Irritatingly Irresistible

Sixteen

IRRITATINGLY IRRESISTIBLE

DeLuca's, a small cafe on a random corner around the college. It's small and homey yet buzzing with college students trying to study for their upcoming exams.

Parker smiled and waved me over to the counter where he's sitting when I stop short of the door. I give him a small smile as I walk up to the seat next to him. "How have you been?" He asks the moment I drop down into the chair next to him. "Everything's been a little weird, but I'm hoping I'm on the upside of things," I laugh, adjusting myself on the seat. "How have you been?" I ask, facing him as I spoke.

"I've been good, just been spending more time with this girl I met awhile ago and studying," He laughs, grabbing his cup of coffee off of the counter. "Did you fix things with your brother?" He asked and I heaved a sigh. "No, I sort of made things worse by screaming at it, but hey I got one hell of a date out of it," I laughed and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why'd you yell at him? Who'd you go on a date with? I have so many questions," He laughed, running a hand through his hair. "He was explaining his side of things to the guy I went on the date with, his name is Ezra, he's my roommate and I sort of lost my temper and yelled at him," I said, brushing my hair behind my ear.

"Okay yeah, I mean that's understandable but I still think you should talk things out with your brother, family means everything in the end," He said, putting his hand on my arm in an endearing way. "Yeah I probably should," I laughed, taking a sip of the water in front of me. "So tell me about this roommate, how'd that come about?" Parker asked and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I've known him since high school, hated him since then. I actually met Ezra through my brother, Atticus," I smiled, fondly at the thought both of them. "Ezra? Does his last name happen to be Moore?" Parker piped up and I couldn't help but furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Yeah, that's him," I laughed lightly, nervous about where he was going with this.

"He's in my Psych class, he's really cool and I'm assuming your the girl he's been telling all of us about," He laughed and I smiled lightly. "What has he been saying?" I ask, my smile lingering. "He's been telling us about how he has the prettiest girl in the world going on dates with him, but he sure as hell doesn't know how he did it," He laughs once more.

***

I take a deep breath and reassure myself as I open the apartment door, I knew that Atticus would be home and Ezra would be in class. That means if things go wrong between Atticus and I, it's just me. I could hear the living room tv as I closed the front door, planning to head straight for my room.

"Tate? Is that you?" Atticus's voice carried through the room and I gulped, there's no getting out of it now. "Yeah, it's me," I call back as I walk towards the living room. "Can we talk?" He asked, the moment his eyes fell on me.

He looked like hell, under his eyes held deep dark bags and he was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. This was out of character for him, as he always looked after his appearance. "You look like shit," I found myself saying out loud. This caused him to laugh until he broke down, into tears. I have only ever seen him like this once before, and that's when his mom wrote the letter saying she loved him but no longer wanted to be apart of his life.

"I'm so sorry Tate," He said, his voice cracked and broken. I moved to sit next to him, pulling him into my chest as he cried. "I didn't even ask you about any of it, I should have. I should have seen the signs, but she was so convincing. She made it so that all I had seen was her," He cried into my chest and I brushed my fingers through his hair. "I know, and I wanted to tell you but you looked so happy Atts, I haven't seen you that happy in years. I didn't want to ruin that for you," I said barely above a whisper.

"Ruin my happiness, Tatum. No matter what you come first, especially if it's a person and they're hurting you. You were my happiness first, and my happiness always," He said looking up, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. I punched him lightly in his shoulder before a tear trailed down my face.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you Atticus, but I'd like to be back on speaking terms," I said softly and he nodded, laying his head back down on my chest. "Let's watch a movie?" He asked, and I nodded.