Soulmates-NatePat

~2~

Nate's eyes flew open when he heard a pounding on his door. He rubbed his eyes, and walked to answer it.

"Hi, Nicole." he yawned.

"Nate!" The younger girl threw her arms around her brother. "I'm so glad you're coming!"

She looked him up and down. "You did comb your hair, right?"

Nate sighed and nodded. "I fell asleep."

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Of course you did."

Nate walked to his bathroom and combed his hair again.

He showed his sister. "There, better?"

Nicole grinned. "Much!"

And she dragged him to her car.

Nate groaned. "I should have eaten."

Nicole waved casually. "There'll be food there." She smiled at him.

Nate returned the smile, just to make her happy, but knew he'd be too nervous to eat anything.

They pulled up to a large house and Nicole climbed out of the car. Nate hadn't looked at her outfit before, but now that he looked at her he noticed it all. She was wearing a white dress with a black sweater over it. She had black boots on. Her black hair was tied into a bun, and her makeup made her eyes pop, even though they were a calm brown.

She dragged Nate to the house.

Nate broke from her grip just before they entered the house.

"Nate!" she groaned, dragging out the 'a'.

Nate gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll go in eventually. You go enjoy the party."

Nicole glared at her twin brother. "Fine," she turned around and entered the house.

Nate sucked in a deep breath and started walking around to the back of the house. It was calm back there.

He could still hear the party, but it was quieter.

Nate leaned against a tree. He looked up and saw a large branch, pulling himself onto it. He leaned against the trunk there.

"Hi," said a voice. "I didn't know anyone else was here."

Nate whipped around to see a man with hazel-ish brown hair and brown eyes looking at Nate.

"S-sorry," the stranger stuttered. "This was the only quiet place. I didn't really want to come. My brother dragged me."

Nate smiled slightly. "My sister dragged me here."

The stranger smiled as well. "Well, we have something in common." He looked at Nate's spot in the tree. "Can I come up?"

Nate shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

He offered a hand to the man. The man grabbed it, and a shooting pain ripped through Nate's wrist.

He let go of the man's hand. Nate stared at his wrist, the date engraved in it was black, when it was usually light or dark gray.

The man was also gripping his wrist. His brown eyes met Nate's.

"We're soulmates." The man said.

"I guess we are," Nate said. "But, I thought it was if you locked eyes or touched. We were staring right at each other."

"Actually," the man said. "I was kind of avoiding your gaze."

"That's cliche," Nate remarked.

The man laughed. "I suppose it is. I'm Mat, by the way."

"Nate."

They went to shake hands, but pulled back at the last second, for fear of the burning pain in their wrists.

Mat grabbed Nate's arm. He rubbed the date on Nate's wrist, and Nate watched in wonder as the black seemed to rub away, leaving shining gold numbers in it's place.

Nate did the same for Mat.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"So," Nate said, breaking the silence. "what are we?"

"Well," Mat said. "We don't know each other very well, so not dating."

Nate laughed and nodded.

"I guess, for now, we're friends."

Nate shrugged. "I'm good with that. But we are soulmates, so one day-"

"Yeah, but that's not today."