❝When I'm around slow dancing in the dark, don't follow me you'll end up in my arms.❞
『 homecoming - post 』
『 the extraordinary series 』
『 cover by binbarnes 』
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◤ chapter eighteen: ❛ unnatural territory ❜ ◢
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TONI HADN'T BEEN TO NIX' IN A WHILE. It hadn't felt right to without Atlas, who introduced her to the bar in the first place, who knew the bartender's name, who had such a presence there unlike herself. Toni was a showstopper, she was, it was something handed down in the Alderson bloodline to want to be seen and heard by all, but here – at Nix – she blended into the shadows.
No one needed to report that Toni Alderson was seen getting drunk at a local dingy bar because not only would that lead to trouble for herself but also the bar, and Atlas seemed to like the bartender (Christine or something, honestly she couldn't remember) and she liked not having to show her fake ID so she didn't want that either. So, it was better to hide in the shadows, let her boisterous friend take up all the space in the room.
He liked it, she liked not having attention on her for once, so it worked out. But it felt wrong entering the place without him, and it felt wrong entering when she hadn't spoken to Atlas in a while and their friendship was on the rocks a little bit.
Maybe it was distance, maybe she had been prioritizing herself too much, maybe it was something she couldn't have controlled at all – but something was definitely getting in the way or her and Atlas' friendship. Toni didn't like it. She could be mad for Atlas for a little while, be annoyed that he was blowing her off and making obvious lies for it, but she couldn't stay mad forever before the sadness crept in. That small little voice in her head telling her that he just didn't want to be her friend anymore.
Her parents couldn't stand each other, Aunt Lucy and her uncle had a terribly stained relationship, and her grandparents hadn't had friends in years. No one liked the Aldersons, not even the Aldersons themselves, so maybe she was a little weary that soon her friends would all run to the hills away from her. What could she offer them but a bitchy attitude and some money?
Toni wasn't an anxious person, but she was anxious. So much shit had been going on in her life recently and she hadn't said a word about it to her friends because they were on the rocks or she was upset with their actions and she missed not feeling confident in herself. She was always confident in herself, never doubting, but now all she did was doubt herself. She hated this change.
Atlas, with his floppy dark hair, was seated at a table by himself. He didn't look nervous but calm, like nothing had been happening between them, like he wasn't nervous she was going to explode and set the whole place on herself. She wouldn't do that, but she was still offended he wasn't nervous like she was.
He finally noticed her when she got closer, sitting down opposite of him, a blank expression on her face because she wasn't sure if the smile she could've given him would seem genuine enough and honestly she didn't know where they stood at the moment. She hated not knowing, because Atlas was supposed to be the one she never worried about.
