No Strings Attached

Chapter Four

I decided to walk home today. I walk out the double sided white doors as I'm hit with the fresh air I've been deprived of all day.

I walk down the sidewalk on the school and take a right turn onto Crest Road, the longest route home.

"Hey, Nicole, hold up!" I heard a familiar voice call out.

I stop walking and turn around to see Grant, his hair messy and that cheap grin on his face again.

"Are you, uh, walking home?" He questioned.

"Yes, I am. I don't have to be home to babysit my little brother today so I thought I'd take the long way home."

"Let me join you. It just so happens that I, also, do not have to be home early to babysit." He snickered.

I smile and nod and we start to walk down the street. Our hands brush each other and I look up at him. He's about five inches taller than me.

We walk for a while without saying anything, and then we're at my house. I turn to him, "So, this is me."

"Yes, I suppose it is." He says, taking my hand and kissing it softly. I felt butterflies shoot up my stomach.

I have no idea why I had that feeling. I've never felt like that before. "Yeah, uh, bye." I said, blushing.

I turned and walked up the front steps to my house and turned around to see if Grant was still waiting, but he left. I look down at the ground disappointed and continued to walk inside my house. It was about 3:15 when I got here.

My mom had the day off today and she was sitting on the black leather living room couch drinking coffee out of her favorite owl mug. My mothers kind of obsessed with owls.

I personally think they're creepy as fuck.

I look for Carden, who's playing with his transformer toys in the playroom. I walk silently up the stairs into my room, taking a seat on my bed and grab my iPod and turn on my favorite song, I miss you by Blink-182.

I sit there, on my bed in the same position for a little while until taking out my phone. I scroll down to call Kathy, and notice something new in my contacts.

A.. Andrew, Amana, Ashley

B.. Britney, Brett

C.. Chris

D.. Derek, Dana

E..

F.. Francesca

G.... Grant

Why was Grant's number in my phone? Who put it in there? It couldn't have been him,  he never touched my phone.

I smile to myself and scroll past his name and call Kathy anyway, ignoring the new digits placed mysteriously in my cellular.

-

Waiting at the bus stop two weeks later I start to notice Grant's thread is showing. I don't know what to feel, I feel anger, sadness, and confusion.

How can his thread be starting if mine isn't?  Wasn't he only here to be my perfect match?

We go to school, sitting silently on the bus. I start to follow the thin red string and notice that its attached to Logan Webster. She didn't have a thread, I noticed, until now.

How didn't I put two and two together?  Of course no one that perfect could have been for me.

Grant nudged me, smirking. I sighed softly and walked to creative writing. The only place no one could clog my mind or mess up my thoughts.

Our goal today was to set a timer for ten minutes and write a diary entry of someone who has one year to live, and when the ten minutes is over restart the timer and write the diary entry of the same person one year later.

These kinds of tasks are my favorite.

-

On the way home today I didn't wait for Grant, I didn't let him kiss my hand when we got to my house.

I don't care if hes hurt at this point, I'm hurt that we're not meant to be together.