I continuously jumped on the soft mattress of my bed with my face buried in a throw pillow. Squealing in glee which came out muffled, I hopped around like a drunk kangaroo. 

I still couldn't believe that Atlas actually complimented me on my smile. A straight off implication about liking it. Once worn out from my adrenaline filled hopping, I finally sat down. 

With my head resting on my arms, I could feel a small smile playing on my lips. Anything I felt and everywhere I looked, it all screamed magical. It was like my eyes had a brain of their own and it saw things differently. More like in a zealous light.

When I had entered the house earlier, I was all smiles and laughs. My mom had given me a funny look while Bert looked at me skeptically. Dad was not home so I was lucky to not get weird looks from him too. Not that I minded because I was in my own little bubble.

My mom on the other hand, even had the audacity to question my sanity as to whether I was hit by a truck or something. 

I wanted to scream my lungs out because I was feeling over the moon happy and the reason also happened to be none other than Atlas but I knew better than that. A big part of me didn't want to share these moments with anyone. I wished to keep them locked inside my heart to have them reserved to myself. 'Selfish, I know.'

I was brought out of my reverie when my mom shouted from downstairs, "Dinner is ready!"

I bit the insides of my cheeks to constrain my smiles and tried my best to put on a poker face the entire time I was with my family during the dinner. And damn, was it hard.

--

"Aria." Kris looked like she ran a marathon and seemed to be hesitant for some reason. My smile soon faded away when I glanced at her disheveled state. She looked scared for some reason which also scared me in turn.

"What's wrong, Kris?" My voice was laced with concern.

"Uh - I was saying that - um," she stammered and chuckled nervously, all the while giving me one of those guilty looks too.

"Kris?" I asked again, this time with a more firm tone. "What is wrong?"

"Um, Paris is tagging along with her boyfriend," she uttered it like she didn't even want to talk to me about this mere topic. If I didn't know better, she was in every hope to sprint out of my gallery.

I relaxed visibly and rolled my eyes at her. I averted my attention back to the magazine I was skimming through. Sometimes, Kris could overreact over everything. "And tell me, Kris, why is that such a bad thing?" I chortled and her eyes widened. She gulped nervously.

"HerboyfriendisAiden," she spoke it so quickly that I had to repeat her words in my mind twice to even find them eligible to understand. But when I did, I wanted nothing more than to bang my head on the nearest wall. My hands were shaking and I hid them under the counter.

I gasped and a nasty frown formed on my forehead. "That hideous drum-ass," I spoke through clenched teeth. My jaw was extensively tensed while my eyes were narrowed into two slits.

I glanced at Kris who was sporting a worried look.

"Wait! How did you know that they're dating?" I asked.

"She always said that she is dating this guy but I never really asked much about him," she started and paused to look at my reaction. It was worsening the more she spoke. "So um... yesterday she showed me one of her thousand pictures. It was of her and um well you know... Aiden smiling broadly at the camera."

"Oh," I muttered. "I told that guy to never show up his ugly face and yet he decides to show up with his girlfriend who also happens to be your good friend. Did he really forget about my warning and what I did to him the last time we saw each other? I told him to never show me his face ever again and so he left Greenlake for good!" I screamed like a madwoman the entire time and Kris blanched at my tone. 

By the end of my outburst, I was breathing heavily. People like him have the power to drain my energy. To drain me mentally, emotionally and physically.

I inhaled and exhaled harshly to put my heightened nerves under control. "I came to know about it last night. I have another bad news for you," she muttered meekly.

"What?" I gritted. 'What can even be worse than Aiden coming here?!'

"Paris asked if you could keep one of those concert tickets reserved for Aiden?"

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. With my jaw ticking, I looked at her as if she's gone nuts. "Tell her they are sold out. I don't have any spare tickets for her Dick-den." To say I was intimidating when I was mad would be an understatement.

Kris cackled at the last part and I smiled instantly. "Will do. Anyway, who are you deciding to give those tickets to?"

"I am thinking I can tag Bert along with us and there is this friend of mine called Dave." I shrugged. "Though I am not so sure about Bert."

"Dave? I've never heard about this friend of yours," she said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Must have slipped my mind?" I answered, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly. 

She was about to say something when her phone started ringing and she excused herself to take the call. Before she left, she mumbled a quick, "See you later."

The day seemed to go by in a complete haze because my mind was occupied with various thoughts. I was in such a blissful mood before Kris decided to throw the bomb at me. 

I'd never give him one of the concert tickets. Not in a million years. Which is saying something because he could barely afford a normal ticket, let alone a VIP one. I chuckled darkly at my thoughts.

Locking the gallery, I decided that I needed some space and air to breath. I was not ready to go home just yet. So I headed to one of my favorite places other than Paradise.

I quickly cycled my way towards the beach in our town. It was the only place to calm down my fiery nerves. I put down my bike on the sand and sprinted towards the water as if my life depended on it. I extended my arms out to welcome the cool breeze that was brushing past me while I closed my eyes.

The chilly air engulfed me and I liked the feeling. Before I knew it, a scream left my mouth for a release. A release for all the depression I'd been feeling for so long now. It was a scream of my pent up emotions. It was a scream of all my piled up anger. I wanted to do this for a long time now. Dick-den's image came into my mind and I screamed even harder.

I was pretty sure the whole neighborhood must have heard the scream so I raised my voice even higher. It felt really good as if a burden was lifted off of my shoulders. I was surprised though, that nobody came to check up on me. Or even better, call the police for creating such a ruckus. Not that I cared. It was for the best actually. I needed this. I really did.

I would have kept screaming if it weren't for a voice. It was soft but not unheard. I could recognize the voice anywhere and anytime. Even if I were asleep.

"Does that feel good?" Atlas asked and I turned around to give him a surprised look. My heart was thumping so fast that I didn't know whether it was because of all the screaming fit I'd had or the fact that Atlas was here.

"Are you following me?" I blurted out and cringed inwardly at my choice of words. 'Following you? Seriously?'

He chuckled and replied, "Of course not."

I smiled and nodded at him. "It does," I said, answering to his previous question.

"What?"

"It feels good," I said without hesitation. And the next thing I know, we were both screaming like the two maniacs on the beach. We both kept on screaming until our throats became scratchy and dry. It was parched by the end of it all but I didn't regret it one bit.

"It was awesome." He laughed and his voice came out raspy.

"I know, right?" I released a breathy laugh. We stayed silent for a while, watching the waves crash against each other in serenity. The reflection of the moon on the dark water was an aesthetic view to witness. I turned to my left to see Atlas already staring at me with a foreign expression.

I was taken aback by the intensity of his look and averted my gaze. 

"What's wrong?" He asked after a moment of staring at me.

"Huh?"

"What made you scream?" He asked softly. The wind blowing was making some weirdly eerie sounds. His hair swayed along with the rhythm of the wind.

For a minute, I actually gave in to the temptation to tell him the truth about Aiden. 'But what if he doesn't care?' A voice in my head questioned. "There's a lot going on," I gave him the most  vague answer but he didn't push me any further about it which I was thankful for. "And you?"

"I have my own issues."