Fading Echoes (OCxArianaGrande) [Being Re-Written]

Chapter 12 (Re-Written)

**DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!**

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Central Park
NYC, New York

Ariana's POV

It was one of those perfect fall afternoons in New York—sky clear and crisp, the trees in Central Park bursting with that golden kind of orange you only get for maybe two weeks out of the year. Leaves crunched beneath our shoes as we walked the steps down from Bethesda Terrace, blending into a slow-moving crowd. The lake shimmered ahead, buildings framing it like a painting.

I kept my hood up. Sunglasses on. Benny did too. If anyone recognized us, they didn't stop us. Or maybe they did and just chose not to say anything. We moved like we were trying to slow the clock—two people making room in the world where we could just be still for a second.

Her hand wasn't in mine. It didn't need to be.

Our arms were linked under our coats, tight and steady. Her elbow nudged into mine like an anchor I didn't know I needed. I wasn't sure who grabbed who first. I think I did.

It was Friday. Her only real break in a week full of chaos. One final rehearsal tonight. The show tomorrow. And still—she showed up. For this. For me.

I hadn't said much lately. Barely texted. Barely called.

But I watched.

I always do.

Clips of her on stage at SNL—laughing with Bowen, riffing off jokes during cue card run-throughs, pretending to sing into a boom mic and making the whole room lose it. She didn't just belong in those spaces. She owned them.

And right now, walking beside her under this canopy of orange trees and thin afternoon light—I couldn't lie to myself anymore. I couldn't keep pretending I didn't know where this was going.

She nudged me gently. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Just... taking it in."

We passed the last step and wandered toward the edge of the terrace. Below, people walked and laughed and took photos. But here—it felt like we were floating above it. A little removed. A little protected.

I took a breath. "I've been thinking," I said. "About us."

Her arm tensed just slightly. She didn't pull away.

I kept my eyes ahead. "Everything that happened. That night. How I handled it afterward. Or didn't. How unfair I've been."

Still no words from her. But I felt her listening.

"And I don't want to keep doing that," I said. "You don't deserve pieces of me. You deserve someone who knows what they want."

We slowed at the railing. I looked out at the water but not really seeing it.