Beyond The Sky

8

We spent the walk back to the main road to my car talking about each other. Talking about our families, our hobbies, birthdays, you know, all that. Many jokes were shared, both of us cracking up every time. Every laugh seemed to bring more of the fall colors and the sun-setting sky to my sight. We reached the mall parking lot that my car was in, and I looked up at the black-haired, blue eyed boy. "It was nice meeting you, Arlo. We're... soulmates. Can... Can you believe that?"

"Honestly... I can't. I never would've thought that I'd find my soulmate lost in an alley near my home-away-from-home."

"I didn't think I'd run into you at all... Today. I was just thinking about how..." I sigh, "How my brother is meeting his soulmate from overseas this weekend and I had yet to meet mine. But... here we are, I guess. Just don't go dying on me now, will ya?"

He laughs. "I don't plan on it."

I walked in the door after driving home with a smile on my face--at this point, I was seeing in full color. It was kind of weird that it faded in over time like I had met Arlo online rather than in person--usually in the case that you meet them in person it just suddenly goes BOOM in your face, you know? Like seeing it all at once.

Spencer looks at me from the couch. "There you are! I was wondering where you were."

I laugh. "I went out for a bit, silly."
"I figured that out."
"I originally went just to clear my head. But while I was out..." I paused for dramatic effect.

"While you were out..." Spencer echoes. "Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me--"
I nod, waiting for him to guess. "Your guess?"

"Did you... hmm..."

"Give up yet?"
"No, no, no, hang on, it's right there..."

I give him a moment to think about it. "I give up. What happened while you were out?"

"Well..." Yet another pause. "I met a guy. His name is Arlo."
Spencer smiles at me. "Aaaand?"
"I started to see a little bit of color at first. It was kind of like how yours went, but in person. As we were talking though, I was able to see in full color. It's in full color right now, actually, and it's... Very overwhelming. So much color I missed out on..."

"That's amazing, Rina. I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Spence... Now all I hope is that we actually do become a thing--we haven't gotten to that yet--and he doesn't go and die on me."
"Well, you've just gotta have hope. I finally see Isla this weekend, so I'd keep that in your mind instead of Arlo possibly dying."
"Yeah. That's a good idea."