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My name’s Samantha Williams. I’m 21 years old, and I have black hair and green eyes. My friends call me Sam. I still haven’t met my soulmate, so my bloom remains closed. A bloom is a flower on the center of everyone’s chest-just above the heart. It stays closed until you physically touch your soulmate. You’re supposed to meet your soulmate by 22, so I’m hoping that I meet mine soon.
I sit at home watching some old Christmas movies, slightly frowning at the sight of my closed bloom, and petting my little fluffy brown haired, green eyed cat, Carmel, until I get bored. I quickly get up and change from my pajamas into a super comfy yet cute sweater and some black skinny jeans. I brush my hair out and do some light makeup as well. I find my ankle boots and put those on as well. I walk down the staircase that leads to the ground floor and walk out into the busy city.
The one nice thing about living in the city is that you can walk everywhere you need and want to go. I walk down the street and look at the lights that decorate the town for Christmas. There are wreaths, lights, holly, mistletoe, and candy canes everywhere. I take a deep breath in and smell the home-y smell of pine and peppermint.
I walk into a shop at the same time as an insanely attractive man about my age with short brown hair and warm chocolate brown eyes. His bloom is white with a bit of pink around the edges and it’s closed in tightly. He keeps looking upward at the doorway, and he’s not moving from his spot. I look up, and there’s a mistletoe above us.
“Well, it is tradition.” he says with a flirty smile, looking down at me.
“Yeah, and I’m not really one to break tradition.” I say with a smirk.
“Neither am I.” he says, putting his hands around my waist. He connects our lips, and my arms go around the back of his neck. I feel a weird, warm, tingly sensation radiating from my chest, but I dismiss it as butterflies from kissing this amazingly hot stranger. Our lips fit together like puzzle pieces , and his lips taste like mint and whiskey- a combination that probably shouldn’t taste as good as it does.
We break apart, and I stare at his chest- realizing that his bloom has opened since the kiss.
“Oh my gosh.” he breathes, realization setting in.
“I can’t believe that I’ve actually found you.” I say just a hair above a whisper.
“I can’t believe it either.” he says, cupping my face gently in one of his hands. I lean into the touch, feeling the light callouses on the pads of his fingers.
“Do you want to go… I don’t know… grab a hot chocolate or something?” he asks looking down, a blush staining his cheeks.
“I’ll go get a hot chocolate with you... if you tell me your name.” I reply.
“Alexander Duncan, but you can call me Alex. What’s yours?” he says. Alex. I repeat in my head. It suits him.
“Samantha Williams, but you can call me Sam.” I respond.
“Well then. Sam, do you wanna go get a hot chocolate with me?” he asks, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Of course, Alex. You are my soulmate after all.” I say, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the general direction of the coffee shop around the corner that has really good mint hot chocolate.
I try to ignore the tingling feeling going through my body at the physical contact.
We get there relatively quickly, and I order my usual mint hot chocolate while Alex orders a carmel one. We get our hot chocolates and sit down in a booth kind of off to the side so we can actually hear each other talk.
“So how old are you?” I ask him. He looks my age, but I’m not sure.
“I’m 21, but I’ll be 22 in February. What about you?” he asks.
“I’m 21, too. I’ll be 22 in September, though.” I answer.
“Okay, so I’m just a little bit older than you.” he says.
“Yeah, by about 7 months or so.” I say, doing the quick math in my head.
“Oh, she’s pretty and smart. I’m one lucky guy.” he says, halfway joking.
I laugh at his words as a blush stains my cheeks at the compliments.
“Aww I got a blush out of you, Pretty girl. It’s a good look. I’ll have to keep it up.” he smirks.
“Noooo!” I whine out dramatically at his words.
“Aww why not? It makes those pretty green eyes of yours stand out more.” he says.
“Stoooopppp.” I whine once more, feeling my cheeks heat up again.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. For now.” he says.
“Thank you.” I say in a small voice.
“No problem, Pretty girl.” he says.
I just look down at my lap and grumble in disagreement of the pet name half-heartedly. I like the name, but he doesn’t need to know that. He laughs a full laugh with his head thrown back and cheeks red. Man, I love that sound. He looks back at me after he calms down, and there’s a look of pure love and adoration in his eyes. I’m sure that I have a similar look in my eyes as I look at him.
His bloom is beautiful. It’s a white rose with pink edges, and it makes my heart pick up speed whenever I see it. Roses are my favorite flower. I did some research on my own bloom, since it’s kind of unusual, and it’s a blue Phalaenopsis orchid.
I figure out that he’s a mechanic downtown, and he learns of my job as a designer at a local clothing company. We talk about our pets. He has his dog, Boulder, and I have my cat, Carmel. We tell stories about various things in our lives and laugh as we drink our hot chocolate, and I feel myself falling more and more in love with him as we do. As we both finish our drinks, I realize that I don’t want the night to end.
“Do you maybe wanna go back to my place and watch some Christmas movies? I know a great place to order takeout from as well.” I say hopefully, slightly fearing rejection.
“I don’t think I’ve heard a better idea in years.” he replies, a genuine smile lighting up his handsome features.
We stand up and throw away our trash before starting the relatively short walk back to my apartment. As we walk, I enjoy the comfort of Alex’s arm wrapped lightly around my waist. We continue with small conversations during the walk, and his hand moves from my waist to intertwine his fingers with my own between us. I notice how perfectly his hand fits with mine.
His hands are warm despite the cold weather, and the warmth flows through my fingers making my frigid hands warm.
We finally reach my apartment building and walk up the stairs to get to my apartment. I reluctantly have to let go of Alex’s hand to get my key out and get inside. Carmel meets us at the door with a greeting ‘meow’ as we get inside, and I shut the door behind me. Her tail twitches contentedly as she moves to sit in her spot on the couch.
“Hey, Carmel. Miss me, girl?” I say, scratching the top of her head. Alex comes over by me and lets her sniff his hand before moving to pet down her back.
Carmel purrs as we continue to pet her head and back until she gets tired of being handled and moves to do something else. I look over at Alex who is already looking at me. He blushes at the realization that I caught him staring at me and looks down.
“What’s wrong, Alex?” I ask him.
“Nothing’s wrong, Sam. I just got caught staring at my beautiful soulmate.” he replies while moving his gaze from the floor to my eyes, and his words are halfway flirty and halfway sincere.
“Aaaaleex.” I whine, blushing madly.
“Yeah, Pretty girl?” he says with a cute smirk on his pink lips.
I just sigh playfully, and he smiles. His smile shows his pretty white teeth, and my heart melts at the fond look in his eyes. He leans in really close so our foreheads are touching and looks me in the eyes intensely- his chocolate brown eyes locked on my own forest green.
“You’re beautiful. You know that, right?” he whispers in a serious but skeptical tone, his lips brushing mine as he speaks because of how close we’re standing.
I attempt to look down at my feet, but Alex isn’t having it. He wraps one arm around my waist and his other hand goes to tilt my chin up so I’m looking him in the eyes.
“You really don’t realize it. You. Are. Beautiful. I will spend the rest of our lives making sure that you know that. I will show you just how beautiful you are one day- if you’ll let me.” he says, reverently. I lean up and connect our lips together, answering his question with actions instead of words. The now familiar taste of whiskey and mint combined with the taste that I can only describe as Alex fills my senses, and it’s intoxicating. His lips move with mine perfectly, and I feel my heart skip a beat as he sits down on the couch- bringing me down with him so my legs straddle his thighs. He never once breaks the kiss, though, and I feel his long fingers on the skin of my lower back as he places his hands under my shirt and on my back.
We reluctantly break apart to breathe, and I look at him properly: his hair is completely messed up from my fingers running through it, his lips are red and swollen from the kiss, and his eyes are wide and lust-blown.
“Alex?” I ask quietly.
“Yeah, Sam?” he asks in the same quiet tone.
“I- I love you.” I say in a small voice, scared of being rejected.
“I love you, too. Quick question, though.” he replies. The relief must’ve shown on my features as he said that he loves me back, because he smirks as best he can with swollen lips.
“Hmm?” I ask, curious as to what his question is.
“C-Can I? Can I make love to you?” he asks shyly with a blush staining his cheeks.
I answer with actions instead of words once again- connecting our lips lovingly and grinding down onto him. He picks me up as he stands up, my legs wrapping around his waist with a small noise of surprise. We make love that evening, and he’s so gentle and loving that I can feel my heart melt as we both come undone.
He gets up from the bed, and I hear him move around the bathroom and the faucet run. He comes back with a warm washcloth and wipes us both down gently. He tosses the washcloth into the dirty clothes pile and climbs back into bed beside me. I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat.
“Hey, Alex?” I ask him, my thumb making lazy circles across his chest.
“Yeah, Sam?” he responds, his long fingers playing with my hair.
“You wanna order some pizza? I just realized that it’s only 7:30, so we can still order some, and if we don’t eat it immediately we can just put it in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.” I say.
“That sounds great actually.” he says through a deep, rumbly chuckle in his chest.
“Mkay. You good with pepperoni?” I ask, sitting up.
“Yeah, sounds good.” he replies. I pull my underwear and his t-shirt on and go to order pizza.
I order pizza, and Carmel comes over and smells me all over.
“Yeah, I know I smell like someone else, too. Don’t I?” I say, petting her affectionately.
Alex comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist while nuzzling into my neck.
“Mmm.. I love seeing you in my shirt.” he says, nipping lightly at one of the many hickeys along my neck. I hum in contentment and lean my head to the side- baring my neck for him. Carmel gets jealous and stand up on her back feet before batting at my nose lightly with one of her front paws.
We eat pizza, watch Christmas movies, cuddle, talk, and laugh for the rest of the night before heading to bed. I have Alex wrapped completely around my back, and Carmel is asleep on the space right in front on my face on the bed. Best. Christmas present. Ever. I think as I fall asleep for the first time with my soulmate wrapped around me.