Through Your Eyes

Chapter 9: Reese

I enjoyed chatting with the shop owner while he made our sandwiches. He enthusiastically greeted me, checking to make sure I adjusted to the new city well and that I'd found my footing. I thanked him for his kindness and introduced Valarie to him. The three of us talked for a bit until our orders were completed.

We collected our sandwiches, with hers having an almost unreasonable amount of black olives piled on. We waved goodbye before continuing our stroll through the city. We ate as we walked and she almost seemed to have forgotten jaywalking earlier. I made sure to wait a bit before pushing her to commit any other crimes with me; I had to take things slow for the best chances of her agreeing to... well, anything.

We walked for a long while, laughing and chatting as we went. If I ended the date there and we went back home, it would've been a great first date and she wouldn't have thought anything weird of it; we could have been like any other normal soulmates.

But I couldn't just waste time like that, otherwise having a soulmate—especially one that's a cop—would only hold me back and limit what I could accomplish. Without convincing her to work with me, I'd have to tiptoe around her to avoid getting caught and sent to jail. That would ruin my life by taking away my chance to commit crimes. No crimes, no job.

I needed to prove myself to my employers early on if I wanted any chance at not getting killed at the first evaluation. While it could be only rumors meant to scare newcomers that failures were burned to death for failed evaluations, I had no way to verify it wasn't true either. Even if losing my job didn't kill me, it would still make me an utter embarrassment to my poor family. They would continue to suffer and my life would lose all meaning. I couldn't let this human ruin my life like that. I had to convince her to commit crimes with me.

I had to risk it. If not for me, then for my parents.

Still, I wouldn't start too crazy by asking her to kill someone for me or rob a large corporation. I wouldn't ask for much at all.

When we reached a relatively empty street with abandoned cars parked along its edges, I stopped to turn around and face Valarie. We were the only people in this bleak part of the city. Tall buildings blocked the sun from both sides and trash littered the entire area. This street was the perfect spot to commit crimes of all sorts, and these lonely cars were the perfect targets. I even already had an excuse in mind.

"So I know neither of us have a car, but I was hoping to take you to this really cool place I've found that's about an hour drive from here," I started explaining.

"We could probably call an uber or taxi for that. Want me to find one?" she offered immediately, reaching for her phone.

I reached out and blocked her hand with my own, waiting for her to glance back up at me before continuing, "Actually... I had a different idea in mind."

I smirked slightly and sauntered to the side next to a silver Toyota Camry. I tapped the front door a few times and watched Valarie's smile slowly fade. Even without me saying a word she already knew what I was planning. Her darkening expression was anything but a good sign, but I couldn't just back out now.

I had a whole speech prepared with all the reasons this wasn't as bad as she assumed. As I opened my mouth to start explaining it all, she started slowly shaking her head side to side.

She took a few steps back before whispering, "Is this what you had planned? I'm not gonna help you steal a car!"

"Well why not?" I asked while trying my best to maintain a convincing grin. Things were already falling apart. I had to fix this!

"Because it's illegal? Because I'm literally a cop?!?" Her voice grew louder with each question.

I tried reasoning with her. "It's just a small crime. Not even that big of a deal. We can even return it when we're done with it!"

She scoffed. "Heh, I should've known. And you know what? No. I am not dealing with this fucking bullshit right now," she turned sharply on her heels, causing an eerie shrieking sound. "Follow me or not, I really don't care anymore."

She stormed off in a huff, not even bothering to glance back to check if I followed. Did she really not care? Did I already lose my one chance at making this work?

I put so much time into perfectly planning this date, and everything had gone almost perfectly up until this point. Had I gone too fast? Was I not convincing enough? Was I not smiling enough? I put so much effort into being the 'perfect soulmate' all day, even though that didn't match my true personality one bit. Had it all been for nothing?

I huffed and crossed my arms, tapping my left foot annoyedly at increasing speeds as each second passed. Everything went so well! Or at least I thought it had. I just needed to coax her into it only a little more and I could've had the perfect partner in crime! But I couldn't lose all hope yet; she didn't know all the crimes I'd already committed, or worse, what I was. This meant I could possibly get out of this situation unscathed and then try again later. Even though things seemed hopeless, I might still have a chance at winning her over—even if only a miniscule one.

Letting out one last exasperated sigh, I raced after my soulmate before she could completely disappear out of view.