𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄

𝟏𝟎

IT'S GOING TO BE A fucking crazy day today. It's Friday and I'm still a little shaken up from what happened on Monday with me and Ruby. She got angry really fast and I just lost it. Not that I full-on screamed at her, but I lost my fucking cool.

It's been really stressful for me this past two weeks, my and Ava's family pressuring us to date, the thing with Athena, my 'mother' threatened me with some absolute nonsense, like she was going to impale me with a fucking machete and make my life absolute hell. But that fucking monster doesn't know what the fuck is coming her way.

"Atlas, are you there?" Ava said and snapped her fingers in front of my face, making me snap back into reality. She looked at me with a worried expression and I gave her a small and awkward smile.

I had to pick her up from her place because her car didn't work and drive back to my apartment complex.

"I'm fine, I just zoned. What were you saying?" I asked her and actually paid attention to her.

"As I was saying, I'm really nervous to meet Ruby again because we haven't talked in months and I'm afraid that she doesn't want to talk to me because of our past history," she said and looked out the window. I looked at her, to see if she actually meant it and saw that knowing glint in her eyes from her reflection and that's when I knew.

She's not fucking sorry at all. But why would she lie?

I went along with her fake act and said, "Yeah, you should talk to her. Now should we get going?"

She looked back at me and nodded so we got out of my car and started to walk in. Her hand reached down to mine and I wanted to yank mine away, but I couldn't so I let her. The rest of the other was down in the lobby, getting to know Max. He actually looks like a chill dude.

We walked up to them and Eva immediately asked Ruby to talk to her in private so they walked over to a corner.

"The fuck is going on, Atlas?" Esther asked and I looked out at her with a confused look on my face.

"I don't even know man," I said and shrugged my shoulders. "Just told me she wanted to talk to her."

"Not with that, I meant you," she said making my right eyebrow raise in confusion. "You've been acting all distant and shit."

"It just... she's a lot to handle," I said and glanced in her direction. She was saying something that was clearly upsetting Ruby and I saw that she clapped back at Eva. I looked back at Esther and rolled my eyes.

"And he's ignoring me," Adonis said with a sad voice and a literally downturned sad smile.  "He was supposed to take care of me but he's always with that Ava."

"You're mad weird," Julia said with a puzzled look on her face.

Ruby and Ava came back with different kind of expressions on their faces. Ruby had an irritated look on hers and Ava had a victorious on hers. I gave Ruby a confused look and she rolled her eyes at me. "Do you guys wanna go up?" she asked, ignoring me. The ones who sat down on the sofa stood up and we began to walk to his elevators.

The doors on the smaller elevator opened and almost everyone hurried into it, leaving me and guess who. "My sweet boy, you need to get in here with me!" Ava exclaimed all panicked, making me cringe and I could see the disgust in my brother's faces.

"If you're not blind, you can see that there's not any room left," Max said instead of me and I mouthed 'Thank you' to him when Ava turned her head and gave him a nasty glare. Esther let out a snort and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You got a problem with me, pig?" Ava said and looked at her while the doors closed before I heard a loud 'bang' and a screech after. I scrunched my nose and looked at Ruby who was already walking to the stairs.

I got up to her and we walked up to the chairs in an uncomfortable silence before I broke it. "Hey, Ruby?" I asked but I got no answer, she continued to walk. I walked up the stairs and stopped in front of her. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," she said and looked up to the ceiling quickly before she looked at me, a clear indication that she was lying.

"Bullshit," I spoke out and she rolled her eyes at me. Her hands started trembling and quickly put them in the pocket of her hoodie when she saw that I noticed it.

She pulled out a cigarette and a lighter and my mouth fell in shock as she put the end of the cigarette in her mouth and lit the other end. "Since when do you fucking smoke?" I asked her and she shamed her head as she inhaled the smoke and took out the cigarette out of her mouth before she exhaled.

"Don't act like you care about me, Jack," she said, making me confused. "You should care about little Miss Perfect and not Miss Mediocre."

Is she... jealous?

"Are you jealous of Ava?" I asked her and she let out a snort before she took another inhale of the cigarette and blew out the smoke.

She began scratching her neck before she said, "Fuck no. But it hurt when I found out you were dating my number one enemy."

"She wants to make things right with you," I said and she let out a toneless laugh as she squatted down and pressed down the cigarette on the rug before standing up and stomping on it.

"Are you sure of that, Atlas? And as long you are with that manipulative witch, I'm not talking to you," she said before she walked around me and up the stairs, leaving me baffled.

What did Ava really say to her to make her act like this?

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𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1201

yall im so so sorry for the short chapter, ive been super duper busy with exams but now its finally fuckin OVERRRRR !! n sorry for this shitty chapter since i normally write the chapters on paper before i "clean write" in the app itself. but for this chapter i had no fuckin idea on what to write so i just wrote it here n not on paper first. i wrote this chapter the same time I wrote the 11th chapter so that why i havent been able to follow my normal schedule. my school graduation is next tuesday but on Wednesday (in a fuckin weeekkkkk :C)  i have to go to the school so I can go in 'summer school' bc i failed my fuckin math exam. I FUCKIN HATE MATHHHHH. IF MATH WAS A PERSON I WOULD TELL THEM THAT THEY SHOULD KILL THEMSELVES ARGGGGGGHHHHH. BUT i promise ill update more frequently this summer 😭😭🙏🏾🙏🏾