a/n: hello! this chapter will be enjoyable hopefully, yeah? above, the characters' outfits are planted. please enjoy! happy reading, dani xo
c h a p t e r t w e n t y o n e
London's mystical weather could not be more startling. In the dead of the brutal winter month, December, snow has threatened to fall. The weather forecast calls for an actual snowstorm, and I don't know if I'm mentally prepared for the chilling cold. Luca advises me to cloth myself in the warmest linens, but with all my dirty clothes in the hamper, I beg to differ his problematic proposal.
"Babe, you are wearing a dress," Luca pointed out, his mouth digging into the material of his knitted cerise scarf that was knotted around his neck. He has been bullying me about the sound of my shattering teeth, and the continuous shivering of my limbs.
"The dress is cute. You said it was," I whined, angling my head to view his figure as we strolled down the pavement. "Were you lying?"
"Of course not," Luca denied, frantically shaking his head, "I just don't want you to be cold is all."
"If we hurry inside, I won't be cold for long." His mouth stretched to form a simper, a coy and smug expression as his hands reached to open the door to the Castle Street Café, a refined but modernized eatery.
Luca pointed out a table for us to settle in, encouraging me to slide into the booth section of the area. I slithered off my jacket, hands perched on the top of the wooden flat surface.
"You want the usual?" Luca questioned, his hands resting on the bridge of his chair. He towered over, smile so delicately placed on his face.
"Yeah, but this time, strawberry scone instead of blueberry," I added, holding my index finger to the air to shake. "They are in season hopefully."
"Alright, I'll be right back babe." He vacated himself from the table, traipsing to the counter.
I lowered my sight from him, orbs roaming around the perimeter of the café. Thoughts floating as the pit of my chin rested upon the space that covered the back of my palm. Individuals speeding or pounding down the concrete, concerned with their own agenda and schedules to be fulfilled caught my attention vaguely.
The café near Horan Publications was never this busy nor were the streets surrounding it. I've always thought that people on the upper side of London have accustomed themselves to the finer things in life rather than the simplicity it brings on the daily basis.
After the encounter with my near death allergic reaction, Ashton forced me to avoid it at all costs even if she was employed as manager. I didn't protest much; the pure humiliation that day brought was reason enough to flea.
Luca was okay with the switch. He even referred a perfectly acceptable place like this one.
Since his public statement about our relation, I haven't had much thought about him.
There are occasional moments in my hectic work schedule that I dwell on what could of been, but those factious possibilities fade to oblivion. My mind becomes occupied with Luca, and how breathtaking he has made me feel over these three weeks. I should not concern myself of the past, but only the present.
"Babe, what are you looking at?"
I blinked at a rapid speed to remove myself from the trance, and tunnel my attention to my boyfriend who is casually observing my actions.
"Uh, sorry. I was lost in the clouds," I giggled, eyes locating the designated scone for myself. The scone was warm, freshly baked from what I can smell. The aroma was rich, causing my hands to slide it closer into my possession.
Luca lowered his eyes to his blueberry muffin, emptying a small breed of laughter until he returned his orbs to view me. "Question."
"Shoot," I replied, using my digits to break off a small piece of the scone to pop in my mouth seconds later.
"Have you been in contact with a guy named Harry?"
Eyes widen, nearly choking on my scone. Luca immediately handed me a napkin to clean up my features from the crumbs. Once I regained my common sense, I glared at him with stiffen eyebrows.
"What? Why would I even talk to him?" I blurted.
"You know when we went to the aquarium the other day?" Luca questioned as I brought myself to nod in response. "Well, that same lady followed me home and this morning before picking you up."
"Don't tell me she has something to do with him."
"Well then, you are really going to laugh at this one," Luca began, "She threatened me as if I was supposed to stop dating you. Her source says to convince me not to date you or scare me into doing so."
That little...
"What else did she say?" I grumbled in anger, adjusting my torso to face him directly for more confirmation of his ridiculous, stupid request to spy on Luca.
"Her source paid her to spy on me in order to gain information to compromise our relationship," He offered, placing his glass mug to the table after sipping from the brim, "In other words, he doesn't find us dating very entertaining."
"Oh? He doesn't?" I laughed at his attempt to foil my happiness. How could he have the nerve to do such as this?! Has he lost his mind?
"I told her off, and she won't be bothering me anymore."
"That won't do," I slid into the booth's opening, hand snatching the fabric of my jacket from the pool that formed around my hips. While fuming with anger, I forcefully shoved my arms into each sleeve, aggressively biting the scone. "We are going to the source."
"The source?" Luca stood from his seated position, mimicking my actions to wear his jacket on his shoulders.
"I haven't told you this before, but I've dated a guy named Harry. He is actually the duke of Holmes Chapel," I muttered with crumbs dropping aimlessly from my mouth.
Luca's eyes widened, but adapted to the news almost as amusing as it was to hear. "That must of been fun."
"Ha, you have no idea," I slated the rest of the scone to the garbage can even as heart-breaking as it was to get rid of the beautifully delicious pastry.
In a steady motion, we left out of the front door and ambled towards the vehicle we arrived in.
"Windsor Castle?" Luca questioned, eyes gazed over at my body, chest heaving from the tense frustration that controlled every aspect of me.
"Windsor Castle."
. . .
The massive amount of detail and architectural aesthetic that was constructed of the castle was astonishing. The building was a work of art, despite the evil and racist individuals that are housed inside. I admired the landscape of the Queen's home; neatly groomed arches of deeply colored forest green grass, stoned pathway leading to the large double doors with two statue-like guards clothed in red coats, much like the notable ones from the history textbooks.
Their eyesight remained forward, still and focused.
My rubber shoes trolled up the path, Luca trailing behind for the defense of my safety. I halted in front of the guards, clearing my throat in protest. They paid no attention, rejecting the urge to notice me and how I could of passed the first gate's barrier.
"I wish to see Duke Harry Styles," I requested, hands positioned on my hips.
The silence was nerve-wrecking to hear, and as the anger continued to form, I couldn't merely stand here without a response.
"I said I wish to see Duke Harry Styles." This time, my voice raised enough for Luca to wince in pain behind me.
"Babe, they are trained to not respond," He pointed out, hearing the ringing in his ear.
"I don't care! I want to see him now!" I yelled, reaching my fists to bang a few times against the antique doors. "I know you hear me you little coward! How dare you send a spy to my boyfriend?!"
"Vee," Luca cooed.
"Why don't you come out here so I can yell to your face?!"
With the unceasing knocks and proclamations to demonstrate my vexation amounting to a span of two minutes, a creak could be heard. The door parted, sending me to stand in alignment to gravity.
My digits tugged at my jacket's material to fix the clothing from its distracting placement on my frame.
A leather boot, familiar to my memory, stepped out in the space followed by the rest of the inked limbs of my former partner, Harry Styles.
His body held a button up, hanging loosely from his upper body, hands laying at his side of his hips. He appeared to have lost weight and it was only selfish to wonder if I were the cause of his miserable condition. The dark circles around his eyes indicated the great amount of fatigue, fastened to his hooded eyelids and other features.
The color of his jaded eyes could be spotted as we made strict and limited contact before he lowered his head.
"Why do you continue to humiliate and disturb me?" I spat, saving no time for comical small talk.
"That wasn't my intention, Vegas," His voice, as nauseating as I desperately desired it to sound, brought an unknown weight to my buckling knees, harshly affecting my irate mood.
"Then what was your intention? You send a spy to threaten my boyfriend-" His chest ascended at the word as I continued, "into ending our relationship?!"
"I don't want you two together," He had the audacity to vocalize.
"Mate, I reckon you don't have a say in that anymore!" I clamor in a matter-of-fact manner.
Harry's jaded orbs mutually connected to mine, a wash of sentiment with the short communication without words in between. Misery. You could see it lay at the pit of his irises, looming over his presumed twinkle that he once possessed.
His jaw clenched at the truth, hesitantly parting his plump lips to speak. "Vegas, I still love you...you don't understan-"
"You're right. I don't understand. I can not fathom why you intently hurt me on national television but yet you are professing your love. Something doesn't add up," I concluded, kneading eyebrows together furiously.
Luca could sense the tension, his fingers circling around the realm of my bicep. "Babe, that's enough."
"I will get you back, Vegas. I will," Harry's head raised, and this time he directly glared at me with every bit of emotion he sloppily pulled together.
My hands acted on their own, coaxing to cup Luca's cheeks. I craved to hurt him as much as he has hurt me. To see more suffering and abandonment within his actions. Like me when he broke, shattered my heart into a million, irreplaceable puzzle pieces.
With a mind full of deceit, I encouraged my lips to collide with Luca's. It caught him off guard, but he refined his movements to a controlled measure. Heads moving and coasting in a harmonic fluid with fluency edging at the sight. I used my fingers to comb through his scalp, gripping then releasing when the hold become too much. The kiss was coated in revengeful tactics, and the moment we pulled back in exhaustion, Harry's breathing rate increased.
"Can that give you any idea how much I don't want to be with you?" My voice sounds, body returning to its original breathing tempo.
"You don't mean that, Vegas. You don't," He convinced himself to believe, inching closer to possibly reach for my palm. "You told me you loved me. That you would never love someone else. Tell me that is still true!"
His begging and truth within his statements constricted my pounding organ. A small fraction of me wanted us to revive our old ways; the numerous times we have spent, coped up in my apartment and watching Netflix. How he would hold me, arms wrapped, and in case of horror films, he would engulf in his comforting warmth. How time after time, he would illustrate how beautiful I was to his human eye, sketching and snapping pictures that I have yet to see. How memorable and distant we have become. How much it paints a illusion of mystery of how the outcome could of been if we were together. Right now.
Instead of voicing these opinions to the awaiting party, the majority of my trembling soul fell victim to the one bitter to the taste with hatred. He soiled his chances. Crushed and maliciously destroyed them with the greatest arson possible in the region of England.
I familiarized myself with the feeling of Luca's warmth instead, dispatching my orbs from Harry and his needy plea.
"It's not true," I muttered, lowering my conscious to examine the concrete. "And it never will be."
I didn't bother to look back, no chance to see the building and expression of neglect. How he withered away at my answer.
"Vegas Adele Blacke, I will have you in my arms again. Don't you forget that. I'll make you see that you still love me. That you never stopped," The slam of the castle doors caused me to flinch, slowly opening my eyes to face an observant Luca. He held me close, and by the look in his eye he craved to know my thoughts in response.
All I could think of was: Let's see if you can try.
. . .
okay, that was the twenty first chapter! i'm going to start writing from my phone so the updates are more frequent! i enjoyed writing it on my phone this time, it was awesome.
anywho, i have nearly 15K? you guys are seriously amazing! i've never had a book reach this far before. its completely incredible! thank you for all the comments and votes and i only hope that it will grow!
as for the chapter, what do you think of harry's words? do you really think he will get vegas back any time soon? what about luca? what's your thoughts on him? is vegas moving too fast?
there might be a double update later today, so stay tuned. i have a fantastic plan for this book, so be ready my loves!
okay, i think that is all for now. if you ever want to chat, you can message me here, or on my twitter @/hesheist. i will always reply, and if i don't, spam me until i do.
well thank you for everything and happy reading,
dani xo