26

~Darlina's POV~

Emmett pulled me into Vance's house and I refrained from covering my ears at how loud it was, taken aback by the amount of people here. Sure, I had expected that there'd probably be a little bit more than the amount of people that Emmy had listed to me, but this many? The entire living room must've had twenty people in it, which was too many for me.

I stuck close to Emmett, clutching the back of his shirt with two fingers as I glanced behind me at Atlas. He looked even more annoyed than I thought he would, already glaring at everyone who looked his way for more than a second. Why exactly he had decided to come was beyond me considering he wasn't much of a people person, to put it lightly.

We made our way out of the living room area and into the kitchen, where I spotted Vance's familiar face. Unfortunately, the only other person that I recognized with him was Justine, but even her I didn't know very well at all. She had spoken maybe five words to me in total, and everyone else within the kitchen I didn't recognize whatsoever.

My grip on Emmett's shirt was lost as he grinned at Vance and slipped over to them, doing that weird bro hug that guys always do. "Li, come here!" Em called, a surprised gasp slipping from me when Atlas brushed past me to join Emmett. I nervously wedged my way between people, mumbling apologies until I reached my roommates and felt myself relax a little more. They were definitely the people I felt most at ease with in this house, even Atlas.

"You guys remember Darlina, right?" Emmett said to Vance and Justine, throwing an arm around my shoulder. The both of them nodded, though Vance was more focused on looking at Atlas with a focused, thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah, yeah." He muttered distractedly, furrowing his brows. "You look familiar." He said to Atlas, who just raised an eyebrow disinterestedly at him. Beside me, Emmett snorted. "You don't recognize him at all? It's Atlas." He told Vance, who's lips parted in realization.

"Shit, man. I haven't seen you in years. How you been?" Vance grinned at Atlas, but the grumpy man didn't give him much of a response other than a shrug of indifference. "Fine." Atlas muttered, not seeming interested in making conversation with Vance.

Justine glanced up and down the length of Atlas' figure, cocking up an eyebrow. "Emmett's mentioned you before, but he never said how hot you were." She said, shooting Em a dirty look. I blinked, taken aback at how straight forward she was, but didn't comment on it. She wasn't wrong, after all. Atlas was incredibly good looking, not that I'd ever have the courage to admit it to his face like her.

"Where's everyone else?" Emmett asked, ignoring Justine's remark. Vance looked over at Em, running a hand through the long, dark locks that hung around his face. "They're here. Probably just in the living room or some shit." He answered with a shrug. I awkwardly looked around as Emmett fell into conversation with the two of his friends, cracking open a beer, which I never understood the appeal of. Beer just didn't taste very good to me, regardless of what brand and however many times Emmett tried to convince me it wasn't that bad. Light, fruity drinks were more my thing.

"Want something to drink?" Vance offered me a beer as well and I immediately shook my head, scrunching up my nose a little. "Oh, that's okay. I don't really like beer." I turned down the offer, brushing a strand of hair back. "They've got some of those wine coolers you like, too." Em added in, causing my interest to perk a bit more at the idea.

I nodded my head and smiled when Vance grabbed an unopened one from the fridge, holding it out to me. Beside me, Atlas watched as I twisted the cap off and took a sip, unfamiliar with this brand, but I found it actually tasted pretty good. An amused snort left him when I hummed in delight, drawing my attention up to his handsome face. He was no longer looking at me but rather eyeing those around us with a dirty look on his face, giving me an opportunity to look at him.

Tonight he had dressed rather nicely in a tight black t-shirt with a pair of dark red pants that he had tucked the shirt into, a belt looped through the waist hoops, and black doc martens. It was very different from what I usually saw him wear, but he looked good either way.

"Emmett!" Someone suddenly exclaimed as they entered the kitchen, making me quickly turn away from Atlas when I realized I'd been staring. Hopefully he hadn't noticed for once. "When the hell did you get here? I didn't even see you." Marcel called, followed closely by Emmett's other two close friends, Rylee and Devin.

He looked up and smiled brightly, friendly as always, and repeated the weird bro hug with Marcel and Devin. "Probably ten minutes ago, so not that long." He answered, leaning against the counter. His dark brown eyes cut over to Rylee and he gave her his charming smile, causing the tan skin of her cheeks to tint slightly red. I'd always thought the two of them would be cute together, but Emmett either didn't notice or simply didn't reciprocate her feelings.

Trailing in behind the three familiar faces were two more people, though I didn't recognize them, but Emmett greeted them as well so I assumed they must've been friends of his, too. Emmett knew and got along with a lot of people.

"This is Adrian and Roy." Emmett said to Atlas and I, gesturing to the two men who had entered the kitchen together. He then turned back to the two men and sipped on his beer as he waved a hand towards Atlas and I. "Guys, these are my roommates, Atlas and Darlina." He introduced us to them with a smile, causing Adrian to glance back and forth between us. Roy, the shorter of the two, just cast us a disinterested look and then nodded his head in acknowledgment that he'd heard Em.

"Nice to meet you." Adrian said, though his eyes seemed to mostly be focused on me, probably due to the rather annoyed look that Atlas was giving everyone around us. He probably didn't want to attract too much of the grumpy man's attention, which was smart of him.

I gave him a small smile, peeking up towards Emmett as if he'd tell me what to say but he was clearly already tipsy. "You too." I responded quietly, expecting that he'd probably just leave me alone like all of Em's other friends did. They usually didn't speak to me aside from greetings, so I was surprised when Adrian slid up beside me after Emmett began talking with Justine.

"So you're the roommate I've been hearing about. Emmett talks about you a lot." He mentioned, causing my lips to twitch up slightly. I was admittedly glad to hear that Emmett had spoken about me to his friends, even the ones who didn't know me.

"Oh, I--" As I was responding, Atlas suddenly slid by the two of us, bumping against Adrian's shoulder with his own. I frowned, knowing very well that he'd seen him there and had done that on purpose, though I couldn't say why.

Adrian leaned away despite the fact that Atlas was already gone now, glancing over his shoulder as if he thought the tattooed man would come back. "Is he always like that?" He asked, looking down at me again. I shrugged and nodded my head. "Pretty much, but he's harmless. Just a grump." I responded, eyeing Atlas' broad back as he walked away from us farther.

"Harmless?" Adrian echoed, sounding slightly amused. "I've heard a couple things about him, but harmless? That's new. Honestly, I'm sort of surprised Em even let the guy live with you two." He said, causing my eyebrows to furrow in confusion as I looked at him again. I wasn't sure what he was trying to say, or what he meant by that, especially since this was his first time even meeting Atlas. "I'm sorry?" I frowned, cocking my head to the side. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked. If I was being honest, I almost felt a little defensive, for some reason.

He paused, looking at me as if he was taken aback by my reaction. "Well, his record, obviously." He responded. "I just meant I don't know how I'd feel having someone live with me who went to prison for something like that." He said, but I still just stared at him, lost. Emmett had never told me what exactly Atlas went to prison for, but he did say it wasn't a big deal and I trusted him on that. So I was a little confused as to why this guy was acting like the case was the opposite.

However, doubts began to creep in my mind and I hesitated, unsure what to even say. I set my wine cooler down and bit the inside of my cheek, wondering if Emmett had maybe lied to me, but why would he?

"Are you alright?" Adrian asked after a moment, causing me to hesitantly nod after I realized I had just been staring at him, stumped. He looked at me for a few seconds, seemingly gauging my reaction, before he asked, "Do you...Do you not know, maybe?"

Of course, I just shook my head, unable to really do or say anything else. I was suddenly a little worried about what Emmett had told me, or more accurately, what he hadn't told me. Still, I tried to cling to what I knew about Emmett, and I trusted that he wouldn't do something that would make me uncomfortable, so I forced those worries to the back of my mind where they belonged.

"Really? Em didn't even tell you?" Adrian's eyes rounded with shock and I curled my fingertips nervously around the neck of my wine cooler, giving a feeble shake of my head. "But he said it wasn't a big deal." I tried to insist, not wanting to believe anything else.

Adrian hesitated and just stared at me as if silently debating something with himself. He quietly said, "You didn't hear this from me," Then he stepped just a little closer and I frowned up at him, furrowing my brows. "But I heard he went in for attempted murder."