Puppets on a string

BOYFRIEND?

F*ck! I never thought that I will start liking Mr. Arrogant.

The first day I saw him, I didn't like him at all. I have never liked bad boys before, but now here I am, feeling weird when I didn't receive his 'Good morning' text. Every since we exchanged numbers, I wake up to his texts. But why didn't he text me today. Is he still asleep? Is he fine ? Is he bored of me ? I shaked the last two thoughts out of my mind. Samuel has been nothing but sweet to me. I have never laughed this much in my life before like I laughed in last 5 days. He isn't bored of talking to me. Is he? Should I text him first ? But what if he doesn't reply. I don't want to face any more rejections.

I decided to go and freshen up first. If he wants to talk, he will text.

After taking a shower, I was going down for breakfast and suddenly my phone beeped.

Samuel sent you a message

I squealed like a teenager. Well, I am a teenager. I quickly opened the text

'Good morning angel'

He loves to call me by different nicknames because he knows that they make me blush.

'Aw . Is my angel blushing again ;)' he replied . He knows what he is doing

'Good morning to you too Stark ' I replied back trying my best to not smile.

I left my phone in my room and went to dining room for breakfast. My family has only one rule "No cellphones on dining table" which I think is good. Food is life.

I came back after having my breakfast and saw that Samuel texted me again. We chatted for a while when he suddenly asked.

" Do you have a boyfriend Ash?"

"Nope. Happily single. What about you ?"

" I don't have a boyfriend too. I don't swing that way you know" He replied making me laugh.

" Really ? I thought you were interested in Robert " I replied smirking to myself

"No offense to gays. But I can show you which way I swing if you allow me"

I blushed so hard reading that text. I didn't know what to reply. He knows his way with words.

"What happened sweetheart. Cat got your tongue?" This jerk is teasing me.

"You know what I meant Sam" I texted back trying to change the conversation

"No, I don't have a girlfriend. I will have one if you agree to be mine ;)"

Did he just say that? Is it a joke? It must be a joke.

" Stop fooling around Sam." I replied back.

"Hehehe. I am sure it made you blush again"

Ugh! Am I that obvious ? Or does he know me very well ?

" Have you ever had any boyfriend?" He texted without waiting for my reply.

Should i tell him ? Well there is nothing to hide too.

"Yes. Had one in high school. We Broke up 6 months ago."

"May I know what happened? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it"

"No ,it's fine. We dated for few months, broke up because he kind of cheated"

" He was an a**hole. Cheating on a beautiful girl like you. He must be blind. But it must have hurted you alot. The breakup"

" No, not much. I never really loved him. It was just infatuation. And he regretted it and has been begging me to forgive him. So, its a win win situation for me"

"Good. You deserve someone better"

"I know. What about you ? Have you ever had any girlfriend?"

" Nah. Liked a girl in high-school. Dated her for 1 hour and broke up with her"

"1 hour ? Seriously Stark?" I replied back frowning. Did he really date someone for 1 hour.

"Not my fault Ash. She said that it was a dare 1 hour later. Apparently, her friends dared her to agree to date me and breakup with me an hour later"

" That was really cruel. You didn't deserve it Sam. You deserve better" I replied.

"I know. I deserve someone like you. Someone kind and sweet." He replied making me blush again. Aaahhhh! Why is he doing this? I already have feelings for him and he is flirting with me making my heart flutter.

"You will find a nice girl one day Sam" I replied calming my heart down

" But I want you Ash"

Oh my God. He must stop joking otherwise I will die of all the butterflies in my stomach.

"Stop joking Sam. Lets talk about something else" I texted back

"I am not joking Ash. Whenever I try to flirt with you, you take it as a joke. I really like you and I want you to be my girlfriend. I liked you the first day I saw you. I came to cafetaria and asked Vincent to join you guys so that I could be friends with you. Heck I think I am falling in love with you"

WHAT THE HELL? HE CANT JUST SAY THE 'L' WORD ON A TEXT.

Wait. He said the 'L' word and I am angry that he said it on a text. But the problem is not this right now. What should I text back is what the real problem right now is.

He texted again when I didn't reply for a few minutes.

"You don't have to say it back Ash. Just agree to be my girlfriend. I promise I will make you happy and make you fall in love with me one day. Just give me a chance and I promise that you won't be disappointed "

Ugh! Why does he have to be so sweet about it? His words just made it more hard for me to say 'no'. So should I say yes ? No. I need some advice. I can't make this decision this early. The only name that came to my mind was ' Adraianna'

" I need some time Sam. I can't say anything for now. I need time to think about it. I hope you understand " I replied

"Take your time Ash. But how much time are you talking about"?

" I will give you my answer by tomorrow " I replied back and immediately called Adrianna.

She picked up the call after a ring.

"Hey Ana. What's up ?"

" Hey Lee. Nothing just laying down being lazy. What are you doing today?"

"Nothing. I need your help. I need some advice"

"I will be there in a few minutes. Order Chinese by then"

We both love our food so much. Our brothers say that when we are together we eat like hippo. They are not wrong though. And this is the reason I have problem in losing weight. I am not obese. I am just not slim. I have a couple of extra pounds here and there but you won't call me overweight.

I ordered some rolls and noodles with cola and waited for both Ana and food.

After a few minutes when Adrianna arrived I narrated everything to her about Samuel.

"It's your decision Ash. In the end, you are the one who has to be with him. If you have feelings for him and think that he is a nice person and will keep you happy then you should go ahead and say 'yes'." She said

"I mean I like him. He makes me happy. He makes me laugh. And he knows me well too. He has never done something wrong to me. He has always been respectful to me since we met." I said

"If you talk so highly of him then he must be a good person. And what about that Vincent guy ? Last time you were sad because of him"

"This is why I am here Ana. I realized later that I was just attracted to Vin. He was just another stupid crush. But if what I feel for Samuel is same as I felt for Vincent, I don't want to have another relation like I has with Paul. I want something genuine now" I told her

"You will never know if you never try Ash. If you don't feel more for him then you can always breakup. It's not like he asked you to marry him. You both are young and you have a lot of time to think about getting serious. You can give it a try. But it's your decision in the end. I can only give you advice but it's you who has to be sure. Tell me if you feel something different than a stupid attraction for him." She asked

"I have these weird feeling in my stomach when I talk to him. I have never blushed and laughed so much in my life. He makes my heart flutter. He makes me happy" I replied back genuinely exposing my feelings in front of her.

"Then you know your answer Lee. And If things get out of control and you face any problem, you have me here with you always." She said smiling at me.

I feel blessed to have her with me. We both know that we both will have each other's back forever. Ana also recently broke up with her high school boyfriend. They dated for 3 long years but that f*cker cheated on her with her own cousin sister. Yes, he cheated on her with another one of Ana's cousin sister from her mother's side. Both of them were close too. They both didn't know that he was two timing with both of the

m.

I was always there with her during her hard times. He was her first love. I almost ripped his head off his neck. I never really liked him and Ana knows it. We never saw eye to eye with each other. But Ana is really happy with her life now. She is enjoying her college life and focusing on her career at the same time. I love this girl so much. She is very strong but she doesn't know it.

"You always know what to say Ana. That's why I love you so much".

"Love you too girl"

"Enough about me. Tell me what's happening in your life" I asked her

And then we talked with each other for whole day eating food and watching Netflix.

Later that night Samuel texted me wishing me 'Good night' and said that he is waiting for my reply.

I wished him good night back and went to sleep.

Next morning

Today is the day I need to answer Samuel. And I have already made my decision.

As always I received a text from Samuel in the morning. I replied back. He didn't ask for my answer and I won't answer him until he asks me to.

We talked for a couple of minutes and then went to have our morning routine.

I received a call from Vicky later.

"Hey Ash. What's up?"

"Hey Vic. Just staying at home. Had college for 2 days then you know about the cyclone issue and the weekend. 5 days off again. What about you ?"

"Feeling bored at home. Do you wanna watch a movie on Monday? Finally the cyclone situation is solved. We only have one class on Monday again. We can go after college. We & our other friends?"

"I guess we can do that " I replied.

"Great! I will ask others too" She replied enthusiastically and hung up.

Later in the evening I was using my social media when Samuel texted me again

"You didn't give me your answer Ash"

"What answer ?" I replied teasing him.

"Ahh! Don't tease me baby. You know what I am talking about"

"I don't know what you are talking about " I won't answer him until he asks me properly again. I giggled to myself.

"You want me to say it again. Don't you, you little vixen " He texted back.

He does know me well.

"It's not that hard Stark. You have done it before. You can do it again ;)" I replied back and added a wink emoticon in the end.

"I am falling in love with you Ashley jenkins. Will you do the honor and be my girlfriend?" He asked again.

"It wasn't that hard Stark" I replied back and laughed to myself not wanting to answer him this easily.

"Just answer it already Jenkins. Don't make this man wait more "

I laughed and decided to answer him.

Here we go Ashley

"Yes Samuel. I will be your girlfriend " I replied and giggled to myself feeling giddy.

"YES! You just made me the happiest man alive Ashley. I love you girlfriend" He texted back

What? I am not saying this word back until I really feel it.

"Hehe. I like you too Samuel" I replied back

"Just wait love. I will make you fall in love with me too." He texted smugly

What he doesn't know that I am slowly falling for him too. But I won't say this until I really mean it.

"We'll see Sam."

"Are you doing something? We can talk on call if you want "

"Sure, you can call me" I texted back and the very next second I received a call from him.

"Hey Girlfriend" he said.

"Hey boyfriend" I replied feeling weird calling him boyfriend.

"You really don't know how happy you made me Love" He said

And we talked for 1 hour straight on call. We talked about our dreams and our families. We talked about hobbies. We talked about our feelings for each other and it was perfect. I felt really happy.

If you would have said that I will be in relationship with Samuel Stark on the first day of college, I would have laughed at you on your face but I never knew I will develop feelings for Mr. Arrogant who is my boyfriend now.