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My name is Jasper Painter, and I’m 18 years old. I’m about 6 feet tall and have brown hair and blue/green eyes. I still have yet to find my soulmate, but that’s not abnormal at my age. I stare down at my arm and smile as a beautiful flower starts to form on it. My heart skips a beat as I wonder what they’re doing and who they are.
I’m pretty sure that they’re a girl based on the art style, but I don’t really care either way.
“Jasper! Care to repeat what I just said?” my history teacher asks as everyone stares at me.
“I- I’m sorry, Sir. I can’t. I have no idea what you said. I’ll try to pay attention for the rest of the lesson, though.” I say honestly.
“Very well, Mr. Painter, but I will call on you to answer some questions. Do try to pay attention.” he sighs.
“Yes, Sir.” I reply, looking up at the board.
The rest of the class goes by, and I actually pay attention- even asking some questions of my own, I don’t even look down at my hand once. When class lets out I look at my arm and notice that there’s a cute drawing of a cat with the word Dumbledore written in very pretty cursive underneath it. I grab a pen as soon as I sit down in my next class.
You named your cat Dumbledore? I write.
Yes, I did. He’s my baby. They reply back.
That’s amazing omg I love it. I write back and smile as I see their response.
Thank ya. ッ is now written on my arm.
You’re welcome. I have to pay attention now, but I'll write after class, okay? I write.
Okay ッ they respond.
I at least look like I’m paying attention in this class, but I really want to see what they’ve drawn. That’s if they’ve drawn anything else.
The class seems to go one for ages, and I just want to go home. I’m a senior this year, so I go home at like 1:00 ish. It's about 2 and a half hours earlier than the underclassmen, but it still feels like a really long time when all I want to do is talk to my soulmate.
My friend, Alex, chuckles softly under his breath as he hears me huff when I check the time on my phone once more.
“Dude, you need to chill. We’ll get out soon enough, and then you can talk to them.” he says, clapping a hand on my back.
The bell that lets us go finally rings, and I put my stuff in my locker. I walk to my car with my keys in my hand, and I look at my arm once more as I see call Rose later written across the back of my hand. My mind flashes to Alex’s soulmate that’s named Rose before my mind dismisses it as coincidence that 2 people are named Rose.
I drive home and head inside and up the stairs to my room. I pet my cat, Shady, as I look at my arm. A drawing of a girl with short, curly, red hair with blue eyes and freckles is drawn with the word me written underneath it.
You’re beautiful. What’s your name? I write.
Katherine, but I go by Kat. What’s yours? she writes.
Jasper. Some of my friends call me Jay, though. I wish I could draw a portrait of myself like you did, but I can’t draw very well. I write.
A string of digits and dashes with call me. appears on my arm.
I pull my phone out of my pocket, add her as a contact, then call the number.
“Hello?” a feminine voice asks after a couple rings.
“Kat?” I ask hesitantly.
“Jay?” she asks -dare I say it- hopefully.
“Gosh, it’s good to hear your voice- actually know you’re real.” I sigh in relief.
“I know, and I feel the same way. Your voice is really nice to listen to” she says with a slight giggle.
“Yours is, too.” I reply, a mile-wide smile on my face.
“Can we facetime? I want to see what you look like, and you can see what I actually look like as well.” she says.
“Yeah. Just a fair warning: I’m not that good looking.” I say in advance.
“Jasper, don’t even start that with me. You’re my literal soulmate. Keyword: soul. I’m not that good looking either, but I believe in falling in love with someone for who they are as a person- not their face or body.” she says fiercely.
“Okay then, I’ll facetime you. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I say, pulling the phone away from my ear and hitting the facetime button.
The seconds she takes to answer feel like an eternity as I stare at my own face on the screen.
When her face appears on the screen I feel my breath hitch in my throat. That drawing didn’t do her justice. She’s beautiful. Her eyes aren’t just blue; they’re grey, silver, white, and blue. She has pale skin with freckles all along her cheeks and nose. She has short curly red hair that I really want to run my fingers through
“Hi.” she says shyly.
“Hi.” I reply in the same tone.
“I don’t know why you said that you’re not good looking. You’re really cute.” she says with a blush staining her cheeks.
“Thanks. Your portrait that you drew didn’t do you justice. You’re beautiful.” I say, feeling my cheeks heat up.
“Thanks.” she says, her blush deepening.
We talk for awhile and figure out that we go to the same school, and we’re in the same grade.
She lives about 5 minutes away from me, too. That’s going to be super nice. We decide to actually talk in person tomorrow at lunch.
I get to school the next day, and I’m so nervous that it feels like my stomach is doing backflips.
I look so distracted that a few of my friends comment on it. I let them know that I’m okay; I’m just a bit distracted.
Lunch time comes quicker than I thought, yet it seems to take forever for it to get here.
I find her sitting by herself off to the side where I can easily find her. Her eyes find mine and light up immediately. I smile a mile wide and walk over to where she’s sitting. She stands up, and we share a quick hug. She smells like mint, green tea, and something that’s just completely Kat.
“You’re real -like- really real.” she says as we break away from the hug- her hands cupping my face.
“Yes, I’m real. So are you. Like- you’re actually here.” I say as my arms go around her waist.
Lunch goes by way too quickly for my taste, and then I go back to class without Kat. I promise to walk her to her car after we get out, since we get out at the same time.
During class I look down at my arm and notice I love you. Written. I smile and reply, I love you too. ♡ I know that we’ve literally just met, but we were designed and created to be with each other for the rest of our lives. How could we not love each other?
School lets out after what feels like an eternity, and I find Kat fairly easily since seniors are the only ones who get let out right now. My heart rate picks up enough that I feel it pounding in my ears as I get closer to her.
“Hey.” she says as she opens the door to walk out of the school.
“Hey.” I reply, walking out the door with her.
Coincidentally, we’re parked right next to each other. Neither one of us realized that until now.
We stop between our cars and talk for awhile about random things. There are random times where our hands brush or hips bump together, and at every point of contact I feel electricity flow through my body.
As it gets to the point where we need to go, I turn to face her and put my arms around her waist.
She looks up at me with wide blue/grey eyes and looks between my own blue/green eyes and my lips. I slowly lean down and push our foreheads together- our lips only centimeters apart.
“C-Can I? Can I kiss you?” I ask just a hair above a whisper, still looking into her eyes.
Instead of answering with words, she answers with actions. She drags me backwards so her back is against her car and connects our lips softly.My hands land on either side of her face- effectively boxing her in. I let out a soft noise of surprise, and my eyes widen then slowly flutter shut. I kiss her back and hum in satisfaction and contentment as she plays with the short hairs at the nape of my neck. She tastes like green tea and chocolate- a combination that I’m sure I’ll never get sick of if it comes from her lips.
We stay like that- pressed up against her car, making out like the couple of teenagers we are for what feels like forever and not long enough all at once. We break apart to breath and rest our foreheads together- separated, but just barely. My heart still hammers in my ears, but it’s only secondary to the sounds of Kat’s heavy breathing.
I open my eyes and look at her. She’s even more beautiful with her lips swollen from my kisses, and I can’t help it- I connect our lips once more. She lets out a small squeak of surprise at the action then melts into it. Her lips move perfectly in sync with mine- fitting together like puzzle pieces and moving together as if we’d done this all our lives. When we break away the next time, it’s because her phone goes off- effectively startling us both. We jump apart, and she reaches into her back pocket to pull out her phone.
“Hello?” she asks as she tries to control her breathing.
“Okay. Yeah, I just lost track of time.” She says looking at me.
“Mom… Mom… MOM” she says raising her voice.
“I met my soulmate in person for the first time today, okay?.... No we didn’t… Okay. Yeah I’ll be home soon…. Love you too. Okay bye.” she says then hangs up.
“Gosh, I tell my mom that I met you and the first thing she does is ask if we slept together.” she laughs.
“Gosh. It’s a bit too soon for that.” I laugh with her.
“Just a bit yeah.” she says.
I look at the time on my phone and notice that we’ve been standing between our cars for over an hour.
“Okay, I actually need to go now. I’ll either write or call you later, okay?” I say, giving her one last quick peck on the lips.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” she says.
“Love you too.” I say hugging her quickly and getting into my car.
The whole way home all I can think is ‘ I did it. I found my soulmate. She’s beautiful, funny, smart, and she loves me back.’ I get home and into my room, grabbing 2 markers: a silver and a blue.
I make a ring around my ring finger with a small space at the top in the silver marker, and make a small blue dot in the space in the top. It’s a makeshift ring for the time-being. I love her with all of my being, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with her.
I look down at my arm a bit later, and I notice that the words ‘I love it.’ have been written on the back of my hand -near my ring finger. I write back ‘I’m glad. Someday it will be a real ring, but this is the best I can do for now.’
‘Jay I don’t care if it’s a real ring or not. All I need is you.’ appears, and I smile at her words.
‘I love you so much.’ I reply with a mile-wide smile across my face.
‘Love you too, Jay ♡’ is written on my forearm, and I smile. I stare at the words as I fall asleep -hoping to dream of the one I’m lucky to be able to call my soulmate.