but I was trying not to show it. Julia and Dawson were talking about God-knows-what and Leah were telling Jude and Atlas about the time we went to the park and got hit on by some guys, but they left us alone when we started to bark at them. I tried not to smile at the memory.

I was trailing behind them acting like there was something much more interesting on my phone because I was a little salty. I frowned at Atlas when he peeked back at me.

When we left the hotel, we walked for a few minutes to the nearest place for breakfast. I was cramped into the middle next to Dawson and Julia. Right across from me sat Atlas, his long legs tangling with my short ones under the table. I tried my best to ignore the feeling of his lean, strong legs pressed against mine, but a girl could only do so much.

The little fucker knew what he was doing too. Every time he'd readjust himself and move his legs under the table, hence making his legs brush against mine, his blue eyes would gouge my reaction. Eventually getting sick of it, I "accidentally" kicked him under the table. I apologized profusely, but we both knew I wasn't sorry.

After breakfast, I realized that if he wanted to, he could beat me up and have his way with me until I was unrecognizable. After that realization, I kept my distance.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Jude spoke up next to me. I looked at him, a thin smile on my lips.

"Why are you being so quiet?" He had asked.

I huffed quietly, crossing my arms slightly, "Atlas is unbearable."

Jude laughed loudly and almost doubled over from his fit, "Really? Wow, that's news to me."

I frowned at him, "Stop mocking me. Tell me your secret. How'd you get him to stop annoying you?"

Jude quieted down and looked at me, an amused smile on his face, "He's not annoying."

I frowned, "What?"

Jude nodded, "Yeah, it's just how he is. He's quiet, keeps to himself, but that by itself stirs a reaction out of almost everybody."

I frowned. "So, what does that mean?"

Jude sighed, "Think about it. Has he ever really done anything to annoy you? Like did he make fun of you, or laugh too loud, or..."

I frowned, shaking my head slightly. Jude smiled, "See?"

"So you're telling me he's annoying me because he just does? Because he's hard-wired to look at you and just annoy the fuck out of you?"

Jude frowned, "No. Maybe his relaxed nature just sets you off or something."

I groaned, rolling my eyes, "Would you like to switch rooms with me then?" I quickly pulled a smile onto my face to sell my argument.

Jude laughed, "Get to know him. Once you do, it'll be hard not to like him afterward."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah."

I looked up to see Jude frowning, slightly. He then pulled his lips into a small smile, "Hey, look at it from his side. You must annoy him like crazy."

My jaw dropped as I stared at Jude, "Hey, I thought we were friends. I do not annoy him. I'm like an angel."

Jude snorted, but quickly covered his laugh with his hands, "Sure you are."

I rolled my eyes, a small smile on my lips, "Mhm, I thought so."

When we finally reached Hyde Park, everybody wanted to do something different. Julia wanted to tour and see the memorial and statues. Leah and Dawson wanted to look at the water and the animals. Jude wanted to go to the art gallery and I wanted to go to the rose garden.

"How about we just go to all of them one at a time?" Julia said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Jude shook his head, "We won't have time to do that. So, maybe we should split up?"

Leah nodded, "Dawson and I will go to the lake. Jude, you can go with Julia and look at the statues which won't take long, and then go to the gallery. Eden..."

Before she could finish, I realized that, again, the only two people left were Atlas and me. This was not going to happen again. Not if I could help it.

"I'll go to the Art Gallery with Jude and Julia." I blurted out, avoiding all eye contact with Atlas. Julia smiled at me, but Leah frowned and turned to Atlas.

"What will you do?" She asked. I looked up at the trees overhead and hoped to God (again) that nothing overly embarrassing would happen today. But even that was hoping for too much.

Atlas shrugged, "I was going to go check out the Round Pond by the Palace."

"Oh, okay! Call us if there's anything." She said, pointing a finger at each person in the group. Everybody nodded.

Dawson and Leah walked off and Atlas walked away towards the pond. I let out a sigh. Julia, Jude, and I walked down the paved road towards the Gallery. I looked back at Atlas's retreating figure.

I frowned. It was pretty mean leaving him alone. We all went on vacation together not alone. I shook my head. No, all we'd do to each other is annoy the hell out of one another. It was better this way. We shared a room for God's sake, we needed to get away from each other during the day.

I huffed. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably feel like shit. With that, I stopped. Julia and Jude stopped mid-conversation and looked at me. I smiled sheepishly.

"Uh... turns out that I wanna see the pond too. So, bye." I didn't wait to see Jude's taunting smile or Julia's confused frown and turned around, jogging my way to Atlas.

When I finally reached him, I tried to act like I wasn't about to die from the lack of Oxygen I was inhaling. I steadied my breathing as he looked at me, his lips parted.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. I faltered because of two things. What was I doing here? And the way his eyes looked at me felt too heavenly. His blue eyes were so full of color, so distinct and different. And they were looking at me...

I snapped out of my daze when he cleared his throat. I tried to keep my cheeks from burning red but failed miserably. "I- I wanted to see the Circle pond too."

Atlas's lips pulled into a soft smile and he looked away, continuing to walk. I followed him.

"It's called the Round Pond." He murmured and at that moment, I wanted to smack myself on the head. I nodded.

"Yeah, I knew that," I whispered, rolling my eyes.

Atlas walked silently next to me. His head swiveled around, drinking in the beauty of the park around us. I was too awestruck by the natural beauty he radiated himself.

I sneered, shaking myself from my thoughts. No, I was still mad at him. Mad at him for being a jerk, mad at him for being so quiet and brooding, and mad at him for being so hot. I groaned to myself.

Atlas finally spoke, "You finally slept last night."

I snapped my head to him, ready to tell him off and mind his own business, but it died in my throat. His blue eyes weren't focused on me (God, what I would've done to have them on me and me only again) and he had a small frown on his lips.

I blushed when I remembered the way I held onto him when I had woken up. I looked away from him, "Yeah,"

He nodded, "If it helps you, you can continue to use me as your pillow."

My frown faltered. He wasn't teasing me and it didn't sound like he had any underlying intentions with his words. The words died in my throat. We continued to walk in silence.

A few feet later, I heard him whisper my name under his breath. He wasn't calling for my attention, it was like he was feeling the way I sounded on his tongue. My cheeks flamed red and my stomach did at least a hundred cartwheels.

"Uh-" I found myself stuttering and blubbering like an idiot, "Yeah,"

The Kensington Gardens we found ourselves walking in was beautiful. Big green trees lined the sides of the walkway shrouding us from the sun high up in the sky. I glanced at Atlas smiling softly at the dazed look on his face. It was like everything he looked at amazed him differently each time.

After a long, tiresome walk we finally broke through the line of trees reaching the pond. The area opened up into a long green blanket of grass. People sat and talked around, smiles on their faces. Some people sat around a picnic spread, others sat alone reading and watching the animals. A smile broke out on my face as I saw dozens of ducks, geese, and swans milling around the glittering blue water.

I followed Atlas down the sand-colored path and stopped next to him in front of the water. Ismiled as a pigeon walked past us, followed by another bird. I pulled out my phone and opened my camera, taking picture after picture of the beautiful green and blue around us.

I opened a snap from Julia and smiled at the picture. She and Jude were posed in front of an abstract painting of... was that a horse? Under it read: Where are you guys? I shook myself from my thoughts and smiled, opening the camera on Snapchat.

I turned to Atlas and snapped a picture of him to which he frowned. I smiled.

"What are you doing?" He asked, glancing at me briefly.

"Julia asked us where we were," I said as I saved the picture to memories. I sent the picture after.

Atlas walked over to the greenery and sat down. I followed him, taking a seat next to him. I laid down on my back. With my snap still open, I took a picture, smiling with my eyes closed. I looked at the photo, smiling widely. The green grass behind me was such a nice backdrop for the picture.

I posted it.

I looked up as a duck passed right by us. I willed myself not to get up and run, in fear of it biting my fingers off. I took in a breath, ignoring the duck as much as I could.

I looked to Atlas whose arms were draped over his legs as he stared at the blue water. I marveled at his beauty and pouted. It wasn't fair that pretty people like him existed. Sure, I wasn't pig ugly, but oh my God, I wasn't godly like him either.

He looked back at me and I stared up at him, not looking away like I usually would have done. He laid down next to me and I got a whiff of his cologne. It smelt like Cedarwood and expensive musk. I liked it.

I took in a breath, "I'm still hungry."

I looked to Atlas catching the smile that broke out on his face, I smiled too. He wasn't so bad when he wasn't being unbearably quiet and brooding. I hated quiet. Quiet meant thinking about the past and I'd rather do anything but that.

I stared up at the blue sky a soft smile on my lips. This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This was only our first day here and I liked it. I could only imagine the rest of our time here.

My phone rang in my hands and I glanced at the caller. It was Leah with a FaceTime request. I answered her call and smiled when her face came on screen.

"Oh my God, Eden you look really good right now. Where are you?" She blurted out and I let out a laugh.

"We're at the Round Pond." I stated and turned around, laying down on my stomach when my arms started to hurt. Atlas was staring up at the sky, his hands folded on his chest.

"What are you looking at? Who's with you?" She asked as she tried to get out of Dawson's death grip on the other side of the phone. I giggled.

"Atlas is with me," I told her to which she nodded, a frown on her face.

"I thought you went with Jude and Julia."

I nodded, "Yeah, I didn't really want to look at statues. Plus, it's nice here."

She nodded, "Well, I called to tell you we were invited to a house party."

From off-screen, Dawson spoke, "Yeah, some chick came up to us and was like we're going to party. You should come."

I frowned, "So we're going to a stranger who you don't even know's party?"

Leah nodded, excitedly, "We have like three guys coming with us. They'll be able to keep the pervs and assholes off us, right?" Leah squinted her eyes at Dawson.

"Yup, most definitely." Dawson said.

I looked at Atlas who was now sitting up and plucking the grass from the ground. A duck watched him from a few feet away. I turned back to Leah.

"Yeah, why not? But I am not getting drunk, okay?" I glared at her.

Last time we went to a party, I got really drunk and ended up blabbing to an old man about how hard it was to put a bra on without turning it around to see it in front of you. When I get blind drunk, I end up talking and talking and talking for hours and then pass out.

Leah let out a laugh, "We'll see about that." She rolled her eyes, "Atlas you're definitely coming."

He looked back at us and shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

I turned to Leah, "He said okay."

She nodded, "Okay, bye."

She hung up and I huffed, laying back down on my back. Atlas turned around to look at me, a small frown on his face. I tilted my head in question. He blinked for a minute, but refocused on what he was going to say.

"You still hungry?" He asked, his voice soft and slightly raspy, up like a nice raspy. I found it intriguing.

I nodded, "Yeah,"

He stood up on his feet and walked over towards me. He offered me his hand and I sat up. I looked at his hand, frowning slightly. Eventually, I slipped my hand in his and he helped me up to my feet. I tried not to think about how my hand felt in his or the way his rings felt on my fingers. He let go.

"There's probably some place to eat near here." He mumbled looking around.

I nodded, "Okay, but just to warn you I eat a lot and I'm not paying."

Atlas smirked, "Oh, I'm counting on it."

He started to walk down the path and I followed him.

while I was writing this chapter, this dog that were taking care of just started hearing (he's 3 weeks old) and I was blasting music and when doja cat came on he started barking FOR THE FIRST TIME. i was like okay rude AND THANK YOU FOR 4K OMFG I LOVE YOU

stay safe, happy, and healthy !! love you babes so so much