Soul Mates

She had planned everything down to the champagne glasses they would later sip from when she made her sentimental rant about why she loved her so much. The ring she picked out was well above her Assistant Manager budget, but she could care less about price tags. The privilege of spending her life with the woman of her dreams was enough to make her go broke.

It took Harmony 6 months to even conjure the nerve to ask her out on a date. She would drive an hour away from home every week to make an appearance at the bar Sasha worked at. Always the same order — calamari, sweet potato fries, and a glass of Merlot. She took her time enjoying the finger food and the view.

Sasha’s silky smooth mahogany skin, black mid-length curls, chiseled bone structure, and pearly white smile took her breath away. But she was good at being nonchalant. Hardly batting an eyelash if Sasha stopped by her corner of the bar to check on her periodically. Harmony was consumed with butterflies and vivid ideas on all the things they would do together in their future life. Constantly resisting the urge to confess to Sasha how much she was digging her. Her life was in a promising new pivot and she wasn’t ready to initiate their steamy romance until all her ducks were in a row.

After 6 months of holding back the urge to climb over the bar and kiss her, fate intervened.

Harmony stood in disbelief as Sasha pounced around the sale rack, inspecting garments. “How the hell does she know where I work?” She thought to herself as she struggled to regain her composure. Her heart pounding like a drum, her mind doing somersaults, a million butterflies invading her body. All she could do was quietly observe Sasha from behind the counter. Surrendering to her hearts deep desire, Harmony impulsively jotted down her number on the back of some receipt paper and urged Sasha to text her as she rung up the little black strappy dress She had finally chosen. “Me and some friends are having a lil’ kickback, she lied. You should totally come through since we obviously can’t stop running into each other.” Sasha was equally smitten, but hesitant about admitting it too. Neither wanted to make a fool of themselves by making the first move only to have their pride crushed to smithereens. Uncertain of the other’s sexual orientation, or attraction, they both hid behind their poker face for months.

Sasha eagerly stuffed the piece of paper into the pocket of her jeans and smiled. “We do keep bumping into each other don’t we?” Harmony was giddy Iike a kid on Christmas when she got the text from Sasha a few hours later. The kickback invite turned into dinner and a 4 hour conversation about everything from life goals and childhood memories, to favorite music artists and whether or not “aliens were real”. They could go on and on for hours. Indulging in everything under the Sun; getting lost in conversation and each other’s eyes. Both mirroring the other unknowingly.

1 date turned into 3 months and both Harmony and Sasha had developed such an intense connection they agreed to move in together. Life felt like a dream to Harmony and she found herself constantly smothering Sasha with love and affection. Sasha was just as crazy about Harmony, leaving gifts and love notes stashed in places she knew Harmony would find while doing laundry, or cooking. She had always struggled with expressing her emotions but she wanted to make an effort to prove to Harmony how much she equally meant to her.

Once everything was in its place and ready for the big birthday surprise, Harmony raced home to prepare her look for the evening. She had blew an entire 4 months of savings on a ring and the dress she planned to sweep Sasha off her feet in. This would be a night to remember.

Tears rushed down Sasha’s cheeks, as she fought to keep from collapsing onto the floor. Harmony tried to no avail to console Sasha but her tears only increased. “Is it the ring?” She pleaded. “If it’s the ring, I’m sorry. We don’t have to get married. I’m happy enough just how things are.” Sasha, distraught and wheezing for air, ignored Harmony and descended into her grief crying louder and shaking uncontrollably.

Tears flooded Harmony’s eyes as she sat next to Sasha hoping to soothe her pain. She couldn’t understand what had made her so upset and the sight of her crying tore Harmony’s heart into pieces. No one spoke. The room filled up with wailing and heaviness and all Harmony could do was grasp the love of her life tightly in her arms and desperately try to calm her tears.

They laid sprawled on the floor for 2 hours. Harmony, unsure what to say, held onto Sasha for dear life, hoping she could fix whatever she did wrong. Sasha, still simmering in her sadness, sniffed somberly as Harmony gently stroked her hair.

“Remember the first time we met? I lied. There was no kickback. I just wanted to stare into your eyes. I couldn’t help myself.” Harmony admitted. “And remember when I used to come into your bar every week? I just needed a reason to look at you. I wanted to stare but I didn’t want you to think I was some weirdo.”

Harmony shamelessly confessed to Sasha everything leading up to their fairytale romance hoping her honesty would lighten the heaviness in the room. But Sasha submerged deep into her sadness again, without a word to Harmony.

“Babe, did I do something to upset you? It’s breaking my heart to see you cry like this on your birthday. I just wanted to do something special for you. I don’t care about the ring. Honestly. Let’s just forget about it. Our life is already perfect the way it is.” Harmony continued her plea, ignoring the splitting headache that had now started to weaken her vision. She was determined to make things right. She couldn’t stand to see the life of her life cry this way.

“I gotta get something for this headache, my head is killing me she told Sasha, who still refused to acknowledge a word she was saying. The high pitched ringing in her ear that had been nagging her since she found Sasha in agony was escalating. She couldn’t think straight. Darkness closed in on her and in a blink, she had faded out — when she opened her eyes again, the ringing reduced to a rhythmic beep, her head still thudding with pain. As her eyes fixated on the sight in front of her, she too began to cry uncontrollably.

Choking on tears and agony she stood in the middle of the room watching Sasha plead in misery “Why?! Why!!?” The doctor, looked just as grief stricken as he told Sasha that Harmony didn’t make it. She couldn’t believe it. She had planned their whole life together. She clenched the ring she had bought Harmony in her fist, sobbing. She had planned to propose to her even though it was her birthday, she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Harmony. And she knew Harmony felt the same way. They were always in synch like that. In a blink of an eye, she was gone. Killed in a car crash. Their dreams fading into darkness.