SWEETHEART • MJ [ORIGINAL]

Nine.

"Nelly Richie?" Michael finally spoke up, stifling a laugh. "What?"

"Hello to you, too, Michael." Ariah smirked, feeling a bit a bit of confidence wash over her. "How are you doing today?"

"Fine, just waiting for Brooke to get here."

"Brooke?"

"Yeah, that's my girlfriend." Michael nodded, almost smiling at Ariah. "How are you, sweetheart?"

That bit of news ended her entire plan to admit her feelings to him. She felt like Michael and Brooke we're going steady. They seemed serious about their relationship and Ariah was jealous more than anything. He was seven years Ariah's elder, so there was probably not even a slim chance of them even making it. In a way, she was glad for the chance to spare herself the embarrassment in front of her superstar crush.

Ariah nodded slowly, coming back to reality. She didn't know how to respond, considering her heart was shattering as they spoke.

"I'm good." She managed to tell a lie and Michael raised an eyebrow at her, questioning the truth in her reply. Stella had so much experience with boys, so she really wanted to phone her and ask for advice on what to do next. "Where's the telephone in here?"

"Towards the back, near my office. You'll probably see Q back there, say hello." Lionel told her, briefly mentioning Quincy Jones, causing the young girl to smile. "He would love to see how grown you've become."

"Love you, Nelly Richie." She winked at him and he waved. She waved to Michael and he smiled at her before she left to go to the room to use the phone. She peeked her head into Quincy's office and she said hello to him.

"Hi." Quincy simply greeted back. He seemed to be working on new music, which intrigued Ariah. However, she was too focused on Plan B to admitting her feelings to Michael. "You look familiar.."

"Seriously?" Ariah narrowed her eyes at Quincy. He shook his head, trying to remember who she was. "It's me, Riles."

A couple of moments later, he remembered. It amused Ariah to say the least.

"Riles? Ariah?" He was astonished. The last time he had seen her, she was barely a teenager. At this point in time, she has blossomed into a beautiful young lady. "Jesus! The time has really passed. How are you, little lady?"

"I'm doing okay!" She chuckled. "You look good as always, Sir."

"Thank you, thank you." He nodded in gratitude. "It's nice to see you, Riles."

"You as well!" Ariah called, continuing to walk past his office and down the hall to where the phone was hung on the wall. She quickly dialed the number to her home and the person that answered was the last family member she wanted to talk to in this moment.

"McCartney Residence." Ariah heard her father answer on the other line after about two rings. She immediately slammed the phone back onto its hook before he could say anything else. She would get into big trouble if her father knew that she was down at the studio with Michael. A sigh escaped her lips as she was back to not knowing what to do. She wanted to tell Michael how she felt, but with Brooke coming to visit, she had doubts about confessing up.

"Everything okay?"

Ariah looked up to see Michael standing there, leaning against the wall and waiting for an answer. The entertainer's eyes were full of concern and he wanted to know what was going on. He could tell she was bothered by something.