Words Without Meaning

Words (Logan POV)

Roman, Patton and I sat in my room staring at my wrist. My soulmate tattoo had appeared five minutes ago and we sat there for the entire five minutes staring at it. The word that had appeared was so random. I honestly could not fathom a single instance in which it would be the first word anyone would say to me. To make matters even worse it wasn't a solid colour.

The word "Platypus" was written on my wrist in what could only be described as scratch marks. Each letter of the word was a gradient of pink, red, and grey. It was also outlined in a colour that was not a soulmate tattoo colour. Purple. The marks were a mess and I found myself growing more and more disheartened as my friends and I stared at it.

"What does it mean?"

"It's a venomous aquatic mammal with a duckbill, the body and tail of a beaver, and webbed feet that lays eggs," I adjust my glasses as I spoke.

"Umm... no, Logan. I meant what do the colours mean. I know what a platypus is, kiddo."

I blushed slightly and nodded my head. "Right. My apologies, Patton. It's quite obvious what the colours mean though."

"Oh?" My friends gave me a questioning look.

"It means I will never have a soulmate," I stated matter-of-factly. I sighed softly and walked over to my dresser and pulled out a first aid kit as my friends looked at me dejectedly. I shook my head and grabbed some surgical gauze and tape out of the small box and began wrapping my wrist, covering the offending marks.

"What are you doing?!" Roman jumped up from his seat and yelled at me.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm covering it. No one needs to know about it. No one besides us. If anyone asks we will simply state that I would rather focus on my studies and should my soulmate make themselves known I would rather it be them speaking truthfully than seeing the word and reading it out loud."

"Logan..." Patton furrowed his brow and bit his thumbnail nervously.

"It is not a lie, Patton. If I am wrong and I am destined to have a soulmate I would rather them say the word because they are meant to than to accidentally read it from my wrist," my tail flicked as I spoke, showing the annoyance I felt at my friends' concern that I tried not to show in my voice.

I know they meant well. I knew they had my happiness in mind with their concern. But, I didn't want their concern. I didn't want their pity. My tattoo was defective. It was the universe just being cruel to me.

"We should go make cookies," Patton suddenly exclaimed when I put the first aid kit back after covering my mark. Of course, he would suggest cookies. He was the only werewolf I knew that ate mostly sweets. I honestly wondered if that was even healthy for him.

"I've got a better idea," Roman chimed in.

"What might that be?" I asked the gorgon.

"We should go and get some pizza and catch a movie. Take our minds off of this stupid soulmates crap."

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Roman."

"Okay, kiddo."

We ran down the stairs and slipped on our sneakers. I called out to my father to let him know where we were going before we left out the door. Normally I would've waited for his response before leaving, but I knew he was still working and he'd insisted that I spend my birthday out with my friends instead of cooped up in the house all day long reading like I did on so many other birthdays.

"What movie should we go and see," Patton asked, bouncing around us excitedly.

"There's a new Disney movie out. We could go see that."

"There's a documentary about Madam Curie."

Roman and Patton stopped walking and stared at me.

"Say psych right now," Roman demanded, crossing his arms and glaring at me through his sunglasses.

"It is his birthday today, Ro."

"A documentary though?"

"Fine. How about the new Star Wars movie?"

"...fine," Roman conceded and Patton smiled.

"Let's go eat first and then catch the movie. That way we aren't too hungry afterwards," the werewolf suggested.

We nodded in agreement and made our way to the mall.