Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 60 - THE OCEAN GAVE HIM BACK

Inez doubled over, clutching her side. “Please do. Give the ocean back its child.”

Corey ignored them, twirling around. “The ocean chose me.”

Drake rolled his eyes so hard it was audible. “You mean the ocean got confused.”

“Let him dream,” Tim added, deadpan as always. “It’s all he has.”

I couldn’t help laughing, even as I hugged my towel tighter around me. “You’re all just jealous none of you have a magical grandma stingray.”

Corey gasped and spun to face me. “My grandma could be a stingray! You don’t know!”

Matt, who had been quiet until now, chimed in without missing a beat. “I’ve met your grandma. She sells Avon.”

We all burst out laughing so hard I had to stop walking for a second. The kind of laughter that shakes your ribs and leaves your cheeks aching. As we finally started heading back up the path toward the resort, our sandals squeaking, and our shadows stretching long in the sunset, I felt a flicker of something soft and rare in my chest.

Not peace, exactly. But close. Maybe something like joy. Maybe something like home.

Corey was still arguing with Matt about whether Avon grandmas could also be mystic sea creatures when Inez pulled her wet braid over one shoulder and said, “Okay, but real talk, who brought actual shampoo? Because I am not using hotel body wash on my hair.”

“Betty brought a whole salon,” Tim pointed out. “I saw her bag. Girl could open a pop-up beauty bar.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re just jealous I’m prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Drake smirked. “An apocalypse or prom?”

“Both,” I shot back.

“Oh, I thought it's so you could smell good in front of James?” Corey quipped, winking.

James, walking beside me, gave him a lazy shove. “Keep talking, ocean boy, and you’ll be sleeping with the sea cucumbers tonight.”

“I’m just saying,” Corey said, dramatically backing away, “if she brought perfume too, that’s clearly for you.”

Everyone ooh’d and teased, and I felt my cheeks warm, not from embarrassment, but something gentler, something fluttering.

The group began to scatter as we reached the edge of the resort. Tim and Matt challenged Drake and Corey to a foot race back to the rooms, bragging rights only, no rematch. Inez was laughing too hard to follow them. “I’m walking. Like a normal person.”

That left me and James, trailing just a bit behind.

The sun had sunk lower, casting long shadows across the sand, the light turning everything amber and soft. We slowed without needing to say it, like some unspoken rhythm told us to savor this last moment before the night.

James bumped my shoulder lightly. “So… salon Betty, huh?”

“Don’t mock the essentials,” I said, smiling without meaning to. “You’ll be thankful when your hair smells like coconuts instead of salt.”

“Can’t argue with that,” he said, quiet for a moment. Then, “You looked happy today.”

I turned to him, and he was already looking at me, not teasing, not poking fun. Just… seeing me.

“I am,” I whispered. “It felt good to laugh.”

“Yeah,” he said, softer now. “You laugh like you’re again remembering how to.”