“Hey,” Vincent walked in on me, just as I slipped on my velvet skin tight dress, loosening my hair and pulling back a few strands of hair away from my face. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” I threw a look at the clock and started putting on my heels when Vincent suddenly appeared in front of me and I jolted back before sighing. “Sheesh Vincent, you don’t have to do that.” I grumbled, stopping to look up at his somewhat serious expression.
“It’s kind of serious.” He slightly licked his lip and my eyebrows immediately shot up.
“What’s up?” I stepped closer and he instantly fixated our gazes, making the tension grow even more.
“I wanted to ask you something- about us,” he spoke softly and my pulse raced at the mention of “us”. “Did we—did I, mean anything to you?” he looked down for a brief second before locking his eyes in mine again. I almost choked on the air I was breathing. My hands started to sweat a little and I just stared at him for what seemed like forever before I finally found my voice to speak.
“Vincent I—I did like you at some point. You were amazing. You were there for me since the beginning, stood up for me and looked out for me and yes, it did mean something to me at a certain point but,”
“But.” Vincent closed his eyes and let out a huff before licking his lips again, slipping his hands into his pockets.
“But I love Draven. What I had with Draven was different. I-”
“Yeah, I know. He’s Draven,” he cut me off and I pursued my lips into a thin line. “He makes you happy.” I saw the hurt flash inside his icy blue eyes just as those words left his mouth.
“I’m sorry…I know that this will probably come out as some random cliché excuse of a bullshit, but, I never meant to hurt you or lead you on. I just-”
“Don’t worry about it Adriana. I know where I stand and its fine. If Draven makes you happy then you deserve him. You deserve to be happy.” He smiled a little, adjusting the tie on his tuxedo before clearing his throat at my silence. I felt so guilty that I couldn't even find the right words to say.
“I’m sorry-”
“Adriana, don’t do that. I just wanted to clear things up,” Vincent took a step forward and I gulped harshly, the sick feeling in my stomach only growing harder than before. “Look, Draven’s my brother. And you’re someone I adore from the bottom of my heart. And I want you two to be happy. I want him to be happy with the person he loves. He’s done so much for me in the past, so let me do this much for him…by letting you go, in good terms.” I noticed a muscle in his jawline flick before he gave me a warm smile again. A fake one. I was about to say something else when he took a step forward and embraced me into a hug, totally catching me off guard.
“Now stop giving me that look, you’re making me look like the bad guy.” Vincent pulled away and I couldn’t help but laugh a little at his sarcasm. “Now go, he’s probably waiting for you.”
“Yeah.” I smiled a little, giving Vincent one last look before walking out of the room, the guilt still piercing through my heart. I stepped down the spiral staircase and took in the scene, the people gawking at my presence, some with jealousy and others with approval.
“Miss Reed, how are you?”
“Miss Reed, do you plan to marry Mr. Cruz?”
“Are you parents here? Did they arrive to see the big moment?”
People bombarded me with some questions and as confused as I was, I simply shook them off with a laugh and casual nod here and there, you know, acting like I knew half the shit they were answering.
“Now, now, save the questions for later.” Finn appeared out of nowhere and so did the rest of the Ardelean brothers before the reporters nodded, as if they knew something was up.
“Think they poisoned the food and is planning ways to get out of it?” Emily’s voice whispered into my ears from behind and I jumped a little before shaking my head with a laugh.
“Heard that.” Edward raised a brow at Emily’s direction and Emily made a face in disgust.
“Yeah, props to your super powers.” She tightened her hands across her chest and Edward frowned in a somewhat annoyed and amused way, if that’s even possible.
“We’re not deaf, love.”
“Well shit, you don’t say.” Emily put a hand over her mouth and I chuckled a little. The reporters were intently watching the two of them quarrel before one of them finally spoke out.
“It seems like we have some romance going on between another vampire and human.” As soon as those words left the reporters mouth, Emily scoffed in disbelief and kept making weird noises out of her mouth for straight out 5 seconds.
“Well, you could say that we do have some intense chemistry-” Edward started, only to be cut off my Emily.
“Yeah right.” Her words dripped in sarcasm and I watch Edwards smile instantly fall from his face.
“Why? Think I’m not good enough for you, baby girl?”
“I don’t think honey, I know.” She made a face, emphasizing her words.
“Oh god, somebody kill this guy before I do.” Raymond made a face in disgust before Emily stomped away and I watched Edward follow her behind, asking her some questions along the line, “Seriously though, why can’t you go out with me?”
I let out a breath and I was about to grab something to drink when I heard some girls and men gasping, whispering to each other and pointing at a direction. I looked ahead and no doubt about it, it was Draven, walking in as if he was the best thing that ever happened to this goddamn world. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little and maybe he was literally just attending his own party like a normal person, but that’s obviously beside the point. I watched him talk to some reporters and even from here, I could tell that he was trying not to lose it with their ridiculous questions by putting on a nice little act. At some point, I noticed the girls bombard him with questions too and the jealousy kicked in like a bitch but since I now know how to react to this in a more professional manner now, I decided to let my frustrations out towards Kevin, who hissed at me as I punched him on the upper arm.
“What was that for?” he almost whined and I gave him my best smile, only to hear Danny snickering at my little act. That guy’s always catching me in my acts.
“Miss Reed, is it true that you are very close with the Ardelean brothers?” A reporter suddenly popped out of the blue and for a moment, I had forgotten that these people were still hovering around us like flies.
“Oh my god, them?” I laughed, pointing at the boys and then at me. I watched them frown before Danny opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off.
“Yes, we are close-”
“I hardly even talk to them…although…” I paused for dramatic effect and looked at the boys. “They do act a little too friendly around me. They try too hard to- you know…” I covered half of my mouth and whispered the last part at the reporter.
“She’s embarrassing us, let’s go.” I heard Finn mutter through gritted teeth, poking Kevin who hissed at him in annoyance.
“What’s with you guys and touching me today?!” He suddenly snapped followed by a “that didn’t come out right” and I almost choked at his words, muffling in a laugh as the reporters attention turned back to the boys.
“Oh and as you can tell, the rumors about them being gay is true.” I nodded at the reporters in a serious expression and turned away, walking off as the reporters instantly dropped the bomb at the boys, filling the entire room with gasps and questions.
