Seventeen is the age that decides who every young soul is destined to be with forever. Dating back to Neanderthals, humans have always felt this natural pull to the other half of their soul. Made to make sure that the human population is reproducing...
Remember to love yourself before anyone else. If you don't put yourself first, after all, who will? You've only got one body, take care of it & take care of yourself. Love you guys x
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I swallow my nerves for maybe the fifth time, trying to restrain myself from pulling out a few eyelashes. Tentatively, I glance to my right, a trashy attempt at being discreet.
I asked Keefe to come with me today, and for some reason Grady let him come. Edaline is on my other side, fiddling with her fingers.
Keefe's tousled, dirty-blonde hair oddly works for him, accenting his cheeky troublemaker look. Today he's wearing sweatpants and a black v-neck tee. Even when he dresses casually, he still managed to pull it off. Then his head turns, and I catch his icy blue eyes, my cheeks flushing as I look away immediately.
I can tell he's smirking even before I sneak another glance at him. I can only feel thankful that he hasn't said anything – possibly on the account of Edaline next to me. He bumps my leg teasingly. I gently elbow him back.
"Sophie Foster?" a nurse calls out, looking at his clipboard.
I stand hurriedly, following Edaline and the nurse over to the room. We're not waiting long for the doctor to come in.
"Sophie!" Elwin greets, opening the door with enthusiasm I might never be able to find in my life. "How's my favorite patient?"
"Eh, been better," I say with a shrug. "You?"
"Good, good." It takes him a minute to get situated, then he realizes that there's someone missing in the room and someone new with us.
In almost the same way, Keefe seems overwhelmed by him as well.
"Hi there, I don't believe we've met before. Doctor Elwin, but you can just say Elwin," he tells Keefe.
My soulmate takes his hand, glancing at me almost for reassurance. He looks back to Elwin uncertainly, covering up any nerves with a smile. "Keefe, Sophie's..."
"He's my soul," I fill in the blank, sending Keefe a smile. The term 'soul' is short for soulmate.
"Congratulations!" Elwin says, his eyes going wide.
"Thanks!" I say in response, ducking my head.
Elwin casually pulls out a needle and reaches for my arm to clean it. A brief look of terror washes over Keefe's face for a split second, and then the needle goes into my arm to pull out blood. Elwin keeps talking like it's all normal, which it probably is for him at this point. I guess I'm used to this routine as well. "You guy are lucky. I didn't find my soulmate for quite some time."
Keefe and I exchange smiles. My face flushes. I can't imagine waiting longer – we're both so lucky. Nature was kind when it granted us soulmates.
Elwin pulls the needle from my arm and puts a band-aid on it. He looks at me like I'm some sort of interesting specimen for a second. "I've never seen her blush so much before," he comments, happy to poke fun at my current state.
I think even more blood rushes to my face at that. Edaline throws him a look, smiling. "You'd be surprised how often this happens when he's around."
Where's the nearest hole again?
"I believe it," Elwin says with a knowing smile, gathering his things. "Let me go run some tests, I'll be right back."
We're watching the door swing shut behind him as he leaves the room. Keefe taps my leg, and I turn to look at him. "Did that hurt?" he asks.
"I'm used to it," I shrug. Nerves make their way back into the pit of my stomach, the way they always do when I'm waiting for test results back. I can tell that Keefe is hopeful. I'm not brave enough to dare to do the same.
Elwin comes back very quickly, a broad smile on his face. "Test results are back!" He sits back down on his wheely stool and gets situated, facing all of us.
Someone squeezes my hand light. I look down to see Edaline's grey-sparkling nail polish. When she glances my way, I catch her supportive smile. I squeeze back. With my other hand, I grab Keefe's hand and hold on tight.
"According to your test results, you've made considerable progress," Elwin says excitedly, pointing at a picture of what I presume to be my blood cells.
It takes a moment for that to settle in, and then Edaline turns to me, her eyes shining. "Sophie...," she whispers with happiness.
Beside me, Keefe is just grinning, gripping my linked hand tightly and enthusiastically. I can feel my own excitement and hooe rise to the surface for the first time since I found out that I had leukemia. For the first time, I was hopeful. It was like the test results gave me permission that I was too scared to take for myself. I smiled wide. This is what happiness feels like. Genuinely, for the first time in a while.
The rest of the appointment at the Healing Center flew by, and I practically floated out of the place when it was done.
There wasn't much that could ruin this for me.
As we exited, Keefe asked Edaline to speak to me alone really quickly. He gave me the biggest hug and kissed my forehead. He then apologized for not having flowers or chocolates or something because it wasn't very romantic.
I was confused, and then I wasn't.
...
"And then?" Maya asks, leaning forward on the edge of her seat. Dex waited impatiently from the other side of the screen on the video call.
I smile and clasp my hands together, knowing that this day was probably the best I'd had yet. "You guys, he asked me to be his girlfriend!"
