Impure: The Protectors of Astromica

4

Atticus entered his room and tried not to act surprised to see his lover sitting on his bed. He had been so caught up in the fight with Bellamy that he forgot all about her. He forgot to make up an excuse or figure out what he was going to say. His mind was completely blank, and he knew Lily wanted answers so he had to throw on the charm go buy time.
"Hey...when did you get here?", he asked with a smile. He held eye contact with his girlfriend as he approached her cautiously and outreached his arms for a hug.
Lily wore a skin-tight black dress and long go-go boots. Her horns stuck out from her golden hair and her tail wrapped around his headboard like a ribbon. She crossed her legs and stopped him at arms-length with the tip of her shoe. "Ah, not so fast.", she whispered, pressing the tip of her shoe into his lower abdomen. "I need these off. Do you mind helping me, babe?"
Atticus gave her a confused look and then nodded. "Anything for you, my princess."
He knelt down in front of her and bowed jokingly, he then removed her knee-high boots one then the other.
"Also...", she said. She stood up and Atticus looked at her, ready to attend to whatever else she needed.
"My hair has been getting caught on my necklace all day and I need you to take it off me.", she said.
"Oh...sure. I got you.", he said, standing up from the floor.
Lily turned around and lifted her long blonde hair above her ears, revealing the back of her neck and a slim silver chain.
Atticus hesitated for a moment, then approached her. He fumbled with the chain for a while, trying to get his big fingers to grip the tiny clasp. Quickly, the smell of Lily's perfume started to fill Atticus's nose and he fought hard to not let it distract him from the task at hand.
"Can you get it?", she asked. She backed up slightly and pressed into him. "Am I too far away?"
He backed away quickly. "No, no, not at all. I got it! ", he said, finally able to undo the clasp. He reached around and cupped her necklace in his hand and then gave it to her awkwardly.
"Thanks...", she said quietly, walking away and setting the necklace down on Atticus's nightstand.
She walked back over to him and kissed him passionately. "I missed you so much. I've been needing you.", she whispered in his ear.
He felt his face get hot and he held his breath, trying not to get sucked in.
"What's wrong, baby? Didn't you miss me?", she asked innocently, furrowing her brow.
"Yeah-i mean...of course I did. I always miss you when you leave.", he said nervously.
"How much did you miss me?", she asked, placing her hand on his face and staring deep into his hazel eyes. "You've been here five whole minutes and my clothes are still on."
Atticus swallowed hard and stood in silence for a moment. He went blank again, fuck, he had to tell her. He had to rip it off like a band-aid.
"Lily...I...", he started.
She blinked at him and tilted her head slightly. "What is it, Atty?", she asked him with a puzzled look.
"I...um, how was therapy with your mom?", he spat out.
"Oh...uh, it went okay, I guess. My mom is on and on about my "new responsibilities" and shit for when I'm queen. The therapist acts like she's on her side but she winks at me when mom looks away so.", she said giving a smirk. "Honestly, I don't know why it's such a big deal, I've been a princess like, my whole life. I know how to make decisions-"
Suddenly, Lily's phone rang.
She slipped away from Atticus and grabbed it off the nightstand. She giggled when she looked at the screen and began to type.
"It's Reese, i was supposed to go out with him tonight but I wanted to spend time with you.", she said, declining the call. "I'll call him back later."
"Oh yeah, is he trying to go to another rave?", asked Atticus, relieved at the sudden break of tension.
"Yeah, there's this new, pop up one on DI that he wants to check out.", she responded.
Atticus stepped closer to her and came into the light emitting from his bedside lamp.
Lily examined him curiously for a second and then asked, "Is that ash on your chest?"
"What?", he replied, he glanced down and was taken aback by the amount of soot on his body. "Well, would you look at that?"
Lily raised her eyebrow at him. "And what did you set on fire?"
"I didn't...I mean, it wasn't really me.", replied Atticus, rubbing his body to try to eliminate some of the ash.
"What happened?", she asked, stepping closer to him.
"Got into a fight with your fiancé.", he said under his breath.
"What? You got into another fight with Bellamy?", she said, annoyed. "I told you to just ignore him. Don't let him provoke you, he literally gets off on that shit."
Atticus scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well I can't do shit when he corners me at school. You need to get him under control, seriously. I can't get suspended from the University again, you remember how my dad was last time."
"Atty, I can't control him. What am I supposed to do when he only challenges you when I'm not there?", she asked.
"I don't know. Just, something.", he said. He walked away from her and sat on his bed. He dug under his pillow, pulled out a joint, and placed it between his lips.
"Why does it matter anyway? It's not like he can beat you. You just end up kicking his ass anyway.", she said, sitting on his bed beside him.
Lily reached out her pointer finger and touched Atticus's joint. As her finger came in contact with the tip, it ignited the end. He puffed on it quickly until the fire burned smoothly.
"You didn't see him...he was different this time.", he said, passing the joint to Lily. He blew out his smoke slowly, "He was like, juiced up on power or something."
Lily puffed the joint and furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"
"Well, he was floating and shit and blowing thick smoke out of his nose. He was also doing some weird chant under his breath, like he was summoning something."
"Oh shit!", she said turning quickly to face him, "His exchange rehearsal! Fuck, I missed it.", she said, putting her hand to her forehead. "His dad was supposed to transfer a fraction of his power to him after the last rehearsal to help like, prepare his body to take 100% of it. I was supposed to be there, that's probably why he's so pissed..."
Atticus gave her an annoyed look and took the joint from her fingers, "Oh, so your other boyfriend is pissed because you missed his award ceremony?", he said in a mocking way while taking another hit.
"Will you stop it? It's literally my job to be at all the Exchange rehearsals and ceremonies. I am the princess of the Underworld.", she said firmly.
"I know what you are, I just...god why does it have to be him?.", he asked. He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced over at Lily. "It should be me."
Lily grabbed the joint from Atticus's hand, "I know, it should...but you know I have to do what's best for my people and I can't break tradition.", she said. She handed the half-smoked joint back to Atticus and stared at him for a little while before continuing, "So do you think I'm never jealous of Zaria?"
Atticus coughed on the smoke in his lungs and cleared his throat.
"Jealous? Why would you be jealous?", he asked innocently.
"Babe, you know why.", she said, "You're going to be marrying her next year and come on, I'm not fucking blind. She's pretty."
"You're prettier.", he stated. "You are everything I want."
"Yeah, but...she's like you. She can be here without your dad side-eyeing her when he comes in to check on you.", she said.
"Yeah, but who cares what that old man thinks, anyway? My brother is literally a half-dragon hybrid and can't even fly.", sneered Atticus, putting out the joint in a nearby ashtray. "He never says rude shit to you because he knows that he's a fucking hypocrite."
"I get it...it's just always a question because...maybe it might be easier.", she said quietly.
Atticus furrowed his brow and then reached over to tuck her hair behind her ear. "No, this is what I want. This is my easy, this is perfect."
She grabbed his hand and placed it down on the bed. She looked him in the eyes and sighed.
"Atticus...", she took a deep breath, "I know you have chlamydia.", she spat out, "I...received information ...and the fact that you have been avoiding me like the black plague since I've been back just confirms it so like?"
Atticus froze and panned his eyes away from Lily.
She grabbed his chin and turned his head back to face her.
"No, look at me.", she demanded. "You wanna explain that to me or am I just going crazy?"
He hesitated for a moment then let words flow like vomit. "Look, I just, you were gone for so long and I was lonely and-"
Quickly, Lily lifted her hand and stopped him mid-sentence.
"What the actual fuck, Atticus? Is that what your reasoning is? I tried to give you time to come up with a good excuse but that's what you say?", she exclaimed.
Atticus put his head down in shame and remained silent.
"The crazy part is, I'm not even angry! I'm not even-I'm just like, what the fuck?!", she said again.
He sat there, clenching his jaw still and looking away.
"Who was it?", she asked. She grabbed his face again. "Look at me and tell me who it was. Was it someone we know or?"
Atticus hesitated and then said, "No. It wasn't anyone we know...I just met her at the cafe by the school...How did you find out?"
Lily paused for a moment as if the question caught her off guard and then answered, "I just...I know things, okay? Now tell me."
Atticus raised his head and lifted his eyebrow.
"Lily, how did you find out?", he asked again.
She broke eye contact and stayed quiet.
"Did...Ja'far tell you?", he asked.
She gave him a look and then rolled her eyes, "No...I mean...yes, he did, but that changes nothing-"
"Yeah, it kinda does.", he snapped.
She cursed in anger and threw her hands up. "Are you fucking kidding me? You're more worried about if Ja'far told me or not? God, Atticus, sometimes I don't know why I even bother.", she said, grabbing her shoes from the floor.
"Lily! Stop, please.", he said, grabbing her shoes from her hand, "Don't leave, please."
"Give me back my shoes, I want to go.", she said, reaching for her shoes.
Atticus put them over his head, almost two whole feet out of her reach.
"No, I'm not letting you leave here angry at me.", he said, moving to a different corner of the room.
"Atticus!", she said, chasing him. "Seriously, stop."
"Nah, not until you say you'll stay for just a little while longer.", he teased.
"Im not staying! I will literally set your room on fire.", she threatened.
He stopped suddenly, "You wouldn't dare."
She raised her eyebrows at him, "Yes, I would. I'll make sure you sleep on the floor tonight." She walked over to his bed and touched her finger to the sheets.
"Don't do it.", he said, approaching her cautiously while extending her shoes out to her.
"Closer or the 1,000 fiber count gets it.", she threatened.
Atticus moved to her slowly then quickly tackled her onto the bed, pinning down both her arms.
"You let your guard down.", he said, "That was almost too easy." He tickled her lower back and she giggled uncontrollably, pushing him away as much as she could.
He stopped finally and stared into her big, ocean blue eyes. He leaned down and kissed her intensely and her hands traveled down his chest slowly.
"I missed you.", he said.
She grabbed his face to keep him close and let him kiss her a few seconds longer.
She pulled away from him and sighed. "Why do you have to make me forget? You are so...I hate you."
He smirked at her and continued to kiss down her neck and to her chest.
Suddenly, his room door swung open.