The Boyfriend Pt. 51

The Boyfriend Part LI: Roast

Liam

Liam felt his phone buzz just before the knock at the door reached his ears, faint through the music playing from the other room, and the laughter in the kitchen.

"I've got that," he said, pulling out his phone to check the text as he let go of the pot handle and wooden spatula and looked to his friend, "Brian, Kekoa, you got this?"

Brian, one of Liam's friends from high school, a bigger guy with dark hair, glasses and a smile that always managed to put you at ease, who had lost a little weight recently, looked up over his station at the other burners, where he was Thing to separate skillets of steak and vegetables, while Kekoa just waved Liam away.

"Sure, we're almost done right? Just need to combine everything?"

"Just need to set everything out so everyone else can combine things," Kekoa corrected, eyes still on his homemade noodles.

"Yeah, come on, dumbass," Marco--one of Liam's other friends from high school--said in a sarcastic voice, "my food, my choice."

Brian rolled his eyes while Kekoa, Nalani, his sort of cousin, and Karlson, the last of the trio of Liam's friends from high school, all laughed.

"Oh, fuck off," Brian said, snapping his tongs at Marco.

Liam grinned as he walked over to the main room, and the front door, the knock sounding again. He glanced at his phone just enough to see the message from Tasha:

"We're here! Open up!"

Liam couldn't see them through the door unless he stood on his tip toes--something uncommon for him at 6'2"--but he'd been able to see Tasha's car out front through the window as he walked through the main room.

We?

Liam's question was answered when he opened up the door, and found not just tasha, but kiki and even matt standing at the door.

Before Liam could even fully take them in or greet them, Tasha skipped across the threshold and wrapped her arms around Liam, holding him tight.

"Happy New Year's Eve!" she said, squeezing him just a bit tighter and then holding on for a few more seconds before pulling back and grinning at him, "And why is this the first time that I'm finding out your uncle lives in Sherman Oaks? It only took me like 5 minutes to get here. I could probably walk here if I wanted to."

Liam rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Because I don't usually stay at my Uncle's."

When he stepped back enough to look Tasha up and down, he had the urge to roll his eyes again, though he should have expected it, since this was Tasha.

Tasha had her shiny dark hair down in waves, and the usual amount of makeup on that made her eyes pop and drew attention to them and her lips. Liam supposed he was to blame for her top, as he told her that there was a pool, so if she'd worn a loose, white, low cut crop top where the purple triangles of her bikini top were visible. Liam was entirely sure that the combination of white low rise genes and high cut bikini bottoms with straps that rose out above the jeans and over her hips had been completely on purpose.

"Are you trying to give my friends heart attacks?" Liam asked, with a raised eyebrow, "Or boners?"

Behind her, Matt, in jeans and a plane dark green T-shirt, went bright red, and Kiki, wearing cut offs that showed off her legs and a crop top that showed off her abs, just laughed.

Tasha just held his gaze and shrugged, "Boners, heart attacks... Same thing."

Liam rolled his eyes, but gave Tasha another hug.

"Happy New Year's Eve, Tash, I'm glad you were able to come."

Then, releasing Tasha, he stepped around her and hugged Matt, "You, too, man. I didn't know if you'd be able to come."

Matt shrugged, grinning as he stepped back, "Well, I was kind of preoccupied toward the end of the year so we didn't hang out much... I missed hanging out with you, and I thought it would be a good idea since--"

"Since Sara is coming out in a few days and you'll be MIA again until she goes home?" Kiki said, stepping forward to hug Liam.

Tasha snickered at an increasingly red faced matt, and Liam laughed, wrapping his arms around Kiki, " happy New Year's Eve, Keeks."

Kiki flicked his chest as she stepped back and Tasha cackled beside them, "Don't you fucking start with that."

That just made Tasha cackle even harder.

Smiling at having his friends here, Liam ushered them inside, "Come on, food's almost ready."

He watched them go as they walked past, still smiling.

The only thing that would make this better, is if Blake were here.

Liam shut the door behind him and sent a quick "I miss you" text to Blake before following his friend's into the kitchen. He missed Blake, and planned on talking with her a bit later tonight, but he wanted to focus on his friends tonight. Especially the ones he didn't get to see as much.

"Oh, fuck that smells good," Tasha said, as she and the others entered the kitchen.

Liam grinned.

"You can thank Brian and Kekoa for that," he said.

"Don't count yourself out, man," Kekoa called from the stove, "It was your idea. We are just your kitchen slaves."

"Nah, there's a reason you two are the slaves and not the rest of us," Marco said as the others laughed, "Karlson and I would fuck it up no matter how good Liam's directions were."

Tasha and Kiki both turned to smile at Liam at that.

"Oh, fuck yes," Tasha said, the words almost a moan, as she walked into the room, "I'm definitely getting a dorm or apartment with a kitchen next year so you can come over and cook. Or, ideally you can make sure Blake and Marie sort things out soon, so Kiki and Sara and Matt I can come over there and you can go for all of us."

All eyes in the room immediately went to her and Kiki--but mostly Tasha--and Liam shook his head, grinning.

"Guys, most of you remember Kiki and Matt," Liam said, pushing Matt into the room, "Kekoa, Nalani, this is Kiki And Matt. I went to high school with both of them. Kiki and Matt, meet Kekoa and Nalani, my brother and basically my cousin."

Tasha cleared her throat, and Liam grinned, wondering for a moment what she would do if he just didn't even acknowledge her.

"And this," he said, stepping up next to Tasha and putting a hand on her back, "a friend from college who grew up in this area and is also Matt's girlfriend's roommate. And yes, she's as insane as she looks."

Instead of acting indignant, Tasha just giggled at that, which made a few of Liam's friends eyes widen, and he had to resist laughing at that.

"Tasha, this is Karlson, Marco, Brian, and then Kekoa and Nalani. I went to school with the first three, and have no clue when i met the first two."

"Pretty sure we met before we could actually form memories," Kekoa said, grinning up from over the noodles that should have been just finished at that point. Liam was glad his uncle had a nice kitchen with lots of burners.

"Dude, what the fuck is your life?" Marco said, laughing, " where is the awkward kid we went to high school with?"

Matt and Kiki laughed at that, and Liam blinked as Tasha slung an arm around his shoulders and grinned at him, "His girlfriend and I have been teasing the fuck out of him to make him grow out of it. Though, trust me. He was still pretty awkward last year. It was cute, though."

Matt laughed at that, and Tasha turned to arch a delicate eyebrow at him, "I can tease you, too, to make up for Sara not being here."

Matt clammed up, his face going bright red. Kiki laughed at that, clutching her stomach, "Oh, tonight is going to be so much fun."

She walked over to Liam and gave him a hug, "So glad you invited me."

Liam looked around at his friends, then rolled his eyes, knowing the answer to the question he asked.

"Tonight's just gonna be and extended roast of me, isn't it?"

"Do we ever not roast you?" Marco asked.

Brian cackle and Kekoa and Nalani started losing it.

Liam side, but grinned his friends. It really did feel good hanging out with them again.

He took a deep breath, "Okay, now that everyone's here, house rules: We don't trash the place, we don't make a ton of noise outside or blast insanely loud music since the neighbors are quite a bit older, no one gets shwasted, and we either clean up before we go to sleep tonight or before we leave tomorrow. Oh, and drink a lot of water if we go in the jacuzzi. I learned that the hard way last year."

Karlson and Marco laughed that.

"You were so fucked, dude."

Liam grinned, then look toward where they had set up the drinks, "I think I'm gonna need a head start on the rest of you if I'm going to survive tonight. Anyone else want a drink?"

***

"Holy fuck, guys," Tasha said through a mouthful of her stir fry, "This food is amazing. Liam, you need to have a kitchen wherever you're living next year. And you two," she pointed at Kekoa and Brian, "Hats fucking off."

"Seriously," Marco added, " this is so much better than dining hall shit. I'll fuckin' fly out and visit eat like this."

"So, not for the pleasure of our company," Brian said, " but just so we can give you food and wait on you?"

Marco grinned, "Yeah, that would be pretty awesome."

The others laughed at that.

"I don't think I've ever been in charge of cooking this much food before," Liam said, "usually Auntie is the one in charge of that. And it definitely wouldn't be as good tonight without Kekoa and Brian."

"Well then, cheers, guys," Matt said, and Liam had to laugh at noticing that Matt had already finished half his plate while everyone else had only taken a few bites. He knew Matt usually ate like a machine given how much he worked out, but it was still a high compliment. A glance at Kiki's plate showed Liam that she had done about the same.

Matt raised his glass, "Happy New Year's Eve, and thank you guys for having me."

A few variations on "glad to have you" from Liam's friends, and a few other "thank yous" from Tasha and Kiki went around the table before they clinch glasses of the champagne, and all wished each other a Happy New Year's Eve.

"So, Liam," Karlson said, "Is this how you got Blake to be your girlfriend? Cooked for her?"

"It's gotta be," Marco said, "No offense, man, But we've seen you flirt. That doesn't always go well."

Kiki choked on a bit of her water at that, and Brian and Kekoa started laughing while Tasha pounded Kiki's back a few times.

Liam grinned even as his face went red, "Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out. I did cook for her a few times, but I'm pretty sure the only reason things worked was because I specifically was not trying to flirt with her, seeing as i was dating her roommate."

"Oh, shit," Nalani said, " I forgot about that part. How's that going?"

"Not awful," Liam said, "but not really that great. Marie having her own room and a kitchen was pretty great for sleeping over and stuff, and it's kind of frustrating knowing that Blake has her own room, but that we can't use it for...well, you know."

"Fucking?" Tasha finished, smirking at him.

Matt cleared his throat, and Tasha turned her gaze on him, "You're not allowed to start with that, I've heard you and Sara together. Blake seems like she could be freaky, but I've been with Sara, so I know exactly how wild she is in bed. No acting all innocent here."

The table went silent, Matt red-faced, and Tasha looked around, "What?"

"So, Matt went from having a super-super good Christian girl as his girlfriend," Marco began, looking between Matt and Tasha, "To having a girlfriend that's a freak in bed--"

Tasha grinned, "You have no idea."

"--andyou've slept with his girlfriend, who is also your roommate?" Marco finished, looking to Tasha, then Matt, "And it seems like you knew about that?"

Tasha shrugged, "It was before they were together."

Matt cleared his throat, face beet red, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Holy fuck," Marco breathed, downing most of his champagne.

"And she's almost as hot as me," Tasha said.

Liam laughed as Matt opened his mouth and looked at Tasha, as though about to say something, but she smirked at him, arching an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes then let his face fall into his hands.

"Ugh, this is going to be like Halloween all over again, isn't it?"

Liam frowned at Matt, then arched an eyebrow at Kiki, who shrugged. Then they both looked to Tasha, and Liam's eyes went wide when he saw the color in Tasha's cheeks.

Liam smirked at her, and the color deepened, "What exactly happened on Halloween?"

Tasha swallowed as Matt looked up with wide eyes and beet-red cheeks.

"Oh, damn," Nalani said, "We definitely need to hear this story. You two need a few more drinks to get through it?"

Matt and Tasha looked at one another, then nodded.

"Probably."

Kiki started laughing.

***

"Dude," Marco said with a grin, clapping Liam on the back as they all stood up to put away their dishes and clean up, "I'm so glad you wanted to invite other people. Last year was fun, but this was so much more entertaining."

"You're just saying that because now you have more material to give me shit about," Liam said, grinning.

"Duh."

"Can we please move on to giving Nalani shit about this Colombian girl that's totally 'just a friend'?"

"No, no, no," Nalani laughed, " you're the common denominator here, Liam, you knew what you were getting into."

Kekoa laughed at that, "Though I've got to say, this definitely seems like an improvement for you over last year."

Liam snorted, "Yeah, my freshman floor sucked, except for Swar."

"Ahem," Tasha said, exaggeratedly clearing her throat.

Liam grinned at his friend, "Just wanted to check if you were listening."

Tasha rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I am so going to make friends with Blake and use that to fuck with you when we're back from break," Tasha said.

Liam just shrugged, "I'm pretty sure she actually does want to hang out with you to get to know you and my other friends better. She definitely doesn't need any help fucking with me though."

Tasha giggled at that and Liam looked up just in time to catch a glance between her and Kekoa. Their eyes met for a moment, and Tasha cocked her head, arching an eyebrow. Liam's brother frowned for a moment, then his eyes went wide and a grin split his face. A moment later, both he and Tasha were laughing.

"I knew introducing you two to each other was a mistake," Liam said, sighing.

"What's your number?" Kekoa asked Tasha, "this is going to be so much fun."

Tasha laughed and ran over to liam's brother, taking his phone and typing in it. Liam searched for a way to keep this from escalating as he watched a few more dishes, and the only obvious answer struck him.

Finish the dishes, then we all go into the pool. I definitely won't be the center of attention there.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this sequence. I'm probably indulging a bit more than I should, but writing this and the next few parts with Liam and his friends was just too fun!