Mission 101 Heart Captured

[34] - Christmas Festivities

✴ Aaron's P.O.V. ✴

"Ariadne, we need to talk." I said softly, blocking her path as she, once again, tried to escape from me.

"I'm sorry." She squeaked, ducking past me and practically running away from me again. Damn it...

She sought company with Brook who was looking tired as she helped around both sets of her bickering parents with Ian by her side, and El had just gone to greet Damon. All of us had arrived around five minutes ago, and Ariadne had already successfully managed to run around from me exactly twice.

"Hey, Ronnie!" El cried cheerfully with Damon's arm wrapped around her waist. She looked good, with a dress that consisted of a white top half and a red bottom half that flared out, and she wore a pair of heels, joined by a red heart necklace and a white ring. El had a huge grin on her face, clearly the most excited one of the three girls who enjoyed Christmas.

"Hey, Ellie." I groaned with a sigh, not feeling too excited like her as I still hadn't talked to Ariadne. "You look nice."

"Well, I'd say the same for you, but you look majorly depressed." I shook my head at her, claiming I didn't really want to talk about, so she took the hint. "We'll be going, Ronnie. Need to go get Brook and Ari to meet Damon's parents." With that, she was gone, practically dragging Damon away towards Ariadne and Brook in pure excitement.

As I let out a groan as Ariadne refused to meet my eyes once more, someone slapped me on the back, not in the friendly way.

"Hey, Aaron. Miss me?" Jack. It was Jack Keanne. My eyes widened as I stared at him, gaping as I saw him right in front of my eyes. He smirked as he enjoyed the shock in my expression. What was he doing here? "You look excited to see me. In case you're wondering, I'm here because Camilla wants some info about the progress you made with your targets."

"Couldn't you have told her we're doing perfectly fine?" I hissed, glaring at him.

"Oh, but you're not." Jack said with a smirk tattooed to his face. "You're acting like pathetic love struck puppies. It's time you learned that I can make your life a fucking hell."

"Pathetic." I spat, wiping the smirk off his face. "Relying on your mother dearest for authority is pathetic." He glared at me furiously, and I knew that Camilla was his weak point.

"What's going on here?" Brook appeared out of nowhere, a stern look on her face as she scowled at us both. "Don't fight on Christmas, you morons. You're supposed to celebrate."

With that, she turned around, calling over the rest of our 'gang'. Both Damon and Ian approached us cautiously, each scowling ferociously at Jack as he scowled back. Ariadne scuttled over, practically hiding behind Ellie who had a huge grin on her face.

"Nice to meet you." El said excitedly, grabbing Jack's hand and shaking it furiously. "I'm Elody Blayze. You must be..."

"Jack Keanne. Nice to meet you." His scowl disappeared as he started acting 'charming'. "You must be Brooklyn Sparks and Ariadne Kaelin. I've heard so much about you from them."

"Honored." Brook said calmly, and Ariadne offered a small nod before she went back to avoiding me completely by hiding behind Brook this time.

Jack, Brook, and El started their small talk while both Ian and Damon sulked quietly.

"Excuse me. I need to go to the toilet." Ariadne murmured softly before scuttling away. Instantly, I chased after her. She immediately noticed that I was following her and ran away faster.