String of Fate

Chapter Twenty Eight

I had to keep wondering why I didn't have a string yet. I mean, I was twenty-one, surely I should have had a string by now. My sister had her string when she was sixteen, and my parents got together when they were sixteen. I was the only one without a partner, and it was so weird that it had taken me over five years to get a string. Most of my friends from school had all gotten their string within two years. I just kept wishing that my string would appear.

Then my phone rang from my bedside cabinet and brought me back to my room, disturbing me from my thoughts. I really needed to stop lying in bed and just staring at my ceiling while I thought of my string. I reached over and grabbed my phone and answered it quickly without even looking at the caller. The caller didn't even wait for me to say 'hello' before speaking. "Lee, are you going to be in today?"

"Yes. Wait, I need to get ready. Has it gotten that late already? Would you mind if I give Mia a lift?" I asked, getting out of bed and grabbing a pair of boxers and a pair of jeans from the day before. I heard Shorna laugh from the other end of the line. "What are you laughing about?"

"You're asking me if I mind your sister being in your car while you give me a lift to college." Shorna laughed, and I heard her walking about. "Of course I don't mind. Her school is next door to the college, anyway. When are you planning on leaving?"

"Five minutes." I answered, grabbing my t-shirt from the pile on the chair where I had left it the night before when I had carried the clothes upstairs. I could pull it on after the call. In the meantime, I looked around for my jacket.

"See you in ten." She remarked cheerily before hanging up.

I finished getting dressed and headed out of my room, almost running into my sister on the landing. She pulled her bag back on her shoulder after it had fallen off. "I thought you'd gone already. I was trying to catch you up. By the way, I don't need a ride home. I'm meeting up with Logan. He's made some cakes that he wants me to try. He's thinking of adding some to the menu but he wanted me to give him some feedback soon."

"You got yourself a good partner there, sis. I'm happy for you." I spoke to her as we headed downstairs. Mum and dad had left earlier to make sure that they completed something for a client on time after taking my little sister to our grandparents for the day. I grabbed the keys for the car and locked the door behind us as we headed from the car. "Can you go in the back? Shorna prefers shotgun."

"You like Shorna, don't you?" Mia asked, climbing in the back of the car like she usually did anyway, but this time, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the headrest to talk to me before I drove off. "It's understandable that you like her, though. I mean, the two of you get on so well together. I think it would be great if the two of you got together because you actually seem perfect for each other. It's just a shame that the both of you are already older than sixteen. Wait, what if it happens on her twenty-first birthday? Isn't that coming up soon?"

"What are you rambling on about?" I queried, starting the car. "You know that the possibility of that does not exist. Strings appear when the youngest person is sixteen. Both Shorna and I are over twenty, so, it's not possible. Now, sit back and belt up. I don't want to be late again."

"But mum and dad used to tell us the story of a couple whose string appeared on her twenty-first birthday and they got together. It is actually possible." Mia explained, sitting back and pulling her seatbelt on. "You just have to believe that it is possible. Why don't you ever have any hope?"

"What's the point of getting my hopes up if a string doesn't appear between us on her twenty-first birthday?" I wondered, slipping the car into first gear. "What's the point of me getting my hopes up if her string appears with someone else and she finds the love of her life? There's not any point in that because I might just end up being disappointed, and I don't want that. Plus, I don't want to hate the guy that she might end up with because I just wanted to be the guy at the end of her string."