Red Strings | The Group Chat x Reader

Chapter 2 | Introductions

Every single head whips from where mine and Yumi's hands were connected, to my face. I feel my face heat up. Oh god, what the fuck is going on.

"Dibs," the light brown haired guy said, this time without an accent.

"Dude?! I literally saw and talked to her first. We even held hands."

"We didn't even get a chance to meet her, you're hogging her," the shortest one says.

Oh god.

"Come on guys, give her a break," the tattooed guy seems to step up and walks closer to me.

I'm relieved that someone decided to break it up, but when the tattooed guy meets Yumi and I, he just grabs my hand that was previously holding Yumi's.

"Now it's more even, idiot. You have no leverage."

My jaw drops.

THIS IS NOT HELPING.

I pulled my hand away from the tattoo man, and it pains me to see his face turn a little dejected, but he seems to brush it off quite quickly. I take a step back from everyone, the string finally seems to comply with me being able to take a breather.

"I'm sorry y'all, but this is a lot to take in. Can we chill for like one sec?"

I take a deep breath in and a few of them seem to nod, but nobody says anything. I recompose myself after a minute.

"My name is Y/n, it's nice to meet you all," I smile and then turn towards Yumi. I go to shake his hand - is that okay in the soulmate world when you first meet them? Who knows. "Your name is Yumi, correct? I heard it earlier."

He gives me an amused look before responding, "Yumi works, but my real name is Blake," he shakes my hand, lingering for a few seconds before I pull away.

I turn my attention to the other male next to me when introduces himself, "I'm Nick! It's a pleasure to meet you," he gives me a kind smile that I just have to return, while we shake hands.

"Hello m'lady, my name is Tanner. You can call me Big T, or just call me yours," he does a little bow and winks, kissing my hand instead of shaking it.

This makes Yumi push Tanner over, but Tanner just laughs it off, "you're just mad you didn't think of it first."

"No, I am not! It was just stupid and dumb and cringe, just like you." Yumi shouts, while Tanner just continues to laugh at Yumi.

"Yo! My name Lare-Bear, or Larry," the shortest says as he walks up to us, ignoring the commotion, and opts to give me a hug instead, which I do accept.

That leaves the last member of the group, the tallest and masked man. He makes his way over to the rest of us and gives me a wave.

"Hi, I'm Isaac."

He seems a little standoff-ish, but I don't think much of it. He could be shy, or not wanting to overwhelm me, or just a nonchalant guy; like don't overthink it y/n, obviously there are bigger problems here like the 4 other men standing in front of you. Nonetheless, you still offer Issac a smile.

"Well, it is very nice to meet you all. This was not where I thought I'd meet my soulmate- er well.. soulmates. I don't know what we're going to do about this, but we can figure that out over time." I dig into my belongings and find a random napkin and a pen, "here is my phone number. I don't know how you guys feel, but I'd kind of like to take whatever this is slow."

Nick nods and takes the napkin from me. I blush lightly at the small contact of our fingers and his gaze that lasts. "Understandable, I'll add you to our group chat."

"Oh, okay! Sounds good," I smile and get ready to turn away because I don't really know what's next to expect from this soulmate business.

"Yo, do you need a hand with any groceries at all?" Yumi speaks up.

I turn back and see Nick typing in his phone and glancing back at the napkin, presumably entering my phone number. Larry and Tanner are throwing a bag of cheetos back and forth to each other, seemingly trying to make the other fail at catching. Isaac is missing, but turns the corner with the cart that they had earlier. Larry then proceeds to throw the bag of cheetos up to Tanner, and Tanner spikes it into the cart. They do a mini celebration and I stifle a laugh, turning my attention back to Yumi, who just offers a smile and stands a little bit closer than he was before.

"Oh, I might be alright, but thanks."

"Are you sure? I can carry your bags to your car, or help you get things off the top shelf," it's almost like he's giving me a puppy dog stare.

I'm about to give in when Isaac speaks up, "Yumi, she said no, leave her be, dork."

I silently thank Isaac, but he remains expressionless from my perspective. Yumi looks a little deflated, and I feel a little bad. I would kind of like some time to process everything that has just happened though.

"How about next time I go grocery shopping, you can come with me and help me out?" I surprise myself with my own words.

I don't regret it though when Yumi beams, before trying to play it off cool with a sure and a shrug. I'm in the process of turning around, when yet again I'm stopped by arms wrapping around my stomach. I tense up at first, but relax when I turn to the side and see it's just Yumi.

"Sorry, it's just that Larry got a hug, so I also wanted one."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled and gave him the hug he wanted. It was cute anyways. Unfortunately though, it did attract everyone in the group's attention. Maybe I was a little fortunate, but I wouldn't openly admit to it. These guys lining up for hugs were kind of adorable. The only one who didn't line up for a hug was Isaac, but I'm not going to pressure him into one if he doesn't want one. Larry did get a second one, but I wasn't about to point that out or we'd be here forever and thank god no one else points it out. Larry's second could count as Isaac's?

"I hope you guys have a good rest of your day!" I wave and walk away from the aisle towards the checkout.

Any suggestions or tips for my writing are welcomed! Have a nice day :)