King of My Heart

THIRTY-TWO

My phone rings while I'm watching TV with Liam. Lifting it up from the coffee table, I turn over the screen to see Mel, Riley, and Anna video calling me. My face immediately lights up with excitement. I excuse myself and rush upstairs to my room to answer.

"Merry Christmas, April," they all yell as soon as I pick up.

"Merry Christmas, guys. How are you," I exclaim, getting excited to talk to them after weeks.

"We're all great, but Anna has some news," Mel answers with a grin and I look towards Anna on my screen.

"Chris and I got engaged," she shrieks, showing off her left hand that dons a sparkly diamond ring. She moves her camera around a bit to include Chris who is sitting next to her. He waves at me and says 'hey' as he smiles at Anna's enthusiasm.

"Oh my God, you guys, I'm so happy for you," I shout excitedly. "Took you long enough, Chris," I add, rolling my eyes at him.

"Hey, I was just waiting for the perfect moment," he retorts.

"Now give us the deets," Mel yells and I nod, agreeing with her.

We talk for hours, catching up with each other. Chris is spending Christmas with Anna's family this year. Mel is travelling to her grandparents' house. Meanwhile, Riley has been busy doing random online courses. Seriously, this girl never takes a break.

I don't realise how much time has passed until Liam barges into my room.

"Hey, are you almost ready," he asks but his voice trails off as he looks at my state.

It's Christmas Eve and there is a party at the pack house tonight. I put the call on mute as I turn to answer him. He is already dressed, wearing navy blue pants and a white dress shirt and he looks hot, if I may say so myself.

"Shit, I didn't realise it was time. Just give me a few minutes," I say apologetically.

"April, who is that," Mel yells from my phone and I notice that the call was never muted.

"No one," I reply quickly, trying to hide the panic in my voice.

"Are you dating someone," Anna gasps. "Let us say hi, come on," she squeals.

"Guys, it's not a big deal," I say trying to brush them off.

"Stop lying, April. You're spending Christmas Eve with a boy and saying it's not a big deal. Now spill the beans," Riley adds.

I can feel my face heating up from embarrassment while Liam stands next to me, trying to muffle his laughter.

"We know he's right there, okay," Mel screams.

I can always count on these idiots to embarrass me. I look over at Liam to see if he would be okay with saying hi to them and he just shrugs.

"Fine," I say in defeat and they squeal enthusiastically. I turn my camera towards him, "Guys, this is Liam, my, uh—" I search for a word to introduce him as, since I can't say mate, and finally settle on, "boyfriend."

Liam awkwardly smiles and waves at them. "Liam, these are my annoying friends," I inform while mouthing a 'sorry' at him for putting him on the spot.

"Ooh he's hot," Mel exclaims.

"Yes, babe. You've done well," Anna adds.

Horrified, I hurriedly turn the camera back to myself and glare at them. Is it really necessary for your friends to embarrass you every time you're with a boy you like?

Before I can say anything, they start bombarding me with questions.

"So, how'd you guys meet?"