Bryce took the courtesy to swallow before answering. “He’s agreed to one date with me. Dinner and something else, but I can’t think of anything I want to do with him.” Katie began snickering, a suggestive grin spreading across her face. “He really isn’t that attractive, you perv,” Bryce replied.

“I think you’re gonna fuck it up,” Theo whispered, removing the oven mitts from his hands and slamming them down on the counter.

“I’ll take that bet,” put in Katie. Shrugging, she added, “I mean, if he’s a ‘False Alarm’er – ”

Her Soulmate slapped her in the shoulder, yet the look on Jack’s face didn’t convince Bryce that the action was genuine.

Bryce looked over his shoulder to Jack, who was backing away into the living room slowly. “Not a part of this,” he replied, throwing his hands up in the air.

Bryce returned his gaze to Theo and Katie, who were both looking too confident in themselves. “You think I’m going to fuck it up?” They both nodded. Somewhere in the back of his mind, however, something voiced the same concerns. Nevertheless, Bryce stood up and stuck out his hand. “You have way too little faith in me.”

Theo went to shake, but Katie deflected their hands. “What do we get if you fuck up?” she asked curiously.

Bryce’s hand dropped to the counter. “I’ll clean the flat for a month.”

Theo squinted his eyes and shook his head. “No, it’s too easy. No money, either.” He shook his head again and thought hard. “And I happen to like cleaning our flat.”

She nodded in agreement before suggesting, “What if he owed us a favour?”

“What?”

“But what kind of favour?” Katie contemplated.

“Cashed in any time,” Theo thought openly, tapping his foot against the tile floor. “Could be anything.”

“I’ll take it.” The two looked back to Bryce. “What do I get if I don’t fuck things up?” Bryce immediately asked.

“A favour from each of us?” Katie suggested.

Bryce stuck out his hand again. “You got a deal.” The three shook, and Bryce returned to aggressively eating his cereal.

“Hey.” Everyone still in the kitchen turned to Jack in the living room. “What did it feel like?” he called from his spot on the couch. Bryce turned to see the man moving closer to lean on the counter. Before Bryce could ask what he meant, Jack clarified, “Soulmate Glow Feeling.”

Bryce cocked his head. “Wha?”

Jack placed his hand on his chest, letting his red Glow seep through his fingers. “What was it like, you tosser?”

Bryce spread his hand over his chest and smiled softly. “It felt warm, like I was wrapped in a thick duvet.” He tilted his head back slowly and inhaled. “Normally, I don’t feel anything when my Potential Glow goes off, but that…that was nice.”

Katie now leaned on the counter, very intrigued. “Anything else?”

Bryce wearily smiled, noticing his Glow softly beating in his chest. He moved the bowl to the side and added, “It made me really happy. Like…like really, really happy.” Once those words departed his lips, Bryce leaned over on the counter, feeling as though an empty hole formed in his chest. Head supported in his hands, he whispered, “Fuck. I’m going to ruin this.”

~ ~ ~

Dylan turned off his phone for the evening to spend some quiet time with his mother and Piper. Close to one in the morning, he turned on his phone, feeling inclined to text Bryce and call off the entire date.

With Bryce’s persistence hanging heavy in Dylan’s mind, he didn’t text him, but he kept his phone on.

Bryce, meanwhile, sighed and rolled over on his bed, thinking. He wanted to ask for more than one chance. It wasn’t as simple as knowing that he was going to lose a bet, but it was more that he suddenly feared it. If Dylan was his Soulmate, Primary or Secondary, he didn’t want to screw things up. He had never been so terrified of a date in his life.

His fear manifested itself in the form of a text message, sent by a “too-anxious-to-sleep” Bryce just after two thirty-three in the morning –

your actually kind of nice when
you wanna be

Dylan replied back. His inability to sleep, even in his mother’s flat, even with a sleepy Piper beside him, meant that he had to occupy himself in some way. Dylan’s work still residing in his flat, he had absolutely no reason to not message him back; claiming that he was asleep seemed like a stretch.

Bryce also caught Dylan at a particularly good time. Sleep-deprived Dylan in the evening was far less hostile towards others than Dylan normally would be during the day.

Who is this?

its bryce

houghton

What do you want?

your actually kind of nice when
you wanna be

Is that a compliment?

i think so.

I’m not sure

It might be the tiredness

Welcome to my world, bryce

Doesn’t it just suck?

i take back evreyting ive ever
said about insomnia. this ducking
sucks

*fucking

Thanks for clarifying the
profanity.

Why are you up? It’s after 2AM

Also, why do you have my
number?

travis gave it to me

i cant sleep

I’ll kill him.

And clearly you’re not sleeping

But I meant why are you texting
me?

shit were you asleep ?

shit shit shti sht siht shit shit shit
shit hsti shit shit shit shti shit shit

Bryce I hardly ever sleep

What is it?

just freaking out nbd

Dylan sighed and took Bryce’s bait, despite having absolutely no interest in talking about whatever was bothering him.

What are you freaking out about/

*?

For a moment, Bryce wanted to believe something different was bothering him. If he wanted to start this off right, he had to be honest.

But Dylan beat him to the punch.

Soulmate stuff or…?

yeah

i’m kinda freaking out about that,
tbh

im sorry. i didn’t have the right to
say that I wish you weren’t my
Soulmate.

Even if it is true.

sorry.

I don’t know what you’re hoping
to do with messaging me

We both seem pretty clear where
our feelings lied.

What made you freak out?

Bryce licked his lips and sank into his pillows for a moment, realising he was opening so many memories that he didn’t want to address.

listen, i know ive said it befre, but
i really dotn want to scrw this up

the idea that i’m a pest to some
one who I see as being important
to me is something i can’t
imagine again

Is that normal?

That was the moment where Dylan sat up in his room and realised something felt inherently wrong. Staring into the dim light of his phone, he recognised that Bryce’s fears were akin to his; they maybe even shared it. ‘Again?’ he mused, trying to decipher the message within Bryce’s words.

dylan?

you stll there?

But Dylan couldn’t continue the conversation, his exhausted brain performing two tasks that supplied no answers, but only more questions.

The two read their brief conversation over and over.

Bryce never fell asleep, fearing he had done wrong.

Dylan nodded off sometime around four that morning, seriously contemplating giving him more than one chance.