[ WP ] You are part of a group that recieves watches that count down until the owner meets his/her soulmate . Your watch is negative , and counting up again .

I sat on my tan couch by the window, mindlessly checking my Facebook newsfeed on my iPhone. I couldn ’ t focus on anything except the package that I was waiting for, the UPS truck that would determine my destiny. An email said it would arrive today, so I waited all morning on the couch with Anchor, my loyal white poodle, on my lap. Finally, just after noon, the fateful brown truck drove down my driveway. I jumped up, accidently startling Anchor as she flew off of the couch, and I rushed to open the door for the deliveryman. I scrawled my signature onto his pad and grabbed the long, slender cardboard box. Before the deliveryman even made it back to his truck, I was tearing the package open and holding the small, black, plastic watch, face down, in my hand. 
 
 I took a deep breath, suddenly too nervous to flip the watch over. I had been waiting for this moment for six months, ever since I had been miraculously selected to be a part of the Soul Watch group. Only 100 singles in the country, ages 25 through 50, were chosen at random to receive this brand new watch that was supposed to count down to “ 0 days 0 hrs 0 mins 0 secs ” …the exact moment you would meet your soul mate. I was 27-years-old, and while seemingly all of my friends were settling down and getting married, I was living alone and spending my weekends searching for Mr. Right. I ’ d spent the last six months fantasizing about the watch saying something like “ 30 days, ” or at least less than 365. I could not believe it was finally time to see it. My heart beating too quickly for comfort, I forced myself to flip the watch over. My heart dropped to the floor as I read, “ 5,740 days 14 hrs 5 mins 45 secs. ” Tears filled my eyes as I dropped the watch onto my kitchen table. I was supposed to be prepared for this. I ’ d told myself a thousand times that this was very likely, and that I should still be happy to know when I ’ d meet my soul mate no matter when it would be. However, it was impossible to not feel heartbroken. I walked into the other room, went over to the tan couch, and picked up my iPhone to do some calculations. Apparently I ’ d meet my soul mate in over 15 years, when I was almost 43-years-old. 
 
 I walked back into the kitchen to see Anchor standing on a chair, trying to reach my paranormal, wicked watch. “ Anchor, down! ” I said, picking up the watch. I watched hopelessly as the seconds went up, taking me further and further away from the man of my dreams. Wait…wasn ’ t the watch supposed to be counting backwards? It was totally going the wrong way! I raced over to my computer, flipped it open, and opened the chat room for the 100 Soul Watch participants. I scrolled through the new threads full of people anxiously awaiting the delivery, elated that they ’ d meet their soul mate soon, or depressed with their results. Finally, I found a thread with the subject: “ Watch is counting up instead of backwards…what does this mean? ” I clicked on it and read the first response, written by soul_watch_admin: “ Congratulations! If your watch is counting forwards, you must have already met your soul mate. Good luck; ). ” I stared at the escalating numbers on my watch, suddenly feeling light-headed. I was definitely not prepared for all of these emotions. 
 
 Back to my iPhone, I calculated the exact day that I met my alleged soul mate. September 2, 2000. Could it have been my first day of fifth grade? I needed to look at my fifth grade yearbook, but I couldn ’ t remember seeing it since high school. I immediately called my mom, praying that the yearbook was easy to find in my childhood room. 
 
 “ Hello? ” Mom answered the phone, her voice high with excitement. 
 
 “ Hi Mom. I got the watch, ” I said, talking too fast for her to interrupt. “ It says that I met my soul mate in the year 2000. Can you find my fifth grade yearbook? ” 
 
 “ What? How could you have already met him? Are you sure it says that? ” Mom asked. She always asked more questions than she answered. 
 
 “ Yes, please get the yearbook. ” 
 
 After three frustratingly long minutes, she found it on the light pink bookshelf in my former bedroom. She read me all of the boys ’ names and quickly typed them into my computer. I thanked her, hung up the phone, and began to think about the list of boys. I had lost touch with almost all of them after high school, but I was Facebook friends with George, Sam, Stephen, and Teddy, because I was decently good friends with them in high school. Could any of these boys be my soul mate? There ’ s no way it was George. He was very successful after high school, and I was pretty sure he was married to a smart and beautiful doctor that he met at his elite university. Then there was Sam, the baseball-obsessed jock who was in my group of friends but never really connected with me personally. Stephen was my friend in biology class who was not particularly attractive but always seemed to have a crush on me. He was really nice to me…and maybe by now his acne had cleared up and he outgrew his awkward looks? I opened Facebook and searched Stephen Steinberg. His profile picture featured him with two other guys, shirtless in front of a clear, turquoise ocean. And he really did look hot. Excited, I sent him a message, asking how he ’ s been. As I stared at my screen, waiting for a response, my friend Liza called to ask what happened with the watch and remind me that we had plans tonight. The last thing I wanted to do was go out and socialize, but Liza wouldn ’ t let me cancel, insisting that I couldn ’ t let the watch rule my life and that I shouldn ’ t jump to any conclusions about Stephen. 
 
 That night, when Stephen still hadn ’ t answered my Facebook message, I put on a little black dress with a purple necklace, trying to look cute with the small amount of effort that I could muster. Liza picked me up at my house and drove me to the pub where we spent many Friday nights. As I sat at the bar, downing a martini and thinking about the 5,740 days on my watch, I heard my name get called from a table behind me. The table consisted of four guys who looked about my age, drinking beer and smiling at me. 
 
 “ Do you remember me? ” said a guy with curly brown hair and striking blue eyes. “ It ’ s Teddy, from high school! ” 

