Luna had never quite had so much fun doing seemingly nothing before in her entire life. She enjoyed taking the time to sit and edit her work and continue working on her novel after she did everything she needed for the day. She would wake up, take care of the animals, apply for a few new jobs, and check in with the ones she'd already applied for. After that, she would shower, make herself breakfast, and settle in for a comfortable morning of catching up on her Discord server and writing.

She enjoyed reading what the long-since awoken Europeans had to say and couldn't help but smile when she noticed that Erik had been amongst their ranks.

He never let slip that he knew what was coming next in her story and giggled each time he would redirect a reader in a different direction. He certainly never made it easy for her readers to know what would come next, and for that, she was eternally grateful. A few had come scarily close to figuring out where she was going, but Erik always threw out some figurative breadcrumbs to lead them astray.

It worked nearly every time.

Luna was enjoying things so immensely that she decided to be brave enough to meet up with someone from the server. After talking to Hannah, who lived more nearby than expected, Luna decided to go out after Sam left for work. She shot him a quick text saying that she would be out and would be back later and stuck her phone in her pocket to ignore until way later. There was no way she would let Sam ruin her fun, and she made her way to the café where she had met Erik. It seemed like the most appropriate place to meet.

It felt strange for Luna to be entering the café with the realization that she wasn't meeting Erik, but someone new entirely. She nervously pulled at her clothes, unsure of what to expect. There had been a day when everyone shared photos of themselves in the server, but would Luna look like her photos? Would Hannah look like her photos?

Anxiety immediately settled in Luna's stomach at the thought. She had never bothered to do a video call with Hannah to ensure she was actually who she was. The feelings of Stranger Danger! echoed in Luna's head, but after looking around, she spotted someone reading near one of the tall windows who looked exactly like the person she was meant to meet. Though she still was nervous, there was an overwhelming sense of relief that Hannah at least seemed to exist.

She approached the table Hannah sat at slowly, worried about startling her from her reading and wanting to make sure that it was the right person before she said something.

"H-Hannah?" Luna said nervously, a smile breaking across her face.

Hannah looked up from her book and blinked twice before a smile mirroring Luna's appeared on her face. "Oh my God, Luna!" Hannah said, leaping up from her chair and pulling Luna into a tight bear hug. "I seriously cannot believe I'm meeting you in person! I was so afraid you weren't going to show!"

"I was worried about the same thing," Luna laughed, surprised that she didn't immediately flinch at Hannah's hug.

Hannah pulled back and held Luna at arms-length, giving her a quick once over. "You are as adorable as I thought you'd be!"

"Oh, stop," Luna replied, feeling herself blush. She took a moment to study Hannah. She was taller than expected, having several inches on Luna's four-foot-eleven self. Her clothes were sharp, following the curve of Hannah's full hips, and her smile, lined in a bright pink that Luna wished she could pull off, was radiant. Her dark brown hair was medium length with curls that left Luna equally as envious. "You're definitely way cuter!" Luna added. "Your curls – I wish I could get my hair to do that."

"Oh," Hannah laughed, running her fingers through her hair. "Trust me, this was a lot of work, but I didn't want to wear my usual."

"What's your usual?"

"Well," Hannah said, leaning in conspiratorially, "if I had my way – I would be in sweats right now."

"Me too!" Luna said excitedly.

"Oh, perfect," Hannah said in genuine relief as she sat back down. "Maybe next time, then." She gestured to the coffee cup sitting on the table at the seat opposite hers. "I took the liberty of ordering for you. I hope that's all right? You've talked about your favorite coffee so much that I hope it's what you want."

"A white chocolate mocha?"

"With brown sugar cinnamon added."

"Perfect," Luna smiled, sitting down and taking an appreciative sip with a hum. She set her cup down and reached into her bag to pull out money to pay for her coffee, but Hannah grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Don't you dare, Luna SoleilProse," Hannah said sharply, putting extra emphasis on Luna's Discord name. "You are not paying for that because it is quite literally the least I can do after reading your work. And I'm just now realizing I have absolutely no idea what your last name actually is."

Luna stared at Hannah in alarm, her eyes growing wide before she started to laugh. "It's Serrano," she said through her laugh. She picked up her coffee again and lifted it. "And thank you – I really don't mind paying."

Hannah shook her head. "No, really, Luna. It really is the least I can do for all the magic that you've shared with us. So...tell me more about yourself."

Much like the other firsts Luna had experienced lately, she didn't feel too strange about talking about herself. She told Hannah about how she loved baking and loved playing video games. She confessed that some of her favorite books to read were romance, though she wasn't sure that she had truly experienced what she read about. She giggled over stories about her dogs, about how Bentley liked to take himself on walks, and Daisy might as well have been human at some point in her life. She shook her head as she talked about Aslan's escapades and how he enjoyed knocking things over and then immediately ran up to her and rubbed himself against her legs as if in apology.

Hannah gushed about herself just as excitedly, telling Luna that she secretly loved to write herself but wasn't sure that she could ever be brave enough to share. She loved to draw and loved anime and manga, which made her almost embarrassed to share because other people made fun of her for it. Hannah loved anything to do with monsters and had a special love for werewolves after falling in love with wolves when she met one at a nearby fair. When Hannah finally stopped talking, she exhaled, leaning back in her chair and smiling.

"You know," Hannah said, "I always thought it would be super weird meeting someone from the internet, but it feels like I've known you forever."

Luna smiled and nodded in agreement. "I agree," Luna replied. "It's so weird."

A comfortable silence fell just long enough for the two to enjoy the last of their drinks and then get up one at a time to reorder a second. When Hannah sat back down, she pinned Luna with a questioning look.

"So, you've been dancing around the subject whenever we've asked, but what made you start sharing your book online?" Hannah asked, leaning forward on the table with her head in her hands. "You avoid answering every single time someone's asked. Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," Luna replied with a laugh. "It just feels silly because it's all kind of unrelated. It all started after a late-night conversation – well, not for me, really, but I was talking with Erik one day. I have this book on mythology back home and came across one on the red string of fate."

"The red string of fate?"

"It's a myth about how we're all tied to our soulmate by an invisible red string," Luna said, lifting a hand and showing her pinky finger. "Think it's supposed to be tied to your pinky, but there are different variations, but they all involve being attached by this red string."

"And this led to you writing?"

"No," Luna said with a laugh. "I told him that I was determined to prove that the red string of fate exists. Erik's positive that it doesn't, and I tried to tell him that it does, but then before we ended our conversation, he told me to start the Discord server."

"So you had the server before you started writing?"

Luna nodded. "The writing came later. Sort of," she said, waffling slightly on how to continue. "I had shared with Erik what I'd written – not everything just yet, but just wanted to show him some of what I'd been doing. We bonded over –"

"Nightfall? Yeah, he's said."

"Yeah," Luna sighed. "We met here, actually. I don't know if he's ever said that."

Hannah shook her head. "No, he hasn't shared that it was here exactly, but he did mention meeting you in a café," she replied. "And that led to you sharing? The story about the red string?"

"Well, not exactly," Luna laughed. "Or kind of, I don't know. I actually got annoyed with my fiancé one day –"

"Erik?" Hannah interrupted. "He annoyed you?"

"I...." Luna trailed off, stunned. "I'm not with Erik."

"Oh!" Hannah said in response, looking surprised. "I just thought...I mean...well, I guess I just assumed with how often you two talk together." She let out a slight chuckle before waving Luna on to continue. "Keep going, I'm curious."

"Right," Luna said with a small laugh and shaking her head. "I, uhm, got annoyed with my fiancé and decided to just give it a try. Erik had been pestering me for weeks to just do it, and I had been in the middle of editing what you're reading now." Luna shrugged. "And now here we are. I didn't think it would resonate with so many people, and now that I've seen what I can do and make a difference for others, I don't know that I can stop."

Hannah studied Luna, her lips pursing slightly as if there was something that she was missing in their conversation. It took a long while before a slow smile crossed her face, and she shook her head.

"Well, it's incredible how things worked out," Hannah said, leaning back in her chair. "So, how were you planning on proving to Erik that the red string of fate exists?"

"I don't really know," Luna admitted. "I just kind of figured that when I knew with Sam – my fiancé – that I would know what to say and then show him."

"Well, maybe we're all part of the red string," Hannah said thoughtfully. "Since, you know, we're all connected?"

"I'm not sure it works exactly like that," Luna laughed. "I mean, maybe, but I think the red string is meant to be just one person."

Hannah leaned back in, her eyes twinkling slightly. "Well, that's unfortunate," she replied. "But I can't help but wonder something."

"Wonder what?"

"Well, what if Erik is your red string?"

Luna's surprise was written all over her face, her thoughts disrupted. "Erik?" she asked, a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty in her voice. "Why Erik?"

Hannah nodded fervently, her expression earnest. "Well, think about it," Hannah said. "If you two met here, apparently on a whim, doesn't that seem kind of...odd? Serendipitous, even?"

"It would just be serendipity then, no?"

"Or," Hannah said slowly, "it could be fate. Every time I see you two talking in the server, I find myself jealous that I don't have the connection that you two have. Maybe he's your red string."

Luna pondered the possibility of Hannah's words, thinking about her connection with Erik. She supposed there was a possibility that their relationship was stronger than others, but it wasn't red string worthy, was it? There wasn't anything that was keeping them apart or a reason for a thread to be tangled. It wasn't like with Sam where their string had been tangled over and over again, repeatedly and without fail knotting into something that was impossible to unravel but not fraying.

But Erik is also away, screamed something in Luna's mind. He can't be here right now. Isn't that part of the story?

"But I'm with Sam," Luna finally responded. "With everything that's happened between me and Sam, that's the only explanation that there is."

"Of course," Hannah said, sitting back once more and studying Luna once more. "I totally get it. But maybe he thinks you can't prove it because he's your red string, and because you're with Sam, he doesn't want to mention it. Still..." she let out a long breath and shrugged. "Well, can't blame a girl for trying. I'm just saying that there's something between you and Erik, and whatever it is, it's obvious."

"He's just a really good friend," Luna replied, though her words didn't sound as positive as she thought she felt. "He's a really good friend."

"Really supportive. I swear he's your biggest fan."

"Yeah," Luna said quietly. "Maybe. He's been such a huge support. But Sam...he's, well...he's maybe not as supportive, but he's been there, too."

Hannah shrugged again before moving on to a different topic entirely. Still, Luna couldn't help but let her thoughts drift a little as she spoke with Hannah.

By the time the two decided to leave, the sun had long since set, and the air outside had a sharp chill. The air smelled cold, but it didn't quite have that same crisp scent that meant snow would be coming again soon.

"Hey, it was really nice meeting you," Hannah said, sweeping Luna into a hug. "But it's also really freezing out, so I'm going to run off to my car."

"It was great meeting you, too!" Luna said, somewhat surprised that she found herself meaning it for once instead of her half-hearted claims after meeting Sam's friends. It was almost tempting to ask Hannah if she wanted to get something to eat, but didn't want to push when it was already getting late.

"Do this again soon?" Hannah asked as she started to walk away.

"Yes, definitely," Luna answered.

"Awesome!" Hannah said, starting to take off at a slight jog. "Fuck it's cold!" she suddenly shouted, making Luna laugh on her way to her car.

Luna was positive that she would beat Sam home but was surprised to see that his car was sitting in the driveway when she arrived. When Luna opened the door, she expected at least the kitchen light to be on, but only the faint glow of the lamp from the living room down the hall could be seen along with the contrasting colors on the wall from whatever was playing on the television. She rubbed an ear with a grimace as a loud noise blared from the television, which was way louder than usual. Since the dogs didn't immediately run for her, she assumed they had decided to hide upstairs to avoid the jarring sounds. She didn't blame them.

What also surprised Luna was the scent of alcohol that hung heavily in the air. It was one of the last things that Luna expected. They barely ever had alcohol in the house, but the strong, heady scent of beer permeated everything. She walked slowly towards the living room and frowned when she found Sam sitting on the couch with a half-empty bottle of beer in his hand and several others sitting on the table in front of him.

"Sam?" Luna asked uncertainly. "Is everything okay?"

Sam's gaze shifted from the television, his eyes glazed over. "No, everything isn't okay," Sam slurred.

"What's going on?" Luna asked, taking in the state of Sam. "You've been drinking."

"I have," Sam replied with a hiccup. "Surprised you even noticed."

"Why?"

"Because of you," Sam said, standing up and stumbling towards Luna. Luna flinched back slightly as he approached, nose wrinkling at how strong the smell of alcohol became when he drew near. He took a swig of beer from the bottle he still held in his hand before pointing the neck towards her. "This is all because of you."

"Because of me?" Luna asked quietly. "What does that even mean?"

Sam looked as though he was about to say something, lip curling slightly into a sneer before he dropped the bottle on the floor and pushed past Luna. "I'll figure it out. I'm going to bed," he slurred as he stumbled towards the stairs. "You clean up."

Luna huffed as Sam struggled to get himself up the stairs. When he cleared the landing, she looked around the living room. There were far more beers littering the room than she thought, the pile of bottles not just concentrated to the coffee table but on the couch cushions and even on the bookshelf. Several of Luna's books were thrown onto the floor, and Luna dove for them before the dropped beer bottle leaking golden brown liquid touched the pages. Setting the books back where they belonged, Luna took a breath and slowly let it out. She was going to have a long night ahead of her, and she had no idea what she had done to deserve it.