ALL THE STRINGS ATTACHED | COMPLETED

03.

Theodore.

"Look! You have ice-cream all over your face!" I laughed as I helped to wipe it all off.

"That's because you judged me while I was eating!" he whined.

He was telling me that he wasn't please about my actions, but his expressions gave it away. He wasn't really angry at me.

"Stop sulking like a small kid."

"I'm not a small kid. 18 ain't young anymore," he complained with a pout.

Damn, he was adorable.

I held his hand in mine and rubbed it was my thumb. "Come on, you know I'm only teasing."

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I know."

He looked into my eyes, reflecting the same look that I had in mine. Love, want, conviction.

This was the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. There's was nothing that could change that. Not even if it was the end of the world.

Ring! Ring! Buzz! Ring!

I slammed the alarm and it turned off with a crash.

Still groggy and half awake, I sat up. Rubbing my face with my hands in an attempt to adjust myself to the sunlight.

"What was that dream?" I thought out loud.

Ever since that night in the club, I started to have these weird dreams every now and then. In it, I knew that I was talking to this person. I sounded so happy, contented.

The only thing was, I could never see the person's face and it was clearly starting to irritate me.

I flung the blanket aside and got out of bed, frustrated at my own inability to recall who it was.

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"The word 'family' comprises of people more than the mother, for fuck's sake," I muttered under my breath.

I really needed that pail now so that I could throw up into it. Marking essays really give me all  the joy that I needed to keep me motivated in my job.

I pushed my laptop aside and took a sip of my coffee. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon. People were taking their dogs out for a walk, friends were hanging out with each other, couples were busy trying to keep their hands to themselves.

And you have yours truly, who is sitting alone in the coffee shop with his metal devices.

Maybe having dog doesn't sound so bad at this point. At the very least, I'll belong to one of the categories above.

I watched the world go by through the small window at the cafe, preferring to do that than the rest of the more important tasks at hand.

Since this is usually where I spend my weekends, I could virtually tell you who will come in and when.

Check off the old lady wearing a knitted hat on a hot summer's day, coming in around one to get herself some blueberry muffins. Next, you can expect a family of four stopping by to get four ice chocolates. After that, you have a young couple who are clearly not getting along (they are on their phones too much, the looking-down-at-a-screen generation), each getting something different each time.

But today, someone else came in to spoil the usual routine.

He stepped in, wearing sweatpants and a shirt, carrying a gym bag. His ear buds were plugged in and he headed straight for the counter.

I stopped observing the world to look the man that had entered. It was him. From that night.

Scurrying from my seat, I made my way over. A little clumsily I might add, I nearly knocked over a few drinks while doing so.

Hey, it's not my business that they placed their cups so near the edge.

I tapped the man on the shoulder and he turned around, surprised.

His eyes were once again wide open. Only this time, he didn't let me have the freeze-frame moment. He aimed straight for the door, trying to make an escape.

Nah-ah.

I caught hold of his arm, and his gym bag this time. Yanking next free ain't gonna work twice in a row.

"Look, stop running!"

He tried to pull his gym bag from my grasp to no avail. After letting out big sigh, he seemingly relaxed a little as he took out his ear buds.

"What do you want from me?" he questioned, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near me.

"I- I don't know, but I-." Shit. What did I want from him?

"If you would excuse me, I'll be on my way now."

"Coffee!" I yelled out, desperate. "I want to treat you coffee! Yeah! That's it!" Real smooth, Theo.

He furrowed his eyebrows, confused at my sudden act of friendliness.

"As sorry for bumping into you that night !" I explained, even if I knew that it wasn't exactly a valid reason.

"Come on, let me?" I gestured over to my table. "I don't bite."

He bit his lip and squinted his eyes, seemingly thinking about my offer.

5 seconds in and he let out another sigh. "Alright, fine. Get me whatever you want."

I internally shouted "YES!" and gave myself a high-five, which is weird because I was acting so out of character.

"You take a seat! Anything you would like to drink?"

"Just get me whatever you want," he repeated as he walked over to the table.

Whatever he wants ay? I looked up at the menu and pondered for awhile before making up my mind, placing an order.

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A/N: Yay! We have another update today!

What do you think of the story so far?

It's my first time writing this kind of story, those associated with dreams etc. Let me know if your enjoying it thus far!

Theo can be running head-first into things without a plan sometimes. Please forgive him 😛

Flashbacks/dreams are written in italics on the left!

Please do comment on how it can be improved too! I appreciate al kinds of feedback.

See you all in the next part!

Stay safe everyone 💕