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Soul weaving is an ancient practice, and it used to be a common thing for thousands of years but in the present day has largely been forgotten. Soul weavers themselves used to be respected as powerful seers, seen as a crucial part of everyday life; from helping farmers find the right week to plant crops to trying to foretell the success of a war effort to deciding on a marriages. But a long time ago they were branded as heretics and most of them disappeared. The whole concept demoted to a gimmick only the most gullible people believe in.
Andy Sachs has heard of them but never been to one. Not until she meets Nate in the last year of high school and her best friend takes her to see a weaver, because Lily is convinced Andy has met her soulmate. Andy agrees to go, because even if she might not be a believer it might still be entertaining to hear that she and Nate are destined for each other.
The old woman looks at Andy and Lily only with mild interest when they step in, and Lily does most of the talking, while Andy takes in the colourful but eccentrically decorated room. Lily tells the weaver all about how perfect of a match Andy and Nate are, but “We’ll see,” is the only thing the woman says.
She brings out a loom and yarn that she sets on the table in front of her, and Andy has to stop herself from laughing, because she doesn’t want to seem disrespectful when the woman is so serious. Though it’s difficult to take her seriously in the first place, when she’s dressed like a witch who moonlights as an art teacher.
She asks for single hair from Andy’s head and rounds it around a piece of yarn. Then pulls the yarn tight on the loom, and flicks her fingers on the taut strings. “What do you want to see?” she asks and looks at Andy, her eyes sharp.
“Oh, well, Lils already said—”
“You must make the request, and as precisely as you can.”
“Oh, okay. Um…” Andy glances at Lily and then shrugs. “Have I met my soulmate?”
The woman’s gaze is unfocused, and as funny as it all seems, a chill still runs down Andy’s back. Maybe it’s the atmosphere that’s influencing her or the sudden cloudiness of the weaver’s eyes.
Her eyes move back and forth, as her fingers move on the threads, and she pulls on one, furrowing her brow. Then she gently tilts her head as if she’s listening to it. It gets so quiet Andy suspects she’s fallen asleep before she snaps her eyes open and both Andy and Lily flinch.
“No,” she states. “I do not find a soulmate thread connecting your soul to anyone you’ve met yet.”
“That’s not possible,” Lily says, and her shock seems genuine. “But they’re so perfect for each other!”
“So… you can see someone?” Andy asks, now a little more curious.
“It is not what you asked,” the woman says and purses her lips. “But, yes. I can see a strong thread, much stronger than the one you are connected to now.”
“If I met them, would I realize what they are to me?”
“It’s not certain,” the weaver says, somewhat irritated. “Some people do if they are open to it. Some won’t even years later.”
“But I will meet them?”
“Child…” the weaver says and shakes her head wearily. “Having a soulmate doesn’t mean that you will find them in every lifetime.”
“I know it’s not what I asked, but…”
“Fine, it’s been a slow day anyway. Won’t do no harm to entertain your request,” she says and stretches her neck before running her hand over the yarn again. She re-threads some of it and pulls it in another direction before tightening it over. Her eyes become cloudy again, and then she re-threads once more. “Curious,” she mumbles and then re-threads for the third time. She pulls one thread, deliberate and slow. Then she lets out a chuckle, before she lowers the loom on the table again. She folds her hands together and then looks at Andy. “There are obstacles in your way. Many crossroads in your life that can lead you away from her.”
“Her?” Andy says, because it’s not something she’s ever considered. Though it does feel oddly right instantly. “Are you sure it’s a her?”
“Yes, I am.”
“And I still might not meet her even if she’s my soulmate?”
“You’re not nearly close enough yet. Too many choices to make.”
“Am I on the right path now?” Andy asks and sounds unexpectedly desperate to even herself. Even when she was so convinced she doesn’t believe in any of it.
“You’re at a crossroad now.”
“So what do I do?”
The weaver scoffs. “A more romantic weaver would tell you to listen to your heart. That it knows. I’m more pragmatic and have seen people get it wrong all the time.”
“I was accepted into law school,” Andy says thoughtfully. “And it’s what everyone thinks I should do.”
“Hmm,” the weaver hums, uninterested.
“But it’s not… what I want to do,” Andy continues as she feels her resolve settle in. “I want to study journalism.”
“Mhm.”
“So should I do that?”
“Is that your question?”
“Yes, should I study journalism if I want to meet my soulmate?”
The weaver sighs and then repeats the process but this time gives her much more quickly an unwavering answer. “Yes.”
Andy loses some of her scepticism about weavers, if not all of it. She and Nate break up, because staying with him feels wrong when she starts consulting the weaver more often to make sure she stays on the path to find someone she is only hoping exists. It does seem to follow perfectly along what she already wants to do.
Eventually she graduates from college, works a few odd jobs here and there before finding herself in New York City and at Runway, the biggest fashion magazine in the world. It doesn’t feel like the right step for her, because journalism is what she intends to do. And almost a year of hating parts of it more and others less, she leaves and finds employment at the Mirror.
It’s a place that feels almost instantly like where she wants to be and once she’s settled into it starts thinking about her soulmate again. Six months after starting the job as a beat reporter she is back in her hometown and goes to the same weaver again.
“Andy,” the weaver says with a joyous laugh. “I already know what you wish to know.” So they repeat the pattern like they’ve done so many times in the past and eventually the weaver says, “Yes, you’ve met her,” but then the delight leaves her face. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“Your threads… they were intertwined but they no longer are.”
“So I’ve met her?” It’s a feeling of dread she’s never been hit with before and it is as if her heart is shattering. She’s met so many people in the past two years that it feels impossible to backtrack and it’s only made worse by the weaver’s face; she looks genuinely sorry for her. There is a lump in her throat, and panic swelling inside of her. “There has to be something I can do?” Andy pleads the weaver.
“You’re already doing it, because you’ve chosen to come here so you will connect again. There are faint lines, but they’re barely there. People that still connect you, but I’m sorry… I can’t tell you who they are.”
"And faint means?”
“It’s a connection that fades as time moves on, an old friend you don’t see anymore or an acquaintance of lesser significance.”
"I’ve met hundreds of people in the last two years.”
“Hmm…” the weaver says as she fiddles with the yarn. “Her thread… your past where they intertwined. I would say it’s not insignificant; your paths crossed for a longer time, much longer than a chance encounter here and there.”
“I guess there is a handful of people like that,” Andy says a little relieved, but then frowns as she considers what she’s been told. She can narrow the possibilities down to a single coworker who left the Mirror not too long ago or to her time at Runway where she was around enough women that it would take ages to figure out. “In all of the stories I’ve ever heard… soulmates always recognize each other in some way. An overwhelming feeling or something?”
“If it was that simple no one would ask a weaver,” the old woman says, and a soft chuckle follows. “A lot of people are compatible enough that it can feel so. But your souls do recognize each other if you’re open to it and not too stubborn to listen.”
“How?”
“It’s been described many ways, but you might feel a connection that feels more… significant. You’re drawn to them, thinking about them when you have no reason to. Some say it’s like coming home.”
“Can your soulmate be… incompatible with you?” Andy asks as she thinks of the people with whom she has spent the most time and who linger in the back of her mind. Specifically one particular redhead she often had dreams about when she was her coworker. And still sometimes does.
“No,” the weaver says shaking her head. “Their threads always complete each other. Though I suppose on the surface it might feel that way.” She looks at Andy carefully. “You already know who she is?”
“There is someone, but I honestly hope I’m wrong,” Andy says as her mind stays on her former coworker, Emily Charlton. “I don’t think she would be that excited to see me after everything that happened. Is finding your soulmate actually worth all of this?”
“It’s everyone’s personal decision. But you’ve moulded your whole life so that you would find her. Do you legitimately want to give up now?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I could see many lifetimes you’ve spent together. As far as I looked back, you two always found each other.”
“Great. Now all of my past lives are also telling me I’ve fucked up catastrophically.”
“It’s nowhere near too late yet, dearie.”
The more time she spends thinking of who it could be, the more certain she becomes that it can’t possibly be anyone but Emily. The beginning of their working relationship hadn’t been that easy but once Emily started trusting she was serious about the job too, they started growing closer together.
If only she hadn’t allowed Miranda to cause a rift between them who knows what might have happened. In the end Andy didn’t leave Runway in a manner she’s necessarily proud of, but the fact that she hurt Emily in the process has always bothered her the most.
She spends the following days trying to figure out how she’ll contact Emily, but once she’s back home and unpacking all of her things it finally dawns on her. She still has all of the dresses from Paris Fashion Week, which just might be the perfect excuse to get Emily to talk to her. At least she could apologise properly, because otherwise they certainly had no chance of seeing what else they could be.
Emily Charlton isn’t one to put much faith in nonsensical things like soulmates or weavers, who are merely fortune tellers by another name. Or in love for that matter. It’s all equally frivolous to her. Her focus is on the career she’s decided to build and is only getting through the first hurdles of, on her way to achieving it.
Despite her commitment to ignore the useless distractions she does more often than she would prefer find herself thinking it might not be too bad to have someone with whom to share the frustrations of her days. And occasionally she even reaches for the phone and stares at Andy Sachs’ name wanting to call her. To complain about it.
It’s slightly peculiar that she’s entertaining the idea of them being friends. But she’s sure Andy would listen. She was always good at that. Listening with that ridiculous empathetic look on her face. Not dissimilar to a puppy. Andy seemed like the sort that would do friendship right and that is what Emily in her weaker moments thinks she might need.
‘People are too obsessed with love and dating,’ is a thought she has when she listens to her other friends discussing all of their dating woes, or listing what they want from their ideal partner. And a persistent thought occurs to her that if she were left with no other choice and had to date someone… Andy might not be the worst choice she could make.
Andy also seemed like the kind that would remember anniversaries and her favourite flowers and all other details about her. All of those things her friends seem to be complaining about all the time. And she was easy on the eyes, Emily would never be embarrassed to be seen with her. Now. After she learned to dress herself more appropriately during her stay at Runway.
So, yes, Andrea Sachs might be on her mind more often than she should be, but it’s not as if she intends to do anything about it. Until one evening her phone rings and the proverbial door is opened.
“What do you want?” Emily answers much haughtier than she means to, but it’s better than the other option of letting Andy know she just might’ve missed her.
A few days later after the call Emily arrives at Andy’s apartment to pick up the clothes. “Did you finally realise they’re wasted on you?” Emily says as imperious as ever, but there is something underneath the surface. She isn’t paying much attention to any of the dresses; instead her eyes are mostly drifting back to Andy.
Andy snorts, because many things might have changed, but Emily is still essentially the same. Allergic to being nice, but it’s what makes her kind of endearing. “I missed you too.”
Emily scoffs. “I never—fine. It’s been a little boring without you at the office.” Andy smiles to which Emily responds with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head. It’s already big enough as it is.”
“Would never,” Andy says but her smile can’t help but grow wider.
“Why are you actually giving them to me?”
“I told you, I don’t that often have events where I would need them. And also… because I wanted to apologise to you.”
“About time, but I expected even more grovelling.”
Andy chuckles. “You’d like me begging on my hands and knees? I should’ve known.”
Emily looks away, cheeks a little pink as she clears her throat. “There is no need for buffoonery. You’re supposed to be this serious journalist now. You could just write a formal apology.”
Andy hums, leaning her head to the side, resisting the urge to make Emily blush further. “Would a dinner do?”
Emily answers much quicker than she expects. “I’ll choose the place. Don’t know which third-rate diner you’d choose.” She folds her arms tightly, and adds, “And you’re buying, of course.”
“Of course. It’s to be my apology after all.”
After Emily goes home Andy is left with an odd feeling in her chest. Hope, excitement and a stirring unlike anything she’s felt before. Emily too had been in no rush to leave, even if she was snarky as ever. And when she blushed… Andy bites her lip, grinning. She could be very cute when caught off guard.
Maybe it wouldn’t be as impossible as it seemed at first.
“For heaven’s sake, it’s just Andy,” Emily mutters to her reflection as she has just thrown yet another outfit on the discard pile on her bed. A dinner with a friend has never made her quite as indecisive with what to wear. Considering whatever she’d pull out of her closet would surely be better than anything Andy owned. It would be fine.
Still Andy manages to look nice. Almost too nice. The cut and fit of her slacks are perfect for her frame, and the way they hug her behind makes Emily have unwelcome thoughts again. “I’m surprised you didn’t just go back to those hideous skirts once you left Runway,” she says. It’s a compliment, but based on Andy’s face it doesn’t quite land correctly.
Andy just chuckles, if not a little awkwardly. “I thought I’d save that for another time.”
“Can’t wait.” Emily follows Andy and the waiter to their table and as they’ve sat down adds, “Well, you do look nice, I suppose.” Andy’s smile is wide, and Emily finds herself struggling to keep looking at her. Truly, what a puppy.
The evening itself is much more pleasant than Emily had expected. Andy talks, a lot, which Emily used to find distracting but now doesn’t mind as much all the detours her stories take. Until they reach Runway and it has Emily’s hackles raised.
“How has it been since I left—”
“Since you decided what is my biggest dream, wasn’t worth your time?” Emily says, arching an eyebrow in disdain.
“Em…”
“You could’ve just sucked it up.”
“I know I messed up. I didn’t want to do that to you but I just couldn’t take it anymore.” Andy reaches for her hand and Emily wants to pull away, but her body isn’t responding to the simple command. Instead it’s quite annoyingly relishing the contact. “I am sorry.”
“I know,” Emily admits softly, because of course she knows that Andy would never intentionally hurt anyone. It’s one of her most endearing and unfortunate features. She removes her hand from Andy’s hold, because it’s starting to get far too distracting. “Your weakness has always been that your face can’t hide anything. And that you can’t lie to save your life.”
“I wouldn’t call it a weakness.”
“We can agree to disagree. And yes, fine. I do forgive you.”
“A shame, because here I was hoping I’d need to take you out for dinner at least twice more.”
As delighted as Emily is deep inside, she can’t help but ask, “Why?”
“I think we could be… friends.”
Soon it’s not just dinners Andy takes Emily to but whatever occasions she doesn’t want to do alone. Movie nights, and once it’s an art show Lily’s gallery is holding. Emily takes more persuading this time but agrees to come, because she can’t ‘listen to Andy’s pleading any longer.’ Not that she sounds all that inconvenienced by the end.
“You’re stunning,” Andy says when Emily finds her outside the gallery.
“I know,” Emily states, and spreads her arms so Andy can take the whole outfit in. “This year’s Valentino. Nigel would murder me if he knew I wasted it to impress your friends.”
“And why are you trying to impress them?”
“Everything in life is a competition, Andrea,” Emily explains as they walk inside, and Andy tries to spot Lily.
“I don’t doubt for a second you hold that to be true,” Andy says, grinning, before she introduces Lily and Doug to Emily.
“So…?” Lily asks while Doug interrogates Emily about the inner workings of Runway. “Is she the one?”
“I think she is, but I don’t know if I’m just reading too much into it. Wanting it to be her because I might be falling for her. You know?” Andy can’t take her eyes off of Emily, who honestly seems to be enjoying the gossiping with Doug. She glances at Andy with a curious expression on her face and it makes Andy’s heart skip a beat.
“I haven’t found mine yet, so no,” Lily says, with a sigh. “Are you going to confirm it with the weaver?”
It would be a pretty simple thing to do, because all she needed was a single hair from Emily and she’d know. Still, doing it behind Emily’s back felt wrong even if she couldn’t imagine telling her either. They had only recently become friends; talking about soulmates might be a little too much too soon. “I wonder if I can.”
When she joins Emily and Doug, she finds herself catching glimpses of Emily whenever she’s not looking at her. They were opposites in so many ways, but spending time with her had always been easy. Comfortable.
All of it was leading Andy to the conclusion that loving Emily might just be as natural as breathing.
“You couldn’t get an actual date to come to this either?” Emily asks as she’s being escorted into yet another event, Andy wrapped around her arm. This time to the birthday of an editor of the Mirror.
“No one I’d rather spend the evening with.” Andy’s words, even if jokingly said, make Emily’s heart do something rather unexpected. It flutters.
It’s utterly ludicrous, considering it’s still just Andy. The naive, goody two-shoes who used to think it was fine to wear plaid with paisley. Now here she is wearing high heels and a little black dress that again teases Emily’s imagination while her coworker is ogling her so obviously it’s making Emily’s blood boil.
Even all her glaring isn’t stopping him, and Andy is tipsy enough to either not care or maybe she even wants him. When Andy lifts her hand to touch the man’s shoulder, Emily grabs her arm even to her own surprise.
Andy excuses them and takes Emily outside to a balcony. “Is something wrong?” Andy asks.
“Why are you encouraging him?”
“I wasn’t encouraging anything. He’s just a coworker.”
“All of the giggling, and the touching. Please.”
“What are you talking about?” Andy asks brow furrowing charmingly. “Are you jealous?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Emily denies such a thought vehemently. Even if she might be, she’s definitely not going to be the first to admit she might have any kind of affection for Andy. “You’re just too blind to see he wants to be more than coworkers.”
A mischievous smile spreads on Andy’s face. Smug, almost. “Of course. Absurd.”
“Whatever you think you know, I assure you you’re wrong.”
“Then shall we go back?”
Emily can’t imagine anything she’d like to do less at that moment. She’d rather stay out here, alone with her. “Andy… Why did you ask me to come here?”
“Because I like you, and I like being around you.” It’s exactly as simple of an answer as she expects from Andy but it’s not what she wants to hear. The disappointment inside her is telling her loudly she needs more. “You don’t have to look so down about it.”
“I’m not. I just don’t understand you at all.”
Andy laughs, obviously delighted. “One more drink, and I’m sure to tell you everything tonight.”
“What… does that mean?”
“You’ll see,” Andy says, and Emily’s eyes for the briefest of moments fall on Andy’s smile and she curses herself for not being brave enough.
Andy was certain tonight was going to be the night she’d tell Emily, but had no idea how. So she has a drink, which quickly turns to three to muster up the courage. Unfortunately before too long Andy is down for the count. “You’re drunk off your ass.” Emily’s voice is sharp, when Andy feels an arm wrap around her. “Come on.”
“Em,” Andy mumbles, and grins widely. “Can I have your hair?”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? No.”
“But,” Andy continues as Emily puts her in the back of a cab. The next memory Andy has is of Emily helping her onto the bed. “I need to know. And your hair is so nice. Perfect. Like you.”
“I’m not giving you my hair.”
“Do you think we’re… compatible,” Andy mumbles against her pillow. She then tosses herself on her back to see Emily better.
“Hardly, you and I would never work.” Emily’s words contradict her soft tone. Andy squints at the redhead and then grabs her by the arm pulling her closer and Emily stumbles down on top of her. “What are you—” she says but is interrupted by Andy’s kiss.
After that Andy’s memories are even hazier, but she can remember the sensation of Emily’s lips when she wakes up. “I might’ve messed up,” she whispers, though she could’ve sworn Emily kissed her back. There is a ruckus in the kitchen and she slowly gets up, and steps to peek in and to her surprise finds Emily in Andy’s Northwestern sweatshirt and black sweatpants. “Good… morning,” Andy says squinting.
“I hope your hangover is as dreadful as you look,” Emily says, looking her up and down. “You could’ve at least put on pants,” she adds and that’s when Andy realises she’s only wearing a tank top and underwear.
“Uh… I think I need a shower.” But the cold water doesn’t do much to help with her head or remembering what happened with the kiss. Or why Emily is still in her apartment. She does hope they didn’t have sex, because forgetting that would just be cruel.
She finds Emily skimming through a magazine on the couch with a coffee cup in hand and for a brief moment Andy thinks it’s like it should be. Andy picks up a cup and joins Emily. “You’re a restless sleeper,” Emily states.
“Not typically, but it was probably the alcohol.”
“Was the soulmates thing also alcohol related?” Emily continues equally blunt.
Andy freezes with the cup of coffee on her lips. “What… do you… mean?”
“I think you know.”
Andy couldn’t remember she’d mentioned anything about it to Emily even if she had intended to. She stares at her coffee uncertain how to start. “I told you about it?”
“It was a tad incoherent, but you mentioned needing a confirmation before you could… fall for me.”
Drunk Andy had possibly gone a little too far, but Emily was still here so maybe she hadn’t done irreparable harm. Andy can’t make herself look at Emily. “I was told a long time ago that I’d meet my soulmate, and I’ve been waiting to find her ever since then.”
“And you think it’s me?”
‘Probably,’ Andy thinks fully aware she can’t say that. But being completely certain is difficult. “…Yes.”
“Rubbish,” Emily says with a scoff. “We worked in the same office for almost a year and not a single time did you act on it.”
“It’s because I misunderstood the weaver and thought I had to work as a journalist to meet her, but it turned out I already had.”
Emily gets up, walks to the kitchen with a determined step and puts her cup in the sink. “You know… I truly liked you. And I thought when you kissed me that maybe… But it was all because someone else told you I might be your ‘soulmate.’”
“Em,” Andy says and gets up, but Emily lifts her hand to stop her. “No one told me it’s you.”
“Don’t,” is all Emily says as she gathers her things.
“It's not like that.”
“No? Are you even certain it’s me?” Emily asks, her eyes intense as she studies Andy’s face. “You aren’t, are you? God, you’re just test driving me first because I was more accessible to you than Serena or Miranda or who knows who else.”
“No, it’s because you are the only one I felt any connection to.”
“Save me the act.”
“I’m serious,” Andy says as Emily’s hand is on the doorknob. “I don’t think I even care anymore if you’re my soulmate or not. I want to be with you. I have… for a while.”
Emily pulls the door open, her back to Andy. “Do not call me again.” She sounds angry and teary, and then she’s gone.
Andy does as she was asked and at first Emily is relieved, but when days turn into weeks she starts to get increasingly irritated about it. Usually Andy is so annoyingly persistent about everything and now she gives up so easily? Some ‘soulmate’ she is.
“Are you okay?” Serena asks when she stops by the office one exceedingly annoying afternoon.
Emily scoffs as she throws a pile of printouts on the second assistant’s desk. “Absolutely magnificent.”
Serena leans against the desk and eyes Emily. “Something tells me a different story. What did Andy do?”
“Why do you think it was Andy?”
“She’s all you’ve been talking about for weeks. And suddenly nothing while your mood has noticeably tanked.”
All she’s been talking about seems like hyperbole. And that Andy could’ve affected her mood so significantly was definitely… preposterous. “Do you believe in soulmates?”
Serena shrugs. “As an actual thing? No.”
“Right. Only a fool would believe in what a weaver says.”
“I wouldn't go that far. I’ve been to one and she knew so much that she had to have a gift.”
“Please, it’s just a trick,” Emily says adamantly.
The fool still stays in Emily’s thoughts despite her trying to quieten them by remaining angry with her. It is quite ineffective when everything constantly and relentlessly seems to remind her of Andy.
And when one morning there is a headline that a beat reporter had been hospitalised all colour seems to drain from Emily’s world until her eyes catch the name of a paper that’s not the Mirror. The second assistant brings her water and even Miranda glances at her as if concerned about her mental state. “I’m fine,” she insists but her heart still beats too fast and her vision is blurred by stubborn tears.
But that is finally the last straw for her.
‘Did you confirm it yet?’ she texts Andy.
‘I don’t need to,’ is Andy’s reply.
‘But I need to know.’
Andy stares at the text, relieved that Emily has been the one to break the silence but a little confused about why all of a sudden she’s asking for this. Still she has nothing to lose so she agrees to it, if that is all it takes to prove to Emily she could be serious about this.
She arranges for a trip back to her hometown and this time it’s Emily who insists she should come with her.
“Do they know about this obsession of yours?” Emily asks when they leave Andy’s parents home to meet the weaver.
“About finding my soulmate? No, my father wasn’t exactly thrilled when I announced I wasn’t going to pursue law. If I had told him it was to meet you, he’d never agree to me switching to journalism.”
“It does sound entirely absurd.”
“Then why did you want to come with me?”
“To be sure you’ll go see her and not just lie to me.”
Andy laughs. “You don’t even believe in it.”
“But you do and I don’t want to start developing feelings for someone who might regret it because of some nonsense.”
“Developing?”
Emily rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m excellent at suppressing useless emotions.”
Andy hums in response. Useless, huh? “So if she’d tell me, you and I aren’t soulmates… Would you let me still love you?”
“No,” Emily says and stops walking. She sits down on a nearby bench, eyes slowly moving up to meet Andy’s. “You’d find your soulmate one day, and would grow to resent me, because I wouldn’t let you ever leave me.”
“And if she tells us that you are the one?”
“That might be the scarier option.” Emily says, rubbing her hands together. It occurs to Andy that Emily might genuinely be afraid of being in love with her.
“Because it’s me?”
Emily huffs, but a just a hint of a smile flashes on her face. “You are… You are a lover. You love everything. People, and things and it all comes so naturally to you. I don’t think I can match that.”
“I know you believe it, but not everything needs to be a competition.”
Emily appears to be lost in thought, and Andy sits down next to her.
“What if the way you love is the right way for me? Remember when I first started at Runway?” Andy asks, letting out a short chuckle. “You were annoyed with me all the time, especially in the beginning, but you still always had my back.” Andy sighs and leans against the bench, looking up at the sky.
“You were so useless at first. It was remarkable. But luckily you’re cute.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“It absolutely was.”
Andy laughs, and then almost involuntarily blurts out, “I love you.”
Emily is quiet, and then stutters. “Are—you're—you do?”
“I really do.”
“Can you wait until we find out?”
“Easily, I’ll wait as long as you need. But I do really want to kiss you.”
“We’re in public,” Emily protests, but turns to Andy who needs no more encouragement before she leans closer and captures Emily’s lips with hers. At first Emily stiffens, but within a second is melting into the kiss. She rests her forehead against Andy’s chest, and whispers, “I swear to God, Andy that you better be right about this soulmate thing.”
Andy grins widely. “I am. Ready to find out?”
“No. But we better get this out of the way.”
Whether soul weaving is a true practice or purely a gimmick is something Andy and Emily never fully agree on, but at least it’s easy for them to agree with the end result. Emily does tease Andy often about it, even mentioning it during her toast at their wedding, how it required on outsider to open Andy’s eyes to what should've been obvious from the start.
Andy usually retorts by saying how could she have assumed someone as hot as Emily would be into her without the confidence boost from a weaver, which still years later makes Emily look away with a hint of pink on her cheeks.
And every time it happens Andy swears she’s falling deeper in love with her.