CHAPTER 11

Samantha's POV:

"Hey." He replies back.

Why is he here? He was supposed to be out. He doesn't even know that I attend the art club.

Great! Just great! Now my whole surprise is ruined.

As I am mourning, he takes the design I made. I take a glance and see that he is observing the design.

"Not bad, Samantha. I didn't know you were so good at making designs." He comments looking impressed at my work. But I doubt whether it's true.

"You are over exaggerating." I tell him with a huff. I turn sideways and view the wall as if it's the most interesting thing in the world.

"I am serious. I did hear from Samuel that you were quite good at drawing. Heck, even your parents told my parents the same thing. But for real, I never expected you to be this good at designs." He tells me. I glance at him and see that he was actually genuine.

"Thanks, I guess. " I tell him. As soon as I say it, I turn away from him. I don't want him to see me blushing from his compliment.

I rarely get compliments. So, when I do get one, I get red like a tomato.

But wait? What's he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be out?

I turn towards him and ask him the question that's bothering me the most since he came here, "What are you doing here, Nathan?"

He looks at me blankly for awhile. Then he slowly brings his hand towards my face. Oh no! He is going to hit me like them.

I close my eyes in fear. But to my surprise, I felt nothing. I slowly open my eyes and look at him. As soon as I do that, he pokes my forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?!" I exclaim angrily.

"Why did you think I was going to hit you, Samantha?" He asks me and at the same time avoiding my questions like always.

But now that I think about it, why did I think that he was going to hit me? Nathan never did that and for a fact, I know that he won't do it either. If anything, it's the opposite.

"I- uh- umm..." I try to find the right words for my answer. But I failed miserably. So, I just shut my mouth and look down.

I hear him sigh and he makes me look at himself.

"Idiot." He mumbles to himself. He puts his hand on top of my brown hair and ruffles it.

"Don't be scared of me, okay? I hate it when you are afraid of me so much. Believe me, I would never hurt you. If anything, I swore to protect you, didn't I?" He whispers in a such a low tone that only I can hear.

"Yea. Sorry." Just after saying it, I engulf him in a hug.

He was taken back at my sudden boldness all of a sudden but eventually he hugs me back.

"Idiot, don't apologise." He murmers in my head.

I break the hug and ask him, "Nathan, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in England?"

"Ouch. I am hurt that you don't seem happy to see me." He says. Hurt evident in his voice.

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that. I s-swear." I begin to stutter again as I become nervous.

Seeing this, he laughs. "God, I was joking, Samantha. Learn to take a joke as a joke. But dang, if you didn't react this way every time Sam and I made a joke, my life would be so boring." Okay. I take back what I said about hurt being evident in his voice.

"God! For real, I was scared so much. Sam and you are so similar that it sometimes scares and amazes me." I tell him trying to sound mad but then again, he sees right through me and smirks at me so I just give up. Yet again.

"Well, Sam and I did grow up together. We have been together since we were infants. We are childhood friends. Well, more like brothers now, so obviously we would have a lot of things similar." He says. "And also, Samantha?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't pretend to be mad at me. You suck at that." He confirms my thoughts. He really does see through me.

"Yea, yea, whatever." That's the best I can come up with as he is actually correct. I can't stay mad at him. It's impossible to stay mad at him and Sammy.

A question soon pops up in my head. "How did you know I was here?" I ask him, curiosity completely written in my face.

"Well, I wanted to give you and Sam some souvenirs I brought. But when I went to your house, the doors were closed. As I didn't know where you two were, I gave up my plan. I came in this area to buy some comic books. From the opposite shop, I saw you and here I am." He answers my question.

"Oh, I see. You have a pretty good eyesight." I compliment him.

"Well, it's your unique hair after all that made me sure that it was the one and only Samantha Alexandra Blades that was too absorbed in her art works." He tells me jokingly.

I chuckle slightly and ask him, "When did you arrive in Texas though?"

"Last night." He replies.

"Mhm. Okay. How are your parents and Natasha?" I ask him as I begin to clean the mess I made.

"They are fine. Actually, mom and dad didn't come. They wanted to spend some more time with Natasha." He says as he hands me some napkins to clean myself.

"Well, we can't blame though. Natasha is their daughter after all. Obviously they will miss her." I tell him with a smile.

"True true." He agrees.

After we are done cleaning, I go to see if my art has dried or not. To my surprise, it has.

"That's quite artistic too. As expected from you." He says from behind. As he does so, I flinch and stumble back a bit. The jerk didn't even catch me. Rather he moved and watched me fall.

"You need to stop that!" I tell him as I am trying to calm my beating heart. He chuckles. The nerve of this guy!

"You are such a jerk. Why didn't you just stay there?! Atleast I wouldn't have fallen down." I tell him as I am dusting off the dirt.

"Stop what?" He asks me innocently. He would have fooled anyone with that look but not me.

"You are messing with me, aren't you?" I ask him as I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Yup." He says it as if he is proud. "And I didn't catch you cuz I felt like it." He sticks his tongue at me.

"Jerk." I hiss at him dangerously.

"The jerk that's your knight in shinning armour." He tells me bringing his face incredibly close to mine.

Hearing that, I smile. Him and his ways of making me smile. "Yea, whatever. Let's get home. We are gonne be late. It's already 3:15 pm." I tell him as I put my art bag over my shoulder.

"Let's go, my lady." He bows and gives me space to walk ahead. I roll my eyes at him but I still go along with his act.