Meridian (Ariana/You)

Chapter 11

Fryers were not hard to handle. Just pour oil and then add whatever you wanted to fry, so I was confident that there would be no problem.

The fries were done in 10minutes. I poured the large amount of fries in a bowl and grabbed ketchup from one of the fridges. Ariana had taken the fries while I was getting dips and sat on one of the tables of the restaurant.

"Thank you for making this." She said in between bites. I smiled as I grabbed a fry and dipped it in ketchup.

"I'm a master of comfort food. How do you think I developed this body in all these years?" I joked while gesturing at my own body.

"Shut up. You look good." She blushed again as she finished her sentence and I remembered she saw me without my work shirt on.

"So...let's play a game. We ask each other questions. Get to know one another." Ariana quickly followed with this remark, trying to change the subject.

I would love to get to know Ariana more and at this point I think we needed something to distract ourselves from what had happened earlier.

"You go first." I told her; she smiled and nodded. I heard her 'uhm'-ing trying to think of a questions. I just suddenly realized I had the possibility to ask her anything.

"Would you say you're more of an introvert or extrovert?" She asked me as she dipped her fry into the ketchup.

"Definitely an introvert. Which is weird because I'm doing this job where it's all about being an extrovert." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"That's true, but it's good that you're taking yourself out of your comfort zone. It must be so hard to do this job everyday if it's contrary to your nature." She supported me.

"There are some days where it gets really hard. I will come home feeling completely drained. Those days, all I need are my headphone on my ears, a notebook to write in and a cup of tea."

"I can so relate to what you just said. Believe it or not, I'm also a bit of an introvert. I prefer time to myself away from big events. The only time I truly feel comfortable around large crowds of people is when I am with my fans. They all just make my life so much better." I smiled. She was so dedicated to her fans, it was heartwarming.

"Tell me about your family." She asked, skipping my turn.

"You're really eager for this game aren't you?" I laughed at my turn being skipped for questions.

"Oh fuck. I'm sorry it was your turn." She covered her mouth "you better get used to me swearing. I swear like a trucker, honest to God." She said smiling.

"I think this is the first time I'm hearing you swear to be honest."

"Well just means I'm getting close to you and getting more comfortable. I have a sailors mouth usually but I'm trying to behave around you." I blushed at her declaration.

"I'm glad to hear that you're comfortable around me, but I really don't mind the swearing. I can be foul mouthed too most of the time." I took a bite of a fry.

"So...your family." She reminded me.

"Well I am an only child. My parents divorced back when I was younger and then my mom took me to the other side of the world because of her job. I never saw my dad much after that, plus he never really made an effort to be in my life either; so my mom became my mom and my dad at the same time." I chewed on a fry. I had never really spoken about my family life before but with her it somehow felt easy to open up about myself. All of her attention was focused on me and she was listening to everything I was saying.
"As I was an only child, my mom kind of put a lot of pressure on me. She had a pretty strict upbringing so my whole life was about mirroring hers. She put a lot of emphasis on etiquette, manner, diplomacy and hard work. She worked so hard for so long and worked her way up to her directing position she has now, so she always expected me to be the same." I sighed. This was getting heavy and I don't know if I should elaborate more and getting deeper into this, so I just stopped.