Darkness

14

"What were you two talking about?" Atlas says, walking over to me and hugging me from behind again.

"Talking shit." I say, shoving another bite of waffles into my mouth.

"Ha ha." He laughs sarcastically. He looks me up and down. "Damn, I forgot how fucking short you are." He says, laughing at his observation.

"Fuck off." I said as I elbowed him in the rib. He jolted back in pain and I heard Kenny laugh.

"Holy shit. You hurt him more than I do." He laughed. "Teach me your ways, dude." He says, bowing down to me as if I was his master.

"Shush. My friend, not yours." Atlas says, pointing at Kenny. 

"Not yours to own." I say. He chuckles, recalling what I said to Lori last night.

"... Huh?" Kenny looks between us,his lip curled up in confusion.

"Inside joke." I state, nodding to Kenny without looking up. I look at Atlas, winking at him.

"Ok. I'm gonna go take a shower. Yell if you need anything." Kenny says, walking up the stairs. Atlas walks over to the other side of the counter. I look up and see him staring at me.

"Dude, why do you keep staring? It's kinda creeping me out." I state, eating more waffles.

"You realize that everyone thinks we're dating now, right?" He asks, a smirk tugging at his lips. I drop my fork in realization. Atlas chuckles.

"Fuck." I whisper under my breath.

Atlas walks up towards me. "Hey, don't worry. I got this. We can just pretend to date for a bit." He assures me, caressing my cheek. I feel my face heat up and smile at him.

"What happens if they find out it's fake?" I ask.

"Deny, deny, deny. I think we can sell it for a bit, anyways." He murmurs. His eyes flicker down to my lips for a split second.

"Hmm. Really. Why's that?" I ask, turning my head away from him to try and annoy him.

He holds my chin and tugs my head towards him, making me face him, and leans into me. Our faces were just inches apart. Just like last night. "This jog your memory?" He eyes dart between both of mine. He looks a t my lips again, lingering a bit, but not long enough for me to process what had happened.  That one simple action made my heart skip a couple beats.

"Mmm... not really." I whisper, my eyes traveling from his eyes to his lips and back up.

"Let me jog it some more, huh?" He says and leans in more, the gap between us even smaller than before. My breath quickens and I try to stabilize it, the attempt quickly falling short. "You remember now?"

"Nope, not yet." I say. "Let me try?" He nods his head and I close the space between us, once again. This time, the kiss feels... different. I don't know how to describe it, but yesterday it felt forced and sort of awkward, but... not really. Now, it feels a lot more genuine. Passionate, if you will. He pulls away, a little too soon.

"Memory jogged?" He asks, pulling away.

"A little." I chuckle.

"Sure. Either way, you feel the difference between yesterday and just now?" I nod in response. He leans in, again.

God, he's going to drive me insane in a minute.

"Imagine how that will feel to everyone the more we do it. Especially to us." He whispers, winking at me. I back up, the tension getting too high.

"I'm good. Don't really wanna imagine that." I say, trying to hide the effect of what had just happened.

"Mmhm. You wanna feel it instead?" He asks teasingly, walking towards me.

"Do I have a choice?" I say, looking up into his eyes. My eyes are rounded, looking pleading almost. They're basically puppy eyes. His eyes narrow, and an unidentifiable emotion flickers across his gaze.  

"Don't look at me like that, Faye." He breathes. He walks close to me, now towering over me.

"What eyes?" I say, giving him wider, doe-er eyes.

He sighs. "Come with me." He says, his tone dark. He drags me outside of the house and into his car. "Your brother has baseball today, right?" He cocks an eyebrow as he looks over to me.

"Mmhm."

"Parents?" He looks straight, adjusting his rearview mirror slightly. 

"Don't know, don't care. Not home, though." I pick at my cuticles, avoiding his gaze. 

"Perfect." He says under his breath, starting the car and driving off. "Do me a favor, call Kenny and tell him we're going to your house."

"Sure." I do as he says and hang up.