Meridian (Ariana/You)

Chapter 1

« Yeah, why? Please tell me it's because the building burned down and now I don't have to go to work. » I said, hoping I had a chance to go back to bed.

« You wish. There's a big group of people around the entrance of the hotel apparently. But the building is definitely not on fire, don't think these people would be sticking close to a burning building, although you never know these days. » she said unpausing the game.

What the hell was going on over there? I hadn't been at work for 4 days so had no idea if there was a big event, or if there was a big dinner of some corporate people, they usually tend to smoke out front of the hotel in big groups. But today was Sunday, no events and no business guests.

« Whatever it is, it better be finished before I get there. I am not in the mood to deal with people at all today. »

« When are you ever? » She laughed as she knew the response to that.

« Hey - I'm a nice person – I just don' have the energy for this. I want my days off again. » I laughed with her.

We played another couple of rounds before noticing that it was reaching 10pm. I had to grab the subway and it was just a 20 minutes ride with a 10-minute walk to get to the subway.

« I'm going to call it a day with this game Sarah. Got my ass kicked yet again. » I put the controller down in defeat.

« You're fine Y/N. You seriously should consider joining me in streaming. Think we could have a fun channel. You can be the idiot and I will be your hero saving your life every time. We'll play « Hero » by Enrique Iglesias every time you die for more dramatic effect and - »

« Yeah you sure would like that wouldn't you. » I laughed amused at the thought « I need to go now; I'll talk to you later. »

« Later Tiger. » I chucked at her stupid nickname for me before I shut my console off and put everything away.

Sarah and I only knew each other for 2 years, but I felt like she was a closer friend than people I had known for more than 5 years. We met by coincidence online while playing video games and discovered a bit later on that we lived only an hour away from each other. We met up a few times and became the best of friends. She was the opposite of me in some ways, she was more outspoken, more confident and ultimately, funnier. But we were still the same, both of us were the kids that never really got noticed at school, and once grown up stayed the same. I was well liked among my colleagues, but rarely got invited out to join them for drinks or dinners. It suited me fine because I preferred having time to myself.

I placed my headphones on my ears, grabbed my bag pack with notebooks and laptop and headed out the door. Anywhere I would go, I would have my headphones on. Music was something that helped me. It was something that got me through a lot. I enjoyed listening to various range of genres, from classical to pop to metal to songs in foreign languages. As long as it had a good beat or good lyrics; it worked for me.

The walk to the train seemed short as I focused more on the music blasting in my ears.

Quickly enough I was at work. The train was quite empty, with it being almost 11pm. As soon as I got out of the station, I saw 4 large vans with tinted black windows in front of the Hotel. Guess it must be someone big and shrugged it off as I had no recollection of anyone important scheduled to stay. However, the crowd was gone and there were just people walking along the street next to the hotel now, and a few others waiting by the hotel door, nothing I couldn't handle.

The staff entrance was an elevator a little further down from the main hotel entrance. I beeped my staff card on the reader and looked at the cars while waiting for the elevator. There was 4 men in suites standing right next to the cars smoking and talking with each other and a man holding papers going back and forth in between the drivers and the main entrance.

Once down in the basement in the staff part of the hotel, I quickly changed into my uniform. I adjusted my the tie and blazer and made sure my belt was tight enough to hold my suit trouser. Ready to go and put on my customer service face.

As I arrived to the reception, the two guys on shift, Kevin and Alexander, seemed to be a bit stressed. As they saw me arrive, Alexander was the first to smile.

« Y/N! Thank God you're here. I can go now and you can deal with this mess. » Alexander said to me as he put everything he was holding on the desk and made his was around the counter.

« Uhm, Alex. I need a handover and you better get your ass back around that desk and finish what you started before you leave. I am not taking over your shit. Last time that happened I got blamed for a mistake I did not make on those reports. » I said shaking my head at him, Kevin chuckled at my remark, knowing full well how Alexander was like.

« Yeah, take it easy. Was only joking. » he said. But he wasn't. Alexander had been at the hotel the longest and I could sense he was just tired of working as a receptionist. Kind of like me, but I hide it well in front of others.
We went through what guests were asking for, what they had booked, what important information I needed to know before being left alone all night in charge of the whole hotel.

« Good news, you have no arrivals left and there are only 4 rooms of leisure guests in house. » We only had 38 rooms so 4 rooms occupied would be a walk in the park and felt relieved that I would be able to have a calm night. But then it hit me. What's the bad news, was there bad news? Did it have to do with these vans out the front?

« We had a last minute booking of 10 rooms. » Kevin added as he looked up from his computer screen.

Last minute booking of 10 rooms was generally a big hassle. There was a lot of organising to do with reports, probably last minute room service orders, which after 11pm the reception was in charge of. Maybe it wasn't going to be such a quiet night after all.

« Okay? And what group is that? » I asked a bit worried. I'm not sure if I wanted to know.

Just as I finished my sentence, there was some louder noise from the right hand side of the reception. That was the direction of the hotel restaurant and before I know it 2 big security guys walked up the 10 steps stairs from the restaurant to the reception level and behind following them was a gorgeous petite figure with a long brown ponytail with an oversized sweater, her high heels clicking against the marble floor, as she was humming a tune I could not make out.

I knew exactly who she was. I had just listened to one of her songs before getting to work.

Ariana Grande.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A/N: There is the first chapter, not much happening, just quick introduction to this story. Promise there will be more Ariana in the next chapter. Again, this is my first time ever publishing anything and I am quite nervous haha. 

I really hope you guys like it and will try and give an update with the next chapter very soon!

xxx