Feather After // Chapter 55 // Love Me

Aria's POV 

"Let's go," Ignatius told me as I kept my books in the locker and stuffed some in my bag. I rolled my eyes and he stood behind me not caring what others had to say. Misty walked by us and didn't say anything; she didn't even look at us. When she saw me looking at her, she just rolled her eyes. I turned to my left and saw Rachael standing in the corner with Xavier. We hadn't had a proper conversation and I knew we were going to have one real soon.

Rachael mouthed a quick call me once you get home and she raised her hand to her ears with her thumb and pinky sticking out. I nodded at her and smiled at Xavier. Xavier didn't smile back, he didn't even look that pleased with the whole idea but he just nodded nevertheless.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" I asked Ignatius who just looking at me and shrugged. He turned to look left and then right.

"I think, they are looking at you and not me, you're like the new celebrity they never had," he said and rubbed his thumb pad on the side of his lips.

"You were there too, but then why me?" I closed my locker and started walking with my bag in my hand.

"Aria, don't you know? You are a debutante, you made your first appearance, and no matter where your parent's company is right now, you guys had loads of money and your parents were like the power couple," he snatched my bag from my hand and carried it over his shoulder. He was serious when he said, that he wanted to woo me.

"That doesn't mean you know they'll make such a big issue of it," we walked through the school corridor and when I tried to snatch the bag from him he just didn't let me.

"See, we're banned from the Royal fucking society, when my mum married our school principal they didn't like it, no matter what you say Aria, no matter what we say. Nothing has changed; nothing ever changes in the upper or the lower class people. Aren't we living in the twenty-first century and see you're still going to get married so soon. They haven't even asked for your opinion. That's the way it is."

Silence, I had nothing to say. No matter how much I wanted to say; what I wanted to say, I knew what he was saying was true and there was nothing in the world that could make it any better. Nothing in the world that could make it work.'

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to put this thing on you, I mean you know? Words didn't come out right, all I wanted to say or all I wanted to deliver from my speech was that the Rich people, no offense," he looked at me and raised his hands up in surrender," are into clothes and everything, they would rather have you look great even if you had a shitty personality you know? They are quick to judge you like if I hadn't remove my lip rings and covered up my tattoos they wouldn't have let me in,"

I just nodded, "none taken," I told him. He was right. I knew it. Soon we walked out of school and I smiled at him. Although he was really fucked up and did things one shouldn't do, he was a nice guy with good brain power.

"Wait for a second," I looked at him and he stopped in his tracks. He raised his eyebrow at me and I told me or asked him," what will I tell my parents?"

Ignatius looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"Just tell them, you'll be busy. Just say you're going to Rachel's," Ignatius told me. As I had promised him, I had given him a few days to make me fall in love with him. But the only problem was that I didn't know what to say to my parents. I sometimes asked myself, why did I even say yes to him? How could someone make someone who was already in love with someone, fall in love with that someone?

Am I making sense?

No?

Okay.

"Where are we going?" I asked him while I called Nanna. She didn't pick up after two rings so I left her a message saying that I'll be back later. She wasn't much of a texter so I just hoped that she would hear my message.

I saw Ignatius walking in the parking lot and I followed him. He pulled out a key from his pocket and stood in front of a rusty mustang, it was black in color and was old, the interior was of a typical mustang but it was Mustang and it was great.

"There is no auto lock in the car, I prefer it like that. You know Old stuff is nice stuff," he said and put the key in the keyhole of the driver's side gate. He got in and kept my bag at the back seat and leaned over to open my gate.

"There is a rock band which will perform tonight, it's not that famous but they are fucking good man," his voice reached me in a muffled sound. "They are fucking amazing and they deserve so much more fame."

"You are fangirling, you know that?" I told him and enjoyed the feeling of sitting beside him, the feeling of being on top of the world. I rolled down the glass window and peaked out. I had never tried this. Mum made sure I didn't do that, for some security reasons and all.

"I'm not fuçking fan-girling, girls fangirl over me," he smirked through the rare view mirror and then adjusted it.

"You're one piece of shit," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Say that again," he smiled and my heart skipped a beat, "say that again, it feels so nice hearing you say that to me."

I don't know if he was sarcastic or if he was saying that genuinely. I looked at him to read his expressions but I couldn't tell.

"I was just trying to be funny," he said and leaned over and put my seatbelt over my body and locked it. I smiled at him, it was a sweet gesture. This Ignatius was sweet and warm and nice, although I shouldn't I was getting so very used to this Ignatius. The nice Ignatius and I knew it would lead to my downfall. I had been on his bike before. He drove like a mad man and I didn't want to break my face or any other part of my body just a few days before my wedding.

He rotated the staring wheel of the car and soon were zooming past so many cars. I ducked my head down as soon as we hit the third block because I didn't want to get noticed by Manchurian, I felt bad for doing this to him but what can I say? As we moved I could feel the cold wind gust on my hand and it felt great. I smiled, it did feel nice.

"You don't have your seatbelt on," I told Ignatius. He laughed at me when he heard that but didn't say anything. He looked at me and his eyes twinkled. He kept looking at me while he drove the car. God, I didn't want to die so soon,

"Ignatius, look at the damn road," I said and pointed at the road. God, save me from this wannabe driver.

My heart was losing the count of the beat in my rib cage, god what had I done to deserve this. Save my soul. Before I knew what was happening he applied the brakes and I shrieked. I looked at him and then at the road, we were standing on the red light in front of the zebra crossing.

"I-I-"

"I drive at night to earn money sometimes-"

"You," I looked at him, "oh my god, you! You could have killed me! I could have been dead," and before I could end this he laughed. He kept on laughing, and it felt like I had to drop him to a mental asylum. He didn't stop laughing for a while.

I turned around and didn't say anything to him. He killed our conversation with his bad laugh.

Soon we reached the place. It was a nice beautiful Theatre and it was not that new. Ignatius parked his car on one corner and then He climbed out. He helped me out too.

"You know, this is the first time they are performing here, they usually perform in night clubs but I guess I got lucky," he said and smiled. He looked so handsome, with his black jeans, white top, and his black leather jacket. He had shaved his beard and he looked gorgeous, too good for his and my own good.

"You're-"

"Please don't tell me you thought that I don't listen to music," he cut me off. He took my hand in his and we got inside the theatre hand in hand. To be honest, I had never in a thousand years thought that I could go hand in hand somewhere with Ignatius. Most of the time I trusted Ignatius with my life and he broke my trust. I guess this time it was different.

We walked inside and he shoved his ticket out of his pocket and gave it to the security guard who was checking the tickets. When he looked at us, he smiled. I guess he knew Ignatius. I saw Ignatius shake his hand and they exchanged some greetings.

I walked inside as he lead us in. The place was filled with people. "You know this place was built so long ago, and it is like the place to watch drama and it's amazing, fucking amazing. When I'm not beating the shit out of people in the ring or when I was not racing or being chased by police, I'm here. This place is nice and nobody really cares about anyone." He smiled at me and I smiled back.

Don't get used to this Ignatius, Aria. We went inside the wooden door and the music was already playing, people were dancing on the beat, some people were just hanging around while some just swayed to the beat of the music.

"I'll be back," Ignatius said and he disappeared, this was so nice, nobody cared about anyone else. People were just having fun, just as Ignatius had described it. What they were singing was a mixture of countryside and rock music. They were pumped up. They were jumping on the stage and were interacting with the audience.

Just like I jumped on the bed when I moved here and ended up in the hospital bed, I still remember it very nicely. I was so embarrassed.

"There you go," Ignatius said and handed me a plastic glass filled be beer. I looked at him.

"I have never tasted beer," I told him, half embarrassed half annoyed with myself. My parents never let me do things like this. I expected Ignatius to laugh his ass off but he smiled.

"That's okay, there is a first time for everything, try it, go ahead," he said and took a sip from his glass. Maybe I could try it too. "Take a sip; it's carbonated so it won't be bitter. It's like an adult version of lime and soda."

I took a sip and closed my eyes. Beer was cold but it was nice. It tasted refreshing and it didn't taste bitter at all. I smiled at him.

"See you like it," almost too proud of himself. He opened his arms and came closer to me.

"I hope you are having fun," we stood at the corner of the room with his hands wrapped around me; we swayed to the beat of the music. He kissed my neck and I smiled.