The following day, Atlas met up with Thea for dinner at a small and cosy restaurant she wanted him to try because she knew her brother loved to check out new places.
"Thank you." Thea smiled and handed the menu to the waiter,
"How did you come about this place?" Atlas looked at his sister,
"Well, when I first moved here, I kind of wandered during my free time and I found this place one weekend and I was glad they didn't have the whole reservation thing going on."
"You're saying you had a meal alone, in a strange country, all by yourself?"
"Tacoma is safe if that's what you're getting at."
Atlas let out a slow steadied breath,
"I'm just glad I'm here now." He said, "No more wandering all by yourself."
"Even if you weren't here, I have Killian now."
Atlas smiled when she smiled,
"Killian uh?"
She nodded,
"Was hoping you'd want to meet him tomorrow."
"Tomorrow's good." Atlas said, "I just have one class and an assignment to send in."
"Great." Thea's put her hands together like she was saying a prayer, excited that her brother would get to meet her boyfriend.
Atlas sat there and couldn't help but think about how much Pierre had an effect on his sister. He noticed how she lit up every time she spoke about him and he knew someone who had that much control over your happiness could easily have an opposite effect on you.
He'd hate to see this break Thea's heart. He could only imagine how bad that would be not just for Thea but for him as well, having to see his sister hurt by someone else. He wouldn't let this guy hurt her.
"I'll text you the place and the time."
Atlas smiled and nodded.
Killian's situation was different from Thea's. Unlike Thea, getting Mac to agree was not as straightforward as Thea had gotten Atlas to agree.
"So, tomorrow?" Killian said as he was side by side with Mac,
Mac stopped and turned to look at her brother,
"What do you mean tomorrow?" She asked with a raised brow,
"I mean you're meeting her tomorrow. We already set it up and everything."
"You can't just spring that up on me last minute."
Killian frowned,
"It's tomorrow, Mac, not in an hour."
"Yea well, I had plans with..."
"Your friends?"
"Yes, if you must know."
Killian sighed and looked away from her for a second,
"You always have plans with them. This is important to me."
Mac looked at her brother and sighed knowing very well that he was right.
"Text me when and where and I'll let you know if I can make it."
Killian squinted his eyes,
"You will be there, right?"
"I said try."
"Honest to God, Mac, if you don't show, I'm not going to talk to you for a year."
Mac clenched her jaw knowing when her brother said 'honest to God', he wasn't kidding.
"And I said I'll try."
Killian sighed and shook his head before he turned around and headed back the same way they came. Mac turned her head and watched him leave before she sighed.
She didn't have Friday plans with the group like she'd told Killian and like she'd lied to the group about having some other party to be at. She was going to take a break from it all and head to her secret spot to unwind from all that had happened throughout the week. But she hoped that Hee decided to step out the coming Saturday so she could go then, else, she'd have to wait till the following week to go.
"Mac!"
Mac glanced in the opposite direction where the group waited for her,
"I'm coming."
She started to walk towards them, her gaze still on Killian as he turned and was out of sight, then she turned her gaze to them.
"Where to tonight?"
Atlas got back to his apartment later that evening after seeing Thea off. He locked his door and put the key on the table near the door before he turned on the lights and headed towards his room. He hopped in the shower for a quick one to get himself freshened up before he hit the books and made some final additions and adjustments to his assignment.
Atlas stepped out of the shower just in time to hear his phone ringing. He walked to the other end of his bedroom where his phone was plugged to charge and just as he picked up his phone, the call ended. He felt a twinge in his chest as he read the notification and he wondered why Simon wanted too badly to get in touch with him after all this time. But at the same time, he wasn't interested in anything he had to say.
Atlas was about to put his phone down when a message came in and it was from Simon. Atlas took a deep breath before unlocking his phone to read the message.
It read:
Hey mate, we need to talk.
Atlas snorted as he turned on the silent mode then placed his phone back down. He turned around and headed to his closet to get dressed. He didn't need anything from Simon much less a conversation with him. He was done and over that part of his life. They'd so easily broken ties with him after Emily and he might not have realized it sooner back then, but later on, he knew it was the best thing for him.
He'd left London with a clean slate in regards to them and he wasn't going to mess things up by getting into what might have or not happened. The only thing he knew he had left of that part of his life in London was the guilt that he had in regards to Emily. That, he was certain, was never going to just go away and he didn't want it to.
He deserved it and more.
CITEȘTI
Broken
Dragoste"There are a few moments in life that are perfect and surreal; like a beautiful dream you don't want to wake up from, but when you do, you can't seem to remember what it was about. Then there are the terrible moments, absolute nightmares that nothin...
