Heartbeat

*Not a Chapter*

*This is not a chapter, just a little snippet from a random night, when Atlas and Veronica still lived together*

After a long, and i mean a LONG day at the hospital, all i could think of was how soft the pillow would feel under my head, how the warm snuggly blanket would wrap me up like a burrito and keep me safe.

But no, as soon as I entered the apartment, the chances of hitting the bed seemed slim.

Why god? Why do you hate me so much?

The dining table was all set up with my favourite food, scented candles and a non-edible dessert. There he was, perched on the chair... looking dashing as eve-

Sleep, you need sleep.

Yeah, right

His eyes immediately connected to mine as I entered his field of vision...his posture and facial expressions remained stoic as always but there was this little glint in his eyes as soon as he saw me.

"Hey, why are you still up?"

He directed his head towards the food

"I really appreciate the efforts, but I'm not really that hungry...I'm super tired and i-"

My voice got cut off as I felt a tingling sensation on my forearm as he tugged on it, dragged me towards the table and sat me down

"Eat"

He sat on the chair opposite to me and filled two plates with food.

"Why didn't you eat?"

He shrugged

Sigh, i guess I'll just have to eat now.

We spent the next 10 minutes in complete silence well except the sounds of the fork clashing with the plate. I was too tired and drained out to start a conversation and I knew he wasn't going to.

"Rough day huh"

And now he talks, wow
Couldn't pick a better day than that huh?

"How'd you know?"

He held his phone in the air showing me his recent chats that included several messages, okay spams of me whining about work, how much I hated working on weekends, how I hated my life, all progressing from a normal vent out to acting like a crazy lady who's escaped from a prison.

Wow, I almost forgot about that.

But hey, to be fair, he makes me feel so much better... I feel like myself ( and not a crazy, sleep deprived, zombie-like looking, prisoner) after i talk to him. Although, the only reply I got was a "👍🏻"...it cracked me up and made me feel less shit.

"Oh that"
I went back to eating food when I almost chocked at what he said next.

"Movie night?"

WOW! SERIOUSLY!

U REALLY HATE ME, DON'T YOU GOD?

Wrong day buddy, your timings suck.

I sighed

"I would love to, just not today...I'm really sleepy and I have work tomorrow, i can barely sit up straigh-"

He's gotta STOP cutting me off with that stupid, electrical stimulator like grip on my forearm.

I groaned as I landed my ass on the sofa and he asked me to pick out a movie.

"Is that a guitar I see? " His eyes widened as I pointed my finger towards the piece of wood laying next to the TV cabinet.

"You play guitar? Wow! Play me a song!" All the sleep and exhaustion left my body and got replaced with a new, excited energy.

He vigorously shook his head.

"OKAY LISTEN HERE, YOU ARE EITHER GONNA PICK THAT GUITAR UP AND PLAY IT OR I'M GONNA SLAM THAT THING ON YOUR HEAD"

I was pretty sure I was breathing out fire at this point.

Sleep can do wonders to a person.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? CHOP CHOP PRETTY FACE, DECIDE FASTER! I'M WASTING MY SLEEPING TIME HERE!" I tapped on my non-existent wristwatch.

He looked at me as if i had grown 4 heads but realising that I wasn't gonna back out, he simply sighed and adjusted the guitar on his arms and started playing it.

I sat there, staring at the amazingly talented man across me as the room got filled with melodious soft tunes of music, i watched this long fingers pulling the steel strings effortlessly, he made the difficult, Swift movements of his hand, look so simple. It was like he was born to do this

A small side smile appeared on his beautiful face as he hummed along the tune.

Am i dreaming? Because his angelic voice felt heavenly.

"Beautiful, crazy
She can't help but amaze me,
The way that she dances,
Ain't afraid to take chances,
And wears her heart on her sleeve
Yeah, she's crazy,
But her crazy's beautiful to me"

"She makes plans for the weekend,
Can't wait to go out,
Till she changes her mind,
And says, "Let's stay on the couch and watch TV",
And she falls asleep"

He sang the song beautiful crazy by Luke combs. I spend the next 15 minutes complimenting him and he just,well sat there with his grumpy face.

At this point of time, all the sleep vanished from my system and i was wide awake. My entire body was on fire and I'm pretty sure he could see my pink tinted cheeks as we were chilling on the sofa, so close to each other.

If someone told me I would stay up till 2am for a GUY, I would laugh at them because the max i could stay awake till was 10pm.

This was different though, it just felt so real, so right.

We spend the next hour talking about the most random things.
Those random things had me smiling, blushing, laughing and staring at him like a fangirl.
Yeah you heard it right, TALKING, and yes he did talk because according to him, i was "too tired and sleepy to remember it".

'Actions speak louder than words' whoever said this, I love you...Even though he doesn't talk much, his actions express how much he cares for me. This gesture of him melted my heart.
(A/N: IM LITERALLY CRYING RN🤧)
He managed to make a random shitty day into a magical one. Never in a million years did i think of the day ending in this manner.

He played the guitar again and his soft calm voice put me to sleep. I could get used to this.
I'm gonna force him to sing to me everyday, even if it means i have to put myself through a shitty day.
It's all worth it.

Halfway through the song,i felt my body in air and being carried to my room, I was too tired to protest and his warm chest just felt so soft and safe.
I almost whined as he layed me on the bed.

I felt a warm soft touch on my forehead after a minute.

I'm dreaming, right?

-----------------------------------

Someone once told me that late night conversations come directly from your heart, your subconscious.
Your brain's just numb, it enables the heart to speak out the truth. Late night conversations unleash the real you.

If you have someone who you can have real, genuine conversations at midnight, appreciate them because not everyone's that lucky.

Anyways, have a great day/ night and always keep smiling

Love love.