Every String Attached | GirlxGirl

Chapter Fifteen

When Shawn woke in the morning three days later, it wasn't because her alarm rang, or because Chance stumbled in the hallway or kitchen while parading around and making breakfast. It was because there was a knock on the door, which neither her nor Chance had been expecting at 7:45AM.

Crawling out of bed, she groggily reached for her glasses and shoved them onto the bridge of her nose. It occurred to her that perhaps she should try and look presentable when she opened the door, greeting whoever had come, but she'd been awake for a total of forty-five seconds, and really didn't have the energy.

The doorknob was cold against her hand, and she suddenly realized that she wasn't wearing anything other than a loose t-shirt and short athletic shorts. Briefly, she contemplated going back to her bedroom to pull on something more flattering, but then another round of knocking came—with much more force and volume. Sighing, she pulled the door open.

"Shawn Reyes?"

Standing in front of her was a uniformed man who barely gave her a second glance as he studied his clipboard.

"Yes."

As he presented the clipboard to her, he instructed her to sign and initial along the lines and inside of the boxes, then taking it back and handing her a cardboard box. "Enjoy," he said, already halfway down the corridor.

Shawn smiled to herself as she took the box into the kitchen and opened it immediately. She wasn't the type of person to get excited over purchasing new electronics, but this was long overdue. She was beginning to feel a sort of deprivation from being away from her laptop, and even from her job for so long.

"New toy?" Chance stumbled into the kitchen, half of her head of hair standing on end.

Shawn barely heard her voice over the excitement building in her ears, her blood pumping as she unveiled the new machine, discarding all its bubble wrap and Styrofoam.

As she lifted the lid and powered it on, and the screen immediately came to life, she knew that this would be different. The first thing she would see when the wallpaper loaded would not be a remnant of her previous life. It would not be her and Hunter.

As lame as she thought it was, this was a new beginning for her. Literally, it was the start of a new era. Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to celebrate. She was even more behind on this edit than she usually was, due to her stubborn procrastination. It didn't take long for her to clear all Styrofoam pieces from the kitchen table and settle into the seat that overlooked the parking lot.

Boston's weather was proving to be undergoing a severe inconsistency. All of the snow that had previously fallen and accumulated at the sides of busy streets and on the railings of balconies had melted as a result of the rise in temperature over the past week. And now, the state was met with a sort of rain you'd expect from the middle of the night and far into spring. It was disorienting with it nearing the end of November—December right around the corner. Streets were now lined with discount signs, advertisements covering any vacant space available on brick walls or streetlight poles. Christmas was coming, yet it was so hard to get into the spirit of it.

As the day transitioned leisurely into early evening, Shawn moved from her spot at the kitchen table and into the living room, tired of looking at cars enter and exit the flooding lot. Her stretched out legs took up the entire couch, with the underlying meaning that Chance was not invited to sit with her.

Chance spent the entire day in her bedroom, preparing for her exams that would be coming in several weeks, as well as stressing over figuring out how to completely fix the mess that was her current situation with Shawn.

Shawn's phone buzzed from the coffee table, but she was too focused to respond to who it was until hours later. Closing her laptop and setting it off to one side, she heard her stomach rumble, and realized how late it was in the day. She grabbed her phone then, holding it in her hand as she re-entered the kitchen and filled a pot with water to boil.