“Apocalypse” is a song by American band Cigarettes After Sex, released as the second single from their debut album Cigarettes After Sex on March 27, 2017. The song is ultimately “about being there for people, when you're all alone. It was like a little affectionate statement to them.” [Source: Wikipedia]

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FFANC: no comment was found from Nathan Callahan.

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Chapter Fifteen: Apocalypse

Nathan Callahan had never dreamed of the fact that he would get all sorts of messed up over a scrunchie.

Really, it was just a scrunchie. No big deal. He shouldn't care. At all.

But damn him. He couldn't stop looking at it.

Lately, all his thoughts were like that. Incoherent, irrelevant, and absolutely unnecessary.

They came to his mind when he least expected them, like pop-up ads on websites. Like a piece of chewing gum stuck in the sole of his shoe that he couldn't just get rid of.

They were there when he was about to go to sleep, when he was making cookies, when he was passing by Mom’s bedroom and catching her reading one of her stupid romances, or, worst of all, when he was in the freaking shower.

Why, God, why?

Thoughts of her. Everywhere. All day. All the time.

Nathan was fine. He was doing amazing before. In fact, he was doing perfectly. He led a problem-free life, regardless of his home being a warzone because of two devil's incarnates (Bear and Sawyer). His brain was clear, not clouded by how someone's lips looked red, or that someone wore black to match with him, or how she smiled and shrieked in celebration of throwing a freaking basketball.

What made his life now into before and after, was a big mistake. He knew it when it was happening. He made it happen, kind of. His goal was to stop it. But he thought it would be fun to muddy the waters a little, while he should have made it clear he wanted to get off the water at once.

And now he was in the middle of the ocean.

His hand betrayed him first. Ruffling someone's hair it wasn't supposed to. Because who the hell does that? Hormonal teenagers, that's who. Idiots, that's who.

He wasn't an idiot. And he would like to pass this whole teenage debauchery as soon as possible so he can make his own decisions and not be influenced by stupid chemicals.

Chemicals, which might be the reason he was so pissed looking at a scrunchie in Fletcher's hand.

Nathan clasped and unclasped his fists, thinking of several ways how he would get it back.

It was first in her hair. Then it was on her wrist. Now Fletcher was carrying it around like it belonged to him.

Nathan needed to do meditation. He thought to himself. Some spiritual cleansing or shit. Maybe that would settle his ass down. And he would stop thinking about stupid stuff like how it felt when she slid down his- no. Nope. Absolutely not.

He wouldn't dare go there. There was a definite blip in his brain. A wipeout of his neuronal circuit. A lapse of judgment. A moment of weakness.

That's all.

It wouldn't happen again. Like ever. Of course.

Nathan was hiding out in the twin’s house because his baby brother and baby sister, who were not babies at all, more like banshees, were raising hell back at home. He did not wish to be caught in the ambush.

Theo was playing Spiderman on PS5 like his life depended on it. Fletcher was looking for snacks like a dog going around smelling for food. They were hollering back and forth about the party they were going to throw tomorrow, since Ruth and Sebastian, their parents, were going out of town.

How would he get that scrunchie back? That was the question.

Nathan tried to reason with himself. He did not need the scrunchie. At all. Fletcher could give it back to her the next time he saw her. But something about that made him feel even angrier.

Nathan breathed out slowly. He even tried to count his breaths. Fletcher was whistling as he opened and closed the kitchen cabinets.

Nathan stood up from the couch before he could stop himself.

He needed to do this casually. He didn't want to warn them and make them suspicious. Especially Theo. Between the twins, Theo had the eyes of a watchful observer. He seemed harmless, but he was always watching everyone with keen eyes.

“Did you find anything to eat?” Nathan said, getting close to Fletcher, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Yup,” Fletcher said as he tore open a pack of Lays', “this is from last year.”

He put one chip in his mouth and crunched. Nathan wrinkled his nose, “How did it survive so long?”

“Put it there to hide from Theo and then I forgot where I put it.”

“Georgie does that,” Nathan said, opening a cabinet himself, “but I always find it.”

Nathan looked back and raised an eyebrow casually, “Ah, the scrunchie, you still have that?”

Theo's ears perked up from the distance, almost like an animal.

“Oh, this,” Fletcher touched it with his hands, still with crumbs, and it irritated the hell out of Nathan. “I forgot I still had it.”

“You got Emily's scrunchie?” Theo yelled from the living room.

“Yup,” Fletcher said.

“Guess I'll give it back to her,” Nathan rolled his eyes and lent his hand in front of Fletcher but he recoiled.

“I'll give it back when I see her next,” he said, “Does she come over every Friday?”

Why did he notice that? Nathan clenched his jaw then relaxed it, reminding himself to keep his cool. “Something like that. But you never know when she’ll come over next.”

Fletcher pulled it with his hand, putting more crumbs in it and loosening the elastic. “I'll give it back then.”

Nathan thought about how to play this off. “You'll forget.”

“No, I won't,” he shook his head.

“You forgot about food.”

“Nah, I'll remember.”

“You wanna bet on it?”

He was doing that again, loosening the elastic. Before Nathan could stop himself, he grabbed Fletcher's wrist, “Stop it, you're ruining it.”

It came out harsher than he intended. Fletcher pushed his hand away, “What's wrong with you?”

Theo appeared in front of them, “Are you guys fighting over Em's scrunchie? Seriously?”

Nathan tried not to glare at him. He took a deep breath. It was true. It was just a scrunchie. He was fussing over nothing. “I'm just saying she might need it back, that's all.”

Theo narrowed his eyes at him, “I'm pretty sure she's got plenty of them.”

Nathan moved away from the counter and went back to the couch and sat down, but he could hear Theo saying, “Did he just pout and stomp away?”

“It did look like that, didn't it?”

Theo's footsteps got nearer.

“Somebody's got a crush!”

There it was. The thing he feared the most.

If Theo only knew Nathan had eaten ice cream off of her lips.

Why did he do that? He didn't even think about it when he did. He saw the cream stuck to her bright red lips, and all he could think of was licking it clean. It bothered him when she did nothing about it, so he took it upon himself. He cleaned it with his thumb, and when he realized what he had done, it was too late.

She was blushing furiously, and he was...not okay.

That was not supposed to happen.

“I mean, we should have known when he asked about the drive-in!” Theo said, leaning his forearm on the head of the couch. Fletcher came around and flopped down next to him.

“Is that right, Natey boy? You in love with Emily?”

Nathan's eyes widened, and he looked at Fletcher, “Will you shut the fuck up?”

“He didn't even complain when I said they only showed cheesy rom-coms.” Theo commented.

“Now that I remember, he looked kind of wistful,” Fletch said, smirking, “Kind of like he was thinking of-”

“Taking Emily there,” Theo completed his twin's sentence, “You did that, didn't you?”

He didn't need another reminder of that night. She walked out looking cute as hell, wearing a little black dress. He could hardly stop himself from blurting out everything he knew and coming clean.

But then he would have never known how her face lit up when she watched her favorite movies, how she reacted to every scene, mouthed the dialogues silently, smiled brightly in that dimly lit car with her red lips, and how she looked sheepish when she checked for his reaction.

When he ended up watching her every reaction, Nathan reasoned that he didn't need to watch the movie because he had watched it with Georgie before.

Then he proceeded to take her to one of his favorite restaurants that he found purely by chance and told nobody about. When she looked satisfied at the same time, so flushed because the food was spicy, all he could think about was taking her to every gem of a place he had found until now.

If this went on, he was going to be in so much trouble.

He had only wished to enjoy, to be amused and entertained, and then do what he was supposed to.

He certainly was not going to have a crush. Not now. Not on Emily Kingsley, of all people.

Theo and Fletcher were still talking about it all. They didn't need to know how he felt.

How he felt was irrelevant. It didn't matter.

“I'm just gonna go back home,” Nathan muttered underneath his breath.

They laughed at him as he left.

On his way out, he glanced at the backyard, at the basketball hoop and tried not to think of the treacherous Emily Kingsley.

Nobody needed to know how badly he failed.

*****

Emily

It was Saturday Night. I was in Leanna's car, wearing a black leather jacket over my black top and dark jeans, along with my trusted black heeled boots. I had my hair up in a ponytail. My eyeliner was extra sharp because today I was the backup, and I needed to look a little dangerous lest Leanna's date turned out to be someone whom we wanted to avoid.

“I'd hit him with my ponytail if things go wrong,” I assured Lea.

She laughed. She, on the other hand, looked exactly my opposite, in her pink sundress, her hair in ribbons, and her feet in Barbie pink sandals. “Sure, I approve. I had stalked him enough on Instagram, and I thought he looked okay.”

“But we don't know for sure.”

Leanna drove, and I was in charge of music, a role I had assigned to myself despite it might be a five-minute drive. I went through my Spotify.

I didn't know where the party was, so I asked. “Hey, where is this party? In whose house?”

“This twin from Cycreak. I don't remember their names. One of them is Theo, I think.”

Shit.

Of course.

“Are we invited?” I turned to her. Gosh, I really hoped not to run into either of the twins. Leanna didn't know I had met them.

“I heard they're cool and wouldn't mind.”

“For real?” I crossed my arms, “And you didn't think of telling me beforehand?”

“You were already planning not to come,” she reasoned. “I think we are almost there?”

We weren't. But it wasn't like I could tell her. She'd have to figure it out herself.

She parked the car, and I got out. I followed her as she looked around, and then we heard faint music. Soon we were in front of their house.

I was here yesterday.

I looked at the house right beside theirs. The light on the upstairs bedroom was turned off. Not that I cared.

The front door was open. Some horrible Kanye West song was blaring on the speakers. There was a narrow hallway. People crowded every nook and cranny. We were a little late. The party had passed its jolly time and was on its way to mayhem.

I could hear people screaming at the back. They were probably playing basketball. I thought to myself.

I followed Leanna to the kitchen. She picked up a red solo cup for herself and filled it with keg beer, and handed it to me. I smelled it and realized that was a bad decision. I wasn't going to drink that.

She got herself another cup and tipped it back, murmuring, “Liquid courage.”

“What you need, my friend, is tequila,” I told her. Leanna made a face as she cleared the cup.

“So, where is our lover boy?” I scanned the living room in front of us. She did the same.

“Oh, shit, right there,” Leanna said as she hid behind me. I looked at where she was pointing. All I could see was a tall guy, with a broad back wearing a white shirt and washed out denim.

“Go for it,” I said, pulling her to my front, “You are here for this. You can't hide behind me and avoid him.”

Leanna took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, “How do I look?”

“Like the love of his life,” I smiled.

Leanna blew air out of her mouth, “Okay, I'm gonna go and bump into him.”

“I'm around if you need anything. Hit me up when you think you need me, alright?”

She nodded and set off towards her goal. I took my beer cup and looked for a quiet corner from where I could watch things unfold.

I hadn't seen the twins yet. People were all around, on the floor, on the couches. Someone had attached a disco light on the ceiling. Some of the lights were broken. So the lighting was kind of dim.

It made for an excellent atmosphere to make out, which I saw people doing. Man, this sucked.

I got out my phone. My inbox was empty. I scrolled through Instagram and got bored. I looked up, and then I saw him.

He was right across from me, on the opposite wall, leaning against it and looking outside.

He was in all black. Half-sleeved black shirt, black jeans, black shoes. All that was missing was tattoos all over his arms. Then he'd look like the lead singer of an emo rock band, with his electric guitar, driving some chicks crazy.

That was when I saw it. A black scrunchie on his wrist.

It was mine.

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