All of Me

twenty four • seal of approval

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When I wake up on Sunday, this time knowing exactly where to go to pee in peace, I scroll through what seems like hundreds of texts from Mom, and several from Gray and Tad too. At some point yesterday, Mom made a group chat for the four of us on WhatsApp. I went out for dinner with Liam and his family – minus his dad and older brother, who aren't around this weekend – and got back to a new chat and a string of messages.

Mom called the group Sovanono. She seems to think she's hilarious, mashing up our last name with Tad's and Gray's. The cheesiness doesn't even bother me; it's just so good to see her so happy. Half of the photos are awkward selfies of her and Tad, neither of whom seem to know how to actually take a selfie, but they're grinning from ear to ear in every photo.

They look absolutely besotted with each other. They look so together. They just fit. So do Gray and Navya in the selfie he sent in response last night. I scroll through every photo I've missed, safely locked in Liam's bathroom, until I get to the last message, a text from Mom.

your turn storie!! I want a picture of you and liam! xxx

There's a knock at the door before I can reply.

"Storie? I gotta pee. Mom's in the bath."

"Did you walk in?" I ask, realizing that I've been on my phone in here for ten minutes. He probably thinks I have a problem.

"I know better than that," he says. "I really gotta pee."

"Mom wants a picture," I say as I come out.

"Of my bathroom?" He dashes past me and doesn't even shut the door to pee. I guess they're an open door family.

"Of us. You and me."

"Oh. Can it wait until I'm done peeing?"

I sigh, as dramatically as I can. "Fine, I guess," I say, and I drop onto my back on his bed. "I don't want to leave."

Liam comes out a couple of minutes later, drying his hands on a towel that he drops into his laundry basket. I think he's the only guy in the world, definitely the only college guy, who even thinks to wash his hand towels. Or to even have a hand towel. I'm pretty sure most don't even wash their hands.

"Stay right there, then," he says, and he grins when he kneels over me and kisses me, his hair getting in my face. I blow it away. He buries his face in my neck, his lips warm on my skin, and I can't help but giggle like a kid. I shriek when he tickles my painfully sensitive sides.

A few seconds later, Daria races in like a little police dog and jumps on the bed, trying to pull Liam off me.

"My turn!" she cries. "I wanna hug!"

Liam rolls off me, a blush in his cheeks, but he switches straight into big brother mode, scooping Daria onto his hip so she squeals, and he kisses her cheeks and her forehead until she's giggling so hard she can hardly breathe. He has so much energy, tirelessly keeping up with his sister and keeping track of his brothers and looking out for his mom. And being with me.

"Brother duty calls," he says with a laugh, hoisting Daria onto his shoulders.

"The more I see you as a brother, the more I love you," I say, lazily sitting up.

"Oh yeah? Then I guess today's a Daria day."

"Yay!" Daria cries out, grabbing fistfuls of Liam's hair to hang onto him, her legs wrapped around his neck.

"Are you stealing my boyfriend from me, Dar?" I ask. I've only known her for a little more than twenty-four hours but she has made me feel totally at home here, and so has her mom. The boys are nonplussed by my existence, more interested in their video games, which suits me just fine.