MICHAEL'S PRODUCTION TEAM was over at his penthouse and Ariah was still there. It had only been a few days over a week, but the girl wasn't overstaying her welcome.
"Riles!" Lionel greeted Ariah as soon as he walked into the penthouse. "Whatchu' doin' here, girl?"
"I'm just hanging out with Michael." Ariah giggled. "He's the best."
"Your father told me you've been here longer than you should be." Quincy mentioned and Ariah rose a brow. "Why's that?"
"Q, leave her alone!" Michael called from the corner of the room, glaring over at him. "Sweetheart, you don't have to answer any of his questions."
Ariah chuckled before coming to give Quincy and Lionel a hug. Then, the girl went over to Michael. "Are you going to play my favorite?" She whispered in his ear, causing him to smile back at her.
"Elvis?"
"No, silly." Ariah winked at Michael. "You."
"Absolutely not." The entertainer quickly shot that down, stifling the biggest smile. "I'll play Elvis though. You can choose the album." Watching Ariah sort through his albums, Michael found himself in awe of how beautiful the girl was. He shook those thoughts off and subtly excused himself from the social scene that had just begun in his living room.
Michael walked into the kitchen and went over to his phone in the wall, planning to call the McCartney residence. He hoped to speak with Linda because Paul always gave him a hard time when it came to Ariah. He was out of luck because Paul's deep voice answered the phone, "McCartney residence."
"Paul." Michael simply said, followed by a soft sigh. He wanted this conversation to go as smoothly and quickly as possible.
"Bring my daughter home." Paul spoke firmly, immediately recognizing Michael's voice on the other line. "Now."
"She'll come home when she's ready." Michael told Paul what he already knew. "I really need to speak with Linda."
"You're not fond of her, too.." Paul nervously began to suspect about Michael, but his suspicions weren't too serious. "Are you?"
"Extremely fond of your wife, Macca." Michael sarcastically replied. "Extremely."
"Welp, she's not home, so ha." The former Beatle said. "What can I do for you?"
"I need your help."
"Mm, you have my daughter," Michael bit his lip at Paul's words, but ended up smiling widely. "What more could you need now?"
"I want to cook dinner for Ariah tonight." As soon as Michael said that, Paul began to laugh hysterically. "What's her favorite meal?"
"You don't cook, son."
"She's a sweetheart and I want to do this for her." Michael admitted. "So, please. Answer my question?"
"The girl will eat anything." Michael just shook his head. He didn't like the vague answers that he was getting. "Even if she did have a favorite dish, why would I tell you?"
"Um," Michael started to chuckle. "You like me, Macca."
"That's funny."
"Seriously, Paul." Michael was almost offended. "I want to surprise her!"
"Correction." Paul scoffed. "You want to impress her."
Michael started to smile. "That too."
"Ugh, exactly." Paul spoke in a disgusted tone of voice. "Right now, I have to be a father which means I have to try and stop you from getting through to her."
"Well, um, Paul?" Michael simply chuckled. "Don't you think it's a little late for that? She's been staying with me for over a week. I'm pretty sure I get through to her quite perfectly, if I do say so myself."
"It's never too late, son." Paul mumbled before his tone got a bit louder and a bit harsher. "And, you better not touch her either!"
"Relax your mind." Michael began to sing his beloved hit, Rock With You. "Lay back and groove with mine!"
"Michael."
"I would never lay a finger on your daughter." Michael promised the former Beatle, not sure if he could abide by that for much longer.
"You better fucking not."
"You don't have to swear." Michael muttered and Paul disregarded that comment, but finally replied to his original question.
"Look, the girl likes stir fry. Make it, she'll go crazy. I guarantee it."
"But," Michael was embarrassed. "I've never made stir fry before."
"Of course you haven't." Paul started laughing again and this annoyed Michael, to say the least. "It's funny, but sad that you haven't touched a stove a day in your life."
"Not true, but thanks for finally telling me." Michael was extremely grateful. "This would've been much easier with Linda."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, I gotta go."
"Mhm." Paul started mumbling something, but his words were inaudible to Michael. "Tell my baby girl I said hello and that she needs to come home. Her pops misses her."
"Sure will." Michael said without intentions in passing the message to Ariah. With that, he hung up the phone. The entertainer looked at the stove and sighed. He didn't know the first step when it came to making something like stir fry. But, he figured that Lionel, someone with children and someone who loved to cook, knew how to make stir fry. He left it on the counter and went into the living room.
"Hey, MJ." Ariah greeted Michael as soon as he came into the room. The girl seemed so happy and he found it so adorable. He found Ariah adorable. She was curled up in a ball on his couch, watching cartoons.
"Hey, PYT." The guys in the room began to snicker and whistle at Michael as he blew Ariah a kiss. He wasn't trying to make a big scene as he was coming to get Lionel to help him in the kitchen, but the guys were all talking about how smooth he was.
Michael pulled Lionel to the side. "Can you help me?"
"Need a condom?"
"Why would you even think.." Michael's voice trailed off as he was too embarassed to finish the rest of the question. "No, I don't!"
"Oh." Lionel ran a hand through his own hair, kind of humiliated at what he asked Michael himself. "What do you need help with, then?"
"I want to make stir fry for Ariah, but I don't know how."
"Oh, Michael. "Lionel laughed and wrapped his arm around Michael as they walked into the kitchen. "It's not that hard.."
When the two got into the swing of making stir fry, Ariah was having a very deep conversation with Quincy about Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo.
"They belong together, no question." Ariah insisted while Quincy opposed the whole romantic idea.
"They should be friends. Daphne seems like a whore. Fred seems like a player. They can't settle down for anything!" Quincy argued, causing Ariah to burst into giggles.
"Their children would be cute. I'm not saying that because I want them to stay together forever, but because it's true." Ariah smiled. "Couldn't you see them having kids?"
"Yup, and that image is disgusting."
"Quincy!" Ariah started laughing again. "Watch their chemistry on screen. I just need them to kiss and we'll be all good."
"They won't. It's cartoon, they won't show but so much affection."
"Whatever, I still love cartoons." Ariah dunk her body deeper into the couch. "I'm crazy about them."
"That's so cute, no wonder why Mike likes you so much." Quincy muttered under his breath, but Ariah heard him and widened her eyes at his comment.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You said something." Ariah laughed. "Say it again."
"I'm keeping my lips shut." Quincy just he found it hilarious at how frustrated Ariah seemed to be at this point.
"Michael likes me?"
"I'm not saying anything." He repeated himself. "Not a word."
"I can't believe this." Ariah was shook. "He likes me.." She whispered to herself, in awe and in excitement.
"You can't go around telling people that, ya' hear?" Quincy winked at her and she started blushing deeply.
"This is unbelievable." The girl could barely contain her excitement. The guy that she's liked for years actually likes her back. It's kind of like a dream. "I smell stir fry."
"Stir fry?" Quincy rose an eyebrow. "I can barely smell a thing."
"Youngin's like me have great scents of smell." Ariah smiled brightly.
"Like dogs, yup."
"Are you calling me a dog?" The girl got up, teasing the stellar producer. "Really, Quincy?"
"Wasn't calling you a dog per say.." He stilled the biggest laugh and Ariah shook her head.
"Yeah, no. I'm going to go hang with Michael." Ariah quickly made her way to the kitchen. She say Lionel sitting on a counter in the corner of the kitchen, lowly singing a song she had never heard of before. Michael was at the stove.
"Oh my God." Ariah kind of smirked at Michael. "You're finally cooking."
"He's making your favorite!" Lionel blurted out and Ariah rose an eyebrow.
"I see." She spoke uneasily. "But, what are you doing, exactly?"
"Making stir fry." Michael stirred whatever was in the pan, but oil was popping up and he kept jumping away from the stove. "Ah!"
"Are you scared of hot oil?" Ariah asked, laughing hysterically at him and looking at was in the pan. "You should add bacon to this, and did you use paprika?"
"Did you, Mike?" Lionel pressed and Michael started to blush.
"No. I've never made this before."
"Why are you making it now?"
"I wanted to make it for you, sweetheart."
"Aww." Ariah cooed. "I feel so special."
"You are special."
"Now," The girl smiled and pecked Michael's cheek quickly. "Can I please add bacon? Please?" She begged.
"I don't know." The entertainer wrapped an arm around her waist, with a smirk plastered on his face. "Can you?"
"Stop." She giggled and went to open his refrigerator. Seeing a new package of bacon inside, Ariah grabbed it and brought it to the counter. "Here you go."
"Good. You can add it."
"You're supposed to be the one cooking!"
"I feel like I'm third-wheeling." Lionel randomly spoke as Ariah and Michael forgot he was even in the room. "Do you date?"
"Do we court?" Ariah corrected him. "No."
"You should." He hopped down from his position on the counter and came over to pat Michael's shoulder. "Don't let this one go. She's a jewel."
Ariah began to blush and Michael pressed a small kiss to her lips. "I'm so infatuated with you." The entertainer whispered in her ear, making the girl blush even harder.
"Back at you."
They kissed again and they started to make out, right there in the kitchen.
"It's getting a little steamy in here." Quincy popped his head into the kitchen and the two pulled away from making out with each other, panting breathlessly. "Literally, your food is burning."
"Wow." Michael silently cursed to himself, seeing all the smoke fill up the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
"It's okay." Ariah smiled and leaned up to lightly peck his lips. "We can get takeout."
"We sure can." The entertainer winked at her, emptying the pan into a nearby trash bin. Then, he skipped over to the phone on the wall. "Your usual?"
"Of course! Oh, and don't forget to order food for yourself, too." Ariah winked at him and he smirked back at her as she went back into the living room with his team and her cartoons.
"She's perfect.." Michael whispered to himself, dialing the number to Ariah's takeout favorite place down the street and around the corner.
--
Heyy! I know this wasn't as great as the other chapters in this book and that it was just a filler, but I just want to give special thanks to: kxnyewxst because you know why and skyIord because you know why too lol 💕
Brace yourselves for the next chapter! It's gonna get a little.. Explicit. (;