3

~Darlina's POV~

When I woke up on Wednesday afternoon, Emmett had already left the apartment to go pick up his friend. I'd been up late last night, and ended up sleeping in later than I meant to.

So, naturally, I was feeling frantic as I rushed back into my room in a towel, fresh out of the shower. I began searching through my closet for something to wear, biting on my lip. Not wanting to take too long to pick out an outfit, I grabbed one of my favorite dresses to wear at home, setting it on my bed while I put on my undergarments.

It was a light gray dress with white frilly lace along the bottom and across the neckline, the long sleeves covering my arms. I left my hair down to dry and quickly did just a bit of makeup, not having much time to do anything else. The apartment still needed to be cleaned. If I had been smart, I would've done it before bed last night but I didn't think to. So I began to clean the guest bedroom first, making sure that the bed was properly made and that Emmett hadn't stuck some random things in the room like he sometimes did. If he had things that he didn't know what to do with, oftentimes he'd stick it in the guest room. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

Luckily, there wasn't much straightening up to do in the bedroom so I left, moving to the kitchen next. Most of the dirty dishes had already been done last night, thanks to me, but Emmett had dirtied a few things up in the morning so I quickly washed them before putting them in the dishwasher.

My eyes flicked over to the clock as I dried my hands after I was finished, tossing the hand towel onto the counter before entering the living room. First I folded the fuzzy throw blanket that we kept in our living room and draped it over the back of the couch, fixing the small pillows next.

With how quickly I was getting things done, I had assumed that I was likely going to be done before they got here, which excited me. However, it was as I was in the middle of sweeping that I heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, the door opening a moment later. I hurriedly swept up what I could and then ran into the kitchen to empty the dust pan.

I turned back around, leaving the broom leaning against the wall by the fridge, and froze when Emmett was just standing there with an amused expression on his face. "Everything okay?" Emmett asked with a chuckle, cocking an eyebrow up at me. A blush of embarrassment crept up my neck and I nodded awkwardly, hoping that I hadn't made a fool out of myself by practically sprinting away like that.

Emmett smiled and gestured for me to come with him, not waiting for my response before he turned and began to leave. I paused for a second and then reluctantly skittered after him, nerves fluttering around in my stomach. Meeting new people was hard for me, but I felt even more nervous than normal.

We entered the living room and I kept close to Emmett, but he nudged me away and into his friend's line of sight. "This is my best friend, Atlas." Emmett told me with a gesture to the large man. "And this is Darlina, my roommate." He said to Atlas, placing a friendly hand on my shoulder.

My eyes landed on his friend and promptly widened at the sight of him, stunned by his looks. He wasn't at all what I'd thought he'd be, though I suppose I hadn't really been sure what to expect.

He was tall, probably a little bit over six feet, and his arms were practically the size of melons. Though he was wearing long sleeves, I easily noticed the tattoos on both of his hands and the tattoos that went up his neck, stopping at his jaw. His dark brown hair was cut short around the sides and left longer on the top, the dark strands neatly styled. I noticed his ears and nose were pierced as well. With dark blue eyes and full lips that sat beneath a straight nose, I couldn't help but to be surprised by how handsome he was.

Feeling flustered and more than a little bit nervous, I looked up at Emmett as if he'd tell me what to say. Instead, he elbowed me in the side and I stumbled a little from the force, much to my embarrassment. I quickly turned to Atlas, who was just standing there with probably the most intimidating resting face that a person could have.

Unable to look him in the eye, I glanced away and instead nodded my head like a fool. "I'm Darlina." I said weakly, flicking my eyes up to his after a moment. My mom had always told me that looking at someone while talking to them is polite, but he was so intimidating that I was having trouble with it, perhaps for the first time in my life. I couldn't seem to look him in the eye for more than two seconds.

"So I heard." He responded flatly, his voice coming out husky and low. I bit the inside of my cheek and nervously shifted on my feet, wondering why I had reintroduced myself when Emmett had literally just said that.

"Shouldn't you show him his room?" I asked Emmett, fiddling around with the lace along the skirt of my dress. His eyes lit up as if he just realized that I was right. "Yeah." He said and then turned, gesturing for the intimidating man to follow. I quickly stepped out of Atlas' way and watched Emmett lead him down the hallway. When they were far enough away, I began to clean the rest of the floor quickly before storing the broom back where it belonged.

I stretched my arms when I finished, wandering back into the living room. "Did you just wake up, Li?" Emmett asked as I entered, glancing at me from where he now was on the couch. There was an amused smile lingering on his lips, whereas a slight pout formed on mine at his question. "You can tell?" I responded. "How?" I asked, a little sulkily.

A laugh left him and he gestured towards my face. "Your hair's still wet, and you're barely wearing any makeup." He told me. "Not to mention that you were still in the middle of sweeping when we came in." He added, stretching a leg out.

Sighing, I plopped down on the couch opposite him and crossed one leg over the other. "I overslept, so I didn't have enough time to do more makeup than this." I explained, absentmindedly bouncing my foot. He chuckled and raised an eyebrow curiously at me, lowering his voice to a murmur. "You seemed a little nervous earlier. Everything okay?" He asked, his dark eyes searching mine.

Embarrassed that he had noticed, I nodded my head and internally hoped that Atlas hadn't thought I was a weirdo for how weird I'd acted. "Yes." I mumbled. "I just wasn't expecting it. He's...a little intimidating looking." I admitted softly, leaning against the arm of the couch. He laughed, his shoulders shaking with his amusement. "I could tell. You looked like you were expecting the guy to eat you if you said the wrong thing." He teased, snorting.

"He's...got a lot of tattoos." I said weakly, and he nodded his head. "Mhm. Atlas has always liked tattoos." Emmett told me. I bit the inside of my cheek and leaned a little more towards him, the couch digging into my ribs a bit. "How long do you expect him to stay with us?" I asked, curious.

Emmett hummed in thought and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Probably for a while, really. He's been locked up, so he needs time to get back on his feet." He explained, to which I nodded in understanding. "Okay." I said simply, accepting the answer. It wasn't like I expected the guy to get out of our apartment within a month, or even four or five. Being an adult required a lot of things.

We lapsed into a comfortable silence and, because of that silence, it was easy to hear the heavy footsteps that began to come down the hallway towards the living room around twenty minutes later.

The large man plopped down on the couch that Emmett was on, leaning back into the cushions with his muscular thighs slightly spread and his arm propped on the edge of the couch. I avoided looking anywhere near his vicinity and instead stood up, brushing my fingers through my hair.

Emmett looked up as I stood, giving me a curious look that I just returned with a small smile. I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at the hall. "I'm gonna go to my room. You guys probably want time to catch up." I told him, deciding to use what was most likely the truth as my excuse for leaving.

Thankfully, Em didn't bother arguing against it, allowing me to leave the living room to go hide in my room instead.