Rays of November

Chapter 2: Ray

"Ray!" Crystal exclaimed. "Your connection was so strong! She's your freaking soulfinder!" 
"What?! Stop teasing. I didn't even feel anything, aren't you supposed to feel, I don't know, exploding fireworks?" I shrug.
"This is just a cruel trick, isn't it? Since all of my cousins have met their soulfinders, and I haven't."
"No way, Ray, I'm not that mean." Crystal pouts. My cousin's really hit the jackpot with their soulfinders. Each one as beautiful and interesting as the last. Uriel is going to be marrying his in a few weeks, back home in Colorado.
"I'm gonna tell Xav!" Crystal beams. I throw up a force field around her mind, stopping her from embarrassing me further. "Hey, stop that." She protests.
"No, you can't tell him. Please don't. I don't like her, I think you must have made some kind of mistake."
"I'm sorry Ray but I don't make mistakes with soulfinders." Crystal tries reasoning with me, but I'm not buying it. Never. This isn't how it's meant to be.
"Then where's the rainbows and hearts and crap?"
"That only happens after you telepathically communicate."
"You sure?" I wrinkle my nose in protest and display my dislike. "She seems a little..."
"Ugly? No way, she's cute. I'd love to design something for her. Her colouring is beautiful. Those navy eyes, and chocolatey hair."
"Uptight."
"Seriously?" cries Crystal. "What has gotten into you? You barely know her, give her a chance. I know I didn't like Xav at first. Of course my sister Diamond got a perfect love at first sight meeting, but not everyone gets to be in a fairytale like her."
My other cousin-in-law, Diamond, is due to have her child in a few months, making my uncle a grandfather for the first time.

"Crystal are you okay? I heard you try to contact me, but the line was completely frazzled." Xav burst in through the door looking crazy.
"Sorry, that was me." I explain to my cousin.
"Dude, what?" He glances between me and his wife to try and figure out some explanation. "It was such a strong message though, almost like a distress signal. Oh and talking of which, there was one today, and it was weird because the person I thought it was coming from was totally clueless. That girl, from the conference. You remember her?"
"No way!" Crystal bursts, unable to keep it in. "Oh gosh! How exciting!"
"What?" Xav trails off, utterly dazed.
"She, my darling, is Ray's soulfinder, but this idiot here refuses to acknowledge it!" Crystal fumes.
"Wait... what?" He looks at me, half confused, half excited. "But wait," he wanders off, "She has a boyfriend already. At the conference yesterday, he came up to her while we were talking and I'm not sure, but something seriously seemed off."
"What do you mean?" I question, really curious. I mean, if she's my soulfinder, I have to know.
"I'm not sure," Xav attempts to explain. "He just seemed really cold and overpowering. When he arrived, she ... her whole demeanour changed. It was like a switch flipped and there was this whole new side to her which you didn't expect."
"You think she's alright?" I worried for her, a little.
"I have her email address, I can try to contact her."

Xav takes his phone out and composes an email. "You know, yesterday I laughed, saying her email address was a distress signal, but I've come to realise that she in herself is a distress signal and that's not a good sign. At all." I stay silent, not knowing how to respond. "I'll let you know when she replies."
"I'm gonna head off now." Crystal announces. She's meeting her brother for lunch. Xav kisses her on the cheek and whispers goodbye. "It's a strange experience." He tells me, after she leaves.
"What is?"
"Love."
This is getting too cheesy for me. "Yeah... okay. I'm gonna go for some air." I walk out the room and down to the lobby. The last person I expect to bump into is my soulfinder. I kind of hope that I see her, and kind of don't. What would I say? 'Hi, I don't know your name, but I think we're supposed to get married and live happily ever after.' How dumb. I shake the thoughts out of my head.

I go to the restaurant, and order lunch. Now that I think about it, a pepperoni pizza would be good. Maybe I should have just taken it, and saved both of us from that awkwardness. I was way too rude. I don't know what took over me. I shrug knowing that there's not much I can do about it now.
"A pepperoni pizza please." I order and got to take a seat.

Halfway through my pizza I see a man enter the bar. He's got jet black hair and and leather jacket, with a suit beneath it.
"Lana," he calls out. "You seen November?"
Lana, a petite woman with strawberry blonde hair, nods and motions for him to wait while she gets her.
A few moments later, my apparent 'soulfinder' appears, being escorted by Lana.
My heart clenches as I see them hug affectionately. Don't. I tell myself. You don't know what could be going on. A hug doesn't have to mean anything, that could be her brother. I try to tell myself, unable to understand why I'm so affected. They don't look anything alike. This must be her strange boyfriend Xav was talking about.

"I'm picking you up early from work. I want you at home." The man orders softly kissing her forehead, his arms snaking around her waist. I cringe and force myself to look away. November? That's her name. Nova must be her nickname. A curious name, yet so beautiful like a star, a supernova. An exploding ball of heat that creates a beautifully mesmerising image, imprinting itself in your mind. My name is so dull compared to hers. Ray. Ray and Nova. Snap out of it.
But we match so perfectly my mind tries to convince me.
Stop being stupid, I scold myself, you just want what you can't have. Doesn't mean she actually is yours. Crystal's right: I am an idiot.

Nova walks out the hotel, her hand in his. She looks tired, so tired. I should go back to my room and rest for the tourist-y things me and Xav plan on doing tomorrow. Xav's spending the next few weeks here in London, for his work. A family friend, Summer, recommended we stay at this hotel, since it is nearby her house, as is the hospital Xav's going to work in. I guess I'm lucky in this prospect. That is, if she really is my soulfinder. Otherwise it's just a pointless hassle.

I head back to room 265 and see that Xav has left, probably to go to his own room next door. What to do now? I take out my phone and type in 'November Morse' into the search engine. I assume that's her name from the email address she gave Xav. Hardly anything relevant turns up, but I do find an article about a Morse family. A 16 year old London girl died 2 years ago when a kidney donor wasn't found in time.  I toss my phone aside switching off the article, could the media be any less stupid? I don't believe their lies; Nova is alive and well. Unless it's a completely different Morse family they're talking about. Maybe so.

I flop down onto the bed like a broken ragdoll, and pick up one of the blankets Nova left. I'm really tired but sleep refuses to take me. I hold the blanket to my skin to comfort me in my time of confusion and heart-wrenching pain. The blanket is a soft, white cloud, trying to lulling me into a peaceful sleep. It smells clean, freshly washed. I guess this hotel really isn't as bad as I made it out to be. Hopefully Nova accepted my apology.

What am I doing? I shouldn't be lying around like a lovesick puppy. If this is love. It's way too early to call it that. How can I confirm whether or not she is my soulfinder?

Birthday! I can find out when her birthday is, and when that guy's is. But how will I do that? She has no social media presence at all. It's almost as if she's hiding herself from the world. But, she does have an email address. I type her address into the search bar of my phone and find a few basic details. Full name (I was right about it), gender, age and birthday: 18 years old, 1st November. Mines is 9th November, and I'm the same age, so Crystal could be right. If she really is my soulfinder, I have to get her away from whoever the hell that man is. That lady, Lana, she must know something about him.

I ask reception about Lana, and she swiftly arrives after a phone call from the receptionist.
"Hi, how can I help you?" She beams at me, with a welcoming smile.
"Hi. I saw you speaking with a man earlier on. He wore a suit and leather jacket, he had dark hair?"
"Yes, Aaron. What about him?"
"I was talking to him earlier on, and I forgot to ask him for his email. Do you know anyway I could contact him?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to give you people's personal information." Alright, I'll have to do it the hard way then. I raise a force field in her mind, blocking off the part telling her to refuse me. "I could check his girlfriend's home phone number on the system for you." They live together?
"Okay, thanks." She heads off to the closest computer and returns a couple of minutes later with a sticky note containing a phone number. "Thanks for the help."