Lock & Key✔️[l.t. soulmate short story]

•Two•

[Kealleigh]

"Did you get it?" My Nan immediately stood from the sofa and asked me excitedly.

"Uh, yeah. I actually did." I still couldn't believe that something like this showed up overnight.

"Let me see!" I turned and moved my hair, the tattoo visible through the sheer lace that was across the shoulders of the dress.

"Oh wow, it's so big. And it's so detailed as well." I look to my Nan's wrist, seeing her half of a quote still displayed there. She was another one of the examples of soulmate stories that didn't go as planned, perhaps more tragic then my mothers. My grandfather was an alcoholic and would abuse Nan back when they were first married. Once my mom was born, my Nan had built enough courage to leave him, she's now quite apprehensive about the whole "soulmate" thing.

"Well, at least it's in a place where you can hide it easily." I roll my eyes, only she would want to cover a soulmate tattoo.

Nan sat down as a knock was heard at the door, another sounding soon after we'd let my aunt in, and not long after that the house was filled with relatives and friends. Everyone celebrating something that I wasn't yet sure was worth it.

[Louis]

I open my eyes, only to shut them again because of a blinding light. Eventually I try opening one, looking to my right to see water and pain killers on my bed table. I slowly sit up and take the pain killers, then make my way to the kitchen that I'm sharing with the boys during the holiday.

"Look who's finally up! Have too much to drink last night, didn't ya sleepin' beauty!" Niall laughed from his place watching TV on the couch and I groaned, scowling at him for being so bloody loud. He put his arms up in mock surrender and I continued through to the kitchen, where Harry was sitting at the table eating breakfast.

I put a pot on for tea and sit beside him, he slides some of the breakfast he made over to me but I shake my head.

"Thanks, but my head is killing me." Harry shakes his head and chuckles.

"Doesn't surprise me, you were absolutely trashed last night." As Harry speaks, my attention drifts to his soulmate tattoo: "Things I can't." It was sad to think about Harry's situation, but at least he'd gotten a tattoo. At least he had a soulmate.

After a few minutes caught in my own thought, I'm jolted back to the real world by a burning sensation on my right shoulder. I jumped up a bit and focused on the sensation, realizing it was coming from the skin over my shoulder blade and not my shoulder. I feel the skin, itching it, but it felt normal.

"What the hell are you doing, Lou?" Harry's look of utter confusion stops me from what I was doing, I probably looked like a lunatic with the face I was making.

"Mate, I think there's something wrong with my skin." Now Harry's just looking at me like I'm delusional. "No Harry, look." I strip my shirt off and turn around, continuing to rub the spot once  my shirt is off. "What the fuck is there? It feels normal to the touch but it fucking burns." I turn around after at least 20 seconds spent waiting for a response, finding Harry staring at my back. An astonished look plastered on his face as he continues to stare at me. 

"What? What's there?"

"A tattoo." Now it was my turn to be confused.

"What? That's impossible, I haven't gotten a tattoo there yet."

"You don't think it might be your-"

"No," I interrupt. "That isn't possible either, not after all of this time. I must have gotten it when I was drunk."

"But Louis, it's not even raw. It's completely healed." Harry seems sure of himself but I merely shrug.

"Maybe I got it when I was drunk a while back and it healed on its own. I dunno, but it's not what you're thinking."

"But Louis, what if-"

"No Harry, I'm done talking about it. I can't talk about it." I walk away before I upset Harry more then I already have, leaving the tea pot in the kitchen. There's no way I have a soulmate after all of these years.