𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑇𝐼𝐸𝑆 𝑇𝐻𝐴𝑇 𝐵𝐼𝑁𝐷 𝑈𝑆-𝐽𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠

Fᴏʀ ᴡʜᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇʟʟ ᴛᴏʟʟs

I handed Aria the bottle and she thanked me before rushing off to put it some place safe; slipping my palm into Ledger's, I gave it a reassuring squeeze before weaving in and out of the people.

"Aunt Ella!" I called, she turned around and quickly excused her conversation she was having with an older woman and made her way over to us.

"Oh look at you!" Ella hugged me tight before leaning back and panning her eyes to Ledger.

"This is Ledger, my boyfriend." I smiled, Ledger swiftly let go of my hand and leaned down to give my Aunt a brief hug. "You are just as gorgeous as Quinn's mother let on! My goodness, you two compliment eachother so well." She sighed heavenly, my palm slotted it's way back into Ledgers and I smiled like a giddy teenage girl.

"Hang on, Byron's being dragged from conversation to conversation, can I get you both a drink?" She offered, we obliged and followed her towards the kitchen to which she poured us both a glass of Prosecco.

Ledger and I hopped from person to person, introducing ourselves to the ones we didn't know and me introducing him to the ones I did.

After around half an hour of us being there Aria came bounding over to me with shit-shock-horror flashing over her facial expression.

"She's here!" She hissed quietly so only I could hear, Ledger was stood beside me making small talk with some old man.

"Who?" I asked, turning to face her.

"Jackie! She's here!" Arias face reddened in shock and I gritted my teeth frustratingly. "Where? I'll show her out." I seethed, Aria grabbed my wrist and shook her head urgently.

"What do you want to do?" I asked her quietly, she shrugged, sighing heavily and heading out of the room. I felt the urge to chase after her but halted in my position when I saw Ezra trailing behind.

༄

"You need to come with me, we've gotta go." Aria had been upstairs for at least fifteen minutes before she came back down with her handbag slung over her shoulder and she'd changed into Jeans, top and a jacket.

"Wh-What? Aria I can't just ditch..." I whispered, Ledger being wrapped up in a different conversation now, this time with Byron.

"It's A related, we made a deal with Ian to pick up the flash drive for aload of money, Garretts in on the plan too." She eyed around us as she spoke.

"What?!" I gasped.

"It's serious, we need to go!" Aria urged. I sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Ledger." I mumbled, placing a hand on his upper arm, Byron had gotten another person involved in their conversation and was mainly speaking to him now.

"You okay sweetheart?" He asked soothingly, turning to face me and lifting a hand up to my face to tuck a chunk of hair behind my ear.

"I have to go, somethings come up with one of the girls and it's urgent, I don't want to ditch you but I can't stay here knowing something is wrong with my bestfriends."

Ledger smiled understanding, "Do you want me to come with?" he offered, I shook my head and stepped into his embrace.

"I love you, be safe okay? Message me when you get home." He said sweetly, kissing my hair line as we pulled back. "I love you too." I mumbled against his collarbone.