Atlas

Fifteen

Grace

I propped myself on one of the chairs in the dining area of Atlas's house.

"She's so cute." I cooed at baby Luna. When I stroked her cheek, she grabbed my finger with her tiny hand and giggled.

Atlas got the plates from the kitchen and set them down on the table. "Three or four?" he debated.

"Four, cuz Phoebe."

"She might not come." He said, setting the table.

"Why not?"

"Her and..." he cleared his throat. "Her and my brother have some history."

"Let me guess? Didn't end well?"

"Shouldn't have started to begin with." He scoffed. He sat down across from me and handed Luna's bottle to me so I could feed her. "A year ago, when him and Luna's mother started having problems, he came for a visit and met Phoebe down at the bar. That...escalated and lasted a few weeks. He was the one that bought her Dusk, her dog."

"Did his girlfriend know?"

"Yeah he told her eventually. He had to clean up the mess with her, which left me with a very broken Phoebe."

I frowned. Phoebe must have known what she was getting into, but I guess sometimes you can't help it.

At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Atlas got up to answer it, and I followed with Luna still in my arms. Atlas entered first and took her from me. "It's way past her bedtime." He murmured.

Phoebe followed, slightly disoriented at what was going on. "Oh, I know you." She said when she saw me. She gave me a little smile, but it was forced. Even then, I didn't get the expression that she hated me, just that she was tired.

"Grace." I introduced myself.

"Phoebe." She said.

"Guys, dinner's almost ready and by that I mean the delivery guy should be getting here any sec." Atlas declared. Adrian put Luna to sleep and by the time he returned, the food was here.

Atlas and I set the table. We sat down in silence and surprisingly, it was Atlas who tried to break the ice, talking about random things like the bar and how Luna puked a lot.

I realized that Atlas was only talking because he was close to us. Me, Adrian, even good friends with Phoebe. If there was a stranger at the table I doubt Atlas would have said a word.

Phoebe's expression was nervous. Exhausted. Debating why she was here. Looked like she wanted to leave.

I passed her a comforting smile. "So Phoebe, lived here your whole life?"

"Yeah, with my grandmum." She replied. Her accent was so heavy that sometimes when she spoke, I had to concentrate more than I usually did. "She passed away in July, so it's been me and Dusk since then, and well, now...just me." She tucked her hair behind her ears.

Atlas looked at her. "Phoebe." He sounded appalled. "You have me."

"You barely talk as it is. You're like half a grown human."

Adrian chuckled, and Phoebe glanced at him. Then she looked away almost as if even looking at Adrian was a sin she didn't want to commit.

When dinner was over, everyone shifted to the couches in the living room. "Tea anyone?" I asked.

"A mug of coffee please." Adrian said.

I got up to go the kitchen and Atlas decided he wanted to help.

As I put the water to boil for a cup of tea for Atlas, he came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. "Hey, lovely." He whispered.

"Hey." I said back, opening a box of milk. He kissed my cheek. "How we doin'?"

"We're doing fine." I glanced in the living room. "I don't know about Phoebe though."

"She's gonna be fine, she's very headstrong. She's just a bit disoriented because of Dusk."

And Adrian. But I didn't mention that.

When the teas and coffees were done, I carried them back to the living room with a pot of sugar, where Atlas and Adrian argued about the most mundane things.

In the back of my mind, I was still worried about my mom. And now Reece. A little about Dimi too. I figured I should give her a call after I went home tonight.

"Its getting late." Phoebe said after a while. "I should be getting home."

Adrian bit his lip. "I'll drop you."

"That's not necessary." She said.

"You live on the other side of town."  He argued.

She could have easily persuaded him, but I saw every nerve in her body inclining to say yes.

Finally, she shook her head.

"No. I'll catch a cab."

"Alright." Adrian looked a bit disheartened, but he let it go.

Once Phoebe had left, Atlas closed the door behind them and glared at Adrian. "Yo, what the hell?"

"What?" Adrian looked confused.

"You couldn't have made it any more awkward if you tried." He crossed his arms. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?" Adrian looked exhausted too. He really didn't wanna talk about this.

"When you left, you didn't see her like I did." Atlas argued. "Every night. Every single night, she would drink herself to near-death and go home with some random dude—"

"Atlas." Adrian warned.

I knew at that moment I shouldn't be here, but before I could open my mouth to say I wanted to leave, Atlas bit back.

"I wanted you to act normal, Adrian!"

"You knew that wasn't going to happen." Adrian bit back. "You knew how important Phoebe was to me. Letting her go wasn't easy. But I had to make a decision."

"You chose the wrong one."

Adrian lifted his fingers to his forehead, like he felt a migraine coming on. "If I didn't choose Stella, I wouldn't be here with my daughter right now, Atlas." He explained. "I don't regret that."

Atlas grew quiet.

"You wanna take the couch tonight, bro?" Adrian finally said.

"Yeah... yeah." Atlas said. "Go sleep next to Luna. If she cries, it's gonna be your problem."

"Alright. I'm gonna go brush my teeth."

When Adrian left, Atlas turned to me. "Sorry you had to hear that, Grace."

"No worries." I went up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You're not staying the night?"

"There's not enough space for the both of us on the couch." I chuckled. I kissed his cheek. "Goodnight."

He brushed off his disappointment with a tiny smile. "Night."

When I was back in my own apartment, I dialed Reece's number. I wanted to talk to my moms, but she would obviously be sleeping at this time.

"Hey." He picked up. He sounded like he was crunching on nachos.

"Hey. You at Dimi's?"

"Yup. She just fell asleep. Can you hear her snoring through the phone?"

"No, but I can hear you eating like a pig."

"Fair enough." He chuckled. "What's up?"

"You know how you were telling me you wanted to go with my mom? The whole MSF thing? And I was worried."

"Yeah?"

"Well...I wanna come too."