𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 |𝟏𝟖+|

𝐒 𝐄 𝐕 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 ~ 𝐓 𝐇 𝐑 𝐄 𝐄 ☆

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

♛ A T L A S ♛

Hesitation crept in before she was able to reply, I could almost see the whole mood of the car shift. Stella pulled her hand away from me and it's almost as if the color drained from her skin. She wiped her hands up and down her thighs and started breathing heavy. I think that's when she remembered I was in the car too and she slowed her breath. "O-of course it's fine, why wouldn't it be fine?" She replied, her voice shaky and weaved with nervousness.

I put my hand out to console her and I don't think she knew that I noticed it, but she flinched. She fucking flinched and I hadn't even touched her. She tried to hide the fact that it happened and squeezed my hand. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked her, concern all over my face and in my voice.

Stella nodded her head vigorously, not even bothering to spare me a glance. She couldn't look me in the eye to tell me that she was okay. That should've meant something, it should've triggered or set something off to me, looking back now, I should've known.

She'll tell me when she's ready.

Well, what if she's never ready? What if she tells me what it is and I can't help her? What if she tells me when it's too late and I can't do anything to save her or to stop her from hurting? What if I try everything and it's for absolutely nothing? I try not to let those thoughts linger for too long because I can't live in the 'what if' of things, it fucks me up too much.

"I'm okay, Atlas. I am." Stella reassures me, giving me a half smile as she gets out of the car. Her attempt to reassure me didn't help me at all, in fact it did absolutely nothing for me, it made me feel all the more uneasy.

"I can uninvite him, Stella, it's no trouble at all. Really." I called out to her before she got a chance to shut the door. I don't know if that was the reason she was strange all of a sudden, but it wouldn't hurt to assume. The minute his name left my mouth was the minute the air thickened and tension increased.

"No don't do that. It's fine. I promise." She replied and shut the door and went into the house. I really wished I believed in that promise as much as she thought I did.

Naivety is an undeniable force and any fool will fall for it especially one that is willing to believe in promises. To me, promises were just pretty lies, lingering on your lips like a sweet nothing and just when you believe it, it can just as easily be taken away from you like a stolen kiss.

And I, like the fool for her I was, believed it.

I stepped out of Hades, locking the door behind me as I stepped into the front door. I took in the quiet of the night and opened the curtains in my room to allow the moon to shine in. I always appreciated the moon, but for some reason I found myself appreciating the sun more.

Some hopeless part of me believed in eternal love. That the sun forever longed to be with the moon, to exist all at once, that he would go away at sunset just to let the moon shine. He knew that if he couldn't be with her, he could at least love her from afar. That kind of love, is what I believed would go on forever.

I went to retrieve the medical tools Stella uses and continued on my way to find her. There she was, sitting on the counter of her bathroom, close to the sink while facing the mirror. She was currently applying moisturizer to her now tame and defined curls. An absent almost stoic look domed her face, she couldn't offer a half smile.

I went over to the faucet, switched the water to hot and ran the small towel over it. "W-What are you doing?" I asked her, turning around to see that she was currently half naked. She threw her top to the floor along with her skirt, leaving her in nothing but a lace bra and thong.