29

~Darlina's POV~

My head ached when I woke up, a groan leaving me as I sat up in bed and brushed my hair out of my face. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and glanced at the time, my eyes widening when I saw that it was past noon. This had to be the latest I'd ever woken up before.

Not wanting to waste any more of the day in bed, I slipped from beneath my blankets and headed into the bathroom, first starting up the shower to let the water heat up. I brushed my teeth while waiting and then got into the steaming hot shower, trying to remember anything from last night as I washed my hair. The last thing I remembered clearly was joining Emmett and Atlas after having been harassed by the drunk guy, but it became hard to remember much after that. I didn't even remember how I got changed or if I was the one who even changed me, but I hoped that was the case.

I sighed as I rinsed my hair, unable to believe that I had drank so much alcohol that I couldn't remember what happened. That was something I'd never done before, and it was something I never wanted to do again. The fact that I had bits of my memory missing was a feeling I didn't like, and not one I wanted to experience again.

Layering my hair with conditioner, I let it sit for a few minutes while I washed my body and then rinsed it afterwards. I quickly finished up showering before I got out, wrapping myself in a towel to dry off. My hair was left to dry while I pulled on a pair of fuzzy white shorts, a cropped pink tank and fluffy pink ankle socks that kept my feet warm. They were my favorite type of socks, so I had several pairs in different colors.

After I was dressed and had taken an ibuprofen, I spritzed on a bit of perfume before leaving my room, wanting to find something to eat. It was unlikely that Emmett was awake, given that I recalled from earlier on in the night that he'd been rather drunk even then, which meant he probably remembered less of last night than I did and was therefore more hungover as well. He likely was still asleep, knowing him, though I couldn't say if Atlas was or not. I wasn't even sure if Atlas had drank last night, but considering we had all gotten home safely, I assumed he hadn't.

Unsurprisingly, I found Atlas was already awake when I entered the living room, his large frame sitting on the couch with his legs stretched out comfortably. He looked up upon my arrival, dark eyes zeroing in on me in a way that made me slow my steps, taken aback. I frowned, a little confused as to why he was staring at me so intently, and nervously looked away.

Had I done something to him last night? Oh no, what if I had said or done something utterly embarrassing and now I couldn't remember what? But I didn't want him to know I didn't remember anything though because that in itself was embarrassing, so I couldn't even ask him why he was looking at me like that or he'd know I had no idea what happened!

Not wanting to consider what exactly I had done, I turned and quickly headed into the kitchen, nervously fiddling with the damp ends of my hair. I opened up the fridge and stared into it absentmindedly, still thinking about what I could've done to make Atlas look at me like that.

As I was staring into the fridge, not necessarily looking for food but rather just staring into it as if it had the answers I was currently trying to remember, the door was suddenly pushed shut. I jumped in surprise, a frown forming on my lips at the rude action. "Hey," I huffed and glanced over my shoulder, only to be spun around by a grip on my elbow.

Atlas stepped close to me, cornering me against the fridge so I couldn't leave. I stared up at him in surprise, a flustered blush creeping up my neck. "What are you doing?" I asked, attempting to put some space between us by sliding slightly to my right to escape. He placed a hand beside my head, stopping me, and ducked his head down to look me in the eye. "We need to have a talk, Darlina." He told me in a mutter, and I shrunk slightly from nerves.

"W-Wait!" I protested immediately, shaking my head. "I don't know if I did something embarrassing, but please can we just not talk about it?" I begged, almost not wanting to know what had him acting like this.

However, a smirk tugged at his lips as if he found the question amusing. "Oh? But I really think we should. In fact, you're not leaving this spot until we do." He hummed, trailing his gaze over my nervous features. I remained quiet, wrapping my arms around my stomach as I peered up at him. "Fine." I grumbled, looking away when I couldn't take the eye contact anymore.

He paused for a moment, just peering down at me like he expected me to say something, and only broke the silence once he seemed to come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to. "Who told you?" He asked, the sudden question confusing me. I tilted my head back, my eyes widening when I realized his face was now closer than before, close enough that our noses brushed. "W-What?" I stammered, unable to stop my eyes from dropping to his lips. "Told me...?" I echoed.

If I was being honest, my mind was focusing in and out of the matter at hand, too distracted by his closeness and the shape of his lips.

"Mhm." He affirmed, the tip of his tongue swiping out across his bottom lip. I caught the glint of something metallic and stared harder, wondering if I had imagined it. Did he have a tongue piercing? How had I only just now noticed? My mind went out of focus once again. "About my prison sentence." He said.

Now my attention was fully on what he was saying, eyes wide at the topic of conversation. I stared at him, shocked at the fact that he knew, and finally understood why he had been looking at me like that earlier. While I was drunk, I must've said something to him and now I didn't remember what.

Flustered by the sudden confrontation, I stared up at him in silence as I processed the words he'd just said. "Y-Your...prison sentence?" I echoed, biting the inside of my cheek nervously. My eyes searched his features, trying to determine how he felt, but I couldn't quite tell much. A wry smile formed on his lips. "Oh? Do you not remember asking me about it last night?" He guessed correctly, only serving to make me embarrassed that I didn't remember that either.

I gave a reluctant shake of my head. "I...I never meant to." I whispered, embarrassed. "I had meant to talk to Emmett about it first. Maybe I was just hoping it wasn't true." I tried to excuse, wishing that I had never brought it up to him. His eyes narrowed on mine. "Why would you bring it up to him when it's about me?" He asked, and I shrugged, huffing slightly. "Because he wasn't entirely truthful to me, and I was upset about that." I grumbled, still feeling a little bitter on that aspect of the matter. "I was under the impression you went for something minor."

"So to know you went for attempted murder..." I trailed off weakly, looking away as I tried to do anything but think too deeply about what that meant. His fingertips brushed along my arm and I shivered, attempting to shy away. "Does that change things? You always insisted you weren't scared of me before." He said, almost teasingly. "Are you scared of me now?"

A silence passed as I considered his question, my heart racing so hard that I could feel the tremble of my fingertips ever so slightly. Yet I knew from the hot blush in my face and the fact my eyes seemed drawn to his lips that it wasn't from fear.

"Umm," I cleared my throat, giving a slight shake of my head. "N-No." I whispered, fully meaning my words despite the shake of my voice. However he seemed to take it as meaning the exact opposite because he snorted, not looking very convinced whatsoever. "No? Then why do you sound so unsure of that?" He retorted, cocking up an eyebrow.

My mouth seemed to fail me for a minute as his touch trailed to my wrist, a glint in his eye that was unfamiliar yet caused an odd stir low in the pit of my belly. "I mean it." I insisted. "You're just...You're too close right now."

His lips twitched up into a slight smirk. "Careful, smalls. Blush any harder and I might start to think you somehow like me more now." He taunted, causing me to place my hands on his chest as I tried to push him away, embarrassed. "Shut up." I whispered, peeking up at him from beneath my lashes.

"It was Adrian that told me. He just...I mean, he and I were talking and it just sort of came up, and then he told me when he realized I didn't know. That's it." I told him, trying to change the subject from how clearly flustered I was. If he could see it, I wanted to bring up anything but that for him to focus on.

The smirk fell and he scowled. "You mean the fucker was just airing my business without even knowing me?" He scoffed, seemingly annoyed by the news, and I nodded slightly. "I wasn't exactly sure if I believed him at first, but...you're not denying it." I mentioned, relaxing a little when he straightened to step away, putting some distance between the two of us that allowed me to think a bit more straight. His dark blue eyes peered at me closely as he leaned against the edge of the island counter, crossing his muscular arms across his chest.

"I'm not going to deny something that's true." He responded, the blunt words making me remain quiet. My lips parted in surprise, both at the fact that he was being honest and the weight of his crime. Yet somehow I wasn't scared of him whatsoever. He hadn't always been the nicest to me, but he'd never done anything to hurt me either and somehow I knew he wouldn't.

I hesitated, wanting to know more yet considering whether or not I should ask him something like that. "Can I ask what happened?" I asked after a moment, the two of us staring at one another. "No." He answered in a murmur. "I don't want to talk about it." He said simply, offering no further explanation.

"Okay..." I accepted his response with a nod of my head, not wanting to push him on the matter. If he wasn't willing to tell me, then I'd leave him alone about it. I looked at him for a moment before I turned around, opening the fridge up again to look for something to eat.

Thinking he was still here, I turned around after having grabbed a bowl of mixed fruit that I'd put in there the other day, and frowned when I saw that he was suddenly gone.

I let the fridge swing shut and bit on the inside of my cheek, wishing he had stayed a little longer.