Rebellious Aurora | ✓

twenty-nine | whatever you need

It was two days from Christmas.

Christmas was a holiday where all my relatives would come over to my place and have an enormous dinner filled with every cuisine you could think of. Presents would be opened, laughter would be in the air and friendly smiles would be plastered all over everyone's' faces.

I hated Christmas.

Call me the grinch but I've always hated Christmas.

In fact, I hated every holiday.

"Oh come on, Aurora, you looked like you just returned from Hell," my grandmother said, snapping me out of my thoughts as she rounded the dining table and fixed the white roses in the glass vase.

I rolled my eyes at my grandmother and allowed myself to give her a little pout. "Ma, you know how I feel about Christmas. Can I just...go to Hawaii?"

My grandmother looked at me incredulously. "Love, Hawaii also celebrates Christmas, I think. Besides the point, it could be a great way to fix your relationship with your parents before the new years."

I almost laughed in her face. "I love you, Ma, but that's never going to happen. Great suggestion, though."

My grandmother sighed, rubbing her temples as she took a seat down on the chair and gave me a serious look. "Aurora, my love, I know your relationship with your parents is already damaged but think about the future."

"Yes, my future away from them."

My grandmother shook her head, knowing that my relationship with my parents can never be rebuilt even if both parties tried. Right now, I may sound heartless but to be honest, if you had parents like mine then you wouldn't want them in your future. I've been mentally abused enough that I was surprised I wasn't messed up in the head.

"Grandma," a low, deep voice voiced, making me turn around in my chair to see Damon giving our grandmother a kiss on the forehead. "Mother said she's excited to be arriving tomorrow."

Our grandmother chuckled. "Of course, we haven't seen each other in months."

As our grandmother left Damon and me to ourselves, he immediately turned to face me with a smile on his face. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, implying him to say whatever he wanted to say. "So...what happened last night?"

Like the wind knocking into me, my eyes fluttered closed at the painful memory of Ashton pulling away from me. As he pulled away, the more my heart began to crack. I had no doubt he was feeling the same, you could just see it in his piercing blue eyes, the feelings he didn't even dare to mask. "Nothing happened."

Damon's smile fell. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

I flinched at his sudden outburst.

Damon ran his hand through his hair, dishevelling it in the process. "I snuck the guy into your house and holy shit, he's actually really heavy. It may not seem like it but he's heavy. You know, I almost broke a hand for him-"

"Damon," I cut him off with a blank look.

He inhaled a sharp breath and plastered on a small smile. "That's not the point, the point is that I just want to rip his fucking head off!"

I managed to chuckle, my insides churning. "Help me."

Damon scratched the back of his neck, looking at me with confusion. "Help you with what?"

I bit my lip, rubbing my hands together as I've never asked assistance from any of my family members before. Not even Damon, himself. I looked up to see Damon's features softening at my nervousness as he placed his own big palm on top of both of my hands.

"I'll help you, whatever you need."

And that was all I needed.

↡

Forced to accompany Dakota and her irritating friends for Christmas shopping by our grandmother, Damon and I sauntered behind the group of squealing girls who seemed to gossip within every step forward. Damon would point out the silliest things and lighten up the mood but then once the joke would escape his lips, it wouldn't be as funny. Yet to Dakota's group of friends, they would laugh hysterically.

"I have a girlfriend and all of you are ugly," Damon had said once with a hint of disgust when Dakota's group of friends admired him with adoration in their eyes.

Dakota had shot him a mean look -well, she tried to make it look mean- before comforting her friends, complimenting them on their best features -which was practically none- as they began to continue walking.

"You know, if it wasn't for our grandma, we wouldn't be here," Damon pointed out as we sat on the chairs in the corner of Forever 21, our arms crossed over our chest as we leaned against the wall.

"Sometimes, I wonder if you're just dumb," I murmured under my breath, shaking my head in amusement as I ran a hand through my hair, my eyes moving towards the entrance of the store to find two familiar figures walking in.

In the corner of my eyes, Damon followed my gaze, his eyes widening as if he recognised those two figures. One with blonde hair and the other with black. "Damon, I think I need glasses. I honestly can't see but they look familiar."

Damon cleared his throat, placing his hands on my shoulder before forcing me to face him. He gave me a smirk and looked at me straight in the eye. "We need to get you a man."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't need a man, Damon. You're being ridiculous."

Damon shrugged, rolling his shoulders back as he shot me a look. "Then you wouldn't mind seeing Ashton and Ruby roaming around the store together."

Jealousy filled my inside as I plastered on a blank facade and shrugged. "It's his life, he does whatever he wants and besides, I'm not his girlfriend or something." Yet the memory of last night crept up to me, goosebumps making an appearance as I remembered how he caressed my cheek with adoration in his eyes.

I couldn't forget the way he looked at me even though it made me feel vulnerable.

I looked over at Dakota in the distance who was already looking at me, a pity smile on her lips as she nodded at me as if knowing I needed to leave and she was giving me her approval. Though, the pity smile I really wanted to wipe off her lips as I stood up and straightened out my jumper before signalling to Damon for our leave.

"Seriously?" Damon questioned, confused.

"What?"

"You're going to just...leave?"

I nodded. "And?"

Damon crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, scoffing. "The Aurora I knew wouldn't let anyone belittle her. Let alone scare her by their presence."

I bit my lip hard and shrugged, completely fed up with everyone's expectations of me. I turned on my heel and flipped my hair back before strutting out of the store, taking out my ringing phone. "What?"

I heard a cough on the other line. "Thank you."

Ashton.

I frowned, confused. "What?"

"Seeing you made my day a whole lot better." And with that, he hung up.

I blushed, looking at my phone horrified as I tucked my phone back in my pocket and let out an annoyed sigh.

I turned around to find Damon looking at me with a curious look. "We're robbing a house."

a/n: damn, I love how I keep apologising for leaving, saying that I'll post every week or two but then I lied and instead, got really busy again :( I won't make promises but I will update when I feel motivated to write and when ai have the time.

If you're still reading after my lengthy time away, thank you. I appreciate you. I love you.

love, ariella