Page 44 of Siren's Heart

At one point, Kayla and Asher leave the room, suspiciously having an important call to make at the same time. Sure. Make it any more obvious you want to leave us alone, why don't you?

"Why are they still trying to set us up? Don’t they know they’ve been pretty successful?"

"No idea, but I'll take it," I say with a grin and cover the hand she's using to brace herself on the ground with mine. It makes her grin widen and bite her lip, and it's fucking adorable. No matter if she’s in bed after a night of fun, or sweaty after her dance training, I could sit here and just stare at her all damn day. In fact, I can’t think of anything more fun to do.

"Do you have any plans for this evening?" I ask her, pursing my lips, trying to look pitiful. "There is no way in hell I can wait until our second pottery date next week.

She grimaces, and my heart sinks. "I have interviews today and tomorrow. Naroa said they're going until pretty late. How about Friday?"

"Done." I lean forward, and so does she until our lips meet.

"Ewww, get a room," Asher throws open the door, and Millie startles. Oh, I'm so going to kill him one day.

"Well hello there, best brother in the world," my sister greets me when I call her in the evening. I have her on a video call, phone propped against a cushion on the couch as I sit on the ground in front of it. It seemed like the easiest way without having to hold my phone in front of my face the whole time, because I’ve been lifting so much today…my arms fucking hurt.

"Hello there, best and only sister," I answer her with a chuckle and rub my eyes. The training was exhausting, but I decided that I really need to talk to Summer today about the whole situation. There’s no way I can sleep without having her answer. I’d only toss, turn, and imagine all the ways her reply could go, and I’m not doing that to myself. "What are you up to?"

"Well, actually–" she starts, but is interrupted when my Dad’s head pops in from her right.

"Hello there, son." My mother’s head joins the two of them from Summer’s left.

"Wow, it's a spontaneous family meeting," I chuckle and lay my head back. Great. I was trying to get Summer's perspective, but I guess since it’ll be a family matter anyway, I might as well just rip the band-aid off. I should have known that with my family, there isn’t really a subtle way to go at this. "How are you guys doing?"

"Same old," my Dad answers, while Mom takes a breath to, without a doubt, fill me in on all her friends' gossip and every second that she filled her day with. She’ll probably mention again which of her friend’s daughters is single in an effort to set me up. Ignoring the thousands of times I’ve told her to stay out of my love life. Before she can start, though, Summer saves the day.

"So, one more week until the match, right?"

"Almost two," I say and roll my eyes. I've lost count of how often she's asked me to remind her of the date. That girl can't remember an important appointment for the life of her. "I got you tickets and everything, so you're good to come."

"No guest list?" my mother pouts, and I chuckle. She once told me she loves being on guest lists because that way, she gets to walk past all the people waiting for regular admittance, and it makes her feel special.

"Well, ticket income is going to charity, so we're expected to buy tickets for once," I remind her, making Dad and Summer chuckle. "And before you ask, I’ll get you VIP, so don’t worry. That's not why I called you guys, though." I take a moment to gather my thoughts. I didn’t really think about how to go about this with the whole family. How should I approach it the best?

"Well, spit it out,” Dad scolds me playfully, worry making his forehead crinkle.

"So there's this woman–"

"Tell me it's Millie!" Summer shouts immediately, her eyes lighting up, while my parents look at her confused.

"Yes, it’s Millie."

Summer jumps up, handing her phone to Dad while she runs around the room, shouting something I can’t make out. She’s dancing, though, so I assume she’s happy about it.

"Who's Millie?" Dad looks at Summer, startled by her reaction, and Mom looks at me with a sparkle in her eyes, without a doubt seeing grandkids in her not-so-distant future. She's been less than subtle about wanting them for the past six years already.

"The one who pranked me," Summer says, taking her place between the two of them again while huffing, still rolling her eyes at our parents. As if that would tell the two of them all they need to know.

"Honey, I think you think you've told us more than you actually have," Mom points out empathetically and pats her shoulder. I can't help but chuckle, because Summer is definitely known to do that occasionally.

"Just look her up after this call; you’ll know who she is," Summer says, grinning at Mom, before beaming at me. "She's on your playlist."

"How lovely," Mom sighs, her eyes moving away from the screen, and I know in her head she's somewhere far away.

"Well, as you might gauge from Summer’s reaction, Millie and I are kind of dating," I continue, finally having their attention. "It's not public yet or anything, but that's what I want to talk to you about."

"Alright, we're listening." Without looking, Dad lifts his hand and covers my Mom's mouth before she can blabber away about the wedding plans she just created in her head. I’m sure she has a color scheme and catering menu ready to go.

"She's kind of a big deal, and you might get swarmed by paparazzi," I press out quickly, looking just beside the screen as I wait for their reaction. "Like, big time. And I made that sound like I'm just warning you, I guess I should rather ask if that's okay."

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