melodies at midnight (a.g x m.j)

caught in lies

Ariana ~ June 2nd, 1978

"Who's that present for?" Quincy asks as I slide into the car, greeting Eddie with a smile.

"Nice to see you, Ariana." Eddie turns to look back at me.

"You as well." I grin before glancing at Quincy. "For Janet." I respond, fiddling with the tissue paper sticking out of the gift bag.

He furrows his eyebrows. "Her birthday was weeks ago."

"I know. It's just a super late gift."

He nods his head slowly. "How do you know Janet?"

I roll my eyes jokingly and sigh. "That's a story for another day."

Quincy just shakes his head and laughs, looking out the window. We enjoy most of the car ride in silence before Quincy clears his throat.

"I really should be minding my own but I got to tell you, you have Randy obsessed." The man says, still looking through the glass. "And I don't even know what for yet, his ass still hasn't taken you out."

My head snaps to his direction, he's definitely exaggerating. "Yeah, okay." I snort.

"You don't believe me?" He now looks at me with a smirk.

I scrunch my nose, dramatically looking up and pretending to think. "No, no I don't."

He shrugs lazily. "That's cool, keeping thinking like that because I'm team Michael anyway."

I let out a loud breath followed up by louder laughing. "You got to stop with that, Quincy. Michael doesn't like me like that, and even if he does, then he has a funny way of showing it."

"Whatever you say." He still wears his smirk, looking away. His teasing is really starting to get on my nerves.

The car slows down and I start to recognize the familiar neighbourhood. Soon enough, we're parked behind dozens of cars.

Quincy and I both tell Eddie goodbye, exiting the vehicle and walking up to the front door. He knocks and we wait in patience, eventually the door is pulled wide open.

Katherine stands there, her face lighting up at the sight of us. She brings Quincy into a tight hug.

"Glad you could make it." She lets go of him and then grins at me, taking me into her embrace. She's truly such a sweet lady.  "And it's lovely to see you again, Ariana."

"Please come in." She opens the door wider and we walk inside. I scan the room and notice the abundance of people here, Quincy lets me know he's going to go mingle.

I turn back to Katherine. "I actually have a little gift here for Janet's birthday. I know it's late but..."

The older woman beams. "Oh, she's really going to appreciate that. You probably already know we don't celebrate birthdays due to our faith but a few little gifts can't hurt." She then loops her arm around mine. "I'll take you to her."

We venture around the house and end up in the kitchen, spotting Janet through the window, sitting in the backyard.

We excuse ourselves past a few people and she opens the back door, the both of us stepping outside. "Baby, I have someone here for you." Katherine verbalizes.

Janet swiftly turns around, setting a book down in her lap. With one look at me, she widens her eyes and her surprised face starts looking more like anger.

This reaction surprises both myself and Katherine. "Janet, it's your friend. You've been talking about this girl like she's your sister and she brought a present for your birthday."