Soulmate

Chapter 55: Love

Grace

    When I woke up in the morning, my alarm clock was screaming at me to get up because Alexander asked me to attend church with his family. My mom wasn't too happy about me ditching family day, but I didn't care. I have never been to church, and the only thing I knew about religion I learned from my grandmother. She told me to follow the Bible, but our society doesn't print the version she liked to read. Mom always told me not to listen to her crazy theories, that religion meant nothing anymore, but I still retained every word my grandma spoke. Some of the things she said and did, I will admit, were crazy. The whole fact that she wouldn't go to the hospital, was not normal, but nothing about my idol was normal.

    With these thoughts and memories swirling around in my head, I climbed out of bed, grabbed a dress, and headed towards the shower. My mind was still wandering, sorting through everything my grandmother had been through. Her life would've been so much easier if the matching system had already been in place. If she had grown up this way, then she would have gone to the hospital. Then, she wouldn't have been a genetic anomaly, and I never would've been sent to the laboratory. James never would've spoken to me and I wouldn't still be trying to figure out his importance in her life. What happened between them? Did she write it all down somewhere?

    I wanted to look nice, but I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard, so what was I supposed to wear? When I climbed out of the shower, I saw that I had grabbed the black dress from her funeral. It was still a beautiful dress, but as I touched the soft black fabric, my stomach dropped. No one else had to know I wore it to her funeral, the only funeral I have ever attended. It's not that important, right? I'm sure she bought it and knew I would wear it more than once. It's all okay, right? Then, why do I feel so weird about it?

    When I pulled the dress over my wet hair, I looked in the mirror and saw how loose it fit. I remember it being tailored to my body, highlighting my waist and bust, but now it showed nothing, except how ill fitted it was. Was I really losing that much weight? It couldn't be possible that this dress doesn't fit anymore, it hasn't been that long since the funeral. Is it humanly possible to lose that much weight that fast? I knew I didn't have anything else that would fit better, so I dried my hair, and went back to my room to apply my makeup. I looked at myself in the mirror with my straight blonde hair and light application of makeup. Nothing was looking right, but I decided not to care as I walked down the stairs.

    Mom and Dad were already up, Dad was in his slacks with a polo, or casual wear as he'd call it, and Mom wore a pale yellow dress as she cooked breakfast. They looked up as I walked into the kitchen, and instantly her eyes narrowed and her lip puckered. "So you're going to church today?" she asked, and then she turned back to the stove.

    Dad was on his tablet, probably reading the latest news article, so he wasn't paying attention as I walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. "Yeah, Alexander is supposed to pick me up in about five minutes," I murmured, watching as she scrambled eggs.

    "Are you going to eat breakfast?" she asked. This time she didn't look at me, and I was thankful that she hadn't mentioned my dress. Would she even recognize it?

    "I'll probably just eat a granola bar. I'm not that hungry," I murmured, shrugging my shoulders even though no one was paying enough attention to me to see that. As I walked to the cupboard, I thought about Alexander, and I wondered what he was going to wear. I guess anything he wears will match me, unless I decide to change out of my black flats. Maybe I should wear my red heels. Would he even notice? Would he-

    "Grace, have you two talked about getting married yet?" Dad asked, surprising me out of my vain thoughts.

    I stopped and stared at him with my granola bar in shaking hands. Dad usually doesn't get involved in any of my business, so why did he ask? Is he wanting me out of his house? "Um...not a lot. I mean, of course it's in our future, we are soulmates, but I don't know when," I murmured, trying to wipe the surprise off my face.