♡ CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ♡
“Hey, guys!” Brandon greeted. “Damian and I are back! And yes, we know that we haven't posted in a long time, but hey, we have good news--we have a special guest today!”
Ariana's hands got insanely sweaty again and she hastily wiped it. “This is our friend,” Brandon introduced her.
She gulped and waved at the camera. “Hi, I'm Ariana.”
“She's Ariana,” the boys said in unison to the camera. They seemed to be really comfortable and at ease and they obviously knew what they were doing, Ariana observed.
“Today,” Brandon said, “We're going to be sharing stories and singing and all that junk. Boring? It might be, it might not be. So you better stick around, because even we don't know!”
Ariana laughed. “Okay, I'll s-start,” Damian said.
And the three teens all took turns sharing funny stories, feel-good moments, etc. As they talked and talked, Ariana felt more comfortable in front of the camera and she felt a lot happier. When the teens were done singing one song and were finished exchanging jokes, they signed off and sighed.
“So?” Brandon asked Ariana.
“That was surprisingly awesome,” she replied. That earned a big grin from Brandon. After lounging around Brandon's room for a bit, Damian said he had to go and bid Brandon and Ariana goodbye.
“So,” Brandon started.
“So,” the girl repeated.
“Back to the A.M.O thing…” Brandon said. Ariana pursed her lips and nodded.
“I’ll ask you this again: What are we going to do?” Brandon asked her. Ariana sighed.
“I don’t know, Brandon! When I told you my plan, you said that it probably wasn’t going to work. The only other plans I have are all illegal!”
Brandon gave her a weird look, and then shrugged. “Maybe you should just wing it.”
Now it was Ariana’s turn to give him a weird look. “Like that’s any better,” she snorted.
“Yeah, well now that I think of it, your plan doesn’t really seem all that bad.”
Ariana groaned. “First, you tell me it won’t work. And then, you tell me it will. Make up your mind!”
Brandon laughed a little, and then gave her a serious look. “Maybe you should just do what your heart tells you.”
“That has got to be the cheesiest thing—“
“I’m serious, seashell,” Brandon told her. Ariana sighed then looked into Brandon’s eyes. They were now green. Ariana stood up and leaned closer to him to examine it.
Brandon was startled at first. “Seashell, w-what are you doing?” he asked her.
“Your eyes…”
“My eyes?”
“Yeah, they’re… they’re green now.”
Brandon laughed. “So?” he asked.
“What’s your real eye color?” Ariana asked, now leaning back.
Brandon gave her an amused look. “I…” he scrunched his eyebrows. “I actually don’t know. Why?”
Ariana bit her lip. “I just… really like your eyes.”
“Why?”
The girl shrugged. “They’re pretty.”
A silence enveloped the two teens, until Brandon spoke up. “Seashell…”
Ariana looked up. “Yeah?”
“I…” his voice caught in his throat. “I really…”
Ariana raised an eyebrow. “You really what?”
“I really like you.”
The words surprised Ariana and she could form no words. Brandon’s face turned red as he said, “Can you please say something?”
“Why?” was all the girl could ask.
“Why what?”
“Why do you ‘really like me’?”
Brandon bit his lip. “Because you’re perfect.”
“I’m not—“
“You are to me. You’re beautiful, kind, smart, and super talented. Whenever I sing with you, I feel something that I can’t understand. And ever since the day I met you, I knew that… I knew that I was a goner—you stole my heart, seashell.”
Ariana was about to say something, but she didn’t know what to say so she shut her mouth closed again.
“And you don’t even have to tell me you like me back,” Brandon told her.
“But—“
“I’ll wait for you for as long as it takes,” he told her. Ariana didn’t respond; she just hugged Brandon as tight as she could.
“Are you sure?” she asked him.
He hugged her back. “Yeah, I am.”
“Will this be enough for now?”
He smiled. “This is more than enough, seashell.”
~~~Saturday Afternoon~~~
By the time it was five o’clock, everything was set. There was a small stage set up in a clearing in the woods, and a mic with a stand was there. There were two large speakers and Brandon had brought his laptop to plug into the speakers when the time came.
The whole thing was set up in the safest woods in their area. And the whole thing wasn’t set up too deep in the woods, either. Brandon and Ariana wore their costumes and went over their plan numerous times. When Mr. Blue arrived, he gave Ariana a nod and sat down one of the stools that was set up in front of the mini-stage.
Everyone else had arrived during the one hour that followed. When everyone was there, Brandon nodded at Ariana and she went up the stairs. People clapped when she went up and she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “You can do this, Ariana. You can do this,” she muttered to herself.
She took a deep breath and spoke into the microphone. “Hey, guys. Now, you might be wondering, ‘why did Ariana call for a meeting?’”
“You mean Caroline,” someone from the crowd corrected. Ariana mentally cursed.
“Right,” she pointed to the guy that corrected her. “Now you guys just have to promise to hear me out, okay? Please don’t interrupt me. Do whatever you want after I’m done, but please just listen to me when I tell you this.”
Mr. Blue scrunched his eyebrows. “Caroline, what are you—“
“I didn’t join A.M.O because I hated music. Actually, I… I love music. And I think that music is something wonderful. It’s a blessing. It’s a gift. And don’t think that I’m just saying this, okay? I mean every word I say. And I’ve listened to all of your stories and I understand your reasons to why you hate music, but I know one thing—no human should ever live their lives hating music. Music is indescribable, people. And I understand how some people might dislike a certain type of music and like another, but I can never understand how a person can just hate music in general!”
Surprisingly, nobody threw anything at Ariana. Everyone was quiet. For a moment, Ariana thought that Earl would come out and carry her out of the woods and dump her somewhere, but then a man just said, “But music depresses me. It reminds me of the little girl that I lost.”
Ariana smiled sadly. “Sir, your daughter loved music. And I’m sure that she’s up there somewhere in heaven, just urging you to carry on that love for music for her,” she told the man.
“And Mr. Goldberg,” Ariana spoke to another man whose story she remembered. “You shouldn’t hate music just because your band didn’t make it; you should try again! Everyone, you shouldn’t sulk and blame the music! You should carry on, keep your heads high and listen to the music! I don’t care if you listen to country, or pop, or rap or whatever! Music is music. And it’s meant to be shared and loved—not blamed for.”
Everybody was silent, until Mr. Blue stood up slowly and looked at Ariana with an unreadable expression.
Ariana held her breath, waiting for him to shout accusations at her or something. Until a pair of headlights flashed in the distance and a small car made its way to the side of the clearing in the woods. Everyone looked to see who it was.
Brandon and Ariana were shocked to see who had come out of the driver’s seat. But nobody was as shocked as Mr. Blue.
“Brandon?”
~~~Author’s note~~~
Hi, guys!
Long time no update, hehehe. Sorry for the long wait, but I hope that the A.M.O meeting and Brandon’s confession made up for it :)
And look, I just want to say thank you so so very very much for reading this book :) every single read means a lot to me. And you make me especially happy when you vote and comment, so thank you.
Here’s the chapterly question… (and I know that chapterly ain’t a word :P)
What was your reaction when Brandon confessed to Ariana?
I REALLY WANT TO KNOW! And even though I’m team Damiana, Ariandon is still my OTP :). And um, what was that? Oh yeah… please don’t forget to comment, vote, and fan! Bye, peace :)
-J.Q