Forever and Always

nine

"You know what I hate?"

"Me." Atlas deadpanned.

"Well, yes, but I also hate lifted trucks, people who don't tuck in shirts in the back, the cafeteria smell, pizza, railings that aren't evenly spaced, and my great grandpa Tim," I tell him while sipping on my disgusting coffee. "And this coffee. This coffee is horrible." I throw it away immediately.

"Great grandpa Tim?" He asked.

"Yes. He gave me stocks for my birthday when I was 11. Who gives their only granddaughter stocks for their 11th birthday?" It was true. He did give me stocks. I then let my dad handle them because that's too confusing for an 11 year old.

"I got a pair of highway signs for my 11th birthday," Atlas laughed. I gave him a super confused look. "That's what you get when you're dad likes stealing stuff off of highways,"

"Sorry about that,"

It was now Monday night. 2 days since my date on Saturday and Charlie hadn't stopped asking to hang out. I kept telling him I was busy or that my head hurt. Which it did. But I felt bad for lying.

School was slowly getting easier. Last week was all review so now we're getting into actual stuff and we're going slow. Thank god. So hopefully week 3 into school will be easy.

"What did Cammie mean by saying you have mommy issues?" Raygan had been wondering this too but I honestly didn't expect Atlas to care.

"Oh, something happened with my mom when I was 14. Not a big deal," I waved it off like it was nothing. It wasn't nothing, definitely not nothing. But I couldn't bring myself to tell him.

Lilah knew what happened she just didn't know exactly what. Honestly, I don't think anybody really does because I've refused to talk about it to anyone but my dad.

"You know, Charlie probably isn't the best person to date here," Atlas started playing with his shirt hemming.

I rolled my eyes, "Charlie is just fine. He is a little too Floridian for me though,"

"Seriously! Literally nobody cares that you used to have passed to Disney World or Universal!"

Finally Atlas and I had a decent conversation that didn't end in death threats.

"Elliot Morgan, you aren't the worst person to ever exist," he said after a few beats of silence.

"Fucking yeah I'm not, I'm literally the most entertaining human you'll ever meet," I swear I'm not actually this narcissistic.

Lilah used to tell me that I'm narcissistic all the time. I never believed her. Now that I think about it, she could've been jealous. Lots of people are.

"Why do you still hang out with Cammie if she's such a bitch?" I question.

"Her and I have been friends since her first year here and I honestly feel bad," Atlas sighs, sounding slightly defeated.

"Yeah, no clue why I asked because I do not care. Anyway, I want a tattoo and you're 18 so you're getting it for me," I shot out of my seat on the common room couch.

"Fuck that shit, tattoos hurt." He responded, not standing up.

"How would you know?" I turned back around to him.

Atlas pulled up the back of his shirt and turned around. It was a tattoo of Atlas, the titan god thingy holding up the world. It wasn't big but wasn't too small either.

"Jesus, alright, I'll get one then. Just give me a second to call my dad," I held up a finger and pulled out my phone, clicking my dads contact.

"Hi, wonderful father of mine. I was wondering if you'd let me get a tattoo?"