"Guys, guys, guess what!" Dillon rushes across the cafeteria to the table in a state of pure excitement, and he slips into an open seat between Phil and Matt.

"Oh my god, what?!" Phil mimics his shrill tone with a roll of his eyes, yet a smile begins to break onto his face. It was impossible not to be infected by Dillon's glinting grin.

"Look at what showed up on my arm last period!" Dillon shoves his wrist in front of Phil and angles it around the table to the rest of their friends, proudly showing off the beautiful floral design drawn across his forearm. Most of the boys don't seem to care that much, only muttering a "cool" or "congratulations", but Phil had always been a hopeless romantic as well as Dillon, and they feed off each other's excitement.

"That's amazing, Dil," Phil says, grabbing his wrist and rubbing at the dark curls of ink, but of course, not one of them smudges.

"I know! I finally got connected!"

Every child had been taught from an early age what it means to be connected, and what to do after you notice it. Phil had been given his explanation from his parents when he was around 7 years old, after he'd asked his mother how she'd met his father. It was a very cute story, how she'd noticed him doodling on his arm in college and watched the markings appear on her own arm as well.

You see, to be connected means that your body, your skin, is tied through some force (love, perhaps) to your soulmate. Everything that appears on your soulmate's skin also appears on your own skin. Cuts, bruises, ink stains. You name it. It never happens until you both are ready to meet, and most people don't get connected until high school or college. There's one girl Phil knows, Rachel, who'd been connected in 6th grade, but she still hasn't met her soulmate. In health class last year, as a sophomore, Phil's teacher had briefly touched on (what's very creatively known as) the Soulmate Connection. Rachel was in his class, and asked about her situation, why she hadn't met her soulmate yet. The teacher had said that just because you get connected, it only means the two of you are ready to meet, but it doesn't signify you'll meet any time soon. Which sucks.

"Do you think I'll meet her soon?" Dillon asks Phil, running his hand across his wrist again.

"Who knows?" Phil says, glancing at Rachel a few tables away. He turns back and looks at the drawing on Dillon's arm again. Something about it seemed so... familiar. He peers at it closer. "Hold on..." He looks up at Dillon with a smile. "I know who your soulmate is."

At this, all the boys at the table look at Phil. "Wait, really?" Matt asks him. "You know who Dillon's soulmate is?"

"Yeah. I saw her doodling that on her arm in Lit last period," Phil responds.

"Oh my god. Who is it? Wait, I don't want to know. Yes I do. No. Wait," Dillon struggles to come up with an answer. "If the universe thinks I'm ready, I'm ready." He takes a deep breath. "Who's my soulmate?"

Phil laughs at Dillon's rambling. "You really want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, it's that girl who was in our math class in 8th grade, I think. Isabel Sloan," Phil says. At this, Dillon's eyebrows raise, and he turns to Phil.

"Isabel? Really?" He confirms.

"I'm sure of it. Why, do you not like her?" Phil asks Dillon.

"I don't know." He leans back on the bench thoughtfully, crossing his arms. "I've never really thought she would be my soulmate. She's really pretty, though," Dillon remarks. "Smart, too. Remember how she'd always get in deep conversations with Mrs. Chapman about math problems?" He gets this faraway look in his eyes as he remembers Isabel in the math class. "Oh, yeah, and when we'd play 24 if we had extra time after class? We'd always hit the card at the same time and touch each other's hand." Dillon smiles as he comes back to the here and now of the cafeteria, three years after that memory.

"You guys are definitely meant to be," another guy at the table, Ethan, says.

"Really? You think so?" Dillon grins.

"Yeah. You're both fuckin' nerds," Ethan laughs, and most of the other guys at the table laugh with him.

In spite of himself, Phil smiles and pokes Dillon a bit until he smiles as well. "Alright, alright, knock it off," Dillon says, still smiling.

"Hey, she's right over there," Matt points her out across the crowded cafeteria. "Why don't you go talk to her?"

Dillon's eyes widen. "I can't just go talk to her!" He exclaims.

"Why not?"

"I.. I.. I don't know! What would I even say?"

"'Hey, I'm your soulmate?'" Matt offers dryly.

Dillon just looks at him. "I can't say that!"

Matt rolls his eyes. "Compliment her drawing, then. That way she'll know you're her soulmate."

"Hey, that's actually a good idea," Phil says.

"Don't act so surprised," Matt narrows his eyes at Phil.

"Alright, I'm going," Dillon says with a deep breath and stands up. The table of boys watch as Dillon crosses the cafeteria to where Isabel is sitting, and the two start talking.

"So, who do you think your soulmate is?" Matt asks Phil.

"I honestly have no idea."

"Wouldn't it be crazy if she was sitting right in this cafeteria, too?"

As Matt wonders on about his own soulmate, Phil silently corrects the 'she' to a 'he'.

A/N: hey guys! i hope you liked this teensy fic. i'm planning on adding to it, i have several ideas on what i could do with it already, but i'd love to hear any ideas you guys have. i know dan wasn't in this chapter, but i just wanted to introduce the idea and see how it goes. i know its a writing prompt that's been on the internet for a while, but idk who the original creator is. lmk what you think about this fic and if you want me to continue it, and ofc fav or follow if you want to as well! ~l