So this was a prompt off Instagram, and it's been bugging me since the day I saw it, so just a fast paced one-shot of Spashley while Ghost of an Angel readers are waiting in anticipation for Spencer to make her appearance. Maybe I'll rewrite it into a full story one day. For now, it's just… an idea…

Prompt by the_writers_central : On the day you turn 18 everyone is given the first words that their soulmate will speak to them. When you receive yours, it says "Welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?"

Ashley stared at the scripture in disbelief. Looking up at Raife, and then Christine, her mouth was agape, her brain unable to send signals to her mouth to form words.

Leave it to Kyla to come running into her room and jump up and down on her bed in excitement. "So what does it say?" Another jump. "Come on, what's it say?"

Another jump and Ashley pushed out her hand with too much force, effectively knocking Kyla off her bed. Her younger sister by two years yelped and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Ashley ignored her sister and continued staring between the scripture and her parents. "Have you read this? This is some kind of sick joke, right?"

Raife leaned forward from the edge of the king-sized bed, and pulled his eighteen-year old daughter into a tight hug. "We've read it, honey, and there's nothing we can do about it. These are the rules of the elderlies, and it is a custom that is followed all over the world."

Ashley scoffed in her father's embrace. "And rules are meant to be broken. There's just no way! Do you even realize how many Starbucks stores there are around the world? More than twenty-thousand!" She frowned, wondering if that could be true. She had no idea where that figure came from. Grabbing her phone from her nightstand, she asked her old friend, Google.

"Come on, seriously, what does it say?" Kyla's presence had been forgotten, until she finally snapped and snatched the scripture from Ashley's hand. Her eyes scanned the line, anticipating a historical romance to evolve in front of her, but as soon as the words sunk in, she landed on the floor for a second time – this time, clutching her stomach from laughing.

"Kyla, it's not funny!" Ashley snapped, her phone the first thing she could think of to throw at her sister. It worked; it hit Kyla on her eyebrow and suddenly the giggles were replaced by a string of profanities followed by a loud wail.

"Cut it out, you two. Kyla, let me see your face. Ashley, get ready for your birthday breakfast," Christine scolded, briskly making her way out of her eldest daughter's room. She agreed with Ashley, rules were meant to be broken. She'd never liked the way she was forced into a marriage with rock star Raife Davies, she didn't even really love the guy. And even though Ashley was an accident, and two years later she suffered the same fate with Kyla, she couldn't help but wish her daughters a better destiny. She liked the boy Ashley was dating, and if it was up to her, she would've ensured their eldest became a Dennison.

Aiden's birthday was on the same date as Ashley's, so it was no surprise that he showed up at their front door minutes later, looking solemn.

The swelling of her eye forgotten, Kyla was the first to jump up and sprint to the front door. She wanted a love story. She loved drama and plays and shows, and if she couldn't have the romantic tale in her life yet, she was going to enforce it onto her sister and her boyfriends' lives. The only problem was, they were both eighteen, both given scriptures that prescribed how they would meet their soulmates. Girls would get an opening line, while guys were told what they would be doing for a living when approached by a potential lover.

She yanked the front door open, the anticipation killing her. "Please tell me you're not going to work on Wall Street. Your goal is to end up as a barista in a coffee shop. Preferably Starbucks."

Aiden stared at Kyla as if she had gone crazy. He'd forgotten about his own scripture for a moment, trying to decipher Kyla's rambling. It would have been funny had it not been their own lives that were being toyed with.

"Hey, Aid," Ashley appeared in the door behind Kyla, opening it wide for her soon to be ex-boyfriend to come in. "Kyla, can you give us a minute?"

"But I want to – " Kyla started, but was interrupted. Her sister's low tone indicated her level of irritability. She stepped inside the house, wishing there was a place to hide in the foyer – she was dying to know what Aiden's scripture said.

Ashley burst out into tears, flinging herself into Aiden's arms. "Please tell me you get to serve coffee until I supposedly meet you," she sobbed. She was so sure that she had her life figured out. Graduate from high school. Study music at UCLA, while Aiden went to business school. Afterwards they'd move to New York, where Aiden would get a job on Wall Street, and Ashley give music lessons to toddlers, or even teach music at school. Where her father loved performing, she loved giving back to the masses in the form of teaching the wonderful talent she'd inherited.

Ashley felt Aiden's arms tighten around her, and she cried even harder. She just knew that their plans had been foiled by some stupid old people. How could people's love lives be dictated by something so stupid? Why was it still allowed? She really hated being eighteen now, while all throughout her life she couldn't wait to find out her fate.

"Ash," Aiden sighed, pulling away from his girlfriend. Soon to be ex-girlfriend. "It's not even close. It's far from Wall Street even. My father was so disappointed."

Ashley didn't know what was worse. Being told who you were supposed to love, or what you were to do for a living. "What does yours say?"

"Let's go inside," Aiden suggested, closing the front door behind him. He led Ashley to their lounge, checking that they were alone. It was hard enough as it is, he couldn't bear the whole world finding out what he was destined to do for the rest of his life, until he met his soulmate.

Leading their way to a couch, Aiden sat Ashley down and followed, facing her, his hands on her knees. "Who goes first?"

By the drop of Ashley's gaze, he knew things didn't look good for either of them. "Do you have yours here? Let's swop. I can't even say it out loud."

Ashley had her scripture scrunched up in the back of her jean pocket. She tried to smooth out the crinkles but gave up when Aiden handed her a balled up piece of paper. They both smirked, trying to find any reason to lighten the mood.

Ashley's hand reached for her mouth, and Aiden wasn't sure whether his girlfriend was trying to stifle laughter or shock. He watched her for a moment before glancing down at her scripture in his own hands.

Someone really had their knives in for them.

"So do we break up now?" Ashley whispered sadly. Her eyes were brimming with tears, bottom lip quivering.

Aiden pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. "I don't know. We're supposed to go to the library to read up on the rules. Can I kiss you before we go, though?"

Ashley agreed eagerly, but after just a peck on the lips, she burst out in a fresh set of tears. She hadn't even lost her virginity yet. She was saving herself for Aiden. And now they would never share that special moment together. Ever.

"I'm sorry, Ash," Aiden consoled her, rubbing soothing circles into her back. He had a difficult time himself, trying to deal with the news they both received. He couldn't imagine his girl strolling into a coffee shop and fall head over heels for a low class barista, of all things. Ashley deserved so much more than that. She was destined to wear summer dresses and dark rimmed glasses, teaching youngsters how to play the guitar and piano. She was supposed to teach their youngsters how to play the guitar and piano. And cook them lovely dinners, waiting on him when he got home from a busy day at work. In the mornings she'd have breakfast ready and they'd sit around their kitchen table as a happy family. That was what Ashley deserved.

He took the little scripture from Ashley's hands, and put both his and hers down on the coffee table, intent on making his girl happy one last time before they had to hand over their lives to fate…

After coffee-tasting for the past three years, Ashley was relieved to finally celebrate her twenty-first birthday, enabling her to legally drink alcohol. It was a refreshing change. Not that she'd gone around the world, or country, as she had planned initially, to go and find her soulmate at some foreign Starbucks, drinking coffee until it made her sick.

No, her father had more than just musical sense. He'd advised her to finish her degree, and travel during holidays if she wanted to pursue the quest to find her soulmate. So during her college years, she'd managed all the surrounding states. She even went as far as Hawaii. It was great holidays, though not always fun to walk into every Starbucks she could find, with the hope they'd say that opening line as if it was meant for her. Not even to talk about the scary people behind the counters. She'd seen beautiful people – male, female, young, old – and she could see herself falling in love with any of them. But then there were the less favorable ones…

Unfriendly. Smelly. Tattooed or pierced so badly she couldn't make out where their faces started or ended. She didn't mind the tattoos or piercings at all, but some were really bad. Unbearable even. Some baristas didn't even speak English. Some were high. Others were drunk on the job. And even though she loved coffee, there were just times when Ashley couldn't take the smell any more. Those days were difficult to walk into a Starbucks with a smile and hope to meet her life partner.

So, on her twenty first birthday, she made it her mission to seek out twenty one Starbucks stores in Seattle, more than a thousand miles from home. It wasn't easy, there were just so many. Small towns were much easier, but then there were just so many small towns in one state it didn't really make a difference.

Seattle was special, however. It was where it all started. Ashley didn't believe in omens, she hardly believed that she'd be happy with her chosen soulmate, but thought she'd give Seattle a try. Twenty-one was her lucky number, after all. Since she had to deal with all these strange fated ideas.

"Hi! Welcome to Starbucks! Please have a look at our menu and I'll take your order in a second!"

Ashley shoved the scripture back into her pocket, relieved. Staring at the teenage boy in front of her, she couldn't be happier that he wouldn't be her soulmate. He was way too young. She noticed him ogling her while she made a point of it to stare at the menu, even though she knew all their items by heart. She could probably even make their coffee for them, already familiar with the blends and measurements. That's what three years of Starbucks would do to you.

"Can I have a tall hazelnut flavored blonde roast, please?" With a dash of stop-eye-fucking-me. She was so tempted.

The boy smiled widely, showing off braces and one missing tooth. "Sure, coming right up!"

Ashley sighed, feeling dejected. It was difficult to stay optimistic when she had encounters like this – which seemed to happen more often lately. She didn't mind being ogled, she knew she was hot. She had to work out a great deal to maintain a healthy body after all the coffee she kept consuming. She'd also ditched her summer dress phase right after she ditched Aiden, and she hadn't realized how free she felt until she started college. She still felt free, and relieved, and so happy that she never slept with Aiden, but she also felt alone. She wasn't the only person in search for their soulmate – so it wasn't always fun going on trips alone.

It just felt to her like everybody was on this same kind of search, and didn't let the spontaneous meeting of people and lovers happen anymore. God, you sound just like Kyla.

Kyla!

She'd forgotten all about her sister, who was happily situated in New York, auditioning for Broadway.

Checking her phone, she made sure it was a suitable time to call, and dialed her sister's number.

"Hey! Found your magic bean yet?"

Always so dramatic. Ashley couldn't help but chuckle. "Hello to you too, Ky."

"Tall hazelnut flavored blonde roast!"

The order was shouted loud enough for Kyla to hear and let out a hearty laugh. "So are you looking for tall blondes these days?"

Ashley rolled her eyes, as if Kyla could see her. "No, I just didn't feel like strong coffee today. I'm going on a drinking spree tonight, I wish you were here to celebrate with me."

Kyla sighed on the other end of the line. "Me too, Ash, I'm sorry I'm not there. You've got to come to New York, it's amazing here. You'd love it."

Ashley sighed wistfully. That had been the plan. With Aiden. But New York had always been her idea. "In a couple of months I'll be there. I just don't want to go back and forth across the States, you know? I would've loved to settle in New York."

"I know. And you will, Ash, don't lose hope."

Ashley clutched her phone between her head and shoulder, and grabbed her coffee after paying. "Easy for you to say. You have no idea how lucky you are. God, Romeo, oh Romeo! It's so unfair!"

Ashley remembered when Kyla read her own scripture on her eighteenth birthday; "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" All Kyla had to do was audition for every Romeo and Juliet show, and hope to find the right Romeo. While Broadway was her life, her dreams. How unfairly sappily romantic was that?

"Ash, I've got to go, my audition is coming up. Happy birthday sis, I love you! And don't drink too much!"

It was her twenty second birthday, and Ashley was officially fed up with coffee. She couldn't take the taste anymore. She'd covered the entire north-western side of the States, and found herself driving through Cleveland, Ohio, en route to New York to join her sister. For now, the search was over. She had to start with her career and make some more money before she could even think about traveling more. She figured it was a good thing – it would give her a break from drinking coffee.

Her stop in Cleveland wasn't entirely unplanned. She couldn't drive through the city and not stop by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. And since it was already cold out, winter upon them with bouts of snow flurries, she thought it would be ideal to head over to A Christmas Story House as well. She didn't know when she'd get a chance to come back to Cleveland, or Ohio even, again.

It was already dark out, and her heart sank at the light snowfall that seemed persistent, making business owners close up early. She had to find a hotel or some place to stay, fast. Of course, with the steady drop of snow, she could hardly see anything on the road, and eventually it forced her to pull over to the side.

Ashley still didn't believe in omens. In fact, when she saw the green Siren logo she groaned inwardly. But the warmth of the Starbucks across the street seemed a lot more inviting than spending an hour in her car while freezing.

There was a young, striking blonde girl behind the counter, scurrying around as she helped customers. Ashley couldn't help but stand back and watch her for a while. She had her share of flings with college girls, so she wasn't new to the feeling of being attracted to another girl. But she had never, since she had started her journey to find her soulmate, thought that the person she'd spend the rest of her life with could be a woman.

She didn't think this would be it, either. She was convinced her barista would be a tall, handsome, blonde guy. That's what the elderlies planned, didn't they? There was no way they could know her preference before she even truly realized it herself.

So she didn't think twice as she finally stepped forward, unprepared to stare into the most beautiful blue orbs she'd ever seen.

The barista looked up at her after taking a quick wipe at the counter, and at first, her words froze. Their eyes locked, and Ashley felt a warm, unfamiliar feeling in her chest. Like she was melting under the soft gaze of the blonde.

"Welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?" Her smile was soft, patiently waiting with a raised brow.

Ashley couldn't move. Or speak. Or think. She wasn't sure that she'd heard correctly. Was it possible?

"Uhm…"

It wasn't like her to stumble over words.

Her rescue came in the form of a crumbled scripture, fished from the back pocket of her jeans with a trembling hand.

Only to confuse her even more.

"You… you're a girl," Ashley finally stuttered. She wasn't against the idea, at all, she just didn't understand. How did the universe know? How could the elderlies possibly have known that she had saved herself for the girl of her dreams?

"Yeah… uhm…" The blonde pointed to her breasts, then face, flushed bright red. "I'm a girl."

Ashley was still taken aback, and she wondered if the girl knew. How would she know, anyway?

"Tall hazelnut flavored blonde roast?" the blonde asked tentatively.

"Tall, blonde… soulmate?" Ashley whispered uncertainly. This had to be it. If this girl wasn't her soulmate, she'd never set foot in a Starbucks again. She'd die from embarrassment anyway.

The blonde blushed furiously, but extended her hand towards Ashley. "Spencer."

Ashley was relieved, but still confused. "But that's a boy's name."

Spencer smiled shyly. "That's why I didn't get a pickup line, but the job instead. That's my theory, anyway."

Ashley finally reached out her own hand, and when their fingers touched, she felt the sparks. "Ashley… Davies. Ashley Davies."

"I'm closing up in a couple of minutes, would you like to stay for a bit after?"

Ashley was still unsure about all of this, but slowly regained some function of her brain and mouth. "Sure, uhm, wouldn't the owner mind that I'm here?"

Spencer's shy smile was starting to grow on Ashley. "The owner is very happy that you're finally here."

Ashley's eyes went wide. "You own the shop?"

Another shy smile. "Yeah. I sent my staff home when the snow started falling earlier. Figured they could do with a snow day."

Ashley was shocked. And impressed. The fact that her soulmate would end up a barista never bothered her, she just never imagined that the person she'd spend the rest of her life with would just so happen to be the owner of a Starbucks store and a woman. It made her heart flutter.

It was her twenty-fifth birthday, and Ashley felt bile rise up in her throat as she stared at the birthday cake Spencer had baked her. But what triggered the heaving was the aroma of freshly brewed coffee – strong – just as she normally liked it.

She turned around in her tracks on her way to kiss her wife, and bolted straight back to the en-suite bathroom in their master bedroom. She barely made it to the toilet when the heaving started. Spencer was by her side in seconds, holding her hair back, while gently stroking her back.

"Ash?" Her low voice had always been soothing to Ashley. Even now.

Spencer knew better than to ask if her wife was okay – clearly she wasn't – but she couldn't help but feel excited.

"If this is what it's going to be like for the next nine months, you're carrying your own spawn next time," Ashley mumbled, finally managing to get the heaving under control. She grabbed for a towel and wiped her mouth rigorously.

Spencer could hardly contain herself. She wrapped Ashley up in a tight hug and showered her with soft kisses. "Happy birthday, baby. And happy… baby-day?"

Ashley couldn't help but laugh at her wife's antics. She pushed herself up with the help of Spencer, and rinsed out her mouth thoroughly. "Now you can kiss me properly."

After another hour of spontaneous nausea, two hours of bed rest, cancelled music lessons, and plenty of phone calls from her concerned wife, Ashley was finally able to make it back to the kitchen, where her birthday cake sat on the counter, untouched. She wasn't even going to try coffee. Despite having an overdose while searching for her soulmate, Ashley was still surprised that she could even drink the beans afterwards.

Spencer just had a special way of making it. The same special way she baked, cooked them lovely meals, and surprising her some mornings with breakfast in bed.

Her soulmate was unexpected. But if it weren't for the magic beans, as Kyla put it, she would never have found the kind of happiness she could've only dreamed of back in high school. She sometimes wondered what had happened to Aiden, and was relieved, every single time when she thought about it, that things didn't work out for them. She could never imagine herself having a family with him.

It was all she could think about after she proposed to Spencer. She just knew that they were destined to be. And here she was, expecting their first born…

Since this was only a fast-paced one-shot, there won't be an epilogue. Instead, just before the credits start rolling, here's how life ended up for the gang…

Spencer Carlin-Davies died at the age of 82. After settling down with Ashley, she had attained twelve more Starbucks franchises, reaching a ranking of number twenty-three on the list of the world's richest women.

Ashley Carlin-Davies died at the age of 83. She'd opened five teaching studios, all of them adjacent to Spencer's coffee shops. She didn't make the list of world's richest females, but she was the world's most famous music teacher.

Aiden Dennison died at the young age of 22. He became a pet food taster; found his soulmate with the opening line 'I've got dog breath'. The stench became so bad she killed him in his sleep…