" Time had passed and the two had ultimately gotten closer. Closer than Adius had ever gotten with a girl in such a short amount of time.

"Stop it!" Hope giggled as Adius proceeded to grab her by her calves and drag her off of her bed. She had thrown her arms back to try to grab onto one of the posts, but ultimately failed.

"No. Get up, let's go do something." Adius had whined as he cradled the laughing girl right as she fell off of the bed. She whined a protest right back and started to wiggle around in his arms.

"No." She whined. "We went out to the bowling alley yesterday. Let's stay in today, it's Sunday. It's a day of peace and restoration Adonis." He scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Why do you insist on calling me that. I'd be cool with like, Andy, or maybe even Addie, but Adonis... Really?" He had kind of grown used to the name, as it was the one thing Hope was really stubborn about.

She had shrugged. "I like it, you don't seem to hate it, so is there really a problem?" She looked up at him with her normal watery puppy eyes, a weapon that even the vilest of men would fall victim to. This had become a normal thing for them over the past month.

Adius would come over to her luxury apartment, a place that she herself owned, and they would spend the day either thinking of what to do over the weekend, or just talking on her floor. Sometimes they even did homework, though it was very unlikely. They had binged three TV shows and became fans of the Jeepers Creepers series together within the span of that month.

Their relationship was honestly the greatest thing to happen to him in a while. Even his dad had noticed a difference in his behavior. Lets not forget the fact that Hope had actually met his father too.

Though she hadn't extended the favor his way. That thought was something that weighed heavily on his mind at times like this. He seemed to put just a little more effort into their relationship than she did. She wouldn't even call it that.

The first and last time he had asked her to be his girlfriend, she had responded with, "Things are amazing between us, why potentially ruin that with a word that means something to only the people on the outside." In the sweetest voice imaginable. He couldn't argue with that, could he? He couldn't say that the label was indeed for the people on the outside because he was selfishly jealous and even a little insecure at times.

"I suppose there isn't one." He had mused with a little sigh at the thought of staying in. Hope's phone disturbed the light silence and she turned to reach for it with a grunt.

"Oh no," She had whispered. "Actually, I have company coming over today, so you need to get going." Adius felt that sting in his heart, and what seemed like salt in the wound was the fact that she didn't even seem to realize that she hurt him at times.

"Who's coming over?" He had asked to try to deflect the almost subtle ache.

Hope scrambled out of his lap and started to fix her hair. Just as she opened her mouth to reply, her bedroom door had burst open."Mama-bear, we're hoooome!" The queen of interruptions sung. Sinthea had slowly become an enemy of the state when it came to Adius. He didn't know why, but the girl seemed to hate him. It started soon after Adius' and Hope's first date.

Sinthea had eyes the color of the purest ice. They were almost clear and they were almost always glaring at Adius. So he wasn't surprised when he saw her charming smile, something he didn't know she even possessed, turn into a burning glare.

She turned to her best friend opting to completely ignore the half naked boy on her floor, and she grabbed her arm. She dragged Hope out of her own room and made sure to slam the door behind them.

Adius just didn't get it.

He was a good guy with good intentions. He never did or said anything to paint him in any other light, so why did Sinthea hate him so much. He sighed again and put his shirt on while he waited.

There was unintelligible screaming and a couple of wails that made it past the door. It had gotten to the point where he wondered if he should interfere. But before he could get up, Hope was walking back into her room with a sad smile made out of wobbly lips.

"Um, I think maybe we should pick this back up later." She actually sniffled. Anyone who made Hope cry was the spawn of Satan himself.

Adius got up and immediately pulled Hope into a comforting hug. He glared at Sinthea over the sniffling girl's shoulder while she actively avoided his gaze. "Are you sure you want me to go? Sinthea doesn't exactly scream wonderful company..." That brought a little giggle out of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And Sinthea is just doing her job." He didn't understand, but he didn't question it. He figured she would talk to him whenever she wanted to and he wouldn't get a word out of her glossy lips otherwise.

He nodded. "Okay. Text or call me later, alright." He felt it in his gut, the disturbance. He somehow knew, that once he left that room, things would change, but there was nothing he could really do.

So he picked up his keys, put on his shirt, and with a defeated scowl on his face, he left the room. On his way out, he saw the rest of the group making themselves comfortable.

The sight did nothing but infuriate him even further, and without another second of stalling, he left the condo with a slam of the expensive door.

*

Hope hadn't called or texted that day. Nor did she text the next day.

It was while Adius was changing in the boys' locker room that she finally showed signs of being alive. His phone had buzzed while he was slipping his school shirt back on. He had picked up his phone, and his heart had skipped a beat when he had read the message that appeared on his screen.

H: I'M WAITING ON YOU... CAN WE TALK TODAY?

He didn't bother replying. Instead, he set his phone on the bench while he tied his shoes. While he worked, he heard what he had originally thought to be gossip. "Yeah, apparently dude thinks he can turn a whore into a housewife. Everyone knows you can't. It'll just come back to bite you in the ass."

He had rolled his eyes and chalked it up to guys being guys... until he heard Hope's name come up. "Yeah, Corrina has tapped at almost half of the guys in this room at least once..." The voice trails off when the person speaking catches Adius looking around. "Shit," Someone whispers.

Not being able to find who started the whispering, and not knowing what he would do even if he did find the culprit, he slams his locker door closed loudly, an act that brings the chaos to a standstill, and angrily leaves the room.

Adius had known of the rumors that surrounded Hope before he had even spoken to her, they were usually small things about how she did enjoy laying with different guys and girls often. Or they were something along the lines of how she acquired her fortune at such a young age, but he had never had to deal with it since he had started talking with her.

He wasn't even surprised at how much it angered him that people were talking and looking at a girl that he considered to be his girlfriend, even if she wouldn't claim the title, in such a negative way.

It was after school time, so the hallways were relatively clear which made spotting Hope easier than usual, not that it was ever hard to find her in a crowd. Her already dim expression darkened when she saw Adius storming down the hallway.

She walked out in front of him and pressed a hand to his cheek. "What happened?" He didn't even want to look at her.

What was said actually resonated in his head. A deep guilt crawled up his throat because he to some degree believed the words that were exchanged in that locker room. Hope didn't want to date him, she wanted to play with him.

A realization creeped up and pushed the guilt out of the way. "We won't ever be together the way I want us to be, will we?" He had suddenly asked. Hope removed her hand slowly.

"What kind of way do you want us to be together, Adonis?" He gave a deep roll of his eyes.

"I want you to be my girlfriend. I want to go out on dates. I want to meet your parents. I want you to hang out with me and my friends. I want a relationship Corrina." That's when she gave him a look that said she wanted the exact opposite, and Adius was so mad at himself for actually thinking she would want what he wanted. Corrina had made her intentions quite clear in the time that he had known her.

She had let out a breath while staring at the ground before returning her gaze to him. "We were just having fun, Adius. Why couldn't we just have fun?" Her eyes actually had the audacity to water like she hadn't just crushed Adius without even speaking to him only seconds earlier.

He had scoffed and licked at him lips, a frustrating habit he that he had acquired last year. "Were you..." He didn't know how to word his question in a way that wouldn't come off like something a douche would say. "Were you ever just exclusively with me?"

A tear rolled delicately down her cheek as she shook her head and tried to avoid Adius' brown eyes.

He had nodded. "Figures. Now I have to go get tested. But it's my fault for trying to turn a whore into someone I could take home to meet family." A sob left her mouth and Adius cursed her for being the only person in the world that could make crying look delicate and graceful.

After he finished saying what he had to say, he had left her there with tears streaming down her rosy brown cheeks. Even as his chest tightened at the thought of leaving her there in such a state, his mind could only think, "There's probably fifteen other people within a twenty foot radius that could come to her aid anyway." "