Do Not Want (Ariana/You)

Strangers - (Ariana POV)

Present Day – Tommy's Studio

" 'Strangers' – Love this one because you and Lauren have incredible vocals on an upbeat song but with a very sad message. Only both of you could pull this off!" Zac said, sounding really excited with this particular song.

Y/N turned her gaze to Lauren and they smiled to each other. My blood was boiling. Lauren was looking at Y/N the same way I looked at her and I didn't like it one bit.

"We had a blast with this song and I was so lucky that Lauren agreed to do this song with me, been a big fan of the recent singles she's put out." I saw Y/N smile and look once again at Lauren.

"I'm the one who was lucky!" Lauren said with her annoying laugh.

"Im ThE oNe WhO wAs LuCkY." I mocked Lauren. Courtney bursted out laughing.

"You need to keep your jealousy in check Ari. This is intense." I sighed at Courtney's words, annoyed.

"Well I had always wanted an LGBTQ+ theme track on my album, for a lot of reasons. The song emphasizes on a relationship that is very one-sided and how only one person feels something more than lust and physical desire while the other person grows distant."

I hated every single explanation of the songs as it was just hurting me but at the same time, I just wanted to listen to them more in depth now. I had tried to listen to the album but it had hurt so much that I had to stop halfway through.

Flashback – A little over a year ago – Same night of the 1975 concert

'Talk to u later my children. Love u.' I tweeted. I smiled at the multiple notifications I was getting from all the retweets, comments and mentions.

Recently, my fans were the only thing keeping me sane in this whole stunt.

This whole PR stunt had definitely helped me getting my career back. I was getting more interviews, line up requests, request for collaborations. Scooter was getting all his money and a good boy pat on the head by the Board Members.

Even Y/N was getting publicity. Pity publicity though and I knew she hated that as it was the wrong publicity she was getting.

She had been so distant ever since the start of this PR stunt. I couldn't really blame her though; I was never around.

Truth is, I was terrified. 

Lately she had wanted to sit down and have a serious talk. I felt like she wanted to break up with me so I stupidly avoided her order not to have this conversation.

"Do you remember our Harry Potter costumes for Halloween?" I heard Pete ask, pulling me out of my thoughts. I was sitting across from him at the dinner table. I put my phone down next to me.

Tonight was a PR stunt date. The paparazzi had taken pictures of us as we walked in. We were still making the rumors of us being "back together" boil again so we did not hold hands.

Pete had been quite nice about this whole situation and respected all the rules that Y/N put out for him. I sincerely appreciated that of him.

I looked at Pete as he turned his phone and showed me the picture of us when we first started dating and we were dressed in a Harry Potter themed matching costumes. I laughed at the site of us. I was so tiny compared to him and we both seriously looked like dorks.

"I also remember how we ended up trick-or-treating down your block and people where seriously thinking we had gone insane, like that old lady." I laughed at the memory of an older lady opening the door and looking at us up and down, mentioning that we were too old to be doing this and instead gave us vouchers for drinks at the local bar.