Soulmates

1-The Forgotten

"Well, that was fun," she said as she got up from the bed and put her clothes on. She didn't want to stick around for the mushy stuff that always came after.

"Don't you want to stay and cuddle or something?" Girls always wanted that. He sat up and handed her the bra that had ended up on the bedpost.

"I don't really care for that," she simply replied as she took it and hooked the clasp on her back.

"What about round two? I won't even ask your name," it was a shot in the dark, but one that he'd regret if he didn't try for.

"Yeah, I can do that." She dropped her things as he looked surprised. "I'm here for the fun, not the commitment," she said as she saw that idiotic look of shock. He shrugged and they started making out immediately.

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Afterwards, she got up and wandered around his apartment. He told her to let herself out or stay, which ever she wanted. It was one a.m. and her car was still at the bar that he had picked her up at and so she decided to just crash on the couch instead of going through the hassle of getting an Uber. Not in the same bed, though, that's too coupley.

He was big on cooking, she looked in his fridge and there were a ton of ingredients but nothing she could just throw into the microwave. She fried herself an egg and ate it before going to bed.

There was clanking the next morning as he must of been getting coffee. She woke up and turned around, looking at him angrily because it was way too early to be awake. Okay, it was seven, but still too early.

"Oh, you're still here." he took another coffee cup out and poured her some. "Do you want it with cream and sugar?"

"Nah, I drink it black," she said groggily. The smell had reached her nose and so she was waking up as a switch was flipped.

He added more liquid into the cup since he didn't have to worry about cream and handed it to her before disappearing to get ready. She threw on her clothes from the night before and waited for him to finish so he could give her a ride back to her car.

He came out of the bathroom completely naked and they messed around again before leaving the apartment.

"Well, last night was fun," he said as she opened her door.

"Yeah it was, bye forever." She closed it and drove away, driving like she was ready to cause an accident.

"Now we both know that isn't true," he whispered to himself as he drove in the opposite direction.

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Hallie ate with her best friend at lunch.

"So you're saying he had a six pack and you still didn't bother to learn his name?" Naomi asked with a very concerned look on her face.

"He tried to tell me it, multiple times. I didn't want to know it."

"But he's like you, right? You weren't messing with someone else's man?" She was referring to the soulmate situation, how there was one person for another person and how they would be together for all of eternity yada yada. They would be able to contact you through your skin by ink, bruises, basically anything that stayed on your skin for more than a couple of seconds.

"Yep, I met him at that bar for people like me." She looked down at her arms in the few spots that weren't covered in tattoos, just in case someone discovered that they were her soulmate and suddenly started freaking out that they were covered in tattoos now too. No luck, still no attempt of contact.

"I wish you'd stop going there, it just bums you out."

"What else am I supposed to do?" She looked down at Naomi's arms and they were yet again covered in little scribbles that were probably love letters again. "Just wait until I start getting love notes? What if I hate them, like you?"

"I don't hate whoever this is," she glanced down at her arms, "but they have like full out conversations and it's creepy."

She had told Hallie about it before, how there would be answers to questions that she hadn't even read yet. She just ignored them and pretended that there was no one out there for her, which irritated her best friend who actually had no one. No responses to the writings, no random marks, nada.

"Well, I'm free until whoever this loser is gets thrown at me." Hallie didn't even know if she'd fall for her 'soulmate,' they were never there for her and she had gotten used to being distanced from everyone. "Why don't we try to find you love?"

Naomi agreed and they marked a time and place on her wrist. There was two yeses, which freaked her out even more.

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They waited at the only coffee shop worth going to. Naomi ordered three shots of espresso, which was definitely not helping her nerves.

A nerdy African American boy came in, looking extremely nervous. Hallie approached him. "Hey, are you here for Naomi?" she asked.

He nodded, his gaze on her tattoos and how that didn't match up.

"I'm not her, I'm her friend for moral support and all that. She's over here." She walked him over and they smiled at each other. They were really cute together. They started talking and then a really flustered red head came in, looking around uncomfortably before she took out a pen and started writing on her hand.

"What the?" Naomi blurted out as the ink appeared on her hand. She had been watching the boy the entire time and yet here was random writing.

They both turned to the red head, who had approached the table when she saw the reactions on the two.

"So, uh, this explains a lot," Naomi said with a dumbfounded look as she realized why her soulmate had been having conversations with himself.

"That's great," Hallie whispered to herself as she sat in a chair two tables over, "Naomi has two soulmates and I don't even have one." She got up and waited in the car for her best friend to be done, not wanting to look at her to be done since it bummed her out.

The three of themstarted talking, realizing that every interaction had been three people insteadof two and that if that's what fate wanted, then that's how it would be.