Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 15

James and I take our usual spots, shoulders just barely grazing, but enough to remind me of this strange comfort I’ve grown used to. He smells like soap and cafeteria fries, a combination that somehow works. Inez and Tim sit across from us, but they’re quieter than usual. No teasing, no fingers linked under the table, no sugary grins. Just quiet.

Which, for them, is loud.

Drake is beside them, hunched slightly, scrolling through something on his phone. I hear Corey’s voice, muffled through the speaker, sharp and quick. Probably mid-rant about a professor or a missed bus. Typical Corey.

Then I hear it, James’s voice, cutting through the ambient cafeteria noise like it knows exactly what it’s doing.

“Hey, blockhead!”

I glance up, just in time to see him waving Matt over, voice threaded with that special kind of sarcasm that only exists between boys who are secretly fond of each other.

I watch Matt hesitate, just a beat too long, his tray in hand, his eyes darting to me for something. I don’t speak, just give him the smallest nod. The kind that says It’s okay. I want you here.

He exhales. Comes over. Sits down beside Drake.

It’s weird.
Not in a bad way, just in that way when the universe makes room for something unexpected.

“Thanks for your help, man,” James says.

Simple.
Unprovoked.
Grateful.

I feel Inez’s eyes snap to me like magnets. She leans in, her whisper warm against my ear.

“What was that about?”

I chew on my lip and mouth: I’ll tell you later.

She narrows her eyes, already plotting questions.

“You better,” she mutters, stabbing a piece of chicken like it personally offended her.

And for a moment, just a moment, I look around at the table.

Drake laughing softly at something Corey said.
Matt, still a little stiff, but trying.
Tim and Inez, both half-present, but still holding onto something.
James beside me, chewing like he’s never been more content.

And me, caught in the middle of something that feels fragile, fleeting, and maybe even real.

Like maybe… this is what normal could look like. If we let it.

The cafeteria buzzed with trays clattering and voices tangled over each other, but the moment my phone vibrated with his name, everything else dulled into background noise.

James Gray:
“Found a place. Sta. Fe. Up north. White beach, clear water. You in?”

I bit back a smile, but it broke through anyway, wide, plotting, dangerous.
James caught it immediately from across the table.

His eyes widened.
He mouthed, almost in slow motion:
“Betty. No. Nooo. Nooo---”

Too late.

I pushed my chair back, stood up, and with the kind of dramatic flair I usually reserved for presentations and performances, I grinned at the table.

“Beach this weekend. Who wants to come?”

Inez’s fork froze mid-air.
Tim blinked like I’d just spoken a different language. Drake already had his phone out, calling Corey before I could finish the word weekend.

Matt, Matt looked caught. Not quite panicked, but… uncertain. Like he wasn’t sure if this version of me included him. And that made something small ache inside me.