Lifetime

New Plan

Hobi and I were better about keeping in touch in the beginning, when his days were consistent with long rehearsals and exploring the city. We'd talk through video while he checked out beautiful sights and he always made sure to send photos of the incredible food he tried.

Our contact thinned as he approached the start of touring and became busy with more intense rehearsals, his ability to check in less and less when they started traveling. I understood but missed him with every passing second, Cathy getting an earful at the first session after I realized it had been a week since I heard from him.

The only person I stayed connected to was Tristan. He was still living in his family's giant house at the end of the street, attending classes at the community college during the week. He started coming into the restaurant two weeks after Hobi left, always picking up the same burger order for lunch. Eventually we started talking more, bonding over the rival of our favorite basketball teams until he invited me to his house to watch a game.

He kissed me for the first time on the night of a big game as I was sulking, a response to the victory dance he put on when his chosen team won after double overtime. I gave a dramatic pout and he pecked my poked out bottom lip, going back to his dance as if nothing happened.

The next time we kissed was at the movie theater, halfway through an action film he'd been excited to see. It was nice but it confirmed what I knew, no connection would live up to the kind I had with my soulmates. Though we both had no intentions of it leading anywhere, it felt good to have a little company and affection.

It was all routine, working at the restaurant during the day, having dinners with my dad and hanging out with Tristan in the evenings. I gave out candy to the neighborhood kids on Halloween, my dad and I spending the holidays dazed and lost on the appropriate way to celebrate without my mom.

He insisted on putting up a few decorations, making a strong attempt at letting in a little holiday cheer with the poorly wrapped gift he handed me and a dance to White Christmas we shared in the living room.

Bella, the black labrador retriever he got himself as a present, became a quick comfort to the both of us. I took her on walks in the morning and she always seemed to have an instinct for my emotions when I was having a difficult day. She slept at the foot of my parent's bed, something my mom would have hated, but my dad needed.

My dad and I stayed late at the restaurant some nights while he deep cleaned the kitchen equipment and I sorted through my weekly accounting tasks. He had both of our thick winter coats in his hands as he took a seat across from me in the booth I was working at, letting out a tired breath.

"I'm almost done." I was finishing plugging numbers into the spreadsheet that was the key to everything running smoothly.

"I want you to start training Donna on that soon." He nodded, chuckling as my eyes flickered up, peering over the computer monitor. "You looked just like her when you did that."

I smiled when her face flashed in my mind. "Why do I need to teach Donna to do this?" I responded. Donna stepped in to manage the restaurant when we first lost my mom, being the most experienced employee and a good friend to my parents.

"Sellie," he called me by the nickname he always used, leaning his elbows on the table and tapping the top of my laptop screen so that I would close it, "it's time for you to get out of here."

His tone was serious and I laughed. "Are you kicking me out?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Never, but I do think it's time you go somewhere else. You were only supposed to stay here to be here for me and you have been." He let out a sigh. "The restaurant is back to running, I've got Bella, and I'm honestly as good as I'm ever going to get without her. Your mom's life insurance money is sitting in the account for you. Pick a place and start living your life. She would want that for you."

I thought about his suggestion for the rest of the night, researching potential cities and worrying about the adjustment to a place without memories of her.

For the next month I dove into planning again, pulling apartment options for several cities, comparing transportation, cost of living, and culture. Every time I was sure I'd settled on a plan I found another city, adding it to the list of potential places.

I built my list up to ten and then back down to three, trapped between Houston, Chicago and the DMV area. I exhausted myself by talking over the pros and cons of each city with my dad and Tristan, neither of them able to help me find clarity.

I'd set a deadline for the decision to be made by mid-March, waiting until the day to choose, covering my eyes as I threw a dart toward the two scraps of paper with each city's name written on them that were tacked to my wall.

Chicago it is.

I took to social media, browsing groups for vacant rooms and apartments for rent until I found Faye, who described herself as an outgoing student and young professional with a love for cinema. We connected instantly, constantly feeling like we were on the same page with each other and already finishing the other's sentences.

She sent me photos of her apartment and the empty room I would live in, small but cozy with a big enough closet that I had her add me to the lease starting in the summer.

The rest of the days that I lived in my hometown were taken by savoring every moment with my dad, making sure he taught me all of my favorite recipes and taking Bella on long walks during the weekend where we reminisced about my mom. I started ordering furniture and decorations for my room, Faye kind enough to move the packages that were already arriving to my bedroom.

On my last day at home I packed the final item I would take, pulling the old taped up box from the top of my closet and brushing off the thin layer of dust that coated the lid. I looked over the documents and photos inside one more time, the only information I had on the soulmate prophecy, before packing it away again. I knew that in a few months I would meet the next person I was destined to feel that soul tie to, but until and after then, I was looking forward to settling into this new venture.
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Author's Note: My apologies for the shorter than usual chapter tonight, it's one of those transition chapters that are necessary to a story. Hope you all are enjoying this story so far! I'll try to put out another chapter over this weekend but I'll be a bit busier than usual with some family outings so I'll be a little less active. Thanks for reading <33