A/N: I'm back! I'm really sorry it's taking me months to update the stories, things came up and I needed to come back to the stories with a clear head. I'll try to have updates as often as I can.
Thank you again for your patience and for being so wonderful and keeping this story growing with the reads (51k is amazing :D)! Hope you're all staying safe out there!<3
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My place had never felt more quiet.
The whole evening, after them dropping me off, I couldn't help but see Ariana everywhere. Laying down to go to sleep, even the pillow she had slept on still faintly smelled of her and I found myself shedding a quick tear over her not being here.
Sleeping was fine, I found myself dreaming about her and everything was fine for the 7 hours of sleep I managed to have. Waking up, everything hit quite hard and it didn't help that today was the day I needed to go have a talk with Michael about my job.
True to her word though, Ariana and I still did text ever since I had set foot back inside of my apartment. We had quickly facetimed before I went to sleep as well.
But I was starting to wonder how long we could keep this going until it became unbearably hard.
"You seem so distracted." I head Ariana say from the other side of my phone. We had agreed to facetime before I had to leave to go for my talk.
"I just really miss you. It's hard being in my apartment without you in it." I instantly regretted saying that as I saw, almost immediately, an upset Ariana on the other end of the line.
"I know it's hard. Just let me know how your talk goes and we will take it from there." Ariana said smiling. I saw a dog quickly come into the picture. She started to introduce me to all of the dogs she had and I felt it was as many as the tops I had put in her bags the other day.
We talked some more as the hour went by and I had to hang up to get ready.
I quickly went back to the routine of my way to work. The same boring walk to the station, the same boring train. I felt like this was going to take a very long time to get readjusted to the lonely life again.
My heart sank seeing my work place again and what was in store for me when I stepped through the doors.
I was greeted by Oscar and Kevin, the killer duo. They walked around the desk to give me a hug.
"We missed seeing you at work but you deserved your well earned time off and get better!" Oscar said, cheerfully. As I was unaware what Michael had told them, I simply silently nodded my head.
Just on time, Michael walked out of the office and looked at me. I forced a smile, hoping it would hide my nervousness.
"Ah. Perfect. Let's go somewhere more quiet." He said, sternly. Oscar and Kevin exchanged a glance and it did not help the way that I was feeling right now.
Michael had made a head start so I quickly jogged to catch up to him as he was heading into the empty restaurant. The restaurant was closed in between lunch and dinner, so it was the ideal place for a private chat.
I saw him look at me, as if he was waiting for me to talk. I wasn't exactly sure as to what I was supposed to say so I stared back dumbly at him.
"So...I reviewed your case with the board and shared some last minute information with them that I got in regards to your behaviour. We have decided to reinstate you." He said, smiling genuinely. But something was just irking me.
"Michael, how did this get so serious? I was only helping in making sure that the hotel was safe for our guests." I justified myself, trying to understand how
"You see, the gentleman that you punched came back and said he was pressing charges against us. He said that you were sleeping with his fiancée and that you punched him out of jealousy." He explained. I knew that this hobo looking dude called Pete was going to be trouble.
"And you believed him? You believed that I would be that unprofessional to sleep around with guests?" I was a bit mad that he thought I could do something like that, although I kind of did sleep, in the most innocent term of that word, with Ariana. But not at that exact moment. I just thought that all of this was bullshit and felt hurt that I did not have the backing of my manager.
"No, I really didn't believe him. But it didn't help that when he stormed in, there was one of the board members. I had to act on it. I defended you in front of him, but he was not listening. He went above me on this one and reported it to the CEO. We had to suspend you until she was gone, they insisted." Michael explained, a bit remorsefully.
"I see." I only said. At this point, I just wanted my job back and something to keep me from going insane from thinking about Ariana.
"In any case, all of this is resolved. Your shift starts tomorrow again. I'm really looking forward to having you back." He gave me a paper to sign and once signed, he said extending my hand for me to shake it. I reached out and shook his hand. I was so confused as to what just happened and how everything was just suddenly brushed under the carpet.
We both stood up and we made our way back to the reception. Right before we reached the reception, he turned to me.
"Next time, don't bring a bag pack that you use every day here when you're trying to hide away. It was a bit of a dead giveaway." He said laughing, clearly hinting at yesterday when I was sneaking out. "Oscar and Kevin may not have such a sharp eye, but I do. You're lucky that this Ariana girl stood up for you and promised publicity of our hotel to her industry. That really delighted the board, and me as well hearing about how professional and guest orientated you are." He patted me on the back as I finished blushing from the absolute embarrassment of having been busted by my own bag.
This was not the first time that this bag had caused me problems.
"Now, go get some sleep and get your rhythm back for tomorrow!" He said as I headed out. I waved goodbye to everyone and was on my way back home.
I really wondered why I had to travel all this way just for this but I guess it was protocol.
I quickly texted Ariana that I was out of the meeting. It didn't take long for her to call me directly.
"Sooooooo?" Ariana asked excitedly. "Are you going to be my new assistant?" She asked.
"Wow Ariana, I can see you're just excited for me to lose my job." I laughed at her initial reaction.
"Seriously. I would love for you to work with me." She said, with a hint of smile I recognised in her voice.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am keeping my job. I'm starting my job tomorrow night again." I informed her. There was a bit of silence on the other line.
"When can you come and see me then?" She asked after a brief second of no communication.
"I need to see with Michael as to how soon I can take holiday. I mean I just got reinstated, I can't really be asking for favours straightaway." I explained my situation to her hoping she would understand.
"Ah, of course." She was disappointed.
"I know that sometimes we get lucky and get four days together, so that will definitely be the moment I come to visit, if I can't get any holidays straightaway." I was quick to reassure her, sad that I had caused her to be upset.
"I guess we're going to have to do with any time we get." She cheered up a little.
"I'll get my schedule tomorrow again and we can plan then, sounds good?" I asked, still a bit worried that she wasn't totally cheerful again.
"Alright." I heard the smile and that was good enough for me.
"I have to go now, but text me okay?" Ariana said through the phone a bit hurriedly.
"Will do. Be safe!" I said quickly before she hung up. I knew she had a lot of things to do with the release of her album and didn't want to get in the way.
The trip back home was quicker than getting to the hotel. I kicked my shoes off once inside my place and went to the living room turning on the console. I saw Sarah was on and I instantly felt bad for having neglecting her over the past couple of days. I knew she would understand though.
It wasn't long before a party invite was sent and I was talking to her over the microphone.
"Wow, look who awoke from death. I was about to call missing person on your ass." I heard her reproach.
"I'm sorry, I had an awesome time with Ariana though. Thanks for your help again, the other day." I said, knowing full well I hadn't even messaged her after that day.
"Of course dude. I better be your best man at your wedding though, just saying." She joked as we got into a game. I could only laugh, wondering if that day would even happen. It was way too early to be even thinking about this.
We played a few rounds, talking all about my job, Ariana, the situation with Pete. I had made sure to text Ariana in between gaming rounds. The night felt less lonely as I found company in Sarah. Soon enough it was time for me to go to sleep so that I could get back in the night shift routine.
The following weeks went by smoothly. We had organised a date for me to go visit Ariana in New York and I was over the moon to be able to see her again. Joan had also sent me a message that she was inviting me to their family get together when I was over there.
We were still texting everyday, although it sounded like she was under a lot of pressure. Her texts were shorter sometimes. I didn't want to upset her so I just put it on the fact that it was this album that required all of her focus, so I focused on my work.
It was around 3am. Ariana had gone to sleep, but I was still texting her regularly little cute texts as I had done the past week.
To pass the time after finishing my require shift work and doing the security rounds, I found myself scrolling through the internet and stumbled upon an article about the release of Ariana's new album.
Apparently it had been leaked and I felt instantly bad for Ariana. They showed the cover which was the exact same one that Ariana showed me. Despite me seeing it early, I still smiled realising that I had seen all of this before anyone else. My heart suddenly fell to the pit of my stomach. What if she thought I released that information to the press?
My heart fell even lower into my stomach when I saw the track names.
'Track 14. Pete Davidson.'