Makenna scanned the room with Hee and Lexi by her side as they made their way further inside.

"Oh, this party is lit." Lexi said,

"I'm just glad it's just us girls." Hee said,

Lexi and Makenna turned to their right to look at Hee to see if she was joking but the look on her face said she wasn't which made Lexi turn left to Makenna with a frown.

They both didn't say anything and just went to get drinks at the back.

"Why aren't the guys here?" Lexi asked,

"Well, Hee told me about the party so I figured she told the guys as well."

Hee looked at them like they were crazy,
"I didn't, but this is nice. We should do this more often."

"And what would Kent think about that?" Lexi asked softly and slowly like she was treading on eggshells,

"Oh, I don't know," Hee sipped on her drink, "We should definitely ask his other girlfriend."

Lexi snapped her gaze to Hee to see if she was joking yet again, and Makenna just frowned in disgust.

"What?!" Lexi exclaimed, "Kent wouldn't do that?"

"Yeah well, I didn't think he would either." Hee said, "But the girl in his bed when I went to his dorm earlier today says otherwise."

"I can't believe him. How could he do that to you?"

The conversation with Lexi and Hee went on and although Makenna tried to tune it out, she couldn't help but hear bits and pieces. Truth be told, she was surprised at what Kent had done but then again, she half expected it to happen. She was also surprised at how well Hee was handling it, she wouldn't have guessed that something horrid had happened to her if she hadn't just told them.

After a while, Lexi accompanied Hee to dance with a couple of guys and Makenna stayed back and just watched them from a corner of the kitchen where she was propped up on the counter.

She sipped on her drink and had no idea when Atlas came up behind her and leaned on the doorpost that was right next to the counter where she was seated. People walked past Atlas through the door from the backyard into the kitchen to grab another drink while others lurked around the kitchen.

"Why aren't you out there?"

Makenna didn't flinch at the unexpected question or at the fact that there was someone standing at her four o'clock. She knew who it was the second the question was out and she might not have jumped physically, but her heart popped at the unexpected intrusion and that it was Atlas.

Makenna didn't say anything for a few seconds and lifted her cup to her lips and took a little sip then lowered the cup,
"I thought I told you to stay away from me."

Atlas smiled to himself,
"And I thought you never run scared."

"And what would I be scared of?"

Atlas shifted his gaze from the rest of the party to study her side profile,
"Me."

Makenna huffed a laugh,
"So much evil in the world and you think I'm scared of you." She paused, "Well, you are quite irritable so I guess that's good enough reason to want to avoid you. But not enough to be scared."

All the while Atlas studied her side profile,
"So you're not scared that we would become friends and I would find out your deepest darkest secrets?"

"Oh, I'm not scared about the former because it's never going to happen, we both hate each other's guts."

"I don't hate you."

"Hard to believe that after everything that's happened."

"I promise I don't hate you," Atlas said, "I'm just having a hard time figuring out if you're friend or foe."

"Neither." Pause. "Both."

That sounded accurate to Atlas.
"What about the latter?"

"Excuse me?" Makenna still hadn't turned to look at him, secretly afraid she'd see that look again,

"You said the former was never going to happen, but you didn't say anything about the latter."

Finding out her deepest darkest secrets.

"Well, that," She took another sip of her drink, "Has about a negative zero chance of ever happening."

Atlas frowned,
"There is no such thing as negative zero."

Makenna smiled and looked down at her drink,
"My point exactly."

Were her secrets that bad, that him finding out wasn't even an option?
Atlas thought.

He couldn't argue with that because who on earth thinks about sharing their secrets with someone who's a complete stranger to them? Now, it was something that was impossible but over time, if they became friends, and bonds were built, there was a chance. But, she'd said them ever becoming friends was never going to happen and that was something he wanted to prove wrong to her.

"Well," Makenna placed her drink on the counter, on her other side and pushed to slide off the counter,

Atlas instinctively took a step closer and quickly reached out with the intention to catch her in case she was tipsy, not sure how much she'd had to drink. That placed him right in front of her as she turned to the side and faced him. At the same time, some wanker pushed his friend who slammed right into Makenna from behind. She was caught unawares and stumbled forward slamming right into Atlas' chest. Atlas instinctively put his hands on her waist to keep her steady as he glared at the idiots behind her who scurried away.

Makenna's reflex kicked in as she slammed into Atlas and her hands were caught between their bodies with her palms braced on his chest. She didn't dare look up at him, she instead kept her gaze fixated on a spot on his t-shirt. Atlas shifted his gaze down and studied her from their new position. Her lashes fluttered when she blinked, they were long and dark. He could see the top of her head which was on the level of his shoulders. His mind wandered for a bit as he took her in and soon, he was wondering about her hair parting where her hairline seemed to transition into her hair like she'd put something dark on her hairline.

Atlas noticed the tick in her jaw as she remained close, her hands on his chest shook as his fingers splayed slowly on her waist. At that moment, the memory of holding her on the floor of Metro Coffee was replaced with this moment. Now, he was very much aware that he was holding her.

He leaned down, getting closer to her face, his jaw brushing past one side of her head against her hair.

Makenna had no idea what was going on, she wanted to pull back but something kept her feet rooted rendering her unable to move. She felt Atlas' head lower to hers and she closed her eyes like she was about to witness something tragic.

He stopped when his lips were aligned with her ear and his soft exhale tickled her ear and something caught in her chest, something heavy.

"I think we're going to be good friends."

Atlas said barely above a whisper and Makenna swallowed as she quickly pushed at him, turned around and walked away without sparing him a single glance. Her heart pounded fast inside her chest.

What was that?
She panicked as she made her way to the bathroom.

Heyyy!

I've sent out the Google forms for the Beta Readers to fill out before they can get started with reviewing upcoming Broken chapters. If you're still interested, do let me know. A few of my friends have already started reviewing and I've got some edits to make.

I'm hoping everyone interested in reading these chapters can join in and also give me a few pointers that would get these chapters to a point where I would feel like they're good to go.

One of the comments I got from my friend was: Make Mac ruder! 😂 I am a really nice person, and so far, Mac has been unbearable to me. So having to make her ruder is like...WHAT?! This isn't enough? As hilarious as that is, I welcome all comments and would try my best to implement them into the story to make it a better experience for you guys.

I would REALLY like to know all your thoughts so far about the story. Please drop your comment(s) here.

Thank you for being AWESOME and sticking around for these characters to find their way.

Love,
Jane. ♥