AN: The song for this chapter is "2 Atoms in a Molecule" by Noah and the Whale. Listen while you read!

Chapter 1: 2 Atoms in a Molecule

/Last night I had a dream we were inseparably entwined

Like a piece of rope made out of two pieces of vine

Held together, holding each other with no one else in mind

Like 2 atoms in a molecule inseparably combined/

Jake wasn't sure why he applied to Savage Vinyl in the first place. He wasn't looking for a job and he had his classes to worry about. He just wanted to take a look around the area, but he saw the "Now Hiring" sign in the window and he was compelled to pick up an application. He didn't even procrastinate, he just filled it out and brought it back right away.

The next day he got a call from the owner, a woman named Rosa, asking for an interview. He agreed and the next day he showed up at the store with a tie on.

"Alright, so your name's Jacob Peralta?" Rosa asked, with intense eyes. He wondered if she was glaring or if that was just her face. Still, her darkly lit and small office gave him little comfort. Plus, he was pretty sure there was a switch blade knife on her desk.

"I go by Jake, usually" Jake said formally. He didn't want to chance upsetting this woman because she could probably-most-certainly take him out.

"Jake. Got it. Okay, let's cut the small talk bull crap," She said leaning back on her chair and putting down his application, "You gonna steal stuff from the store?"

"Uh, no"

"Will you come in on time?"

"Probably not"

"Can you count money?"

"Yes"

"Can you lift 30 pounds?"

"Yeah"

"You gonna do what I say when I tell you to do it?"

"Yep. Too scared not too" Jake said, assuming honesty was best when dealing with Rosa.

"Good. You're hired. Come in tomorrow at 10:30am and I'll show you the ropes" she said and left the room, leaving Jake in the office by himself to ponder what just happened.

"Why didn't you tell me you were looking for a job?" Charles asked when Jake told him. Jake kicked off his shoes and jumped onto his dorm bed. He had only been at college for a week, but him and his roommate, Charles Boyle, were already shaping up to be good buddies.

"I wasn't looking for a job. I just saw the sign and decided to apply. The boss interviewed me and she gave it to me"

"So, let me get this straight. You, a college student who was not looking for a job, just happens to land a job at a cool record store right next to the university with no prior job experience, in this economy?!" Charles asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Jake! This could be it!"

"What could be it?" Jake asked, sitting up.

"Jakey, think about it. It was too easy and what's up with you just randomly filling out an application because you felt like it? Putting in job applications is duller than using grape jelly on your pb&j" Charles said. Jake's face scrunched up in confusion.

"What kind do you use?"

"Tomato jelly. With just the right amount of walnut butter, it's divine"

"Ew"

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. My point is, Jake, I think you were compelled to work for that store"

"What? No. I just wanted some extra money" Jake said, brushing Charles off.

"No, no, I'm serious! I think you're probably going to meet your Soulmate there. What about your boss? Was she cute?" Charles asked eagerly.

"Objectively, she's an attractive woman, but there's no way she's my Soulmate" Jake said, remembering the scary aura he associated with her.

"How do you know?"

"I know"

"Alright, well I'm telling you Jakey, you're going to meet your destiny at that store. Mark my words" Charles said as he sat down at his desk and began working on homework for the next day. Jake resumed his former position of lying on his bed with his hands behind his head and began to think. The more he thought about Charles' theory, the more he thought the theory could be right. He did feel the urgent need to fill out the application. It didn't cross his mind until afterwards that this behavior was odd.

Jake took a deep breath in and let it out. An odd, nervous feeling mixed with excitement filled his tummy. What if he was going to meet his Basherte there? What if Charles was right? Jake was pretty sure he was at this point.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it right now" he thought and commanded himself to think of other things.

/But then I woke from the dream to realize I was alone

A tragic event I must admit but let's not be overblown

I'm not trying to write a love song just a sad, pathetic moan

Maybe I just need a change, maybe I just need a new cologne/

Jake made sure to wake up early and to shower. He combed his hair and even wore a clean shirt instead of just picking one up off the floor. He examined himself in the mirror of the dorm bathroom and messed with his hair until it was perfect, but still pretty much the same because it was so short. He went to turn on the sink to splash his face with water, but stopped when he noticed his hand was shaking. He took a deep breath in.

"Whoa, Jake, it's okay. Even if you had half a nose and one eyeball bigger than the other, your Basherte is still your Basherte. It's no big deal, you probably won't even meet her today" Jake reasoned. He started to calm down, but he also felt like he was wrong about meeting her today. He could feel a tug at the bottom of his heart that made his mouth go dry. Destiny was awaiting him and he could feel it.

/So now I look at love like being stabbed in the heart

You torture each other from day to day and then one day you part

Most of the time it's misery but there's some joy at the start

Oh for that I'd say it's worth it, just use a blade that's short and sharp on me/

It was a short walk to Savage Vinyl, but it felt like a hundred miles to Jake. Each step made his heart beat faster and at times he was tempted to run, but he controlled himself. Still, the closer he got to the store, the closer he felt to cataclysmic collision. This feeling wasn't nothing. It was real.

When he finally got to the store, Jake swore he was going to throw up, but he managed to hang on. He entered the store and found Rosa at the cashier counter. She waved him over and he obliged. The store was empty except for Rosa and the of racks that contained thousands of records. The store was huge and open with concrete walls and high ceilings. Posters of rock bands covered every wall and every surface was covered in stickers. It was actually a really cool place and he figured he'd shop there himself if he wasn't working there now.

"Hey" Rosa said as he approached the counter. She was diligently counting cash and separating stacks into neat piles. Today, she wasn't wearing her leather jacket and Jake was able to make out the clock on her arm:

"01:03:05:02:15:55"

She was going to meet her Soulmate in one year, three months, five days, two hours, fifteen minutes and fifty-five seconds. Jake let out a breath he had been holding and crossed Rosa off his suspect list. It wasn't her.

"You done staring at my wrist?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I just, um, I kind of have a feeling about this store" he said, still finding it hard to lie to this woman.

"What? Like, Soulmate crap?" she asked, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Yeah, like Soulmate crap" he admitted.

"Well, whatever. Just make sure you get your work done. I didn't hire you so you could hook up with some girl, I hired you to take people's money" she said with a threat in her eye.

"Aye, aye captain" he replied.

"We'll start in a minute. The other girl I hired is in the bathroom" Rosa said and Jake's heart stopped. The other girl?

"Oh God, it's her isn't it?" he thought and he began straightening his tie. A wave of nerves washed over him. This was it. He was going to meet her.

Movement to his left made him turn and he saw a figure make its way towards him. At first all he could see was a bit of brown hair bobbing up and down from behind the racks of records, but soon enough, a pretty girl wearing an outfit that was way too professional came into view. She made her way to the counter and made eye contact with Jake.

His heart stopped and a fuzzy feeling clouded his head. He wasn't sure if something cosmic was happening or if he was just working himself up. He was confused, but if nothing else, he was certain about how pretty her eyes were. She smiled at him and another lightning bolt hit him.

"Hi, you must be Jake" she said pleasantly and outstretched her hand. Jake, slightly nervous about what could happen if he touched this girl, slowly brought his hand to hers and shook. Nothing. He wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved. In any case, it didn't mean much. There were other ways to "know".

"That's me, what's your name?" he asked with a smile.

"Amy Santiago" she said simply. They both seemed to be out of things to say and instead just kind of looked at each other for a minute. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing as him.

"Alright, both of you listen up. I'm gonna explain this and I'm gonna explain this once, so pay attention" Rosa said, breaking them out of their trance.

Over the next couple of hours Rosa gave both of them the tour of the store. The records were organized alphabetically by genre and they had a whole section of record players in one corner. She showed them the bathroom and the staff lounge, which was a cool, low-light hangout spot with couches and a record player they could play their favorite tracks on. Next she showed them how to do inventory and how to log. After that, she went over the cash register.

"Just make sure you count out your cash correctly. You better balance your till every night, you got it?" Rosa asked.

"Yes, ma'am! I sure do" Amy said, far too enthusiastically. Rosa gave her annoyed look and moved on.

"Oh, and make sure you smile and make the customer feel welcome or whatever" Rosa said and Jake wondered if retail was really the best place for her.

"Got it" Amy said with another enthusiastic smile. Boy, she sure was a teacher's pet. That wasn't exactly a trait Jake admired, but he brushed it off.

"We open in five minutes. You guys take the register and help each other out. I'll be doing some inventory if you need me" Rosa said as she darted towards the back of the store.

"She's something, huh?" Amy asked, turning to him.

"She's gone. You can chill" Jake said. How much of a kiss-ass was this girl?

"What? I'm chill. I just appreciate a strong woman"

"Yeah, I noticed" Jake said, trying to make a joke. It didn't land though and instead she looked a little hurt. He tried to change the subject and because he was flustered, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"So what's your countdown at?" he asked and immediately regretted it. Asking someone about their countdown was considered extremely rude, especially if you just met them. Amy was taken aback by the question, but didn't seem too offended. Actually, she looked like she expected this to come up. She nodded and a nervous expression overcame her. She pulled back her sleeve and showed him:

"00:00:00:00:00:00"

Jake's heart sank again. She really could be his Basherte. He slowly slid back his sleeve and showed her his clock. She took a sharp inhale of breath.

"How old were you?" he asked, his voice a whisper.

"I was just a baby" she replied, her voice also low.

"So was I"

"Oh"

"Amy, I think—" Jake started, but was interrupted by the sound of bell chiming on the front door. It was the first customer of the day.

"Hi! Welcome! Let me know if you have any questions!" Amy basically shouted at him. The man gave her a half smile and quickly darted to the rock section.

They worked in silence, both of them thinking about the implications of their discoveries. Neither of them had experienced the "ah-ha" moment everyone promised them, but it certainly was beginning to look like they'd found each other.

The silence was finally broken when a customer came up to Jake's register to check out. He asked the man if he found everything okay and the man said he did. As Jake began to ring him up, Amy began making "ahem" noises.

"You sick, Amy?" Jake asked.

"No, it's just…you're doing it wrong" she said.

"What? No I'm not" Jake said as he proceeded to swipe the customer's card.

"No! You just charged him twice!" Amy said.

"He what?" the customer asked.

"Sorry about that, Sir. I can fix it" Amy said as she shuffled Jake off to the side. Dumb pride made the thrumming in his chest slow. Who was she just to take over? To her credit, she did know what she was doing and set the customer off happily, bur that didn't mean he felt any less stung by her invasion. He let it go though. After all, there was a good chance this was his Basherte.

That incident wasn't isolated, however. Every time a customer came up to Jake, Amy intervened and made Jake feel five inches tall. He knew she was just trying to help, but he also felt like she was trying to one-up him.

Jake sighed and looked over at this strange girl. He went over in his mind the list of traits he wanted in a Soulmate. Beautiful? Check. Into video games? He doubted it. Not a nerd? Negative check. Not a pencil-pusher? Negative check. Super cool and chill? Double negative check. Likes music? Inconclusive. Thinks the world of him? As far as he could tell, definitely not.

And so, based on the evidence, Jake came to a conclusion. There was no way that Amy Santiago was his Basherte.

/I mean if love is just a game then how come it's no fun

If love is just a game how come I've never won

I guess maybe it's possible I might be playing it wrong

And that's why every time I roll the dice I always come undone/

AN: End of chapter 1! So I'm hoping the song lyrics make sense with what's happening in the story. I want to keep experimenting with it.

Thank you for reading and for your comments! They mean the world 3