The Cop (Ariana/You)

Chapter 31

Riley's P.O.V.

I had came back from the restroom to see a taller slim man with a bunch of tattoos talking to Ariana.
"Who are you?" I looked at him, not even realizing he was there at first.
The atmosphere was very awkward and not the best which made me feel uncomfortable.
"The names Pete." He shrugged, he looked me in the eye which even made me feel uneasy, but I held my eye contact.
"I'm Riley." I wanted to be polite and give him my hand to shake so I did, dude looked at it for a few seconds before even shaking my hand.

"Well Ariana, I just wanted to say hi and see how you were doing. But you're doing alright for yourself I see." Pete looked over at Ariana which I can tell was clearly uncomfortable.
"Thanks. Bye Pete." She gave a quick smile, one that was forced, might I add.

He had walked away, but something is telling me this won't be the end of it.
Then I remembered, Pete.
The guy that the paparazzi were asking about that day when Ariana broke down and told me everything.

Well damn now I wanna go back and talk my shit.

I only knew him off of his name, not his appearance and I never looked up her engagement online, because I didn't want to know her through a screen I wanted her to tell me about herself and her life through her words and her timing.

I broke out of my overthinking and decided to be the first say something to break this awkward silence.
"Well that was uh." I began but Ariana quickly cut me off, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It's not always so nice to have your current partner meeting your ex fiancé, which our break up was very toxic and very public. I'm so sorry." I can tell by the way she spoke and her looking around, she was gonna have a panic attack.

"Hey hey, listen, it's okay. I love you and it's okay I promise. How about we just grab the check and just pick up something and eat somewhere else." I suggested, I caressed her hand at this point to reassure her. I just want her to be okay. I don't blame any of this on her. I don't.
In response she just nodded so i took her hand and we both went up to a waiter and I paid for whatever wine we got.
I made sure I had parked toward the back so there weren't any paparazzi bombarding her.

She seemed to be just quiet, just out of it while I was driving to the nearest Thai place to pick up some food.
I held her hand the whole time and at times I'd feel her thumb caress my hand, I couldn't tell you how grateful I was for those little caresses.

When I picked up the food I just went ahead and drove us to the spot where I asked Ariana to be my girlfriend. It helps me a lot to rationalize my thoughts and calm down, I hope it could do the same for Ariana.

I parked the car and got out so did Ariana. I grabbed the food and hopped on the hood of my trunk.
"Come on." I smiled and patted the spot next to me. I was able to see her smile a little despite how dark it is. The only light source we got was the miles away city lights and the moonlight.

"You can tell me what you're feeling you know." I looked at her with sincere eyes, hoping I don't pressure her in any way or I'm not pushy.
"I've just been so good lately. I thought I healed from literally everything. I feel like- I feel like blaming myself for everything, for Mac, for Pete, for even being so happy and feeling like I'm in oblivion everytime I'm with you. I feel like I've forgotten about my past and I feel guilty for moving on, for healing from it. I don't know." She was already crying at this point.

Usually I have words to say everytime but this time I don't. I don't know what to say. So instead I just move our food away and scoot closer to her and wrap my arms around her.