The Soulmate System

17. The "Soulmate Feeling" is a Sensation Felt Only Towards Your Soulmate

In the absence of Bryce the following days, and with a completely new project for Dylan to thrust himself into, insomnia crept in again, manifesting itself in the dark rings under his eyes. "God, I hate this project," he moaned one afternoon, slipping a corner of his sandwich into his mouth and biting off only a small portion of it.

In the dim light of the Break Room, Amber placed her hand to his forehead and questioned, "Are you all right? You haven't been sleeping right for the past two days."

"It's this project," Dylan insisted, dumping the rest of his lunch on the table and poking it with his finger. "I need to talk to Stevenson, I just can't do it."

Travis slipped his fork into his mouth before replying, "It isn't that bad."

Dylan glared daggers. "You're the project analyst. I'm designing a website from scratch. Piss off."

"It still isn't that bad," insisted Travis. "The analysis for this is terrible."

"So it's mutually agreed," replied Dylan, hands ripping his sandwich into bits, "this project is terrible."

Travis nodded and the three returned to eating.

"You're not wearing your Glow-Inhibitor, I see," spied Amber, a smile creeping up on her face as she slipped some cold pasta between her lips.

Dylan glanced down at his collar, a simple white cotton t-shirt hanging loosely around his neck. Shrugging, he replied, "All mine are in the wash, and I don't particularly care to smell, either." Frowning and eyes dropping to the table, Dylan continued, "I need to order more. Half of them are falling apart, so I needed to toss them."

"Well, it's nice to see you're not wearing them anymore," she replied, still smiling. "Maybe you'll meet your Soulmate now."

Dylan sarcastically laughed, loudly, and glanced down at his hands resting on the table. "Amber, nothing has changed since last year. I don't want to meet them, still." Somewhere in his head, Dylan snickered childishly. "Besides, I like where I am in my life. Why would I want to screw it up?"

The three fell into a comfortable silence, irregularly passing around pleasant anecdotes in order to break up the quietness, until Travis asked, "Where's Chris today?"

Both Amber and Dylan hadn't a clue. "Yesterday, he said something about working late," put in Dylan, who was suddenly very aware of the man's lacking appearance at the table. Digging his fingers into his bag of baby carrots, he finished, "His not being here is odd, to say the least."

"What, you miss his undivided attention?" asked Amber playfully.

Dylan frowned. "No," he replied honestly.

Chris had actually been in the back of his mind for some time now, with Dylan feeling the growing sense of indifference for the man who pined for him for what felt like eons. His justification was that he simply didn't share the same connection with Chris. 'Or maybe it's because you actually can't tolerate him,' Dylan's mind supplemented.

But Chris was absent.

Bryce rounded the corner.

And their Soulmate Glows went off.

Amber nearly gagged on her drink, coughing hard to clear out what lodged in her throat in that moment. "Oh, my – " Amber coughed some more. "What th – " The coughing fit continued, which slowly evolved into laughter.

Travis' eyes moved between the two, like he was watching a game of tennis.

Dylan, breath and whole being shaking, looked absolutely terrified; Bryce shared this physicality with him. "No, please stop," Dylan whispered, his voice shaking as his hands fumbled with his shirt collar, attempting to close the gaps around his neck. Pressing his hands hard against his chest, he dropped his lunch and heeled over slowly. "Please stop."