A case of beer and ten minutes later, Onyx was walking through his front door and making his way to his bedroom without bothering to remove his shoes. It wasn’t as if the place was ever truly clean, anyway, so what was the problem with a few more dirt stains in the carpet here and there? 

The smell of cigarette smoke hit him before he even pushed his bedroom door open, and his nose scrunched up a bit in distaste. His girlfriend acknowledged him with a slight nod before taking another drag and blowing it back out despite the look of annoyance Onyx was sending her way. 

“Alyssa,” Onyx muttered, setting the beer on his nightstand and throwing his jacket somewhere on the floor behind him. “I told you to quit smoking in my room. That shit gives me a headache.”

“You were taking forever,” she shrugged, hazel eyes meeting his own. “What were you doing, anyway? I know you didn’t spend almost half an hour buying beer.”

Onyx hesitated before slowly revealing his wrist to Alyssa. His veins still glowed, though not as bright as beforehand considering he wasn’t within close proximity to his soulmate. Soulmate. God, he hated the sound of that word; now more than ever.

He’d never thought he’d find his soulmate. To be frank, he’d always resented the possibility of doing so. The whole idea was corny in his not-so-humble opinion; something that occurred in fairytales, but his life wasn’t a children’s story. His life was real, dammit. And to make the whole ordeal even worse, his soulmate was some rich, snotty teenager from who knows where, and he was male. He couldn’t decide if he was angered by the situation at hand or… curious. 

Alyssa took a long stare at his presented wrist; even stood up for closer examination when she was having trouble believing what she was seeing. She ran a thumb along his veins with a scoff before saying, “so what? Now you’re going to dump me to follow your destiny or some shit?”

“No—”

“What does she look like?” Alyssa questioned, blowing a puff of smoke in his face. “Is she at least hot?”

Onyx snatched his wrist from Alyssa’s hold with a glare. “No, Alyssa. My soulmate is a guy.”

Alyssa laughed. “What? With balls between his legs and all?”

Onyx let out a long exhale. “I’m serious.”

“I was never doubting you,” Alyssa continued to chuckle. “All I’m saying is you’d make a perfect bottom, shorty. You’re short and pretty. That’s a good catch if I’ve ever heard one.”

Onyx cocked an eyebrow at her before opening a can of beer and taking a few long gulps. “Say that shit again and I’ll break your twig-structured body in half. I’m not pretty. You should reserve that term for girls.”

“Pretty, sexy, handsome… same difference. I’m just saying you aren’t the worst-looking guy I’ve ever seen.” She moved to grab a beer as well. “So, in all seriousness, what does this mean? I didn’t think you were interested in men… let alone most girls. I was under the impression that I’m your one and only. That still true?”

“I’m not interested in men,” Onyx stated, avoiding answering the second part of her question. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we aren’t going to become a thing so don’t worry about it. Nothing changes.”

“Alright,” Alyssa shrugged. “If you say so.”

Onyx chugged the rest of the drink down and was moving to grab another when he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. An unknown number was attempting to reach him, but he had a certain feeling the person behind the call wasn’t as unknown as he thought. He glanced back at Alyssa only to see she was now invested in her phone and quickly stepped out into the hallway to answer the call before it could go to voicemail.

“Onyx?” a familiar voice asked on the other line.

Onyx hummed. “Day.”

“Hey.” He heard a smile in the guy’s voice and it irked him beyond belief. “So about the money I owe you… We can meet up at my place tomorrow or next weekend if that’s okay with you?”

“Why your place?” Onyx questioned.

“Well, I didn’t want to make this sound like a date considering you aren’t gay,” Day said and Onyx just managed to catch the tease in his voice. “But I can take you out to eat or something if that sounds better for you.”

“I’m not your fucking mistress,” Onyx muttered with a frown. “Text me your address and a time. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

"Alright," Day laughed. "Then I'll see you soon."

And suddenly, this wasn’t sounding like the best idea.