Let's Pretend It's Love

It was the day before Thanksgiving and Rhianne was tiptoeing past the bathroom and into Liam’s room. Everything was quiet and although it had been just a few minutes ago since everyone had retired for the night, she didn’t want to risk anything in case they had already fallen fast asleep.

“That wasn’t so bad was it?” Liam asked, referring to the 30 minutes or so, the two had spent downstairs at their late arrival, being prodded by questions by Liam’s parents – both of them asking whether or not they had a comfortable trip on the way to the house and whether or not they were hungry, or if this really was Liam’s girlfriend and not someone else.

Rhianne shrugged, a soft smile displayed on the mirror as she used her wet towel to wipe off her eyeliner and mascara – that’s all she’d worn since she’d woken, she hadn’t had much else time when Liam had lugged her out of her dorm room in the afternoon, claiming that they wouldn’t have time for her to get all fancy when they had to drive to Wolverhampton. They view from the windows in Li’s car had been wonderful – after transporting back and forth for about three years, he’d known roads and short cuts that had the best of the country side.

“Geoff and Karen are lovely,” she murmured before pulling her hair out of its elaborate ponytail, undoing the twists and braids before letting her hair fall, the wavy strands brushing against the dimples resting at the bottom of her spine. “But we just got her half an hour ago, Li. I don’t think I left that much of an impression.”

She looked around at his room, the walls had a wooden wallpaper on the walls, stylish but there were also many frames and decorative things. The place was neat, but in a messy way so that Liam was only familiar with everything and she felt as if she were in a new, foreign land. The only thing familiar to her was Liam, who still stood same as he drew the curtains and turned the lights off only to turn the lava lamp on, filling the room with different colors.

Rhianne giggled and took off her clothes, pulling her hair up into a braid and pinning it into a quick bun before taking an oversized shirt Liam never wore and slipping it over her. There was still a boyish air to the room, despite most of the room being re-modeled. Liam had told her that he’d taken a lot of things from his room and taken them into his new room over at the fraternity house.

Funny enough, she saw that he had Toy Story pillows, which she didn’t find surprising at all. He crept in under the blue comforter with her and let out a yawn but instead of sounding like the growing man he was, he sounded like a mewling kitten.

“Spoon?’

“Mhm,” she mumbled in agreement, a cool orange light filling up the room as she scooted over, his body meeting hers.

His hands pulled her close, her shirt rising up past her hips as her back pressed into his chest. She could tell that he was tired from the drive but all she did was turn her head a little, craning in the awkward position before placing a quick little kiss on his nose before turning back into the pillow, giggling as his hot breath tickled the hairs on the back of her neck. Even though his breathing was heavy and deep, she could tell he was still not asleep in the way that he would shift every so often or his fingers would start drawing on her knee but then move over to her thigh or dance across her navel, but she stayed still. She was tired too and these soft pillows were getting the best of her.

Then the soft declaration she wasn’t supposed to hear:

“I love you Rhianne.”

And she was only half awake to hear it.



They woke up quite late since they’d gotten in early but they arose in time to help with things. They ate a little bit of breakfast – just eggs and toast to save room for the big feast later on. Nicola wouldn’t be back from the States until later in the day (she was there on a internship or some other career opp.) and Rhianne got into helping the frantic mother prepare for the guests soon to arrive once the bright sun dimmed. There were already a couple of younger cousins of Liam’s lounging downstairs and playing games or some other.

Rhianne was chopping onions with a certain ease that put a smile onto Karen’s face and Liam suddenly sent a pot crashing onto the ground, a couple of forks clattering against the ceramic tiles.

“Wasn’t my fault!” he almost yelped, the look on his face guilty enough. Rhianne giggled as she moved to toss the salad – her boyfriend was horrible at lying.

“Out of the kitchen,” Liam’s mother all but growled as she pushed her son into the living room to watch some sports or whatever with Liam’s father.

Thanksgiving day was beautiful and although they had lots of family members over for the Thanksgiving dinner, the crowds of familiar faces eased out and by the time it was pitch black outside, the immediate family sat around the large roasted turkey sitting plump on a bright green plate. It had taken the whole day to prepare the whole feast and what with most of the Thanksgiving festivities winding down, so were the amount of people in the house. The whole day she’d been ambushed by members of Liam’s family – even the ‘long lost ones’, from the loud and rowdy uncles to the posh and prudish aunts who made comments at her Thanksgiving day dress. It wasn’t that lowcut and it wasn’t even the best of her cleavage, it was a simple little white dress that fit her snugly and had a single cut in the back, showing of her muscled back and her shoulders. It reached just above her knees respectively and did her bum some justice.

Liam of course, loved the dress, and he was just itching to take his formal wear off and wouldn’t mind doing so for Rhi either. But of course, all the family couldn’t stay overnight for long so it was only a matter of time untilthe house had been emptied out and Liam’s mother, father and sisters were trying to clean up at least a little bit of the mess that had been left behind from all the festivities – that is after they finished off the last of the food. Karen had definitely outdone herself and knowing that just one meal wouldn’t suffice, had cooked an extra turkey and all with plenty amounts of sides in case there weren’t enough to go around during the earlier dinner that had taken place around 8:00.

“Your hair’s so lovely! Tell me what you do to it,” Nicola asked, her shoulder on the table, pushing around her mashed potatoes before she dipped her turkey into the little pool of gravy on her plate.

“Don’t be so bossy,” commanded Liam, eyebrows furrowed playfully as he moved to kick his sister under the table.

“I’m older so shut up,” Nicola retorted, rolling her eyes before finally eating her untouched mashed potatoes. Nicola was a beaut – just like her brother with warm brown waves, tangled just above her collarbones and a dazzling smile with straight pearly whites. It was strange to Rhianne that Nicola didn’t have her own boyfriend or even fiancée at the table, she couldn’t be single with a face like that.

“Now, now if you two can’t calm down, I’ll take her into the kitchen and won’t give her back until she gives me that recipe for the cinnamon rolls,” Liam’s mother threatened, pointedly looking at the two boxes of homemade cinnamon rolls that were now empty. There had been about 40 cinnamon rolls, and it had only taken lunch and dinner to get rid of them completely, with the help of visiting family members who had come and gone of course.

“Liam, don’t be so stern,” Rhianne chastised softly, her eyes on the open road but her fingers elsewhere. She was sitting right next to him, her body leaning into the table as her hand grabbed the fork (she was somewhat ambidextrous) and on the arm of her chair, her fingers found Liam’s, hidden under the cloth of the table of course.

“I actually take a lot of care with my hair – I deep condition and comb it. Liam has his abs, I have my hair,” Rhianne joked, a bright smile on her face. Liam could tell that she was growing more and more comfortable with his family and the close atmosphere around his house. Even Liam’s dad managed a chuckle through the salad he was stuffing his mouth but Rhianne’s grip on his hand didn’t loosen a bit.

And with the last of the mac n’ cheese on his plate, Liam smiled, because the only parts of his past he wanted to keep was with his family and everything in the present was now, and he could only hope Rhianne would be his future.