BRB, Meeting my Soulmate

A chime rang out, and Kate dove for the computer to refresh the desktop screen. Over thirty seconds that felt like more of an eternity, she waited as the picture slowly loaded. The love of her life, her soulmate, was being revealed to her. Kate would have called her best friend, Sara, if the phone line hadn’t been tied up. Sara would have to wait.

A face with a middle part, boyish smile, and a rugged little soul patch appeared on her screen. Kate nearly swooned out of her chair, catching herself on the armrest and giggling into the empty living room. There was something very Jonathan Taylor Thomas about his grin. And at 6’3, he was practically born to be a Hollywood actor. She couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect man.

Kate had met Leopold in an online chat room for fans of Farscape. They had immediately connected over their shared love of puppetry and their dreams of becoming puppeteers one day. Months of flirty banter ensued.

Leo6591: U would pull off a blk latex body suit better than any1 ;)

KateKat84: *Blushes*

Kate decided to pop the question that had been high on her mind since their first interaction.

KateKat84: ASL?

Leo6591: 17/M/FL U?

KateKat84: 17/F/FL !!!!!

Ever since they discovered they both lived in the panhandle, she hadn’t been able to get the idea of meeting out of her head. Leopold wouldn’t specify exactly where he lived beyond the general area. He was very savvy about internet safety. It had taken some prodding, but Kate convinced him to send a picture in exchange for her sending one of herself.

Sara had helped stage the perfect beach picture. Kate was trying to look casual, lying in front of a heart she drew in the sand in her tankini. She and Sara had tried for hours to edit the picture in Photoshop to make it more flattering, but neither of them had the skills. It didn’t matter, though; Leopold loved her for her beautiful mind. He could look like a troll, and Kate wouldn’t mind. She was too committed to turn back now. She had spent the last six months of her life talking to this man, and she wouldn’t let it all go to waste for nothing.

Kate printed out his picture to hang above her bed. Her heart began to race as she typed her reply to Leopold.

KateKat84: Want 2 meet?

She pushed back from the desk and squeezed her eyes shut. Her entire future hinged on his response. The computer chimed. She dragged the chair back across the carpet, pulling herself along and leaving tracks in the shag. She peeked one eye open and looked.

Leo6591: Tell me where

Kate screamed in delight.

KateKat84: BRB

Without waiting for a reply, Kate disconnected from the internet and called Sara. She paced in circles as she listened to the phone ring, once, twice, three times. When Sara picked up on the fourth ring, the phone cord was wrapped around Kate’s waist.

“Hello?”

“OMG. OMG. OMG,” said Kate into the phone before bursting into a high-pitched shriek.

Sara screamed in return. “What are we screaming about?”

“He’s hot. So hot. Like if JTT and JT had a baby.”

Sara screamed again, prompting Kate to scream into the receiver as well. When they had both quieted down, Kate told her the good news.

“He wants to meet. We need to figure out where and, more importantly, what I should wear.”

The two friends spent the next few hours devising their plan and picking the perfect spot for Kate to meet her soulmate. They went through a verbal inventory of both their closets and decided that Sara’s silver pleather bell bottoms paired with Kate’s pink tube top would make a timeless first impression. They were forced to cut their conversation short when Sara’s brother needed to use the phone. It didn't matter; Kate needed to get back on the chat room to let Leopold know the details of their meet-up anyway.

Once the date was finalized and the meeting spot agreed upon, Kate could hardly contain her excitement. Every morning, she would wake up and kiss the printed-out picture on her wall. And every night she would kiss the picture before going to bed. The surface was tacky from her lip smacker's gloss.

She imagined what their wedding day would look like. They could dress as characters from Farscape. She imagined how their family and friends would react and hesitated. They should save the costumes and puppetry for the reception. Regardless, anywhere she was with Leopold would be perfect.

The next weekend, the day of Kate’s destiny finally arrived. She had spent two hours the night before plaiting her hair into a dozen tiny braids and an hour more undoing them this morning. She bent over, shook her hair out, and shot it with a spritz of hairspray to maintain the volume. She looked at herself in the mirror. She wished she could cover her acne scars on her cheeks a little better, and as long as she didn’t open her mouth all the way to smile, he wouldn’t be able to notice her crooked canine on the left side. She was ready for her date with destiny.

Kate was thankful she had opted for the tube top as she walked to the Ferris wheel at the end of the pier. The pleather pants were making her sweat like a hog, and she hoped the lack of sleeves would help conceal the pit stains she knew were growing larger by the minute. Once she was on the Ferris wheel with her love, the ocean breeze would cool her down and take all her nerves away. Kate was sure of it.

She searched the crowd for Leopold. He would undoubtedly stand out in a crowd. After ten minutes, she began to worry. She didn’t see anyone who was 6’3 anywhere in the sea of people around her. Maybe he thought she meant a different pier? Maybe there was a country named Florida that she didn’t learn about in Social Studies? Just when she felt like she might puke from her anxiety, she heard a voice behind her.

“Kate?”

She turned around. There was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties with brown eyes, a middle part, and a soul patch on his chin. If Kate squinted hard enough, she could see the Leopold from the picture hanging on her wall. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her first thought was that maybe this was Leopold’s dad or older, much older brother coming to tell her that he wouldn’t be able to make it.

“It’s Leo.”

“Oh. Wow.” Kate was sure she wasn’t hiding the disappointment on her face well. She could see the heartbreak in Leopold’s eyes.

“It’s so great to meet you finally. Do you want to ride the Ferris wheel first?”

He didn’t address the elephant on the pier. And Kate wasn’t sure how to bring it up herself, so instead she nodded her head and got in line for the ride. Leopold attempted to make small talk with her while they waited.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” He wiped a hand across his sweaty brow. Kate nodded her head again, lost for words.

“These first meetings are always so awkward,” he said.

Kate’s head shot up. “This isn’t your first?”

Leopold had the grace to at least look contrite. Whether it was for offending Kate or hurting his own chances of winning her over, she wasn’t sure. She wanted to laugh at how quickly the wedding bells in her head had turned to the dun-dun of Law & Order.

Their turn finally came to get onto the Ferris wheel. The ride operator took two tickets from Leopold, and he stepped into the basket. Kate hesitated on the threshold, one foot in and one foot out.

“Are you going?” said the ride operator. Leopold looked at her hopefully, his eyes wide. Kate was sure he had some speech already made up to win her over if he could get her undivided attention for a few moments. She imagined what would happen if the Ferris wheel broke and she was trapped high up in the air for who knows how long with Leopold. If that even was really his name.

“No, thank you,” she said, before turning and running into the crowd of tourists before Leopold could follow her. She jogged to the nearest payphone, sweat dripped down her pleather pants to her ankles. She made a vow to throw the pants away as soon as she got home. She pulled off her sneaker, removed a quarter from the insole, and dialed the number she knew by heart.

“Hello?”

“OMG. OMG. OMG,” said Kate, holding the receiver tight against her face.

“Tell me everything,” said Sara.

Kate realized then that maybe she had already found her soulmate.