Those infuriating loops stare back at Thomas, as they have done from the moment he was able to read and understood what lay ahead of him. Centered on his wrist is the name Alexander Hamilton, and while it isn't written in cursive, is written very neatly. Attached to the letter n is a braided string that moves down his arm, attached to a bookmark. The book mark has a beautiful scene of waves and trees, however, and it was nothing like his bookmark. This part of his mark alone covers his forearm.
His upper arm is taken up by an open book. A story is written, but all of the dialogue is blurred out. What he can read is written neatly and seems to describe how he meets Alexander Hamilton. The words are small, but it still looks nice.
Two halves of one hole, one nervous and the other paranoid, walk through a hallway towards the other. The paranoid one glances around the hallways, gripping the top of his cane. His brown eyes shift from side to side, suspicious of anyone that he is unable to recognize. A blurred mess sits between two quotation marks. The taller boy shrugs and yelps in slight surprise as he bumps into something much smaller than himself.
The nervous one walks next to his friend, clutching a book to his chest. He looks around, talking to the other. Another blurred mess.
His friend chuckles, some more dialogue.
Some more dialogue. He continues to walk, a bit more confident this time.
A little more dialogue. But it was too late, and the nervous one runs into the other half of his soul.
The taller of the two stares down in surprise, taking in the other's appearance before speaking, dialogue.
Dialogue.
The friend of the smaller one smiles and goes over to him. More blurred dialogue. Suddenly, the boy's eyes widen and he holds his left hand out for the other.
A little bit of dialogue, and that was it.
His right arm wasn't much different. There same name is on his right wrist, Alexander Hamilton. Like the one on his left arm, the n is attached to the same book mark. This time, the bookmark is in the now shut book. The story being told sits on the back of the book, and it seems to be written in his soulmate's handwriting.
Tears drip down his face as he stares at the other, watching as he collects his bags. Dialogue.
He stops, for a moment, glancing backwards at the other. He speaks.
Then, he walks away and his enemy cries out, tears still in his eyes, the last line on the back of the book.
It wasn't encouraging, to say the least. In fact, it seems as though his relationship with his soulmate is doomed to fail before it even begins. And yet, he holds out hope. A book's summary was supposed to catch a reader's attention and describe the problem. This could be in the middle of his story with Alexander; it didn't necessarily mean the end of their relationship. At least, he hopes not.
He shoves a spoonful of mac and cheese into his mouth and swallows it, savouring the flavour that fills his mouth. If I'll have any reason hate my soulmate, he muses, it's going to be because he hates macaroni and cheese. His parents kept boxes of it in the cupboard, and Thomas found himself making a box for himself rather often. If his parents happened to be out of the house, he'd have a pot of water boiling so he can cook it.
He silently places the new empty bowl in the sink and sits on the couch, grabbing his book and getting comfortable on the couch, pulling a blanket over himself. I won't hate my soulmate, he tries to tell himself, maybe it's just the one argument or something.
No matter what he told himself and how many times he did it, he still has his doubts. It seems like one of them is moving out, and if that's the case, there must have been a large argument. They may have been arguing for a while.
He looks at the black and white marks, focusing on the colours and the shading, on how this looks like a tattoo. He focuses on the one on his left arm, staring at the page numbers. Page number one and two stare back at him, taunting him with his future. Taunting him about how school was starting soon, and he would go into grade ten paranoid. Paranoid about the identity his enemy is, and what lay ahead for them.
He pauses when his phone begins to vibrate in the pocket of his jacket. He pulls it out and smiles a bit seeing the name, answering it. "Bonjour Lafayette."
"Bonjour Thomas!" The other practically chirps out, and Thomas can practically see his look alike grinning at him.
"What's the good news?"
"I don't have any, I just wanted to say hello." Lafayette replies and while Thomas doesn't push it, he is rather curious. He smiles softly as he talks to the other teen.
Lafayette has been his friend since they met in France. The other was on a trip with George, and Thomas had been doing an exchange program. Lafayette must have wandered off, or George must have gotten lost, seeing as the other grabbed his arm and said, 'Son, don't wander off like that.' The police had almost been called.
It took Lafayette to come over to defuse the situation and tell George that this southerner is not him. Lafayette had begun to excitedly talk to Thomas when he realized why his adopted father made this mistake.
They spoke a bit more as they walked around, and found out that they would be going to the same school. They exchanged numbers and were friends ever since then.
Thomas would describe the other as bubbly and rather social, willing to talk to whomever unless you've given him a reason to hate you. While it could be overwhelming, it was still nice to have someone to talk to and sometimes listening to Lafayette talk about anything and everything was nice, at times.
"So Thomas, how has your summer been?"
"Uneventful, really," he says honestly. "My grandparents wouldn't drop the topic of soulmates when I was in the room. It always went back to 'Oh Thomas, have you met yours yet?' No grandma. 'I hope you meet them soon, before I die hopefully.' I can't control it and I don't think she understands that."
"Let me guess, she suggested that you ask online?"
"I told her I didn't want to, she tried to take a picture of my mark," Thomas sighs. If it weren't for the amount of detail and how personal the mark was for him, Thomas may have considered it.
"Why not? It's just the name, isn't it?" Lafayette asks, as if he knew something. He has that voice, the one he uses when he knows something that he doesn't know. The one that guaranteed something was about to happen either to Thomas or in Thomas' life.
"Of course- why do you want to know?" Thomas asks suspiciously.
"No reason, are you excited for school?" Lafayette asks, changing the topic.
"Not really," Thomas says, allowing the other to change the topic. "I have all the teachers that I wanted to avoid- my semester is going to be hell."
"Unlucky for you, I actually like those teachers- hold on a moment Thomas. Oui maman, I'll be down in a moment, I'm just going to say goodbye to Thomas."
"I take it you have to go?"
"Oui, I'll talk to you later mon ami. Au revoir."
"Goodbye." Thomas says, pressing the red button and setting his phone down, thoughts running through his head.
Lafayette knew something, he was sure of it. It was an odd comment to make about his mark. Even if there really wasn't anything more to it, not many people were willing to share their marks. He is one of them. Even if the day is hot as all hell, he's wearing some sort of long sleeve, and always something dark to hide the black on the marks making up the book and bookmark. There was no way Lafayette has seen his mark.
The only way the other would have known is if he met soulmate and decided not to say anything. Thomas chuckles under his breath. There was no way he would have met Alexander and stayed quiet about it, he couldn't even keep quiet about the identity of his enemy is for one minute. As soon as he found out, he had stood up and stared the man down before yelling some less than appropriate things in French about how he hated the other already. That was followed by a huge argument that ended with the two of them in the office.
Besides, if that was the case, the other would pity him and would be apologizing for being flirtatious and lovey around him with Hercules when his soulmate is also is enemy.
Right?