𝐑𝐔𝐁𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 is an outgoing and ambitious party girl. Behind that big, bright smile, is a broken person with a hidden trauma but she hides all of it with her extroverted and bubbly personality but there are moments where her past catches up w...
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IT'S BEEN A FEW DAYS after that little situation and ever since, we've been trying to avoid each other. Until we were assigned a criminal justice project and I was paired with Atlas.
Of course, the universe wants to punish me for all the things I said.
After the class ended he plainly told me to meet in the library and walked off, being a dopey little bitch as usual.
I felt my jaw clench as I walked into the library and spotted Atlas already at the table, sprawled out with his laptop open, looking as casual and irritatingly unbothered as ever. He didn't look up as I approached, he just kept typing away, like I wasn't even there.
He could go and lick the world's most disgusting bootyhole.
I pulled out the chair across from him, setting my bag down on the ground with a loud thud that was entirely on purpose. His fingers paused on the keyboard, and he finally looked up, his icy blue eyes meeting mine with that familiar, infuriating glare.
"Glad you could make it," he said dryly, leaning back in his chair. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to bail."
"Oh, trust me," I replied, folding my arms over my chest and leaning back in the chair. "If I had any other option, I'd be halfway out the door by now. But we both know if I leave this to you, we'll fail spectacularly."
Atlas let out a short, humorless laugh. "Right, because clearly, you're the only person who cares about their grades here."
"Glad we're on the same page," I replied, forcing a smile that was anything but friendly.
He rolled his eyes, pulled up our project outline on the laptop screen, and angled it so I could see. "So, are we actually going to get something done, or are you just here to be a pain?"
I bit back a retort, my fingers itching to snap my notebook shut and leave, but I reminded myself of what was at stake. This project was worth a huge chunk of our grade, and I'd rather suffer through an hour with Atlas than tank my GPA.
"Fine," I said, opening my notebook and flipping to the page where I'd jotted down a few ideas. "We need a solid topic that's interesting enough to carry us through the whole presentation. I was thinking—"
"Oh, so you get to pick the topic too?" He interrupted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
I gritted my teeth. "Well, if you actually cared, you'd have suggested something by now."
He exhaled sharply, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if he were the one who needed patience. "I do care, Red. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not here just to annoy you. And look, we said things that could be said differently. Now let's just focus on this."
That made me pause. Atlas, wants to work? Part of me wanted to call him out on it, but something in his expression stopped me. I let out a slow breath, feeling a hint of the tension between us start to lower.
