Wanted

•Straight Hair•

        {•edited•}
                              ~Bex's POV~
   
        I look at myself in the mirror, my hair making my face look good for once. Whenever I straighten it my bone structure isn't hidden at all; maybe I should do it more. The past week I haven't put myself together much because of classes finally starting to get difficult. Marissa has about two breakdowns a day (at least that I know of), Alaric still perfectly fine, and I'm exhausted. Whoever said college kids don't get sleep wasn't lying.
      Marissa's straightener that she left at her brothers gets hotter than mine. Every now and then I'll grab it too far up end up whispering a series of curse words. Once Atticus woke up it was less whispering and more yelling because nothing was holding me back anymore.
    He walks up behind me, his uniform button down hanging open. Suddenly, he comes to a dead stop and looks down at me with his brows pulled together. There's a mixture of confusion and shock in his expression. "
    What the fuck did you do?" He says, running his fingers through my hair. I look at myself in the mirror, trying to figure out what I did wrong. Usually, when I straighten my hair I miss a few spots, so maybe that's it.
   His eyes are wide, looking at it with a confused and upset expression. "What do you mean? I just straightened it."
    "Why in the world would you do that?!" He lets my hair fall between his fingers before I swat him away. "It's not that I don't like the straight hair, I just like the curls."
   "The curls make it look like I heavenly brushed my hair in days," I say, unplugging it from the wall. My phone starts going off, my mom's contact picture popping up on the screen. I pick it up and answer, finding the weird feeling of smooth hair against my hand. "Hey," I say.
    Atticus hovers over behind me, his arms at my sides to trap me, still staring at my hair. "I'm surprised you answered," my mom says from another line. I feel bad that she thinks I wouldn't answer her calls. The other night, nothing I said was targeted at her, she's always been there for me, but she might have taken something the wrong way.
    Atticus's lips graze the crook of my neck, brushing my hair out of the way, making sure his cold knuckles touch my skin. I let out a shaker breath, reminding myself I'm on the phone with my mom. For all I know, my dad could be standing behind her with me on speaker.
    "Your father and I are gonna come visit you...if that's okay," she says, her voice nervous. I have a feeling no matter what I say will keep them from coming. "The last time we were all together wasn't the best, so I wanted to change that." I've loved how my mom was a fixer. No matter what the problem was, whether it be something emotion or physical, she's always determined to fix things.
     My eyes threatened to fall close as I feel Atticus press his front to my back. I push back just for the hell of it. He nibbles on my earlobe, almost causing me to moan aloud.
    "T-that'd be nice," I say, trying to sound like I'm not considering jumping this man's bones.
    "We should be there about five," she says happily before hanging up. I set my phone down and spin around, my eyes wide.
   "What the hell is wrong with you?"
   •••••

"I tried calling Alaric, it goes straight to voicemail," I tell my mom, shifting back and forth. My dad is still yet to get here, which doesn't surprise me. If he even comes I'll be shocked. He only shows up at the worst times. "He did mention he'd be out today running some errands."
"Sure, he does," Ida says, knowing what I know. Errands to him mean running something for the gang. My dad probably isn't here because of that. "Is he still doing okay?"
"Yeah," I tell her. She sighs, picking up a picture on my desk. The picture is of myself and Alaric with our Aunt and uncle Amor and Luz and their son Knight. With them living so far away we don't get to see each other often. After she got a divorce settled with her ex-husband she transferred her work and started over with her now husband and two kids.
"Your dad won't tell me much about what's going on with you. The past two months have been the most you two have interacted in years," she says. I hate to say that she's right. The only thing that can bring my father and me together is disagreement. "It's about a cop right?"
"His name is Atticus, not cop," I tell her. She nods, sitting down on Marissa's bed. "And yeah, but that ended. Dad made me choose." Actually, me having to end it just made it start. The past week with Atticus has been nice and relaxing, the two of us getting the hang of the whole relationship thing after being single for long.
"Do you like him?" She asks. I'm not one to not trust my mom, she always has my best interests at heart, but I can't tell if she's asking these things to ask or if it's for my dad. He could have asked her to get information out of me. Despite having that strong feeling, I tell her the truth because it's the only thing I know how to do.
"I do," I start. "A lot, and he liked me. Everything was fine until dad started popping up. He doesn't do shit most of my life then suddenly he tells me who I can and can't date." I look down at my hands, finding the truth awfully sad.
    "I do think he's right," she tells me. My eyes snap up to hers in surprise. How could she side with him on this? This is my life. "He's a cop, your family is full of outlaws. It's not safe." I feel stupid to think she would be happy for me, that anyone would at this point.
    "I know. I'm not talking to him anymore," I lie, swallowing the lump in my throat.
    ••••••