Arcadia

Soulmates.

The name of your soulmate appears on your body from age 15 to 25. My soulmate's name appeared when I was 16, but I instantly covered it up. On the underside of my arm, right below the elbow is now a butterfly, hiding the name of my soulmate. But of course, fate has a cruel sense of humor. My twin and my girlfriend both had their soulmate names appear at the same time. My twin had 'Nova' on her left collarbone, which is my girlfriend's name. My girlfriend has 'Serena' on her right collarbone, which is my twin's name.

Neither of them has made any move to date each other, from what I know. It was most likely because they were afraid of my reaction to it. So here we are, sitting in a busy coffee shop. Serena and Nova on one side of the table and I sat alone on the other side of the table. This already awkward situation was mad worse when I noticed mine and Serena's cousin, Amelia and her friends siting across the room, looking at us.

Amelia was my favorite cousin, but she made it her life's purpose to find out the name under my butterfly tattoo. She would try for hours to get me to admit it, but I never would. It was annoying but even more so when Amelia would refuse to tell me why she wanted to know.

"Arcadia, Serena, and you too Nova!" Amelia almost yelled as she made her way to our table. "I thought I saw you three." I just glared at her, wanting her to go away.

"Hi Amelia." Serena and Nova responded in unison, just as happy sounding as Amelia. It made my eye twitch. The talking in unison was a part of the soulmate thing. It made me furious.

"Come on Arc, I've been trying to introduce you to my friends for a while." Amelia grabbed my arm and pulled me. Serena and Nova stayed behind happily. It made me even more furious. Those two already knew Amelia's friends, but I made it a point to avoid them.

"I have better things to do Amelia." I growled, but didn't pull my arm away. I was trying to be fairly king with her, only because she was less annoying than Serena.

"Better things to do? Like being bitter that your girlfriend of five years is your twin's soulmate?" She asked, well taunted me. I glared at her again. Maybe I was wrong, she might be even more annoying than Serena.

"Don't remind me." I grumbled as we finally reached her friends. It made me uncomfortable having so many eyes on me suddenly. It made me just want to run out of there.

"Okay everyone, this is my favorite cousin, Arcadia." Amelia presented me as if I was some sort of prize or something.

"Oh, you're the girl who-"

"Yes Jed, it is her." Amelia cut off the blonde haired man. The damage was done though. My eyes slid to Amelia, my somewhat friendly attitude gone.

"You told him?" I asked, making Amelia jump from the tone of my voice.

"Well he is my soulmate and my boyfriend. Of course I'd tell him." She was making a poor excuse to explain herself. I sighed, I couldn't really be mad at her. The soulmate thing practically made you tell the other everything.

Amelia began to go around the table to say her friends' names and a little detail about them. She'd whisper the latter though. First were Larry and Ahkmenrah. They were soulmates but were in denial for some reason. After that it was Nick, he was Larry's son, but his soulmate's name hasn't appeared yet. Then it was Teddy and Sacagawea. They were soulmates but they knew it long before their names had appeared. Then was Jedediah, Amelia's soulmate, but I had already known that. I had previously met him before. The last was Jed's best friend/roommate, Octavius. He was as secretive about his soulmate as I was. I could see that it drove Amelia insane to not know his soulmate.

"So, do you bother him about it as well, or do you just do that to me?" I questioned, earning a glare from Amelia, and a loud laugh from Jed.

"She bothers him about it all the time!" Jed laughed, though Octavius and Amelia didn't find it too funny. It brought a smile to my face.

"Well, I'm just curious about it." Amelia tried to defend. I rolled my eyes.

"More like being nosy about it." I said, exactly at the same time Octavius said it. We looked at each other, a little shocked. A few of Amelia's friends looked at us, realizing that it could mean. Larry opened his mouth to say something but I spoke up first.

"Well, night meeting you all, I have to go now." I spun around and walked out of the coffee shop. Serena and Nova quickly followed. I was their ride home, so they had to follow or else they'd be left behind.

"What was that about?" Nova questioned, a little worried. I ignored her and just drove. That damn speaking in unison thing just had to happen, didn't it? I never wanted to meet Amelia's friends for that reason. I didn't want the stupid soulmate thing to affect me, but of course it did.

I scratched at my tattoo as I felt the name on my arm burn; 'Octavius'. I was trying to avoid him ever since he and Jed appeared in Amelia's life. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that he would know who I am because my name would be on him somewhere. Wrong! Arcadia is my middle name. Years ago I made everyone agree to never call me by my actual name. Out of fear or respect, everyone had agreed and has not called me by my real name, since I was 16. It's been three years since I heard my real name.