章節 8: Chapter 8: The Morning After

Liam woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He groaned and reached to turn it off, instead he grabbed a fist full of... Something... He already finished his finals, so he doesn't need to get up at 6am and go about his routine—

"Ugh, I forgot your smartass wake up this early." Mar's raspy voice came from beside him.

The blond alpha's blue eyes snapped awake, and he realized that he's a lot further from his alarm clock than he initially expected. His right hand that he always slammed on his alarm clock is in his best friend's head of tangled black hair, and Mar's the one who's reaching for the alarm clock today. Slender fingers didn't abuse the poor metal clock like Liam always does, and finally the terrible buzz was put to an end.

"Sorry." Liam mumbled his apology as he took his assaulting hand away from the alpha in his bed.

His blue eyes focused a little to let some sunlight in, and oh boy... Liam smiled since he was greeted with the vast expanse of light tanned skin of his best friend's back, glowing in the morning sunlight. Without much thought, Liam propped himself up by his elbows. Then, he leaned in to kiss the nape of the black haired alpha's neck.

A light chuckle came from Mar, and the smaller alpha flipped himself over to face those blue eyes. Slender fingers ran up Liam's biceps, tracing his collarbone and neck before digging into his platinum blond hair.

"Who gave you permission to be this pretty?" Mar smiled, and his voice was still raspy from sleep.

"You think I'm pretty?" Liam grinned and draped his body over his best friend's.

Their legs tangled together underneath his fluffy white bedsheet, and the taller alpha laid his head on Mar's bare chest. Their scents are still mingling, so Liam took in a deep breath. He could hear the other alpha's heart beating fast but still remained calm and collected. The smile on the blond alpha's face widened as he took in a few more breaths, trying to align his heartbeat with Mar.

After a few seconds, both alphas just laid there in bed, basking in the morning light while their hearts beat together in sync.

This is what heaven feels like, Liam thought to himself. He wouldn't want to live in a world where he can't have this.

"By the way, we need to pack up by tomorrow morning." Mar gently ran his hand through platinum blond hair. "My father will send someone to pick us up."

Liam groaned as he lifted his face up from the other alpha's chest. "Let me ask if my parents are coming with us this year."

Because last year, Liam was thankful that they did since Mar brought Laura. Though Mar still stayed in the same room with Liam like they always did, the blond alpha purposely overslept and stayed with his family more than running in the fields with Mar. Really, he was jealous, but he didn't want to sabotage his best friend's happiness.

"Also, we're staying at the beach house for a week. Then, they'll move us to the cliff." Mar added. "Blue is coming, too. I'm glad she didn't get to meet Laura."

Blue... Liam hasn't met the omega female for a long time. Their most recent interaction was Liam commenting on Blue's social media posts a week or two ago. The alpha wondered who would volunteer to babysit all of Blue's reptiles; that's something for him to start a conversation with her.

When they were younger, Liam used to be jealous of Blue, too. She's one of a family friend's daughters, a short little omega female, about their age or almost exactly a year older than Mar, but it didn't stop Mar's family from trying to pair them up because Blue was the few omega females whom they could get along with. Blue and her omega cousins used to visit Mar's family mansion; the old man likes their pheromones young.

Little baby Blue was a cute kid, quiet and kept to herself, and she's not interested in any alphas, whether it's Liam himself, Mar, Liam's older sister nor Mar's multiple siblings. She seemed to be more genuinely interested in digging up sand with Mar and Liam, and Mar's father thought they would make a good match.

Until Blue hit puberty. Her omega cousins showed off their scents, but Blue didn't. They later found out from her parents that she couldn't. A stale scented omega is a sign of infertility, but Blue's health was just fine, and she displayed some omega pheromones, just no scent. Liam felt bad for her for that reason; she's as brilliant as him, more even. Blue graduated high school when Liam and Mar just started theirs, and she's now in a pursuit of a master degree in IT from a different diamond league university from theirs. She's bright, but she's not really treated with the same respect as other omegas, just because she doesn't have the same scent as an omega should.

Somehow, she went to the same high school as one of Mar's older brothers, and she prided herself on the fact that she's closer to Mar than his actual older brother. She's right; even though she was no longer invited to their vacations, Mar still kept in touch with her.

"Laura would wanna kill Blue, but Blue would kill Laura first, honestly." Liam laughed. "Wait, which beach house?"

"Same one last year." The black haired alpha sighed as he looked out the window. Liam laid his head back down on his best friend's chest. "The one with the big dining table. Dad's gathering everyone this year."

"Even Rex?"

"Even Rex."

Rex isn't his real name, nor is Blue is her real name. Rex is the older brother whom Blue prided herself on knowing. Mar and Liam had to do some mental gymnastics to understand how they two even get along in the first place, but after that, it's just a funny inside joke that Blue is more like Mar's sibling than Rex is.

"Is Blue coming because Rex is coming?" Liam chuckled at their fond memories. "I mean... He wasn't there last year, nor two years before that, nor any year really since we started high school."

The last time Liam talked to Rex, who was an eighteen years old adult man talking to two middle school kids, Liam and Mar ran across the beach house and hid underneath a dock because Rex was out for their heads. Well... It was all Mar's idea. It was an innocent prank, but the older boy seemed to enjoy chasing them down and smushing their faces into the carpet, just because he could.

"I wish that's the case. He was in the military." It's Mar's turn to laugh, his chest vibrated from the sounds. "You can't blame that guy. Besides, Blue's the only one keeping in touch with him. But this year dad wants him home, and Blue is coming because her parents are coming."

Even Blue's parents are coming... That means Liam's parents are invited too.

After a moment, the taller alpha finally peeled himself off his best friend. Time to clean up.