Fated to be his

1. To be or not to be

As I stand among the many bodies all filing in one by one, the hall is drenched in a pink light as if love is in the air. All the girls who have found their faded person glow with happiness as their men hold their hands with pride.

My chest tightens as I think of my faded person. Why did he have to be the one person I can't have? The one person who makes so much sense but is also the biggest puzzle?

"Hi sweet pea." I jump slightly as Gregory comes up behind me and hugs me.

"Hi." I turn and smile at him. His dorky glasses on and slightly curly hair making him look a lot younger than he is.

"What are you doing?" He asks before stealing a small peck.

"Just getting stuff from my locker." I shrug and hold my books closer to my chest.

He smiles and grabs my hand as the first bell rings; walking through the halls we find our way to English. Which must be the biggest waste of my time since we are only reading books which we have read for the past three years.

"Hey." I glance over to Gregory as he whispers to me from the next row. He passes me a piece of paper and I unfold it.

(Have you gotten your mark yet? 0.0)

My heart drops. What should I write?

I look over at him and he is looking at me nervously. I shake my head and my stomach knots.

The truth is, I've had my mark sense I was 14.
But for you all to understand, I have to explain what a mark is first.

A few years back, scientists came up with a new way for people to find who we are meant to be with. Like real, ever lasting love. When you first meet your faded person you both will get a mark, kind of like a tattoo. The marks will match with who you are faded to. Over the years, kids are now born with this adaptation instead of getting injected at your doctors office. Usually when you meet your faded person everything works out, your happy and they love you.

But I know that in my case, being faded is no simple thing. You see, I've been dating Gregory for a year now; but before we dated we were just neighbors.

Who I'm faded to, he is...

"Riley! Hello, earth to Riley." I look up to see Tiffany and her boyfriend Denis stand in front of my seat, everyone else in the classroom has already gone.

"Sorry." I give them a cheesy smile and they just roll their eyes.

I look over to see that Gregory is standing out in the hall talking to a group of people who are in the student council.

Once I've gathered my things and walking to painting with Tiffany, she decides to bring up one subject that I really don't want to talk about.

"Have you seen Aiden recently?"

"No."

"Don't you think you should?"

"No."

"Riley." She stops and grabs my arm. "He is your faded person, how do you plan to go about your life without him and pretending that Gregory is?" She gives me a pitying look.

"I don't plan to go my whole life without him...I just," I let out a big sigh, "I don't know how to tell Gregory that his older brother is my faded person, especially when he says he is so in love with me." Again my stomach knots.

"I can see how that would be hard, but don't you think it would be better to tell him now than letting him believe that you are his faded person? I mean I would be crushed if Denis pretended to be with me, when I was meant for someone else."

"But you don't have to worry about that since you two are faded." I point out as my eyes go to the Dream catcher behind her right ear.

She nods, her eyebrows pulled down in a serious thinking face. "I guess it's harder in your situation considering you grew up with them both and Aiden moved out."

I nod, the first time I met Aiden was when my family moved into the house a crossed the street from theirs. Gregory was the nerdiest boy I had ever seen... and Aiden was the most handsome person I had ever laid eyes on.

I wonder if he knew then, or if he found out later. For me, the moment my eyes met Aiden's, I felt something. But my mark didn't appear until later that night when I was in bed.

Whenever I see Aiden now a days it's at his families get togethers and family dinners. But they haven't had one in months, which means no Aiden in sight.

He is two years older than me which makes sense; I also see that he has other marks on him. Not just the one for me. Which makes me wonder if he doesn't want me.

My chest tightens again.

"I'm sure things will work out Riley, but you really do need to tell Gregory. Before he meets his faded person and gets really confused." Tiffany says quickly as we take our seats.

"I know."

But my brain once again, questions how I even go about telling him this. He is so sure that we are faded, that we are meant to be. It will crush him to know who I'm actually faded to.

Just when I am about to start painting, my phone buzzes and I pull it out to see a text from Gregory.

(Hey baby, my parents want to have a family dinner tonight. They asked me to invite you. Sometimes I think my mom loves you more than me :P)

Again my stomach knots, but this time to the point were I feel like I'm going to be sick.

Great. Dinner with the family. Meaning Gregory, his dad, Mom, and Aiden.