Page 59 of Vexing the Viper

King looks down at his phone, smiling when it starts ringing in his hand. I glance down at the screen to see “Mom” calling. My eyes widen as King slides to answer the call.

"Hey, Mom." I can hear her soft voice on the other line, and my nerves start to amp up. Is he going to introduce me to his mom? "We won! And we get our official schedule in the next few weeks, so I'll share that with you so we can plan a day for you to come."

His mom keeps talking, King's smile growing wider with each word she says. Their conversation eventually dies down and King glances back at me. "Mom, there's someone I want you to meet."

He scoots closer to me, and I instinctively move to pull down on my beanie, only to remember it's no longer there.

"She's going to love you," he whispers away from the phone. I can't speak, so I nod instead. "Mom, this is Niko. My boyfriend."

He tilts the camera so my face is in the little box in the corner. His mom's face shows up on the screen, and all I see is King. She has long, curly, brown hair, but her brown eyes are the same as King’s, warm and welcoming. She smiles sweetly at me before saying, "Hi Niko. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally put a face with a name."

"You've heard about me?" I squeak, looking wide-eyed at King.

"Oh, honey. Kingston hasn'tstoppedtalking about you since school started."

"Mom," King whines, cutting her off. "Don't embarrass me."

His mom chuckles, and I feel my nerves start to dissipate.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Porter. You've got a pretty great son."

"That, I do." His mom stares at me, and I start to get anxious again. "Your vipers are beautiful," she finally says, her eyes softening.

Tears prick my eyes and I smile. "Most people just call them snakes. How'd you know they're vipers?"

"My son has told me many things about you. You seem to be all he can talk about lately. I can't wait to meet you in person."

"I can't either," I tell her with a lump in my throat. King has been talking to his parents about me? Glancing at King, I grab his hand, interlocking our fingers.

"I love you," he mouths, his eyes only on me.

"I love you, too."

His dad comes on the line and we end up talking to his parents for a while. They seem great and I love that King wanted me to meet them. Once we hang up, I jump into King's lap kissing him passionately. I'll never tire of this.

26

KING

Walkingout of my last final, I have an extra spring in my step. I glance back down at the paper in my head, smiling when I see the big 'A' at the top. Holy shit, I can't believe I did it! I've passed all of my finals. I've been so worried the past few weeks, thinking I was going to fail and not only lose my scholarship, but be kicked out of Creelin U.

Niko and I have spent a lot of our time together studying since the Halloween Ball. Even though our sessions would often get interrupted by one of us eventually touching the other, he still made sure I spent time on my school work. And it's obviously paid off.

Running through the quad, I pass by a Nøkk and his boyfriend who are walking hand in hand. It seems as though many monsters have found their human match. I've heard tons of stories this semester, and I love seeing all the…lovethroughout the campus.

Bypassing the elevator in the dorm hall, I run up the three flights of stairs, huffing once I reach the door. I probably could have taken the elevator, but I'm too excited to show Niko. I'veworked so hard for this, and he's the one person I want to share it with.

I open the door to the dorm room, coming to an abrupt stop when I hear giggling and laughing. Rolling my eyes, I recognize the giggle. Sam has been here almost every day since the Halloween Ball. He finally found his courage and made a move on Mateo, and they've been inseparable ever since. He's always here in our dorm room since we have a bigger space than he does. We've done the double date thing a few times, going to Zomb-Bar or Scareoke. It's been fun to hang out with them all.

Mateo's head pops up from the other side of the couch. "Hey, King."

"Hey."

Mateo gets pushed back, and Sam flies up, his cheeks a bright red. "Hey, man."

"Didn't mean to interrupt." I snicker, seeing they're both in a state of undress.

"No, it's okay. We were about to go to my room anyways," Mateo says, standing up and reaching for Sam's hand.

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