Chapter 22

Milo's POV:

"Another round?" Adriel asked me as he reached for the few cards left in my hand. I handed them over begrudgingly, nodding.

"Goddess, why are you so good at this game," I groaned as I was given a new set to play with. Adriel smirked.

"I guess playing against Liam upped my skills."

We had been playing Uno together for the better part of the hour, mostly because we had already exhausted every other option of what we could do on our day together. Because Liam, Sage, and Julie were all going out to a fair in a nearby city, Adriel and I had decided to get together and spend the entire day together. In the past we might have watched movies all day- and we did plenty of that today as well- but sitting down and waiting for something to happen on a screen was boring so we then moved on to other things to do.

Liam and Sage would be back in half an hour, giving us another half hour of Uno time before I would leave with Liam to go on a date and Sage would return to Adriel for a quiet night of just them. It sounded nice to me, much nicer than going out to eat, but Liam had planned it and sounded really excited, so I had agreed.

I didn't necessarily regret it, I was just also simultaneously hating my past self for agreeing.

Adriel caught my gaze with a roll of his eyes, as he had many times that afternoon. "Stop thinking about it," he commanded me, "you'll only stress yourself out more."

"Easy for you to say, you can actually communicate with people you don't know without having a panic attack."

"Ordering is what scares you?"

I nodded silently, gnawing on my lip. "And also just being around other people, but mostly the ordering because it means I actually have to talk to people, and I know I can't eat a whole meal, especially when I'm nervous like this, but Goddess, I don't know."

My friend placed a hand on my shoulder, effectively silencing me. "Breathe," Adriel told me, "just breathe. It'll be okay. Take a breath."

I did just that and the corners of his lips turned up into a smile.

"Whose opinion in this scenario really matters to you?" he asked me, his eyes searching my own.

I took a deep breath. "Liam's," I admitted, looking down.

"And you're aware that he's completely smitten with you and wouldn't care if you decided to become a cannibal someday?"

"I actually think he might care a bit about that," I responded, but at Adriel's unimpressed gaze, I sighed and replied, "Yeah."

"So there's nothing to worry about."

"I mean, I can think of a few things-"

"No one whose opinion matters will care."

I hesitated for a second before nodding. Adriel smiled triumphantly.

"Do you know where exactly he's taking you?"

"No? Why?"

"I'm wondering, if you could see the menu online and pick out what you want to eat ahead of time, if it would be less stressful."

I blinked; I hadn't thought of that. "That's a good idea."

"I'm full of them. Could you ask him?"

"Couldn't you?"

"I just tried," Adriel informed me with a roll of his gray eyes, "he blocked my link before I could even say anything."

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of my throat. "Okay, then," I smiled.

And here I was, thinking all animosity between them was gone. Oh, well...

Liam, I called over our link. I was almost immediately greeted with an answer.

What's up?

Why'd you block Adriel's link?

Because I didn't want to be chewed out about forcing Sage to go on the rollercoaster with me and therefore causing him to throw up?

...What?

Didn't Sage tell him?

"Did Sage tell you that he threw up?" I asked mindlessly to Adriel, glancing over to where he was laying on the floor. I received a confused look in return.

"No?" he replied before his eyes steadied on the ceiling, evidently asking Sage what happened. I sighed and laid down on the floor next to him.

Apparently he didn't, but Adriel knows now.

Milo, Liam whined through our link, why'd you tell him?!

Well, we both thought he knew.

Fuck, Liam cursed. Well, we're on our way back now. Was that all you needed?

No, I was just wondering if you could tell me where we're going tonight.

...Why do you need to know?

Adriel was thinking, if I could see the menu online and pick out what to order ahead of time, I might not be so stressed about it.

Mmm. Okay. It's called The Diner, a small place on Main Street of Twilight City.

I hesitated a moment. Okay.

Be there in about fifteen minutes, okay?

Okay. Bye. Love you.

I could feel his happiness at the other end of our link. Love you too.

"It's called The Diner," I informed Adriel, who had pulled his phone out and was clicking around on it. I received a nod in response as he began to type.

"I've been there before with Sage. It's nice."

"Not..." I hesitated, "not too fancy?"

He smiled a bit at my worries. "No, it's not. Your outfit is completely appropriate for the place."

"Okay." I sighed and looked away.

"Here." The cold metal of his phone was pressed into my hand, and I turned my gaze to it, reading the headers and scrolling past when they were of no interest to me. Despite how awkward it made me feel, laying on the floor of Adriel and his mate's house reading things written in a tiny font on someone else's phone, I appreciated the gesture.

This was why Adriel was my best friend.

-

"So how was your day?" Liam asked in a conversational tone with one hand on the wheel and the other holding my own. His green eyes flicked over to me for a second, the question obvious in them, before returning to the road.

I swallowed, threading my fingers through his. "It was good. Adriel and I watched a movie and ate sandwiches for lunch and weeded their lawn because they hadn't been doing that and it was overrun. Then we did some other stuff and then we played card games, mostly Uno."

"Figure out how to beat me yet?"

"Impossible."

"Exactly."

He smiled at me and I smiled at him, just before he pulled into a spot and put the car into park.

Internally, I started screaming.

Externally, I just offered a small smile when he reached over to cup my chin with his hands, brushing his thumbs lightly over my cheeks, his green eyes searching mine before he sighed and pressed our foreheads together.

"Are you sure you wanna go in?" he asked me softly.

"I'm fine," I said, but I didn't know whether I was trying to convince him or myself.

I received another sigh in response before his lips were pressed gently to my own in a chaste kiss. Only one blissful moment passed before Liam pulled away, took the keys from the car and shoved them into his pocket, and rounded the car to open the door for me. I rolled my eyes at him, but I was blushing.

"Ready?" he asked, reaching for my hand to intertwine our fingers.

I nodded.

As soon as we walked into the small building, we were greeted by a grinning waitress who led us to a small table near the back, introduced herself as Amy, and handed out menus, saying she'd return in a few minutes to get our orders.

Liam tangled his leg with mine under the table. "Do you already know what you're going to get?"

I nodded, opening up the menu to find it and point since I didn't remember the name. I found it on the last page.

"Fettuccine alfredo, yum. Goddess, that sounds good," he nodded with a smile that warmed my heart. His foot tapped mine from beneath the table. "I might get that too, honestly, so that I don't just steal all of yours- wait, let me look at the rest of this, I might have to order two meals 'cause I'm so hungry."

"Did you not eat anything at the fair?" I asked, amused.

"No, we did," he shrugged, "it was just not very filling. A lot of cotton candy. Julie got me to try this weird deep-fried brownie on a stick and it was so weird tasting I almost threw up alongside Sage."

I made a face and he laughed.

"Should I not be talking about this while we're at a restaurant?" he teased with a light smile. I rolled my eyes but nodded, smiling.

"Remind me to never go to a fair with you."

"I wasn't the one who wanted to eat the weird deep-fried food!"

"You made Sage go on a roller coaster, which is worse."

"Okay, mister, I did not make him. I did not throw him into a seat and hold him there until we were off. I just heavily inspired him to by saying I would leave without him if he didn't. And he could've run back, so who's really at fault?"

"I think it's still you."

"Whatever," Liam grumped, crossing his arms and leaning back, meeting my gaze again. "I think I'll just get the fettuccine anyway, because that's what we were talking about before the fair thing. Do you want me to order for you?"

I bit my lip in contemplation for a moment before nodding. "Please."

"Okay." He pointed at another box on the page. "What to drink?"

"Um, water is fine."

"Your drink choice is boring. I'm going to drink cranberry juice."

I stared at him for a second. "Part of me wants to be upset about that, but I've never tried it."

"First time for everything, I'll share with you."

I nodded, awkwardly looking away. "Okay."

The waitress returned with another bright smile and a pen and pad of paper at the ready. Liam listed out what we wanted without taking a breath, and when the waitress smiled again and told us it'd be right out before leaving, he heaved a breath.

"I forgot to breathe," he coughed. "Sorry."

I smiled and reached over to pat his hand. "That's okay. Breathing isn't necessary."

"...You sound like a cult leader."

"Please don't compare me to a cult leader, I don't know if my heart can take it."

Liam laughed. "Well, don't tell me to not breathe, then."

"I didn't!"

"Mmm hmm, yeah. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Only a few minutes passed before the waitress brought out our food and we began to eat, drinking in each others' presence like a life source that we needed as much as the food to nourish our bodies.

-

"So..." Liam started to say while we were driving home, his eyes focused ahead but his hands gripping the steering wheel abnormally.

"What?" I asked when he didn't go on. "Why are you so tense?"

"Sorry," he exhaled, glancing over to smile faintly at me. "It's just that Dad came into my room yesterday to tell me to ask you this, and also I'm driving so please don't hit me or anything or we might crash."

"...Why would I hit you?" I frowned. This conversation was suspicious.

Liam sighed, a strand of his sand-colored hair falling in front of his eyes before his mouth opened again and he blurted out, "Dad-just-wanted-me-to-ask-you-what-our-plans-for-kids-are- because-he's-thinking-we-need-to-start-planning-for-kids-soon."

I blinked. "Um, could you say that again? And slower?"

Liam groaned, running a hand through his hair before he turned his head slightly to look at me. "Dad just wanted me to ask you what we're planning to do for kids."

I frowned. "You're eighteen and I'm seventeen, isn't that a bit early to be parents?"

"Not really," he replied. "I mean, we definitely don't have to be parents soon or anything, but my parents were just a year older than I am now when they had me. And, I mean, we probably have to talk to Sage and Adriel, and when they're planning to have kids so we can sort of coordinate surrogacies and everything so that the future alpha and beta are similar ages... it's a lot. Sorry for bringing it up. I should probably be focusing on driving."

"Do you want kids?" I asked instead of asking the many, many other questions I now had.

"Huh?"

"Do you want-"

"Well, I heard you. I mean, I guess I want kids? I'm not the best with them but, I mean, we kind of have to have kids, don't we?"

"Yeah." I looked down at my lap. "We do."

"Do you want kids?"

"Yeah. I like them. In my journal I have a few pages dedicated to baby names I like. Though, if we haven't moved from my house by that time, we'll have to expand or something."

"We could do that."

"Yeah."

Silence consumed the car as we drove in silence through the dark countryside, back towards our pack.

-

Liam parked the car outside the forest and waved a hello to the sentries at the station as I rounded to the front of the vehicle to intertwine our fingers. With a squeeze, Liam led me into the forest, the flashlight from his phone shining on the ground despite our enhanced vision because he knew the dark scared me.

It wasn't nearly as terrifying when we walked side-by-side, leaning into each others' warmth, though.

"Could I stay over tonight?" he asked me as we walked, his fingers tracing patterns on mine. I hesitated.

"I guess?"

"We don't have to do anything- in fact, the Moon Goddess might smite us if we do," he hurriedly laughed. "I just want to hold you."

"And you don't want to wait for us to move the mattress from your house to mine?" My current bed was only twin-sized, so it could only comfortably fit one person.

"I don't mind. I could sleep on the floor, if you wanted."

"It's okay. We can sleep together. In a non-sexual way."

"I love you," he murmured, turning me to face him and pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead once we reached the porch of my house. I hummed in acknowledgement and tilted my head up so that his lips would touch mine. "So much."

"I love you too," I breathed out when we pulled away, our foreheads resting against each other, standing in the complete darkness but unafraid as we stood together.

That night, I fell asleep with his arms wrapped around me, holding us together, away from the world and all of its expectations.

--

sorry i forgot to post this earlier, i completely forgot lol

hope you enjoyed!

-bloom :)

[edit like 40 mins later: not me freaking the fuck out because i forgot to bold the "milo's pov" thing lol]