Love with strings detached

Chapter 19

The night breeze feels nice against my hot skin as we take a night stroll around the neighbourhood. Theo offer me to go grab a late-night ice cream snack before going back to our accommodation and I couldn't say no.

I hold onto his bomber jacket with three fingers as we stand at the ice cream parlour waiting to pick up our orders. It's late, around 11 pm but Theo said that this shop is open until midnight.

"Thank you," Theo says, picking up our takeaway cups fill with ice cream.

"Thank you, have a nice night," the cashier says.

"Thank you, you too," I say as Theo hands me my cup.

I ordered a scoop of chocolate, pistachio and banana chocolate chip ice cream. Theo took a scoop of salted caramel, chocolate and chocolate chip cookie dough.

"Want to try this?" He asks me offering me a taste of cookie dough.

"Yeah," I say, wrapping my lips around his plastic spoon.

"It's nice," I say nodding.

The night is quiet, apart from the wind making a slight hissing sound as it breezes through the leaves of the tall trees and my heels making contact with the pavement.

"So..." He says trailing off.

"So," I say.

"I found Sophia's question odd, it completely caught me off guard," he says, looking down at his ice cream.

"Yeah, you're not the only one. I didn't expect it either," I say, taking another bite of my ice cream.

"I hope you didn't take my answer badly," I say, looking at his side profile.

"No, no I liked your answer. It was practically half a compliment so, I'll take it," he says, turning to look at me smiling as I chuckle.

"What wasn't unexpected though was Claire's dare for you, right?" I ask as we continue eating and walking side by side.

"Yeah, that was the most predictable one! I would be shocked if she didn't pull anything like that up," he says.

"She seems really into you," I say.

"Yeah, you think?" He asks, making me stop in my tracks.

"Was that a joke?" I ask him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah," he says nodding.

"Oh, good," I say, falling into step next to him.

"You know I'm glad that our little make-out session didn't make things awkward," he says.

"It was during a game and I can't deny that I liked it," I say, smiling slightly at the memory.

"I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that enjoyed that," he says, taking a sit down on the pavement.

"And oh, good job on that lap dance," he says as I sit down next to him, our knees brushing

"Thank you, I followed my instinct on that," I say biting my lip.

"Yeah well then I have to thank your intuition as well cause you almost make me hard," he says, making me choke on my ice cream.

He brings his hand up and pats me on the back.

"You good?" He asks worriedly.

"Yeah," I say as I feel better.

"Yeah, it's a good thing I know how to restrain myself in front of others but you were really challenging that you know," he says, bumping his knee with mine.

"Well, now that you told me, I know and I'll take it as a compliment," I say.

"It is a compliment," he says, turning his head looking at me.

"Daisy, what do you think about hookups?" He asks me.

"What do you mean what I think about them?" I ask.

"What do you think about them? Do you do one night stands or casual sex?" He says, picking up my empty cup and putting it on top of his.

"I don't mind them. I can see why people have them. You can just get a little pleasure without having to deal with all the relationship responsibilities," I say, watching him nod his head.

"As for me though, no, I don't have hookups," I say, shaking my head.

"Why not?" He asks, not shifting his gaze away from my eyes.

"I don't have to necessarily be in a relationship with someone to have sex with them but I do need to like them, feel comfortable and trust them enough to be in intimate situations with them," I say licking my lips, watching his gaze snap to my lips for a split second before returning to my eyes.

"What about you?" I ask him.

"I've only done hookups so far and it's for the reason you said," he says.

I'm not entirely shocked by what he said. I could see him as a guy that doesn't want to commit easily and that might or not, have to do with something that happened in his past.

"What about friends with benefits? Have you thought about being like that with a friend before?" He asks, taking me a bit by surprise.

"No, I haven't ever thought about being with a friend like that. I'm not sure if friends with benefits work or not either, why?" I ask.

"Would you consider being friends with benefits with me?" He suddenly ask me, leaning a bit closer to me, knocking my breath out of me.

"I don't know," I whisper.

"Look, I find you attractive and you said you find me attractive as well, right?" He asks as nod my head in agreement.

"Good, and you said to me now that you'll have sex with someone as long as you're comfortable with them and trust them, do you feel like that with me?" He asks, leaning a bit back on his elbows whilst maintaining eye contact.

"Well, yeah," I say softly, biting my lip.

"Great, and I know that you don't have a boyfriend and I feel like there's sexual tension between us, would you agree?" He asks, sitting better again.

"Yes," I say cautiously.

"So, what is stopping us?" He says.

"I don't know if us getting like that will change things and how will it change things. I'm not sure I want to risk our friendship for a little pleasure, you know?" I say, feeling like my head is getting scrambled up.

"I get your concerns and you don't have to give me a definite answer right now," he says, standing up and offering me a hand.

"You can take your time and think about it, alright?" He says as I grab his hand, getting up from the pavement.

"Okay," I say, dusting my ass off.

"Why don't we go back now, it's getting late," he says offering me a smile which I return.

"Yeah let's go back, I'm feeling kind of tired," I say, feeling my eyes drooping a bit.

He places his hand on the small of my back as we walk back to where he parked his car on the side. I quickly get in as we reach it, buckle up and lean my head on the window frame, looking outside the dark starry night.

My thoughts are running around in a maze inside my head trying to find what my final answer should be. This gorgeous boy next to me basically just ask me to be having sex with him on the regular casually.

Ugh, what do I do?

A/N

What should she do?

Would you be friends with benefits with someone?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one on Sunday!

Please don't forget to comment & vote, it helps me out a lot! ❤️

I hope you have a great day/night and stay safe! Xx

All the love - M ❤️