Love Me for Me

Chapter Eleven

NIALL’S POV

1 MONTH LATER

            This past month has probably been one of the best months ever. I texted Sam the day after our first date and now we see each other every day. We did go to the art museum together and she had so much fun. The more time I spent with her the more I found something that I liked about her. We also went to the park and just walked around for an entire afternoon talking about random things. One cool thing about her was that she never asked about my life back home so I never had to make up some crazy story. About 2 weeks ago I decided to tell Zayn about me and Sam. “So she’s your girlfriend?” he asked.

“No. We haven’t made it official yet.” I wouldn’t say Zayn was upset about me and Sam dating, but he wasn’t jumping for joy, either. Carter’s really happy for us and changed from ‘Be careful cause she has a weird past’ to ‘Tell me everything that happens when you get back.’

One downfall, though, was that the longer I’m gone the harder management has been looking for me. Plus, it’s getting harder for me to hide my identity. 2 weeks ago I needed to dye my hair again and buy new contacts because my old ones were bothering my eyes. And with Carter always being at my flat I couldn’t just leave my things in plain sight. But in the past month I’ve gotten to know a lot more about Carter. He told me him and his mom haven’t been getting along much lately and he wants to move out, but he can’t afford it. I told him he was more than welcome to stay with me, but he said it wasn’t that big of a deal. He also told me in the future after college he wants to go into music and become a producer with his own studio and everything. Sam told me if art doesn’t work she would like to become a teacher for smaller children. I liked that both of them trusted me with all of these things, yet I couldn't say anything about me.

SAM’S POV

            I was walking home with Ben after getting some lunch when he stopped in front of his complex. “What’s wrong?” I asked, sounding concerned.

He smiled and I said nothing. “I need to ask you something.” I stared at him, still saying nothing. “Carter’s having a Christmas party on Friday night and I wanted to if you would like to go as my date.” I stared at him for a second before smiling a little.

“I would love to go.” He smiled and I grabbed his hands, intertwining our fingers. “What time on Friday?”

It took him a second to before answering. “It’s at 6:00pm here in the main dining hall. Do you want me to pick you up at your house or-” I cut him off.

“No, it’s fine. Why would I make you leave here to get me and then drive back here for the party?”

He nodded, swinging our hands. “Alright; I’ll just meet you in the lobby at 6.” I nodded and smiled, staring in his eyes. We stayed like that for a while before he broke the silence.

            “Hey, remember that night at your studio when I asked you if you had a boyfriend?” I nodded and he let go of my hands, wrapping them around my waist. “And when I told you your next boyfriend would be very lucky?” I nodded again and he smirked. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my eyes never leaving his. “Well, I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world right now.” He saw a smile form on my lips as I bit my lip.

“And I think I’m the luckiest girl in the world right now.” I smiled and gave him a simple peck on the lips.

He looked at me again and smiled. “So it’s official? Samantha Clark is officially my girlfriend?”

I looked at the ground and shook my head before I looked at him again. “I will be as long as Ben McCarthy is officially my boyfriend.”

He smiled, making me smile, and nodded. “Alright then, it’s official.” We both smiled and stood there saying nothing. He grabbed my hands and pulled me into the complex lobby.

            “What are you doing?” I asked as the door closed behind me. He turned around to face me and he took off the beanie I was wearing.

“Nothing. I was just freezing out there.” I laughed and snatched my hat from him. He went to grab it again but I hid it behind my back, making him wrap his arms around me to grab it. I moved it above my head so he would have to reach up to get it. After a minute he finally got it from me and stuck his tongue out. I laughed as he leaned in and gently kissed me. I loved it when he kissed me. No matter how my day was going, all Ben had to do was kiss me and it made my day.

“Hey, no PDA in the lobby!” we heard someone say. We pulled away and saw Carter watching us from behind the front desk. Ben smirked and I stuck my tongue out at Carter while he laughed. We walked over to him and I leaned against the desk. “Thank you.” he said. “Do you think anyone wants to walk in and see that?” I laughed, knowing he was joking around.

            “Hey, what’s wrong with kissing my girlfriend?” Ben said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I loved that he just called me his girlfriend.

“And why can’t I kiss my boyfriend?” I said. Carter looked at the both of us and smirked.

“Oh, so you two are official now?” We both nodded and he high fived Ben. “Congrats, buddy.” Carter said. “You just got your first American girl.” I jokingly slapped his arm and he grabbed his arm, pretending to be in pain. We all laughed until we saw the manager walk into the lobby.

"Pontes” he said, walking towards the front desk. “what are you doing? We need your help setting up the dining hall for the party. This is no time to screw around and do nothing.” He looked at us and rolled his eyes before turning to his boss.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” His manager nodded and walked behind the desk.

“Now get to work before somebody screws something up.”

Carter nodded and looked and Ben and I. “Alright, just let me say goodbye to my friends.” The phone rang just then and the manager answered it.

            “So, you’re both coming on Friday right?” We both nodded and I looked at the time- 1:22pm.

“Hey, I hate to leave suddenly, but I need to get home.” I said, feeling kind of bad.

“Alright; I’ll text you later.” Ben said as he moved his arm away from me.

“Okay, bye Ben.” I kissed him quick and grabbed my hat back, just to annoy Ben. I smiled and turned towards Carter. “See you later, Carter.” He nodded and I ran out the door, hoping my mom wouldn’t be mad that I never told her where I was going.

CARTER’S POV

Sam ran out of the lobby and I looked at Ben, who was staring at her. I waved my hand in front of his face until he blinked and looked back at me. “Damn Ben, you really like her.” I said as I pretended to organize a stack of papers to make it look like I was ‘working’.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked me.

I nodded and put my elbows on the counter, looking at him. “My vision impaired grandmother would notice it. You’re just lucky that she really likes you, too.”

His face lit up when I said that. “Seriously?”

I looked down and nodded. “Yeah; in high school she never acted like this in front of any guy- even me. This is the first I’ve seen her act like this.” He smiled and stuck his hands into his coat pockets.

“Carter?” I heard my boss say.

“Yep.” I replied, just tired and ready to go home.

“Your mom is on hold right now. She said she needs to talk to you.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. What could she have possibly found that upset her even more?

I looked at Ben and he shrugged. “Answer it, I guess.” he said softly as the manager walked away from us.

I groaned and trudged over to the phone, staring at it. “Do I have to?” I asked, looking at Ben again. he gave me one of those looks and I knew it had to. I sighed and slowly picked up the phone, dreading the conversation that was about to happen.  I brought the phone up to my ear and said “Hello?”