Tangled Strings

Chapter 16

"Oh! It's you. You startled me!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, just me." I gave him a small smile.

"Umm... Are you free today, Ash?"

"No, I was gonna go geocaching with Bryan."

"Oh, I thought we could go together somewhere. But, I see you already have plans. Next time, though." By now he had stood up from the couch and came towards me. He gave me a forced smile.

"If you want I can cancel my outing with Bryan. And we could go out-"

"No, it's fine. You two enjoy yourselves." This time he gave me a genuine smile that reached his eyes.

"Okay so we going out tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow it is."

I grabbed a can of juice from the refrigerator and started moving towards the door.

"Well, are you and Bryan a thing?" Edward asked something totally out of the blue.

"Whatt????" I swear if I hadn't gulped the juice down my throat, I would totally have thrown it out right there. Ed had a smirk on his face.

"I asked, are you two a thing?" he repeated his question, slowly this time.

"If by a thing you mean best friends, then yes we are a thing. Now can I go? I'm getting late." I showed urgency to go so that I wouldn't be showered by another set of questions. And thankfully, Edward just nodded with a sly smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes and started walking.

"Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there!!" Ed called out.

"I'm smart. Even without a brain!" I retorted back and heard him chuckle.

It was an eight minute walk to Central Park to be exact. Bryan was already waiting for me when I arrived.

"What took you so long?"

"Well I'm thirty seconds early, actually. We had to meet at five and right now it's-" I waited for the minutes hand to reach twelve on my watch and said, "five now! So I'm on time but you were early!"

Bryan looked at me with dazed horror. I smiled inwardly.

"Really, Ashley? You make me wait for so long and this is the explanation you come up with? I was expecting more of an 'I'm sorry'!" Irritated.

"Well, don't get your hopes too high!" I retorted. He shrugged and said, "I can never win an argument with a woman!"

"Or girl. And not only you, no one can!" I was feeling like a little imp messing with his head.

"You're impossible!" he said as we walked towards his car.

"I know. And I'm sorry." I said, softly. His head snapped towards me as soon as I uttered those words.

"You what?" he asked surprised.

"No way I'm gonna repeat that! Carry on with your driving and by the way you heard me right the first time." I winked. Bryan shifted the gear and started driving with a smirk on his face like he'd won a bet! It wasn't such a big deal, just three words- I am sorry- what's so great in that? Boys are impossible!

"Heard that."

"Meant to." I replied shortly at which Bryan's smirk grew wider. Boys!!

After about twenty minutes we reached a dark, isolated middle-of-nowhere.

"Well, the idea of geocaching was mine! But, I guess I should've decided the place too. Where are we, Bryan? And why have you stopped the car in the middle-of-nowhere?"

"Shh! Just listen!" Bryan said, almost in a whisper. I wonder what was wrong. I sat motionless hearing something, anything.

"What is it, Bryan? What did you hear?" I whispered. He took out his phone and scanned out the window focusing the flashlight. Nothing. He turned towards me, closed the flashlight and said, "The wind!!"

It took me exactly a minute and thirty seven seconds to register what he said. And when I did understand, my expression changed into mere anger. As if on cue, Bryan clicked a picture. How could he? Traitor.

"I thought you were my friend, Bryan!" I whined.

"I am!!" he mock-pouted his lips; his eyes still glittering with mischief.

"Then delete that picture!"

"Neverrrrrrrrrr!!" he laughed. He turned his phone's screen towards my face. It was an embarrassing picture! I reached out to grab the tiny devil from his hand but his reflexes were quite quick.

"Give that damn phone to me!" I yelled. I shifted and tried reaching out, but to no avail.

"Cursing my phone are you?" he chuckled. Although his chuckle was as sexy as it could be and it made my heart flutter, I wasn't going to let him get away. So I did what I could come up with the fastest. I leaned towards him catching him by surprise. With one hand on his chest and eyes boring into his, I totally forgot what my mission was. His hypnotising gaze bored into my eyes making my heart go wild. I wanted to keep staring at his oceanic blue orbs, I wanted to rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat, damn, I wanted to kiss him so bad! Wait, what? Did I really think that? Well, as flattering as my thoughts can be, I still am on a mission! So, I did what I was doing and continued with the play.

I don't know what was going on in Bryan's head but his heart was beating quite frantically. I took the advantage of the situation and slowly without being noticed, I moved my other hand up till it reached Bryan's palm. It was then that I realized how awfully close we were. Just a little tilt of the head and we could be kissing. So to get rid of the awkward situation, I quickly snatched the phone from Bryan's grasp and pulled back laughing!

Bryan blinked his eyes as if in a trance and then realised the whole situation.

"Why you little..."

I giggled and noticed the disappointment on his face. I felt bad for him. But I opened his phone screen and went towards the gallery. I was rather irritated when I saw the phone security asking for the password. I glared at Bryan, forcing him to tell me. But he just smirked at me. Frustrated, I tried unlocking it myself. After about a few tries, I almost gave up, when it struck to me, Bryan is a hopeless romantic. He'll probably have something cliché as a password. So I tried the most normal thing 'ILY'. I typed in 3 for I and then 4 for L and finally 9 for Y. That was correct!

"I did it! How cliché of you, Bryan!"

I turned my gaze towards the screen and just then the phone was snatched away from me! I just glared at Bryan.

"What? That's my private gallery! There are pictures you shouldn't see!!"

"Oh, gross! Thanks for saving me!" I made a face while Bryan buzzed the car to life.

After a while singing along to Maren Morris' 'My Church', we arrived somewhere. As I got out of the car, I noticed a dark, gloomy forest ahead of me. It gave the vibes like Go Away and Don't Come Here. I slowly turned my head towards Bryan, while he looked straight ahead with a big grin on his face.

"Where are we, Bryan?"

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A/N Hello again guys!! How are you all? I have come back with an amazing chapter as promised before... I hope you'll like it!!

The part where Ashley snatches the phone from Bryan's hands was cliché, I know!! 😅😅 But you liked it right??

And guys I'm going to Kolkata!! Wooohooo!!!! 😂😂
But I'll be missing on academics pretty much!! I hope I can make up when I return! But it's going to be a one damn trip! 😁😈

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Love,
Anshara.❤