Ink | Soulmate AU | ✓

two | caffeine

The bracing aroma of instant coffee brought me to my senses; I don't know when I fell asleep, or when I had the chance to make coffee, but I awoke to find myself face-down on my artwork. Groggily, I opened my eyes, and they shut themselves again as my brain told me that sleep was far better for me right now.

Whilst that was definitely true, because I was ridiculously tired, I did have class today and a quick glance outside at morning's early light told me that it was nearly time to go.

Despite my eyes' insistence that they should remain firmly shut, the strong smell of the coffee persisted to tickle my nose and I was forced to confront it.

With a grimace I picked up my heavy head from the table; in front of me I found my cat mug, containing a dark brown, considerably grim-looking and distinctly cold substance. The solemn faces of cartoon cats stared at me with a mixture of disappointment and pity as they guarded their sludgy treasure.

   'You're not real,' I reminded them, but they continued their indignant gaze in my direction.

I ignored them.

Stumbling slightly, I got to my feet and was relieved to find that my legs still worked, at least to some extent.

   I couldn't remember much of last night; I knew it had been late, and I must've stayed up to finish my project, consequently falling asleep on it. Although I really didn't remember making coffee, there were more pressing matters to worry about, like the fact that the project was unfinished and due in tomorrow. Which was, now, I realised in a flurry of nausea, today.

Would tomorrow ever come? Or was life just a continuous cycle of todays throughout which we looked to the prospect of tomorrow with hope, and were disappointed when it never arrived, whilst we were simply confronted with another today?

Not now, existential crisis, I told myself, as I dashed up the creaking stairs towards my bedroom, where I rarely slept, when I didn't sleep at the table or on the sofa. The student life was a thrilling venture.

Could you call it a bedroom? You probably could if you tried. A small box-shaped room, just one wall of which was painted, the rest left as exposed brick, but this wasn't such a bad thing after all as the choice of colour was that of a stale green. It gave the entire room a rotting-flesh kind of vibe. Chipped wooden floors and a tacky little white dresser completed the feel of living inside a loaf of mouldy white bread, despite how many fairy lights I tried to hang.

   In the middle of the room sat an uncomfortable-looking white bed. To be fair, the looks of the bed were deceiving. Not only did it look uncomfortable, but it also was uncomfortable. Hence why I didn't use it.

   I used it now though, to throw things on, as I hurriedly dug through the piles of paper and books that littered my desk, looking for a hairbrush or mascara or something I could use to make myself look less... dead.

   Giving up with that, I spun round to find the mirror so I could check my actual appearance in it.

It was the only thing in the room that I had any particular affection towards. It wasn't anything special, just an ordinary mirror, but on one edge was attached a simple little post-it note with the words 'you're beautiful', and a love heart, doodled in black Sharpie. That, for whatever reason, always made me smile.

Gazing at myself in the reflection, I was pleasantly surprised to find that, oddly enough, I looked almost decent.

My brown hair was still in the braid I wore yesterday, and whatever stray strands there were fell just messily enough to look like I'd done it on purpose. Faint freckles painted my cheeks, but that wasn't exactly a surprise, because they hadn't sprung up overnight. As I covered up the huge purple bags under my eyes - which were also a deep brown - with my horn-rimmed glasses, a smug smile fell across my lips.

You absolutely couldn't tell the only sleep I'd had in days was with my head on a table, which was nice, because I was already pale enough to be mistaken for a ghost even when it wasn't Halloween.

I considered making the effort to do my make-up, and quickly abandoned the thought. I didn't have the time, and to be honest the only people who wore make-up around here were the household of emo kids just down the street, to match their black skinny jeans and Slipknot T-shirts; they were actually some of the most genuinely pleasant and nice people I had ever met, and last year Matty (the scene girl with the dark blue hair and pink streaks) and I had dated for a brief period.

The breakup had been messy, I remembered. She hadn't known the truth about me until writing had appeared on my arm one day, out of nowhere: a message from my soulmate. She had freaked out, and accused me of cheating. This hardly seemed fair considering I didn't choose to be that way, to be Inked, and I didn't even know my soulmate's name, but it just happened and that was that; I hadn't been in a relationship since. It didn't seem like there was much point.

Why bother, when I could just wait for my soulmate to show up? That was destined to work out, so why risk being hurt through something that wasn't?

Still, Matty and I were great friends these days. She was in my art class, and she frequently helped me with my art projects — which reminded me.

Go.

Still grimacing slightly at the memory, I glanced down at my outfit and although a little crumpled, my jeans and Slytherin hoodie had survived last night's wacky outing to the store. Crumpled or not, they'd have to do, because class was about to start and I was still standing in my bedroom regretting my life choices.

I sprinted down the stairs, taking two steps at a time because countless personality tests I had taken on the internet told me I was a risk-taker. With one last look at the cold coffee in that sad cat mug, I took a large gulp purely for the caffeine and chucked the rest down the sink.

Then, with great care and attention, I shoved my last-minute art project into my folder, rammed that into my rucksack, and wasn't at all surprised to find that the front door had been left unlocked all night as I headed off to class.

***

author's note: hello, thank you for reading this chapter! it's not that eventful, i know, but make sure to drop me a vote or even better, a comment, if you enjoyed it! i love to hear from you guys and just a few nice words really make my day. but anywho, more stuff happens in the next chapter, i swear. i hope you like it!
~becka ♡