as she falls

1;

reina rubbed the sleep from her eyes, groaning and blindly slapping around on her nightstand the silence the blaring alarm clock. she shoved on her glasses and sighed, throwing off her blanket to stand. the book she spent the night with her nose buried in makes a loud thump as it falls to the floor. three weeks until her first day at the new school she'd be teaching at. ecstatic isn't exactly the right word, more like eagerly terrified, best describes her feelings.
coming from a small city like Porterville, California made the move to Astoria, Oregon quite easy. she preferred it anyways, quiet streets, rows upon rows of suburbia, and the ease of camouflaging in with everyone else there. her one friend, francine, convinced reina to come along when she bought a small, private medical practice from her uncle there. francine, or frankie, rather, was born in Astoria and moved to Porterville after middle school where the two met. reina and frankie became close in high school, being each other's awkward partners in chemistry. the unlikely friendship between the bubbly valedictorian and the quiet bookworm was an alliance made on accident. they had missed the same day of school and were forfeited as partners for the final project. it mostly centered around reina filming frankie doing crazy experiments while cracking jokes. while it was a short time they spent together, the girls knew they'd be good friends for a long time.
if it weren't for frankie's long distance relationship with her soulmate henry, reina might have fell for her. but in their last year of college, frankie went to study abroad in germany where she met the other foreign exchange student, henry.
in the world they live in, soulmates are real. they are someone that is absolutely perfect for you, that feels like they've known you since birth. your soul has four chances to find your soulmate; four lifetimes on this planet to hopefully discover who that perfect someone is. many die the fourth time, never able to reincarnate for another try at finding their beloved.
you don't know for sure how many lifetimes you've lived until it's the last one. you can somehow just tell, the desperation in your heart basically signaling you to try harder. as reina approaches her thirties, she feels that sense of impending doom. her soul being perpetually alone for its past three lives. and she can't even think of where to begin. maybe it was meant to be this way, is what she tells herself, maybe she's one of those unlucky people who never gets to be with their one true match.
"reina!" frankie sings, swinging the bedroom door open with a toothbrush dangling from her mouth.
"you got toothpaste on your shirt." reina replies, swiping the goo off of frankie's work blouse.
looking down at the spot, frankie groans with her mouth full, "great, just what i need."
walking into the bathroom, reina bends to turn the shower on. frankie leans against the bathroom door, continuing to dutifully scrub her teeth.
"uh... i'm going to get naked." reina says, lifting the bottom of her night shirt.
"oh, i don't mind." frankie spits into the sink and hops up onto the counter, "so, are you going to come check out the new office with me?"
reina chuckles, baffled at her friend's lack of personal space, "that depends, are you going to help me wash my back too?"
"sure!" the blonde reaches for the loofa.
"i'm kidding, frank."
"oh..." she responds, crestfallen, "well, hurry up! i want to show you my new digs!"
with a roll of her eyes and a nod, reina ushers her roommate out of the bathroom, locking the door behind the overzealous friend. she heaves another sigh, chest filling with that familiar ache of loneliness. frankie has always been such an upbeat and happy person, but after she found henry, it was a thousand times more so. the constant happiness exhausts reina; and to be honest she feels like a bad friend for almost resenting frankie's relationship. but she couldn't be more proud that her best friend found their soulmate.
reina slaps her cheeks, "no more of that, i shouldn't be upset."
-
"so this is downtown. over there is the library, i met the folks working there and they're really nice, i think you'd like it there. ooh! and there's the bar, i had a drink there when i visited the first time and it was so fun! the bartender-"
reina listened half-heartedly to frankie's excited chattering, staring out the window at the small town's amenities. the library did catch her eye when they first moved; it looked almost empty, just how reina liked it. while reina is a high school teacher, what she really wants to do is become a writer, having spent the last two years working on a novel. she's written and rewritten it nearly four times, wanting to be perfect before she even thinks about publishing.
"-and this is it! isn't it just so cute? i had it repainted to a nice pale yellow, you know, since people usually hate the doctor's. i think it's a nice touch." frankie throws her camry into park, jumping out and gesturing grandly at the building.
reina exits the car, shutting her door softly, "it's a very nice touch."
"c'mon in, the staff are wonderful and are glad to welcome some new faces to town!"
reina follows frankie in, echoing her greetings as she enters. the front desk is decorated with fake, bright flowers and vines. there's pictures drawn in crayon along the walls, sloppily written thank you's from children who had gotten treated here.
an older woman stands from behind the tall counter, a warm smile on her face, "you must be dr. gregory's roommate. it's a pleasure to meet you. i'm kathleen, by the way." she extends her hand in welcome and reina takes it, smiling tightly.
"yes, indeed, pleasure's all mine."
just then, the phone rings and kathleen turns away to answer it. reina takes this moment to peer down the hallway where frankie is walking from room to room, greeting more workers as she heads to her personal office.
"reina, come see this!" she calls, beckoning reina with her hand, excitedly bouncing at the office door.
"wow, nice desk." reina laughs, the white marble top has more children's drawings pressed under the glass. frankie is a pediatrician specialist so having so many doodles makes sense. one in particular catches her attention.
a beautiful lake scenery with delicate details and expert artistry sits at the top left corner.
reina traces the artist's signature at the bottom, "who drew this?"
"kathleen's eldest daughter is in art school. she drew this for me while she was in the office one day, she brought her nephew for a check up. she's a wonderful artist isn't she?"
"yeah, that's amazing."
"matter of fact, she's the bartender at the bar! we should go get drinks later, how about that?"
"oh, sure. that'd be nice." reina's fingers tap the drawing one more time before she tears her eyes away and looks around the rest of the room. the walls are painted the same daffodil yellow as the outside, but are offset by deep blue bookshelves. frankie's numerous academic achievements and family photos are set between books on the shelves. reina spies a picture of the two of them at a fair on one of the highest places, their grins almost as big as the cotton candy poofs in their hands.
"do you want to take my car back to the house? kathleen just got a call for an urgent appointment." frankie asks, "we can go to the bar after i'm done. i'll text you."
"oh, uh, sure." reina catches the keys that frankie tosses to her, pulling her purse strap up further on her shoulder, "just let me know."
reina exits her friend's office and strolls back down the hallway to the front. she sees a tall woman with long, red hair speaking to kathleen. her animated voice and visible expressions even from the side remind her of frankie.
she passes them by, sending a slight nod and wave to kathleen as she exits. the unknown woman sends a look over her shoulder at reina through the window on the door. reina's heart nearly stops when she sees the woman's face. her wide green eyes and high cheekbones are framed by firey red waves, her full lips drawn up in a grin mid-sentence. she's stunning.
reina blinks rapidly and spins around, quickly walking to the car. once inside, she takes a deep breath, hand over her rapidly beating heart.
"what was that?" she whispers to herself. reina shoves the key in the ignition and starts for home.
while driving she can't get the picture of that woman out of her head. she's unlike anyone reina has ever laid eyes upon. she was in an oversized, worn leather jacket, light wash jeans, and a pair of ratty, off white tennis shoes. but on her, it seemed like it was of utmost fashion, like she was ready to be photographed at any second. her freckles were muted under what looked like light makeup, but why she would ever want to cover those, reina is unsure. she had long, thick eyelashes surrounding those deep, forest green eyes, contrasted by the light pinkness of her lips. she was gorgeous.
reina always seemed to find herself in the midst of a thousand beautiful women. her average height, regular brown hair, and plain brown eyes were simply ordinary. she did, however, wear a nice pair of grey slacks and a cream, silk blouse. if she looked ordinary, at least her outfits were put together.
she tugged at the small locket around her neck, "i wonder who she is." reina chuckled at herself, "why am i talking to myself so much?"
another symptom of her loneliness, she presumes, and she decides to turn up the radio, forcing her mind to focus on the road ahead of her.
-
around six o'clock, reina received the text to go pick up frankie at the office. reina nervously twisted the rings on her fingers, while sitting at a red light, wondering if the woman from earlier would be there.
she thought of a thousand different scenarios of who she could be; maybe she's an expecting mother, already with her soulmate. or another new person in town who's transitioning doctors. possibly a saleswoman from washington here to sell medical equipment. she didn't know and that drove her a little mad. on one hand, reina was deadly curious to find out who she was, but on the other, she was terribly nervous about the butterflies in her stomach. no way that's her soulmate. just some pretty girl that happened to catch reina's eye. right? right, she told herself, steeling her resolve. no need to feel weird about seeing a pretty woman in the doctor's office, she laughs to herself.
she shoots frankie a text, letting her know she's in the parking lot waiting for her. the bar was a couple blocks away, but the possibility of rain was high and she didn't want her friend walking there without an umbrella.
frankie comes outside, grinning while speaking on the phone. she waves at reina as she heads towards the car.
"alright, henry, i know it's late there so i'll let you go. goodnight, babe, i love you. muwah!" she speaks into the receiver, tapping the red button to end the call as she sits in the passenger's seat.
already reversing the car, reina smiles at her friend, "how is henry doing in china? are his clinical trials going well?"
"oh yes!" frankie replies gleefully, "they should wrap up at the end of the year and he'll be moving here! he said all of his research afterwards can be done remotely so we can both work at my practice while he writes his papers."
"that's wonderful. i guess i should start looking for a place then."
"what?! no! you can still live with us. henry loves you, and he already said he would be happy to live together."
of the few times reina has been in on their calls, henry did seem very similar to her. they got on well and even played online chess together every once in a while, a hobby reina seldom shares with others.
she just laughs and shrugs, "okay. i'm the perpetual third wheel, i suppose."
"tricycles are more fun anyways!" frankie giggles.
pulling into the bar's parking lot, reina can see into the establishment. the bright neon signs illuminate the people inside, drinking and socializing. this isn't the typical scene reina would find herself to enjoy, but maybe it'll be different here than in her hometown.
"is that dr. gregory? in the flesh?" an older man calls out as the two step into the bar.
frankie embraces him, "uncle jim! how are you enjoying retirement?"
"plenty of hunting and golf to be done. cant say i miss pulling legos out of toddlers' noses." he says with a loud guffaw, "and reina! the little novelist. i haven't seen you since frankie's graduation party!"
"hello, dr. hunt." reina greets timidly. frankie's entire family are unbelievably outgoing and boisterous. but she finds comfort in that they always lead the conversation so she doesn't have to.
he steps forward to hug her as well, the burly man encircling her in his flannel clad arms. he and every other middle aged man in the bar are decked out in flannels and heavy duty jeans. must be the uniform around here.
"gavin, come meet the girls." dr. hunt shouts. a younger man, also donning the Astoria get-up walks towards us.
frankie and reina both shake his hand, "pleasure to meet you, ladies. dr. hunt wouldn't shut up about the new people coming to town."
the tall, dark haired man is strikingly handsome. his curls pushed back, away from his face, and he holds a beer bottle in his left hand. reina notices the dark ring around his wrist, signifying that he'd found and married his soulmate. the ring appears either around a finger or wrist once you've met your match. frankie's rests on her right pinkie while dr. hunt's is on his pointer. reina didn't get a chance to see if the red head from the office had one which only played into her story that she was taken.
"well if it isn't francine. ooh, i'm sorry, doctor francine." a voice says. reina turns to see where it came from and behind the bar stands the woman from before. her tresses pulled up into a ponytail at the top of her head. she changed into a black button up and ringed her eyes with dark kohl liner. reina could see a smirk playing on her lips as she shook the drink she was making. it was like the breath was sucked out of her lungs.
"astrid!"