A Tattoo on my Heart [GMW Soulmates AU]

Part Three - Charlie and Zay

A/N: Zay moved to New York first in this story, and yes I made a pairing.... Because I could and I thought it was cute... this pairing is actually in another story I'm drafting because I have nothing but love for them. Why would I put them together, well remember when Charlie asked Riley to the dance, it was so romantic, and Zay loves romantic movies (His favorite movie is The Notebook), so I kept thinking about the two of them. So of course the pairing started taking shape, so this is the first time I'm writing them together.

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"The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind I was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."
— Rumi

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Zay moved to New York he felt alone, at fourteen his family had moved from their home in Texas to New York for his father's job. He had to say goodbye to his friends, and family and move cross country and he hadn't liked the move one bit. He wondered if his soulmate would find him if he moved. Zay was a hopeless romantic and constantly shook hands with people when they first met in hopes of finding his one true love. It was silly, he knew that's not how it worked, but it was still something he looked forward to.

"You will find them when you find them," his grandmother said with a smile. "You my boy will fall in love and have a great love story."

When he was in middle school he had fallen for Vanessa, she was a cheerleader, and he watched her from afar hoping that they could have that once in a lifetime. But the moment they were paired for a project and their hands touched, he knew it wasn't meant to be. He was heartbroken, how did people find their soulmates in a world of billions. So he moved to New York, and met Riley, Maya, Isadora, Farkle, and Josh. New friends in a new life, with hopes of finding the person he's meant to be with.

Charlie Gardner didn't understand the soulmate business, his parents worked in an office that helped people find their mates, and they had an incredible success rate, but they couldn't figure out where their son's mate was. So Charlie like everyone else their age, looked for them curious to find that person who they were meant to be with. He used his parent's methods, but they never worked so he gave up and focused on just being a kid. He saw Riley first and fell for her, nearly stalking her to the point where it became weird. When he introduced himself she had given him a small smile but they decided to not test fate just yet and just be friends first.

"There's no harm in it, no hand holding, no hugs, just words and time with one another, we'll find out when we find out," she had said to him.

He itched to touch her to find out, they were compatible in every way, it had to become something right, he constantly thought. One day she invited him over to a movie with her friends, four of which had found their soulmates, and he thought it was a sign that the heavens were pointing their way towards the two of them being together.

They sat down and talked before the trailers started, "There's one more person coming," she said as a guy made his way down the aisle. "Zay over here," she yelled out.

The only empty seat was on the other side of Charlie, near the wall so this curly haired guy with eyes that were big and brown needed to scoot across all of them. For some reason Charlie couldn't help that his heart skipped a beat from seeing him, he couldn't understand it.

"Sometimes with soulmates, when you first see them there are signs that they're your mate, small triggers that normally wouldn't be noticeable," his mother's voice rang through his head. "But if you know them, then you know that the person you're meant to be with is standing there in front of you."