Beyond The Sky

9

That weekend, we did exactly as the plan went: we went to go meet Isla, Spencer's soulmate. I was excited, too. For Spencer's sake. Plus, Isla seemed like a nice girl. Spencer enjoyed her company and I did, too, the few times I talked to her while we were going home. We arrived at the airport that afternoon and waited around for Isla. Spencer, for once, was actually anxious. He's usually so confident (unlike me).

"Nervous?" I ask.

"A little. I mean, wouldn't you be? I'm literally meeting my soulmate face-to-face."

"I mean, I understand. I met Arlo face-to-face, but we never met online." I look at him.

"Yeah. So you wouldn't totally get it," he looks over at Mom, "Did you... meet our dad online?"

I watch as her face looks toward the ground solemnly. "No, actually. We were high school sweethearts, and we had met in freshman year."

"Oh, I see. Sorry if I brought any memories up..."
"No, it's all right, Spencer."
"What about Savanna and Declan? Did they meet online?"

"I think at first they did. I mean, come on. Look at where they live. Do you think that Savanna would've moved there without a motive?"

"Probably not. By the way, did you ever find out what she wanted to tell you?"

"No, not yet. Probably still waiting for the perfect moment," she pauses. "Serena?"
"Mmm?" I lean around Spencer to look at my mom.

"Did Savanna ever text you?"

"No."

She nods and looks back at her phone, like she was waiting for a text. I look at Spencer, his eyes staring into the wall of the airport. "You're going to burn a hole into the wall."

He jumps, startled by me suddenly talking to him. "Really? Just that quickly, you zoned out?" I joke.

"Sorry. But, yeah, I guess I did."

"Don't worry so much, Isla's going to be so happy to physically see you."

"But what if--" I cut him off. "No what if's, ands, or buts. She's really excited, Spencer. She told me herself."

"How did she--"

"Don't worry about how, don't worry about anything. Just be excited, too. Come on, it's your soulmate we're talking about. You two are connected. One person. You both will be able to see in full color after today!"

"Rina..." he sighs.

"What?"

"Thanks for the pep talk."

"Oh! Um, it was nothing."

After what felt like forever (but was really only another hour), we finally see a girl walk into the waiting area (if that's what you call it) of the airport. Obviously since I've never seen Isla in color before, I'd be unable to recognize her. "Isla?" I call.

Spencer looks up. "Isla! Over here!" He waves. Recognizing our voices, Isla turns to look at us, a wide grin appearing on her face. She races over as Spencer stands up, and when they get close enough, embrace each other. "Aww, how cute." I cooed.

Spencer doesn't even bother to look at me after my comment. I'm so glad he's happy to see Isla in person and all that. They release from their hug.

"How was the flight?" He asks.

"Long." Isla responds. "Very long. But, it was the first time I'd ever been on a plane, so it was exciting."

"I'm so glad you were able to convince your parents to come see me. You're here by yourself?"
"No. My parents came with me, too, considering it was my first plane ride and all that. But, they'll be staying away from us."

Spencer relaxes a bit. "Good, 'cause, uh, I don't really want to meet them."
"You'll have to, some day, Spencer." I joke, and Isla laughs with me.
"Serena!"

"Sorry." (I'm really not that sorry.)

"Serena's right though, Spencer. Some day I'm gonna make you. Hey, is that your mother right there?" She points in the direction of where our mom was sitting. She wasn't really paying attention to us.

"Yep."

"Can I meet her?"
Spencer gives an awkward smile. "Of course. She's been just as excited as me and Serena to meet you, too. You know, Serena actually met her soulmate during the week -- just like I had predicted."

Isla's eyes widen, looking at me. "Really? Well, congratulations, Serena. Who's the lucky guy?"
I look at my feet. "His name is Arlo... We haven't really talked since the day we met. I'm just kind of glad that I can see in color. At least for now."

"You're not taking advantage of him, are you?"
"No, I'm not. I'm just afraid something's going to happen to him."

"Don't be, Serena, I'm sure he'll be just fine." Isla smiles at me.

"I hope so."

Spencer turns to our mom, tapping her to get her attention. "Mooooom, Isla wants to meet you."
She looks up, putting her phone down--well, actually gives it to me to hold it--and stands too. "Hi, Isla."
"Hi, Ms. York. I've heard a lot of stories about you."

"Please, call me Kate. I don't really mind."
"Okay, Kate it is, then." Isla nods. "I've heard you were excited to meet me, too?"
"Yes I have! Spencer talks about you nonstop. Hearing all of these things makes me really happy for him."
Isla giggles, blushing a bit. "Aww." She looks over at Spencer, who's standing right next to her. "I'm glad he actually likes to talk about me, 'cause I do too."

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Yep. Long story I don't like to tell people." She whispers back to me, nodding.
I nod. I should ask her about that, honestly. I'm curious.

"So what's it like seeing in full color?" Mom asks Isla.

"It's... actually very overwhelming," she starts, "But, thankfully, because Spencer and I met online, it's not so bad or so sudden."
"Yeah, it's like that. What about you, Spencer?"
"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. Overwhelming."

We all laugh. "Stop staring, Spencer, it's rude."

"I can't help it."

I roll my eyes. "So, what should we do now?"

"I'll be right back, I've gotta go say goodbye to my parents. But I will be right back."

We all nod and wait for her. During this downtime, I pull out my phone. I hand Mom's phone back to its rightful owner. I decide to message Arlo.

'Heyyyy!' I type. I send it, really looking forward to a response from him. I hope he's doing well.

I look up from my phone to see Isla returning to the group. "Okay, let's go. Can I have a tour of your town?"
"Sure thing," Spencer says. "To the car!"