Atticus pulls away from me with a face the shade of neon pink. “No!” I nod, pulling a face of disgust despite my dissapointment at his reaction. “We’re just coworkers and friends.” I butt in. Julius shoots me a look. They must have noticed how crestfallen I was when Atticus reacted to the question. I give them a slight shake of my head. “Alright!” Matteo claps his hands once. “Who’s ready for some swimming!” Every jumps at that, stripping of shirts and changing into bathing suits, except for Lucia, who was already in her bikini top and swim trunks. I’m the last in the water, still standing by the fire in my trunks and flat chested bikini top. Even with the top, you can see my top surgery scars. Atticus shoots a look back at me, smiles, and yells, “No one here will judge you, scaredy cat. You’ll be okay!!” I nod, pulling off my tanktop to reveal the hawaiin pattern on the swim suit I’m wearing. Atticus turns slightly pink and dives under the waves, and I jump right in after him. We splash around a while, laughing and dumping Lucia off of her floaty repeatedly. Matteo and Cyrus sneak off for a while, and once I ask if I should go looking for them Julius just says, “Let them snog in peace, they’re just getting drunk off their asses.” Atticus laughs at that, snorting and hugging his chest. I smile awkwardly, glad they saved me from encountering that. “Λοιπόν, γάμησε με, υποθέτω. ευχαριστώ που με σώσατε από αυτό.” Atticus stares at me in shock. “What the fuck was that?” “Was what?” “Which language was that?” “Oh. It was just greek.” Julius and Lucia both start laughing. “Wait,” Lucia wipes a tear from her eye, “You speak Greek, but you live in Rome?” “Um,” I look at her quizzically,”Yes? I’m from Greece, I thought you knew that.” “Huh.” Atticus looks at me strangely, his face red from the cold. He splashes back under the water and knocks over Lucia’s floaty again. Julius laughs, but quickly quiets down when a sopping, fuming Lucia reappears and tackles Atticus into the water. I genuinely laugh when Atticus resurfaces. Atticus is the town fuck-boy, notoriously good-looking and proper, despite his “bad boy” reputation, yet he emerges from the water with his wavy sun-bleached hair flopped in front of his eyes, coughing and spluttering, a long tendril of seaweed somehow wrapped around his shoulders and dangling down his arm like a strange string of pearls. Atticus glares at me slightly, yet in a joking way. “Well,” he mutters, “Glad someone gets amusement from my humiliation.” His grumpy expression brings another smile to my lips. Eventually the other two boys reappear, Cyrus’s face flushed and his neck scattered with small reddish bruises. Lovely. Lucia rolls her eyes, running her hand over her bleached buzz-cut. Julius looks away, then back towards the group. “Hey, Let’s go back to the beach and all get drunk off our asses.” Everyone cheers and we splash back to the fire. Atticus catches my eye and flashes me a quick smile, then calls, “Me and Felix call the Vodka! They’ve never gotten drunk!” I laugh, but looking back it was the best alcohol I've had in my life.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

* * * * *

I woke up that morning in an unfamiliar room, with no clothes on, sprawled against a warm body. I didn’t know who it was, but the breeze coming through the window urged me to curl into them, which I did. A headache throbbed between my ears, and recollection started coming to me.

The drinking contest, The truth or dare kiss, a drunken stumble to Atticus’s house, a make-out session until we couldn;t hold back anymore. Oh god. Oh dear fucking god. I look up at Atticus, my face going bright red, my thoughts racing. Suddenly nauseous, I run to the bathroom connected to his bedroom and gagged, throwing on a pair of shorts before I reached it. Atticus sits up, his hair a mess and hickeys on his neck and chest. He suddenly groans and grips his head, then looks around. Once his eyes see me, they widen. “Oh my god.” He runs over. “I’m so sorry! Was I too rough? I tried to clean you up after but I’m never really good at aftercare, but you seemed to like the bubble bath. You’re really cuddly when you’re drunk, you know? Oh my god wait, you have gotten any form of lower body surgeries. Did I get you pregnant?! Is this morning sickness?! I’m so sorry, I’ll help take care of the kid-” I slap a hand across his mouth. “1, Too early in the morning for a ramble, 2, I have a throbbing hangover quiet down, 3, I am not pregnant, I am hungover. Now will you calm down?” He nods nervously. “Good.” I exhale. “Now explain what happened last night.”

* * * * *

Mr. Bonfils spits his coffee halfway across the room. “What?” “Oh, good.” Mrs. Bonfils smiles at me, “Now it's completely a family business.” Atticus stares at his lap at the table, while I hide my face in my hands. His mother had walked in right when he mentioned the part where we had sex and immediately ran out of the room. I blush a bit at that and Atticus looks up in horror. “Mom!” she gives him a look then adds, “At least, i certainly hope you’re dating after that.” He peers at me and takes a breath. “Well, I dunno.” He switches his gaze back to his mother and then to me again. “Are we dating?” He looks puzzled. I shrug. “If you want to, I've liked you for a while.” I slip the words into the sentence subtly. His face goes neon and he focuses on his plate again. “I like you too.” he mumbled. I smile and turn to Mrs. Bonfils again. “Well, apparently we are dating.” I say with a cheeky smile. She gawks at us while Mr. Bonfils guffaws and doubles over, laughing at the currently uncomfortable scene. “Well,” She announces flustered. “I suppose its too late to tell you to wait until marriage.” Mr. Bonfils laughs so hard he snorts his coffee.