Another way (Young Royals)

The New Year's party

"I miss you so much, Wille," Simon said. We were facetiming and he was laying on his bed. I wished I could have been there with him. That I could have kissed him. That I could have held him close to me. Played with his curls with my fingers.

"I miss you too," I replied. I sighed. Mom had put me into work the whole break, probably to keep me away from Simon. She lived in some imagination that I would forget him if we were kept apart for long enough. The only thing it did was make us long even more.

"Felice said something about a New Years' eve party that the whole class will be invited to. Maybe we could meet up there?" I proposed. Mom did not have to know that Simon would be there.

"I wanted you to myself, but I guess that is better than nothing," Simon said. I smiled. I would have liked being alone with him either. But I could not persuade my mother to let me go to him.

"It might be fun," I said. He giggled.

"As long as I get to see you, I will have fun, baby," he replied. My mom started knocking on my bedroom door.

"I have to go, but I will call you later before I go to bed to say good night, okay?" I said. He smiled and nodded.

"I love you," he said.

"Love you too, bye," I replied before hanging up on him. My pretty boyfriend. I loved him so much. Someone who did not even know him, but already disliked him was my mom. But she only disliked that he was my boyfriend. If he was just a friend, she would have adored him. I knew that. She walked into my room, without checking if I was okay with her entering.

"It is dinner now, Wilhelm," she said.

"I am coming," I said. We went back to the kitchen, where we would eat. Like we always did when it was just us. Erik already sat by the table. I sat down next to him.

"How was Simon doing?" Erik asked me.

"How would I know that?" I asked back. I felt warm.

"Don't try to pretend that you did not talk to him for the last hour and a half," Erik teased.

"He is okay," I said.

"Don't encourage him to be with that boy, Erik," my mother cut me off.

"Why shouldn't I encourage Wille to be with Simon, mom?" Erik replied.

"You know why, Erik," she replied.

"Because of that video? Are you for real? Wille and Simon did not ask August to record or leak a video of them, believe it or not. Punish August. Not Wille," Erik said. "Wilhelm did nothing wrong. He fell in love with a really nice guy who treats him very well and makes him happy. What more could you ask for?" I looked at Erik. I felt teary. He stood up for me. I didn't even have to ask him to do so.

"They want me to date a girl, obviously," I said. I felt the anxiety build up in my chest. I bit the thumbnail, trying to distract myself. I did not want to date anyone else other than Simon. It was him or no one at all. "But I will not leave him. You can't force me to do that."

*********

When I arrived at the place where Felice had arranged the New year's eve party, the party had already begun. I thanked the driver for driving me there and then I went inside. My classmates were all dancing, drinking and hanging out. I saw Sara with Felice and Maddie on some sofas. If Sara was there, Simon was too. I looked for him in the crowd of people. At last I saw him, standing by the side with his phone up. I walked towards him. Before he noticed me my phone buzzed. It was a text from him, asking me if I was there yet. I texted him to look up. He did. His face lit up in a huge smile. He walked up to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. I hugged him, holding him close to me.