Imprinted (A Michael Clifford Fic)
Could you imagine waking up one day laying next to the love of your life?
One that was hand picked for you by the unknown?
One that is supposed to fit you like a puzzle piece, who is suppose to love you regardless of anything else in the world?
Everyone, and I mean everyone, is born with a tattoo on their body somewhere.
The tattoo reads what your apparent soulmate would say to you when you meet them for the first time.
“Ma’am you dropped this!”
Tattooed on her since she was 8 years old.
Tattooed on him when he was 10 years old.
They met 15 years later. Got married after one short year, had my older brother and I within their first 5 years of marriage.
And that’s how it usually goes.
For me? It doesn’t work out like that.
At the age of 4, I had a small tattoo of a smiley face on the palm of my hand.
Erased after one long summer.
At the age of 9, I had the words “Why is you hair that short?” plastered on my hip bone.
Gone when I decided to never cut my hair.
At the age of 13, I had “I know you think you’re ugly, but to me you’re the prettiest 8th grader I’ve ever met.” written along my collarbone.
I forced that one to disappear when I overheard the 15 year old boy get dared to say so by choosing to not say anything.
It’s not that I don’t want to find love.
I don’t think it’s meant for me.
I don’t like the idea that at whatever age we should dedicate our lives to the person behind the tattoo.
And I wasn’t ready at 13.
I’m going to be 21 soon and I haven’t had a tattoo in almost 8 years. Maybe I fucked myself over. Maybe the unknown decided I was a picky, indecisive bitch that shouldn’t know the wonder that is love…
Well, I guess that’s all I have to log in for today.
Dawn told me I should start journaling about this since by everyone I’ve met so far, my “soulmate journey” is extremely unheard of.
I shut my leather bound journal and tucked it away in my nightstand, laying my head back onto my pillow.
Dawn is my best friend and even though she has had a tattoo of her own for the past 2 years and day dreams of the day she’ll meet “the one” she still for the most part is trying her best to understand my stance on the tattoo to lover business.
And like I stated in my journal entry, she told me I should journal what it’s like to being a soulmate-less human.
It’s not a hard concept to wrap your mind around, but I guess some people have a hard time believing and understanding it.
I look over at the clock on my nightstand and take note that it’s only 5:30 at night. Taking note of the time, my stomach let out the most obnoxiously loud noise to indicate that I need to eat.
Prying myself out of bed I made my way into the shared living space Dawn and I had to find her sprawled out on the couch absorb in her phone.
“Hey dude, I’m getting hungry. Would you like to grab some food with me?” I asked, sitting myself on the arm rest.
“I’m down, as long as it isn’t Taco Bell. We’ve had that two days in a row already.” I could hear the teasing tone in her voice.
“It’s a comfort fooood, okay?” I whine. “How about… Sushi?”
“Fuck yeah, let’s go.” Suddenly, my arm is being grabbed and my body is forcefully being taken to the door.
“D, can I at least put my shoes on?!”
“I mean, I guess.” The grasp she had on my wrist is released so I could slide my shoes on and a short minute later we were off to the little sushi boat restaurant.
The faint sounds of music moved through the car as Dawns shabby little Honda drives through the little college town. Scattered through the town were little shops that tourists would visit when they drive through and a movie theatre that the locals swear has the best buttered popcorn to ever exist.
My favorite little coffee shop is smack dab in the center of it all, the art inside is so lively and beautiful, it takes me out of my normal boring life sometimes. I frequented there so much that I became friends with the only barista, Sonny, the moment he would see me walk up he would start making my drink. Call me basic, but I get an iced almond milk white chocolate mocha, and every time I’d go up to order it would ALWAYS be sitting there waiting for me. Sonny became much more than the guy who makes my coffee, when I would be there he would always make small talk with me and that small talk blossomed into a caffeine induced friendship. We would talk about struggles with school, with our financial situations, our family issues and so much more. He’s also one of the only people who didn’t look at my any differently when we discussed my lack of ink.
Unfortunately, Sonny is a foreign exchange student from Germany and is moving back to help his family out. I hope whoever’s next somehow makes that little shop feel like home.
As I dwell in my thoughts, I didn’t notice that the car came to the stop and we were in front of the family owned sushi restaurant.
“Earth to (Y/N)!!” I felt Dawns warm breath fan over my left ear. “We gon get sushi, get out of the car!”
“I know, I know!” I unbuckle and follow her eager figure in.
“Booth for two please!” She requests. The waiter quietly and quickly brings us to a small booth right next to the little track of sushi that is circulating through the entire place. As we sat down, I immediately started grabbing plates that caught my eye.
“So.. what got you all up in the clouds back there?” Dawn questioned, picking one plate at a time.
“I saw the coffee shop I go to and remembered Sonny left to go back to Germany. That shit makes me sad, he made my coffee so well.” I say, stuffing the piece of sushi in my mouth.
“And he listened to all of your sorrows. He wasn’t just a barista to you, dude.” She was right, she’s known me for the past 5 years and knows that it’s hard for me to open up and make new friends.
“It’s okay to be sad, (Y/N/N).” She pouts, reaching her hand out to pat my head.
“Who said I was sad? I’m proud of him for making a decision like the one he made.” Yeah, I was sad but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. He loved his family and wanted to help them so he went back home to do so.
“Mhm..” I look over at her, to see her eyebrow quirked up which just meant she wasn’t believing me fully.
“Just shut up and eat your dead fish, D.” I say, giving her a soft kick to the leg.
She let out a small noise of discomfort before continuing the conversation, “So do you think whoever works their next will make your drink just as good as Sonny did? And be as friendly?”
I let out a sigh, “I don’t know. Hopefully. Probably not.” And with that, she just nodded and indulged in eating.
For the rest of the night all Dawn and I did was watch a movie then go to bed since we had classes in the morning. But as the night grew on, I remember that I had a paper I need to finish before my 9 am class tomorrow.
Which just means I’d have to get up extra early, go to the coffee shop to fuel up and finish the paper.
A/N: I’m sorry this is sooo long and drawn out. But that’s exposition babyyyy!! I’m planning on making this story have multiple parts?? I promise you it’ll get better as I get back into the groove and dive into the story more! Love u all. Muahh.
Tags: @jpgluke @gigglyirwin @mysticalhood @cashton-queen