Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Soulmates are a tricky thing. Some people believe that they're two halves that make a whole and that the Universe will work in mysterious ways to make sure the two halves meet. Others believe it’s not real, because they don’t get a soulmark or the soulmate “the universe” gave them isn’t a good person; isn’t good to or for them. You see, realising you’ve met your soulmate also isn't the easiest process. When you turn eighteen you and your soulmate form a connection, through your skin. You each receive an identical tattoo, a soulmark, that has you linked for life. For those who don’t ever receive a soulmark, it means the inevitable, they’re one of the few who are markless. It’s disheartening. The big question remains, how will you meet your soulmate? The only clue you have is your matching tattoo. 

Gina Porter is sitting on the toilet seat in her bathroom waiting for her eighteenth birthday. It’s 23:58. Her right leg is bouncing up and down as she bites her bottom lip. She’s anxious. Gina has always dreamed of having a soulmate, she has seen how her parents are with each other. They have a connection beyond just sharing soulmarks. She’s seen her parents have a non-verbal conversation and an understanding that can only come from being soulmates. The way they look at each other, as if they’re the only people in the world, she wants that. 

Checking the time Gina sees it’s 00:00. She exhales softly, butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she waits for her soulmark to form. Nothing happens, she starts to look all over her arms and legs and finds nothing. Her stomach drops as a shiver goes up her back. She doesn’t have a soulmark.  

“G?” Her brother, Jamie, knocks on the bathroom door. “You in there?”

“Yeah...”

“What are you doing? Taking the longest shit possible?” Jamie laughs to himself. 

“No!” Gina blushes and quickly stands up to open the door. “You’re so gross.”

“But you love me,” Jamie grins as he stands leaning in the doorway, Gina smiles back at him. “Happy Birthday Gigi!”

Jamie leans in and hugs his little sister tightly. Gina welcomes the hug, Jamie isn’t around often because he studies Music at Juilliard in New York. She’s happy he could make the trip home for the long weekend to celebrate her birthday.  

“Thanks Jamie,” Gina says softly into his ear, trying to not think about not getting a soulmark.  

“It isn’t much, but here’s a little something,” Jamie says as he pulls back from their hug and hands her a small box. 

“Aaw Jamie you didn’t have to,” Gina pouts with a small smile forming on her lips. She opens the box and sees a necklace with the comedy and tragedy masks as a charm. She gasps. “Jamie this isn’t a little something, it’s beautiful.”

Jamie shakes his head and smiles as his sister excitedly takes the necklace out to examine it. “I saw it in one of the stores along Broadway and I had to get it for you.”

“Can you help me put it on?” Gina asks holding the necklace out to her brother and he nods.

Gina giddily hands him the necklace and turns around, holding up her hair. Once Jamie has secured the clasp he taps her shoulder and says, “All done.”

“Thank you,” Gina turns smiles widely at him and then looks in the bathroom mirror. “I love it, thank you so much, you’re the best!”

Gina gives her brother another tight hug as tears start to form in her eyes. He hugs her back just as tightly and sighs happily when they pull back. 

“You don’t have to thank me Gigi, I’d do anything for you,” Jamie says putting a hand on her back and squeezing her shoulder. “You know that right?”

Gina nods and smiles widely, admiring how her new necklace looks on her in the mirror as she leans forward to get a closer look.

“What’s this?” Jamie asks looking at the back of her neck. 

“What?” Gina asks confused. “Is there something wrong with the necklace?”

“No...”Jamie reaches for her shirt at the base of her neck and pulls it down slightly. “Oh my God, G!”

“What, what is it?” Gina asks worriedly touching the back of her neck self-consciously.  

Jamie stares at her back for a few seconds longer as Gina tries to see what he sees. She turns and looks in the mirror, pulling at her shirt and failing to see what he saw. 

“You’ve...you’ve got your soulmark,” Jamie says softly with a smile.

“I do?” Gina smiles widely as she spins to face her brother. “What is it?”

Jamie nods and spins her around to take a better look, he lifts his sister’s shirt slightly from the bottom and looks at her back in more detail. “Holy shit...it’s gorgeous.”

“Really?” Gina beams at her brother through the mirror. “Let me see, show me.”

Gina turns her body so she can see her back in the mirror and he brother helps her by holding her shirt up so she can see what it is. Her breath catches in her throat when she sees it’s the phases of the moon. She can’t see the top part, but she’s sure from what Jamie saw that it starts at the base of her neck and goes all the way down her spine. She smiles softly as she reaches with her hands to feel the bottom few moon phases, her skin tingles at her own touch and she lets out a breath she was holding. 

“Oh my God, Jamie,” Gina says looking her brother excitedly. “I can’t believe it.”

Jamie smiles happily at his sister. Receiving your soulmark is confirmation that someone out there is meant to be in your life, they’re meant to be with you. When Jamie turned eighteen a few years back his soulmark formed on his right calf, going down to his ankle. It’s a feather that looks wind swept, sometimes when Jamie looks in the mirror he swears it looks like the feather is moving. 

“G, I’m so happy for you,” Jamie says with a grin. “I know you’ve waited for this your whole life.”

Gina nods and reaches for her brother’s hand and squeezes it. “I didn’t even know what to expect, this is beyond anything I ever dreamed of.” 

Jamie nods in understanding and says, “Now you just have to find your match.”

Gina falters at that, thinking about her ex-boyfriend. She’d thought he was her match. Jamie seems to sense Gina’s change in mood and claps his hands and says, “Come on let’s go show mom and dad, and celebrate your birthday.”

Smiling at her brother she follows him out of the bathroom and he takes he downstairs where their parents have a small surprise waiting for her. 

–––––––––––

The next morning Gina groggily wakes up and heads to the bathroom. She had been up till the early morning hours chatting with her family after they surprised her with cake and champagne to celebrate her birthday at midnight. Her parents had said they could all sleep in and then they’d have brunch for her birthday at her favourite restaurant. 

Gina washes her face and reaches for her toothbrush and toothpaste when she remembers that she got her soulmark. Quickly shrugging off her shirt she turns around and looks at her tattoo in more detail. The full moon is right in the middle of her back, at the centre of her spine, the other phases of the moon are on either side of it going up and down her back. She can’t believe how beautiful it is, she can make out what looks to be craters on the moon, such fine detail. 

Smiling to herself she hops in the shower and hums. As the hot water hits her back she feels her soulmark tingle, she smiles thinking about when she’ll get a chance to meet her soulmate. Her brother has had his soulmark for almost 5 years and he still hasn’t met his soulmate. Gina hopes she doesn't have to wait that long before she meets him, she smiles to herself just thinking about different scenarios of them meeting. She doesn’t let herself even think that maybe she had already met her soulmate, because thinking that could only mean one person. She didn’t want him. 

After her quick shower she gets ready to leave. Wanting to showcase her soulmark, she dresses in a sports bra and a cropped sweater that hangs loosely off one shoulder, with some baggy jeans and her Doc Martens.  

“Honey, we’re leaving soon,” her mother knocks on her bedroom door and leans on the doorway. “You ready?”

“Yip,” Gina smiles at her mother from her seat at her vanity. “Just putting some finishing touches on my makeup.”

“Okay, no rush, we’ve got time,” Teri smiles lovingly at her daughter, all grown up. Her eyes catch Gina’s soulmark and she internally sighs in relief that both her children have soulmarks. She wants them to find the love she had in their father. 

“Oh mom, could you help me with the necklace Jamie got me, please?” Gina asks her mother, gesturing to  where she put the necklace last night when she went to bed. 

“Sure honey,” Teri goes over and picks up the necklace. “Your brother was so excited when he got you this.”

Gina smiles softly thinking about how thoughtful her brother is. Her mother finishes clasping the necklace and she rests her hands on Gina’s shoulders looking at her through the mirror. 

“He said it was fate when he found it,” Terri says with a smirk. “Since it’s inevitable that you’re going to get into NYU.”

“Mom,” Gina says embarrassed. “I still have to do the interview and audition before I can even consider Tisch right now.”

“I know Gigi, but you’re gonna get in,” Teri says leaning down and hugging Gina from behind. “You’re gonna get in and in a few years you’ll be on Broadway like you’ve always dreamed of.”

Gina beams at her mom and returns the hug. “Thanks mom.”

“Okay honey, met us downstairs once you’re ready,” Teri says with a smile and leaves Gina to finish up. 

––––––––––––

A few weeks later Gina is sitting in a hallway at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts awaiting her audition. She’s nervous as she bites her bottom lip and looks around at the others waiting with her. Teri sits beside her daughter and puts a calm hand on her leg that’s bouncing up and down.  

“Honey, why don’t you walk around a bit hmm?” Teri asks in a whisper. “It may help with the nerves, and help you stay loose for your audition.”

Gina doesn’t respond immediately. She looks at her mother with imploring eyes and Teri responds with a smiles of encouragement. “It’s okay, just don’t go too far.”

Nodding Gina gets up and walks, she’s not sure where but she walks. She gets to the end of the hallway that curves around a slight bend and turns around and walks back towards where her mother is, then back again. She realises she’s now pacing back and forth and that’s not really helping with the nerves. She rolls her eyes at her own actions. At the end of the hallway she notices some brochures against the wall. Picking one up she reads it over, it’s the monthly calendar that shows everything happening this month at Tisch, Arts Monthly. As she’s looking it over someone bumps into her and she nearly falls on her ass but they catch her by her arm. 

“Oh shit, sorry, my bad. You okay?”

Gina looks up into the most beautiful hazel eyes she’s ever seen. They have specks of green and a twinkle of confusion as the boy who she bumped into frowns. She feels a shiver go up her spine as they lock eyes. Gina steps back pulling her arm back to her side, as she rubs the back of her neck. The tingle she felt is gone.  

“I’m so sorry, that was all me, I was standing in the middle of nowhere,” Gina grimaces as she looks down at her feet. From his NYU hoodie she can only assume he’s already a student.  

“No big, I wasn't really looking where I was going,” he responds with a chuckle. “I’m EJ.”

“Gina,” she responds shyly, taking the hand he offers. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” EJ smiles and she swears his eyes sparkle, and the shiver up her back happens again along with a flutter in her stomach. “So...you new here?”

“I wish,” Gina scoffs and pulls her hand back, then at his look of confusion she clarifies. “I’m auditioning, just down the hallway.”

“Oh right, that’s today,” EJ mutters under his breath as he looks in the direction she pointed. “Shit, I guess I can’t go see Miss Jenn.”

Gina shrugs her shoulders, uncertain of what to say to the boy. 

“Uh...anyway, sorry for bumping into you,” EJ smiles at her easily. “Break a leg with your audition, maybe I'll see you in the Fall.”

“Thanks,” Gina blushes and grins up at him. “See you...maybe.”

Gina quickly turns and speed walks in the other direction, she hears EJ chuckle softly. Once she’s around the bend she leans against the wall and tries to even out her breathing and calm her heart rate down. Great, she was meant to be calming her nerves down with her walk, now she’s even more hyped up. All for a cute boy. Awesome.

“There you are honey,” Teri sighs as she rounds the bend and sees her daughter. “You’re almost up, there’s a boy whose going in ahead of you soon, so let’s go wait there.”

Gina nods dumbly and follows her mother. Her nerves about the audition had subsided, now her stomach was all aflutter about the cute boy she’d met. If she got in, would she see him around more? Would he want to get to know her as much as she wanted to get to know him? 

Only time will tell. 

Chapter Text

“Dad I seriously don’t think Gigi is gonna need this much of a stash when it comes to snacks,” Jamie says as him and his parents help Gina unpack in her dorm room. 

They’d all driven to New York together to bring Gina for her Freshman year and to help Jamie settle into his apartment he’s renting now that he’s graduated. After finding out she’d been accepted into Tisch Gina had been ecstatic, her parents confirming for her what they’d been telling her all along and her brother saying her was proud. 

“You never know,” their father, James Porter, states with a knowing smile, setting down the box he’d been carrying. “All those long rehearsals, dance classes and who knows what else, she’s gonna need it.”

Gina smiles a her father lovingly and goes over to put her arms around him from the side. “Dad’s right Jamie, I am constantly snacking cause I’m always on the go.”

“Your father knows from experience,” Teri says from her position at Gina’s closet where she’s unpacking her clothes. “Gina would take a box of granola bars to school almost every day.”

Jamie rolls his eyes at his sister as he looks up from the box his father just carried in. “I guess this is sufficient then. But maybe eat some proper food too sis.”

“I will,” Gina giggles as her father kisses the top of her head. “I mean, I’ll probably be over at your place more often than not, so make sure you have proper food ready.”

Jamie scoffs at her suggestion but at her pouty look he smiles with a nod. 

“Jamie I expect you to look out for your sister,” James says crossing his arms when Gina steps away from him. “She’s still young and vulnerable.”

“Dad,” Gina whines in protest.

“No Gigi, your father is right,” Teri says going over to stand next to her husband and smiling at him. “You may be a young woman now, but there are still times you will need someone to watch out for you and take care of you––”

Teri breaks off as tears start to fall down her face, James puts his arms around her and rubs his her back consolingly. Gina can visibly see their soulmarks, which they have on necks, her mother’s on her right side and her father’s on his left. Four doves flying in procession towards their ears. Gina smiles at her parents and looks at her brother who rolls his eyes, he too has a smile on his face.

“Mom, I’ll be fine,” Gina says going over to her parents and joining the hug, she turns to her brother and puts her hand out to him. 

“She’ll have me and you know Gigi doesn’t let anyone mess with her,” Jamie says coming over and putting his arms around his sister and mother. 

The Porter family stands for a moment in their hug, taking it all in. They won’t all be together again for a long while and Teri wants to savour every moment. 

“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Gina and her family turn towards the door and find a girl standing in the doorway. She has red hair and she a sweet, yet shy, smile on her face. She holding a box and it looks like she has a backpack on her back. 

“Oh don’t worry about it dear, come in come in,” Teri says wiping her tears and smiling at the girl. 

“Hi, you must be Ashlyn?” Gina says going over to her, remembering the name from her admissions email assigning her to her room.

The girl nods and smiles. “You must be Gina?”

“Here, let me grab that for you,” James says coming forward and taking the box from Ashlyn. 

“Thank you,” Ashlyn smiles and greets Gina properly. 

“These are my parents, Teri and James, and my brother Jamie,” Gina introduces her family to her new roommate. 

“Hi, my parents are here too, they’re just grabbing some boxes downstairs,” Ashlyn says sweetly, setting her bag down on the bed opposite the one Gina has chosen.

“Sorry, I chose the left side of the room, we can swap if you want to,” Gina says quickly. “I basically just set my stuff down.”

“Oh it’s no problem, we can keep it as it is,” Ashlyn shakes her head. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“Gina honey, we’re gonna go see if there are more boxes and be up in a sec,” her mother says as she pushes her husband and son out the door. 

“I thought we were done,” Gina hears her brother mutter under his breath, she’s sure her mother gives him a reproachful look as she hears her father chuckle. 

“Sorry about them, they can be so awkward,” Gina grimaces as she shakes her head.

“I get it, my parents would be the same,” Ashlyn laughs as she looks around the room. “Wow, so we’re officially in college...”

Gina laughs and sits down on her chosen bed. “I know, it’s so weird. What are you studying?”

“I’m gonna be doing Performance Studies at Tisch,” Ashlyn says taking a seat opposite Gina on her bed. “I hope I can still do some elective courses in acting and stuff too though. What about you?"

“That’s cool, I’m at Tisch too,” Gina grins excitedly. “I’m doing the Collaborative Arts program, I wanna combine my love of acting and dance, I couldn’t decide on just one.”

“Awesome!” Ashlyn grins and Gina feels really good about having her as a roommate. “We have orientation for all new Tisch students later tonight right?”

“Yes, it’s at the Theatre...or one of the dance studios,” Gina frowns as she tries to recall the email.

“I’m not sure either, but I think once we get there we’ll know,” Ashlyn giggles and Gina nods as she giggles too. 

Gina smiles thinking her and Ashlyn are gonna get along great. 

––––

Later that night Gina and Ashlyn are making their way to campus from their dorms. Gina’s family had left a few hours earlier, going to Jamie’s new apartment and promising to take Gina and Jamie to brunch the next day before their parents drive back. Ashlyn and Gina had spent the afternoon organising their room and getting to know each other. Gina was jealous when she discovered that Ashlyn had gone to high school at East High, the school High School Musical was filmed at. Ashlyn told her that she’s sure that’s where her love for the arts came from. Though neither girl asked the other about Soulmates and soulmarks it was on the forefront of their minds. However, starting that conversation tends to be very personal and intimate so neither wanted to broach that discussion. 

As Ashlyn and Gina make their way into the Tisch building they both look around for any signs that may point them in the right direction. Just as they thought there’s a table with a a sign that says “First Year Orientation”, the student standing behind the table is chatting to some new arrivals and she points behind her towards the stairs and elevators. 

Ashlyn and Gina share a look and walk over to the table. The girl at the table looks up at them and smiles, she has long beautiful brown hair and dark brown eyes. Because her sleeves are short Gina notices she has rose vines going up her left arm, it’s beautiful. It almost looks like the roses are glowing bright. 

“Hi there, welcome to Tisch School of the Arts, I’m Nini, I’m a second year student in the Drama program” the girl, Nini, smiles widely at the girls. “Are you here for orientation or are you looking for something else?”

“Nini, oh my god!” Ashlyn gasps excitedly and Nini gasps too. She comes from around the table and pulls Ashlyn into a hug. 

“Ash, you came to Tisch!” Nini says in awe. “I can’t believe you’re really here!”

“I know right!?” Ashlyn exclaims as she and Nini laugh. Gina looks on at the two girls and feels a tug in her heart. 

“Oh shit, sorry, Nini this is my roommate Gina, Gina this is a friend from high school, Nini,” Ashlyn introduces the two. “The one who played Gabriella when we did High School Musical.”

“Oh right, it’s nice to meet you,” Gina smiles at Nini as the girl smiles and shakes her hand. 

“You too,” Nini says then she goes back around the table. “You guys here for orientation?” 

“Yeah we are,” Gina grins over at Ashlyn and looks back at Nini. “Where exactly is it?”

“It’s in the main dance studio on the third floor, room 302, just sign here next to your names for check-in and then you can either take the stairs or one of the elevators behind me,” Nini smiles as she picks up the paper from the table.

“Oh okay cool,” Gina says taking the pen Nini offers and looking for her name on the list. Once she’s done she hands it to Ashlyn and turns to Nini thanking her.

“Awesome, thanks,” Nini smiles at them encouragingly. “Have fun.”

“Bye Neens, talk soon,” Ashlyn says as she takes Gina by the shoulder and they head towards the elevators. Nini nods and waves before turning to help other students. 

“I’m so glad I ran into Nini, she’s great,” Ashlyn says with a bright smile. “She’s in the acting program, but I think you’ll probably see a lot more of her than me.”

“She seemed super nice,” Gina smiled as she glanced back at Nini. 

“Are you nervous, cause I’m nervous,” Ashlyn asks Gina once they reach the elevator. 

“I’m super nervous,” Gina mutters back at her roommate as she pushes the button for the third floor. “Hopefully we won’t be expected to say or do anything.”

Once the girls have made their way to the dance studio they find the room already packed with students, everyone sitting in a circle around the room. The orientation is set to start at 19:00, but they had arrived 15 minutes early. Many of the students were mingling and getting to know each other, chatting and laughing. Ashlyn and Gina shared nervous smiles and walked to a spot that was free near the mirror. 

“I feel like I’m at my audition again,” Gina mutters to Ashlyn as they sit down.

“I can imagine,” Ashlyn nods in understanding, her eyes darting back and forth. “There are so many of us.”

“I think it’s the entire Freshman year of Tisch, in every single program,” Gina looks around as she sees some girls and guys who are definitely dancers, who sit on the floor in comfy clothing, stretching. She laughs under her breath, yip dancers will take any opportunity to stretch when they’re in a dance studio. 

“That’s pretty cool though, that we get to meet everyone across all the different programs,” Ashlyn smiles. “I mean, if we weren’t roommates we may never have met, since we’re in different programs.”

“Very true,” Gina smiles back at her. “Who knows your soulmate could be in the room.”

Ashlyn blushes and shakes her head. “He’s...no he’s not.”

Before Gina has a chance to ask Ashlyn more on the matter someone claps their hands in the middle of the room. The room stills as everyone gives their attention to the woman standing centre stage. She’s one of the teachers that were in the room when Gina auditioned for the program, Jenn something. She smiles widely as she waves at everyone. 

“Good evening first years! I am the Head of the Drama Department, Miss Jenn,” she says with a wide smile. “I will be hosting you all with the Film & Television Department Head, Mr. M, aka Mazzara, aka Bennie, aka my hubby.” 

Mr. M walks into the middle of the room to join Miss Jenn, his head slightly down in embarrassment and what seems like shyness. He smiles at his wife and puts his arm around her. “Yes, thank you Jennifer. Welcome everyone! Are you ready for a fun night?”

A few students clap their hands and cheer. Gina and Ashlyn join in, grinning widely looking forward to this new adventure.

Chapter Text

A few days later Gina is walking back from campus, her body sore from the intense dance class she just had. The first few days of classes have been pretty straight forward, getting the curriculum for the semester and mostly admin work. However, her dance classes started almost immediately with them up on their feet, stretching and doing splits, she was sore in places she was certain she shouldn’t even be aware of. She walks past a Starbucks but quickly doubles back and heads inside. She’s standing in line when she feels shiver go up her spine. Someone is watching her, but looking around she doesn’t see anyone. Shaking her head at her paranoia she looks up at the drink list. 

“Gina?”

Gina turns to her right and sees someone she wasn’t expecting. Her ex, Jack. They’d dated during her Junior year of high school, when he’d been a Senior. To say they’d ended things on a bad note is an understatement. 

“Jack...hi,” Gina grimaces at him as he reaches for a hug which she reluctantly returns.

“How’ve you been?” He smiles at her widely, as if nothing had changed.

“I’m good, you?” Gina responds evenly, moving forward with the line. 

“I’m good, good,” he says sticking his hands in his pockets and smiling. “What’re you doing here?”

“Getting Starbucks...” Gina frowns at him.

“Yeah I get that, I mean in New York,” Jack laughs as he looks slightly uncomfortable. Gina internally groans, annoyed that he even approached her.

“I’m at NYU, you knew I wanted to go there,” Gina says with raised eyebrows and an angry shrug. Jack grimaces and nods. Luckily Gina has come to the front of the line and says, “Hi, could I please get a grande Vanilla Bean Frappe and a lemon poppyseed loaf.”

“Anything else?” The barista asks looking over at Jack. 

“Nope,” Gina says not even sparing Jack a glance. 

“Can I get a name?”

“Gigi, and I’ll be paying on my Rewards,” Gina scans her card and then puts her wallet back in her bag once she’s done. She goes to stand over by the counter and Jack follows her. She rolls her eyes in annoyance. 

“Uh...congrats on NYU,” he says softly. “You get into Tisch?”

“Yeah.”

Jack nods and Gina continues to freeze him out, arms crossed not looking at him. “Look, Gigi I’m so––”

“Don’t,” Gina finally looks him in the eye and whispers through gritted teeth. “Just don’t, okay? You don’t get to be my friend, you don't get to call me Gigi, and you don’t get to say you’re sorry, not now, not ever. It’s been over a year, and nothing. You wanted to be done, so we’re done.”

Gina turns back to the counter and watches the barista make her drink, he looks familiar but she can’t place him. She focuses on his hands holding the blender in place, waiting for her drink to finish. He glances up at her and throws her a smile, with a subtle look of concern, she returns his smile half-heartedly, feeling a calming sensation come over her. The barista from the till comes over with her lemon loaf and hands it to her and Gina smiles in thanks. 

“I guess...uhm I guess this is goodbye then,” Jack says softly. Gina just nods, staring ahead and not looking at him. “I really am sorry Gina.”

Gina feels hot tears start to form in her eyes as she takes her drink from the counter. She smiles at the barista in thanks and when she turns around she notices Jack is nowhere to be seen. She sighs in relief. Quickly wiping her tears she heads out. Again she feels a slight tingle go up her back, she touches the back of her neck and her soulmark burns. She freezes. What could that mean? Gina glances around to see if Jack is still around but he’s not. But she felt that same sensation right before he came up to her. Could he be her soulmate? Did he get his mark at the same time as her?

By the time Gina gets back to her dorm she's in a daze thinking about Jack and soulmarks and what it all means. She barely acknowledges Ashlyn who’s lying on her bed reading. 

“Gina, you okay?” Ashlyn asks Gina when she doesn’t say anything other than grumble and shrug as she falls face down on her bed. 

Gina screams into her pillow and Ashlyn sits up, worried. “Gina...?”

Gina sits up on her bed and faces Ashlyn, she wipes her cheeks in frustration and sighs. “Soulmates and soulmarks, dating...it’s all so confusing and frustrating, you know?”

“Oookaaay...What happened?” Ashlyn asks coming over to sit beside her, she puts an arm around her roommate. 

“Ugh where to begin,” Gina sighs and laughs sarcastically as she turns to look at Ashlyn. Gina knew talking about soulmates could be a sensitive topic, but she needed to let it out. 

“Wherever you want to,” Ashlyn rubs her back and Gina leans her head on her shoulder.

“I just ran into my ex,” Gina says quietly, tears of frustration falling down her face. “He...we broke up last summer because he was going to be going off to College and he didn’t wanna be held back by a long distance relationship. Even though I told him it would only be for a year, I was definitely gonna be coming to New York. He’s at Columbia by the way.” 

Ashlyn nods and hums that she's following the story. Gina continues, “Anyway, the whole thing started when he turned eighteen and he didn’t get a soulmark, which isn’t that uncommon. Everyone knows that both soulmates have to be eighteen or older in order for the soulmark to appear. So when his didn’t appear I was happy, I told him it could mean I’m his soulmate. He couldn’t believe I was happy he didn’t get a soulmark, it was apparently a “slap in the face”. Because there is a percentage of people who are markless, I told him that wasn’t the case because we were soulmates. Then...then he said he never actually believed we were soulmates and he’d just been dating me to pass the time.” 

“Oh Gina,” Ashlyn says sadly and hugs Gina tightly. 

“We had a huge fight and he said the stuff about a long distance relationship and how waiting for my soulmark was not worth it or whatever,” Gina says pulling back from Ashlyn and wiping her tears. “It ended with me walking away crying and him...well I didn’t really see him much that summer and then he was off to Columbia and I never saw him again, until today.”

“Wow...what an asshole,” Ashlyn says and Gina giggles tearfully. 

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Gina nods with a small smile. “And he had the audacity to come up to me and pretend like nothing happened.”

“What, no!” 

“Yeah! He was all friendly and happy to see me,” Gina says is disgust. “Pretending to care about me getting into Tisch. Then he was all like “Gigi I’m sorry”, Ugh, stupid asshole.”

“I can’t believe him,” Ashlyn frowns in disbelief. “God, imagine if he actually was your soulmate.”

Gina stares at Ashlyn with wides eyes and grimaces. “Actually...”

“No! He is?” Ashlyn asks in shock.

“I don’t know,” Gina sighs letting her head fall into her hands. 

“So...did you get your soulmark?” Ashlyn asks softly, neither had bridged that conversation since they’d become roommates. Now seemed as a good a time as any.

“Yes, on my birthday it appeared,” Gina says looking up at her. “So there definitely is a possibility he’s my soulmate, which would seriously suck.”

“Oh shit,” Ashlyn mutters.

“And to make matters worse my soulmark was acting all funny around him today,” Gina whines. 

“What do you mean?”

“Before he came up to me, I felt this tingling sensation going up my back, that’s where my soulmark is, and then after I told him to get lost and he left I felt it again,” Gina says touching the back of her neck as she recalls the sensation. “This time it was...different though, it felt like it was burning when I touched it.”

“That’s so weird...”Ashlyn says deep in thought. “I mean...that kinda does sound like he’s your soulmate if your soulmark reacted in that way around him.” 

Gina had hoped that wasn’t the case, but she had to agree with Ashlyn, it does seem like he could be the one. 

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Gina says with a sigh. “There goes my happy ending huh?”

Ashlyn pouts and squeezes Gina’s hand. “I’m sorry Gina. It could be worse, eh kinda worse.”

“What do you mean?” Gina frowns looking at Ashlyn.

“Well my cousin had a similar situation to yours with your ex, his soulmark didn’t appear when he turned eighteen, it’s been two years and still nothing,” Ashlyn sighs as she thinks of her cousin. “He was actually dating Nini and they both thought maybe when she turned eighteen his would appear too. Sadly, when hers appeared his didn’t, she actually had the same soulmark as her ex. It was a mess. Nini and my cousin broke up and now her and her ex are trying...they didn’t immediately start dating, they decided to just be friends again first, but they’re official now. I just feel bad for my cousin, the waiting is killing him.”

“That’s really shitty,” Gina sympathises. “I would hate to not have my soulmark. But I guess matching with an ex isn’t that bad, but I just don’t want him back, I may be able to bring myself to be friends with him, someday, but I could never be with him again. He’s not the one for me, I can feel it, now more than ever.” 

“Sometimes people don’t actually end up with their soulmates, my parents didn’t,” Ashlyn says with a shrug. 

Gina looks at her questioningly. “Really, how did that happen?”

“I won’t bore you with all the details, but basically my dad is markless and my mom’s soulmate is gay,” Ashlyn laughs with a shrug. “He’s her best friend though, they tell each other everything. He’s been in my life since I was born, he’s literally like an additional uncle. So what I’m saying is your soulmate doesn’t have to be your life partner, they can just be your friend. And my parents may not be soulmates, but they love each other the same and they're happy.”

Gina smiles at the thought of Ashlyn’s mom and her best friend. When she’d met the Caswells on moving day the thought didn’t even cross her mind that they weren’t soulmates. They had the same love for each other that her parents did, maybe the soulmark was just a guideline. 

“That makes me feel better,” Gina says softly leaning her head on Ashlyn’s shoulder. “Even if jack turns out to be my soulmate, I don’t necessarily need to be with him.”

“Exactly, that’s what I told Nini when Ricky turned out to be her soulmate,” Ashlyn nods. “That’s why they worked on their friendship and built trust and only a few months ago started dating. I’m not saying you and Jack are gonna be similar, but maybe you can still be friends. That is if he’s your soulmate, if not screw him.”

Gina laughs as Ashlyn snaps her fingers in attitude at the last bit. “Thanks Ash, I needed this pep talk.”

“No problem Gi, I’ve got you,” Ash says hugging her tightly. 

“What about you?” Gina asks her as they pull apart. “You don’t have to say anything, but you mentioned something at orientation, do you have a soulmark?” 

Ashlyn blushes and looks down at her hands. “Oh...you remember that huh? Well, I have a soulmark and I know who my soulmate is.”

Gina squeals and grabs Ashlyn’s hands. “That’s so exciting!”

Ashlyn blushes an even deeper shade of pink as she nods and Gina can't contain her smile. “So who is he? Are you dating or just friends for now?”

“Slow down,” Ashlyn giggles. “He’s from Salt Lake, just like me, we actually have been dating for over two years now. Luckily our birthdays are so close to each other that we didn't have to wait too long for our soulmarks. I swear, if I had to wait any longer I would’ve died.”

“Aaw Ash, that’s so awesome,” Gina pouts and squeezes her hands. “I love that you were already together, that just confirms it even more that you’re soulmates.”

“I know, that's what I said,” Ashlyn grins widely. “He goes by Big Red, but I call him Biggie. He was in the Drama Club with me, he was mostly a techie, but he started doing more acting once we started dating. His family has a restaurant and he’s going to eventually run it so he’s back home. I really miss him, but we facetime, and he’s planning to come visit. But it’s only been about a two weeks and it feels like months.”

Gina nods in understanding. “I get that, but it seems like you guys have such a strong bond that you can get through it.”

Ashlyn smiles and nods in agreement. “I think so too.”

“Alright, on that note. Do you wanna have a movie night tonight? I feel like crying, maybe Someone Great?” Gina says getting up and wiping at her face and turning towards Ashlyn who sits on her bed.

“You wanna watch a breakup movie?” Ashlyn asks skeptically.

“I wanna watch a movie about an independent woman who realises she doesn’t need a man...and if she comes to that realisation after a breakup then so be it,” Gina says with a snort.

Ashlyn shakes her and smiles at Gina. “Okay, but next time I’m picking the movie.”

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

Slowly but surely Gina feels like she’s gotten the hang of being a College student. Becoming such fast friends with Ashlyn has been a godsend as well, she doesn’t feel as homesick and lonely because Ashlyn brightens her day. She’s a bit stressed out about auditions tomorrow for the semester’s shows and she hasn’t seen her brother for a while so she decides to surprise him at his apartment. She uses the key he gave her for emergencies, she’s going to cook him dinner and they can have a lovely night watching a Harry Potter movie for old times sake. 

Smiling to herself Gina turns the key to the apartment and steps in. She’s surprised to hear music playing, she was certain her brother had work. Maybe he was off. After toeing off her shoes she walks down the hallway and finds her brother and...a friend lying on the couch, cuddling. Gina raises her eyebrows and clears her throat. 

If she wasn’t so surprised by the scene in front of her she would’ve laughed at the way the two jumped apart. Jamie’s eyes wide as he stares between his sister and his friend. 

“Gigi, what the fuck?” Jamie says getting up and standing between Gina and the couch. 

“Sorry, I thought I’d surprise you with dinner,” Gina says sheepishly, raising the grocery bags in her hand. “I didn’t think you’d be home.”

Jamie glances nervously behind him at the couch and his friend stands. “Uhmm...JJ maybe I should go?”

“No! Stay, you can have dinner with us,” Gina says quickly, waving her free hand in protest. “Sorry, I’m Gina by the way.”

“Eric, nice to meet you,” he smiles and shakes her hand. “JJ’s told me a lot about you.”

Gina raises an eyebrow and smirks at her brother who blushes. “Interesting.”

Eric glances between the two siblings and bites his lower lip. “I’m gonna quickly head to the bathroom...maybe you can clear the air JJ?”

Jamie nods and hums as he acquiesces. He turns to his sister and she’s smirking at him.

“JJ huh?”

“Shut up,” Jamie blushes and nervously wrings his hands.

“So I’m guessing he’s more than just a friend?” Gina says walking to the kitchen counter to start unpacking the groceries. 

“Uh yeah...he’s, he’s actually my soulmate,” Jamie says slowly, deliberately. 

Gina turns to her brother in shock. “What?! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Gigi, I know you’ve always been accepting of my “lifestyle”, but with mom and dad, it’s...it’s a bit harder to imagine them accepting that my soulmate isn’t a girl they always wished,” Jamie says softly, avoiding his sister’s eyes. 

“Jamie, look at me,” Gina says taking his hands hers. “I know it’s been hard since you told mom and dad you’re Bi, but that was like what six years ago? You never know, they could surprise you.”

“I know, I’m just scared they...what if they reject him, or tell me to choose?” Jamie asks his sister imploringly. 

Gina’s heart aches for her brother’s plight. She remembers the fight their parents had about Jamie’s sexual orientation, but she can also remember that it wasn’t about them not loving him. They just didn’t understand, that he wasn't choosing to be the way he is, he was finally accepting it and embracing it. With a sigh she pulls him into a hug. 

“Jamie, they love you, and I’m sure they’ll love Eric, because you care about him...right?” Gina says softly and she feels Jamie nod gently. “So, how long has this been going on?”

“Almost a year...” Jamie says quietly as he wipes his eyes, stepping away from Gina. 

“A year?” Gina stares at her brother in shock and a hint of betrayal. “And you never told me?”

“I know, I’m sorry, I should’ve told you,” Jamie quickly says, knowing Gina was upset with him. “I wanted to make sure we were serious and that I was ready to commit and if worse came to worst I could survive without mom and dad.”

Gina nods in understanding and continues unpacking the groceries. “I get it, but I still feel like you could’ve told me. But, I get it, so no more lies...or omissions. You don’t need to hide who you are.”

Gina looks at her brother sternly and he chuckles under his breath and nods with a smile. “Yeah, no more hiding.”

Gina smiles and hands her brother some things to pack away. “Put these away, I got some extra stuff, knowing you’d likely be understocked.”

Jamie’s heart swells at his little sister taking care of him. He knew she would be understanding of his relationship, but he didn’t want her to have to lie or omit the truth from their parents. 

A little while later the three of them are sitting at Jamie’s small dining table enjoying the last bit of wine from the bottle Jamie brought out to celebrate his sister and boyfriend meeting. 

“No, seriously she was a menace,” Jamie laughs as he glares mockingly at Gina. “I still have the scar to prove it.”

Eric laughs and looks at Jamie’s forehead as he points at the scar Gina gave him. “Aww poor baby.”

Jamie takes Eric’s hand and kisses it as they snuggle up. “It really was terrible, there was blood everywhere.”

“Don’t lie,” Gina gasps in protest. “You didn’t even need stitches.”

“I don’t know, it does look quite deep Gina,” Eric says in mock skepticism. “You sure you didn’t mean to do more damage.”

“It was seriously an accident,” Gina laughs. “I wasn’t aiming for him, he was in the way and scissors just...hit him...”

“Hmmm you and I remember this story very differently,” Jamie says shaking his head with a smile. 

Gina shrugs innocently and yawns. “Man, I was planning for us to watch some HP, but I'm so tired.”

“We can plan a marathon for another night,” Jamie says standing to clear the table. “Besides, don’t you have auditions tomorrow?”

“Don’t remind me, I’m already so nervous,” Gina groans letting her head fall onto her crossed arms on the table.

“Auditions?” Eric asks as he helps Jamie with the dishes. 

“Gigi’s at NYU, remember, and they have at least three shows they put up each semester,” Jamie explains as he rinses the dishes and hands them to Eric to place in the dishwasher. “So, students audition in one big session and the directors and whoever decide what show they all do.”

“Yeah, and because of the different programs people are in, there’s priority for those who are in the acting program or collaborative program, like me, because we need to get credit for them in order to eventually graduate,” Gina explains coming over to lean agains the counter. “I’m nervous because it’s my first time, and I have no idea what to expect.”

“You’ll be fine Gigi,” Jamie says nonchalantly. “You basically have an in because you technically have to be in one of the shows.”

“I know, but I wanna get in on merit, and not because they have to put me in because I need the credit,” Gina scowls crossing her arms. 

“Gina’s right JJ, knowing you did well in your audition and getting cast in a good role means so much more than just getting a part because you merely showed up for the audition,” Eric says as he finishes up packing the dishwasher. 

Gina nods and points at Eric and looks at her brother. “See, he gets it.”

“Okay, okay,” Jamie holds up his hands in defense. “I only meant that you’ll be great, you don't need to be nervous. You’ll get a part, regardless, yes, but I know you’re gonna kill it anyway.”

Gina smiles at her brother’s praise. “Thank you Jamie.”

“Also, I don’t like this dynamic of you two ganging up on me,” Jamie says jokingly pointing between his boyfriend and sister.

“Now I know why you took so long to introduce us,” Eric smirks. “You knew I’d like her better.”

Gina laughs and Jamie gasps in shock at his boyfriends statement. Gina’s heart swells as she watches them playfully argue, she can see the love they have for each other and she’s so happy her brother has someone. 

–––––––––––

Gina is up earlier than usual and a bundle of nerves the next morning. She’d come back to her dorm after her brother’s failed attempt to get her to sleep over. He understood she needed to sleep comfortably before the auditions, and that’s the only reason why he was fine with her transiting back to her dorm. Making sure she had the proper clothes on for the audition Gina started to open her bag in order to fill it with supplies. As she was looking around for her things Ashlyn came in from the bathroom, her hair in a towel.

“Hey G, you ready for today?” Her roommate asks as she sets her things down.

“I think so, but I’m still so nervous,” Gina says quickly as she runs around getting a towel, a few granola bars and some water.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Ashlyn starts to dry her hair with her towel by plumping. “Do you know which show you want to do?”

Tisch puts on three shows each semester, two of them in the smaller space, the Studio Theatre, and the other on the Main Stage Theatre. This Fall they’re going to be doing Reasons to be Pretty by Neil Labute and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams in the Studio Theatre and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the Main Stage. 

“Not really, I mean it’d be great to be in the Main Stage show, but as a first year I won’t get my hopes up on that,” Gina shrugs as she zips up her bag and settles down on her bed for a breather. “Besides the other shows are such smaller casts too, so it’s hard to decide.”

“I don’t know, Nini was in a Main Stage show her first year, I’m sure you could do it too,” Ashlyn smiles encouragingly. 

“Thanks Ash,” Gina’s heart swells at her roommates words of encouragement. “You’re not auditioning right?”

“Nope, I technically can but since my program doesn’t require any performance credits I don’t necessarily need it,” Ashlyn says as she brushes her hair. “I would love to be in a show, but I think I’ll see how first semester goes and maybe try next time.”

Gina nods in understanding. She had been apprehensive about auditioning too, but her love for performing took over and she signed up. Because she’s a first year she is allowed to skip out on shows and only start auditioning in her second year. But once she saw one of her favourite Shakespeare plays was on the list she knew she had to try out. Glancing over at Ashlyn whose started parting her hair she jumps up. 

“Want me to braid your hair for you?” Gina offers. 

“Oh you don’t have to G, you need to prep,” Ashlyn shakes her head with a sweet smile. 

“I’m all prepped out, I think it’ll be a welcome distraction,” Gina says gently taking the comb from Ashlyn and getting started. “Besides, I don’t need to be there for another two hours, I’m beyond ready.”

Ashlyn chuckles under her breath and reluctantly sits back for Gina to do her hair. “Thanks roomie.”

“Anytime,” Gina shoots her a grin. “Two fishtails okay?

“Mmhmm,” Ashlyn nods. “Oh! I never got a chance to ask since you got in late last night, how was your brother’s?” 

“Oh my God Ash! Jamie found his soulmate,” Gina tells Ashlyn excitedly. Ashlyn squeals. 

“What, that's amazing! Did they just meet?” Ashlyn asks as she looks at Gina through the mirror.

“Well...that’s where the story gets interesting,” Gina says as she concentrates on Ashlyn’s hair, glancing up to look at her. “They’ve been dating for almost a year.”

Ashlyn raises her eyebrows in surprise. Gina nods and says, “Yeah, I know!” 

“Wait, so how come you only found out now?” Ashlyn asks, confused. 

“It’s kinda complicated, but Jamie’s Bi and my parents weren't very...open about it when he told us years ago,” Gina says slowly with a grimace. “So I think when he found Eric, his soulmate, he was scared about the implications of my parents not accepting them as a couple, yada yada.”

Ashlyn pouts sympathetically. “That sucks, but I'm glad he found him and it seems like they’re happy, right?”

“Oh my God, yeah,” Gina smiles as she thinks of the previous night with her brother and Eric. “They’re...you know how you can just tell people are soulmates, it’s that, they’re literally so in sync.”

“That’s so sweet,” Ashlyn says with a sad smile. “Now I miss Biggie.”

“Aaaw I’m sorry Ash,” Gina says finishing off the first braid and squeezing her shoulder in support. “I’m sure he misses you too, like crazy.”

Ashlyn nods and sighs. “I should be grateful I even have my soulmate.”

Gina feels a jab in the pit of her stomach as she thinks of her own soulmate plight. She knows Ashlyn didn't mean to but it does sting a bit that she hasn’t met her soulmate yet. At Gina’s silence Ashlyn looks up at her and realises she’s said the wrong thing. 

“God, Gina I’m sorry, that was such a tactless thing to say,” Ashlyn says apologetically. “Seriously I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, look, at least I have a soulmate, right, somewhere out there,” Gina’s laugh doesn't quite sound as genuine as she’s trying to make it. She avoids Ashlyn’s eyes in the guise of focusing on her hair. 

“Definitely, that should encourage you even more,” Ashlyn says emphatically. “You never know, you could meet him today.”

“Fat chance,” Gina snorts as she finishes off the second braid. “All done, what do you think?”

“Oh wow, G! You’re amazing, thank you,” Ashlyn grins as she admires Gina’s handiwork. “But listen, you’ll find him, because somewhere, out there, he’s waiting for–no, looking for you.”

Gina nods as Ashlyn stands and takes Gina’s hands in hers. “You’re one of the lucky ones Gina, we both are, being able to say you have a soulmate.”

“I know, I know I'm being mopey and ungrateful,” Gina sighs and she smiles shyly at Ashlyn. “He’ll find me.”

“That’s the spirit!” Ashlyn grins and hugs Gina tightly. 

Gina laughs lightly and again feels immense joy that Ashlyn came into her life.

Chapter Text

Gina finds herself sitting outside the main dance studio, room 302, once again awaiting an audition. Her leg is jumping up and down as her nerves swarm around in her stomach. Ashlyn had come with her for support, and she’s sitting quietly next to her, every once in a while smiling at her encouragingly. 

“Hey, you said your cousin was auditioning too right?” Gina asks Ashlyn as a way of distracting herself. 

“Yeah, he should be around here somewhere,” Ashlyn looks around but with the amount of people it’s hard to really see anyone. “I sent him a text letting him know I’m here, but he’s probably with the other third years.”

Gina nods and bites her lip. “God, I can’t believe how nervous I’ve gotten all of a sudden.”

“It’s totally understandable,” Ashlyn says softly. “But look at it this way, you auditioned to get into the program, and you got in. So this should be a piece of cake.”

Gina giggles at Ashlyn’s logic and nods in agreement. “You’re right.”

“Porter, Gina Porter,” a stage manager calls from the door. Gina’s stomach drops and she quickly jump up.

“Break a leg,” Ashlyn says squeezing her hand as Gina walks over to the door. With one last glance at Ashlyn Gina heads in. 

Once Gina’s audition is over she exits the studio with a big smile on her face. She nailed her audition. Miss Jenn, her acting teacher and also one of the directors had given her a subtle thumbs up as she exited, and they’d asked her to stick around after for scene work. Feeling giddy Gina looks around for Ashlyn and walks right into someone.

“Oh crap, sorry,” Gina says smiling sheepishly and looks up. Her nerves start to flutter again and she feels a warm sensation come over her as she realises she recognises the guy she’s bumped into. “Hey!”

“Uh, sorry I...hey!” he smiles at her with his bright Hazel eyes twinkling. “We really shouldn’t make a habit out of this.”

Gina blushes as she remembers months ago, bumping into him in this very hallway. For the life of her she can’t seem to find his name though. She giggles under her breath and shakes her head. “Yeah, we really shouldn’t.”

“Uh...so I guess congrats are in order,” he says with a raised eyebrow. 

“What, no, I didn’t,” Gina stammers shaking her head, not sure how he’d know she nailed her audition and that she’d been asked to stay for scenes. 

He chuckles and knits his eyebrows. “So you didn't get into Tisch?”

“What, oh! Oh, yeah I did,” Gina grimaces internally as she realises that’s what he’d been referring to. “I thought...nevermind. Uhm...thanks.”

“No problem,” he smirks as he stands with his hands in his pockets. He looks like he’s about to say more but is interrupted. 

“EJ you're up,” the stage manager says from behind Gina. Gina smiles as she finally gets his name and looks at him expectedly. 

“Gotta go, wish me luck,” EJ smiles at Gina as he side steps around her. Gina catches a whiff of his cologne and again feels a warm sensation all over, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. 

“Break a leg,” she whispers as she smiles at him shyly. He throws her another smile and then he’s gone. 

Gina’s standing at the same spot staring at the door EJ just went through, subconsciously touching the back of her neck, when Ashlyn and Nini find her. 

“Gina, how’d it go?” Ashlyn asks touching her arm to get her attention. Gina jumps and looks at them in shock. 

“Whoa, Gina you okay?” Nini asks concerned. “How was the audition?”

Gina smiles dreamily and sighs looking over at the door. “It was wonderful.”

Ashlyn and Nini share a look and laugh at their friend. “Wonderful?”

“Mhmm,” Gina sighs. “Wait, what?”

Gina finally snaps out of it and sees Nini and Ashlyn looking at her in confusion. Ashlyn laughs and asks, “Your audition went great then?” 

“Yeah, I totally nailed it, and they asked me to stay behind for scenes,” Gina says excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the cute guy she just met again. 

“Oooh that’s exciting,” Ashlyn says and smiles at Nini. “Neen what’s the likelihood of getting cast if you get called for scenes?”

“It’s very likely, that's great Gina, congratulations,” Nini grins and squeezes Gina’s hand. “That’s huge!”

“Thanks guys,” Gina says as she finally lets it sink in. They walk over to some empty seats and Gina fishes her bottle out of her bag. “I’m nervous again.”

Nini chuckles and nods. “Yip, that’ll happen.” 

“How'd your audition go?” Gina asks Nini as she takes a huge gulp of water.

“I haven’t gone in yet, I arrived quite early, so I’m just roaming around,” Nini shrugs. Gina stares at her in wonder. 

“You don’t even look or seem nervous,” Gina says in disbelief, and turns to Ashlyn. “Is she even human?”

“Nini is superhuman,” Ashlyn says shaking her head with a knowing smile. 

Nini giggles. “I’m not, I only really get nervous once I’m about to go in.”

Gina nods in understanding. “I get that, I think I got more comfortable auditioning in high school because I knew what to expect. Here I don’t.”

“Exactly, I think from my experience last year my nerves aren’t as full on,” Nini nods. Ashlyn shakes her head at her friends. 

“I am the same amount of nervous no matter how comfortable I am or if I know what’s coming,” Ashlyn says with a laugh. 

“I should probably go do some more runs of my monologues in my head though, just to be ready,” Nini says standing up. “I’ll see you ladies later.”

“Bye Nini, break a leg.”

“Bye Neens, break a leg.”

Ashlyn turns to Gina and smirks. “I told you you had nothing to worry about.”

“I know, and thank you for your support and for being here,” Gina says with a smile. “It means a lot.”

“No problem,” Ashlyn returns her smile. “Do you know when the scenes are gonna be?”

“Not really, it’s after everyone auditions though,” Gina shrugs and looks around at everyone else. “I’m not sure how many people still need to go.”

“Maybe we should ask the stage manager and then if it’s gonna be a while we can go somewhere so you’re not psyching yourself out.”

“Good idea Ash,” Gina nods and gathers her things. “Before we go I gotta run to the bathroom.”

“You can go and I'll ask her,” Ash suggests as they reach the door to the studio where the stage manager is standing.

“No, I can go after,” Gina smiles at her friend and steps up to the stage manager. “Excuse me, sorry, um if we were asked to stay for scenes do you perhaps have an idea how long the wait will be?”

“Yeah, it’ll probably be in about 2 hours,” she says looking at the paper on her clipboard. “We’ve got a shit ton of people to still audition and then they’re gonna take a break and do the callbacks.”

“Ok great,” Gina smiles and turns to Ashlyn. “We could probably go to a coffee shop or something?”

“I wouldn’t go far, just in case,” the stage manager interrupts. “Here, write down your number, if you’re not back in time I'll give you a call.”

“Oh thank you so much,” Gina says taking the pen and writing her number down. “I’m Gina by the way.”

“Natalie,” she smiles and circles Gina’s name and number. “It’s not a problem, I’ll see you later.”

Ashlyn and Gina smile at Natalie and start down the hallway. Gina looks around hoping to catch sight of her cute guy again, but she’s sure he’s still auditioning. 

“Wanna just go to the Starbucks around the corner?” Ashlyn asks Gina.

“Sure, I could maybe get a peppermint tea with honey,” Gina says with a smile as they walk. “Oh I wanted to ask, where’s your cousin? Did he audition already?”

“I saw him while you were auditioning, he said he was going in soon,” Ashlyn looks back down the hallway but can’t see anything due to the curve in the hallway and shrugs. “I’ll send him a text, maybe he can join us after, since you haven’t met him yet.”

“Cool,” Gina says as they reach the bathroom. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Gina sighs contently thinking about her audition and the prospect of getting cast in one of the shows. She smiles as she thinks of her cute guy, EJ. Hopefully she gets to see more of him if they’re cast in the same show. Her stomach flutters at the thought of playing his love interest. Shaking her head at her silliness she finishes up and meets Ashlyn outside. 

“So, my cousin  says he’s actually gonna head to his friend’s place that’s nearby,” Ashlyn reads the text and looks up at Gina. “I guess since he works there he’d rather not hang out there on his day off.”

“Fair enough,” Gina shrugs as they walk over to the elevator.

“Dang, I was hoping we could get drinks on his discount,” Ashlyn pouts as she pockets her phone and Gina laughs. 

“That’s probably why he ditched,” Gina laughs to herself as they step into the elevator.

“Knowing him, no, that’s not why,” Ashlyn says thoughtfully. “He’s far too nice, if I told him we wanted free drinks he’d come. But I can’t help but think maybe something is up with him?”

“Do you think it’s soulmate stuff maybe?” Gina asks tentatively.

Ashlyn shakes her head. “No, unless...no.”

“What?” Gina asks cautiously as they exit the elevator. 

“It’s just he hasn’t gotten his soulmark,” Ashlyn frowns as they walk and she slows down. “But...he could’ve gotten it. If he did though, he would’ve told me.”

“You two are really close?” Gina asks stopping next to Ashlyn whose deep in thought. 

“Like brother and sister, so he’d tell me,” Ashlyn nods, still frowning. “But he’s been acting like super weird.” 

“Have you asked him what’s been going on?” Gina asks as she steps aside to avoid people walking in and out of the building. 

“No, but he’d tell me if something was wrong,” Ashlyn sighs. “He does have the tendency to bottle things up, but he eventually comes to me.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Gina smiles as they exit the building. “Come on, I’m treating you with a pumpkin spiced latte, since you came to support me.”

Ashlyn giggles and joins arms with Gina as they walk down the street. 

–––––

Gina’s standing in the hallway outside the dance studio again, a few hours later nervously looking around. Ashlyn had left already, needing to get some schoolwork done. Gina had assured her that her support all day was appreciated and told her to leave with ease. Gina plays with her hands as everyone gathers outside the studio door waiting for instructions from the stage manager. 

“Gina,” Nini says breathlessly, coming up next to Gina.

“Hey Nini,” Gina smiles and her nerves subside just a little bit. “Where’ve you been?”

“I had to run back to my apartment in between,” Nine sighs quickly pulling her sweater off. “Ash said you guys were at the Starbucks, but I didn’t have enough time to join you.”

“No worries,” Gina smiles with ease, admiring Nini’s soulmark on her arm. 

“You nervous?” Nini asks and Gina quickly averts her gaze and clears her throat.

“Oh yeah, defintely,” Gina nods looking at Nini with wide eyes. “What exactly do they do in callbacks?”

“Well, they’re gonna give us sides and we’ll practice them,” Nini says looking over as the stage manager comes out with stacks of paper. “See, Natalie has it there. So Miss Jenn and the others probably have some idea of what shows they can see us in, so we’ll read for those. They mix and match partners to check chemistry and all that.”

Gina nods and before she can say anything Natalie clears her throat and gets everyone’s attention. 

“Alright people, I’ll say this once and not repeat myself so pay attention. Settle down. Okay, I have the scenes here with me, and a list of your names. When I'm done you’ll form an orderly line, then when you get to me I’ll give you your sides. You all have 30 minutes, I repeat 30 minutes, to prepare all the scenes. Once the 30 minutes are up, I’ll start calling you in in pairs,” Natalie says and then nods and everyone starts moving to form the line she requested. Gina smiles already liking the feisty stage manager. 

“Hey Neens!” 

Gina turns and sees her cute guy, EJ, coming up next to Nini, her stomach turns and she feels hot all over. She watches as Nini smiles at him and they pull each other into a long hug. 

“Eeej, I didn’t see you earlier,” Nini says pulling away. Gina notices that EJ keeps his arm around her, she looks away feeling like she’s intruding. 

Gina remembers Ashlyn saying Nini was with her soulmate, was EJ him? Feeling her stomach drop in disappointment at the thought, Gina curses as she can’t seem to remember Nini’s boyfriend’s name. 

“Oh Eej, have you met Gina?” Nine touches Gina’s shoulder. “Gina this is EJ, he’s a third year.”

“Yeah we’ve met,” Gina says softly with a shy smile, glancing at EJ’s arm that’s still around Nini. EJ smiles at her and she has to look away because she feels like she’s going to combust. 

“Yeah, we’ve met each other a few times,” EJ grins at Gina when she glances up at him. 

“Oh right, Ash,” Nini says with a chuckle and EJ raises an eyebrow looking at Gina. Gina frowns wondering what Nini means but realises they’ve reached Natalie.

“Gina right?” Natalie asks and Gina nods. Natalie looks at her name on the list. “You can grab all three sides, looks like all the director’s want to see you again.”

Gina blushes and grins widely at Natalie and grabs scenes from each stack. She waits off to the side as Nini and EJ get theirs. 

“Wow Gina, all three directors huh, that’s amazing,” Nine smiles as she comes over with EJ. “EJ got all three too.”

Gina smiles up at him and he touches the back of his neck sheepishly. Gina feels a shiver go up her spine and looks away. She’s nervous all over again.

“I guess we should start preparing,” Gina suggests looking around nervously. 

“Yeah, I’ll...I’ll see you ladies,” EJ says somewhat shyly with a slight frown on his face, turning and heading over to a group of guys after Gina and Nini nod. Gina sighs as she watches him go and turns back to Nini.

“You okay?” Nini asks with an eye-brow raised.

“Oh yeah, just nervous,” Gina smiles shyly. “Let’s get ready.” 

Nini nods and glances over at EJ who she notices is looking over at Gina with a soft smile. Interesting. 

Chapter Text

Half an hour later Gina has looked over the scenes a few times and made notes on the sides of the pages to help her with her emotional place in the scenes. She glances around and most of the others are standing or walking up and down reading the lines to themselves. She nervously plays with the pages in her hands and breathes deeply in an attempt to calm her nerves. 

Gina looks down at the scene on the top of her stack, Reasons to be Pretty, the scene is quite intense with a lot of swearing. It’s also really confusing and Gina’s stomach flips when she realises that she hadn’t worked enough on that particular one. Although, to be honest she hadn't been able to focus on any of her scenes because she kept getting distracted by EJ across the room. Gina sighs when she glances up at EJ for what she feels like the hundredth time. 

She tries to focus back on her work. After a few minutes Natalie calls everyone’s attention and they gather in front of her again. Gina and Nini step up next to each other, giving each other encouraging smiles. 

“Alright, I hope everyone has had some time to read through the scenes and make some choices,” Natalie says seriously looking around with a raised eyebrow. “I’ll start calling you in now, some of you may be called in more than once so that the directors can see how you read with a few others. First we have Nini and Jared.”

Gina squeezes Nini’s hand and wishes her luck. Nini smiles and goes up to Jared and they enter the studio together.

“Nervous?” 

Gina startles and looks next to her and sees EJ smiling sweetly next to her. 

“Uh yeah,” Gina blushes and looks down at her scenes. 

“I was thinking, since we both have all three scenes did you maybe want to run the lines together?” EJ suggests with a sheepish smile. 

Gina’s insides flutter and she smiles widely. “Yeah sure, that’d be great.”

“Awesome,” EJ smiles and looks down at his pages. “Which one do you wanna do first?”

“Could we maybe do Reasons to be Pretty, that one’s a little harder to get down,” Gina says shyly and rifles through her pages. “Like this, what do the slashes mean?”

EJ leans in closer to get a look at what Gina’s pointing at and she feels a tingle go up her arm as his side touches her. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she tries to focus on what she’s showing him.

“Oh you didn’t get the page that’s supposed to come with it, the slashes mean that the dialogue overlaps,” EJ says and shows her his pages. “Like see here, Greg’s line is ‘No, that’s not it / I didn’t say that’ and Steph’s line is ‘Don’t lie, you fucker! / Yes, you did!’. So the first half of Greg’s line is said alone, then the first half of Steph’s line is said with Greg’s second half. You see?”

Gina grimaces slightly in confusion and nods halfheartedly. EJ smiles at her pretence and says, “How about this, let’s practice it real slow and then once you get the hang of it we can go a little faster and add some character to it?”

“Ok,” Gina nods with a wide smile. “From the top?”

“Sure,” EJ smiles and again Gina’s insides do a somersault. “No, no, no, no, no, uh-uh, no!”

“Yes!”

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t...” EJ stops and looks at Gina expectantly. 

“Oh shit, sorry, that’s where I’m meant to come in right?” Gina grimaces and scrunches her nose. “Sorry, can you go again?”

“It’s okay,” EJ smiles and chuckles lightly then waits a beat before going again. “No, that’s not it / I didn’t say that.”

“Don’t lie, you fucker! / Yes, you did!”

“Steph...”

“No, don’t, do not “Steph” me right now!”

“Come on Stephanie...”

“Do not do––”

“Cameron, you’re up,” Natalie says from across the room and Gina stops, looking up. 

“It’s okay, we can keep going,” EJ smiles at her encouragingly. Gina blushes and nods. 

The two continue to run the scene, Gina fumbling a few times here and there but EJ encouraging her every time. With butterflies fluttering in her stomach Gina’s not sure if EJ’s the cause of them or her nerves. By the time they reach the end of the scene Gina feels confident she will be able to get it right once she’s in the room. 

“Thanks for your help,” Gina smiles at EJ and he flushes sheepishly.

“No problem,” he smiles shyly. “It helped me too. Running the scene.”

Gina smiles and nods as Nini exits the studio and walks towards them. 

“Connor and April, you’re next,” Natalie says looking at her clipboard.

“How’d it go?” Gina asks Nini once she reaches them.

“Pretty good,” Nini smiles. “Miss Jenn asked that I stay for a bit, probably for me to read with some others.”

“Did they send in Cameron to read with you?” EJ asks as he indicates towards Cameron standing off to the side.

“Yeah, once Jared and I did the Tennessee Williams scene they called in Cam,” Nini nods. “The Shakespeare was a bit tough, but I think I got the hang of it.” 

“I’m sure you did great Neens,” EJ says softly and puts an arm around Nini and gives her a squeeze. Gina feels her stomach burn with jealousy, so instead she focuses her attention on the pages in her hands. 

“Thanks Eeej,” Nini smiles and turns to Gina. “Were you guys rehearsing?” 

“Yeah, EJ was helping me with one of the scenes,” Gina nods and smiles at EJ. “A lot of the dialogue overlaps and it’s harder to understand when you’re just reading alone.”

“Reasons to be Pretty,” EJ says so that Nini knows which scene. “It really helped reading with Gina.”

Gina smiles shyly and bites her bottom lip. “Yeah, you really helped me too, thanks.”

“No problem,” EJ says smiling brightly. 

Nini looks between the two and grins widely. “You guys wanna continue rehearsing the other scenes?”

“Oh...uh yeah sure,” Gina stutters out looking up at EJ cautiously. “I mean, if you want, I’m cool.”

“No, yeah totally,” EJ smiles lightly and pulls his arm from around Nini and gets his papers in order. “Let’s do it. Shakespeare?”

“Sure,” Gina smiles and gets her scene ready.

Nini helps the two run their scene and gives pointers here and there on what she’d received from in the room. When they move onto the Tennessee Williams scene Gina is a lot more comfortable with EJ. Her stomach still flutters nervously whenever he smiles at her and she keeps getting a chill up and down her spine. She figures her nerves from auditions are making her body do things she’s not used to. 

“Thanks again for helping me,” Gina says to EJ once they’ve run the scenes through. She feels confident  that she’ll be able to impress the directors.

“No problem, thanks for helping me too,” EJ smiles at her with a sheepish look. 

“Gina and Jared,” Natalie calls from the studio door. Gina stares wide-eyed at Nini who squeezes her hand in support.

“Break a leg G, you’ve got this,” Nini says as Gina gets up.

“Thanks Nini,” Gina smiles nervously. 

“Break a leg,” EJ says softly as he gets up to squeeze her arm encouragingly. Gina feels a tingle on her arm at his touch, she smiles at him and nods. 

Upon entering the studio Gina again feels the nerves from her initial audition. Her scene partner, Jared, smiles at her and she returns a shaky smile. 

“Don’t overthink it,” Jared says as they walk towards the directors. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

“Thanks,” Gina smiles as they reach the ‘x’ on the floor in front of the directors. 

“Gina, Jared hello again,” Miss Jenn says with a smile. “So Jared you’re just reading Tennessee Williams correct?” 

“Yes Miss Jenn.”

“Alright, so then Mr Roy who is the director will see you for that with Gina and after that you may go and Gina, you’ll stay in the room okay?” Miss Jenn says brightly and both Gina and Jared nod in understanding. 

“Okay you two, we understand you had a short time to familiarise yourselves with the scenes but try to bring some emotion and some real feeling to it alright,” Zack Roy, the director and non-major acting teacher, says as he gets up and moves to the front of the table and leans against it. “Maggie and Brick are talking about Brick’s family and Maggie is feeling overwhelmed by them all. Remember Big Daddy is dying of cancer and his inheritance is up in the air. You may start when you’re ready.”

Gina turns to Jared and he gives her an encouraging smile and she nods and they start. Gina allows herself to get lost in the character and the story of Maggie and Brick as she engages with Jared. She ends the scene by walking off. 

“Great, thank you!” Mr Roy says as he walks back around the table to sit down. “Jared you can leave and tell Natalie to send in the next person.”

Gina quietly says bye to Jared and turns back towards the directors to wait. 

“You doing okay Gina?” Miss Jenn asks softly. 

“Yes Miss Jenn, thanks,” Gina replies shyly. She hears footsteps come up behind her and when she turns her stomach flips. 

“EJ come come, join us,” Miss Jenn jumps up and comes around the table. “Alright, so you two have all three scenes correct?”

Gina and EJ smile at each other and nod. “Yes, Miss Jenn.”

“Alrighty then, I’ll have you read for me first, then you can read Reasons for Miss Lila and then end with Tennessee,” Miss Jean says as she leans on the table as Mr Roy just did. “So Twelfth Night; romance, disguises, unrequited love and mistaken identity, it’s all there. This scene between Duke Orsino and Viola is quite ironic, Viola is in love with Orsino, and Orsino is in love with Olivia and also thinks Viola is a man, Cesario, his servant. Orsino is unwittingly giving Cesario, Viola, advice on love not knowing she’s in love with him. So remember your characters emotions, feelings and obstacles for this scene. When you’re ready, take it away.”

EJ turns to Gina and she smiles nervously at him, which he returns. He goes off to the side and takes a chair and brings it back and sets it on the ‘x’ and sits down. Gina understanding his setup of the scene goes off to the side and stands quietly with her head down. 

“Come hither, boy: if ever thou shalt love, 

In the sweet pangs of it remember me;

For such as I am all true lovers are,

Unstaid and skittish in all motions else,

Save in the constant image of the creature

That is beloved. How dost thou like this tune?” EJ says leaning back into the seat, one hand behind his head as the other holds his script, and he looks over at Gina.

“It gives a very echo to the seat

Where Love is throned,” Gina says stepping forward, remembering to stay in character as a woman pretending to be a man. EJ smirks at her in character and laughs.

“Thou dost speak masterly:

My life upon't, young though thou art, thine eye

Hath stay'd upon some favour that it loves:

Hath it not, boy?” EJ gets up and walks a few paces away from Gina before turning around to face her.

“A little, by your favour,” bowing lowly in character, Gina smiles up at EJ. 

“What kind of woman is't?” EJ tilts his head to the side and crosses his one arm over his chest as he looks at Gina questioningly.

“Of your complexion,” she replies with a blush and looks away. 

“She is not worth thee, then. What years, i' faith?” EJ moves closer to Gina and she takes a small step back.

“About your years, my lord,” Gina looks down and her blush deepens. She can’t believe how close this scene is to her current feelings. EJ laughs and shakes his head pulling Gina back into the scene. 

“Too old by heaven: let still the woman take

An elder than herself: so wears she to him,

So sways she level in her husband's heart:

For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,

Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,

More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn,

Than women's are,” EJ puts a hand on Gina’s shoulder to show camaraderie. Gina looks at his hand on her shoulder as she feels the sensation shoot up her neck and down her back. She looks up at him and smiles.

“I think it well, my lord,” she bows down again and EJ’s hand drops from her shoulder. 

When Gina comes up from her bow she looks up into EJ’s eyes again and she feels her stomach flutter. EJ smiles at her widely. Their moment is broken when Miss Jean claps her hands. 

“Wonderful, bravo!” Miss Jenn says excitedly. “You two really got into character there.”

EJ shares a look with Gina and they both blush. 

“Miss Lila, you wanna talk to them about Reasons?” Miss Jenn turns to the other directors and Miss Lila stands. 

“Alright, EJ, Gina, this scene is quite intense and long, so I just want to see about 2 pages of it, I’ll have you do the end, start from the top of page 15 and end at the top of page 17 when Steph leaves,” Miss Lila says looking at her script in her hands. “Remember the slashes mean overlapping the lines, so please listen each other, I understand you have scripts in hand, but please try to engage. Also, you’ve just had a rollercoaster of a fight, so those emotions are definitely still there. When you’re ready you may begin.”

Gina and EJ prepare themselves to start the scene. Gina thinks of her character’s feelings, of finding out her boyfriend had called her ugly and him denying the fact. She closes her eyes for a moment and thinks of Jack’s words to her when he broke up with her; that he never thought she was his soulmate and how he was just passing time with her. She feels hot tears start to form and she opens her eyes, she looks over at EJ and he’s looking at her. His face is void of any emotion as he stares at her. She gives him a slight nod to indicate she’s ready and he says his line. 

“Fine!” 

Chapter Text

“Mom it was the best experience ever,” Gina gushes to her mother the next morning on the phone. “I really felt in my element.”

“Oh honey I’m so happy,” Teri tells her daughter softly on the other end of the line. “So you think you’re gonna get cast?”

“I mean, I don’t wanna get my hopes up,” Gina blushes as she sets her phone down and puts it on speaker. “Mom, I’m just fixing my hair, so you’re on speaker.”

“Okay, now tell me, really, do you think you’ll get it?” Her mother insists and Gina smiles as she parts her hair down the middle. 

“I...I think so mom,” Gina says softly as if saying it any louder might jinx it. “The guys I was in the room with were all pretty good too.”

“Oh, you went in more than once?”

“Yeah, I went in about five times, so that’s hopeful right?” Gina says as she starts braiding a French braid on the left side of her head. 

“Definitely honey, I have a feeling you’re gonna get a really great part,” Teri says excitedly.

“Thanks mom,” Gina smiles and thinks about her auditions again and sighs. “I hope...”

“What?” Teri asks when Gina doesn’t finish her train of thought.

“No it’s nothing,” Gina shakes her head with a blush and she thinks about a certain someone she auditioned with. 

“It’s not nothing, what do you hope?” Teri asks inquisitively and Gina can just imagine she has a sly smile on her face.

“It’s...it’s just there was this guy who auditioned with me, well he actually helped me before the audition too,” Gina says quickly, not trusting she’d be able to continue if she didn’t. “He was really cute and I’m hoping we get cast together, that’s all.”

“Oh Gigi!” Teri exclaims through the phone and Gina giggles. “Tell me about him?”

“Well, he’s super cute, very nice and has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen,” Gina gushes as she finishes off her left braid. 

“He sounds great,” Teri says as Gina’s room door opens and Ashlyn walks in with her backpack. Gina smiles and mouths a hello and Ashlyn waves before collapsing down on her bed, Gina frowns. “I really hope you get cast with him too.”

“Mom I gotta go, gotta finish my hair and then we’re heading out to meet Jamie,” Gina says as she glances at Ashlyn through her mirror. She hadn’t mentioned the cute guy from the auditions to Ashlyn for fear that he actually was Nini’s boyfriend. Ashlyn isn’t paying much attention it seems, her eyes looking distant.

“Okay sweetheart, we’ll talk again soon. Love you, bye!” Teri says cheerily. 

“Bye mom, say hi to dad, love you,” Gina says and ends the call and starts on her right side. “Hey Ash!”

“Hey G,” Ashlyn says from her spot on he bed, staring up at the ceiling deep in thought. 

“You okay?” Gina asks turning towards her roommate, leaving her hair mid-braid. 

“I’m just really tired,” Ashlyn says in a tone that Gina doesn’t quite believe, but she hums in understanding. 

Gina bites the inside of her lip with a frown and turns to continue braiding her hair. She feels it’s better to give Ashlyn space and if she feels the need to talk she will. Once she’s finished off her braid she admires her work and smiles. She catches a glimpse of Ashlyn in the mirror and notices a tear roll down the side of her face and Ashlyn quickly wipes it away and turns to face the wall, her back to Gina.

“Ash...,” Gina starts and moves over to sit at the foot of Ashlyn’s bed. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but know that I'm here if you need anything.”

“Thanks Gina,” Ashlyn says quietly, tearfully. 

“Uh...we were meant to go to lunch with my brother and his boyfriend, did you still want to come with?” Gina says, placing a hand on Ashlyn’s leg comfortingly.

“No...I’m sorry,” Ashlyn replies. “It’s better if I stay.”

“Are you sure?” Gina asks and Ashlyn nods. “Or I could stay here with you and we could watch some movies, anything you want?”

“No don’t cancel,” Ashlyn says turning towards Gina shaking her head. “Go, I'll be fine.”

“I know you’ll be fine, but I also don’t want you to be alone,” Gina smiles softly and Ashlyn sits up, making room for Gina to come sit next to her. Gina puts her arm around her and rubs Ashlyn’s arm consolingly. 

“No, seriously, I'll be fine,” Ashlyn smiles halfheartedly and leans into Gina, wiping her tears. “I’ll just call my cousin.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Definitely, he’ll be over in like 5minutes if I ask him to be,” Ashlyn giggles and Gina smiles. 

“Alright then, he better,” Gina says leaning in and giving Ashlyn a tight hug. “If you need anything, just call me.”

“I will, and don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Ashlyn reassures her roommate with a playful eye-roll.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” 

“Nope, I’m all good. Seriously, go,” Ashlyn smiles, her face still slightly tear stained.

Gina gets up from her spot next to Ashlyn and sighs. “Ok, ok I’m going, but not before you call your cousin, so I know you won’t be alone.”

Ashlyn looks at her roommate in disbelief. Gina shrugs and says, “What, you’re not getting out of this one.”

Ashlyn smiles sweetly at Gina, shaking her head and pulls her phone out. “Fine, but you’re going to go.”

“I will, once you call your cousin,” Gina smiles as she starts to get her things ready to leave. 

Ashlyn shakes her head as she playfully glares at Gina, and dials a number on her phone. Gina smiles triumphantly. 

“Hey cuz,” Ashlyn says softly and tears start to form again. Gina goes over and sits next to her, putting her arm around her. She can hear him ask Ashlyn what’s wrong through the phone. “I’m okay...I  just...could we maybe hang out today?”

Gina leans over to her bed side table and grabs a tissue and hands it to Ashlyn. She takes the tissue and starts to dab at her face as she smiles in thanks at Gina. 

“Okay, that’s cool, I’ll see you then,” Ashlyn smiles. “Okay, love you, bye.”

Gina smiles and hugs Ashlyn. “Is he coming over?”

“He said he’d be here in 20 minutes, he’s just finishing his shift at work,” Ashlyn says softly. “But seriously you can go, you don’t have to wait.”

“If you’re sure?”

“Stop asking that, seriously, go!” Ashlyn smiles tearfully and starts pushing lightly at Gina to get up. “Say hi to Jamie for me and tell them I’ll join next time, because I really wanna meet Eric and hear their story.”

Gina laughs and gets up. “I’m going, no need to kick me out.”

The two smile at each other and Gina quickly leans in for another hug. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you!” Ashlyn says as Gina gets her bag and goes towards their door to leave. 

–––––––––––

A few blocks from leaving the dorms Gina is walking towards the Starbucks around the corner from Campus to grab herself something to drink on the train ride over to her brother’s place. She frowns as she thinks of Ashlyn, alone and crying in their dorm. She quickly pulls out her phone to send Ashlyn a message. 

Gina

Thinking of you! I hope you feel better <3 

Ashlyn

Thanks G! My cousin is on his way, don’t worry.

Have a great time with your brother, see you later <3

Gina

See you later!

Gina smiles as she pockets her phone, she’s glad Ashlyn has her cousin. She gets a sense that he’s like a brother to her, they have a similar relationship to her and Jamie. She opens the door to Starbucks and someone comes rushing out, nearly knocking her over. 

“Shit, sorry,” he says while trying to hold two drinks and stuff something into his backpack. He looks up and Gina’s stomach turns. “Hey! Gina, how’s it going?”

“EJ, hi! I’m good...good, good,” Gina flushes at her dumbstruck behaviour. “You?”

They step out of the doorway and onto the sidewalk and EJ smiles at her. “Yeah I’m good.”

“Listen, I just wanted to say thanks again for helping yesterday and for being a great scene partner in the audition,” Gina says with a shy smile. 

“No problem, thanks for being a great partner for me too,” EJ smiles and Gina swears his eyes sparkle. “I think helping you run lines ended up helping me too, so thanks.”

Gina blushes and looks down as she nods. EJ smiles and with a quick glance at his watch he bites his bottom lip with a frown. 

“Shit, I gotta go, I’m headed over to my ––”

“Oh sure, sorry,” Gina cuts him off assuming he’s going to say his girlfriend. “Yeah go on, you seemed like you were in a hurry.”

“It’s not a problem,” EJ smiles easily at her and Gina feels flush all over. “I’d love to stay and chat, it’s just...she’s waiting for me.”

“Right,” Gina’s stomach drops. “I’ll see you around.”

“See you,” EJ says starting off in the direction Gina just came from. He turns and smiles. “Let’s hope we get cast in the same show, cast list is up tomorrow.”

Gina grins and nods in agreement, she feels a tingle go up her spine. “Definitely.”

Gina watches him walk off and sighs at the pit in her stomach. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to stay and talk to her, but someone, probably his girlfriend, is waiting for him. He’s likely off to see his girlfriend and Gina’s slowly but surely falling for him. She could kick herself. 

“Gigi?”

Gina turns and sees Jack coming towards her. She feels another sensation go up her back and she falters, but looking at Jack’s timid smile she rolls her eyes and groans. “I really don’t have the energy today Jack.”

“No, I know,” Jack stutters out. “Look, Gigi...sorry, Gina, I just really wanted to say sorry.”

Gina sighs. She crosses her arms and nods her head for him to continue. 

“I...I realise that what I did to you was epically shitty, like so shitty,” Jack starts and Gina stares at him with one eyebrow raised and he continues. “Uh...right sorry, look I realise you want nothing to do with me, which I totally understand and don’t blame you for. I should never have said that you meant nothing to me, because you did, not only as my girlfriend, but you were my best friend too. I’m sorry we lost that friendship and if I could go back I'd never, ever hurt you like that.”

Deep down Gina knows this is also where her hurt stems from, Jack was her friend before he was her boyfriend. Knowing he willingly hurt her caused her the most pain. Looking in his eyes she can see his remorse and sorrow at the loss of their friendship too. Gina looks away as her eyes start to water and she nods. “Okay...”

“Okay? Okay as in...you forgive me?” Jack asks hopefully. 

“Okay as in I don’t hate you and I’ll work on forgiving you, but I won’t forget,” Gina says wiping at her cheeks with a sniffle. “You really hurt me Jack, so don’t expect me to all of sudden just accept you back in my life as if nothing happened.”

“No, I won't, I really just want a second chance,” Jack says with a sheepish smile. Gina raises an eyebrow in question and Jack flushes. “At friendship, I just want you back in my life in some capacity.”

“Alright,” Gina says and offers him a small smile. “Look, I gotta go, but I’ll see you around I guess.”

“Great, uh...I’ll let you go,” Jack grins and he leans in for a hug that Gina instinctively steps back from and he grimaces. “Right, sorry, too soon.”

Gina grimaces too and bites her lip contemplatively. “Yeah, it is too soon, but we’ll work on it.”

“That's all I ask G,” Jack says softly with a smile. With a nod Gina leaves him and walks into the Starbucks.  

Chapter Text

“So are you going to tell us more about this cute guy or what?” Jamie asks his sister as they settle on his couch after their lunch.

Gina stills and glares at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“JJ! You were supposed to be subtle!” Eric says coming from the kitchen and settling down on the love seat in the corner. Jamie shrugs at his boyfriend and they laugh.

“Subtlety is not really Jamie’s strong suit,” Gina laughs with them and shakes her head. “Anyway, there’s nothing to tell.”

“But there is a cute boy?” Jamie's raises as eyebrow with a smirk. 

Gina blushes and covers her face with her hands. “I’m not telling you anything! You clearly spoke to mom before I got here. You’re conspiring against me.”

“Come on, Gigi, please?” Jamie says with a pout and Eric smiles at the sibling dynamic. “I swear I won’t tell mom, or dad.”

Gina’s eyes go wide and she laughs. “Oh God, definitely not dad.”

“So...?” Eric asked with raised eyebrows after the siblings settle their laughter. 

“His name is EJ, he’s a third year and we auditioned together yesterday,” Gina says matter of factly, keeping the details minimal. 

“God Gigi, that’s really selling him for us,” Jamie rolls his eyes. 

“Leave her be JJ,” Eric shushes his boyfriend and turns to smile at Gina. “You like him huh?”

Gina blushes. She scrunches her nose and nods. “I do. But it’s crazy, we barely know each other but I have this pull towards him, like I’ve known him forever or like I could know him forever.”

Jamie and Eric smile at each other and reach out to take each others’ hands. 

“That’s how I feel about Eric,” Jamie says softly and suddenly gasps as he turns to his sister. “Do you think he could be your soulmate?”

Gina’s eyes go wide. “Shit, I haven’t even thought of that. I just thought the fluttery feelings I had around him were because I kept seeing him when I was nervous.”

“Aaw, he makes you nervous?” Eric sighs with a loving smile at his boyfriend.

“Uh...not exactly, I mean, he does, but I've only ever really seen him around campus when I was busy with auditions or something,” Gina frowns. “So how do I know my feelings for him, or the possibility of him being my soulmate aren’t just my nerves?”

“You’ve only met him a few times?” Jamie asks and Gina nods. “And already you feel like you’ve known him forever?” 

“Yeah...”

“Honey, he’s your soulmate,” Eric says clapping his hands together emphatically. “You barely know him, and yet you feel like you can trust him and you’re safe with him right?”

“Yes...I can’t explain it,” Gina smiles dreamily. 

“He’s gotta be your soulmate then,” Jamie says grinning at his sister and turning to his boyfriend with a nod. 

“But...I think he might already be with someone, like with a soulmate,” Gina frowns remembering the way Nini and EJ were around each other the day before.

“You couldn’t have started with that,” Jamie rolls his eyes with a groan. 

“Babe,” Eric says warningly. “Why do you think he already has a soulmate?”

Gina grimaces and shrugs her shoulders. “I just have a feeling.”

When both of them just look at her expectantly with raised eyebrows Gina sighs. “Ugh okay, fine. Ashlyn knows this girl from high school who’s also in the acting program, Nini. She was at the auditions with me yesterday too and her and EJ seemed really close, like he had his arm around her and they called each other ‘Eeej’ and ‘Neens’...I don’t know. And Ashlyn did tell me that Nini is with her soulmate, and I don’t really know anything about EJ, or Nini for that matter, so they could be each other’s soulmates.”

“Hmmm...” Jamie hums as he considers what his sister said. “I can see where you’re coming from, but they could also just be friends.”

“Maybe...” Gina shrugs noncommittally. 

“I think for now, just get to know this EJ and see where it goes,” Jamie says resting a comforting hand on his sister’s leg. “You never know, it may lead to something, or you could become really good friends.” 

“True...” Gina nods absentmindedly, lost in thought.

“What else is bothering you?” Jamie asks with a frown, nudging her leg lightly. 

“It’s...Jack,” Gina sighs and shakes her head. “I may have told him that we can be friends.”

“What?” 

“Wait, who is Jack again?” Eric asks at his boyfriend’s sudden outburst. 

“Her asshole ex,” Jamie answers him quickly before turning to Gina. “Explain.”

Gina knew her brother would not be impressed with her decision to give Jack a chance. Hell, she wasn’t truly on board with it either. 

“I bumped into him on my way over,” Gina rubs her forehead. “We spoke briefly and he said wants to be friends.”

Jamie narrows his eyes at his sister and bites his bottom lip. “Gigi, I don’t like this.”

Gina nods and glances at Eric who shrugs, knowing it’s not his place. “Look, Jamie, I know you’re worried I’ll fall for him again, but that’s not happening. Not in this lifetime.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again,” Jamie says taking her hand and squeezing it gently. “Because if he does, so help me––”

“I know,” Gina laughs lightly and hugs her brother. “I won’t let him hurt me, because I’m not gonna let him get that close ever again.”

Jamie nods in satisfaction and Gina holds her tongue on her suspicion about Jack possibly being her soulmate. She laughs along with her brother and his boyfriend but her mind is still stuck on EJ and Jack, and what all her weird feelings mean. 

–––––––––

Gina was walking to class the next day, still pondering her feelings. It would be great if EJ turned out to be her soulmate, but then she also doesn’t know how to behave around him. She’s already so nervous around him, add him being her soulmate, she’d be a puddle around him. She enters the Tisch building and heads towards the elevators. 

“Gina, hey!”

Gina turns and sees Nini coming up behind her, her stomach drops. This is the universe telling her to stop thinking about EJ, he's taken. She puts on a smile. “Hey Nini, how’s it going?”

“I’m good, just freezing,” Nini laughs as she adjusts her scarf around her neck. 

“Oh yeah same,” Gina laughs as they reach the elevator and presses the button to go up. “Have you heard anything yet?”

“No, it’s so frustrating waiting,” Nini says as she pulls her phone out. “I keep checking my email every five minutes.”

Gina laughs as she too pulls out her phone to check her email. “They are letting us know today though right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Nini nods with a smile. “From last year I remember they informed us on the Monday following the auditions, I just can’t tell you when exactly since they sent the email around 9am my first time and 6pm or something the second time. So we might be waiting all day, or we’ll find out soon.”

“God, this is more nerve wrecking than waiting for if I got into Tisch” Gina sighs as they reach their floor and the elevator opens. 

“I know,” Nini giggles. “I’ve gotta get to class, but maybe we could meet for lunch or something?”

“Sure, that’d be great. We break at 12:30.”

“Cool, us too. Meet you down in the foyer?” 

“See you then Nini,” Gina gives her a quick hug and rushes off to her dance class. 

Later in the afternoon Gina is sitting in the Starbucks getting some reading done when someone sits across from her. She looks up and sees EJ smiling at her, a drink in hand. Her heart swells. 

“I see I’ve found my costar,” he grins setting his drink down.

Gina raises an eyebrow in confusion. “What?” 

EJ chuckles and shakes his head causing Gina’s insides to flip. “I can’t believe you don’t know yet.”

“Wait, what did you say?” Gina asks her eyes wide, finally catching on to what he’s saying.

“I said I can’t believe you––”

“No, before that...did you say costar?” Gina asks in a whisper, not wanting to jinx herself. 

“Check your email,” EJ grins and jerks his head towards her phone as he leans back in his seat. “I’ll wait.”

Gina reaches for her phone and sure enough she has an email notification from Miss Jenn, the subject FALL Production Casting. She quickly swipes to open it and her stomach flutters. 

Dear Gina,

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on a wonderful audition. This Fall we had such an overwhelming turn out for our productions, and we now have a great amount of talent to showcase. Although it was overwhelming I am pleased to inform you that you have been cast in my production of ‘Twelfth Night’. Congratulations!!! 

I have attached the cast list, I hope you embrace your role to the fullest. Below I will detail some important dates you need to know for the production, including our very important read-through this week. 

Gina scrolls down the email, figuring she’d read the rest of the email later. She glances up at EJ and grins, he smirks back. She clicks on the attached document of the cast list. Only one thing stands out to her, okay, two things. 

Viola/Cesario - Gina Porter

Duke Orsino - EJ Caswell

“Oh my God!” Gina gasps her hand flying to cover her squeal. “Is this for real?!”

“Yes it is,” EJ smiles as he leans forward on the table taking a sip of his drink. “Congratulations Gina.”

“Thank you,” Gina blushes and bites her lip. “Congratulations to you too!”

“Thanks,” EJ smiles sheepishly and Gina looks at the cast list again. 

“Aaah Nini got in too!” Gina exclaims with a smile. “She’s playing Olivia.”

EJ smiles and nods. “Yeah I’m actually heading over to her place now.”

“Oh,” Gina’s stomach drops and she forces a smile.

“Do you want to come with?” EJ asks with a look Gina can’t quite decipher. 

“Oh, that’s...no, you guys hang out,” Gina blushes and starts to pack up her things. “I actually should be heading back to my dorm, I promised my roommate we’d grab dinner together.”

Gina thinks EJ looks disappointed by her decline but she chalks it up to her own wishful thinking. “Okay, cool. We’ll be seeing each other a lot more now anyway. So there’s time to hang out.”

“Yes, definitely,” Gina smiles and stands, EJ stands too causing Gina to falter on the table’s leg. EJ swiftly catches her, his hands steadying her on her shoulders, then once she’s stable he lets go. She feels a sensation go up her back as her stomach flutters. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” EJ flushes touching the back of his neck with a slight frown and then smiles sheepishly. “I’ll walk out with you.”

“Sure,” Gina says walking ahead. She feels a thrill go up her back again as he walks beside her, his hand on the small of her back. As they navigate their way towards the door, Gina is hyper aware of EJ’s hand. 

Once they’re outside Gina turns to EJ. “I’ll see you at read through I guess.”

“Or maybe before then?” EJ smiles and leans in for a hug. Gina nods and holds her breath as she hugs him back.

With a smile they part ways and Gina feels even more confused about her weird crush/soulmate situation she seems to have with him. 

–––––––––––––

“Sorry I’m late!” Gina says as she walks into her dorm room. Ashlyn is sitting on her bed, her laptop open on her lap. 

“No problem,” Ashlyn smiles, setting her laptop aside. “I was actually just looking to see if we want to go out to eat or order in, or do we wanna do cafeteria food?”

“Hmmm,” Gina thinks as she sets her things down on her desk chair and sits down on her bed opposite Ashlyn. “Honestly, I’d rather not go anywhere. Is that okay?”

“Girl! I’m literally wearing my sweats, so I’m down for staying in,” Ashlyn giggles grabbing her laptop again.

“That’s settled then,” Gina chuckles and suddenly jumps up. “OMG I almost forgot to tell you!”

“What?” Ashlyn asks looking up from her laptop with concern. 

“I got in!” Gina jumps up and down. “I got a part in Twelfth Night!”

Ashlyn squeals and sets her laptop down and jumps up to hug Gina. “Congratulations!!! That’s awesome!” 

“Thank you.”

When they step back from each other Ashlyn squeals again. “This is so exciting, what part is it?”

“I’m playing Viola,” Gina says with wide eyes, her hands covering her mouth.

“Oh my God, G! That’s the lead,” Ashlyn exclaims grabbing Gina by the shoulders. “This is huge.”

“I know,” Gina says biting her lip. “It’s only really sinking in now...I’m only a first year.”

“You’ll be great, don’t worry about that,” Ashlyn smiles and squeezes her shoulders encouragingly. 

“Thank you,” Gina smiles. “At least Nini’s in it too, so I have her.”

“Oh really? Then you have nothing to worry about, Nini will definitely support you,” Ashlyn grins. Her phone chimes and she quickly goes over to check it. 

“I’ll check dinner options,” Gina says and Ashlyn nods with a smile. Gina sits on Ashlyn's bed and takes her laptop while she's busy on the phone.

“No way,” Ashlyn mutters and laughs as she reads her text. 

“What’s up,” Gina asks off-handedly as she looks through the nearby restaurants that do delivery. 

“My cousin, he got in too,” Ashlyn says slowly, sitting down next to Gina with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Oh really, what play?” Gina asks looking up at Ashlyn, but when she sees Ashlyn’s look she frowns. “What?”

“Twelfth Night. He’s playing Duke Orsino,” Ashlyn grins and raises an eyebrow. 

“No EJ’s pl...wait,” Gina’s eyes go wide. She suddenly remembers EJ’s last name from the cast list, she’d thought it seemed familiar. “So...EJ’s your cousin?”

“Yip, and...you must be the girl he told me about...” Ashlyn says thoughtfully as she looks down at her phone. 

“What do you mean?” Gina asks, concerned.

“Nothing, he just mentioned a girl who was really good in his audition,” Ashlyn says quickly with a smile.

Gina frowns, not believing her but not wanting to discuss EJ anymore for fear of Ashlyn finding out about her crush. “Okay. Uh, so...anyway, dinner. I’m thinking Chinese food?”

“Sure that sounds good,” Ashlyn smirks knowingly as Gina concentrates a little too hard on the computer screen. 

Chapter Text

ej.caswell started following you. 

Gina stares at her phone in shock and a mixture of joy and apprehension. She’s sitting in the Tisch foyer waiting for some new friends to head out for lunch when the notification chimes. Gina giddily opens her Instagram and looks at his profile. There are a few pictures from this summer where it looks like he’s at a lake, but he hasn’t posted since the beginning of the semester. As Gina scrolls down his profile she sees an image of him and Ashlyn and she shakes her head as she laughs at herself. Of course the guy she’s got a crush on is her roommate’s cousin slash pseudo brother. How had she not realised who EJ was sooner. 

Last night Gina and Ashlyn had avoided the subject of EJ after the big reveal that Gina had not been expecting. Gina is thankful she never told Ashlyn about her crush on EJ, that would’ve been so embarrassing, considering she’s almost certain that EJ is with Nini. Gina racks her brain to try and remember the conversation she had with Ashlyn about Nini and her cousin. She could’ve sworn Ashlyn said something about Nini and her cousin dating, she just can’t remember properly. That day her emotions were all over the place, she really can’t remember much of the conversation. 

After scrolling Gina follows him back. She’s tempted to look at his story, she can see he’s posted but she doesn’t want to look too eager. She quickly locks her phone and slips it into her jacket pocket, right in time for her friends to join her as they exit the elevator. 

“G!” Carlos exclaims as he runs towards her and throws his arms around her. “Girl it’s been forever!”

“Carlos we had class together yesterday,” Gina giggles as she rolls her eyes at Carlos’s boyfriend and Soulmate, Seb, before hugging him too. “Hey Seb!”

“G you know Carlos, he can’t live without you,” Seb giggles as he smiles affectionately at his boyfriend. “Even though he’s only known you for a few weeks. I on the other hand actually haven’t seen you since last week.”

“Whatever, I can’t help it that Gina is my soul sister,” Carlos snaps his fingers with a pout in attitude and turns abruptly to exit the building. Gina and Seb laugh as they follow him out. 

“So where should we go?” Seb asks as he links arms with Gina. “There’s this really nice Korean restaurant around the corner, it has the best Ramen.”

“Ohh yes! I love their Ramen,” Carlos says turning and running over to link arms on Gina’s other side. “G is that cool with you?”

“I’m down for anything, I’ve never had Korean food,” Gina shrugs with a smile. “If you guys like it I'm sure I’ll like it too.”

“Awesome!” Seb grins and the three of them walk down the street arm in arm. Other pedestrians have to give them a wide berth since they’re not breaking their connection. 

Once they’ve settled in the restaurant Gina looks around and sees some familiar faces from Tisch, but only in passing. There’re a few pillars throughout that block her view, but she can see it’s packed. It’s really quite crowded, which just shows how popular it is; when they had to wait 15minutes to be seated the boys assured her it’s worth it. Carlos is talking a mile a minute about the production of Twelfth Night that he’s going to be working on with Miss Jenn.

“I couldn’t believe it when she approached me,” Carlos says dramatically drinking some green tea. “You know in the Dance program we don’t get credits the same as the acting program. I mean, you’re a special case G since you’re doing the dual program, but dancers get credit for doing dance shows, but mainly working on shows as a choreographer.”

“So, wait, how’re you getting credit for Twelfth Night then?” Gina asks taking a sip of her tea and leaning closer to Carlos.

“I’m not supposed to say anything...but...” Carlos glances at Seb and Gina conspiringly and leans forward. “She wants to add some musical elements to the play. Now before you ask me too many questions, I don’t know enough to answer it all. You’ll have to wait for the read-through, she’ll explain it all.”

Gina pouts and nods her head in understanding. She looks down at her menu and suddenly feels the hairs stand up on her neck. She looks up and around quickly trying to see something, anything that could be the reason for this sudden feeling. When she doesn’t see anything she turns back to the boys who’re discussing what they’ll be eating. 

“So what do you boys recommend?” Gina asks touching the back of her neck absentmindedly. “I know, the Ramen, but which one’s really good?”

“I usually get Karamiso Tonkotsu but instead of Pork I do Beef, but I tried the Tomato Cheese the last time I was here, that’s one of the veggie options, it was delicious,” Seb says showing her the meals he mentioned on the menu. “I added Chicken to my tomato cheese, or you can just eat it like that or add tofu if you’re sticking to veggie.”

“I get the Kimchi Chashu,” Carlos says pointing it out to Gina. “I’ve tried the ones Seb’s had, they’re good too.”

“Okay, I’m not the biggest Pork fan, so maybe I can do Kara...the Karamiso one with Beef or the Tomato Cheese, I really love cheese,” Gina grins and Seb and Carlos smile and shrug their shoulders letting her know it’s her choice. 

“Here she comes, we can order first G so you can make up your mind,” Seb smiles at her sweetly as their server comes to get their order. 

A little while later they’ve finished their meals and are waiting on the bill. Gina had felt a sensation up her back a few times throughout their meal, but she didn’t see anything or anyone that could be the cause of it. She didn’t feel too comfortable asking Carlos and Seb about their Soulmark situation, or sharing her own experience, their friendship was still so new. 

“Here you go, please pay at the counter when you’re ready,” their server says setting the bill down in the middle of the table. 

“It’s quite cramped up there, so maybe we can pay one at a time,” Carlos suggests as they look over at the counter and see the space between the counter and tables are quite snug. “You can pay first G.”

“You sure?” Gina asks and they nod, so she get up, taking the bill with her. 

She quickly pays her bill and calls over Carlos to make the next payment. “I’ll pay for me and Seb, he said he’s heading to the restroom. You can wait with me or...?”

Just as Gina’s about to reply someone’s chair bumps her as they get up and she turns to Carlos. “I think I'll wait outside, it’s so crowded in here.”

Carlos nods and rolls his eyes playfully. “I guess we’re not the only students in the area who like eating here.”

Gina giggles and shakes her head. She turns and walks to the exit and feels another thrill go up her back, she groans and doesn’t even bother looking around. She exits the restaurant and stands under the awning in the front for cover. She smiles blissfully with her eyes closed as she listens to the busy streets of New York. She hears the restaurant door open, and expecting Carlos and Seb she opens her eyes and her stomach drops. 

“Jack...hi,” Gina forces a smile. 

“Hey G,” Jack smiles as his friends come out behind him, they look questioningly and he gestures for them to keep going. “I’ll catch up.”

Gina internally groans, he really could’ve just gone with them. He comes to stand next to her and asks, “How’ve you been?”

“Since we saw each other two days ago?” Gina smirks and Jack flushes slightly. “I’m good, you?”

“I’m good, just came for lunch before heading back for class,” Jacks says with a sheepish smile, running his hands through his hair. “You had auditions this weekend right? How’d that go?”

Gina looks at him with a frown. “How–”

“One of my roommates goes to Tisch, he was a nervous wreck all weekend,” Jack laughs in explanation. “He got cast in Pretty Reasons or something or other. I didn’t see your name on his list, so I wondered.”

“Oh...uh first it’s Reasons to Be Pretty, second I got cast in Twelfth Night,” Gina smiles giddily, still feeling her high from getting cast. 

“Wow that’s awesome, congrats Gigi,” Jack grins and he reaches to touch her arm, but pulls back when Gina smiles back tensely in thanks. “Listen...I gotta go, but...can we maybe grab a coffee sometime?”

“Jack...” Gina sighs exasperated. “I don’t know...it’s...”

“I just...it doesn’t...look I meant what I said Gigi, I want us to be friends,” Jack says imploringly, his eyes practically begging Gina for a chance. “Can I...no, uh if or when you’re ready, maybe send me a message on Insta?”

Gina contemplates for a second and nods. “I’ll have to unblock you first.”

That comment breaks some tension and they both laugh and Gina smirks at him. Jack nods his head. “Yip, I deserved that. But...just let me know G.”

“I will,” Gina smiles with a nod and when Jack reaches slowly for a hug, his eyes asking if it’s okay, she let’s him this time. 

Gina’s standing staring at his figure walking down the street when the hair her back stands on end. She touches the back of her neck in confusion. What is happening? Carlos and Seb exit the restaurant arm in arm grinning at her.

“Who, pray tell, was that?” Carlos asks gesturing towards Jack’s retreating figure with a smirk as Seb raises his eyebrows. 

“No one,” Gina says quickly turning to walk back to Tisch, avoiding their questioning eyes. 

“That was not no one babes,” Seb says running up next to her and grabbing her arm. 

“Chica, spill,” Carlos says coming up on her other side, repeating their positions from their walk to the restaurant earlier.

Gina giggles as she glances between the two of them, both giving her raised eyebrows and pouts in attitude. “He’s an old friend from high school and that’s all I’ll say.”

“With the potential to be more,” Carlos says wiggling his eyebrows and Seb giggles.

“No!” Gina suddenly stops, her eyes wide. “Definitely not, we’re barely even friends as it is.”

Carlos and Seb share a concerned look as they untangle their arms. Gina does not want any confusion, her and Jack, are never gonna happen, ever again. 

“Oookaay...but you said you’re old friends,” Seb says softly, so innocently that Gina feels bad for losing her cool. 

“Look, I don’t want to get into the details, but he’s an ex,” Gina sighs and Carlos hums in understanding and Seb frowns sadly. “I’m fine, seriously, we’re...trying to work towards being friends.”

“Lo siento chica, we didn’t mean to push,” Carlos says sheepishly, sharing a look with Seb. 

“Yeah, sorry G,” Seb says and they all resume their positions and continue to walk again. 

“But I’ll just say this and only this, you don’t have to say anything back,” Carlos says slowly, tentatively. “He wasn’t looking at you like a friend would, and that hug...it meant something to him.”

Gina doesn’t respond, she doesn’t know how to but Seb seems to agree with Carlos as he nods him head with a hum. Gina’s insides flip as she thinks about Jack and how much he hurt her. Her soulmark burns and she feels uneasy. This can’t be good. 

––––––––

“I’m telling you Ash, it was the best Ramen I’ve ever had, even though it my first time, it was still the best,” Gina smiles at Ashlyn as they wait in line at Starbucks the next morning.

Ashlyn giggles and shakes her head at Gina. “Well then we’ll have to go together one day, I think EJ told me about it too, he likes going there.”

Gina’s smile falters a bit at the mention of EJ, luckily Ashlyn is looking up at the menu. Gina doesn’t dwell too much on EJ’s like for the restaurant. “I would say let’s go tonight, but I have my read-through.”

“Oh yeah, are you excited?” Ashlyn asks, turning to Gina with a grin. 

“I’m nervous,” Gina giggles and Ashlyn nods in understanding with a smile. They get to the counter, Gina orders her breakfast and turns to Ashlyn. “This is my treat, okay.”

Ashlyn tries to protest but Gina shakes her head. Finally Ashlyn places her order and Gina pays. “Thanks G, next time it’s on me.”

“No problem,” Gina smiles at her roommate as they step to the side to wait for their orders. Looking around Gina notices that it’s not too crowded, surprisingly since it’s breakfast time. Looking at her phone she sees it’s just after 8, it’s likely that the rush is over. 

“Eeej!” Ashlyn exclaims and Gina’s head quickly looks up to see EJ grinning at her roommate lopsidedly from behind the counter as he makes drinks. “If I had known you were here, I would’ve texted you our orders.”

EJ rolls his eyes at her and shakes his head, still grinning. “You know I can’t do that Ash. ”

Gina comes up next to Ashlyn and smiles shyly. “Hi EJ.”

EJ turns and grins widely at Gina, there’s a look in his eyes she can’t quite place. Her stomach does a flip and she feels a warm feeling go over her body. “Morning Gina, how’s it going?”

“I’m good, you?” Gina smiles, biting her bottom lip. 

“Grande peppermint hot chocolate for Megan!” EJ says placing a drink on the counter and a girl comes to get. EJ turns to Gina and smiles, answering her, “All good.”

His co-worker hands him the cups for Ashlyn and Gina’s drinks and he starts working on it. Gina glances at Ashlyn and she gives Gina a knowing look, Gina looks away with a blush catching EJ’s eye. 

“Wait...you two know each other?” EJ asks looking between the two girls.

Ashlyn smiles and turns to her cousin. “I didn’t tell you? She’s my roommate.”

EJ stops what he’s doing and looks at Ashlyn. They share a look, a glare to be more accurate before Ashlyn turns and smiles at Gina. EJ shakes his head and his face changes into an easy smile. “No cuz, you didn’t tell me.”

“Oops,” Ashlyn shrugs innocently. 

Gina looks between the two and narrows her eyes, feeling like she’s missing something. EJ looks up at her, clears his throat and smiles sheepishly.

“It’s kind of funny actually, I didn’t know you were her cousin until a few nights ago when we got the casting news,” Gina says trying to come of nonchalantly. “She was always talking about you and I didn’t know. I mean, not that there was anything to really know. But it’s just weird I kept meeting you, not knowing you were the cousin Ashlyn always mentioned.”

Gina stops her rambling when she notices Ashlyn trying to suppress a grin. EJ smiles sweetly at her and he laughs under his breath. “No, I get it. Ash mentioned you too and I didn’t put two and two together either.”

Gina blushes and bites her bottom lip while rubbing the back of her neck as she nods. “Yeah...”

She looks up at EJ and he’s staring at her with narrowed eyes as he looks at her hand on her neck. She feels a tingling sensation up her spine and quickly puts her hand down, looking behind her but not seeing anything. EJ shakes his head and puts their drinks on the counter. 

“Grande Pumpkin spiced latte for Ash and a grande Chai Latte for Gina,” EJ smiles and gestures to his coworker. “Ben will bring your breakfast sandwiches once they’re ready.”

“Thanks Eeej,” Ashlyn says placing the lids on they drinks. 

“Thanks,” Gina smiles at Ashlyn and EJ, her stomach fluttering, wondering why she felt her soulmark again. Before she can contemplate it too much Ben brings their breakfast sandwiches. 

“Thank you,” Ashlyn says for them both and hands Gina hers. “Eeej, what time are you off?”

“Noon, then I have class till four thirty,” EJ says without looking up. 

“What time’s the read-through?” Ashlyn asks looking between Gina and EJ. 

“Six,” Gina answers for them both.

“Maybe we can hangout in between?” Ashlyn asks EJ and he nods distractedly. “We can grab some sandwiches from Subway, it’s quick then you can rest in between. Both of you.”

Gina nods in agreement and meets EJ’s eye, he smiles with a nod. “I’ll see you then Gina. Bye Ash.”

The girls say their goodbyes and head to an empty table near the window. Gina glances back at EJ and she catches him looking before he looks down at the coffee machine. Gina’s heart swells. 

“Fancy meeting you here G,” Gina hears Jack say. She turns and sees him sitting at a table near the one Ashlyn was setting her things down at. His laptop is open, the remains of his breakfast and drink are pushed to the side. He gets up, comes over and leans in for a hug. 

“Hey Jack,” Gina says with a tentative smile, reluctantly hugging him back. Her soulmark burns and she stills in their hug, eyes wide. Is this what she felt earlier? She catches Ashlyn’s eye, who hadn’t realised that Gina hadn’t joined her at their table. Ashlyn leaves her things at the table and comes over. 

Gina quickly steps back from Jack. “You know if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were stalking me.”

Jack flushes and runs his hand through his hair with a light chuckle. “I could say the same for you.”

Ashlyn reaches them and steps up next to Gina. Gina gestures between them. “Jack this is my friend Ashlyn, Ashlyn this is Jack.”

“What, am I not a friend?” Jack grins teasingly and he shakes Ashlyn’s hand. Ashlyn, having clearly realised who Jack is, shakes his hand with narrowed eyes. 

“Don’t push it Jack,” Gina says rolling her eyes taking a sip of her Chai. 

“Sorry, I know,” Jack flushes and smiles at Ashlyn. “Nice meeting you.”

“Uh huh,” Ashlyn says her mouth an even line as she crosses her arms. Jack seems to realise that Ashlyn knows the history and looks down in embarrassment, stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

“Well...uh enjoy your day ladies,” he says with a tense smile, which Gina returns halfheartedly and Ashlyn shrugs out a grimace. 

Gina and Ashlyn walk over to their table and Gina sighs as she sits. 

“So that’s Jack,” Ashlyn states rather than asks still glaring at the back of his head. 

“Yip,” Gina says almost tiredly. 

“He’s not your soulmate,” Ashlyn says matter-of factly. Gina pauses with her drink half way towards her mouth and raises an eyebrow. “Just a feeling I have.”

Gina shrugs with an uneasy feeling in her stomach, as Ashlyn starts to eat her sandwich. Gina hasn’t confided in anyone her suspicion that Jack is her soulmate, not since her first conversation with Ashlyn. Ashlyn hadn’t asked if anything else happened between then and now, Gina also hadn’t shared anything. Glancing at the back of Jack’s head Gina swallows her Chai uneasily as her stomach turns. 

Ashlyn chuckles as she’s scrolling on her phone. “See, I told you Eeej likes that Korean restaurant.”

Ashlyn turns her phone to show Gina a picture. It’s from EJ’s Instagram story, he’s sitting at the very restaurant she was at yesterday, she recognises the Art in the background and he’s tagged the location. He’s sitting next to Nini, his arm resting behind her, both smiling widely at the camera and pointing at their Ramen on the table. There’s another guy in the picture on the other side of Nini, he’s looking at Nini and EJ smiling widely, probably at their silliness, Gina wonders who that could be. She forces a smile and looks at Ashlyn.

“Nice,” is all Gina says as her heart sinks. Ashlyn pulls back her phone and continues to scroll. 

Maybe just maybe it’s a sign. If Jack really is her soulmate she shouldn’t be pining for a guy who has a girlfriend. 

–––––––––

Chapter Text

“Alright thespians, welcome welcome!” Miss Jenn says from her position at the front of the room. Carlos stands next to her, grinning from ear to ear, and when Gina catches his eye he sends her a nervous, yet excited look. “Today’s read-through is just that, a read-through. Don’t feel too nervous about acting the proper emotions or saying the lines exactly right, just follow your impulses and feel it in the moment.”

Everyone giggles nervously as they look amongst themselves. Gina is standing next to Nini who had joined her, Ashlyn and EJ for their Subway dinner between classes ending and their read-through. She glances up at EJ and she sees him sharing a smile with Nini, she quickly looks back at Miss Jenn, ignoring the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

“Now, Natalie handed out the scripts as you all entered. For now, we’ll set that aside and all just gather for a warm-up, let’s put that nervous energy to good use,” Miss Jenn gestures for them all to join her and Carlos and gather around in a circle. “Look around, these people will be the faces you see everyday for the next few months. Get comfortable with each other, you’re going to have some life changing experiences.”

Gina glances around and makes eye-contact with her new cast mates, sharing some nervous and excited smiles with a few of them. When she gets to EJ he sends her a smile of encouragement that eases her nerves and relaxes her breathing she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. Once she looks over at Nini she’s back to being tense. Get a grip Gina, he’s taken, she tells herself. 

“Hey everyone! I’m Carlos, a first year dance student,” Carlos says with an awkward wave as he steps up in the middle of the circle. Gina gives him a wink and smile of encouragement and he visibly relaxes. “I’ll be helping Miss Jenn with some special elements for the show, but for now I'll be leading your warmup. Let’s get started chicos!”

As he says that music starts to play on the speakers and he instructs everyone to walk around the room and move to the beat of the music. Gina is in heaven, the music moves through her like she’s breathing it in. At one point she closes her eyes and walks right into someone. On opening her eyes she realises it’s EJ, he grins at her as he holds her upright, his arms around her waist. She quickly steps back and apologises before parting ways with him. Her stomach turns in circles as she glances back at him and he’s still standing where she left him, scratching the back of his neck. Shaking her head she focuses on the task at hand and listens for Carlos’s instructions, ignoring the thrill that goes up her spine. 

By the end of the warmup everyone is breathing heavy and sweating as they lie on the floor, Gina notices Carlos’ smile of satisfaction as he turns to Miss Jenn to takeover again. Shaking her head with a grin Gina stands up . 

“Thank you Carlos, that was wonderful,” Miss says with a bright smile. “Everyone grab a chair, your scripts and join us in a circle for the official table read. Natalie, Carlos could we also setup the tables.” 

Gina heads over to her bag to get her things, Nini coming up next to her. “That was intense, you didn’t even work up a sweat Gina.”

“Oh believe me, I did,” Gina smiles at Nini. “But a lot of what Carlos was having us do is stuff we do in our dance classes, so I’d like to think I’m used it by now.”

“I applaud you guys for that, I’d need a year of training to pull that off without breaking a sweat,” Nini laughed. “Come on, let's get the show on the road.”

Gina smiles at her as they go to grab some chairs to join the rest of the cast. EJ is busy unstacking some chairs and hands Nini one. Gina’s about to reach up to grab her own when EJ taps her shoulder and holds a chair out to her with a grin.

“Thanks,” Gina says softly, praying she’s not blushing. EJ grins back and grabs a chair of his own. The three of them go to join the others. 

“Oh, I almost forgot, my Duke and Viola, where are you?” Miss Jenn stands up looking around. Everyone looks over at Gina and EJ and they freeze, sharing sheepish smiles. Miss Jenn grins. “Oh great, you’re already together, and with our Olivia too. Our love triangle.”

Gina feels her stomach drop and avoids eye-contact with EJ and Nini. She knows Miss Jenn is referencing their character’s love triangle, but she can’t help but feel like she’s transparent with her crush on EJ. Their trio slowly goes over to where Miss Jenn wants them and take their seats, EJ sitting between Gina and Nini.  

As Miss Jenn talks about the show and her expectations Gina chances a glance at EJ. He’s listening attentively and taking notes on the back of his script. He looks over at Gina and smiles, she returns the smile and quickly looks down at her script in her hands. This is going to be harder than she thought. 

Gina looks up at Miss Jenn, realising she’s missed half of what she’s said. “That’s why Carlos is here with us, to choreograph some of those musical numbers, to add more passion and fun to the show.”

Gina looks over at Carlos and he’s grinning proudly from ear to ear. She sends him a look of disbelief and grins at him, mouth ‘congratulations’, he smiles shyly and sends her a kiss from across the room. 

“This show just got a whole lot more intense,” EJ whispers to her out of the corner of his mouth. 

Gina startles and smiles at him shyly when she meets his gaze, whispering back, “I think we can handle it.”

EJ grins at her and nods in agreement. He goes back to listening to Miss Jenn and Gina’s stomach flutters. Looking up she meets Carlos’ gaze and he smirks at her, his eyebrows moving suggestively towards EJ. Gina blushes and shakes her head. 

“Natalie, we’re ready to begin,” Miss Jenn says to her stage manager as she sits down next to Carlos. “Remember, go with your impulses. Don’t feel any pressure to act in a certain way of deliver the lines in a certain way either. Let’s begin!”

_______

“Why didn’t you tell me the show was basically going to be a Musical?” Gina asks Carlos hitting him in the shoulder as they exit the rehearsal room after the reading.

“Ow! Don’t blame me, I was contractually obligated to not say a word,” Carlos shrugs his shoulder dramatically as he massages his arm.

“Contractually, seriously?” Gina deadpans. 

“Ok, so maybe not contractually, but I really wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. But don’t give me that, I told you and Seb that Miss Jenn wanted to add musical aspects,” Carlos pouts and Gina sighs nodding her head. “Plus, wasn’t it a great surprise?” 

Gina shrugs. She’s already nervous about doing her first show ever in College, now adding the Musical aspect to it just added even more pressure. She cringes as she thinks about the few times she fumbled some lines during the reading. Her only consolation is that she wasn’t the only one who fumbled some lines and that EJ smiled at her encouragingly when she did. Yet another thing she’s nervous about, EJ. Doing this show with him and Nini is going to the hardest part.

“What’s wrong? What’s that look?” Carlos asks her when she doesn’t respond to his initial question. 

“Nothing,” Gina says quickly. When Carlos glares at her she sighs. “I’m just nervous, that’s all. I thought I was just going to be acting, now I’m also singing and dancing.”

Carlos nods in understanding. “Yea I totally get that.”

“Hey Gina!”

Gina and Carlos turn around and EJ is coming towards them. Gina feels Carlos nudge her slightly and she avoids his eyes. 

“Hey EJ, what’s up?” Gina asks casually. “Did I forget something?”

EJ grins and shakes his head. “No, I was gonna offer to walk you back to your dorms.”

Gina feels a tingle go up her spine in excitement and she blushes. “Oh you don’t need to do that, I mean Carlos and I live in the same dorms...so...”

“I just figured since you’re Ash’s roommate, I might as well. I have to talk to her about something,” EJ says quickly with a light smile. 

Gina’s heart sinks in disappointment and she blushes at her assumption. “Ash, right. Uh sure, you can walk with us.” 

Carlos nods with a shrug, having stayed surprisingly quiet during the exchange. EJ smiles and they all start towards the elevators. While Carlos and EJ chat about the show Gina is lost in her thoughts, it’s quite late so what EJ needs to talk to Ashlyn about must be important. A phone ringing breaks her focus and she watches EJ answer the phone.

“Neens,” EJ smiles. Gina tries to block out what he says as she presses the down button for the elevator but she can’t. “Sorry, I forgot to mention it, I’m heading over to Ash’s. But I'll see you tomorrow for lunch.”

Gina glances at Carlos and his eyebrows are raised towards her. Gina shakes her head at him with a glare and starts rifling through her bag for her phone.

 “Oh fuck off, you know that’s not why I’m going...Yea, yea tell Bowen he’s on. Cool,” EJ ends the call and looks at Carlos and Gina with a smile. “Sorry about that, where were we?”

“You were telling me about last year’s production you did with Miss Jenn,” Carlos tells him and EJ laughs and continues where he left off and they step into the elevator. Carlos nudges Gina lightly and she sends him another glare pulling her phone out of her bag.  

jack.riley01 started following you  

jack.riley01 sent you a message 

Gina groans audibly. When she looks up both EJ and Carlos are looking at her questioningly. 

“Just...my brother being annoying,” Gina says sheepishly. EJ seems to accept her excuse and continues his conversation with Carlos. Carlos narrows his eyes at Gina, but doesn’t say anything. 

Why had she unblocked Jack? Gina sighs and thinks about the precarious friendship Jack wants to build, or rebuild, with her. Shaking her head she opens the message. 

Hey Gigi! Thanks for unblocking me. 

I know you said you needed time, so I won’t push it. 

Let me know when we can grab a coffee.

Deciding not to respond to Jack just yet, Gina stuffs her phone in her pocket and tries to catch up on EJ and Carlos’ conversation. 

“I literally had to run around the back of the stage, as I’m throwing off my clothes, while singing to make my entrance,” EJ laughs and Carlos stares at him mouth agape. Gina realises she’s missed something. 

“But didn’t you realise that you had to have a quick change like that during tech week?” Carlos asks as they step out of the elevator. EJ chuckles and nods his head.

“No, we knew I had a quick change, but because the sequence of events on stage were never the same, it kept changing every night, I literally had about 30seconds to exit one side of the stage and enter the other side,” EJ shrugs holding the door open for them to exit the building. 

“That’s intense,” Gina says trying to get involved in the conversation. EJ smiles at her and shrugs again. 

“It comes with the territory. You’ll see, I'm sure we’ll have some quick changes for Twelfth Night that might get hectic every now and then.” 

Gina’s stomach turns at the thought. “I hope not, I’m already nervous about my first show and now Miss Jenn’s made it a musical.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that, Miss Jenn wouldn’t have cast you if she didn’t think you could do it,” EJ says lightly putting a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Gina stills and for a moment she can’t break the hold his eyes have on hers. Her whole body tingles and she smiles shyly at him with a nod. 

“Oh darn.”

Gina and EJ break their eye contact and look over at Carlos, taking a step away from each other. Gina guiltily avoids looking Carlos in the eyes. 

“G, I totally forgot, I was meant to...uh...I have to go back up,” Carlos stutters out, pointing back the way they came as he walks backward. “It’s hard to explain. You know what, you guys go ahead, I might be while.”

Gina narrows her eyes at Carlos. 

“You sure dude?” EJ asks looking at Carlos. Carlos feigns disappointment and nods solemnly. EJ glances at Gina and she relaxes her face to give him a tightlipped smile. “I guess we’ll go ahead without you.”

“Yes go, don’t worry,” Carlos says with a wide grin. “G, I’ll text you later.”

Gina gives Carlos imploring eyes to not leave her alone. He smirks and sends her a kiss. Gina forces a smile as she realises EJ is looking between them, waiting for her to say something. “Uh...bye then Carlos, I’ll be expecting that text.”

Carlos waves and runs back into the building. Gina turns to EJ and he gives her a smile. 

“I guess it’s just us now,” she states more than asks, hugging herself as the cold starts to really hit her. 

“Yeah, let’s get moving, it’s quite cold tonight,” EJ says tilting his head in the direction they need to go. 

The walk in silence for about a block, Gina cursing herself for her awkwardness. She wants to talk to him, but can’t seem to think of anything to say. EJ, for his part, seems to be at ease humming something under his breathe. Gina listens for a while and realises she knows what he’s humming, she can feel tingles go up her back in recognition, but she can’t figure it out.

“What’re you humming?” Gina asks before she can stop herself.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t even realise I was doing it,” EJ laughs and scratches the back of his head, something Gina picked up is a nervous habit. 

“It’s ok, it sounds familiar but I can’t place it though,” Gina smiles as her stomach flutters. “So, what is it?’

“It’s uh...it’s, have you ever heard of A Very Potter Musical?” EJ asks and Gina stares at him in shock. 

“You were humming Not Alone,” she says softly, wistfully. That’s her favourite song from the musical. “The one Ginny sings to Harry and then Ron and Hermione join in right?” 

“Yeah!” EJ says excitedly. “I love that show, and that song’s always resonated with me, it’s my favourite.”

“Mine too,” Gina says softly. Again Gina feels herself getting lost in his eyes before she turns away. “I never would’ve pegged you for a Starkid fan.”

“Are you kidding me? They’re part of the reason I decided to pursue acting,” EJ says excitedly. He starts talking a mile a minute about how much he loves AVPM and it’s sequels and how underrated the shows are. Gina smiles to herself at him nerding out. EJ seems to realise he’s gone off on a tangent and smiles sheepishly at her. “Sorry, I get really passionate about stuff.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Gina smiles reassuringly. “I totally feel the same way. I actually want my college experience to be what they had.”

“Exactly,” EJ says emphatically. “I’m so glad someone gets it. My friends are always teasing me about it. Don’t even get me started on Nini, she likes to crack jokes at my expense about it. Even tonight after the read-through she made a comment about me being able to live out my dream as a Starkid since we’re doing a musical now.”

Gina’s smile falls from her face at the mention of Nini and she looks away. She knew she shouldn’t let herself get attached to EJ, and him mentioning Nini is a cold reminder for her to stick to that. 

“I was the weird kid in school who dreamt of Broadway, so I get it,” Gina says with a shrug, not able to help herself feel a connection to EJ. 

“No wonder Ashlyn loves you as a roommate,” EJ smiles as they reach her dormitory building. Gina blushes and turns towards the front door. Gina gets her key card out to open the door for them; EJ holds the door open for her as they enter. 

“You know, I just realised how late it was, so I think I'll just catch up with Ash tomorrow,” EJ says stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. Gina turns to him with a frown. 

“Are you sure?” She asks. “I think she might still be awake.”

EJ looks down at the ground and then looks up at Gina seriously. Gina’s heart starts beating so fast she feels it in her throat. EJ looks like he wants to say something but he stops himself with a shake of his head and nods with an easy smile. 

“Yeah...I can definitely talk to her tomorrow, it’s not important,” EJ says with a shrug, scratching the back of his neck. Gina’s stomach flutters as she nods. 

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow then EJ,” Gina says shyly. She takes a chance and leans in to give him a hug. EJ responds by hugging her back. It’s over before Gina knows it, and she feels a thrill go up her back, her whole body feels like it’s on fire. “Thanks for walking me.”

“Anytime,” EJ says with a slight frown. “See you tomorrow.”

Gina watches EJ leave. He shakes his head slightly as he walks out, massaging the back of his neck. Gina swears she catches a glimpse of something on his back, but she shuts it down as her own hopeful thinking. With a sigh she turns around and heads up to her room. She wonders when EJ decided not to see Ashlyn tonight, he could’ve gone home instead of walking her home. With a giddy feeling, Gina hopes he walked her home because he wanted to and used Ashlyn as an excuse. But she knows that’s not the case, EJ has a girlfriend. 

Carlos

Tell me everything.

Gina

I hate you! 

I knew you didn’t have “to do” anything

Carlos 

*smirk emoji*

Gina

Idk what you think you tried to accomplish, he has a gf

Carlos

*confused emoji* 

Since when?

Gina

Since forever. Nini is his gf.

Carlos

Babes, idk where you’re getting your intel from, but Nini is definitely not dating EJ.

Gina

She’s not...?

Carlos

No honey! 

Gina

*shock emoji*

___________________

Chapter Text

Gina paces her brother’s living room area as she waits for him to get home. She’d messaged him early that morning to ask if she could sleepover, after Carlos’s bombshell last night she needed to get out. She’d somehow avoided all her friends today, as well as EJ. She needed to think. How had she thought Nini and EJ were dating? If only she could remember that first conversation she’d had with Ashlyn, she could’ve sworn Ashlyn had said her cousin, referring to EJ, was dating Nini or maybe...maybe it was dated Nini. God, if only she could remember. 

“Gigi?” Jamie called from his apartment door as he entered. Gina turned to face him, her face in panic. “Whoa, ok what’s going on and why couldn’t you explain it on the phone?”

“EJ doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Gina blurts out and starts to pace again. Jamie sets down his things and comes over to sit on his couch’s armrest.

“Okaaay...why is that reason to freak out?” Jamie says slowly. “I mean, that’s good news, right, that other girl isn't his soulmate?”

“Yes...but I'm so confused Jamie, I can feel this intense connection with him, and I feel like he feels it too. But...” Gina cuts herself off because she doesn’t want to tell her brother about her soulmark and how Jack figures into it. 

“Gigi, even if he’s not your soulmate, you have a connection with him, isn’t that enough?” Jamie says getting up and places his hands on her shoulders so she stops and looks at him. 

“I guess...” Gina says softly avoiding his eyes.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Jamie asks crossing his arms.

Gina sighs and collapses onto the couch. “Jack.”

“Jack? Ugh, what about that asshole?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you, but I've been seeing him a lot lately, completely by chance, totally unintentional on my part,” Gina says quickly as her brother joins her on the couch. “And...my soulmark...it seems to react around him, just like with EJ...except kinda different. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Shit,” Jamie says staring at her in shock. 

“Exactly.”

“Do you know if he got his soulmark?” Jamie asks her.

Gina shakes her head. “Nope, I literally don’t even want to be around him so I don’t engage. It’s just so confusing, why is this happening to me?”

“Soulmarks are weird,” Jamie shakes his head with a chuckle. “I never really told you, but Eric and I didn’t officially meet until at least 3 months into our soulmarks reacting around each other.”

“What, how’s that possible,” Gina knits her eyebrows.

“We bumped into each other on the train one day, I’m assuming this was the moment, I was getting off and he was standing in the doorway or something and I realised too late that my soulmark was burning,” Jamie smiles at the memory. “I turned and the train had already left. So for the next 3 months or so I kept feeling him on the train, but I had no idea who he was, but our soulmarks knew the other was near.”

“Oh my God. How did you eventually find each other?” Gina smiles in disbelief. 

“Eric had made it his mission to interact with every person on his morning train ride, so he could find me,” Jamie blushes and hides his face. “He sat down next to me one day and muttered to himself ‘Where are you?’. My soulmark immediately reacted, our legs were touching you see, and I felt a tingle go over my entire body, it was like my heart was exploding. I couldn’t even speak, but Eric knew. He looked over at me and just smiled, stuck his hand out and introduced himself as my soulmate.” 

“Aaw Jamie that’s the cutest thing in the world,” Gina says with a smile. “I want that.”

“You’ll get it Gigi, you just need to deal with your Jack situation,” Jamie says in a big brotherly fashion. “For all you know it might be some fluke.”

“I know, but..I’m scared though, what if Jack really is my soulmate?” Gina asks softly, her heart beating in her chest. “I don’t think I could handle that.”

“You don’t have to be in a relationship with him if he is, lots of soulmates actually remain friends and never go the romantic route,” Jamie says putting his arm around his sister. Gina drops her head on his shoulder and nods. “You’ll know what to do when the moment comes.”

“Thanks Jamie,” Gina hugs him. 

“Anytime little sis,” Jamie says hugging her back tightly. “Now, what’re you making me for dinner?”

Gina laughs as she pulls away from him. “You’re older than me, you should be cooking for me.”

“Yeah, but you’re a better cook, I can admit that,” Jamie shrugs getting up to head to the kitchen. 

“You’re such a liar, you’re just lazy,” Gina rolls her eyes, following him. 

“Sue me,” Jamie smirks. “Beside, this can be payment for my little therapy session I just did.” 

Gina laughs and comes up next to him, hip checking him as she starts getting ingredients out. 

________________

Ashlyn

Hey G! You’re still joining tomorrow night right? 

The Shallows for drinks and dancing; it’s the only bar that doesn’t ID. 

I wanted to check in because we never confirmed and since you’re at your brother’s place I wasn’t sure.

Gina

Hey Ash! You had me at dancing :) I’ll defs be joining.

I’ll come back to the dorm to get ready and then we can go together.

Ashlyn

Awesome!!! I can’t wait. 

See you tomorrow, enjoy your time with your brother.

Gina

Me neither!

Thanks :) See you Ash!!!

________________

“Gina, they’re over there!” Ashlyn yells over the noise as she holds out her hand to Gina. Gina grabs her hand and follows, her eyes taking in the scenery. There are a lot of College students around the bar and along the sides in booths. Ashlyn leads Gina to a booth in the back and her stomach twists when she notices EJ sitting with the group they were meeting. Nini notices them and jumps up. 

“You made it!” Nini screams wrapping Gina and Ashlyn into a tight hug. Ashlyn and Gina share a look and giggle at Nini’s obvious drunken state. 

“How drunk are you?” Ashlyn laughs as they take their seats in the booth. Ashlyn had slid in next to Nini, leaving the empty space next to EJ for Gina to fill. The booth is quite big, so there’s still enough room for Gina to give EJ space. 

“Hey G,”  EJ leans in to whisper in her ear. Gina feels a thrill go up her spine. 

“Hey,” she smiles up at him shyly, their faces are so close she can see the specks of green in his eyes. 

“Gina! Gina! You haven’t met Ricky yet,” Nini yells loudly across the table and leans over to grab Gina’s hand, pulling at her and forcing her to invade EJ’s space. Gina smiles apologetically at EJ and he grins back, placing his arm behind her back to give her more room to meet Ricky whose sitting next to him. Gina recognises him as the guy from the picture with EJ and Nini. She internally laughs at herself. It was so obvious. 

“Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Ricky says with a smirk in EJ’s direction. Gina isn’t sure but she could swear EJ elbows Ricky in the ribs. “I mean, Nini mentioned you’re in the play with her and EJ.”

“Yea, I’m excited to start rehearsing,” Gina smiles. She’s interrupted before she can say anything else. 

“G my baby girl!” 

Gina turns and sees Carlos running in her direction, with Seb close behind. Gina jumps up and hugs Carlos and Seb. 

“Everyone, this is Seb, Carlos’s boyfriend,” Gina tells the group. “Seb, you already know my roommate Ashlyn, and that’s Nini, Ricky and EJ.” 

After the greetings are done, they all squeeze into the booth, Gina getting pushed even closer into EJ’s side than before. So much for the space she wanted to give him. Her entire body feels like it’s on fire being so close to him. EJ has an easy going smile on his face as he chats with Ricky. Gina notices his arm is still placed behind her, she smiles to herself. 

“Babes, what’re we drinking?” Carlos asks Gina and she shrugs looking around.

“What’s everyone drinking?” Gina asks the table. 

“Beer,” Nini grins and raises her glass, spilling a little, Ashlyn giggles. Ricky and EJ both lift their beers too, laughing at Nini. Gina pulls a face, she’s not a beer fan. 

“Let’s go to the bar and get our drinks G,” Ashlyn says already getting up. Seb and Carlos decide to join them as they venture to the bar. It’s quite busy and Gina isn’t sure if the bartender will see them. 

“I think it’ll be best to just have one of us go up to the bar to order,” Gina says as she’s shoved even further into Ashlyn. 

“I think you’re right,” Ashlyn says turning to Carlos and Seb. “What’re you guys drinking?”

“Vodka Cran for me and a peach cider for Sebby,” Carlos says glaring at someone who shoves him forward. “Honeys, we’re going back to the table, too much shoving for my liking.”

Gina shakes her head at their retreating backs. “I guess I’ll order for us, what’re you having?”

“I can go,” Ashlyn offers but Gina shakes her head. “Ok, I’ll have a Long Island iced tea.”

“Ohh I think I'll have one of those too,” Gina nods and starts to squeeze her way through to the bar. The bartenders are all occupied, but the one closest to her makes eye contact and she shoots him a smile. He winks and sends her a nod which she assumes means she’s next. 

“What can I get ya?” He comes over after a minute and Gina places her order. He starts making their drinks as Gina watches. 

“It must be nice to be beautiful, the bartender will always serve you first.” 

Gina’s stomach turns. She turns to her left and Jack is smirking at her. Gina blushes and shrugs in a manner that says ‘what can I do?’

“You here with some friends?” Jack asks looking around.

“Yip, just a few of us,” Gina says handing the bartender her cash. “You?”

“Yea, start of semester get-together, you should come over and meet some of the guys,” Jack says pointing over to a booth that’s a few spots away from Gina’s booth. 

“Maybe,” Gina says without any real feeling as she gets her change from the bartender and tips him. “Thanks.”

Gina looks behind her to try and find Ashlyn so she can help her with the drinks but she can’t find her. She starts to panic about how she’ll get out of there with four drinks. 

“Why don’t I help you,” Jack picks up two drinks before Gina can say no and starts to move past the crowd behind them.

“You really didn’t have to, Ashlyn is somewhere here,” Gina protests behind him. 

“It’s not a problem, where’re we headed?” Jack asks and Gina sighs leading the way. She looks around and still can’t see Ashlyn. 

They reach the table and everyone is looking at Jack curiously. Gina places the drinks on the table and takes the others from Jack. “Thanks...uh everyone this is Jack, we ran into each other at the bar. Jack this is, Nini, Ricky, EJ, Carlos and Seb.”  

Jack waves at everyone and puts an arm around Gina casually. “Hey guys, it’s nice to meet some of Gina’s friends.”

Gina’s entire body feels like it’s on fire, her soulmark is burning. She suddenly feels anger boil up, not sure where it’s coming from. She smiles tensely as everyone murmurs hellos to Jack. Gina makes eye contact with EJ and she can’t quite read his expression, he looks away and takes a swig of his drink. 

“We all seemed to have the same idea tonight, I’m trying to convince Gina to come meet my friends too,” Jack says as his arm around her tightens, Gina gently nudges him in the ribs and he seems to get the hint and lets her go. 

“Did you just meet at the bar?” Nini asks with a sloppy smile an eyebrow raised. 

Jack laughs and shakes his head. “Oh, we’re actually e––”

Gina frowns and gives Jack a look, nudging him again. “I really need to find Ashlyn. Thanks for your help Jack, you can head back to your friends now.”

“Uh...right, yea no problem,” Jack says with a hurt look in his eyes. “Nice meeting you guys, later G.”

Gina sighs after he walks off and finds Carlos and Seb looking at her sympathetically. She puts on a smile and claps her hands together. “Right, well, Carlos, Seb I see you’ve got your drinks, I really need to find Ashlyn, where could she have gone?”

Before anyone can say anything, Gina walks off trying to shake the nerves and annoyance Jack left her with. Gina looks around the crowded bar and she still can’t seem to see Ashlyn anywhere. She catches a glimpse of red hair off to the side when she suddenly feels a sensation go up her back. This is different than earlier, it’s a light tingle, her stomach flutters. She looks over at Jack and sees him laughing with his friends. Her eyes narrow. Strange. 

“Gina!”

Gina jumps and turns to find EJ standing behind her. “EJ, what’s going on?”

“Oh I just figured I’d help you look for Ash, don’t want you getting lost too or dragged somewhere,” EJ says sheepishly throwing a glance over at Jack’s table. Gina’s stomach flutters. 

“Thanks,” she smiles putting a hand on his arm. A tingle shoots up her arm and her Soulmark burns. Eyes wide they stand staring deeply into each other’s eyes, Gina sees EJ’s eyes dart down to her lips and back up to her eyes again. She in turn glances down at his lips and back at his eyes. They’re in their own bubble, no one else is registering, her entire body feels like it’s buzzing. EJ takes a step forward, licking his lips. Gina licks her lips in anticipation. 

“There you are!” Ashlyn suddenly bursts next to them, breaking Gina and EJ apart abruptly. 

“Ash! Where’d you go?” Gina asks her, her heart beating fast as she glances at EJ who runs a hand through his hair. Did she seriously almost just kiss EJ? 

“I got pushed off to the side, accidentally dropped my phone, people kicked it around a bit, and when I finally got it you were gone,” Ashlyn cries in exasperation. Gina laughs and puts her arm around her. 

“Well I’m glad we found you, let's get back to our table,” Gina says leading her back to the others. Gina glances back at EJ and he’s shaking his head as he looks down biting his bottom lip following behind them. 

“Ash, where were you?” Ricky asks with a frown. Gina glances at the table and sees Carlos and Seb have moved to sit next to Nini.

“Long story, I need a drink,” Ashlyn says getting into the booth and taking EJ’s previous spot. Gina hesitates before sliding in next to her, leaving EJ to squeeze in next to her on the end. “Where’s my drink?”

There’s some rearranging of drinks at the table as EJ’s drink is handed over to him and Gina and Ashlyn get their’s too. EJ settles his arm behind Gina again and she feels warm inside. She stops herself from cuddling into his side, still buzzing from the moment they just shared.

“Ash, what happened, Gina had to fend for herself, some guy tried to pick her up,” Nini says with a slight slur. Gina feels EJ tense up beside her. 

“Come on Neens,” Ricky shakes his head and Gina swears he glances at EJ, but she can’t be too sure, he could be looking at her. 

“What, really?” Ashlyn asks Gina her eyes widening. Gina laughs and shakes her head.

“No, no that was just Jack...he’s...he’s an old friend,” Gina says in explanation taking a long sip of her drink and Ashlyn nods in understanding. Nini frowns. 

“Didn’t seem like it, it seemed like you were trying to get rid of him,” Nini says. Carlos and Seb grimace as they nod along. Gina feels a little uncomfortable and tightens her grip on her glass, not sure what to say. 

“It doesn’t really matter now, let’s hear about where Ashlyn was,” EJ says almost dismissedly. Gina glances up at him and he sends her a small smile. As Ashlyn goes into her explanation on what happened Gina leans into EJ a little and whispers, “Thanks.”

EJ leans down and Gina can feel his hot breath on her neck and she feels like she’s about to combust. “Anytime.”

Looking across the table Gina catches Carlos’s eye and he smirks a her knowingly. She rolls her eyes and looks away, hoping he can’t see her blushing. Her entire back is tingling, she feels like she floating on air. What is happening? Is EJ her soulmate? 

Chapter Text

The next morning Gina is unceremoniously woken up by a ringing. She reaches her hand out to stop it but when she grabs her phone it’s not ringing.

“Ash, is that yours?” Gina asks in annoyance, squinting her eyes open. The ringing stops.

She lifts her head to have a look and finds she’s not in her dorm. Groggily she sits up and looks around. In the bed beside her seems to be somebody and Gina internally starts to freak out. She can’t seem to get a proper look, as the person is completely under the covers. Gina slowly looks down at herself and is relieved to notice she’s still wearing her outfit from last night, only her sweater has been discarded. Slowly, she reaches for the covers to pull it back to reveal her bedmate when they suddenly move. Gina yelps and falls off the bed, taking the covers with her.

“Gina?”

Gina looks up at the edge of the bed and finds Ashlyn looking at her in confusion. Gina giggles in relief and gives her little wave.

“What’re you doing on the floor?” Ashlyn asks laying back on the bed, covering her eyes with her arm. “God, why is the room spinning?”

“I fell,” Gina supplies, getting up off the floor and covering Ashlyn again. “Where are we?”

Ashlyn looks over at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, where are we Ash?” Gina asks looking around the room. She notices a photo on the bedside table on Ashlyn’s side and leans over to have a look. Gina immediately sees the telltale flop of EJ’s hair the closer she comes to looking at the photo. Her heart races when she sees it’s definitely EJ with what looks like his parents.

“You don’t remember?” Ashlyn asks sitting up slightly to lean on her elbows. “We were a little too out of it, so EJ insisted we come back to his place.”

Gina tries to recall that conversation but all she can really remember is strong arms around her waist, holding her up. There’s giggling and some dancing in her memory too, but very vague.

Gina shrugs at Ashlyn who laughs. “Well, anyway we’re here now, try to get some more sleep.”

Feeling like Ashlyn has dismissed her, Gina stays quiet and proceeds to lie back down next to her. Gina lays there staring up at the ceiling for what feels like an eternity, before Ashlyn’s breathing starts to even out. Gina fidgets a little, not tired anymore. Suddenly she hears a noise from outside the bedroom door. Gina slips out of bed and heads to the door. As Gina slips out the room, she tries to remember some more of what happened the night before, but to no avail.

Gina follows the noise and comes into the living room area, and it looks like someone had slept on the couch. Behind the couch is the kitchen counter and there’s EJ standing at the stove. Gina takes a moment to take him in, he’s wearing a red T-shirt with ‘Caswell’ written on the back, his hair is standing on end. Gina’s stomach flutters. A thrill goes up her spine when EJ suddenly turns around and meets her eyes. He stares for a second before grinning.

“Morning,” he says turning back to the stove and Gina slowly walks over and sits on a barstool at the counter.

“Morning,” she says softly, watching him through hooded eyes.

“I’ve got eggs going, and there’s gonna be bacon too,” EJ says as he takes some plates out of the cupboard and sets them to the side of Gina. She has her head resting in her hands and he chuckles. “Coffee?”

Gina moans and nods. “Yes, please.”

EJ grins and quickly gets to work on her coffee. “You ok with Oat milk?”

“Definitely.”

As Gina watches EJ she can’t shake the feeling of domesticity. Having him prepare breakfast while she watches him is making her feel all kinds of emotions. Her soulmark is buzzing, Gina can’t seem to understand this feeling, it’s never done that before. EJ sets a mug down in front of her and she thanks him

“What kinda toast do you want?” EJ asks, his back to her as he dishes the eggs out of the pan. “I’ve got different kinds of bagels and bread.”

Gina raises her eyebrows; EJ is a mother hen she realizes. Smirking to herself she looks at the options EJ displays for her. “I think I'll do an everything bagel.”

“Smart choice,” EJ smiles, taking a bagel to the toaster. He then gets another pan out and starts to fry the bacon

Gina’s soulmark is buzzing as she smiles contently, taking a sip of her coffee. That’s it. She feels at home. She sighs and looks up to find EJ watching her, a frown on his face.

“What?” Gina asks bringing her hand up to wipe at her mouth. EJ shakes his head, scratching the back of his neck slightly.

“Nothing.”

Her bagel pops out of the toaster and EJ quickly grabs a plate to get it. Placing the plate in front of her he says, “The bacon will be up in 10 seconds.”

Gina giggles at his diner-style service and nods. “Thank you. All of this looks great EJ, seriously you didn’t have to.

EJ shrugs and busies himself with the bacon. Gina grins at his back.

A little while later Gina and EJ are sitting on the couch, having finished eating breakfast and Gina had insisted on washing the dishes. Ashlyn is still out cold in the bedroom. They are now going over the script for Twelfth Night.

“Do you really think Miss Jenn will turn this scene into a musical number?” Gina asks as she flips through the scene. “I just don’t see it.”

“Oh come on, it’s the moment you realize you’re in love with me, I mean, Viola realizes she loves Orsino,” EJ corrects himself; he scooches closer to her and takes the script from her hands. “Here, after she talks to Olivia, she feels conflicted about the fact that Olivia seems to love her, but she’s only in disguise as a man. And she in turn actually loves Orsino, who loves Olivia. It’s complicated, our little love triangle. I think you’ll likely have some solo you’ll sing here, very ‘If I can’t love her’.”

“If I can’t love her?” Gina asks brows furrowed.

“Beauty and the Beast,” EJ says looking over at Gina and she shrugs. “You can’t be serious?”

When Gina just stares at him blankly EJ starts to sing, “‘No beauty could move me, no goodness improve me. No power on earth, if I can’t love her. No passion could reach me, no lesson could teach me. How I could have loved her, and make her love me too. If I can’t love her, then who?’”

Gina is rooted on the spot as she stares at EJ, her mouth hangs open in shock. Her body feels like it’s on fire. EJ is staring deeply into her eyes as he sings, and Gina feels a magnetic pull towards him. Once EJ stops singing his cheeks flush. They’re both staring at each other for what feels like an eternity and then EJ breaks eye contact, he runs a hand through his hair, licking his lips. “Uh...something like that, it’s from the Musical.”

“Wow EJ, you have a really nice voice,” Gina nudges his shoulder playfully, trying to ignore her Soulmark tingling. “Maybe you need to sing a solo.”

“Thanks,” EJ blushes and looks away from her again, clearing his throat. “Wanna run some lines while we wait for Ash to wake up?”

“Sure,” Gina says feeling slightly dismissed. EJ hands her the script and gets up.

“I’ll use my tablet,” EJ walks over to his desk to get it. Gina isn’t sure, but she feels like he’s avoiding her eyes. Her soulmark is burning and Gina feels it in her gut that EJ is her soulmate. She hadn’t been sure last night, but now she feels it with certainty. Does he feel it too?

A few days later Gina sits at a table in Starbucks between classes and her first official rehearsal for Twelfth Night. She’s highlighting her script when someone sits down across from her. Gina looks up and finds Jack smiling at her tentatively.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he jokingly.

“Jack,” Gina says evenly by way of greeting, going back to her script.

Jack frowns and leans forward on the table and clears his throat. Gina internally groans having a feeling she knows what’s coming. She glances up with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh…so I, look Gina, I want us to be friends, but I can’t help but feel like you won’t even give me a chance,” Jack says softly, wringing his hands together. And there it is, Gina thinks.

Since seeing Jack at the bar and basically dismissing him she had been expecting him to confront her about it. She sighs.

“Jack, I really don’t want to deal with this right now,” Gina says exasperatedly scrubbing a hand over her face. Jack looks hurt.

“See this is what I mean, it’s like you want nothing to do with me,” he says with a hint of desperation in his voice.

Gina looks at him incredulously. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“What?”

“Jack, I told you weeks ago that I needed time, time to forgive you and ease my way into becoming friends again,” Gina says slowly, trying to keep calm. “You were the one who insisted on forming some sort of friendship again, not me. So why can’t you give me the time I’m asking for?”

“Oh wow, seriously Gina, I apologized, what more do you want from me?” Jack asks, his voice rising slightly.

“The fact that you expect me to just forgive and forget what you did, is proof you don’t know me and that you don’t even realise how much you hurt me,” Gina says softly, with some restrained venom, as she nervously glances around and sees some people eyeing them.

“Look, I didn’t want you to find out this way,” Jack says frustratedly and then sighs. “I think we’re soulmates.”

Gina’s stomach drops. That’s not possible. “What?”

“I got my soulmark, your birthday is in January right,” Jack says running a hand through his hair. Gina stares at him in disbelief, her soulmark burning. “I was shocked, I was not expecting it to be you, I wouldn’t have broken up with you if I had thought it was, I mean we weren’t that serious.”

“Oh my God, you’re such an asshole,” Gina says getting up and grabbing her things. Her eyes start to burn as tears form, but she doesn’t want him to see it. Jack gets up trying to stop her.

“G, you ok?”

Gina looks up to see EJ coming towards them. She remembers why she had been in Starbucks; she’d been waiting for EJ to finish his shift so they could head to rehearsal together. Gina tearfully looks at him and shakes her head slightly. Her soulmark buzzes and she frowns looking between Jack and EJ. EJ glares at Jack who glares back at him.

“We’re fine, dude, you can go back behind the counter,” Jack dismisses EJ and turns back to Gina, grabbing her hand. “Gigi, listen we —”

“No, dude, I think Gina is done listening,” EJ says coming closer and pulling Jack’s hand off Gina’s. “Come on G, let’s go.”

Gina is still in shock and allows EJ to guide her as he grabs the rest of her things. She’s in such a stupor she doesn’t even realize Jack has shoved EJ until EJ bumps into her sending her flying into the wall behind her. She groans as she hits her shoulder. EJ immediately turns to her in concern.

“Gina are you ok?” EJ asks looking her over, she nods as she tenderly touches her shoulder. He turns to Jack ready to attack but Gina stops him with a hand on his back. He turns to her, eyes wide, the anger she sees in his eyes disappear, replaced with concern and he nods. EJ helps her up.

“Fuck, Gina I didn’t mean for you to get hurt,” Jack says apologetically, glaring at EJ. Jack leans towards Gina, reaching for her. “Gigi, please, let’s talk this through.”

“Jack, stop,” Gina says lifting her hand up, and Jack steps back. “Just stop, okay? I…I need to think, I need time to figure out what you’ve just told me, what it all means and the fact that you’re a complete asshole doesn’t help.”

Jack looks affronted and is about to say more but Gina shakes her head. “No, I’m leaving. I don’t want to hear it.”

Gina turns to EJ whose been standing beside her, supporting her with a hand on her back. “Come on, Eej we have to get to rehearsal.”

EJ nods and they start to head out, Gina letting EJ guide her as she allows herself to cry. She’s not sure if she’s crying because her shoulder hurts or because she just found out that Jack is her soulmate and the guy she hoped was her soulmate was there to witness it all. How could she have been so wrong? Jack can't be her soulmate, but if she remembered correctly her soulmark did react around him. She'd hoped EJ was her soulmate, but Jack just threw a wrench into it all. Gina's heart swells as EJ gently guides her as they walk towards Tisch. Could her feelings for EJ just be that? Feelings. 

Chapter Text

EJ guides Gina into the Tisch building and up to one of the empty studios. The room is dark, the only light comes in from the big windows. He leads her to one of the dance mats and eases her down. Gina has tears rolling down her cheeks as she tries to figure out what Jack’s truth bomb means. She glances at EJ, he’s sitting next to her looking at her with concern, worrying his lower lip. If she wasn’t so distraught, she would have reveled in how attractive he looks in this moment.

“You wanna talk about it?” EJ asks so quietly Gina almost doesn’t hear him.

“Not really,” she responds tearfully. EJ nods in understanding.

“We still have about thirty minutes before rehearsal starts, I can leave and come back to get you, so you can have some space,” EJ says softly pointing towards the door, indicating his exit.

Gina looks at him imploringly and shakes her head. “Could you…would you please stay?”

“Sure,” EJ smiles gently. Gina feels her soulmark tingle and that sets her tears off again. “Gina, are you sure you don’t wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t really see the point,” Gina sobs shaking her head. “What do you tell someone who just found out their soulmate is their good-for-nothing ex?”

EJ’s eyes widen. There’s something behind his eyes that Gina can’t quite read, disappointment maybe, but it’s gone before she can analyze it. “He’s…that guy’s your soulmate?”

Gina nods, not trusting her voice.

“You’re sure?” EJ asks with a frown rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, not sure sure, but yea,” Gina shrugs and wipes at her eyes as her soulmark burns. She can’t allow herself to meet his eyes as she says, “I suspected it was him or y…uh…I’ve had my suspicions.”

EJ nods contemplatively. They sit in silence for a bit, Gina likes the calm energy EJ provides for her. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Uh yeah,” EJ says softly, giving her an encouraging smile.

“Do you have…do you know your soulmate?” Gina asks quietly. EJ’s eyes go wide. “You don’t have to answer, I know it can be a sensitive subject.”

“No, it’s ok,” EJ says and clears his throat looking away and then back at her. “I have a soulmark, but I don’t know who my soulmate is.”

Gina’s heart swells as her soulmark tingles. EJ looks at her intensely, a question in his eyes as he tilts his head before looking away.

“Oh,” Gina says dumbly. Gina is more confused than ever. Why does she feel this draw to EJ, is Jack really her soulmate? EJ must notice her frown because he smiles and shrugs.

“Soulmarks and soulmates are weird,” he says shaking his head and looking out the window. “My parents are soulmates, but they have such a toxic relationship. I always thought I wouldn’t make a big deal about my soulmark, because I didn’t want my parents’ relationship. Uh…Nini and I…we dated in high school for a while and I was devastated when her and Ricky ended up being soulmates, but I got it. They really do complete each other; in ways my parents just don’t do for each other.”

Gina smiles in understanding. “My parents are soulmates, and they are sickeningly cute. I always wanted what they have…but if Jack really is my soulmate, I’m afraid I definitely won’t have it.”

“I like to think that any partner you have can be the equivalent of a soulmate, you don’t need a tattoo to tell you who to love, I never wanted that for myself,” EJ says with a scoff. “But recently I found myself wanting more than anything to find my soulmate.”

“Do you have any idea who she is?” Gina asks not sure she wants to know the answer.

EJ runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head. “I thought I knew…I uh...had someone I wanted it to be, but things don’t always work out the way we want it to.”

Gina’s stomach drops. She hadn’t realised EJ was seeing someone, or that he had taken an interest in someone. She never had a chance.

“Tell me about it,” Gina says softly wiping at her eyes. EJ glances at her and smiles softly and she returns it.

“You ok?” EJ asks quietly raising his arm and wrapping it around her. Gina winces and he lets go. “Sorry, I—”

“No, it’s not you, it’s just my shoulder really got hurt,” Gina shakes her head and gestures to her left shoulder.

“Damn, I’m so sorry Gina, I didn’t mean to push you,” EJ says worriedly.

“EJ it’s ok, I know,” Gina says setting a hand on his arm to calm him. “If Jack hadn’t pushed you, you wouldn’t have accidently pushed me.”

EJ nods but still looks guilty. Gina moves her hand down his arm and squeezes his hand and says, “Seriously, I’m ok.”

“You should still get it checked out though,” EJ says with a concerned frown.  

“I'll have Ash check it out later, come on let’s get to rehearsal,” Gina says getting up, pulling him with her. Gina feels a warm sensation surround her entire body, as a tingle shoots up her arm from her hand in EJ's and her soulmark burns just like it did at the bar the other night. Gina slowly looks up at EJ and he's looking down at their hands with wide eyes. Gina shakes her head and clears her throat; EJ looks up at her. Feeling a little too conscious about his hand in hers she lets go, missing his touch immediately. 

“Uhm...I can take a look for you,” EJ says picking up her bag and shouldering it along with his and he gestures to her shoulder. Gina blushes, not at his chivalry but at what she says next.

“Uh…I would have to undress,” she says not meeting his eyes.

“Oh…uh yea, leave it to Ash then,” EJ says, his voice sounding hoarse. “Let’s go, we’ve got time to grab some water before rehearsal starts.”

Gina follows him out and can't shake the feeling she's missing something. Something very important. 

________________

“Gina, why did EJ send me a text telling me to take care of you?” Ashlyn asks immediately as Gina enters their dorm room. Gina had walked alone from campus and let herself cry again, not sure what to feel about the day’s revelations. Gina smiles sadly to herself, she’d promised EJ she was fine to walk alone and that she’d have Ashlyn take a look at her shoulder once she got in, this was his way of making sure she followed through. It was sorta sweet.

“It’s nothing really, I got hurt earlier,” Gina shrugs as she sets her things down, avoiding eye contact. Ashlyn frowns.

“In rehearsal?”

Gina stops and shakes her head. “No…Jack actually.”

“Jack?” Ashlyn asks confused and then her face turns murderous. “He hit you?”

Ashlyn comes over to Gina, scanning her face, touching her arms, and looking her over. She grazes her left shoulder and Gina winces. “Oh shit, sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Gina reassures her. “And to answer your question, no he didn’t hit me. He actually shoved EJ and then I got shoved into the wall in the process.”

Ashlyn raises her eyebrows. “Ok, hold up, you’re gonna have to explain G.”

“Jack was being his typical asshole self, wouldn’t leave me alone and when EJ tried to intervene Jack pushed him, I’m not really sure how that happened I wasn’t really focused at that point, but then EJ bumped into me, and I went flying into the wall and hurt my shoulder. I think EJ feels like it’s his fault, which it’s not, but he wouldn’t stop checking on me during rehearsal,” Gina explains and then takes her sweater and top off. “Can you check if I have a bruise?”

Gina turns around for Ashlyn to look at her shoulder and Ashlyn gasps. “Is it that bad?”

“What? Oh…no it’s just I’ve never really seen your soulmark,” Ashlyn says quietly as she tentatively touches Gina’s soulmark along her back and neck. Gina feels a thrill go up her back at her touch and shudders. “Sorry…it’s just, it looks so familiar, it’s weird, it…it’s like I know it.”

Gina contemplates what Ashlyn could mean by that and can’t seem to come up with an explanation and turns around to face her. “You’ve probably seen it before, I mean we are roommates, I’ve run around in my sports bra before.”

“hhmm maybe,” Ashlyn says but her frown tells Gina she doesn’t believe that explanation. “Let me take a proper look at your shoulder.”

After Ashlyn examines Gina’s shoulder and tells her it’s only slightly bruising but not too serious Gina takes a long hot shower. Once Gina returns to their room Ashlyn is sitting on her bed reading a book. Gina notices that her eyes don’t seem to be moving as she stares at the book. Expecting Ashlyn to ask whatever is bothering her Gina sits on her bed facing her.

Ashlyn looks up to find Gina staring at her. “What?”

Gina stares at her with a raised eyebrow. When Ashlyn continues to look innocent Gina shakes her head. “Ask what you want to ask, Ash.”

“I don’t want to ask anything,” Ashlyn says feigning innocence. When Gina stares at her deadpan she rolls her eyes and sighs. “Fine, but I wasn’t going to ask anything, you’re forcing my hand. I was just wondering what happened with Jack, EJ told me to ask you about it, 'her story to tell' is what he said, so?”

Gina isn’t sure how to explain this part to Ashlyn, she’s still trying to figure out her soulmate situation. Shrugging her shoulders Gina says, “It’s like I said Jack wouldn’t leave me alone and EJ stepped in.”

“Seriously, that’s it?” Ashlyn looks disappointed and Gina feels guilty for not telling her the truth. “Look, G you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I don’t mean to pry but it seems to have bothered you enough that you were crying?”

When Gina looks at her questioningly Ashlyn gives her a small smile. “I could tell the minute you walked in you’d been crying. Perks of being your roomie I guess.”

Gina smiles sadly and feels tears burn her eyes as she looks up at Ashlyn. “You know me pretty well for only being my roomie for a few weeks.”

“What can I say, I have a knack for these kinds of things,” Ashlyn shrugs, coming over to Gina’s side. “You don’t have to tell me, but you know I’m here if you need me.”

“Jack said he’s my soulmate,” Gina blurts out tearfully.

“Oh Gina,” Ashlyn says and pulls her in for a hug, careful to avoid her shoulder. “Are you sure?”

Gina wipes her tears as she pulls away from Ashlyn. “He seemed pretty convinced, I’m going to have to talk to him about it eventually, but not right now. But I'm so confused about it all.”

Ashlyn nods and frowns. “So how does EJ fit into this?”

“Jack had just dropped the soulmate bomb on me, and I told him I was leaving, I had been waiting for EJ to go to rehearsal together and when he came over, he could tell I was upset. So, EJ stopped Jack from keeping me there and Jack didn’t seem to like that and pushed him,” Gina says sighing disappointedly. “Why does it have to be him? Why couldn’t it be…"

When Gina stops short and looks at Ashlyn wide eyed, Ashlyn smirks. “Why couldn’t it be EJ?”

“You knew?” Gina asks her softly.

“That you have a crush on my cousin? Oh yeah honey,” Ashlyn laughs, and Gina bites her bottom lip with a groan.

“What gave it away?” Gina asks dropping her face in her hands in embarrassment.

“Other than the fact you’re always drooling around him,” Ashlyn jokes, making Gina groan again. “I’m pretty sure I interrupted something the other night, on the dance floor?”

Gina looks up at her quickly. “Wait, why didn’t you say anything?”

“What was I supposed to say ‘Sorry cuz, G go ahead, kiss away, don’t mind me’,” Ashlyn says sarcastically with raised eyebrows.

“Touche,” Gina tilts her head. “Nothing was gonna happen anyway, I was just in the moment.”

Ashlyn frowns. “G, you do realise EJ likes you too, right?”

“What? No he doesn’t,” Gina blushes, fidgeting with her fingers as her soulmark tingles. Ashlyn eyes narrow and she’s about to say something but Gina interrupts, “Besides, he has his own soulmate to worry about.”

“He what?” Ashlyn exclaims, making Gina jump.

“Yeah, I mean you know he hasn’t found her yet, but he has his soulmark,” Gina frowns, figuring Ashlyn would remember that detail about her cousin. Something in Ashlyn’s face shifts.

“He has his soulmark, but hasn’t found her yet,” Ashlyn says softly and slowly, looking away from Gina. Gina frowns.

“Yeah…Ash, you good?” Gina asks confused. Ashlyn looks up at her quickly and smiles.

“Yeah, all good,” she says nodding emphatically. “Listen, you good? Because…I uh…I forgot I had to…print something for a class tomorrow, I’ll be back.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but Ash, it’s already 9pm,” Gina says as she watches Ashlyn get her things together.

“The library is open until 10 during the week, it won’t be a problem,” Ashlyn says hurriedly. She turns to Gina and smiles widely, “I’ll be back.”

Ashlyn is out the door before Gina can even question her. Weird. Gina falls back on her bed, wincing as her shoulder makes contact with the bed. Ashlyn leaving might be a good thing for Gina, she can have some space to really think about her soulmark and if Jack really is her soulmate. She needs to make sure Jack is right, because everything is pointing to EJ. Her heart tells her it's EJ.