my heart loves the view

the one where you have matching soul marks on your skin

Troy loves his soul mark.

No, really, he does. His friends – well, only Chad really – often talk about how dumb the idea of soulmates is and especially the fact that there's a random mark tattooed on your body that matches perfectly with that of the person you're meant to spend the rest of your life with.

Then again, Chad's soul mark bears a strange resemblance to a cow's udder, so Troy gets why he doesn't really like it. Troy's soul mark, on the other hand, is a nice clean line of dots in his neck. He likes to think the dots resembles stars in a clear night sky, but he would never say that out loud.

However, despite his fondness of his soul mark, he has hid it under his mop of hair for years, not wanting to draw attention to it since everyone in school seems to be interested in his every move because he leads the Wildcats.

He has wanted to keep this part of him to himself, and he has only planned to share this intimate detail about his life with his soulmate once the moment arrives.

He has always thought that this moment wouldn't come for another ten years, at least. He has no time for romance and there's no one that interests him.

No one except the cute girl he's currently on a karaoke stage with. He has only spared a couple of glances at her, feeling too daunted by the idea that he has to sing in front of an audience to really care about anything else, but he's noticed that she's quite pretty, with her tumbling black curls and heart-shaped face and sweet voice.

It's when he sneaks another glance at her and watches her tuck her hair behind her ear that his breath is truly taken away by her.

She has the exact same dotted line on her skin, in the exact same place where his is located.

He blinks in shock. Does this mean–? Is she–? That's impossible. He's too young, too inexperienced to meet his soulmate right now. He's not ready.

However, a surge of excitement rushes through him as her hair falls over the familiar dotted line again. He might be young and inexperienced, but the possibility of falling in love is something that strangely excites him.

Suddenly, he has met her eyes, brown and sparkling, and he decides he doesn't mind falling in love with her.

She's looking at him oddly, and it's then that he realizes he's been staring at her longingly. With a blush, he continues to sing his part as he tries to keep his eyes off of her.

It seems impossible, for she's too exquisite for him to ignore her presence besides him.

He's still unable to stop staring at Gabriella – her name is perfect, just like her – when they're outside later, and he can see she's starting to get freaked out by him.

"Is there something on my face?" she asks, a little timidly, and he quickly shakes his head.

Now what does he say? Should he confess? Or should he make up some lame excuse she surely won't believe?

"I just… like your cardigan," he answers lamely, and her eyebrows rise suspiciously for a moment before she mutters a thank you as she pulls the cardigan closer over her body.

Of course, she wasn't wearing the cardigan before, so he knows she doesn't believe a word he just said. And judging by the way she's awkwardly looking down at the ground, he's sure he's scaring her off.

Oh god, this is his soulmate and he's creeping her out. What the hell is he doing?

"I saw your soul mark earlier. Pretty cool," he blurts out in an attempt to salvage the situation and both pairs of eyes widen in response, his with embarrassment and hers with realization as to why he's behaving so strangely.

"Thank you," she mumbles in reply, her cheeks turning red like a tomato, as she tucks her hair behind her ear again. "I always like to think they're stars in the sky."

"That's what I'd like to think, too!"

He immediately feels a hot blush rise to his cheeks as he awkwardly reaches up to rub his neck, averting his gaze from her.

God, he has probably freaked her out even more now.

"I'm so sorry," he continues, his voice shaky with nerves, as he continues to avoid looking at her, however difficult it seems to be. "You probably expected someone much better than, well, me, or at least someone who wouldn't freak you out like that, and god, I'm so sorry for being such a creep."

A silence befalls them for a moment, before she lets out a sigh.

"I should probably think that you're a little weird," she concedes timidly, before her lips curl upwards in a small, tender smile. "But the weird thing is that I don't. I guess that's because of the soulmates thing."

He barely has time to react to how she's the first one between them to actually say it out loud, for he suddenly feels a soft hand land on his neck, tentatively diving into his hair and sending a spark through his entire body.

He returns his gaze to hers and watches as she uncovers his soul mark, her eyes alight with wonder as she stares at it, before a pretty smile graces her features.

"It really is beautiful, huh?" she says quietly, and Troy chuckles nervously in response, not daring to move or say anything to break the moment.

After a moment, she pulls her hand back, letting his hair fall over his soul mark again, and he feels a rush of coldness at the loss of her touch.

"So, what do we do now?" she asks, and Troy can't help but smile in relief as he sees the nerves swimming her eyes.

He's glad that she's just as daunted by this prospect as he is. That means they'll be able to tread these uncharted waters together.

As he stares into her eyes, he suddenly isn't nearly as terrified anymore.

"How about we just get to know each other?" he says, shrugging. "I mean, without me acting like a man gone mad."

She giggles at that and the sound of her laughter makes his heart skip a beat.

"That sounds like a great plan. What do you want to know?"

He wants to know everything.

He decides to start small, though. "Well, let's start with how you learned to sing that well."

He listens intently as she tells a story about nearly fainting during church choir, his attention only briefly leaving her as he spares a glance at the night sky that will soon be filled with fireworks.

Now, it's just filled with bright stars, just like the dotted line on both their necks, and it makes him smile.

He loves his soul mark, but not because it reminds him of the night sky he's currently looking it.

He loves it, because it has brought him to her.

A/N: I don't know, is Chad's soul mark weird enough for him to be so blatantly against the idea of soulmates because of it? Why do I even care about this minor detail?

Also, I hope it isn't getting too repetitive at this point! Either way, thanks for all the love. Don't remember to review, it really makes my day!