Soul Mates

Soul Mates
By: Cate Tomble

         I sat, wings spread, on this perfect resting place behind the waterfall. This is my favorite spot in all of Heaven. The rock platform stays dry, and the view from here is amazing. Beautiful green trees tower over my head, the sun shining through them in all its glory. The waterfall itself is majestic. It’s hard to look away. As the water splashes down it sings me a glorious lullaby, while the birds chirp along in perfect harmony. Maybe this only applies to me, I’m not sure. I find music in everything, being the Angel of Music.
         Much too soon, I was pulled back out of my trance by the sound of footsteps approaching. When I looked up a fine looking young man around my age was standing there staring at me. Chicken that I am I looked down the moment I met his gaze.
         “Shy are we? It’s okay, I don’t bite that hard.” He teased
         “Well I do, so watch out.” I replied, my attempt at being intimidating failing miserably. I hate that my voice is so quiet.
         “I’ll stay on my toes” he said laughing, “I’m Aaron by the way.”
         “I’m Phantazia, nice to meet you.” I told him.
         “The pleasure is all mine” he seemed to mean it, if the freakishly white smile on his face meant anything. “I love this place. If I could live here I would. I’m planning on spending my day here.”
         “Hmm... I don’t really have plans I guess.” Saying that was a mistake.
         “Really? What a shame, why don’t we make some then? Anna’s at six?” he said as if he didn’t think I hadn’t seen that coming.
         “Sure.” I answered, eyes on the ground, and with that I got up and strolled off with my wings still spread, thinking about Anna’s Café at six.


         I opened the door to find my over-protective brother Damien waiting for me on the couch. “You’re home early, what happened? Please tell me you didn’t get arrested or anything, that would screw everything all up for everyone.”
         “No! I didn’t get arrested! I did get a date though.” I responded with a smile. Damien is the only person I can really talk to. My voice is actually audible when we talk, which is more than I can say for most people.
         “Who is he? Is he a good guy? Do I need to hurt someone?”
         “No!! He is amazing; I bet you’d like him. And no, that is not me giving you permission to SPY THE WHOLE TIME.”
         “Aww… fine.” He pouted a little as he said this. In his mind that will get him out of anything. Most of the time it does, but then there’s me, and he can’t do that kind of stuff to me. “What are you doing?”
         “We’re going to Anna’s at six. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening beyond that.”
         “Okay… but if he tries anything obnoxious just call me and I will do what is necessary to make him sorry.” He growled under his breath.
         Damien is the most amazing big brother ever! I say this because he spent the next few hours giving his opinion on multiple outfits for me AND he drove me to Anna’s. I love him.
         When we arrived at the café he made me tell him which one was the amazing guy I spoke of so fondly. I found Aaron standing at the door holding a daisy in one hand and tapping his fingers in rhythm with the other. He met my gaze and smiled, opening the door, and I jumped out of the parked car to meet him.
         He handed me the daisy, his hand touching mine for a few glorious moments and greeted me with: “Hello, I’m glad you came. I was worried you would stand me up.”
         “Why would I do that? Especially on the first date, that’s just lame.” I remarked with some volume this time thanks to the leftover courage I had from talking to Damien for so long. “Thank you so much for the flower, I love it.”
         “You’re welcome. It reminded me of your simple beauty. And I completely agree, but I was still worried because, let’s face it, you are WAY out of my league. So beautiful.” There’s that smile again. Such a flirt.
         “Of course I would, looks don’t matter to me, but if they did, I would be saying that you are a pretty good looking guy yourself.” I was pretty darn proud of myself for saying that out loud.
         We sat down and ordered our food without much conversation, so I thought I would have it pretty easy this time. I was wrong. He thought we should “get to know each other” by asking and answering as many questions as possible in one night. I like questions, but I’m not so sure if this is a good thing.
         “Who are you? I mean what role do you play here?” he asked. A pretty decent question, especially considering the answer.
         “I am Phantazia Symphonia, Angel of Music, soon-to-be queen of Heaven.” I said with the matter-of-fact tone I had been taught to use.
         “Oh…wow…hi…” he was clearly startled by my answer, as most are.
         “Yeah… just don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by me, I’m not exactly an intimidating person, but the fact that I have power scares a lot of people off.” I advised, hoping he would hear me out.
         “Pfft, me?? Intimidated?!? Never!” he puffed up his chest as if to prove himself.
         “Good, I was worried that would make our relationship difficult. Now why don’t you answer the question?” I said this in a way that made it sound like a challenge, which is precisely what he wanted.
         “We seem to be a perfect match, for I am Aaron, Angel of Harmony. I don’t really do anything special; I study animals in the forest.” He answered; smiling like that was some kind of pick up line.
         “I love animals.”
         “Me too.” was his only response. We seemed to have come to a dead end in our conversation, until he said two words. “Music, eh?”
         “Music is my soul. If music did not exist, neither would I. I play violin, cello, piano, saxophone, flute, and harp. I also love to dance, mainly ballroom but I don’t really care.” I was smiling by the time I was done saying that. Music makes me hyper.
         “Well then, how many talent shows have you won with that?” he queried with a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
         “None. I’m not allowed to enter any competitions.”
         “Why not? I’m sure you’re good enough.”
“Maybe, but considering the role I play, judges can be biased. In order to keep the competition fair I can’t participate.”
         “That’s disappointing. If it’s any comfort, I think you would win them all anyway.” His compliment made me blush.
         “I highly doubt that, but thanks.”
         He held out his hand and pretended to write on it, “Can’t take compliments.”


         The rest of the evening continued in the same fashion: him complimenting me and me blushing and denying it all. When I left the restaurant with my daisy Damien was in his car waiting for me. He noticed my smile the minute he saw me. All he had to do was ask how it went and I was gushing about Aaron for hours. He just smiled and nodded, going along with it to make me happy. I think he was almost as excited as I was. That’s just him though, putting me and my feelings first, he’s a great brother.
         I realized as I was drifting off to sleep that night that Aaron had set the bar rather high for me. How was I supposed to amaze him the way he had me? My head span for hours until I realized that I hardly knew him. It was just lucky that I wasn’t allergic to daisies. Eventually I would know enough about him to “wow” him whenever I wanted to. Problem solved, panic attack fading away.


         A week later just as I was about to leave Aaron knocked on the door. I opened it to find him standing with some sheet music and an instrument case. “You own all the instruments you play, right? They’re all here?”
         “Umm, yeah. Why do you ask?” I asked; my voice filled with concern. I haven’t known him long, but I recognized the devious look in his eye. He had something up his sleeve.
         “I want to hear you play. I write music and I brought some with me. Plus I have my saxophone with me so we can do a duet.” There was a worried tone in his voice after hearing the concern in my question.
         “Yay! I’ll take any excuse I can find to practice. Am I singing too or just playing my instruments?” I giggled excitedly.
“I wrote up vocal parts for all the songs too, just in case it came up.”
“Aaron, you never cease to amaze me.”
“Phantazia, I wish I didn’t have to leave you. Ever. Did I just say that out loud? I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes you did. It’s okay though, I feel the same about you. I might regret saying this, but I’m almost certain I have found my Soul Mate, and I couldn’t be happier.”
He just sat and smiled to himself and looked at me. I feel like I read his thoughts; “This is just too good to be true.” I’m sure I had the same look on my face for the rest of the day. It surprised me that things could move so fast and still be so perfect.
We played music the rest of the day. He impressed me with his song writing skills and saxophone playing, although his vocals were… interesting. Once we both got hungry he took me to dinner and then finally kissed me goodnight (sigh). Damien was not happy with me for that last part. “Kissed on the second date! In two weeks are you going to be telling me you’re pregnant?!” He’s so overprotective.
It’s been two years now, and ever since that first day at the waterfall we have been inseparable. Our friends make fun of us because apparently we still haven’t gotten out of the ‘honeymoon phase’ of our relationship. We say the same thing every time: “Who cares?”
Damien has grown to like Aaron, although he’s still as protective as ever. Privacy at home doesn’t happen much, but we make the most of it. It’s nice to be alone sometimes, but having my brother around is just as great. I haven’t forgotten my friends and family in this fast-moving mess, and I’m grateful for that.
The moral of the story is love can happen fast, but it’s the most beautiful, musical thing in the world.