✏ connection | l. garmadon [[ next chapter dropping january 23 ]]

interlude one | so if you're lonely, no need to show me

This interlude has been sitting (completed!) in my drafts for several months now, and I've finally been given the chance to release it to you all at long last! :,) I actually wrote the whole thing in just a couple of days because I was very excited to show this aspect of the story, and to fully introduce this sweet character to all of you. I know that you will love her, and it is such a bittersweet thing to have written this while also knowing what is ahead for her. I only hope that I can do her justice.

This is my 2023 Christmas gift to all of you! Originally I had planned to post it a week or two from now, but figured that I would release it early as a treat. <3 I greatly appreciate your support for 'connection', and it has been so crazy to see how far this little project of mine has come already and just how invested you all have become in this story- even though Lloyd and Reader haven't (officially) met yet! I'm so grateful to have you all along for the ride, and I hope that you enjoy my attempt at giving you some sort of gift in return.

Have a wonderful rest of your Christmas holiday and a happy new year! I love you all! <33

trigger warning for difficult family situations, absent parents, brief references to parents fighting, as well as kids being prejudiced against Lloyd (and also just being unkind in general).

( chapter title taken from : "This Side of Paradise" by Coyote Theory )

{ 🍃 • 🐉 • 🍃 }

» – - about ten years ago - – «

( lizzy )

"Are you still feeling a little nervous about your first day of high school?"

Ophelia, already successfully graduated and now starting her freshman year at college, attempted to calm my nerves between bites of her blueberry bagel with cream cheese.

I chewed on my bottom lip, scrubbing at the hardened egg on my plate with a sponge and wishing that all of my worries would just wash down the drain right along with the bubbles and swirling dirty water.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I don't know. . . there's just so much that could go wrong. What if I'm late for classes? What if Zoey finds cooler friends to hang out with and leaves me behind? What if I get lost on the way to lunch or something? What if-"

"Hey, take a deep breath."

My sister gave me a comforting smile, succeeding in her attempts to stop my never-ending stream of 'what-ifs' and anxious thoughts.