angel smiled as she fixed the finishing touches on the party decorations. large, bold letters that said 'happy birthday, ari!' had been hung across the living room. they had images of harry potter, ron weasley and hermione granger placed on them, all holding their wands up in celebration. little pictures of dobby, hagrid, draco and all the other harry potter characters were placed on the walls, each one saying happy birthday. angel had gotten some wands and robes, not forgetting the cliche pointy witch hats.
this was gonna be perfect; ariana had no clue that angel had flown out to california for her birthday. she had talked to joan, ari's mom, about throwing her a party and the woman gladly said yes, giving her the girl's extra house key. it sounded kinda creepy, but the thought was what counted.
joan had also invited ariana's family members and other friends to the party and angel was so happy to meet all of them. her and nonna had already had a wonderful chat about old films and frankie was constantly dancing, begging angel to join in with him. she did a few times before going back to work on the decorations.
angel hadn't heard from ariana in a while but she was kind of glad. she didn't want the surprise to be ruined. the girl had time to finish with the decorations and was now walking around with a cup in her hand, making conversation with ariana's family and friends. she had mentioned ari's ep a few times and almost everyone said it was wonderful, pointing out how unique and elegant her voice was. angel gladly agreed with them.
it had been about an hour later when somebody shouted, "she's here! everybody be quiet!" angel frantically went to turn off the lights and crouched behind the couch. she could hear the jingling of keys and...laughter? maybe she was on the phone with someone. once the door was open and ariana was inside, angel flipped the lights on and everyone screamed "surprise!"
the situation angel saw in front of her caused her to gasp. ariana was there, yes, but with some other girl's arms around her.
"oh, shit," the girl muttered and angel could feel the anger bubbling up inside of her like a fire.
"what... are you kidding me?"
ariana quickly backed away from the unknown girl and started towards angel. "babe, no, this isn't-"
"no, i don't want to hear it." angel was backing away from ariana just as quickly as she had walked towards her.
"angel-"
"i don't w-want to hear it!"
tears were stinging angel's eyes as she pushed ariana away and ran upstairs, locking herself in ariana's bedroom. the sound of heels on the marble steps echoed through the room as angel slid down the door, sobbing into her hands.
"angel, baby, please open the door."
the girl had to hold herself back from turning the handle. she loved ariana, she still did, but what had just happened left her feeling like she wasn't good enough.
"angel... please."
"w-why should i?" she sniffed. "go back t-to your other girlfriend."
ariana started to jiggle at the door handle. "will you please just open the door..."
angel sniffed again and stared down at the floor for a moment, ignoring the sound of ariana's attempts to open the door. don't give in, she told herself. don't do it. it wasn't until a few moments later when she heard ariana crying quietly that angel stood up, pressing her ear to the door.
"angel, i'm so sorry," ariana said. "that wasn't what you th-though it was, please let me in."
with a deep sigh, angel unlocked the door and barely opened it, going to sit on the edge of ariana's bed with tears still on her cheeks. ari walked in and shut the door behind herself, sitting close beside angel.
"who is that, ariana?"
ariana looked pained as she saw the tears on her girlfriends cheeks. "that's camila. she's just a friend of mine. i swear to you, baby."
"then why was she wrapped around you like that, hmm?" another tear slipped down angel's cheek and she sniffed, quickly wiping it away.
"we were out drinking and she got really drunk," ariana started, her eyes searching angel's face. "she didn't have a ride home, so i told her she could stay at my house until tomorrow. the whole ride home, she was trying to flirt with me and kept touching me and stuff. i told her to quit and she did for a while, until what you just saw." the girl sighed softly and messed with the bottom of her skirt. "i didn't want anything to happen, angel. she just wouldn't take a hint."
angel slowly looked up at ariana and sniffed again. "that's... true?"
"of course it is," ariana whispered. "i would never do anything with anyone else. i love you, angel. you're my only one."
within a split second, angel was wrapping her arms around ariana and slamming her lips against the other girl's, another stray tear falling from her eyes. "i-i'm so sorry," she sobbed after pulling away. "i'm so s-stupid for thinking you were cheating on me."
ariana had her arms wrapped around angel and was holding her close to her chest. "you are not stupid, angel," she said soothingly, running her fingers through the girl's hair. "i understand what you might've thought, but its okay."
it took angel a while to completely calm down, sighing softly when ariana started to hum to her quietly. "i love you so much," she whispered.
"i love you more."
angel moved to give ariana another affectionate kiss before she pulled away and admired her quietly for a moment. she then smiled and said, "that's gonna be awkward to explain to the guests, yeah?"
ariana laughed softly and nodded. "might as well go ahead and get it over with." she stood and held her hands out to angel. "come on, baby love."
-
it's been a while ♡♡
