FRANCESCA AND LEON were rendered speechless. I smiled falsely, and walked away from them, untangling our arms. On one hand, I knew what I said was harsh. But on the other, I knew that the three of us knew I was right.
Diego didn't care.
Just when I had a last sliver of hope left in me when I saw the surprise party, he shot me down. It was a bullet, that just went through an already opened wound. It was hard trying to convince myself to not cry.
I really hoped that Diego and I could get somewhere in this somewhat relationship, but obviously not. He proved me wrong, but deep down I know that he proved my point. At least be friends, but obviously not.
Francesca and Leon were talking in hushed voices, but I caught a few words. Bitch -hope they meant Lara- Time. Love. Unfortunately I wasn't exactly a genius, so I couldn't think of any sentence that made sense.
I plastered a fake smile across my face and started in the direction of Luca and his blond boyfriend. But somebody stepped in front of me. Well two people. My parents. Frankly, I didn't want to see them right now. I had a feeling they might ask me what Luca was doing here with a dude? And I didn't have the energy for that.
"You and Diego get along?" My mother questions, her eyes wide. She must have been referring to the kiss, or well it was hardly even a kiss in my mind.
It felt like we didn't even touch. Compared to the kisses a few days ago, what we shared today didn't make the cut. Of course I kept these side comments to myself. I didn't need my parents knowing that I was sleeping with my arranged fiancé. They would strangle me.
"Nope," I answer, and I could see the confusion spread across their faces.
So you kiss but you don't get along? That doesn't work. That was probably my mother's thoughts as of right now. I couldn't blame her. If somebody told me that I would laugh in their faces.
"It's acting mother," I say dryly.
"It didn't look like that," My mother says sternly.
Oh but it is.
"Violetta, we are just looking out for you. Please understand that," My father chimes in. Yeah I understand, but it doesn't mean I approve of anything you do.
"I know, but I look out for myself," I say instead andbrush past them. I run a hand through my hair, looking back at them. I could see the hurt flashed across their faces, but I couldn't talk to them.
I didn't want to converse with them at the moment. Luca was near, and I knew that I would get carried away all too easily which would end up with me embarrassing myself. It isn't funny in any way.
I looked around the hall a little more. The carpets were blue, and were clean so I could only imagine how long it took to vacuum the place. Tables lined one wall, with trays that we're currently being set up with food. I was already licking my lips.
The room was brightly lit with chandeliers that hung him from the ceiling. The hall was huge, and there was enough space for everybody to move freely around.
And that's when it dawned on me that this was a birthday party, which generally meant dancing. Dear god I can't dance to save my life. I was one of those people on the dance floor that would lightly sway their hips, but not too much because they feel like they look silly.
I walked to the desserts, and grabbed a cupcake swiping my fingers across the icing. I put it in my mouth, and lick it off eagerly. I moan in delight. Chocolate icing was the best, and this was made from fresh cream and baking chocolate.
"Woah, moaning so load are we? You may trigger the wrong idea," A familiar voice whispers in my ear, causing me to wince.
"What do you want Diego?" I ask, turning on my heel so that I face him.
I lick the cupcake, and afterwards lick my lips. Diego's eyes fell to my lips, and I swallow hard. It was hard to concentrate under such a smouldering stare like his.
"I want too much right now," Diego says slowly, reluctantly shifting his gaze to mine.
Oh damn shut up.
My stomach should not have done as many somersaults as it did.
"Well then, it seems we have no time to elaborate on that do we? So if you'll excuse me," I give him a fake smile, before turning to walk away when he grabs my wrist all of a sudden.
As I was pulled into his arms, my cupcake flew out of my hand. Diego caught it and let out a breath of relief. He handed it back to me, and I snatched it back creating distance between us at the same time.
"Can I talk to you in private?" Diego asks. I wanted to say no, but refrained from doing so.
I shrug. Diego leads him to the door at the end of the hall, and it opened up into an empty room. The room was carpeted, and still had rugs.
There was a fireplace with old firewood, waiting to be lit. The red couches and white covers draped over it. I held my cupcake tightly in my hand -in fear of it being taken out of my hand- as Diego softly closed the door.
"So..." Diego trails off and I roll my eyes.
"You said you wanted to talk, so get talking. I have a party out there you know," I say in a bored tone.
Diego rolls his eyes before he walks dangerously closer to me, and I gulp. I forced myself to not move, I could not give him the upper hand in this sitation. With my current spot in the room, I could probably make an easy run for the door.
"We should talk about what's going on with us," Diego says.
"And you chose tonight?" I groan, rubbing my temples, with my free hand.
"Stop being so hard on me babe," Diego begs.
"My name is Violetta," I hiss.
At an attempt to use momentarily shocked and sort of hurt state, I shove my cupcake at his face, the icing that was left smearing itself on his nose.
I bolt to the door, leaving Diego unable to grab my wrist considering he was trying to save the cupcake from falling. I hear him curse loudly and smirk—somebody didn't catch the cupcake.
"Oh Violetta! You're here, I thought you disappeared," My aunt laughs to herself, "we're cutting the cake now," She informs me.
I nod, and smile gratefully. As I reach the table, with the purple cake sitting near the edge, Diego exits the room, a broken cupcake in his hand. His gaze meets mine, and he glares. I felt shivers run down my spine. I'm definitely in for it now.
Diego takes his spot next to me, snaking an arm around my waist after setting the cupcake down. I instantly tense at his touch, as he smiles at me. Anybody with eyes could see it was fake. I could see the anger in his eyes.
"So, we'll start with Diego saying a speech," Francesca instructs.
I was about to protest when Francesca sent me a look -obviously reading my mind- saying he's-your-fiancé-fight-me. I sigh softly, and turn to look at Diego, who was staring down at me as well. I see him take a deep breath before he starts.
"This girl—" -because he simply hates to say my name- "is the light of my life. I honestly don't know what I would do without her. She calms me down, makes me laugh and she makes me feel like I actually belong. This angel has given me a reason to live. For her life is worth living,"
Was he trying to make me crumble in his arms? How is it that the sweet side of him only came out when he was acting?
"She has this aura of light around her, simply looking at her makes you want to smile. Well it makes me want to kiss her—" everybody laughs, "—but you get the point. I love her like nobody else, and I will never let her out of my grasp, she's too important for that,"
Diego picks up a glass the contents being white wine. He holds it up high, and looks at me, directly in my eyes forcing me to look in his green eyes.
"To my princess," I'm going to kill him one day.
"To Violetta,"
There is a series of glasses hitting each other lightly. Diego leans down, and kisses me lightly. Just as short as the one earlier this night, but it still left me slightly breathless.
PEOPLE STARTED LEAVING at around half past one o'clock in the morning. I kissed Luca's cheek, and high-five Alec, as they exit the hall.
I turned around, and saw that my friends were the only people still here. I was about to walk over to the circle when a voice interrupted my train of thought.
"Hey, Violetta," Federico smiles lightly and my jaw falls.
"Federico!" I exclaim, hugging him.
Even though we had only ever spent a few hours together, I still thought of him as a friend. And I felt slightly bad for Diego's behaviour that day—even though it ended with a turn of events.
"I can't believe you're here!" I say in shock and he chuckles.
"Yeah me too. I was looking for you tonight, but couldn't seem to find you. I wanted to say happy birthday I guess. See you around," Federico smiles, he opens the door when I stop him.
"Stay, they're—" I nod my head in the direction of my friends, "—still here." I tell him.
"Are you sure?" He says hesitantly, scanning the room for Diego probably.
"One hundred and one percent," I grin.
I pull him by the hand to the circle of people. There weren't that many if you were wondering. Francesca, Leon, Camila, Marco, Natalia, Andres and Ludmila. And Diego of course -thank the heavens Lara left-.
"Hey Fede," Marco grins at Federico who returns a warm smile. Diego looked up from his phone, and glared at Federico immediately. Camila smirked—she's put to something.
He sent me a look. What-the-actual-fuck-is-he-doing-here-. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he rolled his eyes at my childish act.
"Well Federico, join us for a game of Truth or Dare?" Camila asks mischievously. That explains the smirk.
"Aren't we too old for that?" I ask hastily. Camila scoffs.
Truth or Dare was not my favourite game. Nowhere near the top of my list. I always ended up getting the worst—most intrusive questions and the most embarrassing dares. In High School there was not one party where you wouldn't play this game—which is a reason why I hardly ever went to parties.
I once had to skinny dip in this freezing cold lake. I shuddered at the thought. And the time when I literally blushed like a tomato because I had to admit who I liked. Truth or Dare was not fun, and honestly the person who created this game must've been smoking at the moment.
"Don't be a party pooper," Camila says, and I sigh.
We sit in a circle -an attempted circle- and Camila smirks. Her smirk was unnerving, especially now. I fiddled with my thumbs nervously in my lap.
"Violetta. Truth or Dare?" She asks, her head cocking to the side, her smirk never leaving her face.
"I dare you to kiss..." She trails off, looking around the room.
In the corner of my eye I saw Diego visibly stiffen. Camila's gaze settles on a particular brown haired boy, and Diego noticed this, clutching his legs tightly, I could tell his nails were probably digging into his skin.
"Federico," Camila declares, and Federico's eyes widen enormously, a person away from me.
"Camila! I'm engaged!" I remind her.
"It's a game," Diego says through gritted teeth. Camila claps her hand together victoriously.
"So Vilu, give Fede a little smooch," Camila winks.
I wordlessly tell her that she was going to get it, later. I turn to Federico, who was scratching the back of his neck nervously. I lean over, and so does he. Our lips touch softly, and I found myself deepening the kiss slightly. My lips parted slightly, but before we could go any further, I forcibly pulled away.
I blush, and cross my legs again when I'm back at my space. Diego's stare was making me nervous. I looked at him for a second, and saw a tic in his jaw. I broke away instantly.
"Naty, Truth or Dare," I cover up my nerves with a cough.
Camila was still smirking.
Well somebody was satisfied with making my insides melt.
WE WERE THERE for a few hours. Truth or Dare went on for two hours, before we eventually called it quits. Then we just started talking. The girls interrogated me about the wedding. Diego was burning holes in the back of my head the entire night.
"Bye guys!" I say cheerfully, as Diego and I made our way to his car.
We said nothing during the ride home. Absolutely nothing. The tic in his jaw still very evident. I pulled at the skin around my fingernails, stopping when it started to sting a little. The only sound was the music, the volume was probably on 2, considering I could hardly hear anything.
I tried anything to pass the time. I drummed my fingers against the window, staring at the houses and trees that were only blurs. When we arrived at the apartment building, I hurriedly got out of the car. I breathe a sigh of relief, leaving against the car. Diego looks it, the sound causing me to jump.
Diego walked ahead of me, and I struggled to keep up with his fast pace. I honestly don't know what was so wrong about what I did. I kissed Federico once, for a few seconds, whereas he had been sleeping with Lara almost throughout the entire time of our engagement.
And sure I shoved a cupcake in his face but he deserved it. He was a jerk. I started towards my room, when Diego's voice cut the tension.
"Stop,"
"What?" I ask shakily.
"I wasn't done talking to you,"
I reluctantly turn, and walk back to him. I stood in front of him, my arms on either side of me. I was tense, and my posture clearly showed that. I lick my lips.
"Can you not do that?" Diego murmurs, and I let out a ragged breath.
Damn him.
"You have to make up your mind," I finally say when I gathered enough courage. Diego's head tilted to the side, silently asking me what I meant.
"One minute you're kissing me, the next your isolating yourself from me and going to find your satisfaction in Lara, and suddenly you're jealous and angry. I can't take this anymore. I can't take you anymore," I sigh, running a hand through my hair.
Diego said nothing for a few seconds that felt like hours. Though nothing came out of his mouth he kept his eyes locked on mine, not allowing me to break away.
"I'm sorry?" He says questioning.
"Don't say that! You don't mean it. You don't even understand all that you are doing to me. You are just, oblivious to everything. Al you care about is Lara, and I'll never be good enough for you,"
For some reason the words seemed almost familiar to me. I couldn't remember if I had actually said that to him, or maybe I had a dream.
"You're saying I don't care about you?" Diego asks, raising his eyebrow.
"Yes! You don't! You want to tell people, you want to tell me, that you care but you don't. And, now I don't anymore! You're too much for me to handle," I sigh.
Hurt flashes across his eyes, causing my stomach to tighten. I almost apologised. I felt guilt pool in my stomach.
"You don't care about me?" Diego asked softly. I wanted to scream that I did, but I didn't, because I needed to get this off my chest and this may very well be the only chance I get.
"Well you don't care about me, so why should I care about you? You play with my feelings Diego! You don't care about the mess you leave behind. And frankly I can't take it anymore. I don't care about you—this anymore. I just want to forget it all ever happened. I–"
Diego cuts me off with his lips on mine. I tried pushing him away for a few seconds, before eventually giving in. Diego's arms encircle around my waist, as I place my hands on the back of his neck pulling him closer.
This was a kiss. This was what I needed. He kissed me hungrily, biting my lip softly, then harder, and then softly again. He picked me up, not breaking the kiss.
I'm an idiot. How was I supposed to put this all behind me if he kissed me like this? He breaks away from the kiss for a few seconds to murmur something against my lips before connecting our lips again.
"Let me remind you what you are forgetting,"
Yeah I know the last line is ironic, but whatever. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I originally had absolutely nothing to write -the beginning- and then I had too much! Anyway, the last line. The idea is that she wants to forget what happened; and so he wants to remind her what she wants to forget. Hah, still makes no sense right?
ANDDD DIELETTA!
I felt like I owed it to you after the past two anti-Diego chapters! But it doesn't mean they're fine! I hope this is halfway, so this will be aiming for the late forties? Yay I guess! I hope you liked the DIELETTA in this chapters, and more to come in the next! Which is definitely pre-wedding.
And how about the Fedeletta kiss? Was it liked by some people? Share your thoughts! I think this is one of my favourite chapters of the book!
Thanks for reading 🙈 sorry for any errors 💚
~Lexy 😈