So This Is Love? {NYSM: J. Daniel Atlas}

Chapter 21

Revenge is a dish best served cold is it not?

Well that's how the saying goes anyway. If one were to think about it, one might assume that it is talking about how the revenge taker is waiting patiently to attack their opponent. Or maybe the saying is describing how vicious the retribution will be.

However neither interpretation matters because a certain J. Daniel Atlas disagreed with both. He was certain that revenge should be served hot. So his attack would come as a backspin off of the ego bashing he had suffered.

No, Atlas did not want to wait until he could catch Amber with her guard down.

The man had no patience. So he, of course, wanted to crush her right away.

Oh yes, yes, Daniel had feelings for the woman. Though he refused to acknowledge them and this sharp
blow to his precious pride shifted those feelings a twinge. Frankly he was pissed. But not enough to hurt her.

Just crush her self esteem.

...A lot.

So he devised a plan. One that he claimed in his mind was clever. Cleverer than all of Amber's pranks (including the latest one involving Merritt's dirty socks and Atlas's toothbrush).

He found an old picture. One of a young barely teenage Amber in a mismatched dress with her blue headband half covering her eyes. She was playfully glaring up at a bloke who was smiling widely at the camera with his arm around the girl's shoulders and his other hand shoving the blue band further down over her eyes.

Daniel has chosen this picture carefully from the different sites and libraries he has searched.

For one, it proved that she had a boyfriend at one time which could lead to thousands of taunts. And secondly, her dress was a hideous array of different fabrics woven together in a determinedly mismatched pattern which disgusted the young man. And thirdly this, boyfriend, of hers was ugly according to Daniel. The kid was a brunette with brown eyes and the widest (and stupidest in Daniels opinion) grin that revealed crooked teeth. He was even wearing a stupid checkered apron. He looked like an idiot. No wonder Amber stopped dating him.

With the photograph held firmly within his pale fingers, Daniel strode over towards where all the other Horsemen (plus Amber) were sitting. They were playing Go Fish in a circle in front of the tv. Jack and Henley were laughing at Merritt who was trying to play with Uno cards that they had convinced him were the right cards (someone was still drunk from last night) and Amber was concentrating hard and holding her cards very tightly in her hands.

"You'll never guess what I found," Daniel said smugly as he walked over.

"Hush, dear, I'm concentrating,"
Amber said, gently rubbing two fingers against her temple as she studied her cards.

"Don't blow a brain fuse," Daniel retorted coldly.

"You're the one turning red in the face."

"Not as red as you'll turn when I show everyone this picture I found of you," Daniel snarled as he brandished the picture forwards.

Merritt growled in irritation and snatched the picture from the man's hands. He peered at it for a bit, his brow wrinkling.

"What is this crap, Danny?" Merritt said rolling his eyes. He glanced the picture over once more before handing it to Jack.

"It looks like a middle school dance picture," Henley said as she looked over the male's shoulder, "Oh, Amber, you poor thing. What happened to your dress?"

Amber rolled her eyes at her and lay down four cards with yellow starfish before replying.

"I never went to any dances or wore dresses so what are you talking about?"

Henley held up the picture and Amber looked it over.

Her eyes traveled over the old picture before resting on the boy in it.

Amber felt her heart twist and her blood freeze.

Daniel smiled when he saw the effect the picture had on the girl. This was just what he needed.

"Atlas put it away," Merritt said breaking the silence, his grey eyes on Amber's frozen features.

Daniel snorted.

"After all she's done to me? No, I don't think I will. Here Journey, take a nice long look at the picture of you and your boyfriend. Who even is he? Some hobo you met on the street? He looks like a failed high school grad. Why don't you tell us about him?"

Amber's whole body began to shake as she continued to look at the picture.

Jack and Henley stopped smiling. They glanced between Daniel and Amber, worry and confusion decorating their faces.

"Daniel," Merritt warned in a low voice.

"No, McKinney," Daniel spat, his blue eyes bright. "I refuse to stop because she never stops! She always picks me out of all of us to attack and now it's my turn! So go on Journey, tell us about your idiot boy toy! What did he die of embarrassment after having to be out in public with you?"

Amber slowly looked over at Daniel and met his eyes.

And what he saw in them made him feel sick inside. Not a nervous sickness or a sickness from eating a whole box of Chinese food in one sitting sickness either.

No, what Daniel felt deep inside was nothing short of guilt. A heavy, going-to-eat-away-at-you-forever, guilt.

Her eyes were filled with tears.

Something Daniel had never seen her do was cry. She had had panic attacks but he never saw a tear leave her eye. Sure she had been mocked and laughed at during her time here but she had never gotten upset about it.

She only said three words. Three quiet words in a shaky voice. But those three words hung in the air as the seconds went by.

"Put. It. Down."

And for once in his life, Daniel obeyed.

He dropped the picture and it fluttered from his fingertips before landing, face up, on the carpet.

The four Horsemen's eyes all followed its descent until it touched the worn down carpet.

Daniel looked up, still unsure of what had happened and utterly lost in what to do. He was looking up to make eye contact with Amber again and hoping to somehow communicate his confusion.

But she was gone.

The only sign of her previously being there was a dark tear stain on the carpet.

AN-
I will be updating once a week. That is my new goal. I'm sorry for all of you who I have made wait.

On another note, who was the boy in the picture?