Puppy Love

part eighteen.

Y/n's POV

Ariana had been basically living in the studio every since her breakup with Pete, so I hadn't seen her for a while. I buried myself in my work and decided to get more things done since there wasn't anything else to do. As funny as it sounds, Ariana was the only reason I left the house. She's the one who invited me to go places, and even sometimes when I want to say no, I still say yes to her.

Who would say no to Ariana?

I wondered if I should text her or maybe call her to see if she was doing okay, but what if she didn't want me to? What if she just wanted to be alone and get past everything on her own? After all, if she really wanted to talk to me, she would've called. Ariana didn't give me a chance to worry about it too much because she sent me a text inviting me to a movie night to her house.

Of course I accepted because, again, who would say no to Ariana?

I was running a little late, so by the time I arrived, everyone else who was invited was already there. Courtney opened the door for me after I knocked and she smiled at me.

"Movie's about to start." She closed the door behind me after I walked in. "Snacks are in the kitchen."

I nodded and made my way to the kitchen. Ariana had just filled a bowl with chips and smiled at me as I walked in. Without any hesitation, she walked over and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me into a hug. I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around her.

"I missed you." She mumbled into my neck, sending chills down my spine.

I smiled as we pulled away. "You did?"

She grabbed the bowl and popped a chip into her mouth. "Of course I did." She then grabbed a cup from the cupboard. "And Camila too. Where is she?"

I grabbed a water bottle from the counter. "She couldn't make it. She had a date tonight."

Ariana wiggled her eyebrows. "Ooh, do tell."

I laughed at her as we made our way to the living room. I followed her and sat beside her on one of the couches. Toulouse came over and sat between us and I happily pet his head. "She's had a crush on this girl Lauren from work for a while now. She finally grew a pair and asked her out."

Ariana gasped and squealed. "Oh my god, no way! That's so cute."

"Yea." I nodded with a smile. "I'm happy for her." I said just as the movie began.

As happy as I was for Camila, I'm jealous that I don't really have a love life of my own. I thought I'd already have that person by now, or at least know who it is. I don't want to rush the universe, but I'd really appreciate it if it would just speed up the process.

Ariana nudged me with her elbow and at that moment I realized I hadn't been paying attention to the movie at all.

"You okay?" She asked.

I nodded and looked at the screen. I realized that I had already watched the movie that was playing. "I watched this movie already." I told Ariana and she laughed.

"Me too." She whispered back. After a few seconds, she sat up and smiled excitedly. "Wanna hear my theory?"

I laughed a little too loudly, causing everyone to turn their heads at me. I apologized meekly before looking back to Ariana and nodding.

"I think the whole movie is just his imagination and that nothing actually really happened." She told me.

"Why?"

"Because," She carefully picked up Toulouse and put him behind her on the couch as she moved in closer and crossed her legs on top of the couch. I found it amusing because her whole body was facing me, not even the television. "He's in a mental hospital, right? So, he obviously has some problems. Maybe schizophrenic, or psychotic, or something."

"But how would that make sense?" I asked.

"If you two don't shut up, I'll kick your asses." Njomza said as she threw a pillow at us.

It flew right over our heads, hitting the floor a few seconds later. Ariana laughed, but ignored Njomza as she just continued speaking.

"Joker is the narrator of the story, so he tells us things has he remembers it. He's not a credible narrator since he has some mental problem, so everything could have just been his whole imagination." She explained further.

She continued talking and rather than paying attention to what she was saying, I found myself more interested in the fact that she was so passionate about something so irrelevant, like the movie. She was so into it, she was moving her arms and if Courtney didn't throw a pillow at her, I'm sure she would've been talking for the rest of the movie.

Ariana crossed her arms and sunk into the couch beside me, with our shoulders touching. She had a small smile on her face, so I could tell she wasn't genuinely annoyed.

"It makes sense, right?" She asked, and I turned my head to look down at her. The only light illuminating her face was the tv and she gave me a small smile.

I hadn't really given her theory much thought, but I smiled anyway and nodded my head. "Yea, totally."

We were quiet and well behaved during the rest of the movie and we even played some board games after. When it began getting late, people thanked Ariana and made their ways home. I was the last remaining person and as soon as I was done helping her with cleaning up the board game pieces, I quickly put on my jacket thinning that Ariana wanted to rest.

She frowned as I zipped up my jacket. "Leaving so soon?"

I checked the time and it was already past 2 in the morning. "Soon? Look at the time." I chuckled.

She looked at her phone before looking up at me. "Oh, fuck." She laughed, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Sorry."

I furrowed my eyebrows at her and she sighed. "I'm sorry, I just hate being alone. My sleep schedule is all fucked up, so I can't sleep until 4 am and when I can't sleep all I can think about is Pete or Mac.... or everything else that I fucked up in my life."

I sat there silently like a fucking idiot and Ariana buried her face in her arms and laughed dryly. "Sorry, I talk to much."

"No." I shook my head, before chuckling a little bit. "I mean, yes, but I like listening to you talk."

She laughed and this time I could tell it was genuine this time. She lifted her head from her hands and gave me a smile that made my stomach twist.

"You know, maybe I can sta-" My phone vibrated, interrupting me from finishing my sentence. I noticed Camila sent me a text asking when I was getting home. I then remembered that I promised to go home and listen to her talk about her date.

"Actually, I should go." I frowned a little bit.

Arianas smile didn't falter as she stood up and led me to the door. I put my jacket on again and followed her.

"I'll see you soon?" She asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Yea."

She gave me one last hug before quietly closing the door. I sighed and began the long way home.