The Boyfriend

XIV: Something Kind of Serious

Blake

Blake was snuggled up on the couch watching "Elf", wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot cocoa and wearing a Santa hat when her phone started buzzing.

Seeing Liam's face made her smile. Then she bit her lip, looking to her grandparents.

"Is it alright if I take this?"

"Of course!" her grandpa called, "We've all seen the movie a dozen times."

Her grandma smiled at him and rolled her eyes, then smiled at Blake, "Go on, dear. Kids like you should be together on the holidays. If you can't do that, the least you should do is talk."

Smiling, Blake rose from the couch, clutching the blankets around her with her elbows as she answered the phone.

"Hey."

"Hey! Bad time?"

"Not at all. Give me just a second to get comfy, though," she said, pushing open the door to her room.

"Okay."

Blake put down her mug and phone on her nightstand, then adjusted her pillows and wiggled around a bit as she curled up on her bed with the blankets, excited just to hear Liam's voice.

Once she was settled, she picked her mug back up and slipped in an earbud, then snuggled into her cozy nest even further.

"Okay, all comfy again."

"Good."

"Merry Christmas, Blake."

"Merry Christmas, Liam."

She bit her lip, "I wish I could be there with you."

Liam sighed, "Me, too."

"This isn't going to get any easier over the next month if we're barely holding out three days, is it?"

"Pretty sure we're just gonna be angsty puddles by the time we have to go back to school."

Blake giggled, "Eh, there are worse things that could happen. You're having a good time with your family, though?"

"Always. What about you? How are you holding up with the stuff with your mom?"

Blake sighed, "Bad. Not in an 'I'm super depressed' way or anything like that, but it's just...I think I'm getting in my own way."

"What do you mean?"

Blake glanced at the door, "Am I on speaker?"

Liam laughed, "I would tell you, don't worry."

Smiling, Blake took a sip of her cocoa before continuing, "Well, I did a show the other night, and I'm going to need to do them more frequently starting tomorrow, but I was panicking half the time because I was worried that if I was too loud, my grandparents would hear."

"Yeah, that would be pretty scarring."

"Exactly. So I was thinking of going over to my mom's, but..."

"Lots of emotions?"

"Yeah. I've only been there once since I've been back. When I was in my room, it was a bit better, but even then, once I didn't have anything to physically

do

, my mind started to wander and I just got so angry with her. I don't like feeling that way. Even about her."

Liam was silent for a while, then, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Blake smiled, "Just keep being wonderful? I think I have to do most of the work on this one, unfortunately."

"Well, maybe call me next time you go over there? I can distract you while you get everything set up at the very least."

"I'd like that. And, it helps with the whole, 'I miss you' thing."

Liam laughed, "I miss you, too, Blake. It is kind of annoying, though--usually I'm really excited for winter break because I don't have classes, and now I've got this stupid girlfriend making me want them to start up again so I can see her."

"Rude. You're definitely the dumb one in this relationship."

"Fine, how about 'annoying girlfriend'?"

"How about 'really fucking hot girlfriend whose going to have a month of unresolved sexual frustration to take out on me once I get back'?"

Liam cleared his throat, and Blake could hear the heat in his cheeks, "You're right, that one definitely fits better."

She giggled.

"Hey...I actually wanted to ask you something kind of serious."

Blake blinked, "What is it? Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. I just...I've told my family about you and told them I forgot to take any pictures of you when they asked to see some--which is very believable, thankfully--and I know my parents and uncle and grandma won't recognize you--at least, I hope not--"

Blake giggled at that.

"--but Kekoa probably will. He doesn't really care a ton about dating right now, but I assume he still looks at porn or things like that at least occasionally, and--"

"You want to know what to tell him if he asks?"

The relief in Liam's sigh surprised her, "Yeah."

"You realize you don't have to be nervous asking me that kind of thing, right?"

"I know, I just--sometimes I put my foot in my mouth, and things can sometimes be interpreted differently without facial expressions or body language to back it up, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't say something stupid or word the question in a bad way."

"You're sweet, Liam. You're a fucking dork, but you're really sweet."

"Thanks?"

Blake smiled, "For future reference, if a situation like this comes up, you can just say 'Hey Blake, can I tell Joe Shmo that you're a camgirl if he brings it up?' Got it?"

Liam laughed, "Sure. So does that mean yes, for Kekoa?"

"I trust you, Liam. I still don't want too many people connecting Blake to Cherry, but if you trust Kekoa or Tasha to keep their mouths shut, you can tell them. I would prefer if it was more of a confirmation than an advertisement, though. It will be slightly easier to cum and get into it on my shows knowing your friends probably aren't watching me."

"I think they know I would conspire with you to make their lives miserable for a while if they did."

Blake giggled, "They also probably respect you too much to do it. Though maybe give them one free pass."

The phone was silent for a moment.

"Okay, you lost me."

Blake grinned, "You're telling me if you found out some hot girl that you had a class with or went to high school with had a sex tape or did porn or something, you wouldn't be curious enough to take a peek?"

Liam cleared his throat, "I feel like as a boyfriend, I'm legally obligated to say, 'No'."

Blake rolled her eyes.

"That's actually the wrong answer, since I'm not a jealous bitch. If you find out that someone you know has consensually-released dirty content on the internet, I wanna look at it with you."

"What if it's someone like Tasha?"

Blake swallowed, picturing Liam's flirty, busty friend.

"Okay, her, I get to look at alone."

Liam laughed, "That's what I thought."

"I

am

only human, okay? And she's...stupid hot. I'm only not as bad as Marie was about her because I trust you and she was flirting with me as much as she was flirting with you."

Liam laughed, "Yeah, I thought that might cool down a little bit with her having a boyfriend now, but I was wrong."

Blake snorted, "Oh, I could have told you that. Have you met the guy yet?"

"No, but Matt says he's alright, and I'm assuming we're going to be roped into at least two double-dates when we're back at school."

Blake blinked, then smiled, feeling a warmth that had nothing to do with the blankets or the cocoa she'd finished.

"Blake?"

"Sorry," she said, blushing, "I just...I've never been on a double-date before."

"Me neither. I'm excited that the first time is with you."

Blake's smile broadened, "Me, too."

Then she thought of something, "How do you know Tasha isn't less flirty?"

"You know she lives like, less than an hour from me, right?"

"Yeah, you two just didn't seem to hang out a ton while we were at school."

"Well, I did have this cool new friend I was hanging out with a lot," he said, "And a girlfriend. And then when I didn't have a girlfriend, I got a

new

girlfriend pretty soon after that, who I spent quite a bit of time with. And there were finals."

Blake smiled, "That's fair."

Liam laughed, "Plus, Tasha felt a little isolated at the beginning of the year when her ex broke things off with her. She basically felt like she had Sara, her roommate Petra, and me as friends, and that was it, and she felt bad for basically ignoring me last year after getting together with her boyfriend, so she wanted to make sure we hung out more. You're okay with that, right? She did ask that we hang out a lot and if I could be her date-not-date when Sara comes out since she and Matt will probably be spending a lot of time together."

Blake bit her lip, frowning at the twinge of jealousy that spiked through her at the thought of Tasha getting to spend so much time with him when she couldn't.

But this is Liam. I trust him. I gave him an open invitation when he was having issues with Marie, and he still tried to work things out with her, and didn't even try doing anything until they were done.

"Blake?"

"Sorry. I'm okay with that. I'll be jealous, but mostly just because she gets to hang out with you and I don't."

"Thank you, Blake. You're really amazing."

Blake wiggled in her blanket-cocoon.

"I do my best."

She licked her lips, then leaned back a bit into the blankets, "So, what did you guys do for Christmas? Get any good presents?"

Liam laughed, "Well, Kono'Auntie and I usually cook, and we wanted to make some Kalua instead of ham, so we had to get up early to start the slow cooker..."

A/N: Is Blake right in trusting Liam? Is he right in wanting to tell Kekoa?