On Thin Ice

22.

Atlas Miller

Kaden's hands grip onto his stomach, attempting to control his laughter. "You stabbed her leg? With your pen?"

A laugh escaped his mouth between each word.

"My god that's hilarious," he shoves his face into the grey throw pillow next to him as he continues to let out muffled laughs.

Only now did I start to realise how childish and idiotic that was.

I groan and cover my face with my hands, rethinking all my life choices; especially the one I just made during geography.

Kaden sits back up and rubs his eyes a few times before I feel his gaze on the side of my head. "What?" I mumble into my hands.

"Have you even told her about the project?"

I internally facepalm myself as I shove my face deeper into my hands. "It's due at the end of this week."

Another irritated groan escaped my lips as I throw my head back and tilt my head slightly to the side. Kaden stares at me like I've just bitten his toe off. "What now?"

"That looked a bit weird, that thing you just did- yeah."

I take the pillow beside me and throw it at him. My eyebrows pinch together. He takes the pillow and throws it back at me while I continue to stare and analyse him.

"Kaden?"

Leaning forward, he takes the remote from the coffee table and scrolls through a bunch of movies before deciding to choose one. Ratatouille. I bet you saw that one coming.

"What were you gonna say?"

I take a few seconds to process his statement, or observation, earlier and stifle a laugh.

"Are you gay?" I lean in and make sure my words come out loud and at a slow pace as I ask him the question, since his hearing was absolutely terrible.

He raises his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Proves my point.

I fight back the urge to roll my eyes but end up failing. "I asked if you were gay."

I make sure to emphasise each word so he hears me clearly this time.

Blankly, he stares at me weirdly. I raise my arms up in defence. "Hey, not that there's anything wrong with it, I support you and all if you are." He smacks the back of my head lightly and rolls his eyes.

"I am not gay, not that there's anything wrong with it, but I am not gay."

I nod slowly and turn my gaze to face the TV in front of us.

"Put something else on for god's sake."

- - -

Autumn Kingsley

Lights were out. There was a blackout.

It's been a while since I've had one of these. And I hated them.

Lighting a match, I take a candle and and set it on. It burns and I watch as the flame gradually liquifies the wax. My dad would completely lose his shit if he saw that I still had a lighter on me and start asking questions.

"Alright autumn pack some of your things, we're staying at the Millers."

I stare at him, delusional, like he was talking a whole other language and I couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

"The Millers?" 

See, the thing is, I didn't have a problem with the Millers, it was Atlas that I had problem with.