"Carlos, you're being a little dramatic," Evie told him, as he lay across her bed, his hands covering his face. They had both just come back from university for the Easter holiday, which meant that they were staying with Mal and Jay, in their little two-bedroom flat. The other two, however, were out working, so it was just Carlos and Evie in the house at that moment. "There is no way that it is an unrequited soulmate connection. They don't exist."
"She couldn't see it, Evie," Carlos pointed out. "Honestly, half the time, I'm wondering if I'm just hallucinating it." He dropped his hands from his face and lifted his left hand again, staring at the string tied around his pinky.
Evie shook her head and sat down next to him. "Come on, Carlos, think this through. You haven't exactly had it since birth. Whatever triggered it for you obviously just hasn't happened for her yet." She then lightly shoved his shoulder. "Come on, you should be excited! The Red String of Fate! You two are going to be forever connected! Literally!"
Carlos gave her an annoyed look but couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. "It is pretty cool," he admitted. He began grinning and stared up at the ceiling. "She's everything, you know? I must've done something right if the universe thought I deserved a soulmate like her."
"Hey," Evie said, shoving his shoulder again, "No self-depreciation. She'll probably think the same thing about you. You're an amazing guy, Carlos."
"Yeah, I guess, but she's just...she's Jane, you know?"
Evie laughed, "It is so sweet how you somehow make one of the plainest names in the world sound like it's something magical. You're really falling for her, huh?"
Carlos smiled, "I'm in love with her," he admitted. "I just don't know how to tell her."
"Well," Evie said, rolling over so that she was lying on her stomach, "You have the whole Easter break to make a plan."
They then heard the front door open. "Hey, freeloaders! You home?"
"Like you're not going to freeload off of us when we get our fancy graduate jobs," Evie yelled back. "We're in mine and Mal's room."
"He is aware that we have part-time jobs and contribute to the food bills when we're here, right?" Carlos pointed out.
Evie shrugged. Jay appeared in the doorway of the girls' room and grinned. "Incoming!" Evie and Carlos managed to just about roll out of the way before Jay flung himself onto the bed between them.
"Hey, Jay, we missed you too," Carlos said, sarcastically.
Jay grinned. "Aw, I knew you would."
Carlos rolled his eyes, to which Jay responded by rubbing his hair. "Hey, hey!" Carlos complained, batting his hand away. "Back off."
"Boys," Evie said warningly. "If you're going to start wrestling, go do it in your own room. You're not doing it here."
Jay put his hands up in surrender. "Mal should be home soon. She doesn't have the closing shift today."
"Great," Evie said with a grin. "I'll go get dinner started then. Carlos, you better go finish unpacking. Jay, if you wouldn't mind doing the dishes that I saw piling up when I walked in?"
"You're back for an hour and you're already bossing us around," Jay grumbled, though he couldn't seem to bring himself to look too displeased about it.
Carlos laughed and got up, heading into the room he shared with Jay to unpack. Being back with his sisters and brother, especially once Mal got home, meant that he was able to put his newly found soulmark into the back of his mind. Being with them, being home, made it so easy to not worry about the possibilities of unrequited soulmates and how to tell the girl he loved that he loved her.
However, after eating a good meal with the others and having good conversation with lots of laughter and catching up, Evie decided that Carlos had been not thinking about it long enough.
"Well, I think Carlos has something to tell you guys that he's forgotten to mention so far," Evie announced as she began stacking the plates and moving them to the kitchen.
Carlos groaned as the other two turned curious eyes on him.
"You finally asked that Jane girl out?" Jay asked, with a smirk playing on his lips.
Mal smiled. "As much as I hope that's true, there's no way that would've happened without him screaming it from the rooftops."
"Fair point," Jay replied.
"Maybe let him tell you?" Evie suggested, poking her head out of the kitchen.
Jay and Mal looked at him expectantly again, so Carlos sighed. "My soulmark appeared."
"Carlos!" Mal cried out with a smile. "That's so great!"
"Since when do you get so excited about soulmarks?" Jay argued.
Mal glared at him. "Just because I don't like the concept doesn't mean I can't recognise that it's important to Carlos."
Evie came out of the kitchen, rolling her eyes, "Just let the poor boy speak, you two."
"Thanks, Evie," Carlos replied. "You can't see it, but it's the Red String of Fate."
"Do you know who it's attached to?" Mal asked, looking at him curiously.
"Ten quid says it's Jane," Jay jumped in.
Evie shook her head, "Okay, no one is going to take you on that bet, seeing as it is the most obvious conclusion."
"Yes, it's Jane," Carlos replied, "but she can't see it."
Jay looked at him for a moment. "Well, can't say I saw that one coming. She can't see the string?"
Carlos shook his head. "No. I'm literally attached to this girl and she has absolutely no clue."
"We'll figure this out, Carlos, okay?" Evie said reassuringly. "It shouldn't be too hard. Something triggered yours. We just need to figure out what that was."
They talked through how it appeared for a while. Carlos tried to recall whatever details he could while he played with the string on his finger. He was interested in how it never tightened, just grew longer and shorter as he moved his pinky back and forth. He loved that if he wanted to, he could follow it and would find Jane on the other end of it.
"Wait, so you admitted to yourself that you loved her and that's when it appeared?" Evie asked, a few minutes into the conversation.
"Yeah?" Carlos replied, "And?"
"And this was the first time you admitted it to yourself?"
Carlos shrugged. "Maybe? But I've definitely been in love with her longer than that."
"That's not…" Evie sighed. "We could've finished this conversation ages ago. Carlos, it doesn't matter how long you've been in love with her, what matters is that the string appeared when you first realised you were in love with her."
"Trigger found," Mal replied. "That was easy."
"So, what? Jane can't see it because she doesn't love me?"
"Maybe not yet," Evie answered, "But maybe it's just that she doesn't realise she's in love with you yet."
"So what do you suggest I do?"
"Ask her out," all three of the others replied simultaneously, as though it was obvious.
Carlos blanched a little. "That...is easier said than done."
"You have time to figure it out," Evie reassured him.
He knew that. He really did. But, oh, was the concept of it all still incredibly terrifying. Despite this, he smiled a little. She couldn't see it yet. Maybe someday soon, she would.
-Connected to You-
As much as Jane loved being home for the holidays, she couldn't deny that she was excited to finally get back to university.
She hummed happily to herself as she unpacked the books she'd taken from home. The ritual of unpacking made her feel much more settled and like she could easily slip back into her routine, which was very important to her.
As she placed the last book on the shelf, Jane heard her phone go off. She grinned as she saw it was a picture from Carlos. It was just the countryside outside a train window with a caption that said 30 minutes out.
They usually kept each other updated about journeys, partly because of the boredom that could sometimes come with it but also because it was nice to reassure one another that they were safe.
She texted him back with a quick grinning emoji, then set about storing her bags under her bed. She then took a quick picture of her room with the caption all unpacked!
The two of them had talked a lot over the Easter holiday, mostly via text but they had a phone call or two, which was really nice. Hearing Carlos' voice made Jane's heart stir in a way that she was afraid to think about. She had a major crush on him and that surprised her. She didn't think she'd ever had a crush this big on anyone.
Sometimes she played with the idea of telling him about it, but she was sure he'd never shown any kind of interest in her, not like that anyway. Or had he? Maybe he had...or maybe that was her feelings muddling up the perfectly platonic actions.
It was confusing, having a crush on one of her best friends. And a little scary. But it was just a crush, right? It would go away. Eventually. Just because it hadn't in the months that she'd known him didn't mean that it wouldn't. Right?
She quickly shook her head at the thought. She was focusing too much on her confusing feelings. That made things worse. She needed to stop overanalysing things and just enjoy being his friend. And being friends with other people. That was also important.
So, with that thought in mind, she headed to the kitchen where some of her flatmates were hanging out and she was very happy to sit down and catch up with them.
However, when she finally retired to her room for the night, Jane found her mind going straight back to Carlos. He usually was the last thing she thought about at night, not to mention one of her first thoughts when she woke up.
But that evening, it wasn't just the usual thinking about something he'd said or something they'd done together, or even thinking about what he might say or do in response to some of her other thoughts. No, that evening, she found herself thinking about him in the context of soulmates.
At first, they were good thoughts. Ones about how maybe they were soulmates and whatever the trigger was just hadn't happened for them yet. She wondered what their mark might be if they were soulmates and if they'd have a romantic bond. She wondered what the trigger might be, like them both turning twenty-one or maybe their first kiss. She blushed at the thought of this, hiding her face in her sheets, despite being alone in the dark room.
Then her thoughts turned sadder. Statistically speaking, women lived longer than men, and she and Carlos were the same age. If they were soulmates, would that mean she would feel the agonising grief she knew was to come? Or would she be the one to leave him with that pain?
At least if they weren't soulmates, should Carlos be the one to experience that agony, Jane would be more likely to be able to provide him with comfort.
This thought, unfortunately, led her to think about someone else being Carlos' soulmate. And worse still, a romantic soulmate. She figured that the universe would give him someone stunning with long legs and a beautiful face. Not because Carlos was shallow, but because he deserved to have the best and the universe probably knew that.
What if this perfect girl came along and was Carlos' perfect match and then he pushed Jane away and stopped hanging out with her altogether? That would hurt so much. So much that she probably wouldn't even acknowledge her own soulmate when they finally came along. After all, no matter who they are, she surely won't find a connection like the one she had with Carlos.
At that moment, Jane realised that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't just a crush. It had, after all, only grown stronger since she met him and this connection she felt with him...it felt like something deeper.
Oh goodness, she realised to herself, I think I'm in love with him. I can't be in love with him! That'll mess everything up. If he finds out, it could destroy our friendship! Because he's so lovely, he'd probably want to give me some space to get over him, but then we'd fade out of each other's lives and, goodness I'm not going to sleep now.
With a sigh, she got up and went to her desk, turning on the lamp as she did so. She may as well proofread that essay she did over the holidays. She had planned to do that tomorrow, but she felt wide awake now.
When she reached for her laptop, Jane noticed that there was something on her pinky. Thinking it was just a piece of red fluff, she tried to brush it off, but it didn't budge. On closer inspection, she realised that it wasn't fluff, but a piece of string. Not only that but the string was tied around her pinky like someone had done it deliberately.
Confused, Jane stared at the string. Then she realised that it was extremely long and not only that, it seemed to be going through her walls, in a particular direction. Jane gasped when she realised what it could be.
As fast as she could, Jane put her shoes on and a cardigan over the top of her pyjamas, then once she was sure she had a key card, she was out the door.
She followed the string onto campus, noticing that it didn't slacken or tighten, simply lengthened and shortened as she moved.
Soon, she found herself standing in front of the university library. She headed towards the entrance, her eyes staying on the string the whole time. Then, she could see the other end of it, attached to the pinky of someone's left hand. Her eyes rose and met the eyes of the man she'd recently realised that she'd fallen in love with.
Carlos stood before her, halfway through shoving a book into his bag as he frowned at her in confusion.
"Jane? What...don't you normally go to sleep at this time?"
Jane nodded and approached him, not sure what to say. He'd clearly not noticed the string when it appeared to her.
"You're gonna freeze," he suddenly said, dropping his bag on the floor and removing his coat. "Are you okay?" He placed the jacket around her, zipping it up once she slipped her arms through.
She hadn't noticed that it was a cold night until she felt the warmth of his jacket envelop her.
"I just...I saw something."
Carlos raised an eyebrow. "You saw something? That made you decide to come out to the library? In a cardigan and your pyjamas?"
Jane nodded. "Yeah, I uh, well, I don't know if you can see it, but I think my soulmark has been triggered, and I think I know why. And if I'm right about why, then it's a romantic connection, which I think is amazing because I really, really want this but only if you really want this too, and I know that just because we're tied together by a red string, it doesn't really mean it's necessarily a romantic thing, because we are very good friends, so it could-"
"Slow down, Jane," Carlos said gently, holding up his hand, "Did you say you could see a red string between us?"
-Connected to You-
When Jane nodded, Carlos' brain was just full of: She can see it? She can see it! She can see it!
Carlos grinned, wider than he ever had before. "Okay, okay, please tell me that the red string you see is attached to my left pinky and to your right?" When Jane nodded again, Carlos took her in his arms and pulled her as tightly to himself as he could.
"You see it too?" Jane asked, her voice muffled against him as she returned the hug.
Carlos nodded. "I've seen it for about a month now. I didn't say anything because I knew you couldn't. I was going to ask you out when I next saw you. Figured it was a risk worth taking. That maybe it would take dating for a while for yours to be triggered."
Jane pulled back a bit, just enough that she could look him in the eye. Her eyes were full of a strange mix of elation and guilt. "Oh no, did I ruin your plan to ask me on a date? We can still do that! I'll just pretend that I have no idea!"
Carlos laughed and nodded. "Okay, yeah." He'd practised this again and again, so it was sweet of her to allow him a chance. It was certainly easier now that he knew the answer. "Well, I know you and I go out together frequently, but I was wondering, if the next time we went out, we could call it a date?"
"Don't we always refer to them as dates though?" Jane asked, cocking her head slightly. "Friend-dates."
Carlos grinned, shaking his head fondly. "I know, but I mean this would be like a date-date. Like, you and I would be...more than friends."
"Like boyfriend and girlfriend?" Jane asked, her smile widening. Her speaking then sped up as she continued. "And we could do couple things like hold hands and send each other cute texts where I can tell you how great I think you are, because, Carlos, I think you're really great and I really want to tell you, like all the time." She tightened her hold on him. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!"
"Me too!" Carlos agreed, grinning so large that his cheeks were hurting. "Well, guy, not girl."
Jane let out a little laugh and pulled back slightly. Carlos noted that her eyes were glassy with unshed tears and that briefly worried him but her smile was so blinding that it was all he could focus on.
"I'm really glad you're my soulmate," she told him earnestly. "I couldn't ask for a better one."
Carlos doubted that, but now wasn't the time to say so. "I couldn't ask for a better one either. I...just really want to be with you, Jane." Oh, how he wanted to tell her that he loved her. How he wanted to hear it back. But she knew. After all, she said she'd worked out the trigger. Which also meant that he knew that she loved him back. With emotions running so high at the moment, he wanted to save those words for later, for another time when they weren't already so overwhelmed by the fact that they were each other's soulmates.
Jane nodded and held up her hand. "I think this is proof that I really want to be with you too." She flexed her pinky, as though proving her point.
Both of them gasped and looked down at the string between them. It had pulled. Carlos had felt her pull it.
"Huh," he said, his brow slightly furrowed, "It's never done that before."
"Well," Jane replied, "We have the rest of our lives together to figure out how it works, right?"
Carlos' eyes focused on hers once more. "Yeah. Yeah, we do."
He then held out his hand to her and grinned as her hand slipped into his, fitting perfectly together.
-Connected to You-
Jane twirled a piece of hair between her fingers as she debated pulling the string on her pinky. When they decided to take the time to explore it, they discovered that the string could be pulled at if they were pulling at it with the intention of the other feeling it.
Over time, she and Carlos had devised a few simple codes to help divulge whether they were busy, so as not to disturb any classes or meetings, with texts or phone calls.
After a minute or two more debating, Jane decided to pull at the string. 3 pulls. Are you busy?
A second later, she felt the string pulling from the other end. 2 pulls. No.
She responded. 4 pulls. Will you be home soon?
Instead of feeling pulls, she saw her phone buzz. Smiling at the silly picture of Carlos pulling a face, Jane accepted the call and put the phone to her ear.
"I'll be about 20 minutes," he informed her, as soon as she picked up.
"Good," Jane replied, anxious for him to come home.
The jitters she was feeling must've been audible in her voice. "Hey, have had one of your 'fear days'?"
Jane still had days, especially around the anniversary of her father's death, where she would just worry about the pain she or Carlos might feel when the other one dies. They weren't frequent but they had happened enough that Carlos had named them her 'fear days' and had helped her through them, reminding her of what her mother had told her all those years ago.
"Losing someone is always part of the risk of having them. But it's a risk worth taking. You'll miss out on so much more if you avoid being with people because you're afraid of losing them."
Jane found it much easier to believe that this was true, especially after finding out Carlos was her soulmate. She couldn't imagine what her life would be if she'd chosen to avoid being around people instead of building her confidence enough that being friends, and then more, with Carlos came almost naturally.
"No, no," Jane told him. "Not a 'fear day'. Just really want to see you. I miss my husband, is that so wrong?"
Carlos let out a little laugh. "Okay, well, I'm trying to get home as fast as I can."
"Okay, I love you."
"I love you too."
And with that, Jane hung up. She headed into the bathroom, where the white sticks with two lines were lined up on the counter, ready for her to show him.
No, it was definitely not a 'fear day'. She wasn't afraid of losing what they had. She was celebrating gaining so much more worth having.
Thank you so much for reading!
SparkyGurl :D