Across the Universe

Tattoos Pt. 1 (Soulmate AU)

Wanda's POV

I really hated these early morning commutes. I hated getting up before the sun every day, and the little bit of free-time that I had in the morning before I had to be at work were spent in the long, long line of the only coffee shop in town. The line was full of half-asleep people like me who were on their way to work, except they spent an unnecessary amount of time staring at the menu trying to decide what they wanted while at the register.

A large over-weight man stood at the front of the line, hands in his pockets, staring at the menu muttering to himself. He stood for a few minutes saying, "Ummm..." while the cashier and baristas behind the counter shared different looks with each other and apologetic looks with the other customers.

"Sir, perhaps you'd rather step out of line—"

"Don't rush me, dear. I've almost got it figured out," he said rudely, cutting her off, holding up a hand to silence her. I groaned and looked at my watch. Sighing deeply, I hitched my bag further up on my shoulder and stepped out of line, leaving the small shop, a few other people in line following me.

"Can you believe that guy?" a voice asked me from behind. I spun around and was met with a beautiful young woman with red hair and purple eyes dressed in black work-out leggings and a pink tank top. Cool. I threw my hands up in the air and scoffed.

"I know. It's not like other people need to get something or have places to go." She chuckled and reached up, grabbing onto her hair, and tied it up in a high pony tail.

"What time do you have to be in?" she asked me, resting her hands on her hips.

"9:30. You?"

"Technically, I'm at work. I work at a gym and it was my turn to grab the morning coffee," she said rolling her eyes. I smiled at her, breathed a laugh, and gave her a dubious, but not serious look.

"Is coffee the best thing to drink if you work at a gym?"

"Oh please. I practically eat pizza every night. It's my job to get other people healthy, not myself," she laughed. I shook my head at her and looked down at my watch again. My eyes widened and panic coursed through me. That couldn't be right, could it?

"Oh shit, I'm really sorry, but I gotta go." The woman nodded and we both went our separate ways, with me running down the street to my car and speeding to work.

○○○

Opening the door to my apartment, I sighed loudly. What a day! Soft footsteps padding across the hardwood floor sounded to my left, and the head of my roommate Jemma appeared as she leaned against the open counter leading into our kitchen. She had a wine glass in her hand and a large metal spoon dangling from her mouth.

"Hey, hey, hey," she greeted, taking the spoon out of her mouth. "How was work?"

I walked around the corner and entered the kitchen, pulled out a wine glass from one of the cabinets, and grabbed the bottle of wine that sat on the table, filling up my glass. Jemma moved from the counter and sat at the table, next to me. I took a long sip, basically downing my drink, and filled it up again.

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," I breathed out, resting my head in my hand and grasping a tight fistful of hair. Jemma placed her hand on my back and rubbed it up and down as she refilled her glass.

"Was it the normal bad or a different bad? Because if it's the normal bad, I told you before, Wanda, that there's nothing to be done..."