Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 60 - THE OCEAN GAVE HIM BACK

But my knees gave way.

And then I was on the sand, the sea rushing up to meet me with no mercy. My hands scraped into the grains, my scream a jagged sob. “Jaaaames… please... someone.... anyone... save him!”

The grief collapsed over me like a tidal wave.

Matt was still holding me as I crumbled in his arms, and Inez knelt beside us, gently tapping my shoulder, her touch so painfully soft. The others came too, Corey, Drake, Tim... faces pale and silent, unable to believe this was real. All of us just fragments, too stunned to be whole.

I clutched the sand in my fists as if I could pull him out of the sea with nothing but will.

I hated the ocean.

I hated the stars for shining tonight.

I hated fate for always choosing the cruelest kind of beauty... just when you’ve learned how to love it.

And most of all, I hated that the only thing louder than the crashing of the waves was the silence where James’s voice used to be.

Underneath the crash of the waves, something strange floated into the night air. A melody.

Familiar. Mocking.

"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go..."

It was Enchanted. Taylor Swift.

What kind of sick joke was this?

I blinked. My breath caught. And then...

Inez laughed.

Not a nervous giggle. A full-on snort-laugh. The kind that made her whole body shake.

“Now we’re even,” she blurted out, breathless.

I turned to her, dazed. “What...?”

The boys broke into laughter too. Corey was doubled over. Drake was holding his phone, still playing the song, like he was the evil DJ of my emotional collapse.

“You think I wasn’t going to get back at you after you set me up with Tim last time we were here?” Inez grinned wickedly.

Before I could form a word, she grabbed me and lifted me to my feet.

“This was the boys’ plan, anyway. Not mine. If you want to slap someone, slap Matt. He’s the brains of all this.”

I looked at Matt, bewildered.

“I tried to tell you he’s not in the wat---”

SLAP!

My palm thundered across his cheek before I could stop myself.

The sound cracked across the shore.

“You deserve it,” Drake said, not even pretending to feel bad.

“Ouch,” Matt muttered, rubbing his jaw, smirking. “Yeah... I kinda deserve that.”

“You’re such a dork,” I said, laughing now, heart still pounding but slowly steadying. “Where is he?”

They stepped aside like opening curtains on the most unfairly cinematic reveal.

And there he was.

James.

Wearing a white canvas shirt, sleeves rolled up, tucked neatly into white linen trousers, barefoot on the sand. Behind him, a canopy of mesh cloth billowed gently in the wind. Torches flickered like fireflies. Twinkling fairy lights hung over a candlelit table, flowers, steak, a bottle of red wine nestled in an ice bucket. The sea was just behind him, finally quiet, as if even it had made peace for tonight.

I ran to him. No hesitation. No pride. No thought.

Just James.

I crashed into his arms like a storm finally finding its harbor.

“I thought I lost you,” I whispered, my voice shaking.

His hands framed my face as he looked at me, nothing but warmth in his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, buttercup. Not now. Not ever.”

He kissed me, slow, reverent, like he was making a vow with his lips.

And then, slowly, we turned to look at our friends.

Drake and Corey stood side by side, waving goodbye like proud idiots. Tim had one arm slung over Inez’s shoulder, her hand resting on his waist as she teased Matt about being slapped, and Matt just took it with a sheepish grin.

The world had finally slowed down enough for me to breathe.

And maybe this is what love really looks like.

Not grand gestures or perfect timing. Not a boy saving a girl or fate twisting time just right. But chaos. Misunderstandings. Screams on the shore. Laughter that breaks through grief. The ache of fear giving way to the joy of presence.

Love is found in the recovery.

It’s built in the wreckage and stitched in the in-betweens. It’s the boy you thought the sea had taken, standing in front of you with sand on his feet and stars in his eyes. And when the world goes dark again, which it will, I’ll remember this night.

This dream.

This impossible, stupid, beautiful dream we turned real. Because the ocean may take what it wants.

But tonight, it gave him back.