Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan
Chapter 115

115–Cards and concentration

As promised, it doesn’t take long for Alex to arrive and the pizza arrives soon afterwards. Actually, Megan went all out with ordering a variety of pizzas as well as drinks, garlic bread and even some kind of spicy chicken side that the pizza place was apparently offering as part of a deal. We lay out all the food on the coffee table and sit around in the living room to eat. Hmmm, with the addition of Alex, there are now twice as many guys here as there are girls. This seems kind of unbalanced.

“You know, this lunch is very guy–heavy. Why don’t we have more girls to invite?” I wonder aloud. Megan jumps into the conversation immediately.

“THANKYOU I’ve said it before. I’m always so outnumbered. I always thought it was because Bels doesn’t love inviting over heaps of girls since that time one of them tried to sneak upstairs to look at his room.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Uh, WHAT?” I ask in horror. Megan shrugs.

“She wanted to move up the hierarchy a bit, she thought that if she got to know more about Bellamy she could seduce him and yada yada. It was a wasted effort, she had no hope. But after that we stopped having many female guests.” Megan explains.

“Well that’s crazy. Actually, I know the perfect solution. You guys need girlfriends so you can bring them along. Then we don’t have to worry about them being weird AND we get company. It’s the perfect solution. So, Darrien I already know you’re technically single, for now at least. But what about you guys?” I ask, Aaron is already shaking his head so I face Alex and Shaun, ignoring Megan’s embarrassed choking from beside me. Alex immediately shoves a slice of pizza into his mouth in an attempt to avoid answering. my arms and just wait. Eventually he chokes the food down and shakes his head slow. 09:21

+10% Bonus

“No, I don’t have a girlfriend.” he replies, his voice croaky from swallowing too fast. I turn on

Shaun next and he also shakes his head.

“Nope, no ladies on my dance card.” He answers, pauses then continues in a tone that is half joking, half completely serious.

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115–Cards and concentration

“You don’t happen to have any single friends you could bring round do you?” He asks. My immediate reaction is to shake my head no. But actually, now that I think about it… is Amber single? I did decide that I wanted to get to know her a little better. Maybe when I get around

to having that dinner party with Maggie, Logan and everyone else I should include her too. I mean, I don’t know her that well, but I think she and Shaun might get along. I tilt my head and shrug.

“Actually, maybe. I’ll think about it. I have one idea… maybe.” I conclude. Shaun immediately. throws himself to the floor and begins genuflecting dramatically at my feet.

“Thankyou, THANKYOU. If you help me replace a girlfriend I’ll owe you for the rest of my life.” He rambles on, promising me ridiculous things like his life savings and his firstborn child. I roll my eyes and tell him to sit back down and eat already.

Once we’ve gorged ourselves of Maggie’s baking and the food is cleared up, Shaun and Alex head off to get some work done. Alex came during his lunch break and I already interrupted Shaun from whatever he had planned today with making him come and collect my stuff. Aaron and Darrien both decide to stay. Only one of them really NEEDS to be here, but Aaron would usually be with me at work right now and Darrien isn’t going to leave while Megan is still here and hanging out willingly. Megan and I sit beside each other on the couch with her laptop and start working out what needs to be done to change her classes to all be online. It mostly looks casy except for one class that seems to have a face–to–face component. After some research we replace that if we negotiate with the instructor they may be willing to let her skip that and submit an additional 2500 word essay instead. The idea isn’t appealing, but it’s better than dropping out entirely. As Megan and I continue figuring things out, Darrien and Aaron sit on the floor across from each other one either side of the coffee table and play an incredibly high energy game of snap with a deck of playing cards that they found somewhere.

I say high energy, but ninety percent of that energy is coming from Darrien as he gives it his +1

Bor all but always seems to be the tiniest bit late. Aaron is quiet at usual, although a small smirk on his face tells me he’s enjoying the win. I suspect the fact that Darrien can’t stop glancing 09: at Megan is distracting him and giving Aaron that little bit of edge that’s allowing him to continue undefeated. The more he loses, the more vocal Darrien gets and the more enthusiasm he puts towards the game, although somehow he seems to be getting

ig worse each round. I briefly make eye contact with Aaron who just shrugs. He might enjoy winning, but I

don’t think he actually much. Darrien probably only cares because

the game that

cares about

he’s lost so many times it’s actually embarrassing.

After a half hour of this I notice the red thread on my chest re–appear. Bellamy must be on

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115–Cards and concentration

his way back, or at very least he’s gotten closer. Sure enough a few minutes later he arrives home, calling out from the front door to announce his presence. He walks into the living room just in time to see Aaron demolish Darrien in what has to be their hundredth round of the game by now. Darrien curses and pushes back from the table. Bellamy watches him with a bemused expression.

“Uh, you guys can head off now if you want. I won’t be going out again today. Thanks for staying.” He says, apparently having decided to ignore Darrien’s somewhat childish outburst. Darrien and Aaron head for the door. Well, Aaron heads off with a wave over his shoulder at us. Darrien stops, smiles and makes an awkward amount of eye contact with Megan, nudges me in the shoulder as he passes, gives Bellamy a manly nod then chases after Aaron.

“I can’t believe I lost so badly. Next time we play rock–paper–scissors. Or… NO wait, next time we’re having a karaoke contest!”

Megan heads upstairs to call her university and HOPEFULLY figure out the classes. In the meantime. Bellamy helps me move my bags and pillows upstairs to his room. We work together to unpack this time, although I’m fairly sure Bellamy moves and readjusts almost

every item I put away. I would complain but he seems to enjoy it and to be honest, he does a

better job than I was doing anyway. Once everything is away and my extra blankets and pillows are loaded onto the bed, making it seem significantly smaller than it was, we lay in the bed and watch a movie for a while. I’m tired from an emotional day and Bellamy seems

tired from his meeting too. We chat about it a bit and we discuss how worried I was about Maggie being mad and how it was all for nothing. By the end of the movie, I’m all talked out and I’m starting to doze off. Bellamy moves from beside me and tells me to keep resting while he arranges dinner. I nod drowsily and let my eyes fall closed.