the bracelets up a few times after leaving our room, as he called it. “It’s our room now, you can come here whenever you need a break, okay?” He told while he locked the door. I just smiled and nodded.

            Caleb did have a point about the bracelets though; it’s our future, we should decide what happens. What if my soul mate turned out to be the school bully? I never talked to him, but I knew who he was, and he didn’t have a good reputation. Theo came home with a black eye from him before. But I also wouldn’t want to run into my soul mate while walking down the street. That would be odd; running into someone that turns out to be your soul mate and then having to marry them when you barley know anything about him. The best way to meet your soul mate, I decided, was to find your own soul mate.

            I stopped and leaned on the edge of a park bench. “You know what Caleb?” He stopped to look at me. “Meeting you has affected my opinion about the bracelets. You’re right; everyone should be able to find their own soul mates.”

            Caleb came over to me before I said anything else. “Was it me, or did you always feel that way?”

            “Since Theo got his bracelet, I didn’t really like their idea, but I pushed it aside until I got mine. Since I’ve gotten mine I’ve thought about it more, but I was never fully convinced that they were stupid until you talked.”

            Caleb didn’t say anything. He just stood there watching me, his eyes growing larger. “Shay, let me tell you now, don’t let anyone hear you say that. You haven’t been known to say things like that in public; don’t become someone who says those things out loud unless you mean it. Don’t question me about it now, wait until were alone, okay?” I’ve never seen Caleb act serious, never. In the hallways at school, when he came home with Theo a few times before, he was always laughing or making people laugh. I just nodded, not sure of what I got myself into. “Shay it’s okay. As long as people don’t know unless you are serious about leaving, then you’ll be fine. Look at me, I want to leave so badly and I hate the bracelets, but I’m fine because no one knows except you and Marley. And as long as you don’t tell, we’ll be fine living in secret together.”

            I whispered, “I never said I was going to leave.”

            He turned me around, “Shay, are you going to live with someone you’re supposed to love instead of being with the one you really love? Or do you not want to disappoint your parents? Either way, I hope you’re happy with whatever you choose.”

            I didn’t know what to do. I was never one to express myself simply because no one ever asked me. Caleb was the first person to actually listen to me. If Caleb was willing to run off with me, as my soul mate, I would; but if he didn’t want to be with me, then I probably wouldn’t leave. Caleb was the only other person I knew who didn’t like the idea of the bracelets; no one else talked about them the way he did. I didn’t know how to respond so I did what I felt; I cried.

            Caleb did what he was good at; making people laugh. “Shhh, Shay. You need to stop with all this crying; you’re going to run out of tears.” He laughed a little, but I couldn’t bring myself to laugh with him. “Shay, you’re only thirteen; you’ll figure out what you want to do when the time comes. Come on, let’s get you home.” With that, Caleb picked me up bridal style and carried me the rest of the way to my house. The rest of the way to my house was silent except for the occasional laugh from one of us when somebody would look at us funny.