Entangled Strings Of Fate

Chapter 11: Game Begins

~~ Trigger Warning: Drug Use, Abduction ~~

2 hours before the call...

Eric and his best friend, Bryce Miller, were seated at a stylish club named Pentagon. This place was owned by Bryce's family and was located just a few miles away from Eric's home.

They sat by the dimly lit, sleek, polished black countertop on height-adjustable swiveling chairs. A glass rested near Eric's and Bryce's hand as they engaged in their conversation. Right now, the space was not too busy.

Physically, Eric and Bryce bore some similarities, particularly in their academic pursuits. Bryce was a few inches taller than Eric and possessed a more mature face, while Eric looked more of innocent and charming.

Bryce had been supportive of Eric's emotional struggles, but today, the news of Jane relocating for her studies intensified Eric's anxiety about confessing his feelings.

Still, he worried about how it might affect their bond if she didn't feel the same. Thinking this all, he looked in the glass as he cupped his face and murmured softly, "I have never felt this anxious about telling a girl how I feel as I do right now."

Bryce leaned in with a sly smile. "You know what I think," he teased.

Picking up the drink, Eric looked at Bryce, anticipation in his eyes, "What?"

"I think you're an absolute a**," Bryce commented, causing Eric to nearly choke on his drink.

Eric's grip tightened around the cool glass, confusion clouding his features.

"What!" he exclaimed, placing the glass down with a firm thud on the table, the sound echoing, "Why'd you say that?"

Bryce tilted his head and met his gaze, "You need to answer that for yourself, because I don't understand why you said, you were going to meet 'Someone'," he asked, making air quotes with his fingers on the last part.

"Can't you just say you were going to meet me? Was it really that hard?" he added.

This was something Eric was also regretting saying, and the regret tinged in his voice, "You're right, honestly, I don't know myself why I said it like that, it's just, whenever I'm with her, I mess up everything in my favor."

Bryce frowned, concern etching lines on his forehead. "Listen, the simplest thing you can do right now is open up about your feelings with her. Otherwise, when she packs her bags and leaves the country, then Bro... it'll be too late, and you know as well as I do that a girl like her with her beauty and intelligence won't stay single for long, and when that happens, don't come crying to me for help," he warned, his expression serious as he leaned out.

Eric shifted his position, turning to face Bryce directly. "I know that's why I asked you to help me," Eric implored, his eyes filled with desperation.

Bryce tilted his head slightly in response, his contemplative gaze fixed on Eric. "On that note, I think you should just go start by clearing what you said before coming here and then talk about your feelings," he suggested.

"What if she doesn't feel the same as I do?" Eric questioned a palpable sense of uncertainty in his voice.

Bryce looked at him in amazement and said, "Dude, you have changed totally in just a year. I never thought that you'd be this lovesick for someone."

He answered, "I know she made me change myself; I wanted to be that person that she can rely on."

"Well, I believe she'll consider your feelings because, I have seen changes in her as well," Bryce said with a knowing look.