Counting Stars | ✔

Chapter Seventy-two

"Are you okay?"

She sighs.

"I don't know."

"Do you want me to come over?" I ask.

I'm sure Liam will understand.

"Oh, no. It's nothing that needs consoling. Besides, Jer is coming over so we can work on the book review together for English."

"Does he know?"

"No, you're the first person I called. But I'll obviously tell him."

I nod even though she can't see me.

"Call me if you need to talk, okay?"

"Yeah."

I hang up the phone, my mind now occupied with fresh worries.

***

I use my key to unlock Liam's front door, and I walk inside. As soon as I step in, I hear music coming from the kitchen. My lips curve with a smile as I walk towards the noise. I spot a beautiful flower bouquet in a vase on the countertop, and I walk towards it with a grin.

I lean down to smell the freshly cut flowers before I pick up the card attached to it.

Your Royal Highness,

Wash your hands and come to our Castle as soon as you read this. The kingdom patiently awaits.

Yours sincerely,

The King

I grin from ear to ear. Only Liam would instruct a queen to wash her hands. I do as he says, and I walk to our Fort inside the living room. We almost took it down once. But we had grown so attached to it that we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. I started referring to it as our Castle, and Liam just went with it.

I drop my bag on the couch and crouch down to get inside the Fort and find the fairy lights brightly lit. There is a pizza box and a jar of my favorite strawberry lime mocktail set with two glasses.

My eyes meet Liam's, and he grins at me.

"This is so beautiful," I say, looking at the setup. "What's the occasion?"

Liam shrugs.

"You'll find out soon enough." He says, giving me a peck on the lips. "Care for a slice?"

"Of course!"

I reach over to open the Pizza Cartoon, and I see the mouth-watering Margherita Pizza with cheese basically melting off it, but what catches my eyes is the writing on the inside of the Cartoon.

This is a bit cheesy, but prom?

I look up at Liam with an enormous grin on my face, and he instantly blushes, which I find incredibly adorable. He looks painfully embarrassed as he waits for my reply. This is so out of character for him that I decide to enjoy it.

"Prom, huh?" I say. "And on a Pizza cartoon and all. Who would've thought!"

He scratches the back of his head, his cheeks now tinted a deep shade of pink.

"I know. This is so stupid. Google came up with it, not me. I didn't know how to ask you."

Unable to keep it up a second longer, I lunge at him and attack his lips. He's momentarily caught off guard, but he quickly recovers and kisses me back fervently.

I honestly wouldn't have cared if he asked me over our lunch break, or while we walked to class. All I care about is that he wants to go with me. But the fact that he went so far as to google ways touches my heart.