Ink

Forget Me Not

Matthew sat at his desk at work, staring at his arms. Dates, times, and addresses appeared across his forearm, the handwriting nearly illegible. He had seen some pretty sloppy handwriting that was near impossible to decode, though, considering he was a second grade teacher. His students were currently at lunch, allowing him free time. He eventually tore his eyes away from the unclear writing on his arms and glanced over at his unappetizing salad. He began to eat it, because he was hungry, but decided against finishing it. 'I'll just go out for lunch after work, which ends in about...' He glances at the clock to finish his thought, 'three hours. Actually, their lunch time ends in two minutes, I better get going.' He put the lid on his take-home style salad and slid it over the edge of this desk into the trash an as he stood.

He walked down the hall and stood at the corner of the miniature brick wall in the corner of the cafeteria. He watched the children talk to one another, and saw as his class stood and ran towards the trashcans to throw away their plates. They giggled and chatted amongst one another, talking about their favorite toys and such. One of his admittedly favorite students ran up to him, excited to be line leader.

His day passed as usual, the excited chatter of kids if they got the answer correct, the kissing of boo-boos during recess, the hugs as the kids left to their busses, the chatting amongst teachers as they talked about the kids temper tantrums and which kids they thought had little crushes on one another. Speaking of crushes, there came Ms. Jefferson, who had had a huge crush on Matthew since he started teaching. He was more interested in driving girls crazy than he was in dating them, sadistic as it seems. He was the undercover gay guy, and with him not being out yet, he was free to watch them swoon over a slight movement of his hand.

She smiled at him and waved, and he pushed his hand through his messy blonde hair and waved with the other hand. He internally laughed as he watched her tan cheeks light up, and she turned and walked away. It kind of made him feel bad, to like seeing how flustered he somehow made them despite never really having in interest in them.

He walked out of the cool classroom into the surprisingly hot sun; Just this morning he was freezing. He walked to his car and yelped as the handle burnt his hand, and he looked down at his arms, still covered in notes.

He read aloud a new note sprawled on his wrist, " Downtown Coffee shop, 3:15," and thought to himself 'Well, luckily I already have plans to go there.' It was only 3:02, and the shop was only a five minute drive from the school, so he would be able to order something before whoever was his supposed soul mate showed up.

It wasn't long before he pulled his car to the side of the road in front of an 60's- esque diner turned coffee house. He walked in, his shoes tapping against the checkered floor. The smell of breakfast foods filled the air, and despite it being 3:11 due to a small gas stop, the thought of eggs and bacon sounded satisfying. He took a seat at one of the red leather bar stools, clasping his hands neatly on the bar.

"Excuse me, sir, what may I get you?" He looked up to see bright red lips against a sickeningly pale face with obvious blush, dark brown curls tied up in a bun. Green eyes, glazed over. He checked her arms. Veins but no notes.

"Two poached eggs, a side of bacon and coffee." He knew that coffee wasn't the best idea, but whatever.

"Okay hun, it'll be right up." He watched her as she walked away, the plain white dress with blue lining showed the small, frail frame of her body. She seemed unhealthy. But maybe she was just built that way.

The bell on the door rang and his attention was drawn away from the woman, to a man standing in the door way. He had on a nice suit, dark blue, almost black, which matched his eyes, framed by black rimmed glasses. His hair was neat and dark brown, he was a total opposite of Matthew with his messy blonde hair, bright green eyes and stained white button up. He sat right beside Matthew, ordering a dark brewed coffee. He seemed put together, well composed, organized.

Being rather bored, Matthew struck up a conversation. "Dark roast coffee only has more caffeine if they weigh out the scoops you know."

"Yeah, I know, I just prefer dark roast." He replied, biting his lip.

"Oh, okay.. So what brings you here?"

"Just had a busy day, plus I have a lot ahead of me today. I have to go to my nieces piano recital tonight, and I don't want to make her feel bad by falling asleep, y'know? What about you?"

"It's been a busy day for my standards. The kids were particularly fussy today so we ended up at lunch late and I didn't finish.. Not my kids, though! I'm a second grade teacher, I work up at the primary. What's your occupation?"

"I was gonna say you seem too young to have kids of your own. I work at the car company, I'm a secretary and they've had me running all day."

"Yeah, I'm only 27. I'm Matthew, by the way, nice to meet you," he said, holding his hand out.

The other man laughed and shook Matthews hand. "You're three years younger than me, gosh. Way to make me feel old." Joking, he switched his voice to a stereotypical old man voice and said, "Back in my day, we didn't need to teach the children, they learned by themselves!" He laughed and cut back to his normal voice, saying "I'm Jake, nice to meet you too."

"You definitely don't look thirty," Matthew replied, looking him up and down, then jokingly winking. He was pretty damn hot though.

"And you don't look a day over eighteen."

"Shut up, I'm a man. See, look, I have stubble here... some where."

A loud gasp was all Jake replied with , and he grabbed Matthews arms. "I'm so sorry! This has probably been such an inconvenience to you, I'm sorry. And sorry about my handwriting, I promise it's better than that when I'm not rushing."

"W-What, it's you?" He could admit, he was pretty hot and he wouldn't mind dating him but soul mates, really? Maybe this would be how he came out. Constantly questioning yourself since age 14 does make for a lonely relationship life, especially when everyone else he knew interested in dating another guy was extremely open about it. He admired their bravery.

"Yeah, you probably weren't expecting a guy soul mate. Especially not a closeted one. I've been stuck in that closet since I was eleven. I really want to come out of it with my soul mate, heh..."

"We'll do it together."