Ariana's Pov
5 Years Later
"Do you think she wants to see me?" I implored, sitting beside Frankie and Ryder. This was the first time I'd been back home since high school.
Despite things changing more than I could keep up with, some things remained the same. Mom's house, my family, and a few of my friends. Scott, Brian, Courtney, Doug, Alexa and I, still talked almost every day. But Victoria and Tommy spent their time with, well... her.
I'm sure everyone knew what I did, and how fucked up it was, but my parents figured it was for the best.
I tried to reach out to Kai for years and got nothing back, so I eventually gave up. That was also the same year her family dropped all business ties with us. Once everyone found out I was gonna be marrying Otto, they dropped ties with us entirely, especially Victoria and Kai.
Otto just kind of happened...
"Honestly Ari, no." Ryder took a sip of his coffee, receiving a look from Frankie. "Things ended badly between you both, and I don't think it would be a smart move for you to see her and you're about to marry Otto,"
Frankie shrugged, "I think you should. I will always love Kai and I know you guys are endgame,"
"Babe, this isn't about their relationship. Shouldn't we be in favor of her fiancé? Otto's nice,"
"Yes but he's so boring, everything with him always has to be perfect and planned. He's definitely not Ari's type," Frankie said.
"Frankie, stop. I love him," I sighed, realizing that Ryder was probably right. If things happened this way, then it was probably meant to be.
"She's so hot now, I wonder if she's married or something,"
"Frankie, this isn't the time!" Ryder uttered into his ear.
"Wait, what? Married? To who?"
"Maybe you should go see who," Frankie replied, leaving the table.
As Ryder attempted to get me to stay, I found my keys anyways and decided to drive to her house. Fuck everything meaning to be this way! She couldn't be getting married...
It was weird seeing how she completely cleared out her room in our house, and Mom explained that she did this as soon as I left.
I knew she regretted going to Normani's party that night because I did.
Well, more so, everyone.
That night changed everything.
It only took me 20 minutes, and a pep talk from Courtney, for me to arrived at her house. Things from the outside still looked the same, except I seen someone standing by the door, probably leaving or something.
I fixed my blouse, slid on my heels, and reapplied lipstick, before exiting my car and grabbing my purse.
How hot exactly were we talking?
The guy saw me approaching the gate and walked over. "Who are you?"
"Tommy?" I blurted, catching him off guard.
"Ariana? What are you doing here?" He asked, removing his glasses. He was dressed nicely, in a button up and jeans.
"Is Kai here? I want to see her,"
He sighed, "Nah, I think you should leave,"
"Tommy—"
"-Ariana, just go... I think it's for the best,"
"Just tell her that I'm here and if she asks me to leave, then I will." I sighed, almost pleading at this point. "Please... I need to talk to her,"
He stood quietly for a second, before retreating into her house, and coming out minutes later. "Follow me,"
Being nervous was an understatement. The house looked the same pretty much, I see she still had pictures of Kehlani and her parents up, as well as Victoria, Matt, Willow... and some other guy... wait, surely he can't be who she's married to.
Tommy stopped me right before we reached the living room. "Kai isn't here right now, she should be back shortly, so Victoria offered to keep you company."
"Oh, thank you," I mumbled, watching as he nodded his head.
"Of course... congrats on your engagement by the way." And with that, he walked away.
I stepped into the living room with Victoria, and she was still the same, although she matured more. She motioned for me to sit down and I still couldn't unravel how she felt about me being here.
I sat across from her, and it was silent for a few minutes until she finally spoke up.
"Ariana, I don't hate you for what you did. And I'm sorry this is so awkward, but I think you should go. She's changed, and I'm not sure if she'll exactly be willing to see you. I think you should just save yourself the hurt." Victoria said, meeting my eyes.
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"After she finished senior year, she finished college early and took over the family business so that I didn't have to.
She's just like Ryan... in fact, she made it farther than her parents did. Trust issues followed her even after high school, so she's always made sure to keep things between Tommy, Camila, Zayn, Shawn, Lauren, and I.
And even though Tommy and I don't hate you... well can't hate you, those are the people that do hate you after what you did.
She's much more reserved and all she really cares about is her career, other than us. Once I had my daughter and got married, I became a doctor while she insisted pursuing the business, even though Matt would've been happy to."
"Why? I thought she wanted to do music,"
Tommy interjected, leaning against the wall. "She figured business was the only way she didn't have to see you. She gave up on everything else, including music,"
"Willow and Matt just allowed her to do this?"
"You left her and she had to grieve the anniversary of their deaths, and you leaving as well... do you think anyone wanted to take away her distraction? Her working 90 hours a week was better than her falling into depression again," Tommy relented.
"We don't blame you for this," Victoria reassured.
"I don't blame you for leaving yeah, Joan was just trying to protect you." Tommy shrugged. "But I do blame you and your family for breaking her. Blaming her for what happened to Madison? Because you guys thought she was 'too dangerous'... she fucked up once when she left with Dalton and Victoria, but you guys never held them to the same standard. You're even engaged to someone who worked for her, did the same stuff she does, but she's the bad guy? That's what I blame you guys for."
"Tommy, I didn't have a choice! I had to—"
"-no, you did have a choice. You chose to call her 'too dangerous', you chose to stick beside your mother when they tried to blame her for Madison. Everyone was drugged that night, yet, you thought she did it. You made her feel like a fucking monster. She fucking loved you... and you broke her. Fuck you, Ariana. Fuck you—"
Before Tommy could finish his rant, the front door opened. "Tommy, office now. And Vic, I cleared my schedule, I wanna take Hazel out for a bit tomorrow,"
Kai.
Tommy walked over to the front door, after taking one last look at me. He was visibly red, after just lashing out and I was on the verge of tears. I did that to her... he was right, I broke her.
"Thank you! She misses you like crazy!" Victoria let out, before giving me a sad look.
"You have a visitor," I heard Tommy assert.
"Is it Justin? I wanted to speak to him anyway," She said. "Everything okay, man? You look pissed."
"Ariana Grande's here for you."
a/n: alot of things probably confused you in this chapter ik. the next few chapters will give you glimpses as to what happened five years ago, why ariana left, and why everyone blames her.
you're welcome to leave any theories :)