A/N: First and foremost, if you follow any of my other stories, I would like to sincerely apologize for not updating in quite some time. I've been sort of aimlessly writing one shots and drabbles because it's much easier than a multi-chap story. But, for those of you who have lefts reviews asking if I've abandoned SDSLT, the answer is no. I will get back to writing it as soon as I can. Thank you for you not-so-patient waiting :) It actually makes me smile knowing that you're all still interested in my story 3

Summary: AU where everything is back and white until you meet your soulmate.

The rest of the world was black and white

But we were in screaming

Sweat rolls down her neck as the rays of the sun beat down against her shoulders, the brilliantly white light making her squint as she gazes briefly at the blinding white sun. Her feet pound easily on the gray concrete as she jogs down her colorless street, shades of black and gray painting the houses and trees into a ghostly mural.

The upbeat music pounding from her earphones contrasts harshly with the melancholy of the drained town; but she should be used to it by now. She should be used to the stark blacks and washed out grays, the different hues hinting at the colors that lie underneath. She should be used to it all; but she isn't.

Sixteen years of living in this charcoal life and yet she's still not used to it.

She longs for the day where she'll be able to see the colors that lie beneath the grays and blacks; the colors that are waiting to burst from their cages and brighten her life in the same way music does.

Her parents and people she knows talk about it; the way the colors blend and clash against each other in the astonishing vibrancy that shades everything, from the sky above her to the dirt under her feet.

She yearns for the day she'll be able to see the world light up with her own eyes, instead of having to listen to the condescending tone in which the long enamored adults spoke about it. But that won't happen anytime soon; Not until she falls in love.

She shakes her head and focuses on the music that drowns out her heavy breathing. This isn't something she needs to think about right now, especially with freshman year just around the corner. Her nerves have been eating away at her since she moved to Rosewood, being the new kid was never easy, and jogging twice a day was the only thing that helped calm her.

As she turns into the next street, lost in thought, she crashes into a soft but solid body before she has a chance to stop. She reacts instantly, her arms wrapping around the slim waist of a petit girl as they fall. Paige somehow manages to twist their bodies around so it's her that hits the ground and not the girl. Her breath is knocked out of her lungs as she hits the sidewalk, her shoulder and back throbbing painfully while the girl's elbow smacks into her chest. Damn that's going to hurt in the morning.

The pressure on her torso lifts when she feels the girl shift over her, but she keeps her eyes close and grimaces as she presses her hand over her chest.

"Oh god, are you okay?"

The concerned voice sounds close to her although she can barely hear it over the music that's still playing faintly from her fallen earphones. She opens her eyes slowly, an apology on her lips, when she gasps.

The light gray eyes she meets are only momentarily registering in her mind when suddenly the smokey shades start to dissolve and the strangers eyes begin to shimmer with color; a dark yet enthralling hue that Paige doesn't know the name of. Within seconds the color seems to spread across the strangers face in a surge of tints that leaves Paige wide eyed.

Suddenly it's hard for her to breath and it has nothing to do with the fall or the girl's weight on her.

The color of her eyes, Paige searches her brain for any idea of what that color could be but she comes up empty. Her dad had told her, in a simple way, that apples were red, the sky was blue, grass was green, chocolate brown, and that the sun was yellow. Of course he had mentioned that there was a vast variety of colors and shades, but what was the point if she didn't know what any of them were called at the moment.

Her eyes scan the girl (her soulmates!?) face before she locks eyes with her again.

Those…dazzling eyes, if she didn't know the color that's the closest she could get to describing them, are surrounded by a lovely face; a face that reflects the surprise she feels. Wisps of smooth dark hair whip across the strangers face and Paige has the sudden urge to tuck them behind her ear. They stare at each other, Paige forgetting about her pain as she gets lost in the girl's eyes.

She can't place the color, but the feeling she gets as she looks into them, it's the same warm feeling that settles in the pit of her stomach on a cold winter night as she drinks hot chocolate and sits on her couch, drowning in soft blankets and watching her favorite movie. Those eyes are full of shock as they scan Paige's face in bewilderment.

It's then that Paige realizes how close they are. The girl is practically laying on top of her, her legs between Paige's while she holds onto the girl's waist. She can feel the steady rise and fall of the girl's chest against hers and she wonders if the girl can tell how fast her heart is beating. Suddenly conscious of how sweaty she is, she reluctantly lets go of the girl's waist and awkwardly pulls her hand from in between them and clumsily scrambles out from underneath her, causing the girl to fall onto the sidewalk.

Paige apologetically offers her hand to the baffled stranger, who takes it without hesitation, and helps her as she stands. The girl's fingers are soft and warm and Paige stares at their clasped hands in wonder. She looks up when the girl gasps and watches, mesmerized, as the girl gapes enthralled at the now vibrant town that surrounds them.

She takes a moment to do the same and is instantly shocked by the brilliance of the colors.

This is nothing like the washed out grays and gloomy blacks. This is vivid and radiant and she can't believe she's lived so long without seeing such magnificent beauty.

A gentle squeeze on her fingers and she turns, startled, back to the girl who's hand, she realizes sheepishly, she's still holding. When she lets go, her fingers twitch as if they already miss the contact. The girl laughs shyly and heat rushes to Paige's cheeks as she meets the girl's gaze, "Sorry about that, I-"

Paige's words are cut off as the girl reaches forward and cups her cheek in a warm palm. She slowly rubs her thumb across Paige's skin, causing the startled brunette to hold her breath, afraid that even a single breath will shatter the perfect moment that has settled over them. The girls eyebrows are knitted together in concentration as she tenderly appraises Paige's burning cheeks.

"I-" a hint of a smile plays at the corner of her lips as she meets Paige's eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to freak you out but…"

Paige shakes her head, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "It's fine. I mean, we are soulmates right?" The word sounds foreign coming from her mouth and she stares wide eyed at the girl when she realizes how forward that sounds, "Shit, sorry. That was really…I just, I don't even know your name."

"Well I can fix that, I'm Emily."

"Paige."

"Nice to meet you Paige." Emily beams. She slowly traces her thumb down Paige's jaw, while Paige tries to stop herself from hyperventilating, until she reaches her soft lips. Her eyes are fixed on Paige's lips and the tentative motions of her thumb against the plump flesh. "This is…I didn't expect for it to be this…" She lets out a nervous laugh, quiet yet invigorating, Paige can't help but smile at the sound.

"Enchanting." Paige breathes out as she stares at the girl in front of her; her soulmate, she reminds herself.

"Enchanting." Emily repeats, smiling. She's caught between wanting to continue to stare into the Paige's eyes or at the blush that scorch her cheeks. "Yeah, that sounds about right." She drops her arm, her fingertips still warm where they touched Paige's skin. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to invade your personal space. I was just…stunned."

"You know," Paige chuckles, "I expected to run into my soulmate one day, but not literally run into them." When Emily laughs, the sound vibrating through the air, Paige grins. That's it. She thinks, I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure I hear that sound.

If Paige hadn't thought the universe was playing some sick joke on her before, she did now. She didn't even know the girls name for crying out loud. What if this was some mistake and one day she woke up, suffocating in black and white, the girl no longer by her side? Because it couldn't be real, could it? That her, Paige McCullers, would be lucky enough to fall in love, or be loved, by someone as stunning as the girl smiling shyly at her.

"I shouldn't be laughing, you took the worst of the fall." Emily frowns, reaching forward and brushing dirt off of Paige's arm. "Are you okay? I'm not as light as I look and the ground is as hard as it looks."

"I'm alright, besides the soreness I'll feel later on, this is definitely the best day of my life." Paige muses. "I'd do it all over again."

"But next time," Emily teases, glancing to the side, "Aim for the grass."

Paige laughs quietly and looks down shyly, she grabs Emily's hand after only a moments hesitation. Their fingers interlock and in that moment, as warmth spreads through Paige, she knows it's a warmth that'll stay with her for the rest of her life. She tilts her head back upwards with a smile. She's never given much thought to this moment before. Sure she had thought about it every now and then, but just thinking about it gave her anxiety and she would quickly distract herself with thoughts of the amazing colors she would get to see once that happened.

Staring at Emily now, with colors bursting everywhere around them, she realizes why everyone who is in love never sounds as enthusiastic as she thought they should whenever they talked about colors. Because as she loses herself in the dark depths of Emily's beaming eyes and the magnetic pull of her faint lips; she realizes that the radiant colors surrounding them don't compare, in the least, to the breathtaking beauty that is her soulmate.

Hope you liked it :) I usually post my one-shots/drabbles on tumblr first, so if you want to see them there check out my tumblr: .com