Universe of Soulmates

"Dreaming of Today"

"James, snap out of it, man. You're walking down the aisle today." My best man, Ben, claps me on the back, snapping me out of my daze. Today is a big day: my wedding. Is everything set with the plan? Ben signs to me. The two of us learned sign language so we could talk to each other without telling our parents or siblings our plans. Most of the time, it was to pull pranks or sneak the last of the ice cream from the freezer. My fiancée (and future wife) and her best friend learned it because her sister is hard-of-hearing, having lost a lot of her hearing from contracting chicken pox when she was really young.

As far as I know. The girls confirmed earlier this morning. I sign back, and he nods, adjusting the bowtie on his tux.

I think our moms want pictures, so we should head out. Ben motions towards the door, and I get the general idea. Our mothers are best friends—have been since they were children—which is most of the reason we became friends in the first place. Granted, I can't picture life without Ben because he and I are more like brothers than best friends.

One second. Signing back to Ben that I'll be outside in a few, I take a deep breath and stare at myself in the mirror one last time.

I may not have been entirely truthful when I said "my future wife", though. See, the plan is—since our parents didn't want us together—we've actually planned it so that I will get to marry who I want to marry and so will my fiancée.

Ironically, I want to marry her best friend and she wants to marry mine. That reason alone might be why this is all working. Why our plan to do two weddings in one might work.

"James, hon, come out for pictures." My mother yells into my dressing room, and I take a deep breath, hoping this doesn't all blow up in our faces. "Oh, you boys look so nice."

"Thanks, ma," I reply, taking my spot next to Ben in front of the gardens.

"Oh, both of you look wonderful," Miss June, Ben's mom, says in a tone that makes me feel like she's about to pinch my cheeks. Despite being twenty-six, I still call Ben's mom Miss June, just like I did when I was a little kid.

"Thanks, mom." After twenty or so pictures between our two mothers—both in portrait and landscape—we move to the cars, which are going to take us to the church Amelia and I chose for the venue for both of our weddings. What our parents don't know is that we all coordinated to have a perfect dual-wedding.

I couldn't honestly tell you how we pulled it all off.

"We'll meet you at the reception, hon." My mom kisses my cheek then heads to the car she and Miss Jane are sharing. "Don't be late!" Even though it's my wedding, she still says the same thing she's told me since I can remember. I'll have you know, most of the reason I've ever been late is because of Ben, but that might also be why she said that.

"God, I don't know if I'm ready," I say aloud, knowing no one can hear me. Ben's in the car, all ready to drive me to the church, and completely oblivious to the internal battle waging inside me.

One half of me knows that my soulmate isn't who I thought it was, and the other knows my parents wouldn't approve of who actually is my soulmate. Back when I first introduced Amelia to my family, I didn't tell them we were soulmates, but they assumed we were because of something I don't remember anymore. When they met my actual soulmate, I could see in my mother's face the disapproval and overall displeasure upon meeting.

All my life, I've been told to be careful; that people, if they know the right details, can manipulate you into thinking you've met your soulmate. If some con-person figures out the right things to say, they can convince you to marry them without ever figuring out who they really are. It's all dreams, so anyone can do a little legwork, ask a few key questions, and know everything about you. But, that isn't what happened with Amelia and Anita. It was all a misunderstanding, something none of us saw until it was too late. Hell, Ben and Anita were convinced they were soulmates until we all talked with each other.