Chapter 36

Emilia

I wake up cocooned in Liam's arms, the warmth of his body washing over me. After he shared the story of his dad with me, we changed into our pajamas, put on New Girl and cuddled until we both fell asleep. I feel thankful to know more about Liam's past, that he trusts me with these pieces of his life. However, I could tell something else was going on when I asked him if baseball was still his dream. His words said yes but his eyes, man those eyes, they looked more unsure.

I stare at the man next to me, hoping his secrets will speak to me, tell me how he really feels. In time, I know he will. He's been nothing but patient with me since the moment I met him so in return I can be more than patient with him, wait until he's ready to tell me everything that scares him and what he truly dreams of. Liam's eyes flutter open a smile spreading across his face as he takes me in. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning." My cheeks heat at the compliment.

"I love that."

"What?"

"Putting that color on your face." His morning voice, with its light rasp, does things to me. I lean into him, pressing my lips to his which he gratefully returns. Caught in a haze of each other, he pulls me on top of him while we continue to kiss. A slight moan escapes my lips as I feel his body beneath mine. The blaring noise of an alarm interrupts us which causes us both to groan. He places one last kiss on my lips before reaching over to his phone to shut off the annoying noise.

"Car day." Liam smiles up at me, his dimples popping.

"Car day." My lips turn up, I swear his smiles are contagious. Today we're going car shopping for my new, well new to me, car. I'm pretty sure Liam would have insisted on going with me even if we were still friends but he said it was his ‘boyfriend duty' now to come with me and make sure I got the best deal along with a safe vehicle.

"Croissants?" He asks me with a smirk.

"You know the way to my heart." I start to roll off of him, but he catches my waist keeping me in place.

"I've been studying the way for months." I lean down to place a soft kiss on his lips at his words. The soft kiss turns into a more passionate one, his hands running up and down my back underneath the shirt of his I'm wearing. Instinctively my hips move, grinding on his body earning a small groan from him.

"We better get up now or we're never gonna make it." I giggle, I love knowing how I affect him.

On the way to the dealership we stop and get chocolate croissants, as well as an egg sandwich for Liam, from The Blue Bean. We eat them in the car, listening to music and chatting about life. He tells me stories about his dad and I cherish every moment.

We've been at the dealership for ten minutes now and Liam has nixed a handful of cars that I thought looked cute but apparently didn't have all wheel drive or great safety features. I'll be honest I didn't do much research besides looking at cars in my price range that I thought would last me at least through the next year. Liam however has done extensive research. He even came prepared with a list of questions on his phone for the salesman who he is currently grilling.

I feel my eyes go glossy, tears forming in the corner. The way this man cares about me is beyond anything I ever thought I would have. Before him, Rosie and Garrett are the only people in my life who ever cared about my safety and well-being. Liam turns to me as the salesman scurries inside, probably trying to find an answer to one of his million questions.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He grabs my elbows, examining me. Making sure everything's in place.

"Nothing." I sniffle but with a smile. "I'm just so happy, so thankful for you." I earn a big smile at that.

"You deserve the world, Emi." I fight the urge to pounce him right here, forget about everyone around us.

"Here we are." The salesman, Bill I think he said his name was, appears at our side holding out a set of keys.

"Ready for a test drive?" Liam points to the car we're standing next to that I hadn't even noticed because I had been so focused on him. It's a dark blue midsize SUV, it's at the top of my price range but still doable. "This one has great safety features and all-wheel drive. Plus Bluetooth so you can connect your phone and call whoever you need." That might not seem like a luxury to some but considering my price range I'm impressed that it has it.

"It has a good amount of miles but these cars are known to be able to go a lot so I think we could get a few good years out of it." I don't miss the way he says we, like he's planning a future with me. I haven't let myself think too deeply about the future yet, unsure if he would see us working past graduation with me going to graduate school and him the MLB.

"Let's try it." I agree, forcing those thoughts out of my head and trying to live in the present.

Turns out Liam has great taste in cars, the test drive went great, it drove smoothly and felt safe. A few days after the test drive we were able to pick it up to bring home. Buying a car is apparently not just like buying anything else at the store, there"s quite a few more steps involved that Liam's stepdad, Dean, was more than gracious to help us through. Us. That's still weird to me. I'm used to looking out for myself but Liam has been by my side every step of the way. Through comparing insurances to getting a cashier"s check from the bank, we've been doing it all together.

∞∞∞

Throughout the rest of break we flopped back and forth between staying at Liam's house or my apartment. I've been soaking up all the time we've been able to spend together because with classes starting tomorrow and Liam's first game of the season just three weeks away our lives are about to get a lot busier.

I've been cleaning our apartment for Rosie's arrival this afternoon. We have a planned girls night in to catch each other up on all things that happened over break. I may have been extremely vague about my time at Liam's so she has no idea we're a couple. Not because I was trying to hide anything but because I was just enjoying the time as the two of us. It's still foreign to me to have someone besides Rosie in my life who cares so deeply for me.

There's a triple knock at the door signaling Liam's arrival. He insisted we had to go out for lunch after his morning practice since we'll be spending the night apart for the first time in weeks he ‘needed his fill.' I practically skip to the door, yanking it open.

"Hi baby." He's wearing a backward baseball hat and I practically swoon. Whenever he wears his hat like that it seriously does something to me.

"Hi babe."

"Ooh, I'm babe now, am I?" He moves into the space, hands reaching out and gripping my waist to pull me to him.

"Thought I'd try something new." I say with a pop of my shoulder.

"Well, I like it." He kisses the top of my nose before his lips land on mine. "Ready for lunch?"

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. It's a surprise." One thing I've learned about Liam is he loves surprising me. He files little bits of information away, keeping them for later. It's one of my favorite things about him. No one has ever listened to me the way he does, he actually hears what I say, every time.

Forty minutes later we're pulling up to a cute little pizza place, which is kind of surprising to me. Don't get me wrong I love pizza but considering we live in a college town there's plenty of pizza joints within ten minutes so this seems like a far drive for just pizza. It must be some crazy toppings or something. Liam opens the car door for me, grabbing my hand and helping me out so I don't slip on the ice.

"Is this one of those pizza places with crazy toppings or something?"

"No."

I look at him slightly puzzled, still confused as to why we drove all this way for pizza. Until he turns me around and across the street I see the cutest little shop. ‘Enchanted Books' is painted in gold cursive letters on the window. My gaze shoots up to Liam, my eyes wide and he has a smirk on his lips.

"I've been doing some research and apparently this shop is known for getting collector edition fairytales, lots of signed copies and everything."

"Oh my gosh, Liam. I..." I swallow the three little words at the tip of my tongue. We've only been officially dating for about a month. That's too soon for those words, right? "You're amazing."

Our little lunch date had me smiling from ear to ear. I browsed through the rows and rows of books, finding the most beautiful copies of the stories my grandparents read to me growing up, even one signed copy. Liam held every book I picked out as I continued to browse and then bought them for me, despite my protests. It also turns out the pizza place across the street is known for making different kinds of pizza toppings so we split a taco pizza that was to die for.

"Have you told Rosie about us yet?" Liam holds my hand lightly in his as we drive back to campus.

"Not yet. Tonight I will. She's going to freak." I let out a little laugh at the thought of her reaction.

"In a good or bad way?"

"A good way. She'd been trying to tell me you liked me since the first time we met."

"Well she's right there." We pull into the parking lot outside of my apartment, Liam smiling at me.

"Nuh uh. There's no way I was a mess." We both get out of the car, heading towards the apartment building.

"A cute mess." He teases, stopping in front of the main door to our building. "Really though, something about you just captured my attention. I was drawn to you. I went upstairs because I couldn't find you, figured you probably left, I was sulking and then you came bursting through my door." His words make me smile. Despite how that night could have gone, I wouldn't change it for the world. It brought me straight to Liam.

"C'mon let's get you upstairs so Rosie can have her freak out." We both laugh as I press the key fob to the panel to unlock the door.

I unlock the door to our apartment, stepping inside with Liam right behind me carrying the bag of books we bought today. "Rosie," I call out, "I'm home." She comes flying out of her bedroom and into my arms, knocking me back with the force of her hug, Liam thankfully stopping us from completely toppling over.

"Thanks for the assist Liam." Rosie calls over my shoulder, still holding on to me. "I missed you Em."

"I missed you too." We break apart, Rosie loops her arms through mine guiding us into the kitchen where she already has out bowls of popcorn.

"We need a debrief. Girls' night is officially starting." She shoots her gaze to Liam. "Sorry."

He lets out a low chuckle. "Don't worry, I've been warned." He places the bag of books on the countertop. "I'll leave you girls alone." Liam reaches out, grabbing my hand and spinning me to him. "Bye, baby. I'll miss you." He plants a kiss on my lips.

I hear Rosie squeal from behind me. "Finally!" He smirks at that, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead.

"I'll miss you too but I'll see you in two days."

"Two days." He repeats, placing another kiss on my forehead.

"Bye Rosie." He calls turning for the door.

"Bye lover boy." She shouts back at him and I laugh at her nickname.

Once we get situated on the couch with reality tv in the background I spill the beans to Rosie about everything that happened over break, her jaw unhinged for most of the conversation.

"It's been nearly a month!" Rosie shouts, tossing popcorn at me. "I can't believe you kept this a secret for weeks!"

"Not a secret." I clarify, I was never trying to keep Liam a secret. "It's not that I didn't want you to know, it"s that I needed to soak it in first. Reassure myself that this is real. I've never done this before, I've never loved anyone like this before." Oh fuck. I said it, I said the word out loud.

"You love him?" Rosie's voice is calmer now, more gentle.

"I - I do. Which scares the hell out of me but I think it's worth it."

"Oh Em." Rosie puts down her popcorn bowl, scooching over on the couch closer to me. She pulls me in for a hug. "I'm so happy for you. It's definitely worth it. He's an amazing guy. I can see how much he cares about you. How much he has since the first day you met." I smile at her, hugging her back. "Have you told him yet?"

"Not yet. It almost slipped out today but it's too early, isn't it?"

"It's never too early." She shakes her head. "I think if you love someone you have to tell them because you never know what the future holds."