168 : 10 : 54 168 : 10 : 53 168 : 10 : 52 … She’s up on the ladder on the second story of the shop, pushing books back into their proper places & humming along to the music playing on the radio. Her left sleeve slips down briefly, & she frowns as the seconds slip by. Still a week to go, but she feels anxious. She had heard that some people's timers time out, only to not meet the person it was for. The worst ones, she had decided, were the ones where the timers just stop. Those ones were the ones where the soulmate died. She chanced another glance down at her timer. A week was... well, enough for it to stop. … 02 : 02 : 01 02 : 02 : 00 02 : 01 : 59 … Feet are kicked up & resting on the top of the desk at the front of the shop. It's getting closer, so close, in fact, that she has stopped wearing the sleeved shirts about three days earlier. Her heart is racing in her chest, & it's getting harder and harder for her to focus on her book instead of the door. Yes, she had oh so casually volunteered to take the job of watching the counter, in the high hope of being able to watch her potential soulmate walk in the front doors. That is until Jasper knocks her feet down and makes her go back to ladder duty. That is, re-shelving the books that kids had pulled out and failed to put back. … 00 : 03 : 20 00 : 03 : 19 00 : 03 : 18 … God she's going to kill Jasper. She's still up on the ladder and she can clearly see that her timer is nearly done. Sky has never been this upset with her adoptive big brother. But this is important so her reason is entirely valid. And yet, she continues to put books back into their proper places, at least determined to finish her work before determining if she would be alone forever. The area around her is quiet, which means either she is alone on the floor, or if anyone is around, then they're too busy reading a book than to be looking for a soul mate. With a heavy sigh, she starts stepping down the ladder, actively avoiding her timer. She doesn't want to know how close it is. Her mind is simply swimming in thoughts, and isn't paying attention to the outside world. . . until she feels the ladder jerk beneath her, and she clings for dear life, because if she falls backwards, she'll be falling down from the second story. It's happened before, it wasn't pretty. The moment it's once again stable, she looks down, glaring rather hard ---- until she notices the man is rubbing his head and muttering. Her heart nearly stops the instant he looks up and into her eyes, and her hand twitches. . . … 00 : 00 : 00 … Her eyes widen, and she swallows. What does she say? Oh god please don't think of her as incompe---- " --Nice legs. " " o-oh, I . . . I like your eyes. do ... do you like mystery novels? I can uh... show you my favorites. "" I ah, rather like the fantasy type. " " you know, I somehow knew you were gonna say that. . . "