Leave Me Lonely (JB+AG)

Leave Me Lonely (8)

Ariana

Thursday, November 30

10:27 am

"I hate work so much. I cannot get enough vacation from this place." I tell Tara.

"Well I can't wait until lunch so I can see my baby. Did she do anything special over vacation."

"Not really. She got her eight month shots, but that's about it. She was a little sick yesterday, and I don't know if she's completely healthy."

"Aw, my baby. You're making me even more excited to see her. What about you? How have you been since Alex left?"

"I've been alright. Just going to Target and spending time with Lilia and..." I trail off, looking at Tara then to m computer.

"There's someone else?! Who is it?"

"He's... a person." I mumble.

"Is he a cute person?"

"Maybe just a little bit." Tara raises an eyebrow and I laugh.

"Yes, he's definitely a cute person. Really, really, really cute."

"I have to meet him! Does he work? Ask him if he can come to lunch today. Come on, hurry up!"

"Okay, okay. I'll do it."

I pick up my phone and text Justin, asking him if he's doing anything.

Justin: not today. why?

Ari: my friend from work wants to meet you and we're having lunch today. wanna come?

Justin: of course. when and where?

Ari: pretty sure we're going to Chipotle @12. the more time you spend with me, the more time you spend at Chipotle. Chipotle is my life, and Target.

"Ari, what are you doing? You're supposed to be asking him to lunch, not telling him your life story."

"Shut up, Tara. He said he'll come."

I say bye to Justin and put my phone down, looking up at Tara with a smile on my face.

"I can't wait to meet him. It seems like you really like him. Anyone who's making my Ari this happy is worth meeting."

"He's amazing. He actually came to Lilia'a appointment with me. Then he took us out to lunch."

"Oh did he? Sounds like a keeper to me. He needs to propose already."

"Tara, I literally met him two days ago. Chill." I laugh.

"Okay, okay. I'm just so happy for you." She smiles.

"Thank you. I'm really happy too."

"I can tell by the way you came into work today. You used to be so stressed and worried but today you were calm and happy."

"Was I?"

"Definitely!"

"That's nice."

11:43 pm

"I'm so excited to see my baby!" Tara says as we walk to the daycare.

We were running a little bit late but Chipotle wasn't that far away. Hopefully we didn't have any problems.

I let Tara go inside the daycare first and she immediately spots Lilia "reading" a book on the floor.

"Lilia!" Tara goes to pick her up and Lilia giggles at first but then she sees me and she frowns.

"Ma!" She yells.

"But you like me!" Tara says sadly, walking towards me.

"She hasn't seen you in a couple days. She'll get used to you again, won't you babe?" I say, kissing Lilia's cheek.

I turn my attention to Caitlyn while Tara attempts to make Lilia happier with her.

"We'll be back in an hour but Lilia will probably be asleep."

"That's fine. You know I'll have a crib ready for her."

"Thank you so much." I smile before following Tara out of the daycare.

We walk to my car since Lilia's car seat is in it and Tara puts her in the back seat before joining me in the front. I drive to Chipotle, happy when I don't see Justin's car.

"Okay, he's not here yet. We're all good." I tell Tara.

"I'm so excited to meet him! This is like, the best day ever." Tara beams.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in the car because Lilia was hungry and she wasn't happy. I take her out of her car seat and grab her blueberry puffs out of her diaper bag before we walk inside the restaurant.

"Ariana?" Tara says.

"Yeah?" I continue feeding Lilia puffs to keep her quiet, not even looking up at Tara to answer her.

"Is that him? The famous Justin." She sounds distant so I assume she's looking out the window and has been put under his spell.

I finally look up and watch Justin walk into the restaurant. He smiles when he sees me and walks towards the table.

"Hey." He says.

I stand up to hug him and he gives Lilia a little mini hug too.

"Justin, this is my friend Tara. Tara, this is Justin."

"Hi, Tara. It's nice to meet you." Justin says.

"You too, Justin. Ariana's been talking about you all day." Tara looks at me and I roll my eyes.

"I have not! Why are you lying to him?" I say.

"I believe you. She can't get enough of me." Justin smirks.

"I'm hungry. You two can have any type of conversation you want to about me, but I won't be apart of it." I walk over to the counter to order the same thing I always get.

It always works out because, of course, Lilia has to eat some but there's still plenty for me to eat. After I order my food, Justin and Tara do the same and we sit down at our table.

Tara and Justin talk to each other for a little bit then Lilia wants to go to Tara so I talk to Justin.

"Where do you work?"

"Umm, a place I don't want to work at."

"I'm gonna go ahead and assume that's not what it's called."

"You assumed right. We work at Johnson Paradise Inc." (yes I made that up, oh well)

"What is that?"

"It's a corporation that sends people on vacations. Not like those robots that call your phone and say 'You've been selected for a free vacation, all you have to do is answer some easy questions'. It's a business where people decide they wanna go on vacation-"

"Like a travel agent?" Justin asks.

"Oh, yeah. Like that."

"Cool. Can you send me on a vacation?"

"I'm sure I can. But do I want to? That's the real question here."

"I know you want to. And you look beautiful today. Not that you don't look beautiful everyday, but I'm just saying it today."

"I understand, Justin." I laugh.

"Oh, good."