A/N - This chapter was inspired by the song Higher Love by Kygo and Whitney Houston, which I've just been listening to on repeat recently. It is set in an AU where your soulmate's first words are etched on your skin on your 16th birthday. I hope you all enjoy it.
"That's a real pretty suit," a voice uttered, sending your mind reeling as you blinked your eyes open to look up at the man towering over you, throwing a shadow across you.
"No," you bit out, jaw tense as you shook your head. "Nope," you repeated softly when his brow furrowed. "It's not you; that's bullshit." Billy looked a little startled at your outburst, watching you scramble up off of your sunlounger to stand opposite him. "Who told you what my words were, huh?" you pressed on. "Do you think this is funny? Messing with people like this?"
"I don't understand-"
Your jaw tensed as you shook your head, holding your forearm out in his direction, showing off the pretty cursive text painting your skin. "How'd you know?"
He blinked in confusion, seeing his own words on your skin. "I didn't," he muttered. "I just recognised you from school; thought maybe a little flirting wouldn't do anyone any harm-" his words trailed off. His hand lifted, brushing over his chest, right over his heart, where he had one word etched. No. It stood out against his skin, drawing attention from a few of the moms who came to the pool to check him out whilst he worked, but now that he knew it was yours, he hated the fact that they'd ever seen it at all.
"Was it Tommy? He's had it out for me ever since I turned him down in 7th grade-"
"Nobody put me up to it. I didn't know your words until you showed me them," he interrupted. "I promise."
It was then that you looked at him properly, seeing the pink tinge to his cheeks and his flustered expression. He was clueless. Completely and utterly clueless. He hadn't known, which meant that this was real. "Shit," you breathed out.
"What'd you do wrong to get stuck with me, huh?" he hummed, offering up a small, hesitant smile. "I mean, come on, a nice girl like you? Always expected you to end up with someone more like Harrington-"
"Everyone knows that Nancy and Steve are soulmates. They were dating before the words even showed up," you murmured, shuffling awkwardly on the spot. "You aren't going to be one of those guys who keeps sleeping around after finding their soulmate, right? Because if you are, there's no point even talking about this," you pressed on. "I'd rather die sad and alone than end up in a relationship like that."
Billy looked a little taken back by your comment, brow furrowing. He'd never had to consider the future before. Never had to think about committing to one woman for the rest of his life. But now, here you were talking about long-term commitments, and somehow, it wasn't terrifying. Because, if the world thought you were perfect for him, then why would it ever be wrong?
"I'm not going to sleep around," he confirmed, voice soft. "I wouldn't do that to you."
You nodded. "Good."
"So, what happens now?" he uttered. "Are you my girlfriend, or-"
"Slow down," you chuckled, and suddenly Billy was transfixed. I mean, you'd been pretty when you looked mad, but now, seeing a smile aimed at him, it was enough to bring him to his knees. "I don't know how people do it in California, but around these parts, people go on dates before they make it official," you teased.
He held up his hands in surrender. "So, you're going to let me take you out?"
You bit down on the inside of your cheek. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Alrighty, give me your address; I'll pick you up tonight at 7."
Your brow furrowed slightly as you grabbed your bag, digging out a pen to scribble your address onto Billy's arm, your fingers running delicately over the bare skin. "Where are you taking me?"
He grinned down at you, standing so close that you could smell the mix of cigarette smoke and mint on his breath. "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you, Sweetheart?"
*Time Skip*
Billy had knocked on the front door at exactly 6:57, just a couple of minutes early, stopping you from spiralling out as you waited for him. Your mom hadn't gotten to the door first, excited to see the man that had been matched to her daughter, and quickly ushered him inside.
You paused when you reached the top of the stairs. Seeing him in your house was bizarre. I mean, you hadn't even said a word to him before today and now here he was, looking like he belonged in your life without even trying.
"Hi," you murmured, drawing his attention up to you from the family photo on the wall that your mother had been showing him.
"Wow," he hummed out, eyes running over the summer dress you were wearing. "You look-" his words trailed off into a soft sigh. "Great," he finally managed as you finally reached the bottom of the stairs, shooting your mother a warning look when she started grinning ear to ear.
"Thank you," you breathed out, a small smile playing on your lips. "Are you ready to go?"
He glanced back over to the picture on the wall. "Your mom was just showing me the family reunion picture," he murmured, smiling when his eyes landed on a younger you, beaming out of the picture. "You were so cute," he added, turning back to you just in time to catch you rolling your eyes at the comment.
"Alright; we're leaving," you muttered, taking his hand in yours and dragging him out of the front door and towards his car.
Once you were situated in the passenger seat, he took the chance to look over at you again, a dopey smile pulling at his lips. "You look so beautiful," he told you, causing a snort of laughter to slip out of you. "I know I said 'great' before but that wasn't the word I meant. It's just that your mom was there and I couldn't find the right thing to say-" he paused for a moment. "I'm not used to saying shit like that out loud. I almost said that you looked hot in front of your mom," he pressed on, only stopping when he looked up to find you smiling softly over at him.
"Your nervous," you told him, giving him a small shrug. "I make you nervous and in my mind, that's a good sign, so don't worry about it." Your tongue darted out to wet your bottom lip as you flipped the sun visor down, glancing at yourself in the mirror for a moment. "Besides," you murmured, a playful little smirk pulling at your features. "I do look hot."
Billy let out a sharp laugh. "Christ, you're going to be the death of me, Sweetheart," he muttered, putting the car into drive and pulling away from the curb. "You put on this good girl image for the world but then you come out on a first date looking like that. You're the devil in disguise."
"Oh yeah?"
"Definitely," he hummed. "I must've done something right in another life to get you as my soulmate in this one."
"Jesus, you must've been a saint," you teased, completely fixated on him. "Are you going to tell me where we're going now?"
"Nope," he murmured. "It's a surprise."
You narrowed your eyes at him. "I swear, if you murder me, I'm going to be really pissed off," you told him, drawing out another bubble of laughter from him.
"I'm not going to murder you, Sweetheart." He paused for a moment, taking a glance at you from the corner of his eye, your focus still aimed at him. "What are you looking at?"
You shrugged slightly. "I never really looked at you before. Heard rumours. Knew who you were. But never really looked, you know? I'm making up for the lost time."
"Well, what do you think?"
You smirked slightly. "I think I got pretty lucky," you hummed, voice all soft. "I mean, Claire's soulmate is really sweet, but he looks like a total hick. And Jodie's is that guy Keith from Family Video-"
"So, you like my face?"
"It's nice to look at." A small smirk pulled at his lips as he pulled into the parking lot that ran along the side of Lover's Lake. "You sure you aren't going to murder me?"
"How could I murder you now? You just said you like my face," he teased, drawing a soft bubble of laughter out of you. "Give me a sec; just need to get the stuff out the back."
You followed as he got out of the car, trailing along to the back until you saw him with a blanket thrown over his shoulder and a picnic basket clutched in his hand. "You sorted all of this in one afternoon?" you asked, the teasing nature of the conversation falling away.
He shrugged. "I had a little help. Susan leant me the basket and the blanket. Said it was a nice idea-"
"It is a nice idea," you confirmed softly, taking his free hand in yours. "Now what?"
He pulled you a little closer to him, draping the arm you were holding around your shoulders. "There's this little spot a couple of minutes that way," he told you, nodding in the direction he was leading you. "Nice view of the lake and the stars."
You bit down on your bottom lip, glancing up at him for a moment. "You're a proper little romantic," you teased softly.
"Not normally, I'm not. But I mean, you're my soulmate. If I'm going to pull out all the stops, it's got to be for you, right?"
"Right," you confirmed, letting him lead you over to the spot he had planned out.
*Time Skip*
It hadn't taken long for you to get fully comfortable with Billy, both of you spread out on the blanket, your head resting on his shoulder. It was a clear night, luckily enough, and you had spent most of it pointing out little clusters of stars.
"It's so pretty out here," you murmured, turning over to smile down at him. "You did a really good job planning this," you added, your face so close to his that you could feel his breath fanning over your features.
"Yeah?"
You nodded. "I'm impressed," you told him. "I was expecting some shitty diner or a crap movie that I would've detested, but you surprised me."
"As I said, Soulmates get the full works. You aren't getting the low-effort dates. You're getting the 'pull out all the stops' shit."
You leant forwards slightly, connecting your lips to his. "Thank you," you murmured against his lips, pulling back to rest your chin on his chest, smiling up at him.
He grinned, his hand lifting to run up your spine. "You are very welcome, Sweetheart. And you'd better get used to it. I don't plan on fucking this up any time soon."
Please consider supporting me for just £3 using Ko-Fi. The link is available on my profile page. If you have any questions about Ko-Fi please feel free to private message me. Thank you. L x