"After all, soulmates always end up together".

~Cecelia Ahern

Hunter

I did occasionally see Seb's friends around town, but I hadn't joined them at a party for a long time. About a year to be exact. After I came out of the closet I hadn't spent much time with them. It wasn't that I didn't like them -they were amazing and supportive- I just had to deal with it on my own. Truth be told, I was never in the closet. I didn't hide the fact that I wasn't attracted to women. I never had a girlfriend; I never hooked up with any girl. People just assumed that I was straight.

I had told my parents I was gay a lot before that party. Both of my parents' extended families were very open and accepting of LGBTQ people. I had realized my family was one in a million when I had learned most people's grandparents didn't wear rainbow patterned clothes.

Coming out to my school... that had not been planned. Calla and Noah knew I liked guys, but the rest of my classmates didn't. During that party last year, Seb had hooked me up with one of his friends and after around three hours of talking we ended up dancing. And then kissing. Right on the dance floor.

Calla had invited her softball team to the party, meaning Bethany and her friends were there. So they had seen us making out and Matt had interfered, which ended up into a fight between my new friend, Caleb, and Matt. Little did Matt know, Caleb had been doing Krav Maga for over a decade. He hadn't hurt Matt too much, Sebastian had interfered as he hadn't wanted the police to show up at his place. After that, Matt and his posse had been giving me a hard time. And not the kind of hard time I would have liked to get.

And here I was again, around a year later, right outside Calla's house, in my car, getting ready to see all of them again. The only difference was that today there wouldn't be any high school students besides Calla, Noah and me.

Calla lived in the suburbs, her house being a traditional two-story building. I got inside and almost immediately found Calla and Noah. They were sitting in the living room, chatting away with two of Seb's friends, who were the cutest couple ever. Arianna was clad in a floral dress and high heels, with bright pink lipstick and make-up, as she said 'on point'. Luna, one the other hand, wore a pair of skinny, ripped jeans, a band T-shirt and converse shoes. And as usual, they clung on each other as if their lives depended on it.

After chatting with them for a while, Arianna pulled Luna to the dance floor, as a salsa song started playing. Soon enough, Noah went to get another drink and Calla grabbed me and we started to dance. I didn't really look like I liked dancing -and it definitely wasn't my favorite past time- but I didn't mind it at a party or two.

I wasn't aware of how long I had been dancing, but at some point, my throat went dry so I left Calla to go grab some water. I ended up in the back yard, resting against a wall gulping a cold bottle of water and breathing heavily.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite artist in the state," someone to my left said and I turned to see Caleb.

He walked up to me, giving me a dimpled smile. His hair was short, shaved at the sides, and he carried himself with a kind of confidence that drew eyes to him. The lights Seb had put up danced on his sepia skin, and I was reminded why I had made out with him. He was attractive, to say the least.

"Caleb, how're doing?" I asked, smiling back at him and I unpeeled myself from the wall.

"Oh, you know, fine but busy. With classes and everything..." he replied. Caleb was studying Biology and during the summer break, he had given me some lessons on human anatomy. "How about you?"

"The usual. Trying to make it through high school".

"This is senior year, right?" he asked and we started walking away from the house and to a bench at the other end of the back yard. I nodded positively and sat down next to him.

"Yeah, and I'm hoping to get into the art department of UCLA..." I said with a sigh. Next to me, he laughed and sat back.

"Of course they will take you. And UCLA is a forty-minute drive from Caltech, so I can show you around too," he answered with a smile.

"That'd be awesome," I muttered and fell back against the wooden bench.

"So, um... how are things now at school? Are people still being little bitches?" his voice got softer and that confidence he always carried seemed to crack for a second.

"Not as much. Not after I've started to fight back".

"Oh?" His eyebrows shot up and he gave a throaty laugh. "Finally you're showing off that backbone I felt when you first kissed me". I felt a blush on my cheeks and I lowered my gaze.

I had been the one that had kissed him. Not the other way around. Caleb didn't care too much about having the upper hand. He always followed my lead, even though we had never actually dated. Whatever we had was something I had complete control over. That's why I had been comfortable enough to have him as my first.

"I never hid it. I chose not to flash it to everyone," I said with a small voice.

"That you did," he replied and pulled my chin towards him. For a moment I was carried away, but I stopped him before our lips met.

"I found my soulmate," I blurted out fast. Realization filled his eyes and he pulled back.

"I'm sorry for trying to kiss you," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay; you didn't know".

"Still... how come he didn't tag along?" Caleb asked, sitting back again, clearly relaxing again.

"He's, um, he's still in the closet," I answered and he gave me a look that asked me to go on. "He's bisexual and his parents are conservative".

"Damn... poor guy. Are you his first boyfriend?"

"Yeah, but he has had lots of girlfriends".

"Am I hearing jealousy?" he mused, nudging me with his knee.

"Nah, you're not. I don't really care about them. Can't say the same about his friends, though..."

Okay, maybe it was the fact that Caleb and I shared a very intimate friendship. Maybe it was the fact that he was also gay. But whatever it was, I loved talking to him. He was easy-going and he had this aura that invited you to spill all your secrets.

"What about his friends?"

"Remember the guy you hit?" He nodded with a hard look. "He's one of his friends".

"Hold up, what?! How can your soulmate be friends with that?" he replied furiously. I shrugged, not understanding it either. "So no one knows you're dating? Not even Calla and Noah?"

"They know I've found my soulmate. And they know he goes to our school. But I'm not going to say anything to them until Alex feels ready to come out". As soon as I heard it my hand flew to my mouth and my eyes bugged.

"Alex... isn't that Chris' younger brother?" Caleb muttered after a couple of moments of frowning.

Shit, Caleb used to be classmates with Alex's brother. Fuck.

"Cal, you can't tell anyone. Fuck," I said, panicking and hiding my face in my palms.

"Hunter, relax," he started, placing a hand on my back, "I won't tell a soul. Your secret, or rather his, is safe with me," he added and I turned to look at him.

"Shit, I promised not to drag him out, but I'm doing an awful job at it". He gave me a tilted glance and I huffed. "I told my sister I found my soulmate and my father overheard and he asked about him... and yeah, a week later Alex came to my house to meet my Dad".

"He came to your house?" Caleb asked with a surprised smile.

"I didn't force him," I said immediately, hearing how that sounded. "I told him if he wanted, he could come over. And he did". Caleb seemed skeptical.

"So, even though his friends and family are bigots, he's not," he noted and folded his arms before him.

"Yeah, he said he accepted himself. He's not coming out due to the fact that he still lives with his parents".

"Well, graduation is, what, eight months away. Now that you've found each other time will pass way to fast. I would know," he said with a smile.

A couple of months back he told me he started talking with two of his soulmates through their telepathic bond. Since one lived in Japan and the other in New York they decided on starting an open relationship. They knew better than to wait till they all ended up at the same place.

"What is his plan after graduation?" he asked.

"He said he wants to move to LA and get signed to a record label," I replied with a smile.

"Oh, he's a musician?"

"Singer," I replied, nodding along.

"Well, I hope everything goes along just fine. You deserve happiness," Caleb said and he sat up.

He knew my mother had killed herself, but not the rest of the gory details. As I had told Alex, I hadn't shared that part with anyone else but him. It wasn't that I didn't trust or felt comfortable with Caleb to talk to him about it. I just didn't have the courage to go through that memory, let alone speak it out.

After he went back inside, I followed him and went to find Calla and Noah. She was still dancing so I decided to join her, while Noah was sitting next to us, talking to a guy he had met earlier. I knew I would end up regretting dancing so much, but hell, I danced once a year at best. Might as well dance till I curse myself the next morning.

I went back home at four in the morning, my father and sister, deep asleep. My head was throbbing and my eyes were heavy, so I took off my clothes and fell asleep in my underwear.