6 08 | The Best Friend

____ 𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄

When I saw that familiar-looking face, I knew. 

Liam Lyndell, that ugly bastard. 

Liam has been my best friend since I was young. When we were four and he was six to be exact. We both met when he and his family had just moved into the house in front of us. My mother told me to go there with her and greet them and give them something to welcome them. So we baked cookies in hopes that it's enough to make them feel welcome. 

When my mother and I knocked on their door, they had just started unpacking things and a young boy had opened the door. Once he saw us, he scurried over to his mother and hid behind her legs. He kept looking at me and at first, I thought he was really weird but then his mom told him to play with me so we did. We spent a good amount of time playing hide and seek or a game of tag. Eventually, I found out that he's just a nervous wreck of a child and honestly, I couldn't blame him. He did just move into a new environment surrounded by people he didn't know. Ever since then, we'd never stopped playing with each other. 

"Thought you were an early bird." He looks me up and down, "What happened to being early?" 

I rise from the bed and smile widely. "Liam! When did you get here?" I asked, a grin spreading on my lips. 

"Last night, actually," he paused, looking away from me. "How have you been?" 

A frown made its way to my face. "A lot of crap happened." 

"Save all of the stories for later, we're going to hang out and catch up." He pulled my arm as we began to make our way downstairs. 

"Wait, where are we going again?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Living room," he paused, "Gosh, this your house. Shouldn't you be the one to drag me around instead of the other way around?"

"Well, had I known you were coming, I would've woken up early," I said. "And dragged you to the living room." 

"Again, what happened to being an early bird?" he chuckled. 

I rolled my eyes at him. "I hate mornings. Mornings are evil."

We both headed out and went down to the living room. I opened the door as a cold breeze of air hit us in the face sending shivers down my spine. 

"It's cold," I mumbled, walking over to the couch. 

He entered the living room and hopped onto the large L shaped couch in the middle of the room. "Nothing changed." 

"Yup, the only thing that changed is the atmosphere of the house," I said, voice faltering as I finished the sentence. 

"How so?" he frowned, propping himself up on his elbows. 

"Nobody told you?" I sat down on the space next to him, biting the inside of my cheeks as I awaited his answer. 

"Told me what?" he paused, "Wait, where is Ma'am Jeanette?" 

I smiled sadly. So he doesn't know. "She's gone," I said quietly.

"Gone? Gone where?" he sat, looking deeply into my eyes as he squinted his eyes. 

"She's dead, Liam," I answered, heart-breaking at my words. 

His eyes widened as he let out a sharp breath. "You're not joking are you?" 

"No, why would I joke about that?" I questioned, frowning as my voice trembled. 

"No no, I'm sorry Adrianne." He scooted closer to me as he pulled me into a hug. He buried his face into my neck as he rubbed circles onto my back. A tear slipped down my cheek. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling away from the hug. 

I shook my head, "I guess? I mean– I have to be okay," I said, biting my lower lip. 

He pouted as he hugged me once more. I inhaled his sweet vanilla scent as I felt his arms tense around me. I pulled away and wiped a few stray tears, Liam's lips curling into a sad smile. 

"I seriously can't believe Ma'am Jeanette is gone," he breathed out, raking a hand through his hair. 

I nodded. "Neither can I– why do you still call her 'Ma'am Jeanette' when she wants you to address her as 'Jean'?" 

"I got used to calling her that," he mumbled, fidgeting with his fingers. 

From the way his green eyes glistened, I could tell he was sad. After all, he did admit my mother became a second mom for him every time he came here to hang out. She welcomed him and showered him with love. To be fair, my mom treats everyone like her kids. 

"Oi, Liam, don't you dare cry." I jutted my chin outward as I crossed my arms.

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to cry." He subtly wipes a tear on his cheek. 

I scoffed, you say as you wipe your eyes. 

"Hey," I said, ruffling his hazelnut hair. "Mom wouldn't like it seeing us cry." 

He smiled. "Yeah, she won't." 

I took a deep breath, thinking of a topic to change the subject of our current conversation. "Anyways, how was travelling?" 

His eyes sparkled as he started babbling about his travels and I couldn't help but smile seeing his face once again after all these months. His eyes would close completely every time he'd smile, showcasing his straight white teeth. I couldn't help but notice the hand gestures he'd make when he gets excited. The way he narrated his adventures was like taking me with him, I felt as if I was there with him during his travels, he was so invested in storytelling we had completely lost track of time. 

Eventually, we started watching a shit load of movies, most of which were superhero movies, reminding us of the old times. We had our toes out, leg over the other, eating popcorn and scratching each other's heads. It was his idea to watch those movies again, wanting to be reminded of some ways we bonded as children. 

We had two bowls of popcorn in front of us, one cheese flavoured and the other was just butter. I grabbed a handful of popcorn from the cheese bowl and shoved them into my mouth as we watched. 

That is, until Sebastian came waltzing through the door. 

"What are you doing?" a male voice asked. 

"Sebastian? What're you doing here?" I asked, frowning. 

"Me and my father are here to discuss things about the marriage, what're you two doing? Who's that?" He pointed at Liam with a scowl on his face. 

"Wait- marriage? Adrianne, you're getting married?" Liam asked, a look of pain expressed on his face. "You're getting married and you didn't tell me?" 

"Wait a second, who are you?" Sebastian asked, stepping forward. 

"I'm Liam Lyndell, Adrianne's best friend." He narrowed his eyes at Sebastian, emphasising the last two words. 

"Liam, I planned on telling you it's just that I wanted to ask about you first," I stated, walking towards him. 

"Let's talk about this later," he said in an almost serious voice. 

I nodded my head and I gazed into his emerald green eyes that stared back into mine, his lips curling into a soft smile. He ran another hand through his hair making it stick up at odd angles as he smiled at me, showcasing his perfectly white teeth. 

Ahem.

We looked at Sebastian who was tapping his foot impatiently. "You're forgetting we have to discuss things about the wedding." 

"Does it have to be now?" I asked, my hands dropping to my side. 

"Yes, now hurry. Dad hates having to wait," he said, gesturing out the door. 

I sighed and looked at Liam who gazed at me with eyes that gleamed with confusion. "I'll be right back, okay Liam?" I assured him. 

He nodded. "I'll continue watching." 

I nodded my head at him and went out heading towards the foyer. I arrived with Sebastian following after me. Mr Adair stood as his eyes landed on mine, he glanced at his wristwatch and looked back at me. 

"So, what were you doing Adrianne?" he asked, looking at me up and down. 

"I was with a friend," I told him blankly. 

"Oh, who's she?" he asked, uninterested. 

"Him," I corrected, "my friend's a he." 

His eyes widened and opened his mouth to say something but bailed on it. "Anyways, we have to decide regarding a couple of things." 

I gestured for him to continue. "We have to decide when the wedding date will be, who's going to be invited, the venue. Do you have any ideas?" he asked, sitting. 

"Before anything else, didn't you say you and your wife are coming here?" I sat, looking around. "Where's she?" 

He raised his eyebrows. "Unfortunately, she couldn't come today." 

I nodded. "To answer your question, I don't know. So you have the freedom of choice." I stood as I began walking back. 

"Adrianne, you have to participate in planning the wedding," he said sternly, "The bride is usually the one who makes these decisions." 

"Seriously? I could understand it better if, for example, I loved the guy and was super excited to get married. But I only accepted this because of my father." I narrowed my eyes at him, clenching my jaw. 

He stayed silent and I took that as an opportunity to walk away. I quickly walked back to the living room and opened the doors to see Liam lying down on the couch, popcorn bowl to his chest. 

When he heard the door open, he glanced back and sat up. "Hey, how was the talk?" I shook my head and sat beside him. He looked at me, a frown plastered on his face. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend? Why didn't you tell me you were getting married? You could've told me about it at the very least," he asked, sadness present in his tone. 

I grabbed my hair and groaned. "He's not my boyfriend and he's definitely not going to be my husband." 

"Then what is this about?" 

"I'm getting married for the company's sake. I never wanted this though, I didn't have a choice," I admitted. "They blackmailed us." 

"Company– they're the Adairs?" He exhaled. "No wonder that douche's face looked familiar. But– blackmail? Should we contact the police about that?" 

"No, just let it be." 

"When did the proposal happen? How?" he asked. 

"I'm surprised you didn't know about that, I'm pretty sure it's gone viral literally everywhere." I plopped down on the couch, arm covering my eyes. 

He quickly grabbed his phone as his fingers tapped on the screen. He scowled as a video played on the gadget in his hands. The video of my engagement with the man whose face I hate. He slowly placed his phone down and grabbed my hands and sighed. Suddenly, the door bursted open and revealed an angry-looking Sebastian.

"What the hell was that Adrianne?!" he yelled, tightening his hands into fists. 

I stood and glared at him. "What? Did I say anything? What did I do?" 

"You made my father angry!" He stepped closer to me, our bodies a few inches away from each other. 

"Well, I'm sorry if daddy's feelings got hurt, it's not my fault I don't want anything to do with the wedding," I shot, shrugging my shoulders as my lips jutted out. He grabbed my wrist and glared at me with eyes that could kill. "Sebastian, you're hurting me," I said, wriggling my wrist in an attempt to make him let go. 

"You disrespected my father," he said through clenched teeth.

Then a hand landed on Sebastian's shoulder and shoved him away from me.

"The moment you hurt Adrianne again, I won't hesitate to hit you," Liam calmly spoke beside me.