My London Love Affair: Book 2 (Completed)

Chapter Six

I must have been lying there for ages just lost in my thoughts. My pillow was wet with tears. How did it go so wrong so quickly. I checked my phone again in case he had sent me a message to say he was sorry. The screen was blank.

I just couldn't face anybody right now. I sent a message downstairs with Amélie and Preeti that I was sick with a headache and wanted to rest. They tried to ask me what was wrong but I wasn't in the mood for talking.

"Will you come down to watch the fireworks on the television?" They had asked.

Mrs Jolly had given all of us special permission to stay up to watch them live. I dumbly shook my head. I didn't feel at all like celebrating at all.

I rolled over and looked at the smiling photo of Zac on my bedside table. Usually it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Now it only brought back those horrible memories of Ronnie and her arm around him. I pushed the frame down so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore.

I got up and stretched. I had been lying down for hours and needed to move. It was then I noticed that somebody had pushed a note under my door. Opening it I quickly scanned the contents.

"Meet at the top landing at 11:50pm. P.S: Wear warm clothes."

No name was signed and I couldn't recognise the loopy handwriting. Surely Amélie and Preeti must have left it. Right now I couldn't face going down and seeing Mrs Jolly and the guys but I'd be ok with the girls. After all is was New Years Eve and what was I doing? Crying my eyes out like a total baby. I thought angrily about Zac. Bet he wasn't crying his eyes out.

I carefully picked out my clothes and lay them on the bed. I was wearing so many layers I felt like an oversized marshmallow. At least I felt warm.

I snuck out of my room quietly. I didn't want to alert anybody downstairs. I quietly climbed the stairs up to the forbidden top landing.

There was nobody there. Was this some kind of joke? I checked the time again. 11:55pm. I started to wonder if this was another stupid prank. I really wasn't in the mood for this. I started to head downstairs when I saw Vin coming up in the other direction.

Oh damn. There was nowhere to hide now. I tried to push past him but he was blocking the stairs. I then noticed that he was rugged up also.

"Where are you going? You need to go up not down."

He barely whispered it as if not to alert the others downstairs.

"I've made a mistake. I really have to go now."

"Brittany. Please don't go. I have something very special to show you."

"Vin, we are not even supposed to be here. Mrs Jolly told us it was forbidden."

I didn't want to go with him. Vin and the guys had been teasing me from the start. The image of Zac and Ronnie then floated back into my mind. Vin was looking at me with a soft expression. It was like I was looking at him with new eyes. Perhaps I had been wrong about him. Maybe he was a different person under all the bravado. Suddenly I changed my resolve.

"Sure, show me." I said coolly. I was already there all dressed up. I had nothing to lose.

"Follow me." He led me over to a small door and took me outside onto a large balcony.

I stood there is awe. I had no idea this place existed.

"How do you know..." he cut my sentence off.

"I was bored so I explored the building when Mrs Jolly fell asleep the first week we were here. This is strictly off limits but everybody is downstairs. They won't know. This will be our little secret."

I cringed at the word secret. That was how Zac and I started. Damn why did everything always go back to Zac.

My eyes gradually grew accustomed to the dark and I took in the breathtaking view. Lights twinkled in the distance. I could see roof top after roof top. It was like a scene from a movie. The night was cold and still and my breath was fogging up the air.

"Che spettacolo! What a beautiful scenery." Vin voice sounded so soft and caring. So unlike the arrogant guy I had come to know. I wasn't sure which was real. The arrogant Vin or the caring Vin.

Suddenly voices whooped the air and the sound of far off distant fireworks shattered the quiet atmosphere. It was Midnight. A new year. A time for new change. I thought back to what I had originally planned. Zac and I would have cuddled down at the beach until Midnight. Then we would have cemented our love with our first kiss of the year. We would have been happy.

Instead here I was standing on the rooftop of a building in London with some guy who had teased me mercilessly. Could my life get any lower.

I stared out at the panoramic view before me, not daring to look at Vin. It would just remind me of how sad my life really was.

"Bella..."

Did Vin just call me a beautiful girl? My Italian was a little bit rusty but I had heard it enough times to know what that meant.

Right at that moment I was feeling low and vulnerable. Hearing him utter that phrase made me tingle. Again my heart was betraying my head. I hated Vin, didn't I?

He stepped towards me, closing the gap between us. Suddenly his strong arms encircled my waist.

"A beautiful girl like you deserves a beautiful kiss for the New Year."

He then leaned his face towards me and his lips approached mine.