♡ CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ♡
Ariana went to A.M.O the next day. She already asked everyone about why they disliked/hated music. Some people had really dumb and lame reasons, but some people had really sad ones.
Like there was this woman who had a daughter who loved ballet and she died of cancer, and listening to music just made the woman depressed because it made her remember her daughter.
When Ariana was just finishing up interviewing the last person, the founder of A.M.O arrived. He wore a solemn expression, his eyes scanning through the crowd. Ariana didn't know what the big deal was.
"It seems to me that we have a newest member," the man spoke. "Miss Georgia, please come with me." And he left though the curtains. Ariana scratched her head, while all around her, people gave her weird looks.
She stood up and followed the man. He was climbing up a set of stairs, and Ariana followed him through a doorway. "If you're going to do something bad to me, I swear that I will--"
"Don't worry, I won't."
"That's what they all say." Ariana shook her head as she shut the door behind her. The room was spacious. The walls and most of the furniture was made of wood and the room smelled of black coffee.
"Please, sit." The man gestured for Ariana to sit in one of the chairs in front if the big oak desk. Ariana did, gingerly.
"Want some coffee?" he asked. Ariana shook her head.
"Nah, not my forte."
"Some tea, then?"
"Sure," she shrugged. "Don't drug it, though."
The man chuckled. "Why do you assume that I'm gonna hurt you?"
"You're a stranger and I see that a lot of people are intimated by you," Ariana replied cooly as the guy poured some hot tea in a small cup.
"Well for starters, they're only intimidated by me because they think I might kick them out of the organization, when in truth, I would never do such a thing. And second, I'm Mr. Blue. There, I'm not so much of a stranger anymore, am I?" Mr. Blue gave her the tea. Ariana took it, smiling gratefully.
"So..." Ariana started, leaning back on the chair and folding her legs, "Why'd you call for me?"
Mr. Blue finished making his coffee and sat down on the chair behind his desk. "I wanted to know your story."
"My story, huh?" Ariana asked, sipping her tea.
"Yeah, why do you hate music?"
Ariana chuckled. "I've been asking everyone here the exact same thing, Mr. Blue. But how about you? Why do you hate music so much?"
The man's expression hardened. But instead of this making Ariana feel sorry and like she shouldn't discuss the topic further, it only made her feel more superior. "Don't you think it's time to share your story, Mr. Blue?"
Mr. Blue reclined his chair just a little. "And what makes you think that you, of all people, would be the first person I'd share it to?"
Ariana smirked, then sipped her tea. "I hate music because me and my fiancé... well, you see, I had this ex. On my wedding day with my current boyfriend, my ex sang our theme song and ruined the entire wedding. So... yeah," Ariana said.
Mr. Blue raised his eyebrows. "That's it?"
"Why, isn't that enough?"
He shrugged. "Sure it is." Ariana gulped down the remaining contents of her tea.
"So how bout your story?" Ariana asked again. She knew that the man probably was never going to spill the beans, but she figured she might as well try.
Mr. Blue eyed the girl suspiciously. "Why are you so set on knowing my story, girl?"
Ariana thought about it for a moment. "Because I love stories, Mr. Blue. And I have a feeling that yours is a very interesting one."
"You're a reporter, aren't you?" the man asked. Ariana snickered and shook her head.
"Do I look like a reporter to you, sir?" she asked. Mr. Blue studied her for a little bit. And then he heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head.
"Guess not," he said. Ariana studied the man and saw that he had dark bags under his eyes that Ariana now noticed were a dark blue. They held a certain kind of sadness in them that Ariana wanted to understand.
"You can tell me, sir. I can keep a secret. You need to stop bottling this up." Ariana hoped that she sounded convincing. The man closed his eyes, and for a moment, Ariana thought he was going to kick her out or something. Instead, he started speaking.
"Eighteen years ago, I met a woman. She was lovely, beautiful. All I wanted to do was make her happy. We got married a year later. And a year after that, we had a son. For a while, we were all happy. Then the money problems started," he sighed. "You see kid, nothing good ever lasts for a very long time. My wife was a waitress, and I was a struggling musician, believe it or not."
Ariana couldn't help but let her eyes widen for a moment. And then she nodded, encouraging the man to go on. "So me, my wife, and my son, moved here. We were formerly from Tennessee." Ariana scrunched her eyebrows.
Why does this story seem familiar? she mentally asked herself.
"For a while, we did okay. I got some gigs and some gatherings and at restaurants, and my wife opened up a small business... and then we had another son." Mr. Blue's expression hardened. "So I told them that I would spend some time in Hollywood and get a record deal, earn money, and we'd be a happy family again," he shook his head.
I've heard this story before... Ariana figured, but from who?
"That plan didn't work out so well. It took me a few months, and my wife started getting angrier and angrier, telling me to come back to L.A and stop wasting my time in Hollywood. Until one day, she told me she hated me and that she was leaving me. I had just signed a recording contract then. And then I realized that she had tricked me to signing divorce papers."
Ariana looked down, suddenly sympathetic. "So I came back to L.A and saw that they were actually happy again. I didn't want to ruin their happiness. So I made A.M.O and... yeah." Ariana fit all the pieces together. And then she cleared her throat.
"Mr. Blue, do you mind telling me the name of your ex-wife?" she asked shakily. Mr. Blue sighed and let his shoulders sag.
"Emma. Her name was Emma Davis."
~~~ONE HOUR LATER~~~
Ariana had gone to Damian's shed after, figuring she needed a break. Damian had welcomed her in with a smile.
Ariana sat down in one of the chairs and watched him write a song. Surprisingly, she wasn't bored. She loved hearing Damian's angel voice. She loved seeing the way his eyebrows would furrow when he tried his best to hit a higher note.
Ariana smiled, looking down at her hands. After a while, Damian sat in front of her, pulling his chair closer to hers.
"Y-you alright?"
Ariana smiled weakly and nodded, avoiding his eyes. "Yeah."
"You d-don't look alright."
Ariana sighed and looked him in the eyes. "Seriously, Damian. I'm fine."
He frowned but didn't respond. "Do you h-have something to s-say?"
Ariana looked up to see his calculating eyes. The first thing that came to Ariana's mind made heat creep up her cheeks.
"W-why are you blushing?" Damian asked, a smile evident in his voice. Ariana looked down and fiddled with her hands.
Suck it up, Ariana, she thought. Just tell him already. At least you're gonna get something off of your chest.
"I..." she gulped down. "Promise you won't laugh at me?"
Damian nodded silently. Ariana took a deep breath. "I sort of... well... I-I... I just sort of... like you." Ariana looked down, afraid to see Damian's reaction.
"W-what do you want me t-to say?" Damian asked quietly. Ariana shut her eyes.
"Well normally, if you tell someone you like them, the preferred response would be that they like you back," Ariana chuckled. Damian nervously held Ariana's chin to make her look up at him.
"Ariana," he started. "I-I... I'm not going to deny the f-fact that I do have some feelings f-for you." Ariana's heart fluttered.
"But for me to t-tell you that I like you w-would be unfair." Ariana frowned.
"What? Why?" she asked. Damian sighed sadly.
"I do have f-feelings for you, but it's n-not enough to tell y-you that I like y-you." Ariana shook her head, bemused.
"What do you mean?"
"Ariana, both of us can't d-deny that Brandon has f-feelings for you, too. And it's obvious that b-between the both of us, he has s-stronger feelings for you than I d-do. It would be unfair if I t-told you I liked you a-and then have a relationship when I know th-that my best friend cares m-more about you." Ariana felt hurt. He just admitted that he had feelings for her, yet he's not going to give it to her straight because he feels like it would be unfair to Brandon.
"But Damian... It's not Brandon who I have feelings for! It's you!"
Damian sighed. "I'm s-sorry. Brandon c-cares for you a lot. And... and he's the o-one who deserves someone as s-special as you, not me." Ariana stood up, shook her head, and stormed out of the shed. She ran back to her house at full speed.
When she was through the front door, she bolted up the stairs and locked herself in her bedroom and curled herself into a ball and just closed her eyes. After a while, she started crying.
She wasn't crying because of rejection, no. She was crying because of the complications of everything. About a month ago, her life was relaxed and boring. Now she discovered that Brandon's long-lost father was the leader of an anti-music organization. Now, the boy she liked rejected her because he feels like someone else who she actually doesn't have feelings for deserves her better.
After she dried her tears, she opened the door to her bedroom, figuring she should go outside to take a walk. To her surprise, Percy bolted right past her out the door and she figured she didn't want to take a walk after all, because then she'd see Brandon's house and be reminded of what happened earlier.
So she sighed and shut the door closed and changed into a sweater and some sweatpants and tied her hair into a very messy bun. Jaz stayed with her on her bed and Ariana stroked her fur as she stared at her wall.
After a while, the tears started falling again.
Someone then knocked on her door. "Ariana, have you seen Percy?" her mothers voice asked.
"No," Ariana replied, hoping her voice sounded normal.
"He isn't here," her mother said. Ariana wanted panic and storm out and search for her beloved dog, but she was drained of energy. Her mothers footsteps were heard, walking away from her room.
"Get up!" she told herself. "Go look for him!" she said. But she could barely move.
After a while, someone knocked on her door again. "Seashell?" Brandon's voice was coming from outside her bedroom door.
Ariana shook her head. I must be hallucinating, she figured. But then she heard her bedroom door open and then close and felt Percy nuzzle next to her.
"Perce," she breathed. Then she felt a weight sitting on the edge of her bed. She wiped her eyes, and then turned to face him.
Brandon was wearing a dark gray shirt. His eyes were also gray now, instead of blue. "What's wrong?"
Ariana groaned. "Go away."
"Seashell, what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Ariana's door opened once again and her mothers face appeared. She looked at Brandon and the both of them seemed to have a silent conversation. And then her mother nodded and exited the room.
"I said go away. I'm not in the mood." And she shut her eyes and turned to face the wall. Brandon kicked off his shoes and laid down on the bed next to her. Ariana sighed.
"What are you doing?!"
"Being here for you," he replied honestly. And at that moment, Ariana understood what Damian said. Brandon was always there for her, cared for her. And Ariana never noticed any of that because she was too busy developing a crush on Damian, who was too busy and felt nothing but a little liking towards her.
Ariana let out a small breath, and then nuzzled her head into Brandon's shoulder. "Thank you."
Brandon wrapped his arms around her. After a few minutes of silence, Ariana looked up and took in a shaky breath.
"Brandon, I... I have something to tell you."
~~~Author's note~~~
Hiii there!
Sorry for the last chapter, it sucked :( I hope the drama in this chapter made up for it, though. Anyway, thanks for all the support and for commenting and voting and reading! My goal is to get TPH to at least 1,300 reads by the start of March :)
So here's my question...
How did you feel about Damian's reaction towards Ariana's confession?
Were you sad, or angry, or relieved? I wanna know, guys! I've been planning that seen for a long time, you know. So... uh... oh yeah, I forgot! Please don't forget to comment, vote, and fan! Bye, peace :)
-J.Q