A Tattoo on my Heart [GMW Soulmates AU]

Part Four - Riley and Lucas

"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began." — Leo Tolstoy

Riley wasn't bitter, she couldn't be at all bitter about anything... could she? Her friends had all found their soulmates before they turned sixteen, and now here she was just days before her sixteenth birthday and she didn't have a soulmate. She wasn't bitter at all, she was just sad. She felt like the third wheel in their lives as they were all paired off, even her little brother found his soulmate when he was five years old, her parents had known since they were born. The snow was falling outside her window, a rarity in New York in December, but something she was taking in. Maybe the snow would bring her soulmate for her, or maybe the sadness in her heart was keeping them away.

"Snow," she sighed. "Can you help me find my soulmate?"

She continued to watch the snow fall until it was well past midnight, falling asleep at her bay window. Making a wish as she fell asleep that the snow would help her find her soulmate. She was feeling terribly lonely around everyone she knew and it felt like a heavy weight on her heart. Charlie could have been, but she hadn't let him touch her because she had been afraid of finding that person, and in the end he was actually Zay's soulmate.

"The only wish I have is for my soulmate, maybe it's selfish, but normally I'm not a selfish person. This is the only wish I have ever made."

Riley was a selfless person, she had always given the world everything she could without thinking, and yes some people bullied her because of it, and others thought she was too much of a goodie goodie, but she liked helping others without anything in return. She wanted to work in an industry that allowed her to help others, it was her dream. So what was one selfish wish when she gave back so much to the world.

Lucas was in New York ahead of his parents' arrival, like his best friend Zay's parents, his father was transferred into the New York offices. Lucas had come early to transfer into his new High School before the end of the year, he was staying at Zay's house until his parents arrived just before the holidays. It felt strange though, because the moment he arrived he had met Zay's soulmate Charlie, and suddenly there was an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. Zay had someone, and Lucas was still looking unsure of when and where he would meet that person.

Unlike Zay who was a hopeless romantic, Lucas just left everything up to fate and went with the flow of the world. Concentrating on sports and school, so on this snowy day as he went to the school to bring them his papers, he watched the people on the train. The hustle and bustle of the big city was different from anything he had ever seen in Texas, so it was interesting to watch. The train car he was in was packed to the brim with people making their way to school or to work and he watched all the same. Zay had gone to meet Charlie earlier in the morning, they had coffee together in the morning before school started.

So Lucas was alone that morning, December 8th was a good day to watch the people of the city he would now call home. As he moved towards the doors where everyone was crowded, he felt a jolt go through him, but he didn't know where it had come from there were too many people to figure out who had touched him, because they were all touching him. All of a sudden he found the packed train to be a nuisance to him.

Riley felt it, that jolt of energy, the meeting of souls, but in the packed train she couldn't figure out who had been the one. All she was going to have was their name and she had worse a turtleneck dress that day so she couldn't very well take a peek at the name.

"Curse New York winters," she muttered to herself as she was pushed off of the train.

She couldn't help but smile though because it was a wish had been heard even though she didn't know what they looked like. It was a birthday wish that had been granted, now she had a task at hand, to find that person she was meant to be with. Even if she only had their name.