I combed my hair one last time before I noticed my mother standing behind me, looking at my reflection with a smile on her face.

I smiled back at her. "Hey, Ma."

Her face lit up and she walked over to my side, placing her hands on my shoulders. "No matter how old or famous you become," she said, "remember you'll still be my tiny Koko."

I almost melted right then and there but was able to handle myself with great effort.

"Mom. . ." I turned around in her arms. "I love you."

She brushed a hand over my head and stared at me endearingly. "I love you too, my child."

"I hate to break up this heart warming moment," a voice said from the doorway, "but we're getting late, ladies."

I looked at Maya with a bored expression. "If I reach five minutes late, no one is going to kill me."

She gasped theatrically and place a hand on her chest. "Oh, dear. There goes my plan for the evening."

My mother started laughing suddenly and shook her head at us. "You two girls will never grow up."

Maya grinned mischievously at her and winked. "Obviously, Auntie."

"Come along, then," my mother said. "I'll be waiting downstairs." And with that, she walked out of the room.

Maya watched her leave and immediately walked towards me in a determined pace. She fixed her gaze at me, all previous cheekiness absent, and said, "you've got the photos?"

"Yep," I nodded.

"And you know what to say, right?"

"Yessssss," I drawled on the word and swung my arm around Maya's neck, pulling her after me as I started making my way out of the room. "Stop worrying, let's go!"

Maya stopped me. "You're really brave to do this, Keighlah, you know that, right?"

I smiled at her. "It's not being brave. It's about what's the right thing to do. And I'm doing the right thing. Nobody should be afraid to do the right thing."

We walked down the stairs to find Andrew waiting at the landing, tapping his foot on the floor and looking at his phone. Upon hearing us, he looked up, and the moment his eyes caught mine, I felt like someone had suddenly hit me with a hoard of butterflies and trying to wrench my heart out of my chest.

I wondered if I would ever get used to this feeling.

I was aware that Andrew and I were staring at each other. Maya looked between us and coughed. "Why don't you two get a room, lock yourselves in it, and never come out?"

With that, she practically ran away from us. I let my gaze follow her with an amused expression before l looked back at Andrew, whose eyes were twinkling with amusement.

Suddenly, he put his hands around my waist and pulled me flush against him. I caught the familiar scent of his skin as he dipped his mouth to my ear and murmured, "would you like to take up that offer of a locked room, all to ourselves—"

"Andrew, not in front of my mother," I moved my head away from his and looked around the house, sighing when I saw that my mother was not in view to watch us.

"She really doesn't mind," said Andrew. "That day, she asked me if I had a sufficient amount of protection with me—"

"Oh, for goodness' sake." I pulled away from him, ignoring his sound of protest, and walked into the kitchen, my cheeks burning. Maya smirked when she saw me. "Done canoodling, I see."

I glared at her and picked up a water bottle and starred chugging down the water, suddenly feeling very thirsty.

"Koko, if you're ready, we better get going." My mother announced from the front door. She had the door open and an expecting look on her face. I turned around to look at Maya, who nodded at me, and the at Andrew, who's eyes were shining with so much love and support, that I had to look away before I blushed. I turned back to my mother and set my jaw straight, and said, "let's put that little piece of shit into prison."

And then I slowly started to grin.

~  T H E   E N D  ~