Even more richpez one shots

Love Me Knot

AN: mkay it's an idea based kinda loosely on the Webtoon Love Me Knot.
My issue is I have bad follow through so the chances of me doing a part two are not as high as I hope they would be. Lets find out together shall we?

"I just don't get why you think that he isn't right for me!" Emma exclaimed settling into her seat beside Lauren. She wasn't given a chance to muster up a generic response before the bell rang signaling the start of their Greek mythology class. Lauren sat at her desk tapping her pen lightly atop her notebook before ripping off a corner of the paper and began writing.

'I just feel it in my gut. You know that I have always been rooting for you and Paul. Just one date.' She folded it up and stealthily slid it onto the desk beside her. She anxiously tried to read her friend's face while Mr. Jackson droned on about some kind of old theological god idea. Her eyes however snapped forward as she heard him say the two words she had been waiting to hear all semester. 'Red string.'

Her hand was in the air quickly and frantically and Mr. Jackson was barely able to finish calling on her before the word tumbled out of her in a rush. "Do you believe that it's true? Was anyone able to see the strings? Did everyone have one? How did they not get crossed?" He chuckled at her eagerness in what he assumed to be Lauren caught in a fairytale world having grown up hearing of the myth of the red string. There was always one in his class who found a myth in his class and clung to it. He leaned back against the front of his desk before he began explaining.

"Everyone has a string, yes. It was said those of higher power and or status would be able to see the string but were bound by a code to never explicitly match two ends of the string together. The two halves can be guided together but must officially meet on their own accord or they are doomed to a life of solitude. The only exception is those that can see the strings obviously knew who their soulmate was because they could see their own string. I don't believe the strings can get crossed because they are not physical so it's hard to knit the metaphorical together. I wouldn't say that I believe it verbatim but my wife is my soulmate and I do believe that we are all emotionally bound to someone, the trick is finding them." He pushes himself off of his desk and walks back to the wipe off board. "Have I answered your questions Ms. Lopez?" He asked eyebrow cocked, both in serious inquiry and in light jest wrapped in one look.

Lauren looked timidly at her notes and then back up to her professor with a deep sigh. "And what if" she breathes again playing with her own fingers. "Someone had a cut string? What does that mean for them?" She looked him straight in the face gaining confidence with every word of her question.

He was silent for a moment thinking contemplatively before responding definitively. "I haven't heard of such a case in all of my years of studying the ancient fables but I guess it would mean they have no soulmate. Even someone with a dead soulmate would have their string presumably connected between them." He turned his back and began writing 'twin flame' on the board.

Lauren slumped back in her seat and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding since the start of his answer. She looked back down at her desk the note now passed back and sitting neatly before her. She dropped her hands moving them towards the folded paper when her pinkie caught her eye. She followed the red string down to the floor staring firmly at the end where it was seemingly cut or never attached to another end in the first place. She was grateful that as far as she knew no one else could see the string and therefor the shame she felt for not being good enough to have the type of soulmate Mr. Jackson was talking about. Still, she sighed unwrapping the note and reading over Emma's response confirming that she trusted Lauren and her intuition. The lack of her own soulmate would never stop her from helping others to connect their string binds them. She picked back up her pen and began to furiously scribble down the few moments of noted she had missed.

-

"I don't get why you're being so stubborn Lauren!" Jack snapped exasperated by the conversation that seemed to be going in circles. "I like you and I know you like me so what's the harm in trying this out and seeing where this goes!?"

She was almost worn down, she really did like Jack but she knew it was going to end in heartbreak. She was destined to be alone. She wanted to protect him and more importantly protect herself from the inevitable end.

"Please. I can't date you! I can't date anyone!Not now and probably not ever." She looked sadly to the ground her hand in her line of vision as she dragged her left foot in a circle below her. She heard him sigh. She didn't want to look but against her better judgement she saw the look of defeat plastered across his features. He held his arms up to hug her anyway, a mutual understanding that their friendship was more important. Seeing the string attached to the hand that was moving towards her, it was fully intact, flowing all the way to the ground and attached to someone else. It was too painful for her. She turned and walked away without another word.

-

It was on her drive home that she allowed herself to process class that day. She always knew it to be true but for the words "have no soulmate" be validated from outside of her own head was almost too much for her. While stopped at a red light, she shot Jack a generic apology text. She had realized running from her problems though the most effect method short term had the most negative long term effects, something she wasn't about to put up with.

Lauren turned the car off and made her way into the house. She shouted a quick hello from the front door while taking off her shoes before making her way up the stairs and flinging herself onto her bed craving a nap after the emotion day she had. She hadn't even found the energy to change her clothes, close her window blinds, or fully tuck herself in before sleep overtook her.

-

"We have a new student joining us today." Ms. Allen explained standing beside the stranger in the front of the classroom. "This is Joey Richter and..." and she drew her sentence out, scanning the classroom before her eyes landed on the spaced out brunette in the front row. "Would you mind being his first day buddy Lauren?"

Lauren scooted closer to Emma as Joey walked toward the empty chair on her other side. Lauren could feel his eyes on her. She had tried to concentrate on not staring back there was something about his face she longed to memorize. Emma leaned over, momentarily distraction Lauren before confirming to her ever so quietly that he was in fact staring. When she finally couldn't take it she turned and saw he wasn't looking at her but he was looking at her hand. Her eyes raked over his face, torso, arm and then finally stopped at his hand. The red string wrapped around his pinkie flowing down to the floor and then stopping. They looked back up into one another's eyes once more. Lauren held her breath as he reached out his hand.

"Hi Lauren. I'm Joey. It's so nice to meet you."