Sin and Sinner

13

~Darlina's POV~

I looked up as Emmett suddenly came striding through the living room with a kind of angry expression on his face, not stopping for even a second before continuing down the hallway. A few seconds later, I heard the slam of his bedroom door being shut.

Confused and a little bit worried, I tilted my head back as Atlas came walking out after a minute or two with an odd look on his face. I hesitated, silently debating with myself on whether I should speak to him or not. He'd made it more than clear that he didn't want anything to do with me and I didn't want to pry if it wasn't something that was my business. However, Emmett had seemed genuinely upset, which worried me.

"What's wrong with Em?" I asked him, deciding to bring it up in the end. Atlas let his eyes wander to me at the sound of my voice, a frown on his full lips. "Nothing." He muttered, clearly lying. Knowing this, I stared at him for a second before I sighed and looked back towards the television, giving up. This man was as stubborn as a mule. If he didn't want to tell me, I knew by now that there was nothing I could do to persuade him into it. Even if I tried, it'd probably just make him dislike me more, and I didn't want that so I let it go.

Atlas lingered in the living room for a moment, as if he was trying to decide what he wanted to do, and I resisted the temptation to look over at him. Eventually, he left and I faintly heard his bedroom door click shut, confirming that I was now totally alone.

I sighed and looked down at my lap, fiddling my fingers absentmindedly.

**

"Li," I heard a familiar voice call, causing me to groan and roll over in my bed, tangling myself up further within my blanket. I buried my face into the pillow. "Go away," I whined, my voice muffled. Emmett didn't respond so I sighed happily, assuming that he had listened and decided to leave to let me sleep.

Then, a big pillow hit me on the back of my head, causing me to yelp in surprise. I covered my head and rolled over as he continued to hit me with the pillow until I launched out a foot, kicking it out of his hands. I sat up with a huff when he didn't try to hit me with it again, my hair a mess on my head from the pillow attack. "What?" I asked tiredly, running my fingers through my hair so it was out of my face.

"Get up." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sick of this. You and Atlas are going to have to get along." He told me, causing me to frown up at him once I had fully processed his words. "I've tried, though." I responded defensively. "He doesn't want to be my friend, and that's fine. Aren't you the one who always used to tell me that you can't be friends with everyone?" I mumbled, causing him to scowl at me.

"That was a different situation. You used to try to befriend the weirdest people, Li." He argued. "The last time I had to remind you of that you were trying to befriend some chick that walked around trying to sell sex toys out of her purse in front of the apartment complex."

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment and I looked away, staring down at the floor. "I didn't know what they were at the time.." I defended weakly, earning a snort of amusement. I had grown up very sheltered, and so I hadn't recognized what she'd been attempting to sell me until Emmett told me.

Emmett nudged my foot playfully. "Yeah, yeah, outta bed already." He insisted, to which I reluctantly climbed out of bed like he'd asked. I was already awake now anyway, so there was no point in arguing with him.

I fixed my hair a bit and then frowned at Emmett through the reflection in the mirror. "Wait," I turned around to face him. "How exactly do you intend to make Atlas be my friend? I don't think anyone can make him do something he doesn't want to." I said honestly, watching as his lips tugged up into a mischievous grin. The sight had me feeling a little bit nervous.

"Don't you worry about that, Li." He chuckled, now grinning like a madman as he turned and left, causing me to hurry after him in confusion. I wasn't sure what that meant.

We entered the living room where Atlas was already waiting with an impatient look on his face, a pair of sweatpants hanging low on his hips and a tank top that left his tattooed arms and a portion of his chest exposed. I almost smacked into the back of Emmett when he stopped, too busy looking at Atlas' frame to realize. An odd feeling stirred in my belly that made me shift uncomfortably.

"Could this not have waited, dude?" Atlas snapped at Emmett, bringing my attention back to the situation at hand. He just shrugged at the giant of a man. "Quite frankly, no." Em responded. "You two need to sort out your shit. Especially you, asshole. Darlina just wants to be your friend and we all know it's not for her sake." He scoffed, causing my eyes to widen. I nudged him in the side, finding that a little bit rude of him to say, but he just raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not bad that you want to get along with him just because he's my friend. At least you made an effort."

Atlas' jaw clenched. "I don't see why this matters, Emmett. She and I have nothing against one another." He said, his eyes cutting over to mine. "Isn't that right, smalls?" He added, gazing at me intently.

I gave a shaky nod of my head and hummed in affirmation, a little wary of the tension in the room. "Oh?" Emmett snorted, as if amused. "Yet you can't even stand to be around her. I'm not an idiot, A. I've known you too long not to know how you are." He scowled, causing me to frown, unsure what he was trying to say. I stood there, a little bit stumped as the two of them argued back and forth.

"You knew the old me. I've been locked up four fucking years. Do you really think I didn't change at all during that time?" Atlas spat, seeming genuinely angry at Emmett's words. My eyes were wide and I leaned a little away when I saw Em also began to get angry. "Apparently not very fucking much. You're just even more of an asshole than I remember." He sneered, his hands clenching into fists. I nervously fiddled with my shirt, unsure what to do. The last thing I wanted was for them to start arguing like this, and over me, at that. Guilt gnawed at my insides as I realized the kind of rift that I was causing, almost making my eyes prick with tears, but I pushed them back.

"Me?" Atlas scoffed. "You're the one acting like she's some holier-than-thou fucking chick because, what, she's nice? Fuck right off with that shit because I might be an asshole but I wouldn't prioritize some girl over you." He said, keeping his calm surprisingly well in comparison to Emmett.

When Em went to stride forward, I quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him back, deciding to intervene finally. This was all going too far.

The both of them looked at me as if only just realizing that I was still here. I sighed and patted Emmett's arm. "Please just don't." I said to him quietly. "This argument is stupid and pointless, and I don't want to cause any problems between you. I don't have anything against him and he doesn't have anything against me. Isn't that good enough?" I pleaded, peering up at him with hopes that he would just let this entire thing go.

He relaxed after a few moments, letting out a sigh as he straightened his stance. "Fine. I won't try to interfere or force anything." Emmett promised, causing me to smile and nod my head. I then gave him a gentle nudge on the back. "Now you two apologize and make up." I demanded, earning a dumbfounded look from the both of them.

However, I just raised an eyebrow. "Do it." I insisted, crossing my arms. After the direction that their argument had just taken, they both needed to. Or maybe I needed them to.

To my surprise, Atlas was the first one to speak, though he did so with great difficulty. "I'm..." He pursed his lips and looked everywhere but at Emmett, as if he wasn't used to this. "Sorry, asshat." He grumbled his breath, causing me to furrow my brows in uncertainty. Is that how guys apologize?

It seemed a little bit off the mark to me, but Emmett clearly accepted it so I let it be.

"You'd better be sorry, idiot." Emmett huffed, clapping his friend on the shoulder roughly. I stared at the two of them as they continued grumbling at one another, unsure if I had actually succeeded or not.

After the two of them wandered into the kitchen together I sighed and headed back to my bedroom, curling up under my blankets. Even though I should've been content with the outcome, I couldn't help but to think about what Atlas had called me. Holier-than-thou chick. Some girl. Those didn't sound like insults you'd give to someone that you had nothing against, but I didn't understand. Maybe I was overthinking it.

I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees as I slowly drifted back to sleep.