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

Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

Ariana’s POV

I slept in the next morning even though I hadn’t stayed up terribly late, and I was all well-rested smiles when I rolled out of bed. I looked at my clock and saw that it was 10:15-- my first session with my new vocal coach was at 11:00 so I should probably be getting ready. I showered, dried and curled my hair, and changed into a pretty white tank top, red cardigan, jeans, and short chestnut UGGs. After that, I did my hair as usual, brushed my teeth, and did my makeup before heading out to the kitchen.

“Goodmorning, Mom,” I greeted brightly. She was already dressed as well, and perched at the table on a laptop.

“Morning, I was just about to wake you,” Mom looked up from the screen and gently pushed the computer closed. “Frankie’s got dance and you’ve got your vocal lessons so I thought we could stop for breakfast on the way.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed as Frankie dawdled out into the kitchen as well. “I’m just gonna go get my bag.” I informed her before hurrying back to my room and packing the bag I had taken out last night with Jai with my phone and a notebook in case I needed it.

I slung my coat over my arm and followed my Mom and brother out of the apartment building and to the side of the road to hail a cab. The ride was decently short and the cabbie was playing a good radio station, so I looked out the window letting my mind go with the songs. It was another bright and sunny day in New York, which matched my mood perfectly-- but every movie was incredibly inaccurate having it be raining all the time here. The traffic was accurate, though and it took 15 minutes just to get five blocks away.

We stopped at a cute little coffee place for breakfast that was just two doors down from my singing coach’s office. The inside smelled like coffee and maple syrup, blown in your face the second you stepped in by the ceiling fan. I didn’t mind though, it was a nice smell. The floor was a black and white checker, and the walls were cream colored giving it the look of a 50s diner. I picked a booth by one of the front windows where the sunlight was beating down warming my skin. That was one thing I would miss about Boca-- the warm sun.

When our waitress came by I ordered coffee, like Frankie and Mom, and french toast. Mom asked us questions about school, our classes and teachers mostly, and thankfully didn’t ask me about the movie with Jai. I’m afraid I would just start completely gushing about how sweet he was.

“Hey, Ari, what ever happened to that guy who said hi to you on the first day? Nathan, or something?” Frankie asked, shoving the rest of his egg sandwich in his mouth. What, why was he asking about that? He saw Beau and Luke on the first day too! I looked at Mom to see if she would scold him for gossiping about school, but she was just looking to me for my answer too.

“What do you mean, what happened?” I shrugged, pushing the last piece of bread around in the pool of syrup on my plate.

“Just that he seemed like your friend,” Frankie explained. “And now you’re hanging out with Jake.”

“It’s Jai, not Jake,” I corrected before thinking about it. “They’re both my friends.”

“And that’s lovely, Frankie,” Mom finally snapped, saving me from the further questioning starting to roll off Frankie’s tongue. She waved the waitress back over for the check since it was now 10:50 and we didn’t want to be late.

    Why-- why did Frankie bring up Nathan? It doesn’t make sense… except it does, I’m so stupid. He doesn’t know that Jai doesn’t like how Nathan gets treated, or that they used to be friends. Does he think I’m siding with Jai and the other Janoskians and being mean to Nathan? I couldn’t, I couldn’t even just stand there fake laughing like Jai does. I can’t stand seeing the hurt in his eyes, blue like the sky above the ocean on a perfectly sunny day, behind those thick glasses-- cute in a nerdy sort of way. Oh my god, I need to snap out of it… all I’m doing is going back in forth gushing about Jai and Nathan.