Arthur Kirkland hated his job. Well, to be more accurate he hated his job working at the gas station.
He absolutely adored his other occupation as an author writing about fantastical faraway lands with unicorns, pixies, and the like. But he couldn't say he wasn't grateful to have been able to find the temporary part-time job at the station at all. Contrary to the beliefs of most other people, the pay wasn't all too terrible.
The Brit was planning on serving as a cashier at the small, quaint place until he saved enough money to finish writing his book and eventually publish it.
Still, he scowled deeply as a trio of rowdy teenagers made their way into the gas station, laughing loudly while they plundered through the aisles, grabbing armfuls upon armfuls of junk food and soda. After finishing up their purchases and thinking good riddance, Arthur glanced at one of the two watches on his left wrist to calculate the number of hours he had left of work before he was allowed to end his shift and head home.
The first watch was an averagely simplistic gold-plated watch that told time, with Roman numerals signifying the different hours. The second watch, however, was a soulmate watch, the type that most every single person living on the planet currently had. Instead of telling the regular time, the digital numbers on the face were a countdown until the moment that the person with the watch would meet their significant other. The watches would then fall off of the wrists of the fated couple when they neared each other, and the sparks to a bright love lit.
But when it came to his own soulmate watch, Arthur wasn't quite convinced that it was the key to living the happiest life possible. However true that may be, everybody on the earth had a soulmate regardless. Because Arthur didn't see the big importance in the watch as the majority of people usually did, he could've cared less if he was meeting his soulmate in another 10 years, or if he was to meet them in 10 minutes.
So, distracted with work and life in general, he rarely had time to concentrate on the very day when his life would change forever, so to speak. On most occasions, Arthur even managed to forget the fact that the fangled device was wrapped around his wrist.
As he was just about to take a quick glance at his soulmate watch out of curiosity, a bell rung as the automatic doors of the gas station opened, signaling an incoming potential customer and distracting Arthur from the watch to tend to whatever the customer required and to hope that time would be so kind as to go by faster so he could finish working his tiresome shift soon.
12'57", 12'56", 12'55"…
Alfred F. Jones was running, the wind whipping past his golden locks. His surroundings were a blur, and not just because he was sprinting as fast as humanely possible.
The American's one and only focus remained solely on his soulmate watch. With only a few minutes left until he met his significant other, his excitement could hardly be contained. As a result, Alfred was rushing to the nearest gas station to buy a specific coke with the label of "Share a Coke With Your Soulmate" so that he could, well, share a coke with his soulmate.
Despite the fact that the majority of the people Alfred told his plan to thought of it as ridiculous and absurd, the 19 year-old was a big believer of fate and love. He was also quite childish, which was why he was going to attempt to flatter his soulmate with a soda and a seriously cheesy pick-up line.
Although he had planned the meeting a month before the actual moment in anticipation, he had regrettably stayed up all night not being able to fall asleep after playing a Japanese horror game lent by his friend. Unsurprisingly, when he finally did manage to hit the hay at around 5 o'clock in the morning, Alfred had overslept into one in the afternoon, causing a major setback in his plans.
He had estimated the time when he and his soulmate would meet, which amounted to about 2 in the afternoon, leaving him with only 40 minutes to take a shower and dress himself, and a short 20 minutes to find the specific soda and finally encounter his significant other, not including random, miscellaneous distractions.
After listening to the local news radio channel, he found out that driving would be futile and slow since an automobile accident had taken place along the route from his place to the gas station. The next fastest form of transportation would've been his bike, but he had forgotten that the tires were flat, thus rendering the cycle useless. That left Alfred with the final available option: his own two feet.
The bespectacled blonde turned sharply around a bend, almost crashing into a couple holding hands. Muttering a few apologies, he nearly panicked when he glanced at his soulmate watch and discovered he had less time than he originally thought he had.
Sprinting faster than he already was, Alfred neared the gas station and three teenagers sitting on the curb in front of the store, munching on various unhealthy foods. Attempting to curve around them, his shoelace fatefully decided to unite, causing him to trip in the most ungraceful way possible. A yelp escaped his lips as he put out his arms in front of him to cushion the fall.
The American groaned as he picked himself off of the floor, oblivious to the looks of the snickering teens nearby. He examined the scrape on his palms gingerly, wincing a bit at the sting that jolted throughout his hand as he touched the scarlet wound. The outer layer of his skin had been scraped raggedly with little uneven bits of skin sticking up. Wrinkling his nose, Alfred searched his pockets for a spare bandage to dress his cut with no luck. Dropping the issue and focusing more on the matter at hand, he stuck his hands into the pockets of his favorite brown bomber jacket and speed-walked towards the gas station.
The automatic sensory doors swished open to welcome Alfred, and he dashed to the beverage aisle of the small store and scanned the shelves for the Coke that he was particularly set on buying. The unmistakable signature red and brown colors clustered next to the greens and yellows of Sprites, gray Pepsis, and other sodas at the very end of the shelves. Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Alfred headed over to the Cokes and searched for the specific label that he was looking for.
At a glance, the first couple of Cokes in the front of the shelves didn't have "Share a Coke With Your Soulmate" printed across the front. Opening the clear door to the sparkling soft drinks, Alfred rummaged his hands around the sodas, his eyes scanning over each label. It took what felt to him like an eternity to finally find the particular soulmate coke, but when he did, he let out a celebratory whoop of joy.
An annoyed "Shhh!" was heard from behind the cashier counters, and Alfred lowered his head as if he were a punished puppy and quietly murmured an apology. Still, a wide grin appeared on his face, and he sauntered over to the cashier with only one minute left until he met his soulmate.
After the recent potential customer rushed into the gas station, Arthur had tuned out his surroundings temporarily to daydream and come up with new ideas for his book, when a loud "WHOO!" shocked him out of his thoughts. Glaring at the direction where the yell was heard from, Arthur shushed the customer somewhat irritably.
Only a few seconds later, a rather attractive blonde male with the brightest blue eyes that Arthur could've sworn he had ever seen walked up to the counter and placed a single bottle of Coke in front of the Briton, with the utterly most dazzling smile Arthur also could've sworn he had ever seen. The stranger looked out of breath and misshapen with his golden blonde hair messily arranged, his glasses perched slightly crooked on top of his chiseled nose, and his wrinkled attire, but Arthur believed it only added to the already overwhelming attractiveness of the handsome stranger. He flushed, keeping his head down as he reached out for the Coke and scanned the price tag before hearing two 'clicks' and a thud as something fell to the floor.
Arthur looked around in confusion and crouched down to the ground to look for whatever had fallen onto the tiled floor. Without finding anything, he stood up straight again only to be met with an absolutely bright and awed look on the charming customer's face. Perplexed, the Kirkland looked at the young man strangely before asking, "Is somethi–"
The blonde customer cut him off waveringly, rendering him unable to finish his query.
"W-would you like a Coke?" he asked, his bright blue eyes like small oceans of crystal cerulean.
"Excuse me?" Arthur asked, now more puzzled than ever before. The good-looking customer in front of him broke out of his momentary stupor and tried again, handing the bottle of Coke to the opposing emerald-eyed blonde with a shy, but unbelievably dashing grin.
"Would you like a Coke?"
Arthur looked at him in confusion before noticing the crisp white word on the red label of the soda bottle that clearly read 'Soulmate.'
Realization struck Arthur hard, and his breathing rapidly increased, his heart beating faster and faster as he checked for the watch on his wrist that signified that he had yet to meet his soulmate. His wrist was bare, save for the classic gold watch adorning it. As he glanced up to face the stranger-now-soulmate, his eyes caught the glint of the face of his soulmate watch and another's on the floor behind the counters, the numbers a monotonous 00:00:00. After a few moments to will himself to calm down after the surprising development, Arthur timidly took the Coke and answered.
"Yes."