Homines quod volunt credunt ~ Men believe what they want to
Atticus

"Atticus? Atticus?! Are ya even listening to me?!"

How do I know her name??

"Wait what? Ah sorry, Sawyer" I mutter hesitantly as I try to think.

"It's Meredith! Who da hell is Sawyer??"

"Oh right, yea ma bad..." I run my hands through my hair as I try to think.

I can't stop thinking about her

Sawyer. Sawyer. Sawyer

"Uh I gotta pop out for a sec..." I dash out of the kitchen, drink in hand.

I begin to realise how tipsy I am as I stumble down the hallway. I make my way upstairs to try and find an empty room to take a breather in.

Why is everything is complicated. Nothings complicated under water, everything's calm under there, quiet, relaxing. Why can't my life always be as simple as that?

I'm way too drunk for this...

I stagger backwards, knocking myself into the wooden railing. I grip my hands onto it tightly to stop the world from spinning. And more importantly, to hold down my lunch.

Everything feels green and dizzy. And my head suddenly feels to heavy to hold up; good thing it's attached to my shoulders.

I stagger off and stumble through a random door. So it's very surprising when I see Hugh sitting there on the floor, by himself.

"Ay what's the craic stranger!" Hugh welcomes me with a goofy smile, waving a bottle of vodka around. His signature drink of choice.

"Whatcha doing 'er?" I chuckle, joining him in sitting on the floor. "I thought you were playing beer pong."

"I was! We lost though." Hugh starts to pout before remembering to finish the story. "We lost badly, so I ended up getting quite tipsy and someone brought me up here for a wee lie down. But! I found this cool record player here and started having a little solo dance party."

It was only once he said it that I start to notice the music in the background. It was good, really good.

"This song is actually quite good, who sings it?"

Hugh then proceeds to do a spit take.

"Who are they? Who are they?!Are ya telling me boy that ya never heard of The Smiths??"

"I'm not really that into music. I spend most of me day swimming. And ya can't listen to music underwater" I start to chuckle nervously when I notice Hugh is still looking at me amazed.

"Atti, Atti, Atti... Man! There's so much I needa  teach ya! Number one, The Smiths is the greatest band alive, number two, this charming man is the greatest song alive!"

Hugh is getting so worked up about all of this I'm starting to find it very amusing; and kinda cute.

As the chorus blares through the stereo, Hugh decides to get up and dance; or at least what he calls dancing...

"C'mon Atti boy come dance with me"

"Woah woah woah no way mate, not on ya life"

Hugh ignores me completely and yanks me up to dance with him, not before making me down three shots of vodka to 'loosen me up' first. Say what you want about Hugh but sometimes he's an absolute genius. I've decided that I now love vodka and I love The Smiths even more.

We dance to The Smiths for what feels like all night. The sense of freedom I feel as I frail my legs around and call it dancing is unparalleled to anything I've ever felt before. And it's only fitting I get to experience that with Hugh.
***

"Ya know every time I look at ya Atti,"Hugh starts softly "I see that spark of greatness between ya eyes. The kind of greatness that will take ya far away from this shitty town. And sooner or later you'll forgot about all of us here, you'll forget about me."

I look down at my hands as I listen to Hugh talk. The sound of the forgotten record humming quietly in the background. My ears burn pink as I hear about him talk about my greatness but slink back into the silence when he talks about us forgetting each other. Or at least me forgetting him.

"Why do we have to think about all that anyways?" I question, still speaking to my hands. "We basically just started sixth form, we have ages till all that."

"It's already October Atticus, time waits for no man."

"I wish I could freeze time. At least pause it for a second, so I could feel some things for a little longer" I muse, as I lean my head back and close my eyes shut. "You, me and the smiths."

Hugh chuckles, "yea, you me and the smiths."

I smile softly as I turn to look at Hugh, and see that he's already looking back at me. Hugh has a way of looking at you, and you know he's really looking. He's present, there and you feel like the only person in the room.

I start to notice how dark it's gotten as I notice how the moonlight illuminates his face; bringing out the sharpness of his cheekbones.

I barely notice as he starts to shift closer to me. It's only until his forehead is resting against mine and I can feel his breath on my face that I start to wonder what I'm doing. What am I doing? What am I feeling? And why does it feel so good?

"I'm not... you know..." I mutter.

"Not what?" His breath smells like cinnamon and vodka. I try my hardest to get lost in it but it's a deadly combination.

"I'm not... you know... I'm not a gay."

Hugh chuckles at me again, before lifting his hand to tuck a stray hair behind my ear.

"Me neither."

He leans in to kiss me and I let him. His lips are so soft and his tongue tastes like cinnamon and vodka. The deadliest combination. I can't stop myself from kissing him back. I know it's wrong and it's not endgame but who cares! It feels so right.

Right?
***
Ahhh!! Finally!

I've been thinking about this chapter for weeks and it's finally here.

I love writing the relationship between Hugh and our boy Atticus.

Please leave a comment, praise or critics I really don't mind.
Don't forget to vote and I'll see you guys next time.

Till next time,

Sparklenightmare