A Galaxy of Stars

They were soulmates

Nova wasn't sure how much time had passed and nor did she care. The person in front of her was so naturally pretty, it was as if mother nature herself had moulded his features with the most gentle touch possible. A vague thought nagged at the back of her mind that they were in the middle of a hallway and definitely very late to their class, but Nova didn't care. Everything else seemed so irrelevant  now. Nova felt a pull she couldn't explain when she was in this boy's presence. Was it fate? Attraction? Nova didn't know and, with a start, she realised that she didn't particularly care.

Before she got lost looking into his eyes, Nova cleared her throat. "Um, well I'm sorry again. And, uh, we should get to class," she stated, voice getting quieter as she felt the embarrassment rushing back.
She thought she saw a wash of sadness ripple over the boy's face before it was replaced with a small, and awkward, smile.
"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm sorry too," the boy mumbled shyly.

Taking one last look at the boy's face, Nova pulled her bag further up her shoulder, her hoodie's sleeve pulling upwards slightly and began to turn around, before she heard a gasp.
"That drawing," the boy's voice announced, as if he had uncovered some new scientific mystery. Confusion settled in Nova's features before she gave the boy a questioning look. His face tinted red before he began to elaborate, "on your wrist."

Oh. The galaxy. "Oh, um I like space," she stated stupidly. Nova internally cringed at herself when she saw the boy hold in a chuckle. Attempting to forget about her blunt statement, Nova spoke, "I mean, I like to draw the galaxies when I get bored. Did you recognize it?"

If it was even possible, the boy's face appeared to turn even redder before he wordlessly raised the sleeve of his jumper to reveal the exact same galaxy. Nova stared in astonishment. How was this possible? She could tell that it was done by her hand, but she had never spoken a word in her life to this boy. How could he have her  galaxy on his wrist?

And then suddenly, an idea came to her mind. Soulmates. The idea may have seemed superstitious and ridiculous and utterly illogical and yet, it was the only option that made sense. She knew of course that people talked about soulmates, but she didn't think that it would happen to her.

Glancing down at her hand, she saw the oh-so-familiar messy handwriting that she had spent a good portion of her night and morning trying to translate. Was this his handwriting? She was suddenly aware of the boy's gaze on her hand and she looked up to see a similar realisation flicker across his face.

If the situation wasn't awkward before, it definitely was now. They were soulmates. And yet, they didn't even know each other's names.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~