Free Atlantis by Lisa Graves

morning breath on him, and trying to pretend he didn’t just talk in his sleep.
    He smiled back as though he were the happiest person alive. “Morning.”
    This was not good.
    I was so completely thankful for his being here, but I was beginning to think it was time for him to go. My stomach growled again.
    “ Are you hungry?”
    “ Um hmm. I think I’ll fix myself some cereal or something. Thanks for coming over.” You can leave now , I thought. Especially if he kept thinking what I was sure he was thinking.
    “ No prob.” He smiled again in a way that made my heart sink as he stretched. “Hey, I’ll go fix us something and then you can tell me what happened last night.” Nicholas jumped off my bed and was bounding down the stairs before I could find a nice way to tell him to go home. I sat there stewing in my predicament.
    Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to think about what to do with Nicholas, for Charlotte appeared out of the corner of my eye, letting herself in through the window. Not good. She would be beyond furious if she found Nicholas here making me breakfast. I had to admit, it didn’t look good. I was thankful that she hadn’t shown up ten minutes earlier.
    “ Hey Harlet.” I tried to sound casual.
    “ Morning Lil,” she said as she sat down on the windowsill. “How’d last night go? Looks like you survived.”
    “ Okay.” Better than okay, but worse at the same time. There was no time to explain now. Charlotte would be mad, thinking I gave in to hallucinations of Elliott, and furious if Nicholas came in from downstairs, happy as a clam.
    How did I get myself into this mess?
    “ You sure you’re okay? You seem. . . anxious or something?”
    I caught myself fidgeting and made myself hold still. “No. No, I’m good.” My eyes tried to casually glance around my room for any evidence of Nicholas. I noticed his shoes on the floor by my bed. “I’m tired. My sleeping was. . . off, last night.” I tried to inconspicuously drop my blanket on top of his shoes as I got out of bed.
    “ I’m surprised you slept at all.”
    Good, she didn’t notice.
    “ Yeah.” I was too distracted to pay much attention. I was trying to keep an ear out for any noise downstairs. “I, yeah.”
    “ You sure you’re okay Lil?”
    “ Um hmm. I think I’ll take a shower to help wake up. Can I call you when I’m done?”
    Charlotte looked confused. I was only hoping she was attributing my odd behavior to (in her opinion) me being weird or lack of sleep, and not realizing the fact that my best friend, her dream guy, was just one floor down. Finally, she seemed to assess my behavior as a lack of sleep and said, “Sure. Don’t be too long though. I have so much to tell you.”
    Whew.
    I appeared to have finally dodged a bullet. Charlotte turned her model legs around and was about to climb out of the window when Nicholas walked into the room carrying burnt Pop-Tarts, toast, and cereal on an old t.v. tray.
    “ Hey Charlotte hoe. I didn’t realize you would be here or I would have fixed you something too.”
    Charlotte’s eyes, first shocked at the addition of Nicholas, turned to rage and focused on me. I wished nothing more than to melt into the floor.
    “ Oh yeah.” I tried to downplay Nicholas’s presence. “Nicholas came over to check on me, also.” It was even true. I didn’t see any reason to tell her when he came to check on me.
    Charlotte seemed to believe the stressed insignificance I tried to convey to her, but when she saw the way Nicholas kept looking at me , I honestly thought she might explode.
    “ What’s the matter with you, Harlet?” Nicholas asked, confused.
    I think his question made matters worse. Her face started to turn purple. This was going to be bad. I tried to brace myself for the onslaught of impending Charlotte doom that was about to occur.
    “ WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?”
    Nothing, but like you are going to believe me , I thought. I don’t know why I couldn’t look