ari, be mine

xxv

"It's Dean and Y/d/n, can we come in?" Before I could object, Ariana spoke up. "Yes!" I gave her an incredulous look, to which she ignored and waited for my family members to walk in and shut the door behind them.

"Hey," Dean spoke up first, and then locked eyes with Zach and Wall. His eyes widened and he looked like he had just got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

Why, though?

"Zachary? Wallace? What are y'all doing here?" He asks in disbelief. I raise an eyebrow at the way he's acting, and how that didn't go unnoticed by Y/d/n and Ariana.

"Uh, De I told you they'd be joining me on tour too. And that they'd stay when you have to leave for the NBA." The melanin man's eyebrows shot up but he nodded slowly. Zach and Wallace then turned to me.

"Who's that?" They whisper-yelled, gesturing to the older man beside Dean. I sighed. "Apparently that's my birth father, Y/d/n." The two men gasped in surprise, along with everybody else in the room. I put my head in my hands at this point. Everything was going well until these two showed up.

you're the one who let him stay, dumbass

You're my conscience, so you did too, hoe!

"Well, it was nice of you guys to meet Zach and Wallace. I think I'll take my exit." I gave a small smile and was about to leave the room; when a stage member came in.

"Hey, Ariana Grande — oh! And Y/n Y/l/n, Meet & Greet starts in 10!" The man smiled before leaving again. I released an audible groan.

"Great! Great. . I guess I'll be in my dressing room, then." I then left, knowing I had to change out of my joggers and plain white T for the M&G.

~~~~~

So, it was going on 4:30 when we were finished with the M&G. It was nice, like always. However, I was starving and I knew I'd have to be in my dressing room prepping for the show in about 30 minutes.

Which means I did the obvious; I absolutely sprinted to catering and went right up to the buffet area. I almost drooled at the selection.

I grabbed a tray and decided on some chicken, steak bites (which is just steak cut up), some grilled asparagus with broccoli as well, and a baked potato. I also grabbed a pink lemonade while I was up there and sat down.

About 10 minutes in, I was finished with my chicken and steak and was digging into my veggies when Joan and Nonna walked in. I finished my final bite of the veggies and then quickly washed it down with the lemonade.

"Hey," I spoke up first, the two older Grande woman giving me a kind smile in return.

"Hey sweetheart, how're you holding up?" Nonna asked as they sat down across from me. I shrugged, digging into my potato because I knew I had limited time.

"Good, I guess." I sighed, taking another bite and grabbing my drink. "I don't know how to feel about Y/d/n, but at least my best friends are here now." I took a sip and then put the drink back down. The two gave me sympathetic smiles, though I didn't really want them.

I wasn't here to have everybody feeling bad for me within the first damn week of tour. I was here to uplift and own the opening show. I was here to support, not bring down.

"I don't want anyone feeling bad for me. It doesn't make me feel any better. I feel bad, honestly. Tour is supposed to be lighthearted and all-around enjoyable and I feel like my own bullshit is ruining that for everyone." They seemed appalled at my confession and immediately shook their heads.

"That's not true at all!" Nonna denied, Joan nodding in agreement before adding on.

"Y/n, we have all been through enough tours to know exactly how things like this work. We feel bad because this is happening on your first ever tour and nobody knows how to help. We wanna make things easier for you," They sighed. Nonna held a deep frown.

"We know you made your decision already, but maybe you should take a little more time thinking it over. None of us are sure if right now is the time to deal with something so personal and serious. Especially with all this other pressure from tour on your shoulders." Nonna explained.

"We know you'll always figure it out, but we're just warning you. We've seen Ariana try to balance out the same thing and it worked for a couple weeks or so; everyone got comfortable with the idea, and then it flopped all on the poor girl. She even had to cancel a couple shows back-to-back because of her mental state." They shook their head, obviously reminiscing.

"She didn't even see it coming." Nonna shook her head. I was a little confused on what they were talking about, but decided against asking. If Ariana wanted me to know; I'd probably already know. And I have to respect that.

"Anyways, we don't want to see the same happen to you. Y/nn, you deserve happiness. You deserve to enjoy this. Just. . think about it." They stood up, as did I. The three of us embraced and Nonna pecked my cheek.

"You're a smart woman, Y/n. We'll trust your final decision." She gave me one more pat before the two walked away.

Feeling uneasy and uncertain, I looked down at the half-eaten baked potato.

Yeah, I'm not hungry anymore.

___________________

shiitttt, should i double update ? much love, A