𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘁 ʰᵃʳⁱᵃⁿᵃ ✓

TWELVE

THE RELEASE PARTY

"what the fuck?"

ariana walked into her own house to find it packed with people, something she'd definitely not asked nor consented for. scooter had made her leave earlier in the day so the party planner could do her job. ariana had insisted she wanted the event to be very small, but of course her stubborn manager didn't listen and completely disregarded her wishes, as he sometimes did.

she walked around for a while, trying to find her friends or anyone she actually knew and liked. everywhere she went, she saw random celebrities and influencers drinking, dancing and touching her things (which pissed her off even more). finally, she spotted doug and troye and approached them to avoid having to talk to anyone else.

"hey bitch. did you just get here?" ariana snatched troye's wine glass from his hand and took a big sip before nodding.

"yeah. i'm gonna kill scooter. i told him i wanted a small gathering, not a fucking party." troye grabbed another glass from one of the caterers and gave it to ariana to help her take the edge off.

"or you could enjoy the party... just a suggestion." ariana rolled her eyes, she really wasn't in the mood, but she was going to have to suck it up.

"whatever. is harry here?" ariana pretended to be indifferent when saying his name, but her friends saw right through her little act.

"wouldn't you want to know... miss sunflower." troye cackled and ariana instantly regretted telling him about that.

"i'm gonna go look for him. please don't fuck on my couch. or on any of my furniture, for that matter. thanks." doug flipped her off and ariana waved her hand dismissively before walking away.

she looked for harry everywhere but eventually gave up, realizing he wasn't there. or maybe he was and she'd just forgotten to put on her contacts. ariana was on her way to the kitchen to refill her glass and escape the hell that was her living room when she bumped into someone, almost falling in the process.

"watch it." she said coldly, without looking at whoever had been standing there. as she was walking away, she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back gently.

"hey! ariana." she turned around to find shawn, as in shawn mendes, smiling at her. she immediately felt bad about how she'd snapped at him, knowing it'd been totally uncalled for and just rude.

"hi shawn. sorry about that..." she laughed nervously, not knowing what else to say, but he didn't seem too upset. in fact, he looked happy to see her.

"i've been looking for you everywhere! i'm glad i got to see you at least once tonight."

shawn had been looking for her? weird, she thought. ariana didn't think they were friends, she didn't even know why he'd been invited, but she wasn't complaining. he was a nice guy.

ariana remembered how he'd reached out after the pete fiasco to check up on her. he'd been very kind and genuine. something very rare for a guy in his position.

"do you wanna go somewhere quiet to talk?" the question caught her off guard and brought back unpleasant memories. the last time someone had asked her that she'd ended up engaged, but she pushed those worries aside and agreed. the party was terrible anyway and it wasn't like shawn was gonna threaten her with a ring or anything like that.

they sneaked out to the patio and sat by the pool to talk and hang out. it took ariana by surprise how it wasn't awkward at all. she enjoyed spending time with him, he made her feel comfortable, and the feeling seemed to be mutual.

about an hour later, ariana excused herself and explained she needed to go 'mingle' or else her manager would throw a fit. shawn, of course, understood and walked her inside.

at some point on their way in, he had boldly grabbed her hand and was leading her through the crowd, but ariana didn't freak out. it felt right, for some strange and unknown reason.

her inner peace didn't last long, though, it never did, and ariana quickly let go of shawn's hand when she noticed harry looking at their intertwined fingers with a disappointed, almost sad, look on his face. was he jealous?

and that's when ariana knew, she was fucked.