New York, New Ariana (Ariana Grande, Nathan Sykes, & Jai Brooks)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

    Ariana’s POV

I felt sick to my stomach as the elevator started upward-- closer and closer to the Brooks apartment. I had no clue what I was going to say at all, or how Jai was going to react, or if it would make the entire grade hate me. So I basically knew nothing, but the last one was no longer a concern for me. In turning into a more “glamourous” Ariana, I’d lost a lot of what I stood for to peer pressure. Not anymore.

As I passed my door, I could see the light under the door and hear my mom’s soft singing voice as she prepared dinner. I didn’t know how much longer I had until she said I had to be home but I wanted to get this done; now.

My stomach was churning even more than before and my heart beat so hard I thought it would burst out of me as I rapped on the apartment door. I pushed my hair back over my shoulder-- there’s that nervous habit again-- and chewed on the inside of my cheek in the few seconds before the door was opened by Jai.

“Hey, Ariana,” He greeted brightly, a wide smile spreading across his face. I must’ve been glaring because the smile dropped off quickly.

“Everything okay?” Jai questioned, his face settling into a frown.

“I need to talk to Luke and Beau, actually,” I said quickly, not even bothering with hello.

“Look,” He whispered. “If this is about him again, it’s best to just ig-”

“Just ignore it, I know, and I agreed with you before but they were making fun of his grandma being sent to the hospital,” Probably came out as a half-snap but I didn’t mean it that way.

“They did what?” Jai said, no longer whispering. “They’re in the living room.” He added, side-stepping out of the way so I could walk in. The apartments were set up nearly the same, so I found them easily gathered around a couch editing a video on a laptop. So James and Daniel were here too-- I guess they did it too, but that was two times the intimidating.

“Why look, it’s Jai’s girlfriend,” Daniel smirked looking up.

“No-” I started to correct him as the heat rose to my cheeks.

“If you’re here for our blessing in your wedding, you may have it.” Beau added, leaning back cockily. Great, now I’m too embarrassed to be focused.

“That’s not why I’m here-- and there’s no wedding!” I snapped, fully intending to. They exchanged a look as I continued. “Why on earth would you make fun of someone whose grandma was just sent to the hospital, not to mention make fun of them about that?”

“Maybe we should have said ‘it’s Nathan’s girlfriend come to protect him!’” James said in response with a sneer.

“Can you guys listen for one f_cking second?” Jai stopped their beginning laughter and motioned for me to continue.

“What has he ever done to you to deserve that? How about to deserve being called ‘f_ggot’ everyday? The last time I checked, that’s not okay to say to someone!” I plowed on, purposely avoiding any of their eyes.

“It’s just joking around!” Luke said, his eyes shifting uncertainly to the side to Beau. Was this actually working? I pray to god this is actually working.

“Maybe it is for you, but not for the person being bullied! Do your brains have the capacity to realize that words actually hurt?” I cried, too far in to be at all nice about it. “Because they do-- you made him refuse to come out of his room!”

“We did?” Beau asked incredulously.

“What a pu-” Daniel started.

“No!” Luke cut him off, standing up. “It’s not joking around to call someone gay for caring about their grandparents! That’s- that’s…” He stopped when four eyes bore holes through him.