"A party?" My mom asked, once I had asked her. "That sounds like a terrible idea."

    Well, at least I know where I get it from.

    "There's this girl I like, she's going." I half lied, I really hoped Abby would come through.

    She frowned and shook her head. "No, absolutely not. I can't let you go."

    "Mom!-" I protested, even though I just ever so slightly relieved.

    "Next time you want to go to a party just let me know ahead of time. It's such short notice, and I have a client in," she looked down at her watch, "thirty minutes. Dinner's in the fridge, I'll be back around ten, don't stay up too late doing homework."

    I sighed and flopped down on the cough.

    "Don't even think about going to that party." She ordered, grabbing her keys.

    "Yeah...don't worry." I replied weakly.

    Thirty minutes later Abby showed up at my door, in the dark, dressed in a short, navy blue, frilly dress. He dangled her car keys with a smile.

    "You ready?" She asked. "Cause I am."

    I think it was too late to turn back now. I grabbed a jacket and my phone, and my anxiety medication, just in case. Then we got in the car and was ready to go.

    "Do you even know where we're going?" I asked as we zoomed along the street.

    "Oh yeah, don't worry I've got everything covered. Have you though about hoe you're gonna talk to Julia?"

    Admittedly, I had run that scenario through my head a few times. When I said a few I meant a few hundred of course.

    "I was thinking a casual high five would be best." I shrugged.

    Abby nodded, and made the OK sign with hand. "That's perfect."

    The first thing I noticed when we walked inside of what I assumed was Abe's house was Alex, who was playing twister, except he was doing a handstand instead of, you know, normally playing twister. It didn't take long for Abe to find us.

    "Micah!" He smiled. "I didn't think you'd come."

     "I didn't either, to be honest." I admitted.       

    "You can blame me for that." Abby grinned. "My name's Abigail Green, but you can call me Abby."

    "It's nice to meet you Abby, welcome to the party." Abe nodded slightly. "Refreshments are over there is you want any, there are plenty of games if you're bored."

    "Sweet, you gotta introduce me to your theatre friends." Abby cheered, running off.

    "There isn't any alcohol here, is there?" I asked Abe, as he watched from the corner.

    Abe shrugged. "Without a doubt someone sneaking it in, not as soon as I catch them though. I'm only serving punch and soda."

    "Oh okay." I replied, that was a somewhat comforting.

    I thought I spotted Julia in a hallway, talking to Arthur. I was relived to see she was here until I noticed that both of them seemed upset. I stopped myself from going up to her, as Arthur suddenly threw his hands up in the air and stormed away.

    What just happened?

    "Hey Micah!" Alex threw an arm around my shoulder. "You gotta come over and see Maria killing it at twister."

    I couldn't tell if Alex was drunk or simply excited, but I followed him nonetheless. Otherwise I would just be stuck hanging with Abe who didn't talk all the much, or go looking for Abby.

    Maria was indeed, killing in at twister however. Despite being pretty short and not the lankiest girl I've seen, she had managed to bend over backwards into a super difficult looking crab position. I mean, from another person's perspective it looked hard, but I could do that. I mean, I wouldn't do it in front of everyone like she was doing, but I could definitely do that.

    "Dude." Alex's attention had already flitted somewhere else. "Who's that?"

    There was a girl watching the twister game from the stair balcony. She had wavy blonde hair that spilled over her shoulders, she was smiling happily. I had never seen her before, though she was admittedly really pretty. I had only come here for one pretty girl however.

    "He name is Lucy Smith, I just talked to her." Abby reappeared, sipping what I hope was soda from a red plastic cup. "She's one of the Smith's daughters, different Smith from Greg, it's a common last name."

    Alex nearly jumped out his skin. "H-hi, who are you?"

    "I'm Abby, Micah's friend." She stretched out her hand and the two shook on it. "You should go talk to her, Lucy's super nice."

    Alex's smiled faltered for a second. "Oh, uh, actually I don't think I will."

    Abby shrugged. "You do you boo. Have you seen Julia?"

    "Yeah..." I trailed off. "Kind of."

    "I saw Arthur." Alex put in helpfully. "He didn't look very happy."

    Abby frowned. "Is she okay?"

    Alex and I looked at each other and shrugged.

    "I'm uh...I think I'm gonna go check on her." I announced stiffly, not really sure what I was doing, but sensing this was my moment.

    "That's a good idea." Alex agreed, "maybe I should go find Arthur?"

    Abby cringed. "Blegh, I don't really like him that much. He's kind of controlling."

    Alex frowned. "Oh."

    I gradually made my way away from them, pushing through crowds of people as I looked around for Julia's familiar blonde bob. She was pretty tall, so it usually wasn't that hard to find her.  I even made my way upstairs, and I still didn't see her, until I saw Arthur, he was walked (obviously angry and uncomfortable) past me, and I traced his steps, and still didn't see Julia anywhere. There was a bathroom up here, and I knocked on the door sharply.

    "Go away Arthur!" Came Julia's very obviously pissed voice.

    "It's not Arthur." I introduced. "It's Micah, can I come in?"

    "Oh." Julia realized. "Yeah sure."

    She opened the door and I shuffled in awkwardly. She looked very distressed and (was I imagining it?) near tears. He face suddenly changed to a frown.

    "Sorry, you don't need to use this bathroom right? I can go-"

    "No no!" I said quickly. "I had just heard you were upset, and uh, wanted to know if you were alright."

    "Oh." She said, growing quiet. "I'm- I'm fine"

    Her voice cracked as she sniffed loudly. She leaned against the bathroom door and kinda slid down till she was sitting. I crouched down next to her.

    "Do you...? Do you wanna talk about it?"

    She grimaced. "I don't know, I just. I've been having a really bad week. My parents don't even know I'm here, they never let me out of the house, and they've been pressuring me to take all AP classes and I just..."

    She was crying now, it started with one tear, then more and more kept coming. Mascara started pouring down with the tears and I knew now was the moment. I was to give her a friendly pat on the shoulder, to let her know it was alright. Something was stopping me though, something was holding me back from finally learning if Julia Woods was my soulmate or not. For three years I had been absolutely certain she was the one, and now was my chance to find out.

    Did I really want to know?

    "Hey." I offered instead. "It's gonna be all right."

    I was starting to chicken out. I didn't want it do this, I just felt like I manipulating the situation for myself. Besides, this was a horrible situation to find your soulmate.

    Then Julia decided to answer my question for me.

    She learned forward and started sobbing into my shoulder. I was surprised, and so startled that she did this that I could barely catch her words through her sobs.

    "...and Arthur just decided to break up with me all of a sudden!"

    She was hugging me. She was actually making contact with me. I looked down, and suddenly felt a void open up in my chest.

    There was no glow.

    Julia Woods wasn't my soulmate either.

    I almost felt like crying, but I couldn't now, not when Julia needed me. I patted her back gently and desperately tried to control my breathing.

    "Arthur broke up with you?" I blinked, suddenly taking that in. "Why?"

    She looked up, her face full of rage and smeared makeup. "Because I have to kiss Abe for the play, he's acting like I'm just gonna fall in love with a completely different guy, and total stranger and I, and I...ugh!"

    My mood had changed from crushing disappointment to anger real quick. "That's stupid."

    "I know! He's so controlling." She growled, wiping her tears on her arm. "I'm so fed up with him, and now my makeup is ruined."

    I dug around in my jacket pocket, and pulled out a bottle of clear liquid, it was makeup remover.

    "Here."

    "Thanks." She managed, then looked up at me weirdly. "Why do you-?"

    "Abby makes me carry it around because she forgets hers all the time." I shrugged.

    She looked at me for a second and burst out laughing. "You're so weird Micah."

    I felt a spear of shame go through my heart as I struggled to figure out what that meant. "A good weird?"

    "The best, oh my God I can believe I just spilled all that on you, I'm sorry-"

    "No no it's fine." I stopped her, as she untangled from me. "I'm glad I could be here to, uh, help."

    Julia sobered up a bit as she went to work removing her mashed up makeup. "I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable at all."

    "No seriously. It's cool." I repeated. "I don't if this makes it awkward but I'll always be here for you, or anyone."

    She smiled lightly. "Hey, what's your phone number?"

    "Oh, uh." I stuttered, she ended up just handing me her phone and I entered it in.

    "You're a really nice person Micah, I'll text you." She said. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

    "That they'll text me?" I asked, still trying to recover from the fact that Julia's woods was asking for my phones number, not the other way around.

    She smirked. "No, that you're a really nice person."

    She's not your soulmate, she doesn't love you.

    I suddenly remembered those dozens of times Mr. Barton had told me that some couples who weren't soulmates still lived perfectly happy lives. Could I still have that with Julia? I don't know if I even liked her like that anymore.

    She gave me one more hug before she felt good enough and makeup-free enough to leave the bathroom. I would say I savored, but I'm not sure anymore. I'm not sure of anything anymore.