《The Strings Attached》Chapter 5 - Loni
Advertisement
Bethany Harris is a great roommate. She's clean, she takes out the trash, and she's quiet. She always has her nose in her textbook, studying all day and night, giving me my own privacy. Giving me privacy to stalk Eric's social media all night.
Or at least attempt to stalk him.
My thumb hovers over his Instagram username. But I don't have the balls to tap the screen. My thumb twitches, following the ticking of the tiny clock on my desk.
I'm going to do it.
"You better put the phone down right now, Loni."
My thumb freezes and my whole body goes tense. I glance across the room to where Bethany is standing in my doorway. Of course the one night she's not studying for her classes, she's studying me.
"I'm not doing anything." I quickly lock my phone and place it face down.
She cocks a brow. "Well, good. Because if you were stalking your ex-boyfriend I would tell you to knock it off." She walks inside my room and sits on my bed, running her hands over the soft white comforter. "He hurt you, Loni. Why subject yourself to even more pain by making yourself vulnerable to his crap again."
Bethany watches me with her big brown eyes and I know she's right, but I can't help myself. Not knowing what he's doing is driving me crazy.
"What if he's with another girl?" I blurt out. Damn, am I really this pathetic?
Bethany shrugs. "So what if he is? Good riddance to him. He wasn't worth your time."
"That's easy for you to say." My tone is harsher than I intended, but I can't help it. The thought of Eric being with someone else, especially this soon after our breakup, makes my blood boil. And, I mean it is easy for Bethany to say, she's never had a boyfriend in her entire life.
Advertisement
She brushes off my tone like it's nothing. "If you want to stalk him, then at least let me help. I need a break from studying for my marketing exam. I can help you go all Sherlock Holmes on his ass."
"No," I say, pushing my phone to the other end of the desk. "You're absolutely right." I shake my head. "This won't do any good."
Bethany gives me a small nod and I can't help but notice the tiny smirk on her lips like she's proud of me. But still, even though I know in my soul that I'm doing the right thing, I feel like shit. I don't know what's worse— knowing what Eric is doing, or imagining what he's doing.
"Well, that went a lot better than I had planned," Bethany sighs, standing from the bed with a crooked smile. "I thought I was going to have to pin you to the bed and pry that phone out of your hand."
"Not this time," I laugh.
"Darn." She snaps her finger. Her eyes drift to the clock on my desk. It's eight o'clock at night. "I wasn't really ready to end my study break just yet. Want to watch the Bachelor with me?"
I laugh at her god-awful proposal. The last thing I want to do is sit on our couch and watch thirty women throw themselves at a hot single man. A man who is only going to break their heart in the end and pick a woman who is completely wrong for him.
Definitely passing on that one. There is only so much heartache I can take.
"Thanks for the offer." I stand from my desk. "And though it pains me to decline," I say with the utmost sarcasm. "I am going to go for a run."
Advertisement
Bethany lets out a pathetic exaggerated whine. "Are you sure? It's so dark out. You sure you should be out there alone?"
"I'll be fine," I answer, snatching up my sneakers. "I'll stay inside the property. And the courtesy officer is always on standby."
I love our apartment. It's student housing off-campus but the site is beautiful. It's hard to tell we are even in Florida as the all-red brick buildings scatter the large piece of land. Oak trees line the streets and there is a bike path that winds throughout the property which is perfect for jogging.
"Suit yourself. I'll give you the rundown on the episode when you get back." Bethany flips her blonde hair over her shoulder before trotting out of my room.
The TV in the living room turns on and the sounds of bachelor drama flood into my room. I dress quickly in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top so I don't have to endure another unwanted moment of the scripted nonsense.
The late August night breeze brings goosebumps to the surface of my skin as I run down the trail. My feet pound the paved surface to the beat of "One More Night" by Maroon 5 that's blaring through my AirPods. Dim orange lights shine down on the path casting an ominous glow, but I've never felt more at peace. Since I stepped foot outside the apartment, I haven't thought of Eric once.
I focus on the lyrics swirling in my head. My lips part and I silently sing with each breath. Glancing up, I take in the sight of the starless cloud-covered sky.
"On your left!" Someone shouts but I don't have enough time to respond.
As my head snaps down, the handle of their bike clips the side of my hip. I stumble forward, losing my footing as a burning sensation coats my skin. Before I hit the ground, someone grabs my arm and yanks me up. My sneakers skid across the pavement.
"Ow, damn it." I curse under my heaving breath, looking down the path to the biker who just hit me. They don't even bother stopping to see if I'm okay. Asshole.
"Are you good?"
My head jerks back around, now realizing that a man is holding me in his arms. I blink up at him. Through the dim lights of the bike path, he looks familiar, but I can't place it.
He releases me and shakes his head, tucking his hands into his shorts. I pluck the AirPods from my ears when he opens his mouth to speak again. "Loni, you good?" He gesture's to my torso where my tank top is ripped open— wait, he knows my name? Who the hell is this guy?
"Do I know you?" I ask, ignoring the dull ache that stretches across my hip.
Advertisement
- In Serial2247 Chapters
Warrior’s Promise
Su Mo went from the pride of his clan to becoming the butt end of a joke in a matter of minutes. The former King of Mercenaries from Earth was reborn in the body of a boy in a foreign world and had used skills in his previous life to rise to the top among his peers, however, his previous training could only take him so far. The next step in this martial arts dominated world was to awaken one’s Martial Soul. The awakening ceremony ends in disaster for Su Mo as he awoke a Martial Soul of the lowest level. Such a prodigy is now considered worse than useless as his Martial Soul is far too weak! After becoming the embarrassment of the clan, he discovers that his Martial Soul has a unique property: it could level up! This unique martial soul could shake the heavens. It was at this time that Su Mo meets the love of his life but the situation quickly deteriorates when she is taken by one of the most powerful forces in the world. Su Mo must rise from the lowest of the low and reach the pinnacle of power in order to save the love of his live within five years or she will forever be out of his reach.
8 1099 - In Serial60 Chapters
Far Strider
A college student finds himself transported into a strange land with burgeoning magical powers, and is taken in by Ned Stark. Will he sink or swim in this medieval society, and will he ever get home? ====================== OC-insert without knowledge of Game of Thrones, new planeswalker. Slow power ramp. Second crossover: Star Wars (around chapter 39). ======================= As a note, I started this as a speed writing challenge to myself. The challenge was successful, and I managed 100,000+ words (as well as some character sheets in excel and such) over 10.5 days. Then I had to stop and let my hands recover from their burgeoning carpal tunnel syndrome. The story currently stands at around 150,000 words (or ~550 RRL pages) over 54 chapters; expect a chapter a day until I've caught up with the backlog. The focus of this story was not quality writing, and that hasn't changed. I mostly use it as my semi-guilty "I need to write something, but am not focused enough to write something good" story. Expect self-indulgent writing in general, and a bit of OP (or, well, more than just a bit if we're being honest), especially later in the story as the protagonist matures into a more full-blown Planeswalker. But if you're looking for something with a power-ramping protagonist romping around the place, something you'd be a bit embarrassed to admit liking (I know I am) but like anyways (and come on, this is RRL, so that probably describes just about everyone here who actually has shame), then this may be a nice bit of mental junk food for you.
8 150 - In Serial64 Chapters
Faceless Phantom
A man had given up his real life. He was one of many NEETs who wished to change their life. A new popular virtual reality game, Heallance, was released. He intended to become a new person inside the game. Thus, he promised to himself that he would never log out. And he was reborn as a player named Zeroth. Throwing his real life away, Zeroth's new life in artificial world has begun. Note: English is my third language, so my vocabulary is limited and my grammar may not be good. There's no proof reader too. Please leave any critics or advice for me. I'll try my best to improve. Well, I hope you will enjoy my story!
8 197 - In Serial16 Chapters
How to Perform Magic and Influence Fae
David was your average college student turned paranormal investigator. Disconnected from normal society, he had given up the traditional friends and fun of college life in exchange for a devotion to researching, investigating, and eventually tracking down a real, live werewolf. David does not find exactly what he was looking for, but instead throws himself head first into the magical reality of his world. Unfortunately for him, he is not only exceptionally bad at magic, but also has a unique talent for finding his way into the very worst of magical situations.
8 134 - In Serial8 Chapters
Crystal Heart
When a heart of flesh is not enough. My ancestors passed down a heart disease to my grandfather, who in turn passed it down to my father and to me. It's not really a disease that makes one sick, we just live shorter. This disease should, theoretically, die out since it shortens our lifespan. How it is alive to this day is beyond me. If I was a normal girl, I wouldn't care much for my faulty heart. I wouldn't even know I had one in the first place. But I am not a normal little girl, no. I do not aim for the simple or the easy life. I want to tread where no one has been before, and discover what the ebb of time has mercilessly washed into the darkest corners of our civilization. This is my adventure.
8 168 - In Serial6 Chapters
Lethologica (an wdy au!)
After Austin gets kicked out of hell he gets sent somewhere and now has to deal with the bullshitery that it has.----I would say this is a magical au but there's nothing really magical about it (except for the fact some of the characters can just...Causally change outfits and stuff.) so it's literally just an stuck-in-another-world au.
8 160

