When Our Paths Crossed (bxb) - Complete

Olive Branch

"SO, WHERE DID you go the other night?" Desiree asks as she places two pints of beer on the table. "You just disappeared from the party."

The campus bar, The Point, is smaller than I imagined but lively. It's tucked away in the corner of the main campus, branching into the cafeteria. It's open, obvious and yet subtle enough that no one makes a big fuss over a pub being on a university campus. Which, I suppose is, well, the point. It's a pretty clever title if you ask me. 

Even though it's barely after one o'clock in the afternoon, the place is packed with students. Makes me wonder if anyone has any classes or if they're skipping like me. The pub isn't overly big, but it's roomy enough to fit a couple of pool tables near the wall facing the street. Bar tables and chairs spatter the rest of the place and walls are covered with a variety of university posters, medals, jerseys, and other bar-like paraphernalia. 

The weird thing is, everyone seems to know everyone here, and I see a lot of mingling.

I take my beer with a shrug. "Home. Atlas and I kind of had a fight."

She nods in understanding as I take a sip of the bitter beer. I've never really been one for beer. 

"Can I ask you something? Has Atlas always been a defensive jerk?"

The question catches Desiree off guard, and she spits out some of her beer before laughing loudly. She waves her reaction off with a grin as my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I did not expect that reaction. 

"Atlas has been the same way for as long as I can remember. We used to go to school together. He's had a rough go of things, though, with his mom. Jumping to the defence is his way of handling a situation, I guess." 

"Yeah, well, he's still a jerk," I mutter into my glass. She sighs with another nod. 

"Maybe," she says, and we clink our glasses together. "It's hard being friends with him, but under that rough shell, Atlas is a good guy, and I think he genuinely cares about you. He just has a hard time showing that and his vulnerability."

I don't say anything to that. My simmering anger still too hot to accept any olive branch anyone wants to extend for him.

"What happened?" I ask. "Between him and his mom?"

Desiree drops her gaze to watch the swirling bubbles in her drink. "He and June didn't have any easy childhood... their mom had a lot of demons of her own, which she took out on her kids..." She cleared the words from her throat. "That's something Atlas should probably tell you. It shouldn't come from me." 

I grip the sweaty glass tighter as I mull over her words. The anger seeps out of me suddenly, like venom being drawn from a snake bite. It doesn't excuse his attitude, but if his mother was really that bad then it explained a lot. Maybe I was being too hard on him. 

"Enough about Mr. Crabbypants, what about you?" Desiree asks as my shoulders sag forward.

I flash another confused look at her.