Meridian (Ariana/You)

Chapter 29

Ariana had one of her arms wrapped around my shoulder as she was holding the 4th, nearly empty, bottle of Asti of the evening in her hand.
Some passer by turned around to look at the both of us as we were crossing the street to get back to the car that was waiting. He did not look entirely sure if it was in fact the real Ariana Grande stumbling on the streets being supported by some random stranger in their eyes.

"Oh don't worry, there are so many Ariana look-alikes trying to be me out there, that I usually get left alone. People have the tendency to think of me as one of them." The Asti made her laugh at her own comment.
I couldn't help but chuckle imagining how creepy it would be to have someone try to impersonate you.

After a few attempts trying to get into the car without tipping over, we were off back home.

"Tonight was fun." I broke the silence.

Ariana had her eyes closed and seemed as she was trying to appreciate the low humming of the car and how it rocked her gently.

She didn't really reply to what I had just said so I decided to turn my attention to my phone that I had neglected during the evening in order to appreciate her company fully.

I wasn't really surprise to see that I had no notifications but just an unread email in my inbox. I put the phone away and threw a quick look in Ariana's direction.

She had tears running down her cheek as she was quickly wiping them away so that I could not see.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

She pursed her lips in a way that looked like she was trying to keep herself from bursting out in tears.

"I think I'm just drunk." She spoke softly.

Maybe, but unlikely the cause.

I didn't say anything, wanting to wait to see if she had anything additional to say. Maybe being silent would encourage her to talk more about what was making her sad.

Instead, she shook her head and looked out the window.

At a lack of response, I decided to speak out again.

"What is this really about?" I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. I thought this evening was going well.

"I don't know. Nothing. Everything." She spoke out, still softly and her voice almost breaking. "This whole album leaking, Scooter constantly giving me shit, Pete harassing me, all th –"

Hold up.

"Pete? I thought you hadn't heard from him in a while. Thought the hotel was the last you heard of him." I asked, curious.

"Look, Pete and I got complicated history." She said, almost in an attempt to justify his actions.

"Yeah okay, but that's not an excuse to defend him." I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself and let those word slip before judging the weight of them.

"Excuse me?" This time I could sense real hurt from her voice.

"Hear me out." I tried backtracking.

What an idiot.

"No. You hear me out...You have NO idea how I have been feeling with everything. You cannot even begin to image what it's like." She sat up from her slouched position, confirming that this was getting heated.

"You don't know what it's like meeting someone you think is your soulmate and they just turn out to be this bundle of toxic mess of a parasite that just eats at you bit by bit."

"Soulmate?" I was starting to feel very hurt by her initial description of Pete. Didn't she call that song for me 'Soulmate'? Was I being a bit too hopeful with Ariana there?