Soulmates in any universe or time 《 Wattys 2018 》

I met this really cute boy today

I froze when she said that simple sentence, she had said "I met this really cute boy today." my heart nearly stopped beating, but instead it just kind of sat there, frozen over, it was a long silence before I finally spoke, "Oh yeah, what's his name?" when she replied, that's when the ice pick, the words, shattered my heart, "He said his name was Mick." I was sure she seen the look on my face.

My thoughts were fighting each other trying to get out, they ranged from "No don't let her get near that son of a bitch, she'll get hurt." to "Don't tell her about that, she'll think even less of you." and everywhere in between.

Her voice brought me out of thought finally, "Len, you okay?" "Yea, I'm fine." I lied, I decided to just be happy for her, as long as he was good to her, "If he makes you happy then I'm happy." in my head I added a few words, "Even if I'm miserable." I faked a smile for her so we continued toward home so I could get to work as soon as I could, I needed something to do to keep my mind off of that horrid thought, Sara and Mick, together, not something I approved of in the slightest.

A week passed, then another, soon it had been a month, Dinah went back to Central City to her house, Quentin was smiling a bit more, Sara faded away from me bit by bit, she started hanging out with Mick and his delinquent friends, she had even started dating him, in secret anyway, everyday I would still walk her home, silently admiring her, but we weren't as close as we were before all that happened.

We still talked once in a while when I could catch her at night before sneaking out the window and down the roof of the porch, I knew it was wrong to let her do that, but one night in particular I had a really bad feeling about her sneaking out.

I seen her climbing across the roof in front of my bed room window, I knew something bad was going to happen, I had overheard Mick talking about breaking into a store, I never thought he would bring his girlfriend along for a robbery, before she had time to get far on foot I quickly ran down stairs where Quentin was working on some answer sheets, "Quentin, Sara is sneaking out, you need to get her before she gets too far." without a word he stood up and ran out the front door.

Quentin was screaming her full name and then I heard his footsteps heading off the porch, "Get back in here right now, it's a school night!" He finally said as they walked back inside, she walked in in front of him pouting, "I'm getting a bit fed up with you sneaking off to meet with those bad kids." apparently Quentin wasn't as blind to the situation as Sara and I thought he was.

Sara just looked up at him shocked, "How did you find out I was sneaking out?" he glanced over her shoulder at me, "I heard you drop off of the roof onto the cement." he lied clearly protecting me from her wrath, "Now back up to your room, next time I catch you doing something stupid like that I'll put bars on your window." she didn't resist.

Sara just trudged back up to her room, after she was out of sight he whispered to me, "Thanks for looking out for her Leonard, just make sure from now on you tell me every time she sneaks out." he passed me five bucks as I walked past him before telling him good night and heading to bed.