The Final String (Book 3 of the Red String Trilogy)

Chapter 1

"Pleeeeasssseee." I beg as I hug him from behind as I then say "You know you love me." Calum sighs. "I do to be absolutely honest." I kiss his shoulder and say "And because you love me so much you'll leave me your sweater...?" I slowly go to unzip it before Calum gives in. "Fine. You can have it." I smile to myself.

"I'm never able to say no to you. God I need to work on that." Calum mutters as I quickly throw off his flannel and put the sweater on instead, zipping it up as I rub my arms to keep from goosebumps forming. "Oh wait Calum another thing..." I say and I hear Ashton yell "Calum you have one minute! Hurry up!" "What is it babe?" he asks and I then bite my lip before saying "I know that you wanna move out and all once we're married but I was just thinking....maybe we should try living together? Properly on our own? Just so that we don't have a disaster?"

I can see Calum's thinking about it but I know I'm running out of time. "You know what, just think about okay? You don't have to make a decision now....just....just go, before Ashton chops your balls off." I say and Calum laughs before giving me one last kiss.

"Natalie if Calum doesn't come out here RIGHT NOW, you won't have a fiancee anymore!" Ashton threatens and we quickly run outside as I give Calum one final peck. "I'll text you when we land yeah?" "Alright have fun!" I say as he runs into the van and the van speeds off.

I grab my phone and call Sylvana, who no doubt was also probably shocked by this last minute trip. "Hey Nat!" I hear her and I smile. Sylvana had become much closer with me when Sky was away, and despite Sylvana's bubbliness and wild attitude, she was down to earth, and she was a shoulder to lean on.

"Are ya on your way to class?" "No the class got cancelled but I'm on my way to the library to do some work but what's up? Did you get the unexpected departure too?" "Yeah Calum was barely packed!" I said as I take a sip of my coffee. "God the house must be quiet right now." Sylvana sighs. "Yeah I might clean up a bit, but they left me a cleaner number so I can always call them up." I say glancing at the sticky note beside the coffee maker.

"How's Luke doing with Sky?" "He's alright, he totally misses her...he's a bit like a puppy dog right now to be absolutely honest. But if he can grab some time off I'm sure he can fly out to see her." I say before Sylvana says "Has Michael seen Nina at all?"

"Oooohhh I hope he has! I actually really liked her!" I say as I finish my coffee before putting my mug in the sink. "Yeah....maybe Michael's been seeing her and not telling us?" "Oh please, it would be obvious if Michael had a girlfriend...." "Or would it?" Sylvana says.

"That's it I'm gonna investigate!" I say as I head upstairs and go into Michael's room. There's clothes littered all over the floor and a couple cans of pop and beer left out as well. The room stinks of dirty laundry and crisps.

"Right now, I seriously doubt Nina's been anywhere NEAR Michael's room...oh wait, wait, wait!" I say as I go over to the bedside table. "There's a scented candle!" I squeal picking it up and turning it to the side. It's a vanilla scented one, and it's mellow, and neutral but it's obvious.

"She TOTALLY must've stayed over...oh wait, wait I found a bra." I said catching the glimpse of a black lace bra, that seriously couldn't be mine. "There's a BRA there!?" Sylvana yells on the other end. "Yup! Oh and wait, wait....it's a note from her....sorry Mikey I had to rush to rehearsal early....but text me and I'll see when I'm free next....she put kisses there!" I say as I read the note.

"THEY HAVE GOT TO BE DATING." Sylvana says and I reply "I know! I'll bother Michael about it when they land." Sylvana laughs before saying "Well love I've gotta go but I'll talk to you later yeah? Maybe we can head downtown and just go for a wander?" "Yeah I have a songwriting sesh with Emma, so I'll be down there anyways. Have fun!" "Oh don't tell me what to do!" Sylvana sarcastically replies before I'm about to shut the line she yells "By the way Nat, Skyler told me to tell you to call her!" "Why couldn't she tell me that herself?" I ask rolling my eyes.

"Oh just do it!" Sylvana says and I laugh before we say bye and shut the line. I then go to call Skyler. The phone rings a couple times before it heads to voicemail. "Hey this is Skyler, leave a message and I'll get back to you!" Her voice sounds so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. There's a beep and I then remember what I was gonna say.

"Hey Sky! You're obviously busy now but Sylvana passed on your message....hopefully the tours going well and whatnot....I have a songwriting sesh this afternoon so just text me and tell me when you wanna talk....love you." I say before shutting the line.

A couple hours later I'm walking down the sunny streets of LA, before I see Emma wave. "There's my star!" she says as she hugs me. "Alright, alright, no need to exaggerate." I joke before we head inside. The studio is the same as we left it, the booth dust free. "Alright so let's work on that last song we had goin....maybe we can start putting music to it!" Emma says as we take a seat and begin to work.

It's two hours later, and both Emma and I are drained. "Well good work for today!" she says and we leave. It's the same as it has been for the past couple times, and it leaves me emotionally exhausted. Hopefully the recording wouldn't be too bad.

I then look at my phone to see that I have a missed call from Sylvana. I quickly call her back. "Hey Vana!" I say and she then says "Where are ya?" "I'm just leaving the studio what about you?" "Look behind you." I turn around and see Sylvana standing there and I laugh as I go over and give her a hug. "To coffee?" she asks and I nod as we walk down the streets.