24

~Darlina's POV~

"Oof!" I huffed as I hauled the last of the groceries up onto the counter after Atlas and I got home, struggling with the weight of the bags. I sighed in relief at the fact that these were the last of the groceries, flicking a strand of hair out of my face.

"This is a shit-load of groceries, Li." Emmett commented as he entered the kitchen, sounding amused. I looked over at him and smiled, beginning to put them all away. "I made Atlas get some things too." I explained, watching as he smiled in a way that told me he was happy to hear that. "Of course you did." He chuckled, coming over to help me put them up.

"Where'd Atlas go, anyway?" He asked me, causing me to shrug my shoulders. "Probably back to his room. Judging by the way he was glaring at every person who so much as walked by us, I'd say he wasn't very happy about having to go grocery shopping." I answered, snickering quietly. Emmett just snorted, not seeming very surprised by that whatsoever, and put his food up on the top shelf in the pantry. He usually put all his food up there since I never ate it and I couldn't reach that shelf, anyways, which gave me more room to use the other shelves instead.

The two of us finished putting up the groceries before I looked up at him. "Is the food here?" I asked hopefully, very much wanting to eat now. He gave me a sheepish smile and shook his head, though. "Not yet, no, but it should be in the next ten minutes or so. You guys were a little faster than I thought you'd be."

I pouted but nodded. "Then I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back!" I proclaimed, scurrying out of the kitchen. I headed to my room and gently kicked the door shut, slipping off my shoes before I set them in the closet and then made my way into my bathroom. I washed my hands before I brushed out my hair and tied up the blonde strands in a very messy, not so well done bun on my head. It just looked like a mess atop my head, but it was the best I could do.

After quickly using the toilet, I washed my hands again before leaving the bathroom, making my way back to the living room. I sat down on the couch, pulling the fuzzy throw blanket over me as I curled my legs up beneath me on the cushion. Not even two minutes later, there was a knock on the front door, causing me to look up, expecting Emmett to answer it. However, after about thirty seconds passed and Emmett still hadn't even exited the kitchen, I popped up off the couch and poked my head into the kitchen. It was empty, and I had no idea where Emmett was.

Frowning, I hurried over to the front door and opened it, giving the man a friendly smile. "Hello." I greeted, grabbing a ten dollar bill off the table beside the front door as a tip. He gave me a single nod of his head and took the money when I offered it to him, scanning his eyes over the length of my figure.

"Lotta food for just you." The man said, causing my lips to part. I went to correct him, a little embarrassed that he thought all of this was for me, but jumped in surprise when the door swung open wider behind me. Emmett appeared, bumping me slightly to the side. "Good thing it's not just her." He responded, taking the two bags of food. "Thanks, dude." He said, not bothering to wait before he slammed the door and locked it.

Startled by his bad attitude towards the delivery man, I gaped up at him. "That was mean." I stated, shaking my head. Emmett almost never treated people like that, so it was always surprising when he did. "Why'd you do that?" I asked, lost.

Em just looked at me for a second and shook his head. "Nothing, Li." He smiled, ruffling my hair before he carried the food in the direction of the kitchen. I frowned and cocked my head to the side, still very much confused.

"Do you seriously not know why he reacted like that, or are you just fuckin' with him?" Atlas suddenly spoke up, his voice a low murmur from where he was leaning against the wall. I looked up, not having noticed him even enter the room, and furrowed my brows. "What?" I said. "Am I supposed to know...?" I asked, trailing off in uncertainty.

Atlas cocked up an eyebrow and snorted. "For fuck's sake." He muttered, shaking his head. "You're even more oblivious than I thought." He chuckled, not bothering to elaborate before he headed into the kitchen after his best friend. I stood there for a moment before hurrying after him, wondering if he'd tell me what exactly that was supposed to mean. "I'm not oblivious." I protested, huffing in offense. He rolled his eyes and glanced at me, giving me a look that told me he very much disagreed, though I don't know why he would.

"Sure you aren't, smalls. Sure." He said simply, making it rather obvious that he had no intention of elaborating. My shoulders slumped as we entered the kitchen, accepting the fact that neither Emmett nor Atlas seemed to be willing to explain to me what had just happened.

The scent of food caused my stomach to rumble, affectively making me forget all about the matter as I crowded around the bags of food in front of Emmy. "Where's mine?" I asked eagerly, peering around him. He laughed and elbowed me playfully, causing me to stumble. "Just a second. I'm making sure they got all our shit right." He told me, to which my lips parted in an 'o' of understanding.

I waited patiently, or as patiently as I could considering how hungry I was, and bounced on the tips of my toes. He eventually pushed a styrofoam container over to me and another one over to Atlas. "Here you go. Those should be yours." He told the both of us, and I grinned, giving him my thanks before I ran over to the dining room table to eat. I sat down, followed rather closely by Atlas, who had Emmett trailing just behind him.

As we were eating, Emmett reached over and suddenly tapped me on my elbow, causing me to look up at him. "How do you feel about going out to a party tomorrow night?" He asked me, the question catching me off guard.

Not finding the idea too appealing, I scrunched up my nose and swallowed the food in my mouth. "I don't know..." I trailed, unsure. "You know I'm not really one for parties." I reminded him, taking another bite out of my chicken burger. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah, but you told me you've never even been to one. What if you end up liking it?" He asked, popping some nachos into his mouth.

Despite the fact that he was right, I still hesitated, chewing my food slowly as I considered the question. "Well, who's party would it be? And who would be there?" I questioned, nibbling on the end of a french fry. "It's Vance's, remember him?" He told me. "So it'd be me, Vance, Marcel, Rylee, Devin, and Justine. Maybe a couple other people, too." He answered, and I hummed, now even more unsure than before. Those were all Emmett's friends, and while I had nothing against any of them, I didn't really know them either. There had been a couple of times where I'd hung out with them, but I didn't really mesh with his friend group the way that I did with him.

"I don't know, Emmy. You remember how it went the last time I hung out around them, and they were sober then." I pointed out, sticking another fry into my mouth. The last time he invited me to hang out with his friends, they talked to me a little bit and then I was basically left doing nothing after about five minutes.

He cringed slightly as he recalled it. "I know, but I thought maybe it'd be nice for you to experience this, I guess. You don't really get out too much." He said, which perhaps would've offended me if it were anybody else saying this, but it didn't only because it's Emmett. I knew he didn't mean it in a bad way. "Partying just doesn't appeal to me, is all." I excused softly, picking at a french fry absentmindedly.

"Okay." Emmett decided after a moment, finally giving in on the matter. "I won't bug you about it, then. I just thought maybe you'd want to try something new." He sighed, obviously a little disappointed despite how he tried not to be. It made me bite my lip, feeling somewhat guilty that I'd disappointed him. "I mean, maybe you're right..." I trailed, pushing back a loose strand of hair that fell into my face. "I've never really been to a party before. Maybe it'd be fun."

"So...you'll try it? I mean, you'll go?" Em asked, surprised. I hesitated and Emmett spoke up when he noticed. "You don't have to if you really don't want to." He assured me. The feeling of a pair of eyes burning into the side of my head made me look up, locking gazes with Atlas as he stared at me, leaning back in his chair. He'd somehow already finished eating, it seemed.

My cheeks burned and I reluctantly nodded. "N-No, it's okay." I stammered. "I'll try it."