this moment's really all we have
the one where you have a timer on your wrist counting down to the moment you meet them
Gabriella is nervous.
The day that she thought would never come has finally arrived. Tonight, it's going to happen. Tonight, her soulmate timer is going to run out.
When she was a little girl, she always dreamed of this day. She's always loved how poetic it is that her soulmate timer is set to New Year's Eve, only about half an hour before the new year arrives. It would be a new beginning in so many ways.
However, now that the day is finally here, she's terrified. She's been feeling anxious all week since she and her mother arrived at the ski lodge, watching every person who is about her age go by and wonder if that could be them. Of course, they wouldn't be, because otherwise her timer would be set to a different date and time, but it's still daunting to know that her soulmate is most likely very close by.
While Gabriella has been a nervous wreck, though, her mother has been very excited. In all honesty, Gabriella is pretty sure that her mother planned this trip to Colorado just to create a some kind of romantic backdrop to this fateful encounter.
She's also been very adamant to get Gabriella to go to this party hosted in the lodge tonight.
To be fair, her mother is right in trying to get her to go out – she won't meet her soulmate when she's cooped up in her room reading a book –, but the more she thinks about it, the more reluctant she is to follow through.
She has built up her expectations so high that she's only bound to end up disappointed, and she also has no experience with love, other than her familial bonds with her parents.
It's going to be a disaster, she can feel it.
However, she knows she'll regret it forever if she stays in her room and misses the running out of her timer. So, here she is, in the clothes her mother laid out for her – she really has to give it to her mother for trying to make this evening as perfect as possible –, at a New Year's Eve party at a ski lodge in Colorado, reading her book and attempting to be discrete as she surveys the room for possible soulmates.
A voice in the back of her mind tells her that she should probably not be sitting in a corner with a book if she wants to find this person she is destined to be with, but she hasn't quite gained the confidence yet to go up to anyone and talk to them.
She'll get up and put herself out there when the timer gets closer to running out. Now, she's just waiting, nervously checking her wrist as the time continues ticking down, much faster than she'd like until there's only a couple of minutes left.
She still has no idea who her soulmate is.
Before she can either panic about this fact or gather the courage to do something about it, a glaring spotlight is suddenly shining into her eyes.
A hand reaches out to her, and she contemplates for a moment if the guy who is pulling her up to the karaoke stage is her soulmate. She glances at her wrist and sees there is still some time left, so he probably isn't.
The other guy on the stage, looking just as confused and frightened as her, just might be, though.
As he starts singing, hesitantly but beautifully, she kind of hopes that he is. And when they finally come face to face and she drowns in his ocean blue eyes, their voices harmonizing perfectly as they get lost in each other, she forgets about the timer altogether. The only thing she cares about right now is him. Just him.
He may be her soulmate. He may not be. But if the beating of her heart as they finish the song and introduce themselves to one another is any indication, it doesn't matter. Regardless of what destiny has decided for her, she really likes this guy.
It doesn't take her much longer to figure out if he is or isn't her soulmate though, for a few minutes later, cup of hot chocolate in his hand, he suddenly pales dramatically.
"I forgot," he chokes out as he stares off into space horrified, and Gabriella's eyebrows furrow with confusion for a moment before realization dawns as he desperately glances at his wrist.
She can see his timer clearly. 00:00:00:00.
As he quietly mumbles something in his panic that she can't quite understand, she smiles at him timidly. Bashfully tucking a curl behind her ear, she quietly asks, "When did it run out?"
He looks back up at her, confused for a split second before his eyes widen with realization. His hand flies up to his neck and rubs awkwardly as a blush rises on his cheeks. "At 11:33."
That's when hers ran out, too.
She bites her lip coyly as his eyes flicker down to her wrist, covered by her cardigan, and she puts down her mug before pulling up her sleeve to reveal her own timer, run out as well.
Troy stares at it in awe as she whispers, "December 31st, 2006. 11 o'clock, 33 minutes and 48 seconds."
That's the exact time when their voices first joined in harmony.
Troy blinks a few times in shock, before a lopsided grin slowly breaks onto his face. Softly, yet confidently, he grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers.
It's a perfect fit.
"You know, I've always found it kind of cool that we were going to meet on New Year's Eve. With it being the start of a new year and all that," Gabriella blurts out when Troy keeps staring at her with such wonder and adoration that it's starting to make her feel awkward, even if it's completely flattering and she wishes he would never stop.
Troy lets out a chuckle and nods, before grinning cheekily. "I guess it really is the start of something new, huh?"
Gabriella can't help but snort in response to his lame joke and then nods vigorously, barely registering as the countdown to the new year begins around them.
This countdown doesn't matter to her, though. The only countdown that mattered today was the one that led her to her soulmate.
The only thing that matters is that she has been led to him.
A/N: It's a common misconception that Troy and Gabriella met 31st December 2005, when it was actually 2006, since they were juniors at the time and they graduated in 2008. Just thought I'd mention that before anyone gets confused about the date I used, lmao.