Linked (P1 of My Heart Book 1)

I. Lukas

Lukas didn't believe in "soulmates."

His friends claimed they had found theirs, that they had matching marks, and felt each other's pain, but he didn't believe it. He didn't have markings, and he hadn't felt any random pain since he was 14. He was convinced that, if soulmates did exist, his was dead. That was, until this morning when some random flower appeared on his wrist seemingly overnight. "This isn't happening to me." He groaned, burying his face in his hands at his kitchen table.

"Hey, you okay?" A soft voice asked from behind him. He sighed softly, looking up at the girl standing in his kitchen doorway. He had forgotten about last night's hookup until just now. He took her in and could remember everything from the previous day. The girl was Hayley Santos' best friend, Kiera. He had to admit, Kiera was gorgeous, whether she was wearing his T-shirt or her dress from last night. Right now, it was the first one. His shirt went down to just above her knees, so he could still see her legs. His eyes trailed up, and then something on her wrist caught his attention. Had she had that symbol last night? He didn't think so. Oh no.

"Oh, uh, uh, yeah. I'm fine." He lied, meeting her eyes. "How'd you sleep?

"You mean, once we actually went to sleep." She teased, sitting down on the table, close to him. "I slept great. Your shirt is comfy."

He smirked softly. "You look good in it." He meant it as a joke, but it came out as something that sounds legitimately like a compliment. Oh no. She was blushing. He hadn't meant to do that. "Hey, have you always had that symbol?" He asked in a not-so-smooth attempt at changing the subject. This made her blush more.

"No. No, it must've appeared last night. I don't know. I mean, I talked to a lot of people last night." She stared at her mark nervously as she asked, "What about yours?"

"Oh, uh, same. Weird. But you're right, so did I." He lied. He really hadn't. He hadn't spoken to anyone other than his friends and Kiera last night, and all his friends already had their soulmates. "Maybe we could help each other find out soulmates." He joked to try and lighten themood.

She laughed softly. "I thought you didn't believe in soulmates." She teased, running her hand along his arm slowly.

"I don't, but..." There was a part of him that was tired of being the odd one out. He didn't want to be the third wheel, or the fifth wheel, or the seventh wheel, or the ninth wheel. He wanted to have his own person, someone he could be in love with like the rest of his friends had. "Maybe I'm tired of being alone, surrounded by people who aren't."

"I know that feeling." She agreed quietly, making him look up at her.

"What do you mean?" He asked softly. "How could you know?" Why do you know?

"I...I spent ten years of my life alone with no one to care about me. No family, no friends, no one to care about me." She looked down at her wrist and her symbol. "If I have a soulmateout there, why not try and find them? So for once, I'm not the loner, watching all my friends fall in love around me."

Lukas hesitated before grabbing her wrist softly. He rubbed the marking, a little race helmet, in the same spot as his flower was. She looked down at him, and he looked up at her. "Maybe I'm the answer." He whispered. "And maybe you're my answer." He wasn't expecting the overwhelming weight of what he said. He was offering to be her solution. As she met his eyes, he could see the nervousness in them, and he could see his fear reflected.

"You're a racer, right?" She whispered. "You drive in F1 races?"

Lukas nodded slowly. "But what's the flower?" He whispered, and Kiera shrugged helplessly. Maybe she didn't even know what it was supposed to represent. Maybe she didn't know what the flower said about her. However, something in her eyes made him think she recognized it, but couldn't figure out where it came from.

"I think I've seen it somewhere." She whispered. "I just don't know from where."

"But... it's something to do with you?" He murmured, moving closer to her. To his surprise, she didn't move away from him, and then he knew it. This was it. She was his soulmate. She reached out to touch him, and as she did, he opened his eyes and was back in his own bedroom. He stared up at his ceiling, trying to process that dream. This wasn't the first time he had seen her in his dreams, but since his 23rd birthday, they had become more frequent. He hadn't seen Kiera in almost three years, not since he and Hayley had gotten into a fight and Kiera had sided with her.

He and Hayley had patched things up since then, but Kiera still hadn't come back. He stared into the darkness, listening to the ticking of the clock on his wall. He didn't want to know what time it was. He didn't want to know what ungodly time this dream had woken him up at.

He already knew he was losing too much sleep over this girl. However, eventually, he caved and grabbed his phone off the nightstand. He was blinded by his screen brightness, but could just make out the numbers: 2:34 AM. He sighed, rolling over onto his back and looking up at his phone. He opened his texting app and found his best friend, Hugo, in his contacts. He knew Hugo would be awake. Hugo was always awake doing something. Sometimes he wondered how Hugo had so much energy during practice and press.

The phone rang twice before Hugo picked up. "Hey man, what's up?"

"I had the dream again, Hugo." He admitted quietly. "I can't get her out of my head. Every time I fall asleep, I wake up in the middle of a dream and she's always there. I don't know what to do."

"Lukas, buddy, have you ever thought about contacting her?" He asked, his voice
sounding slightly exasperated. "I mean, you and Hayley patched things up so long. I don't think she's going to be mad if you contact her now. Especially if she really is your soulmate. If she is, she's probably having similar dreams."

He let out an exhausted sigh. "I don't have her number or anything." He reminded Hugo.

"No, but I do. I'll send you her number, and you can text her." Hugo decided. "That way, you can finally end up together, your parents can quit trying to set you up in order to find your soulmate, and the press can stop bugging you about why you haven't found her yet. Deal?"

Lukas thought for a moment. If he texted her, it would make his future seem less
daunting. He wouldn't have to worry about being bugged about his soulmate, and he might actually even be happy for once, truly happy. Not the happiness he felt when he was out with his friends, getting high or something. Not the fake happiness from riding that high. Actual, true happiness that you could only feel with someone you love. "Fine. Give me her number."

Hello, I'm back!! So these characters are characters that me and my bestie, Aria ( @fqreverfcllsapvrt), made. In our RP, we have a soulmate plot aspect and I got really inspired by it. I don't know exactly how soulmates are supposed to work, but this is kinda my take on it. It'll multiple chapters, although I'm not sure exactly how long yet, but yeah! I hope you enjoy!