Opposites Attract.

Chapter 1 - School's out for summer, now what?

Everything changed when I met Danny. Before him, guys seemed worthless to me. He was different, I knew from the moment we began talking that we had an instant connection. He was the Romeo to my Juliet, the straw to my berry and little did I know, I was in danger of losing my heart and everything I had ever known. I know it sounds cheesy but if love is not everything I feel then I dont know what is. I want to spend every waking hour with him, every minute speaking to him and sharing everything with him. Most importantly? With him, I didn't feel lonely anymore. For once, someone made me believe that they will stay with me through everything. Through the laughter, tears and sadness. Danny and I began speaking through our mutual friend Hassan. 

The young Asian and Oriental guy that I had seen with Hassan a few days ago suddenly got a hold of my number and began texting me long paragraphs. The guy was older than us and was 23 years old and was visiting the college as he was delivering a speech about how to be successful in the business world. I loved the way his effortless charm spread across his messages. It wasn't like this young Asian boy was trying to be someone else, he was real. I'm not sure if it was the cheesy lines about him enjoying dorky things to a certain extent, his love for romantic comedies or sharing exam stress with him but it was like there and then I fell in love with a guy I had barely spoke to and acknowledged at school. Yes, I just got a whole lot creepy in the space of like 10 minutes. I read his messages over and over again and let my hand waver across the keyboard thinking of something smart or relatively charming to say. I was nervous and he couldn't even see me? Real smooth, Mariam.

I clicked 'New Text Message' and began writing. I had a feeling this guy wouldn't judge me and would be happy I messaged unlike those arrogant fools you'd send a paragraph to and who would reply with one word answers. No thanks. I vowed if he replied with that I'd stop talking to him altogether. I chatted about myself and asked about his interests, hobbies and complimented him on his charming personality and told him how I liked it because it seemed way more authentic and than most messages from young guys. Then, the wait began. I busied myself with cleaning and eating and wandering around but remained apprehensive and anxious.

Finally, a beep! A message! Just like I'd hoped, he too gave a detailed paragraph, expressed his gratitude for my message, complimented my messages. Result! We then began chatting one a mobile phone app around the clock, literally every day. The only time we didn't speak was while we were sleeping. I missed him in my sleep and my heart ached when he was busy. When I was busy in class before summer he'd also bombard me with several messages although he knew I wouldn't reply till later which made me smile because I knew he missed me too. Was he too good to be true? I wasn't sure that was a question I wanted to answer. Meeting up with him was a scary thought for me, there was many points to consider. What if he was a psycho serial killer? I laughed and told myself not to be daft but I only saw him once with Hassan so I didn't really know the guy well. Probably, I was scared because what if I didn't match everything he wanted me to be? what if our spark just disappeared? what if it was awkawrd? I didn't want to lose the connection we had - I was holding on to it like a hospital lifeline.

Without him, life seemed dull and unimaginable and it worried me that I had become so co-dependent. I even asked several times if he was chatting to other girls and he reassured me no but my stomach still ached with jealousy of any girl trying to take him away from me. There was also another factor to consider, I was in deep trouble should my parents ever discovered I was walking to a guy, he was not only from my country but he wasn't Muslim, my family would be appalled.

My heart ached with love and my cheeks flushed when he called me 'beautiful' for the first time. We decided we should Skype as it would make us more comfortable together when we met in real life. At first, he was shy and so was I. "Here's the deal, we'll talk on the microphone for a while and then we'll both appear on webcam, agreed?" he agreed reluctantly saying repeatedly that he looked like a mess.

Clearly, he hadn't envisioned the ghastly site of me with my hair in a messy bun, no make up and in an oversized hoodie. We ended up speaking on the microphone for over an hour as we just didn't know how to shut up and I loved that about us. I was wearing a large purple headscarf but for some reason it didn't intimidate him like it intimidated other guys who had all sorts of laughable theories and stereotypes in their minds about girls who wore the headscarf. We never ran out of things to say. We spoke about all sorts of things even making fun of extreme essex make up looks and huge muscles. To this day, we still laugh about how when I first heard his voice I thought he was an older man. We finally clicked 'Appear on webcam' I was so nervous and it showed, I automatically hid my face with my hoodie and giggled uncontrollably while he sat there awkardly and flashed me a nervous smile. He was handsome and I loved him.

It wasn't even about how he looked physically but I loved his mind and his genuine heart. I loved his cute haircut, his smile lines, his brown eyes and everything else. He told me to remove the hoodie from my face and I peeled it away slowly, like some kind of safety shield and looked up awkwardly and said '"See? I told you I look horrible." and pouted like a child who's been caught doing something naughty. He then smiled genuinley and mischievously and laughed saying '"A mess? You look beautiful." Then we both sat in silence for a minute wishing we could be together.

When we finally signed off our laptops we went back to our mobile app and he said "You're way out of my league" this made me laugh.

Me? As in Mariam Ali? I wasn't out of anyone's league as far as I was concerned. And, I was in more danger of losing him rather than him losing me. We even flirted jokingly at times. I told him about a wedding I was going to and told him about the awkward guys that try to chat me and my sister up. He gave me a sad concerned face "Oh no, they arent gonna be a challenge for me are they?" I smiled, no-one could compare to him, ever.

A girl was calling him cute and messaging him from work and he told her that she should find someone else as he already liked another girl. Loyalty, amazing personality and he treated me like a queen what more could I ask for?