Then I saw you

Meeting Bruce

Astraea POV.

The next melody started playing, and I looked at Steve and his friend. I don't know what it was about him, but I felt this intense pull and attraction toward him. But it was wrong, it felt so wrong. I had Steve. I mean, what more could I ask for? His friend was hot, like reallyyyy fricking hot, but he's my soulmate's friend. It would be so wrong. Looking back at Steve, he was looking at me with these emotion-filled eyes. It almost made me jump down from the stage and run to him. But I didn't. 

the song I had chosen was older, so I slowed down my movements to match the beat of the song. I looked over at Steve, to see him putting all of his attention on me. I loved it, keeping eye contact with him only breaking it to look over at his friend. I know it was wrong but I had this feeling that I needed him. My body was physically drawn to him, to both of them. The left side of my ribcage was irritating me, it was all itchy and burning I brushed it off thinking it was just the concealer.

I had to get a lot of tips tonight. I didn't have enough money for the rest of the month, the entirety of yesterday I spent calculating how much money I had left. It was not a lot, I had to pay $3,998 in rent. $188 on electricity. Water is $40. I spent $60 on my internet bill. Heating was $134. That comes to 4,420. Right now, I make $4,269 working for my dad. And I make $298 working at the bar. So all in all, I have $4,567- $4,420. That leaves $147 for food and clothes. So money was not something I had a lot of, but most of the time it was enough. 

Before I knew it, I was done performing. spending most of the time thinking about how I was going to get food for the month. Just as I got down to my changing room, a knock sounded on my door. I opened it and turned my back to it before seeing who it was, knowing it was probably Daniel, and sat down in front of my mirror. "Je pense que ça s'est bien passé ce soir, j'espère avoir fait beaucoup de pourboires-" I stopped when I realized that it was in fact not my brother.

I turned around quickly, making eye contact with a set of familiar eyes. " I didn't know you spoke French, Astraea." "Well, to be fair, there are a lot of things you don't know about me, Steve," I replied to my soulmate. I made sure to pronounce his name flirtatiously, with a seductive look on my face. "Ahem," someone said, clearing their throat next to Steve.

My eyes shifted, and I was met with a handsome, no, beautiful, man in front of me. My breath caught in my throat because of the man in front of me. "Y-you're also m-my," I tried to stammer out. "We're soulmates," he interrupted me. "But Steve is-" I tried again. " I know this might be hard to hear, but we all know each other. I mean, the rest of your soulmates, we live together." I couldn't believe what I heard, "wha-" was the only sound that came out of my mouth.

"Don't worry, Astraea, we'll take it slow, but we wanted you to know." I nodded, it being the only thing I could do to answer him. One lone tear slit down my cheek—not that I was sad, it was just overwhelming. I went 21 years without a glimpse of a soulmate in my life before meeting two of them and getting told that they knew where the rest of my soulmates were, in one day. It was just a lot.

"Come here, baby," Steve comforted, and he stretched his arms wide, inviting me for a hug. I stood up and walked straight into Steve's arms. He was quick to wrap his arms around me, and more tears escaped my eyes. Steve tried to soothe me, rubbing his hand up and down my back and shushing me.

"Shhh, it's alright, baby, it's alright," and "calm down, it's going to be ok." were repeated over and over again by Steve. After a while, my tears slowed down, and my breathing soon returned to normal. "There we go, baby, nice and deep breaths for me." He spoke in a quiet voice, which was followed by a kiss on my forehead.

Butterflies spread over my entire body as soon as Steve's lips touched my forehead. I took a small step back to look at Steve. I had to tilt my head far back to look at him due to our height difference. "Are you okay now, baby?" he asked me caringly. I nodded and smiled at my new-found love.

I turned to look at Bruce and said, "I'm sorry about all of this, I'm not usually this..." I struggled to find the right word, "tearful." Bruce joked. A small laugh escaped my lips. Then suddenly happiness overtook me, I almost didn't feel it due to all of these intense emotions I had just felt.

But I did, and the feeling was Bruce accepting me as his soulmate. A new wave of tears came over me as I ran to Bruce, accepting him back as I ran. We crashed into each other, and a mix of laughter and sobbing left me. Steve came up behind me and Bruce and tried to soothe me again.

But my little crying session was cut short by a knock on the door, and the person behind the door opened it without waiting for my response. "qu'est-ce qui te prend si longtemps ? Je veux rentrer chez moi, Astraea." Of course, it was Daniel. I let go of Bruce but stayed leaning up against his chest, desperate for his affection. I hoped I could wipe my eyes before Daniel saw my tears.

"Why are you crying sœur?" He asked with a worried but commanding tone. "And who are these guys?" he asked. " They're my soulmates, frére, and they know who and where my other soulmates are." I spilled out. First, there was confusion evident on his face, and then suddenly a big smile. He walked over to me and hugged me tightly. 

"Je t'avais dit que tu les trouverais sœur, n'est-ce pas ?" he cheered as he shook me lightly. I laughed at him and his antics. He turned to Steve, hugged him, and patted him on the back. Then, turning to do the same to Bruce, both of them were shocked by my very affectionate big brother. I chuckled, and it soon spread throughout the room.

A lovely way for one of my brothers to meet two of my eight soulmates.