Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 20

Lunch.

I sat with the usual group, the same way we always did, but somehow, everything felt rearranged. Inez and Tim were wrapped around each other again, Tim stealing fries off her tray, Inez rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. But Inez kept glancing at me from the corner of her eye, her brows furrowed in that worried way she probably didn’t know she did.

Matt was quiet. He sat across from me, arms folded on the table, chewing slowly. He wasn't saying anything, but I could tell, he was watching. Not the way James watched me, not with devotion. Matt watched like he was trying to solve something. Like he didn’t believe the answer I was giving.

Drake was on a call with Corey, half-laughing about something they were planning for next week, his phone propped up against his water bottle so Corey’s face could join the table in pixels.

And James, James was beside me, sitting a little too close, cutting my food into small pieces like I was recovering from surgery. He even opened my bottled juice before I could touch it.

“James,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed. “I didn’t die, okay?”

His hands paused, the cap of the juice bottle still between his fingers.

“My ribcage just feels like it’s on fire, and yeah, I’ve got bruises here and there, but I’m fine.”
My voice wobbled at the end. I didn’t mean it to.
Maybe I was trying to convince myself more than him.

He looked at me, his brown eyes soft, warm like melted chocolate, but beneath the surface, he looked haunted.

“Just let me assist you, Betty,” he said. “You have no idea how scared I was last night. I thought I...”
He stopped. Swallowed.
His hand found mine under the table.
“I thought I lost you.”

My facade almost cracked right then. Just from the way he said it. Not with desperation, but with disbelief. Like he still hadn’t forgiven the ocean for letting me go.

“Okay,” I whispered, “but don’t overdo it. I’m really fine…”
I smiled, too wide, too bright. “Promise.”

He tucked a strand of my still-damp hair behind my ear, his thumb grazing my cheek. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
His voice was gentle. Too gentle. The kind of gentle that makes you want to fall apart in someone’s arms. I didn’t. I wouldn’t.

“Thanks, hero,” I said, leaning into his shoulder briefly. “But ease up. I might start thinking you enjoy being my nurse.”

“I do,” he said easily, “but only if the patient stops pretending she’s okay when she’s not.”

I didn’t answer. I just turned away and forced a grin back onto my face.

I clapped my hands together. “Sooo… sports fest. Who’s joining what? Are we gonna dominate or what?”

Matt raised a brow. “You’re thinking of doing something? Aren’t you injured?”

“Oh, I’ll be our mascot,” I said dramatically. “The wounded warrior. I’ll cheer from the sidelines with pompoms made of sarcasm.”

Drake snorted. “Now that’s a cheer squad I’d actually listen to.”

Corey’s voice piped in through the phone. “I’m down to help with the haunted booth again. Remember last year, Tim screamed louder than the fifth graders.”

“I did not,” Tim groaned.

I laughed, leaning forward, pretending it didn’t feel like a knife was twisting in my ribs. “We should totally do a kissing booth. For charity.”