Australia
Tuesday
Ariella's pov
I planned to fly separately to Sydney so I could be home for a couple days but Gemma insisted against it, which I guess worked out because Max invited Daniel and I to fly with him on his jet, which he probably regretted.
"Please turn that off before I throw you out my jet." Max groans and covers the top half of his face with a hand. I laugh at the scene.
Daniel, who seemingly fabricated a speaker out of thin air, decided to start playing the national anthem as loud as possible as soon as we got over the country.
Daniel didn't comply to Max's wishes which only made Max get up and start wrestling him for the speaker.
I laugh at the memory, shaking my head.
"What's so funny?" Gemma questions from the other end of the couch.
Originally, Gemma came to my hotel to talk business. Boring. So I ignored her and she eventually gave up. Now we're watching some show. I'm not really paying attention to that either.
"Just remembering something that happened earlier." I shake my head and wave her question off. Her face turns to one of understanding and she turns back to the screen. My phone buzzes from my lap.
Don't stop fans (not)
Luke
Riaaaaaa when are you getting home????-
Ariella
-I'll be at MY home after the race Sunday
Ashton
SUNDAY??? No mom is already losing her mind pls make it sooner for my sake or I may actually die-
Calum
pls Ari, Ashton has become unbearable.-
Ariella
-I wish I could do something about it but I cannot escape
-aren't you guys coming to the race Sunday anyways?
Luke
Hey! Who told???-
Ashton
Not me-
Calum
Not it-
Michael
I didn't do it-
Ariella
-mom did. she said she was sorry though.
Luke
ANNE??? How could she.-
Ariella
-SHE SAID SHE FELT BAD
Michael
You begged it out of her didn't you?-
Ariella
-gotta go guys media duties
Calum
HAHA-
"So what have you been up to? You're always kind of a mystery." Gemma adverts her eyes from the tv to meet my inquisitive gaze. She appears to think for a moment.
"You know that engineer of yours, Adam?" Gemma's question causes me to tilt my head to the side, analyzing her, trying to predict the direction this will go in. It's no use though, she's impossible to read.
"Yes..." I say carefully, not entirely sure if I'm ready to know the rest of this.
"He asked me out last weekend." She turns red at her words, my jaw drops to the floor.
"What!" I practically scream the word. I slap a hand over my mouth, still in shock at the news. "And what did you say?"
"I agreed to it." Shes playing with the bracelet around her wrist, refusing to meet my eyes.
"That's so great oh my god I'm so happy for you Gem! When's he taking you out? Where is he taking you?" I start interrogating her, which is when she finally looks me in my eyes. She brings up two hands in defense.
"Slow down girl. He's taking me out Saturday after qualifying so you better do good. I don't want either of us in a bad mood." She uses her index finger to point at me accusingly.
"So what I'm hearing is if the date goes bad it's all my fault?" She nods with a smile on her face. "Got it." I give her a sarcastic thumbs up.
-☆-
"Go take your turn!" I yell at George, reaching across from my spot on the floor to hit him on the arm. He had been stalling to avoid taking his turn in a game called crocodile dentist. They had the game in the lobby of the hotel and he thought it would be fun.
The twist? Loser has to share an embarrassing fact about themselves.
"Alright alright I'll go." He sighs and chooses a tooth to press down. His luck is terrible again, the alligators mouth closes on him and he loses for the third time since we started.
I cheer loudly, my hands being thrown up into the air in victory.
"Alright hit me with another embarrassing fact cmon I'm ready!" I grab a pretzel stick from the table and turn so my entire body is facing him.
"Oh, let me think." He looks up at the ceiling, like it has the answer to his problems written on it.
"Think faster!" The last two confessions were more funny than embarrassing, but I'm not complaining. They gave me a good laugh.
The first one, he told a story about how he accidentally jumped onto a kids head in the playground during break in primary school. His crotch going right into the kid's face.
The second one, he told a story about how he peed his pants during a play in grade two. That one was actually embarrassing.
"Oh okay I've got it." He seems to dread this story more than the other two.
I sit up a little more, anticipating the story I'm about to hear.
"When we were still allowed to ride bikes around the tracks, I once rammed nearly full speed into a barrier." He looks at me expectantly.
I bite my lip, trying to hold back the inevitable laugh. The attempt is no use because it comes out anyways.
He turns a light shade of red and covers his face with his hands, grumbling into them.
"Okay I'll tell you an embarrassing story of mine to make up with it. It kinda relates to your last one." I say after I calm down from my fit of laughter. He looks at me in anticipation, raising his brows to let me know I have his attention.
"Okay, when I was probably 12 I had a friend who lived right next door and we were riding our bikes around outside but then she had to go somewhere." He nods, telling me to continue with the story. I laugh before I can even get the second part out. "So, I start chasing next to her car on the sidewalk waving to her and before I know it I'm headfirst into a tree." I fold over onto myself, hiding my face into the carpeted floor, but I can still hear him laughing at the story.
"I'm tired of losing let's watch a movie." He packs the game into its box and joins me on the small two person couch.
"How about we start a show instead? Then we can have a little ongoing thing, yeah?" He smiles at me.
"I think that's the only good idea you have had in... well, ever." I can tell he's joking, but he plays the joke off so well that anyone else may think he was being serious.
I gasp at the insult, bringing a hand over my heart to mimic my fake hurt. That all quickly fades when I see him pass a show I've really wanted to watch but, haven't found the time to.
"Oh! That one! stop! NO GO BACK! There yes there." He presses play on the show Anne with an E.
The first episode was kind of hard to watch but I liked the overall vibe of the show. The piece of media making me feel nostalgic in some way, even though I obviously wasn't alive at the time the show is set. At some point during the episode I migrated across the couch, now curled up into George's side. His arm draped around my shoulder and formed to my side.
"You wanna keep watching?" He picks up the remote, looking down at me to ask the question after the first episode finishes.
I can feel my body getting tired but I don't really want to leave. I pick up my phone from the small glass coffee table in front of me to check the time. I definitely have time for another episode. It's only 8pm. I look up at him and nod, a small smile appearing on his face.
Halfway through the episode, my eyes start to feel heavy and I'm losing the fight against sleep. I'm pretty sure George catches the internal battle because he pauses the show and shakes my shoulder.
"Hey, why don't you head back? I'll see you tomorrow okay?" His gaze down on me is gentle and his voice matches that, too.
For reasons I wish I could explain this causes both my mind and my body take on an unfamiliar feeling. The closest thing I can think to describe it is giddy but even that word doesn't do the feelings justice. It's such a simple thing, the look he gives me and the tone of voice he uses, but gosh does it make me just want to explode. I push the odd feelings aside as I nod and sit up. I know I can't fight the need to sleep much longer. In my haze of tiredness I feel his hand on the small of my back as he leads me from his couch all the way back to my hotel room, only leaving me when I'm burrowed far into the comforters of my own bed.
(1536 words)
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A/N - 800 reads is actually wild to me. Even though it may be small I never expected this to go anywhere at all. Thank you to everyone who is reading🩵
Leaving any criticism is very much appreciated!!