Meridian (Ariana/You)

Chapter 31

I woke up slowly, surrounded by warmth and Ariana.

Her arm was around my waist, her face half buried in the curve of my shoulder. She was breathing softly and peacefully, I imagined it was from a weight lifting off her after last night. I realized that one leg had tangled into mine sometime in the night and her fingers twitched lightly against the hem of my tshirt.

I didn't want to move just yet, trying to just enjoy a couple more minutes of stillness before the day truly started.

Eventually, I slipped out of her hold, careful not to wake her. She made a soft sound in her sleep but didn't stir. I tucked the blankets back gently around her and quietly exited the bedroom.

I took my hoodie I had left on the arm of the couch we sat on yesterday, chip bags still all over the coffee table. It was bright in her living room, modern but still felt warm. I made my way to the open kitchen and opened the fridge.

There was one bottle of oat milk, some lemon sparking water. A lone container of fruits that looked like it had been there forever. I regretted my decision to even look as I closed the door.

I put on my shoes and grabbed her house keys from the hook at the entrance, deciding to make a quick run down the streets. She was lucky enough to live right in the middle of the city, which meant that I had options. I found a spot opened early, grabbed two smoothie bowls, a vegan croissant and some ice lattes with extra oat milk because we were going to need all the fuel we could get.

By the time I got back, i had been around 25 minutes. I juggled the bag and drinks as I pushed the door open, letting it swing shut behind me with my foot. I didn't expect to hear her voice already.

"No, I understand that..." she was saying, calmly and professional. "I just want to know what my options are. If I release this album under the contract, what happens next?"

I slowed, stepping furth inside, the bedroom was cracked open. She didn't sound nervous, but she sounded ready. Whoever was on the other end of the line's voice boomed through the speaker.

"Well," the voice on the other end replied. "you'd still need to deliver this final album under your current clause, per the agreement. But once that's done, nothing stops you from walking away. You can start something new. You would just have to be strategic about how you position it."

I stepped closer, peeking through the gap, making myself visible that I was back. She was sitting in bed, legs stretched under the blankets, a laptop beside her and a notebook in her lap. Her glasses were sliding down her nose and she pushed them up absently as she wrote something down.

She looked up and saw me standing there, as I held the brown bag like a prize. I saw her face light up.

"You're perfect." She mouthed, not wanting to hear the other person on the line to hear.

"Sorry, hold on – breakfast just arrived."

She got out of bed and followed me into the kitchen as I put all the things I had bought on the counter. Ariana set her phone on the counter and slide the phone closer to the both of them, as she slid onto one of her barstools, and saw her hair still in a messy knot. The hoodie she had one pulled over her hands.

"Okay, I've got my crisis manager in the room now and you're on loud speaker." She said, in between bites of her croissant.

"We're really going with that title, uh?" I asked, amused that she had remembered what she had called me yesterday.

"Well, we started this chaos campaign and one of us has to be the singer, so you that makes you the crisis manager." She told me, following along with my banter.