Was It Always Us? | COMPLETED ✔

𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙱𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚎𝚜

I stormed into my bedroom, my face red and blotchy, my cheeks flushed and my fingernails digging into my skin.

I mean, for God's sake!

Missed calls? Check.

Never-ending messages? Check.

Any sort of reply to let me know he was still alive? Nope.

I was so frustrated at him. At lunchtime, Alyssa kept badgering me about him, and I had no reply. I texted and called him a million and one times, but he didn't even bother reading them. I was so worried, I almost drove to the restaurant to see if he was alright, before I finally got his texts. Emmy kept whining about her, I'd totally mixed up orders at the flower shop because I kept checking my phone, and the website was overloading with orders I hadn't bothered to check up on.

The whole day was basically a mess.

All because of him.

Atlas came into the room, his steps measured and his blue eyes still piercing me from across the room. They reminded me of the ocean, and sweet water, and everything good. But I would not give in today.

Not at all.

"Lily, I'm sorry--" he began.

"No need for your excuses, Mr. Corrigan. It wasn't a big deal, spending half the day worrying your husband might've gotten into an accident or whatever, not at all."

"Look, I know whatever I say won't convince you."

"Then why bother?"

I turned around, feeling exhausted. Everything was in chaos and I didn't know what to do. I heard his footsteps come nearer, and his strong arms snaked around my waist, his soft breath on my neck leaving me flustered.

No, no, no. I am supposed to be angry.

He pulled me closer to him, hugging me real tight. I tried to make him let go, but he just held me there, and I couldn't help the warmth spreading through my chest. 

Ugh, why am I not angry?

"I was so engulfed into my work, I didn't realise the time, Lily. And then there was this new woman at work, her name's Amy, and we went out for coffee before I dropped her home, because her Uber got cancelled. It got pretty hectic. And I know it's my fault. I'm terribly sorry, Lily, you have to believe that. I didn't mean for it to happen."

Okay, wait, what?

 A woman? Amy? Coffee?

Dropping her home?

I knew Atlas wasn't like that, but I felt weird as that warm feeling extinguished. Suddenly, I didn't want to hug him, talk to him, or even be near him.

I wanted space.

  I tugged and pushed him back and turned around to see him a bit hurt and confused. The look cut through my heart but I tried to ignore the nagging of my brain and went to the bed, pecking Emmy before slipping in between the sheets and taking a deep breath. I waited to hear Atlas's footsteps, or to feel the mattress dip as he laid down next to me, but it never came. 

I peeked around to see him gone, the door of our room wide open, and my eyebrows furrowed. I tiptoed to the lounge and saw him pacing back and forth, his head in his hands, before he dropped on the couch and took deep breaths.

I felt a bit bad, but I didn't look back as I went back to the bed, and hoped sleep would come to me easily.

It didn't. 

Instead, I felt terrible. 

But a bit suspicious too. After an hour or two, when I became so sleep-deprived I felt I would die, I decided to go check up on Atlas once more. He was asleep on the couch, hugging a pillow and looking childish. I smiled to myself as I went to close the TV and my breath hitched for a moment when I saw that he had been watching Finding Nemo.

That warm feeling returned.

I felt a shiver run through me as I stared down at Atlas, who looked innocent and mildly cute as he lay there, gripping the cushion pillow.

"Atlas?" I murmured, not wanting him to have a stiff back in the morning after sleeping in that uncomfortable position. He groaned, and his arms wrapped around my head, pulling me to him. I sat there on the sofa, my head in his lap, the pillow pushing into my face. It felt uncomfortable, but I heard Atlas sigh and his grip on me loosened a bit. I couldn't help the grin that lit across my face. Just then, though, I heard muffled footsteps, and with a jolt, I saw Josh coming out of his room. He didn't notice me at first, but then I saw his eyes grow wide and his expression changed.

"Umm...what's going on? Am I i-interrupting something?" he asked hesitantly, surely getting some very wrong ideas by the look on his face.

"Yeah, your brother's beauty sleep. He's choking me half to death. Help me get the lazy idiot to bed."

His features relaxed and he came closer, prying off the pillow and helping me get up. Atlas grumbled in his sleep.

"Come on, you sleepy man, wake up!" Josh said, actually slapping Atlas lightly across the face. He woke up with a start, his head shaking.

"Why'd you wake me up?" he asked, groggily.

"So you could sleep in a proper place where you won't get backache and feel sore in the morning. I don't want to spend the whole day doctoring you." I cut in before Josh, to which he snickered and shook his head.

"Where's my teddy bear?" he asked, yawning.

"What teddy bear?" Josh asked.

"The one I was hugging. It was so soft, I loved it."

"That would be me." I butted in, but Atlas just hook his head, got up, staggered, almost tripped two times, and then fell face down onto the bed, moaning in pleasure at the softness of the mattress and fluffy pillows I'd picked out.

"You are such a baby, Atlas Corrigan." I muttered as I went to sleep.

But soon, his arms went around my waist once more as he hugged me tight. And I revelled in the feeling.

"Your pretty little baby, I am, Lily Corrigan."

***

Lily's POV at LAST! I hope you like this chapter, and that it wasn't too cringe or something. Once again, this is my midnight, sleep deprived self talking so expectations aren't that high. Also, 1.2K views? That's awesome!

Keep showering your love like that, and don't forget to share and upvote the story if you like it ;)

XOXO, 

Ophelia