Two Red Strings

I wrote this on impulse

"Yea. I know." Connor winked back. (he also blushed ever so slightly at the comment, but he didn't want to think about that right now)

Jared laughed, "Seriously though, what does your sister like?"

"I think she's in Jazz band?"

"Hmmm Jazz band...yea, I dont know any scents that have to do with jazz band....Are there any flowers she likes?"

"Well, i dont know for sure, but she gets *insert flower name here* for her room sometimes"

"okok, " Jared walked over to the other side of the store, grabbed a bar of soap, and walked back over to Connor. "Here you go, this should be good." He gave Connor the bar.

"Wow. thanks Kleinman."

"No Problem, it's what I'm here for." Jared smiled, "also, you said your sister found her soulmate, do you know who it is?" he asked, hoping his suspicions about Zoe and Alana were correct.

"Yea i do. But I'm not gonna tell you."

"Bruh." Jared frowned in defeat, "speaking of soulmates, have you met yours yet?"

"No. I did date this one guy though."

"Oh?"

"His name was Miguel," Connor smiled slightly thinking about the memory, "we dated for a bit, but then he had to move out of town. We havent talked since..."

"Damn rip"

"Yea..." Connor said, appreciating the honesty in Jareds voice, "but it's fine, i mean I knew we weren't soulmates."

"How'd you know that?"

"I, its complicated" he said, thinking about how he had two stupid red soulmate strings, and how Miguel, only had one like a normal person. "What about you?"

"Huh?" Jared said, totally not thinking about Connor's hair.

Connor groaned, "Your soulmate? Have you met them yet?" there was a slight edge to his voice.

"Right,, my soulmate..." Jared cleared his throat, "well uh, yes, and no."

"??"

"It's complicated"

Connor nodded, "Understandable."

"Well, I should probably ring that soap up for you."

"Right."

The two of them walked to the counter at the back of the store. Jared walked behind the counter and Connor handed him the soap. He scanned the bar of soap.

"That'll be $6.95"

Connor paid for the bar of soap. Jared put the soap into a bag and gave it to Connor."

"When does your shift end?"

"In about an hour, why?"

"I'm gonna go to Barnes & Noble to get some manga for my sister. I was wondering if you wanted to come with."

"Oh, well sure...why though?"

"You strike me as a person who has good taste in manga."

"Thanks, and ill go if you're patient enough to wait an hour."

"Alright. Also, i should mention that my sisters soulmate is a girl, so I wanna get some lesbian manga to piss off my fucking homophobic parents."

Jared couldnt help but smile, for one, he's now 99% sure he's right about Zoe and Alana are soulmates. He could always be wrong th- He also knows some pretty great yuri mangas.

"Nice, well, see you then i guess."

"Yea, see you then." With that Connor walked out of the store.

Jared smiled as Connor walked out of the store. He hadnt been to Barnes & Noble in a while so this should be fun.

"Looks like somebody's got a date fufu" He heard Aub say from the left.

"What? No! Besides I already have a boyfriend Aub, you know this."

"Well yea, but you both have two red strings, which leads to another soulmate, so in the end you're gonna be in a polyamorous relationship right?" Aub said while scanning the items of her current customer.

"Yea..."

"So why should you be worried about 'cheating' on your boyfriend, who is one of your soulmates? Besides, you were flirting with Connor earlier."

"Shit, you're right..."

"Ha, yea i know. Plus, you think Connor's hot right? That's why you went to flirt with him in the first place."

"Well, yea..."

"So think of that trip to Barnes & Noble as a date!"

"I cant do that! Connor didn't invite me on a date, he invited me to Barnes & Noble to help him get some Yuri manga for his sister. pLus- i wouldnt want to go on a date with someone else without talking to Ev about it."

"Fair point. Ok dont think of it as a date, but I still think you should keep Connor in mind as a potential partner."

"Ok, i can do that lol"

"Oh and if you see the newest 'My next life as a villainess' book, which is volume 7, make sure to get it for me! And before you ask, "why", Let me remind you I handled all of the customers checking out while you were out there flirting with Connor so..." Aub proceeded to smirk.

"Yea sure, I'll do that Aub" Jared said, laughing slightly before turning to the customers in line."

Honestly, Aub was a pretty great friend. Sure she could be annoying at times, with changing obsessions each week, along with humming random songs during work. But she was always fun to talk with, and helped boring shifts be well, less boring. Plus she was what got Jared into reading manga. So now he could help Connor get wlw manga for his sister.

Jared smiled again, looking forward to going to Barnes & Noble with Connor. Simply excited to hang out with Connor.

Notes: so yeah, I was originally gonna include Jared and Connor going to Barnes & Noble in this chapter, but I decided against cause it was getting way to long. So Jared and Connor will be going to Barnes & Noble in the next chapter.

word count: 1,710