Little Marks

1 - Stick Men

July 18th

The night before I turned 16, some marks started showing up on my arm. Little drawings of stick men. Now, these weren't any ordinary marks. These were the marks of someone finally growing up, becoming an adult. Immediately, I grabbed the nearest pen and I wrote my phone number on my forearm, and before I had finished the first few digits, the drawings had stopped. A few moments later, my phone dinged with a new notification from an unknown number.

18:04 from Unknown
My name is Cameron. I'm 18 and I live in London.

18:05 to Soul Mate
I'm Italy. I'm 16 tomorrow and I also live in London :)

For years, I've been fantasizing about when I would finally get my marks. Now, I'm the first of my friends to be deemed 'ready', so I'm excited to show them off the first chance I get.

Let me explain this a little. Basically, everyone has a soulmate. Whenever you're both deemed ready to meet each other, any little marks on your skin will show up on theirs, and vice-versa. Any tattoos, drawings, birthmarks, they'll all show up. The only reason makeup doesn't is because there's a special chemical in it that stops it from transferring (Papa used that to his full advantage, so I've heard). All of that stops once you're married though, and the marks fade away, so the only person to have them is whoever had them on their skin originally.

"Italy! Dinner, little olive!" I heard my dad call. He always called me that because of my deep olive-toned complexion. I told Cameron I would be back soon, getting up and making my way to our dining room. I sat down across from my parents, sipping from my water glass. I reached to go serve myself a plate of pasta, but my dad grabbed my wrist, stopping me from moving anymore.

"Ita! What have I told you about drawing on yourself? The chemicals seep into your skin and cause early wrinkles." His brown eyes stared at my expression and they dropped to my arm, realizing it wasn't my art style. I drew flowers and eyes, not stick men.

"I didn't do it this time dad!" I exclaimed, my green eyes lighting up. Papa looked over, clearly surprised by this development. While I have a habit of drawing, they've never known any of my friends to draw as much as I do, and they definitely don't draw on me.

"Did they start? The marks?" Papa asked, blue eyes widening when I nodded eagerly. Both of them started clamoring, trying to find out what I knew. They were always my biggest supporters, letting me do practically anything I want. I was grateful that they were so relaxed with how they parented me throughout my life.

While we ate dinner, the focus was on Cameron. Who he was, what he was like. "Where does he live?" When I mentioned that he was on the other side of the city, both of them yelled. "Invite him for tomorrow!" Papa said excitedly. Dad slapped his arm, glaring at him.

"Maybe we should have talked first." He mumbles, rolling his eyes. Papa just shrugged and went back to eating. Their personalities were so different that it could be surprising they were matched. Papa was impulsive and childish, and while Dad also was impulsive sometimes, he also needed to think through all the possibilities to come up with the best option. They're a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, it's quite funny to witness most of the time, not going to lie.

"Invite him over Ita. We want to meet the boy who's going to be in our daughter's future. Our future son in law." Papa smiled. Dad nodded begrudgingly, clearly not wanting to start a fight right now. We finished dinner, chatting about my big party tomorrow. I still had so much to do, and now I have a new activity added to my list of happiness tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll be meeting my one and only.

After dinner, I went back to my room to do summer work before I went out to do my nightly jog. I'm trying to graduate a semester early and take some time off before I start the next chapter of my life. I've been pretty good at math since I started doing the harder stuff, but English loved to fuck me over. I just don't understand writing essays. I would much rather solve a bunch of ridiculously hard equations than write about colonization and how it ruins cultures. I can string thoughts together in my mind, but they don't translate well into physical words. Also reading is such a struggle. I just don't understand it!

ITALY IMPAVIDO LESTER FOCUS YOUR TINY BRAIN!

I love not being able to focus. It's totally great. Thank goodness I'm a logical person, at least I can focus my pea-sized brain on puzzles. My phone suddenly dinged with a notification, the screen lighting up.

19:37 from Soul Mate
Can I FaceTime you? I want to know what you look like

19:38 to Soul Mate
I can do you one better. How would you like to come to my sweet 16 tomorrow? Meet me in real life instead of on a screen?

19:38 from Soul Mate
Let me ask my parents

19:45 from Soul Mate
They said yes
I'll see you tomorrow Italy. I can't wait until I can hold you in my arms, know that you're the one and only for me. I want to be able to touch you and look into your eyes. I want to be able to kiss you, just to know this is for real.

19:47 to Soul Mate
That's so sweet ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

I turned my phone off and went back to focusing on my homework, though it was hard. I was just too excited for tomorrow. I would be able to meet Cameron, the person meant for me forever. I wonder what he looks like. I wonder if he wonders what I look like. 

~~~

Teaser: Getting ready, meeting Cameron