𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘁 ʰᵃʳⁱᵃⁿᵃ ✓

EIGHT

THE NIGHT BEFORE

"bye bitch, see you tomorrow."

doug kissed ariana's cheek and left with troye and ariana couldn't help but notice their quiet giggles and intertwined fingers. she smiled to herself, liking the idea of them getting together, even if it meant they'd team up against her.

the only ones left in the studio were her and harry, which made her nervous. not because of him, he was the sweetest, but because she didn't trust herself not to get carried away. especially with a guy she used to have a very intense crush on. the last thing she wanted was to catch feelings for someone from her past. or catch feelings for anyone. she couldn't go down that road again.

she ignored her gut feeling telling her to go home before doing something stupid and sat down on the black leather couch, waiting for harry to finish writing in what ariana assumed was his song journal. she pretended to look around the room to avoid being weird and staring at him for too long and that's when she noticed his phone sitting on the small coffee table in front of her.

"hey harry, can i use your phone to send myself the demo you recorded?" she asked as casually as possible, though she was nervous she'd overstepped. as much as they liked each other, they weren't exactly close friends.

"yeah, go ahead." harry seemed unbothered and totally comfortable letting ariana use his phone, taking her by surprise.

"you don't have a passcode? that's... brave." harry chuckled in response and shrugged. "i've got nothing to hide."

it didn't take ariana long to find her contact and her stomach did somersaults when she noticed the little sunflower next to her name. she smiled, thinking back to a short conversation they'd once had when she told him sunflowers were her favorite type of flower.

surely, it had to be a coincidence. there was no way he actually remembered. or cared enough. either way, ariana decided not to get excited over such a small, silly thing. whether his choice of emoji had been on purpose or completely random, it didn't change the fact that nothing was gonna happen between them.

"okay i'm done. my brain has officially ran out of creative juices." harry closed his notebook and stood up to go sit next to ariana.

"are you going home?" ariana asked, secretly hoping the answer was no. harry turned to look at her, as if he was trying to read her mind. 

ariana had changed a lot since the last time they'd seen each other. not in a bad way, just in a human way. it didn't surprise harry, though, considering everything she'd gone through.

"do you want me to go?" harry's voice was soft, it was almost like he was asking for permission and it took ariana a second to figure out what to say, even though she knew exactly what she wanted.

"you don't have to go. i mean, we should go since the studio is closing soon, but we could go somewhere together." ariana suggested. 

"like a date?" harry smiled cheekily and ariana let out a laugh, shaking her head.

"not a date. just two old friends catching up after a long day at work." she said with a raised brow so he wouldn't get any ideas. harry nodded and seemed to understand, which made her feel safe.

she liked that about him.

"so... do you ice skate?"