Atlas

Thirty Two

I was awoken by my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I picked up on the third ring. Yawning, I rubbed my eyes. It was already 7pm.

"You promised you'd go out with meeeee."

"Hi, Dimi. I remember." I chuckled. "Thought we were going out at 10 or something."

"We are, but I wanted to come over and dress up. Or you can come. And I was just calling to make sure you wouldn't tap out."

"Nah, I have nothing else to do anyways. Come over. Did you eat?"

"No, but I made burritos. I'll bring you some."

"Aw, thanks. Is Reece coming too?"

"No, he has an exam on Monday. I'll see you in an hour."

"Sure." I cut the call and decided to take a shower before Dimia came over. I scrubbed my body raw, shampooed twice – it was pet peeve of mine – and later blow-dried my hair all under the hour.

I was just finishing up the laundry when my doorbell rang. Dimia swung the door open and stepped in. She was holding a bag and a plastic container of food.

"Yum. Aunt Maria's recipe?"

"My recipe is better than my mom's." she smirked. "Trust."

I opened the container and took a bite. It was pretty good, I'd give her that, but the chicken was nowhere as soft as Aunt Maria could make it.

"It's great, Dimi, thanks." I said. She took off her shoes and coat and sat down on the couch next to me.

She enveloped me in a tight hug. "How are you, my love? I miss you so much, I rarely get to see you."

"We saw each other two days ago." I laughed.

"Which is a very long time ago." She frowned and grabbed a burrito, nearly stuffing half of it into her mouth. "I'm sick of Reece's face. I need to see you more often."

"Deal." I laughed. "So where do you want to go tonight?"

"Okay, so don't get mad, but the bar where Atlas works."

"Why?" I wasn't mad, just a bit uncomfortable. I'd rather avoid Atlas where I could and showing up to where he worked wouldn't look the least bit good. 

I was, however, happy that Phoebe might be working tonight too.

"A couple of the seniors are throwing a party."

"At a bar?"

"To be fair, it's pretty big." She shrugged. "And apparently, that's normal here. Anyways, a lot of people are going to show up and I'm tired of going to empty clubs and those little pubs in town where all I see are businessmen and old people."

"Fine." I managed a small smile. "Just keep me away from Atlas, and we're good."

"Deal." She said. "Now on to more important matters, what are you going to wear tonight?"

"It's freezing. I was thinking maybe a sweater? And jeans but with thermals underneath." At this point, Dimia had finished her entire burrito and I was only half done with mine. I gobbled it up as fast as I could and went to grab us some Coke from the fridge.

"A cute top, and I'll allow the jeans. How's OUR mom, by the way? I miss her."

"She's fine. We can call her if you want."

"Yeah, of course." Dimia loved my mom, even going so far as to call her family. Reece did too. My mom was like that – everyone absolutely adored her.