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Twenty

Author: Shanika Rana
last update Last Updated: 2025-01-24 01:39:03

"So, he took you to his grandparent's old house," Natalie asked again.

"She has already told us that, Natalie," Samantha said and threw a pillow at Nat's head.

We were sitting in Sam's room, on her bed, talking about my date with Harper. I had told them everything up to the point where he told me he was 'serious' about me.

"And that's not everything!" I gulped when their head whipped up to look at me, eager for any new information.

"He kissed you, didn't he?" Nat asked eagerly.

"He was about to but I stepped back." I smiled weakly. I had started to regret that decision already. All the reasons that had come into my mind at the time, sounded so foolish and empty right now. But I wasn't going to tell them that.

"What? Why would you do that?" Samantha gasped.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is what he said after that." I waved a hand dismissively like it didn't bother me at all.

They both waited for me to go on. "He said he was serious about me, whatever that means. He asked me to give him a chance."

Samantha shrieked while Natalie gasped. "He asked you to be his girlfriend." They both squealed like mad women and I frowned. 

"Hey, hey, calm down." I playfully rolled my eyes while trying to get these hyenas under control. "He didn't ask me to be his girlfriend."

They both looked at each other and dramatically sighed. Natalie shook her head with a smile on her face. "What else do you want him to say?"

Samantha joined in. "Yeah, boys don't come right out and propose these days. Did you expect to hear him ask if you wanted to be his girlfriend?"

"Um, yes," I responded weakly, unsure of how they were going to react. I didn't know boys even do that anymore. Harper had been giving me mixed signals for so long that I didn't think whether he'd ask me to date him. Harper didn't date anyone; everyone knew that and I'd be stupid to hope otherwise. Girls are supposed to give mixed signals, not boys.

"So, you doubt what we're saying?" Nat asked.

I nodded in response. She got up from the bed and walked to the nightstand where I had put down my phone after coming back from the date. She picked it up and sat back down on the bed. "There's only one way to figure it out."

"No, no, no. I'm not going to call him." I shook my head furiously. It had only been a few hours since the date and calling him would make me look somewhat desperate and I didn't want him to get any wrong idea too.

"We aren't going to make you call him. We don't want to make our best friend look desperate. You're just going to message him." Samantha rolled her eyes as if whatever she was saying was pretty obvious and it was stupid of me to not know about it. I had started to believe it too.

"Yeah, here's your phone. Message him right now." Nat asked while handing me my phone.

"What? No. What am I even going to say to him?!" I shook my head frantically, hoping that they would realize that I didn't want to talk to him, just yet.

"Yes, you are. And we are going to tell you what to say." Sam winked at me. That girl's the devil, I tell you! Nat nodded in response.

These two have gone crazy! There's no way Harper, indirectly or directly would ask me to be his girlfriend. Or would he?!

The way they looked so sure and confident about what they were saying made me doubt my conclusions. And now, I wanted to know if it was true. So bad. 

I nodded at them weakly. They grinned in triumph like they knew I was going to give up in the first place.

I unlocked my phone and opened the message thread with Harper, where there were only two messages, him asking me if we were still on for the date and me confirming it.

I took a deep breath and typed in a new message, which Nat and Sam had directed me to send.

What did you mean that you were 'serious' about me?

It was a foolish move there was no surety that he was even awake at this hour. It was 2 in the morning and normal people were asleep by that time, but not hormonal teenage girls who gossiped about their dates for the whole night.

But I guess Harper wasn't normal because, a minute later my phone pinged on my lap.

I was worried about what he would think about the nature of my message. It looked like I had been overthinking about his simple words for hours and it made me look like a crazy teenage girl.

I hurriedly unlocked my phone to check and found a message from Harper.

I thought it was pretty clear.

Guess, Harper wasn't normal at all.

The message wasn't only cryptic but it shut down any other way to approach Harper about what he meant by those words, without me sounding too desperate, of course.

Before any of us could say anything else, my phone pinged again, notifying me that another message from Harper had just come through.

If I wasn't clear enough, I want you to be my girlfriend.

Nat and Sam who had both been overlooking my shoulder, squealed like the hyenas I had accused them of being.

My phone pinged again. Harper.

I have no idea how to go about these things!

That message brought a smile to my face. 

Samantha pointed her finger at me. "You call him right now and tell him that you want to be his girlfriend."

"And that you want to carry his babies." Nat laughed.

"What?" I laughed. 

"Yup, I remember, the other day, when we were arguing about Harper," Nat smirked.

"We always argued about Harper." Sam rolled her eyes.

"On the day of his birthday, when we told you that after his birthday, he may change, and would possibly get into a relationship." Nat looked hopefully at both of us, hoping we would catch on.

"Oh, come on." Nat groaned. 

"Oh, oh, oh." Sam jumped up. "I got it. Zara argued that he would never be interested in pursuing a relationship with anyone and if he did-"

Oh, God. No.

"She would sleep with him." They both spoke together and started laughing. 

My words had never come back to bite me in the butt like this. I blushed immediately at the thought of me and Harper rolling in the sheets. 

"I'm not sleeping with him. Never." I fake shuddered showing them how the very idea repulsed me, which in reality was far from the truth. The thought of sleeping with Harper was exciting and I felt my body heat up in response.

"You're not going to sleep with him YET!" Sam said.

"Yup, never say never," Nat said in a cheerful voice. 

"What am I supposed to reply to him?" I asked the two relationship experts sitting in front of me. I needed to divert their attention from me and Harper having sex to some less dangerous topic.

"You call him right now and tell him that your answer is yes." Sam shrugged as if everything was that simple.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?" Nat arched an eyebrow.

"Harper has been picking up fights with me, degrading me and whatnot and suddenly he wants me to be his girlfriend. It just doesn't add up." They shared a look and then waited for me to go on. "He said some hateful things which hurt me and I know he meant it then. I want to know what changed in the span of such a short time. And I need to know a million other things."

Nat and Sam looked at each other and then slowly nodded. They wanted me to jump into a relationship with Harper and I couldn't do that, not after how my last relationship ended.

"Do you think it would be better if you would just talk to him, clear your doubts, and then take a decision?"

"Yes." That was exactly how I felt. Jumping into a relationship like this would harm both of us and leave us bitter people in the end. I had questions, an important one at that, and I needed answers. The questions were generic enough and would be quite simple to answer. The bottom line was that I did like him. If I didn't, I wouldn't even be considering committing to him. I knew what my answer was going to be, I just needed to clear some things before taking the plunge.

I typed my answer into the phone.

We need to talk.

Harper's reply came instantly.

Tell me when. I will be there.

He was ready to talk. That was good. This was good. 

Tomorrow. Before school. The benches?

My phone pinged in my lap after a few minutes.

I will be there an hour before school tomorrow.

"There, done. We are going to meet at the benches an hour before the school starts tomorrow." I put my phone on the nightstand beside the bed and looked up to watch Nat and Sam's reaction.

Nat groaned and flopped back down on the bed. "An hour?! Why don't we just go to the school now and wait for Harper to come there in a few hours?"

I laughed while Sam hit Natalie with a pillow.

***

I felt his eyes on me before I even saw him. I was gazing out towards the football field when I felt him arrive. I turned around to look at him, to find him on top of the bleachers.

This was the pull I had begun to feel towards him. It was getting stronger and I wanted to be close to him for very long periods, if possible. I was afraid that I was going mad or horny, beyond limits. That was why I needed answers, that was why I needed to protect myself if everything between us went downhill between us.

I could see his lips quirked up in a smile as our eyes met.

I took him in as he climbed down the benches to come to me. He had on a red polo shirt which showed off his toned biceps and a blue jean. I think this must be one of the few times I had seen him in clothing that wasn't black and I liked it. If I would get a chance, I would mention how he looked better in color.

He stood in front of me, and the time I had wanted to prepare myself for this conversation had just gone into checking him out.

I sighed and sat down on the bleachers. I looked out at the field again to sort out my thoughts and ask him what I wanted to ask him, without any kind of hesitation. I was never a blunt kind of person and in this very moment, this fact worked against me.

"I just had some questions." I voiced the first thing that came to my mind.

Harper sat down beside me, his body turned towards me, giving me his full attention. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Why me?"

I turned to look at him.

"What?" His eyebrows furrowed, making him look adorable. I resisted the urge to pull him towards me and bite the sexy pout he was sporting now.

"We have been in the same school and class for years, Harper. You never noticed me. I have never seen you in a relationship. Ever. And yet, here you are, proposing to me now, all of a sudden. Why me? Why now?" 

He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "It's not easy to explain. At all."

"I have time. We have almost forty minutes till the school starts." I looked at my phone to see if I was right. I was, we had time on our hands. Coming to school early had its perks.

"You will freak out." He rubbed his hands over his jean’s clad thighs to hide his nervousness. "Yup, you will freak out."

"You don't have a drug problem, right?" 

That was my first thought, shoot me. He was deliberately building up suspense and making me anxious.

"What? No." He chuckled but I could see his tense posture and his eyes nervously darting around the field.

"Tell me, then. What is it?" I was pleading with him now. Whatever his reason was, it was pretty serious or it wouldn't have shaken him up that much.

He sighed and looked out at the field once again. As if he made up his mind, he got up abruptly and held out his hand for me to take. "It would be better if I just show you. You won't believe me if I don't."

I hesitantly put my hand in his and he pulled me up. Tingles shot through my hand and I felt dizzy for a moment. Whatever he wanted to show me sounded serious and controlled my mind from thinking and considering the worst possible scenarios.

"You don't mind missing the first class, right? The, um, thing I need to show you, it will take some time."

I just nodded, too nervous to say anything. I was finally going to get some answers. 

And I wasn't sure I was ready for them.

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