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She enters into the smokey room, looking like hell but tasting like heaven on the lips. He smokes a cigar before he speaks.
There are magic-filled moments that exist. From the belief that a song connects us to a moment, we will share with someone. To a scent taking us back home. We long for our entire lives to find that thing. To find what will one day connect us back to where we need to be. Some say love is golden, breaking through every boundary set up. But in this case, in this one it's red.
Your red string of fate appears when you're the closest you'll get to your soulmate. Having been invisible before, it appears for a few hours every few days. Filled with the hope to bring its souls together. It stays bright as day to you. But to the remainder of the world. Its colors are faded. You are able to touch it. But only gentle pokes, no tugs, no pulls, and no grasping to follow it to where you need to go.
It asks for you to follow it. To allow it to be cut off. For you to reach out your hand to the person your heart years for and so you're able to reach out and say "I'm home." Maybe this is due to your strings getting impatient or maybe the time is right. And you haven't been doing a good job finding them yourself. The string gets tighter with each pull. Signaling you that you're close, closer and closest you'll get.
It's definitely not a gentle call. And often enough it pulls people off of their feet completely. Leading them to right where they need to be when they need to be there.
Some people get false alarms. Their soulmate isn't ready to know them yet. So they might settle down for a few years, find what they need to learn. And often they don't even realize there had been a mistake until the string appears. In its blazing glory of red lines. Ready to send you safely there.
With these strings, the moment the two of you share the first kiss. The string vanishes and you're free to live your life how you want with that soulmate. Some people meet them and decide to part their separate ways. Others decide never to act on the string. Being its prisoner for the remainder of their life. You aren't sure which you would choose though. Would you want to live your life with them? Or find your own destiny. You don't see yourself as the settling down kind of guy. So all of this scares you.
"Coincidence meeting you here." Cooed coincidence with a wide grin.
Everything happens for a reason. Learning the streets of your city by yourself. Falling a few times when learning how to ride a bike. Each of these steps leads you closer to the lines of life. The things build though. Your dad leaves you and your mom. Teaching you at a young age maybe things aren't exactly like they seem in the movies. The girl you swear you'll spend the rest of your life with breaks up with you at thirteen. And you should have seen it coming because life has these little things that you wish could turn around. The breakup still hurts though as it leaves a mark on you like a bloodstain. You wonder when the heartbreak would end. And a little romantic piece of you dies.
You attend school with a firecracker of a person who has bright eyes and a snarky personality. She teaches you about the world from the way she sees it. And you being willing to learn that lesson and take it to heart. Maybe this is the start to the laid back personality you have as you age.
You begin looking for things to distract you in your life. From brief flings when you get older. From trying to hide behind a cocky sense of false safety. Holding tightly to the unimaginable things around you. Your mother is a devout jew and doesn't believe in the ways of the world. And in a way, you gain the same backbone. Strengthening your mind from what you have known from her.
You bond with another at the police academy and the two of you disagree on a lot. But in a way, you agree on a lot. And one of the things you agree on is the nonsense with the string. Yours has been invisible for so long you no longer believe it exists.
Maybe this is where our story begins. From a place where you don't know what you know. Your string appears red as can be. You wake up in the morning and see it on your finger. But as you reach to pull it, you fail. Fate is not something you're used to. But in a way this invisible string, or visible string…? Might be a chance to lead you straight to them.
For fate held back a slight grin. For she knew what he hadn't.
Panic filling your body you enter into work a little late. You felt your string tighten a few times on the way in which made this sense of panic in you even more. Was your soulmate someone that had been arrested?! You should probably start writing those letters for her in jail. Chivalry isn't dead. Not in your mind. As you're standing in your phase of mind. Feeling like everything was crashing down on you. And it was only 9:30 in the morning.
"I think he got bit by that squirrel again." You hear Rosa say from a few feet away. And your thoughts are back to normal as you shake your head.
You try to be as calm as possible as you say this. You need to keep your relaxed and chill nature so nobody suspects anything. "No, I'm fine. Fine, totally fine. Why wouldn't I be fine." You speak, and — you nailed it. COMPLETELY nailed it. All of you still feels tense though. And as someone leaves the room you feel your string tense a little more. Clenching your hand to try to hide the discomfort.
"Nope. I agree. Squirrel." Charles says from nearby and you seriously regret telling them both about the evil munchkin that stole your sandwich on your terrace. You don't realize that you're sounding tense until finally. You snap.
"I said it was fine, okay?! Not the squirrel." You say and decide instead that you're going to tell them. They might both laugh at you, or mock you. But you need to get it off your chest. It's now or never. You see Amy who just re-entered her way into the room now is looking at you for half a second. And you decide to lower your voice."My red string showed up this morning." You speak and look at them. Charles is the first to raise a brow.
"Is that… code for something?"
"No, I mean my soulmate string. It appeared." You say and see realization click in him. "And it's been tightening since I walked in here." You look at him.
"Jake dude. I'm flattered. But I don't think I'm your soulmate."
"I don't think it's you." You reassure him. And you're starting to wonder why you told. As fate has it though. It tightens right on command. Feeling it tense, and show its stupid red face — yarn — wool…? WHATEVER STRING IS MADE OUT OF.
You look at the string though. Nothing happened to it. Its colors haven't gone down like in the legends, which means you haven't talked to your soulmate yet during the day. Your string hasn't vanished so you hadn't shared a kiss or a first interaction.
So this starts the quest you have settled for yourself. Find your soulmate. They have to be in the Nine-Nine somewhere. It could be the accountant, or the guy who brings in donuts every single morning. You think it could be anyone. As you turn in the room though, you see Amy. The dark haired woman is organized but even she looks like a mess this morning. Had something set her off in the same way it set you off? You would ask. Something in you wants to ask. But you also know there's no chance she would want to answer you.
You two are different. Night and day, she's coffee and you see yourself as a lemonade. You're summer and she's an autumn breeze coming in and crashing through the winds. She's coordinated and you're a flight risk. And all of that causes worry in your mind. Worry that though it's there. You'd never show.
You pass her desk though and at that moment. That's when you feel it. The string tightening a little more, it's red popping up at you. You look at her and she looks back at you. The both of you stand up at your desk and go
"It's you."
Nothing was a coincidence. For it all lay with her. Master of the tides.
To be sure the two of you agree on a date. You two had always been friends. Had always had a mutual understanding for each other. The question was, why of all times did the string decide to show its face now? Why not when they had met years back. If fate, or a coincidence or whatever wanted them to be together. It would have proved it far before then.
If they weren't soulmates. Would she forgive him for wasting her time? For doing the things he thought about doing but left unsaid and unhidden? The conversations you two usually shared wouldn't make you think. But this one did
"So at that point. I hugged him and drunkenly cried into his shoulder.."
"You hugged him so he wouldn't come in and see your roommate hiding a hamster?"
"It worked. Had to go meet with the dean because he was worried about me."
"Did you get to keep the hamster?"
"Yep. And we got a new RA."
You saw her laughing at your comment. And you wish you could tell the stars in the sky to go hide. Because nothing shone as bright as Amy's smile. Maybe it was the way things seemed to be for you in the past. Or maybe this was the start of something beautiful, magical and altogether crazy. You didn't know what had made you see her in a new light. But you never wanted it to go away. This light was good on you. And it was because of her you could see it.
The two of you take a walk after getting dinner. And there's something about the way she's so free and wonderful that reminds you of a songbird. Often scared to be free unless given the chance. And you wish you could see her like this more often. Because not even a cup of cocoa under a blanket on Christmas morning can make you feel as home as she does right now.
The beginner of hope and
"Mind if I walk you to your door?" You ask, and she nods, biting down on her bottom lip lightly. You want to ask her if she wants to do this again, ask her if she would take a chance on letting it all happen for a second time.
As you take her up to her door, you let her go. "Wait Am's …" you speak and don't know what's bringing you to do this. But something in you is screaming 'do it!' so you feel like you must. You walk over to her and you rest your hand on the side of her face. She nods and you lean in, placing your lips on hers for just a moment
Do you know that part in the superhero movies where everything is in slow motion? It felt like this. Except for bad guys flying into brick walls. It felt like everything made sense. You had kissed plenty of others before. And every single one you had before this suddenly can't compete. Because she smells like vanilla and sunsets. And tastes like the peach wine from Aldi and it feels like fireworks going on over and over again. And your only thought is how could I go my entire life without knowing this feeling.
She pulls away from you and goes back down on her toes. And you feel like now you're shining bright. But she taps your shoulder as the two of you look down
the changer of the fates.
The string vanishes as you both look at your fingers. A red mark is where the string once was. And you wonder, just for a moment. What a world to live in, she offers a red-lipsticked smile and you think for a moment.
There's no place you'd rather be.