Meridian (Ariana/You)

Chapter 10

The girls changing room was quite small and the rows in between the lockers were quite narrow. Thankfully, my locker was at the end of the row so I had a bit more space.

Ariana came back to my locker with a med-kit that she took from the entrance of the changing room. I looked in the mirror near my locker and could see that my cheek was swollen and there was a slight cut, but nothing deep, just enough to bleed out a little. The corner of my cheek was bruised and starting to turn purple. There was blood on the collar of my white uniform shirt.

I sat on the bench that was in front of the mirror. Ariana pulled out a disinfection wipe and sat next to me.

"This may sting a little." She was really gentle and soft in her motion as if I was the most fragile thing in this world. The wipe did sting but I sucked it up, I still flinched which caused Ariana to quickly remove the wipe from my cheek.

"It's okay Ari." She proceeded into trying again, I did my best not to flinch this time. When she was done, she pulled out a small Band-Aid to place on my cut.

"We should really get you some ice." She said, in a very quiet voice. Her voice still sounded broken. I hated seeing her like that. I just wanted to see her smile again.

"Let me put on a new shirt and let's go get some ice." The conversations were just awkward. We knew we needed to talk about what had just happened but none of us felt ready to. This small talk was just a bad solution to avoid the obvious.

I opened my locker and got a new shirt. Luckily it was clean and already ironed so I didn't need to worry. Ariana was just sitting on the bench, staring down at her feet still wiping her cheeks with her sleeve.

I took off my blazer and unbuttoned my white shirt. I found myself in my bra right next to Ariana and I suddenly felt very self-conscious and exposed. I quickly pulled my new shirt off the hanger and put it on. I quickly glanced at Ariana again hoping she didn't see me.
I met her gaze for a quick second. She had been watching and she was now blushing. I blushed in return, also feeling flattered that someone like her could blush over someone like me.

I finished buttoning my shirt, put my blazer and tie back on and closed my locker.

"Are you ready to go? Thanks for cleaning up that small cut." I attempted a smile. She faintly smiled in return but it quickly faded as she stood up.

We made our way to the bar. It was almost 1am so I knew no one would be around the bar and restaurant. Ariana sat on the bar stool as I went around the bar to get some ice from the ice machine. I found a cloth and put ice in it and applied it to my cheek. It felt wonderful.

Ariana looked at me, intensely, if I may add. Her eyes were still very glassy from the crying and I felt like she could just start again at any moment. There had been silence for awhile now. I turned on the coffee machine and I let the noise of the coffee machine fill in the space around us. She bit her lip as it looked she was trying to hold back from saying something. But she remained silent. I looked away from her and focused my attention on the machine. Once the coffee was done, I pushed the cup of coffee towards her.

"I'm guessing soya or oat milk?" I asked. She silently nodded.

"Soya would be great thanks." She said with a very faint voice.

I poured put the soya milk carton next to her for her to add as she pleased as well as sugar if she wanted it. Silence just followed for a few minutes after that. I had focused on making myself some tea while Ariana sipped her coffee.

"You got hurt because of me, yet you're still taking care of me. You have a such a caring soul." Her voice finally broke.

"I don't do that just for anyone, you know." I added, smiling. "I generally don't do well around people but people I care about; I would give arm for."

She looked down at the counter, almost ashamed.

"Tonight is not going the way I had hoped." She said still looking at the counter.

"And how were you hoping for it to go?" I asked, removing the tea bag from my cup and throwing it in the bin.

"Well, not with Pete barging in and almost knocking you out. I just wanted for it to be the both of us, laughing, talking, you working and me sitting across from you working on a song. Just enjoying each other's company." She was fiddling with the hem of her sleeve and at the last sentence she spoke she looked at me again.

"It's not even 1am yet. What is keeping us from still making most of tonight?" I smiled taking my cup and walking around the corner. "You know what will cheer us up? Some fries. Or at least it will for me, I don't know about you?" I laughed.

"It definitely will." She giggled and she seemed to relax more hearing my laugh.

"Come on Mopey, let's get the fryers turned on." I extended my arm for her and she wrapped her arms around mine .

"So there's your rebel side. I thought you weren't allowed to use the fryers and kitchen equipment after hours." She said, clearly teasing me.

"Well, I'm definitely not allowed to nap in a guest's bed, let alone with the guest next to me. Pretty sure I'm not allowed to be aggressive towards people entering the hotel...but here we are." I smiled at her, reassuring her I meant all of this not in an accusatory way. We reached the kitchen and I turned on the fryer.

"You're proving to be a real James Dean." She nudged my shoulder.

"Let's hope this James Dean here doesn't crash and burn my way out of a job." Ariana gasped at my remark "What? Too soon? It's been like over 60 years!" She laughed. I realised just how much I missed her laugh. Her laugh just stitched my heart right back together.