you're a dream ~ ariana x you

Twenty Six

The curiosity in her voice resulted in me developing a smile - that would shortly turn into a chuckle, "You're smart" I mutter under my breath - impressed.

"We've already established this. But to be fair, your acting skills didn't help the situation much." Ariana lightly shoves her shoulder into mine before laughing, "Now tell me already, I hate the wait."

"Well," I start, "I know this is late notice considering it's tomorrow. But would you maybe, wanna," My pause causes her annoyance to increase.

"Would I what?" She whines.

"Wanna spend Thanksgiving at my place?"

It appeared as though my question had caused Ariana to fall into a state of shock, "Y-you want me to spend it with you?" Her voice grew frail, "And your family?"

"They're the ones that suggested it." I nervously laugh - hoping it'd reduce all the stress I managed to muster with one simple question, "We've been together for almost four months now and my parents feel like they barely know you."

Ariana's vision focuses on the ground as I anticipate an answer from her, "B-but I've already met your mom." She lifts her head up to face me, "I know she likes me." Her tone now suddenly confident, "I mean who else is left? Lauren is out the window and we've run into Alex more than a few t-"

"You're forgetting my dad." I stare at her with a blank expression.

"Oh" It was painfully obvious she purposefully excluded him from the list. The only thing left was finding out the reason why, "Guess it slipped my mind." She lied.

"Come on," I stifle a laugh as she begins to grow tense at the idea of sitting across from my parents at a table, "My dads cool. Scratch that, my whole family is cool, you've got nothing to worry about."

Defenseless and fresh out of excuses, Ariana gives in, "Fine," She sighs while lifting herself up off the couch, "I guess I can suck it up."

I practically beam with excitement at her response before engulfing her in a hug, "You're the best" The words escape my mouth and fall directly into her ear, "I love you" My lips find their way onto hers and we stand there for a moment - soaking in each other's presence.

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Rather than take time to make myself appear more presentable, my mom assigned me with the task of setting the table. And surely this was doable, but Lauren's presence made it extremely difficult, not to mention awkward.

"Lets see," My eyes begin to shift to each seat as I count out the number of plates needed, "Since we'll have an extra guest, we need six plates."

Lauren glances over at me for a split second, then quickly turns away, "We need seven."

I shoot her a puzzled expression - waiting for her to explain why, "I'm pretty sure you've got it wrong. We're five, including Ariana, makes us six."

"I invited Jason."

"Y-you what?!"

She rolls her eyes at my response then walks away from me and into the kitchen, "Would you grow up already, y/n?"

A scoff is the only thing I could muster at the moment, "H-how can you invite him over after everything he's done?"

"And what exactly has he done?" Lauren raises an eyebrow at me - waiting, "Hm?" My body suddenly grows paralyzed and with the intensity of her stare growing, I felt my state worsen, "That's what I thought." She begins to grow overly confident, "You know, you should be grateful he didn't press charges on your girlfriend. Considering the stunt she pulled at that party."

Just as expected, the one person I had hoped wouldn't walk into the kitchen, did exactly so, "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear." My dad scrunches his face in confusion, "What exactly did y/n's girlfriend do at this party?"

"Oh my god" I sigh in frustration as Lauren begins to explain the incident - or at least what she 'thought' to be the incident.

Thinking about that night had caused me to fall into a state of perpetual distress. And the fact that Lauren had completely no knowledge of her boyfriends actions made this situation all the more unbearable.

To my surprise, a hand rests on my shoulder. I glance up only to find my mom, "I'm sure the girl had her reasons," She addresses the two, "Now enough. I don't want to hear another word from either of you. She's a good girl," A wave of positive energy hits me - causing my overall mood to change.

I shoot my mom a grateful smile before she and my dad walk out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, she's a good girl." Lauren replies in a sarcastic tone, "With a bad temper and a terrible personality" She mutters under her breath - loud enough for only me to hear.

"Go jump off a bridge."

"If doing so gets me as far away from you as possible, then gladly." Her eyes narrow in my direction, then she quickly walks away - leaving me speechless.

My mind began to trail off into thought over how things would pan out tonight. And in an instant, I remembered the last time Jason and Ariana were in the same room together.

The only person that had the ability to reduce tension in a room was Dylan with his playful banter and cringe worthy jokes.

Without hesitation, I reach for my phone and shoot him a text.

Me
Hey Dyl, can u do me the biggest favor

Dylan
Do you need me to beat some1 up again ? Bc i'm down

Me
No...Come spend the rest of ur Thanksgiving at my place.

Dylan
?

Me
I don't need you to do any labor work, chill.

Dylan
Why would I do that ?

Me
Bc I invited Ariana, and Lauren invited Jason. The last time those two were in the same room, someone was about to lose a head

Dylan
Hm... Ok, sure. If I come, can I at least bring a friend?

Me
As long as you're here, idc.

Dylan
Great! see ya then

For a moment, I stopped and pondered over his question, but all of that was quickly dismissed by the sound of the doorbell ringing.