soulmates
The legend of the soulmate tattoo dates as far back as mankind. The first stories and tales ever told were about the magic black ink that appeared on your wrist they day you turned eighteen years old. It was through this tattoo that you learned the name of the person you were meant to spend the rest of your life with.
katherine
Tears pricked at her eyelids in bitter disappointment. It wasn't Jack, her current boyfriend (although she always knew that relationship was precarious). It wasn't Race, or Spot, or Specs, Romeo, Blink, Mush, or any of her friends. It wasn't Davey, who she had dated for a while last year.
The thing that was making her cry was the fact that it wasn't Samuel.
Katherine Plumber had loved Samuel Jacobs since the day she laid eyes on him. She was convinced that when she woke up on her eighteenth birthday, she would find his name written in her own careful script. Instead, her loops and swirls formed the name Sarah Jacobs. Sarah. Jacobs.
Whoever she was, Sarah wasn't Samuel. Katherine would never give her heart to anyone who wasn't him. Poor Sarah.
jack
Jack stared at her wrist as Katherine tried not to cry for the second time that day. He was holding her tightly, leaving small white marks around her arm. She wasn't crying because she was disappointed, like this morning, but instead her tears fell out of pity. What she had with Jack was always special, but it was more like a competition than a relationship. They worked better as friends, people who understood each other and dominated as a team. Anyways, Katherine had seen the looks that he and Davey exchanged when they thought no one was looking, ones filled with hope and dare she say it, love.
Jack looked up for the first time and their watery eyes met. His boyish charm was gone, and he looked older than the moon. His shoulders sagged forward as the worry lines on his face became clearly evident. Katherine's heart dropped in her chest, feeling guilty that she had caused this pain. She wanted to love him, and she did, but not in the way that he needed her to. She thought all of this within the span of five seconds, while one tear ran down her face. His grip on her wrist loosened and he took her hand, holding fast and tight. Jack finally smiled, slightly, and Katherine threw her arms around him. They stood there, holding each other until the bell rang above them. As Jack walked away, Kath wanted to yell out after him that he was now free to chase the boy of his dreams. She never wanted to be a second choice with him, but Jack always felt like he had to choose what made sense. Their whole lives, people had been telling them how good of a couple they would make. Little did they know that the two of them had other plans to make their own happiness.
race & spot
She had known that she would not find Racetrack Higgins' name on her arm, because he was gayer than a whole pride parade. He also had a boyfriend whom he loved very much, even though Spot wouldn't say it back to him. (Spot Conlon had a rule in which he took things incredibly slow in relationships. He would eventually wait three years to say 'I love you,' and seven years to get down on one knee and propose. Race loved every minute of it.) So their reaction of finding Sarah's name on her wrist was much more joyful than Jack's, and their words installed something new in Katherine.
Hope.
She had waited so long to find Samuel's name on her wrist that this Sarah had become a supervillain in her head. But Race and Spot celebrated the girl's name. Race let out a high pitched shriek and grabbed her shoulders, jumping up and down. Spot started laughing at his boyfriend while giving Katherine a small hug, which surprised her. He wasn't one for physical affection, unless he was metaphorically making babies on someone's couch at a party. She finally began to celebrate with them, laughing and attracting strange looks from everyone around them. Finally, Katherine broke away from the shebang and said she had to get going, but that she loved them and they meant the world to her. Parting with blown kisses and giggly goodbyes, Katherine floated to her next stop.
davey
Katherine threw herself onto her bed, crying for the third time that day. Not out of pity, but bitter anger. She had confronted Davey about the name on her wrist, and he insisted that there was no one in his family named Sarah that was right for her. Her one chance of being slightly connected to her soulmate was gone and Katherine wanted to scream at the sky. How unfair, she thought. To first take the one person I love away from me, then leave me in the dark?
Davey had been waiting at their usual table in the coffeehouse where she told him to meet her, and he greeted her with a cup of her favorite drink and a balloon tied to the back of her chair. She smiled at the gesture but then got straight to the point. Pulling the sleeve of her shirt back, Katherine demanded that he tell her who this girl was and where she could find her. Davey sputtered that he didn't know, that the only girl in his family with the name Sarah was his great-aunt. (Who was very much married and too old for her anyways.) Katherine practically blew smoke out of her ears, slamming her fist on the table hard enough to make their drinks shudder and Davey jump back in fright. The look on his face was enough to make her want to apologise, but Katherine Plumber didn't express forgiveness unless she truly felt like she had made the mistake. In that moment, it was Davey Jacobs who had wronged her. She set her jaw and left the coffee shop to head home.
Laying on her bed now, she regretted not being more patient with Davey. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know the girl or that Katherine didn't have a tolerant bone in her body. Davey had always been good and kind to her, even after she confessed her undying love for his brother while she was dating him. She was the first person he came to when he realized he was gay, and they laughed together when she confessed that she liked girls just as much as boys. She knew that he would forgive her eventually, but they both had a stubborn streak a mile wide so the-
Her phone rang.
samuel
She had a mini heart-attack as she answered the phone, knowing soon enough that she would have to tell him about Sarah. They had never genuinely discussed the idea of being in love, just a quick rejection back in middle school when Katherine told him how much she liked him and he shot her down. Thinking back at the memory, she cringed as the lines connected. The first thing she heard was his ragged breathing. What's wrong, she questioned. Are you okay? A deep shaky gasp.
"Kath. I'm a girl."
She stopped.
"You're a girl?"
"A girl. I'm not Samuel. I'm Sarah."
sarah
Katherine stared at her wrist. Sarah.
She felt dizzy.
She hung up on Sarah and raced to her car.
Davey answered the door, glaring at her as she pushed past him and ran to her bedroom. Bursting inside, she found Sarah huddled in a ball on the floor. Before Sarah had time to react, Katherine had her arms wrapped tightly around her. Katherine cried for the fourth time that day, laughing as she swiped at her tears, trying not to stain Sarah's shirt. Katherine sat on her heels and pushed her sleeve back, showing Sarah her own name. Sarah's eyes were wide and she smiled, dazed and confused.
"Soulmates?"
"Soulmates!"
Sarah kissed her, pulling at her waist and bringing her as close as she could. Her heart felt so full, like the puzzle piece that had been missing for years was finally found and Katherine had snapped it back into place.
soulmates
The legend of the soulmate tattoo dates as far back as mankind. The first stories and tales ever told were about the magic black ink that appeared on your wrist they day you turned eighteen years old. Sarah and Katherine were meant to spend the rest of their lives together.