My Life Would Suck Without You

Fancy Meeting You Here

Ariana stormed into the dark bar, and then immediately shrank back when a blast of stale cigarette smoke and cheap beer hit her square in the face. However, Ariana Grande wasn't one to back down. Steading herself for a fight and staving off the nauseating odors of the bar, she struck quite a figure standing in the dimness of the mid-town dive. Immediately, half a dozen interested heads turned her way, male and female alike. Her black Dior mini-dress with a discrete red piping perfectly accented her long, chestnut-blonde tresses. She loved the richness of this color and how it blended flawlessly with her bronzed skin. Richard, pronounced Reee-shard, her colorist, had outdone himself this month. Her four-inch strap-on Gucci sandals brought her height up to a respectable 5' 5" which she desperately needed in the cut-throat and height-biased world of haute couture. When her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she spotted her quarry, teetering precariously on a stool at the bar.

"What, exactly, do you think you're doing here?", Ariana blasted when she reached the bleary-eyed red head.

"Ooooo... hi, Ariana. Watter you doin' here?", the woman slurred as wine sloshed from her glass. Her blood-shot eyes and smudged make-up made her look much older than her twenty-two years.

"Don't you hi, Ariana, me, Gisele! You have a photoshoot at ten tomorrow...", then, pausing to look at her Cartier diamond-encrusted wristwatch, she corrected, "make that today at ten, Gisele, and redheads don't deal well with hangovers." She reached over and rubbed off a dark splotch of mascara from under Gisele's eye. "Oh nooo, you're going to look all splotchy", she tsked under her breath.

"Whaddya have ta drink, lady?", asked the burly bartender.

"Oh, I'm not drinking", Ariana replied dismissively.

He insisted. "Even if you're the DD, youse still got ta buy a drink. Either that, or don't let da door hit ya on da way out."

"Alright already. I'll take a Cosmopolitan."

"Sweetie, Sex and the City's been in reruns for ten years now", the bartender commented dryly. "I'll make youse sum'un much better." Then, he wagged his unibow at her, but before Ariana could let loose with a barrage of appropriate insults, she felt a small movement behind her and for the first time became aware of the male presence standing there.

A garbled voice hiccuped, "I think she looks pretty hot, *hic*. Don't ya, babe?" He was commenting, rather belatedly, due to his obvious drunkenness, to Ariana's statement regarding Gisele's appearance.

"Oooo, Jaidy", Gisele crooned dramatically while awkwardly managing to bat her wobbly and loose eyelashes at him. One of them was barely attached and the other was crooked.

Ariana whirled around to confront the man, fully prepared to lambaste him with her biting tongue and severe wit. Unfortunately, when she completed her dramatic pivot, she fell dumbstruck, mute in his presence.

"Jai? Jai Brooks?", she finally managed to gasp and Ariana Grande never gasped. "What are you doing here?"

It had been nine years since high school and with the exception of her brother, Frankie, Ariana hadn't seen any of her fellow classmates since graduation day, which was quite a feat considering she attended UCLA with quite a few of them. And that's just the way she liked it, with the notable exception of one, still exceptionally gorgeous, and currently, extremely wasted, Jai Brooks.

Before Jai could reply, the bartender plopped down Ariana drink on the bar. "Here ya goes, Sweetie. See if this doesn't curl youse toes?" Ariana looked over and realized he was waiting for her to try the drink. In fact it looked like Jai was waiting for her taste test too, albeit through slightly bleary eyes. Reluctantly, she picked up the glass and took a healthy sip. Her brows lifted in appreciation.