Tales of the Hearts

T̆̈W̆̈Ĕ̈N̆̈T̆̈Y̆̈ S̆̈Ĕ̈V̆̈Ĕ̈N̆̈✨

The days counting down to Christmas were dwindling
away. Mom and I were sitting on the couch, both reading while Louis was in his room, the sound of him shouting at a video game and the crackling of the fireplace the only noises in the house. My reading was interrupted by a knock at the door. Mom looked up at me, confusion on her face.

"Were you expecting anyone?" she asked. I shook my
head as I set my book down, making sure to mark the
page as I did.

"No. I'll go check" I said, heading for the door. I opened it to reveal Liam, a smile immediately growing on my face when seeing him.

"Hi. I wasn't expecting you." I greeted him, opening the door wider to let him in.

"Who is it, honey?" my mom called from the living room.

"It's just Liam." I called back, closing the door as he toed off his shoes.

"Just Liam? Am I not special anymore?" he asked, feigning hurt. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Shut up." I mumbled, pressing a light kiss to his lips. I
noticed a few gift bags in his hand, making me quirk my eyebrow upward in confusion. "What are those?" I asked, gesturing to the bags.

"Presents. For you guys." he said, just as my mom joined us by the door.

"Oh you didn't need to do that, Liam." she told him.

"I wanted to. Here, this one is for you, Trisha." he said,
handing my mom a bag.

"Thank you, sweetheart." she replied.

"Well I'm curious, open it" I told her, shifting to stand
next to Liam, wrapping my arms around his waist in a
makeshift side hug. I felt him kiss the top of my head as my mom begrudgingly agreed and began to pull the tissue paper out of the bag.

"This is lovely! Exactly what I've been looking for, thank you, Liam." my mom exclaimed, pulling out a box of her favourite teas she's been looking all over town for. "Where did you find it?" she asked, turning the box over in her hands.

"I was out of town visiting my grandparents and a store near them had it. I remember Zee mentioning that it's your favourite, so I thought I'd bring some back for you." he explained. I felt my heart swell, touched by his kindness.

"This is very sweet of you. Thank you." she said, pulling him into a quick hug and out of my grasp.

"No problem at all." he responded, a bright smile on his face.

"Well I'm going to go make a cup of this to drink while
I read. You two have fun" she said, winking before heading to the kitchen. I groaned, turning towards Liam to see him laughing.

"Want to go to my room?" I asked. He nodded and
followed me up the stairs. I closed the door behind me
while he sat on my bed, setting the other bag down next to him. I sat across from him, folding my legs into a criss-cross. I frowned, looking at the bag. "I don't have a gift for you yet." I admitted.

"Who's to say this is for you?" Liam teased, the smirk on his face giving it away as he handed the bag to me. "Open it" he instructed. I gave him a questioning look, confused by his cryptic nature.

I carefully took the tissue paper out of the bag and pulled out a blue sweatshirt with yellow letters across it reading Michigan Football. l smiled and looked at him, still slightly confused.

"Football? You know I'm not that much of a sports fan, right?" I teased. Liam chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, but I thought you might be if your boyfriend is
on the team." he said. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.