60

~Darlina's POV~

"Where you goin' this late?" Atlas asked as I slipped on my flipflops, glancing back at me from where he sat on the couch. It was about eleven PM on a Friday night and Emmett had already gone to bed, leaving only Atlas and I awake, as neither of us had to work tomorrow and, therefore, didn't bother to go to bed at a certain time.

I adjusted my t-shirt over me and held up my towel. "Oh, I was going to go swimming. There's never anybody down in the pool this late at night, so it's the perfect time to go." I explained, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. He scanned his gaze over the length of my figure, lingering on my bare thighs, before he turned off the TV and rose from the couch with a grunt. "I'll join you." He announced, not waiting for a response before he headed down the hallway to get changed.

Atlas returned after a few minutes, changed into a pair of swim trunks and now without a shirt. My eyes scanned over his bare, tattooed torso and a blush crept up my neck. "Where is your shirt?" I asked, glancing up at him with a frown. He smirked in amusement and lifted an eyebrow. "Why?" He hummed, playing dumb. "Does this bother you, smalls?" He taunted.

"N-No." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned my weight onto one leg. "But...what if someone else sees you?" I worried, chewing on my bottom lip. He just shrugged his shoulders, clearly not caring about it as much as I did. "Who gives a shit?" He responded, only proving me right. Atlas was definitely not the kind of man to care about the opinion of people he didn't know.

A huff left me at his carelessness and I pursed my lips, looking away when a look of realization crossed his face. "Ah, I think I get it." He chuckled, mirth shining in his dark eyes as he stepped closer. "You don't like the idea that someone might check me out. You're jealous." He stated, the accuracy of his words causing my cheeks to flame with embarrassment at being caught. I refused to look at him, opting to continue to stare at the wall instead.

"Jealous?" I echoed, grumbling. "I'm not jealous." I refuted, but he just snickered as he pressed closer to me, causing me to back away until my body hit the edge of the table behind me. My face burned as he gripped my chin and forced my head to the left, causing my eyes to meet his involuntarily. "Then you won't mind going like this. Come on." He said, swiftly brushing past me and towards the front door.

I hesitated, wanting to stop him, but I trailed after him nonetheless. He knew that I was jealous over the idea of anyone seeing him shirtless, but I tried to reason with myself. It was incredibly late, so nobody would even be around to see him, which meant I was essentially getting jealous over absolutely nothing.

So we left the apartment, towels in hand, and I stuck close to him as we entered the apartment complex's pool, which was empty at this late time of night. I sighed in relief, glancing up at Atlas as he watched me with a thoughtful look on his face. Gripping the bottom of the shirt that covered me, I anxiously shifted in my spot and met his gaze. "What?" I asked, unsure why he was looking at me that way.

The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile, so slight that I almost didn't even notice it. "Nothin'." He muttered with a shake of his head, gesturing a muscular, tattooed arm towards the pool. "C'mon." He urged me, already lowering himself into the water without me.

As I pulled my shirt up and over my head, I could feel Atlas' gaze on me, burning into every inch of exposed skin. My cheeks warmed and I threw the shirt onto the ground, forcing myself not to attempt to cover up.

Atlas' arm circled around me as I tried to slowly wade my way into the water, finding it too cold to go in all at once. There was a mischievous glint in his eye that caused me to squeal and attempt to pull away. "Don't!" I complained, grasping onto the metal bar that led into the pool. He just chuckled, using his other arm to pull my grip from the bar and yank me into the water, causing me to gasp. My teeth chattered slightly and I huffed, now clinging to him for warmth. "Y-You're m-mean." I stammered, but he just smirked down at me, his hands clutching the bottom of my thighs when I wrapped my legs around his hips.

"You were takin' too long, smalls. Not my fault." He hummed, only earning a huff from me. I clung to him for a little while longer, adjusting to the temperature of the water before I pushed away from him, kicking my legs to stay afloat.

We swam around for a while with one another, until my legs were actually tired from the fact that I was constantly kicking them just to stay above the water, and I huffed as I sat down on the steps. Atlas chuckled, standing in front of me in the shallow end of the pool before he joined me, though he sat a step or two lower to stay more submerged beneath the water.

I glanced at him as the water lapped around us, pushing a strand of my wet hair behind my ear. "Do you know when you want to go see your mom?" I inquired, scooting closer to him. My thigh bumped against his bicep and Atlas shrugged, throwing his arm around my thigh so his forearm hung into the water between my knees. "Mm, I dunno." He muttered, flicking his eyes up to meet mine. "Part of me still is going back and forth. I dunno if I even want to go see her." He told me. I frowned, brushing my hand against his arm and giving a soft squeeze to his bicep. "I'll be there with you." I said softly. "And I know I can't make the problem go away, but I hope I can at least be a comfort for you in the situation."

His eyes softened as he looked at me, the gentleness of his gaze causing my cheeks to burn. I looked away, staring down into the water instead. He cleared his throat and shifted beside me on the steps, causing the water to ripple around us. "You know, I'm startin' to think I don't deserve you at all." He muttered. "You're the type of person I can't see deserving anything but the best."

The sudden compliment made my heart flutter. "Don't be silly." I said softly, brushing my fingers through his dark, wet hair. "You shouldn't say things like that about yourself."

A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I'm only going to her for you." He decided, his voice a low murmur as he informed me of this. Content with that, I just smiled to myself and continued to play with his hair quietly.

He leaned into my touch and his eyes fluttered shut, causing my heart to pound at the relaxed look on his face. I swallowed thickly and heard him breathe out a sigh. "Hey, smalls," He muttered suddenly, earning a quiet hum from me in response. "Would you ever want me to meet your parents?" He asked, catching me off guard a little. I paused the brushing of my fingers through his hair as I processed his question before resuming once more, my heart racing. "Yes." I whispered, barely able to get the word out.

Thinking about Atlas meeting my parents made my pulse thump rapidly, because I might've not been very experienced in relationships, but I felt like taking him to meet my parents was a serious step forward. I tried not to read too much into his question or what it might mean.

"Yeah?" He repeated lowly, his eyes opening to stare at me. "Because I want to." He admitted. "I want to meet the people who raised a woman like you. And I want them to...like me, I guess." He said, causing a stupid smile to pull at my lips.

"Are you asking to meet them?" I questioned, a giggle slipping out. "My parents can be kind of...intense, I suppose, but they're very nice. I think they'd like you." I told him honestly, and he gave me an uncertain look, as if he didn't quite believe that. "I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you think so." He smiled slightly.

I smiled down at him and leaned over, placing a quick kiss on his cheek before I pulled away. "If you want to meet them, you can." I said, slightly shy about the entire idea yet also admittedly a bit giddy. A small nod of his head made my heart thud faster within my chest. "As long as it's before we go to see my mom. I just...want to see what it might be like, how they are. How they'd see me." He stated. "We'll probably be goin' to see my mom in about two weeks or so. I think I need to mentally prepare myself first." He informed me.

"We can go whenever you like. My parents both work from home, so we can show up whenever." I noted, which caused his brow to quirk up slightly. "Whenever, hm?" He repeated in a hum. "How about Sunday? This Sunday." He murmured, surprising me a little. That was not even two days away.

"Okay, if that's what you want." I agreed nonetheless. It had been a while since I'd seen my parents, anyways. They'd be happy to get a visit. "Sunday it is."