by Sian Ceinwen
She stared into his eyes, and his voice wrapped over her like a warm blanket. He smiled at her as he finished the song, and she had the strongest urge to climb onstage and kiss him but managed to hold herself back. The crowd started screaming, and Ariana was brought back to where she was. Gabriel was thanking the crowd, and he moved on to another song.
Ariana’s original intention had been to head backstage the second he had finished singing her song, but she found she couldn’t. Her entire body felt weak and shaky. Gabriel was still glancing at her frequently, and she couldn’t move from where she was.
Watching him perform from backstage was great, but it truly was so much better out here, even with the fans so close behind her. The entire band transformed when they performed; they threw themselves into the music, and the atmosphere was electric. She was still sitting there watching him when Heather arrived in the Pit forty-five minutes later.
“Are you coming backstage again, darling?” Heather asked her.
“Mmhmm,” Ariana mumbled, not taking her eyes off Gabriel, who was at the left-hand side of the stage, singing passionately.
“Oh dear, Ariana, you look like a lovesick puppy,” Heather laughed, “come on, you can watch him perform the rest of the concert from where we were before, and the show’s almost over. I know you don’t want to get stuck trying to get backstage once the crowd’s been let loose.”
That snapped Ariana out of it, and she dutifully followed Heather out of the Pit and backstage again. They sat down on their stools to watch the rest of the show. It finished up, and the guys came off stage, sweaty and exhilarated.
Gabriel had time to give Ariana a quick kiss before they went back on stage for an encore. He gave everything he had to the performance of that song, his passion for performing truly showed, and the crowd went wild as they left the stage once more.
The guys were all completely amped up as they usually were after a show. Gabriel strode purposefully over to Ariana and crushed her to him in a hug before kissing her more passionately than was appropriate in front of other people, and Ariana was sure she heard Heather snicker. He led her to his changing room, closed the door behind them and turned to face Ariana.
“I don’t have long before the meet and greet, but what did you think of the song?” He asked her eagerly.
She smiled up at him, “I loved it.”
“I’m glad,” he said as he put his arms around her.
Ariana melted into him. As always, she felt at home in his arms. It was a place that she could happily never leave. Tonight had been amazing, and for once, the doubts that plagued Ariana a lot of the time were nowhere to be seen. She felt so secure in herself and Gabriel’s relationship, nothing could ruin this moment.
He kissed her again on the mouth, his hands roaming her back and cupping her behind as he pulled her against him. She reached her arms up around his neck and her fingers tangled in his hair. When the kiss broke, Gabriel placed his forehead against hers; both of them were breathing heavily.
“I have to go do the meet and greet,” Gabriel told her with regret in his voice.
“I know,” she replied.
He smiled at her, “I don’t want to.”
“I know,” she said again.
“I need a minute to calm down,” Gabriel said as he set her away from him and moved across the room to put some distance between them.
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said.
He walked over to a fridge on the other side of the room and grabbed a bottle of water before taking a big sip. Ariana tried to regain some of her composure and marveled at the way she was able to be so free with Gabriel. She had never been one to do wild things or indulge in public displays of affection, but with Gabriel, she couldn’t seem to keep her hands off him.
Even in public, it was as though there was some kind of gravitational force pulling them towards one another, and it felt so natural and so right that she couldn’t stop it. Right now, even with him on the other side of the room, Ariana felt the strongest urge to go to him. He was looking at her in a way that made her sure that he wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him.
“We should probably head to the meet and greet,” Ariana said, her voice husky.
She started gathering up her belongings so she could head straight back to the hotel afterward. She gave a cursory glance around to make sure she hadn’t left anything behind.
“Yes, we probably should,” he looked at her for a moment before walking towards the door.
Gabriel opened the door and allowed Ariana to walk through first, and as she passed him, he trailed his fingers down her arm, and she shivered. He followed her out, and they started walking to the backstage area.
Once again, Ariana loitered at the edge of the room and watched the proceedings. Heather joined her, and they chatted quietly while they waited. When the meet and greet was over, they headed towards the cars as usual.
As Ariana was about to get in, Gabriel stopped.
“I forgot something, you go with Heather, and I’ll grab the next car. I’ll meet you at the hotel.”
He kissed her quickly on the lips and began walking back in the direction of his changing room, despite the fact that Ariana was almost certain it was empty when they’d left it.
“What did you forget?” Ariana called out, but Gabriel didn’t hear her, so she got in the car with Heather.
“Is something wrong?” Heather asked as Ariana slid in beside her.
“No, Gabriel just went back for something,” Ariana shrugged.
“Oh, did he?” She smiled mischievously.
“Do you know something I don’t know?” Ariana asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, darling. Isn’t it great weather we’re having?” Heather grinned at her.
Ariana grumbled at her the whole way to the hotel, but Heather wouldn’t say a word about what, if anything, she knew about Gabriel’s odd behavior. They walked into the hotel, and Ariana followed Heather over to the Concierge desk.
“What are we doing?” Ariana asked.
“I just want to ask them a question,” Heather told her as they walked up to the desk.
“Hi, Madam, how may I help you this evening?” The Concierge asked politely.
“Hi, Jeremy,” Heather said, looking at the Concierge’s badge, “I was wondering if you could tell me what movies are playing in theatres around here?”
“Not a problem, Madam. When are you looking at going?” He asked.
“Uh, tomorrow night,” Heather was looking around the Lobby now, probably wondering where Harrison was.
“Certainly, Madam.”
The Concierge began looking up movies while Heather and Ariana waited. Heather was still looking around the Lobby when her phone beeped. She pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and then smiled while turning back to the Concierge.
“Thanks, Jeremy. That’s fantastic, you’ve been a great help,” Heather said and turned and walked away towards the lifts. Ariana followed her, stunned.
“Heather?” She asked.
“Mmhmm?” Heather mumbled while pressing the button to call the lift.
“Why were you getting the Concierge to look up movies here when we’re leaving tomorrow morning?” Ariana wondered.
“Oh, is it tomorrow morning that we leave?” Heather asked, guilelessly, “I didn’t realize, I thought it was the day after and we had a free day. I’m still not used to the tour schedule, silly me.”
Ariana didn’t get a chance to say anything as the doors opened then, and they got in. Heather swiped her room key and pressed the button for the fourteenth floor. Once again, their rooms were on the same floor and not far from one another. When the doors opened on the fourteenth floor, Heather said goodbye and headed to her room as Ariana headed to room fourteen-oh-three.
When she got there, Ariana was surprised to find an envelope on the door with her name on it in Gabriel’s handwriting. She opened it to discover a card
with a message on it.
Ariana,
Thank you for coming on tour with me.
You are the best thing in my life.
- Gabriel
Ariana opened the door and gasped. The door opened into the sitting area, which had approximately a hundred lit candles littered around the room on various surfaces. The entire floor was a sea of red rose petals. Any surface that didn’t have a candle was covered in rose petals. There was a path of white rose petals on then, leading across the room and away from the door where she was standing.
“Hi,” Gabriel said simply, walking through the door from the bedroom where he’d been waiting for her arrival.
“How? What? When?” Ariana stared at him with wide eyes, unable to form a full sentence.
“Someone from the hotel came in and set it up. I had an accomplice keep you busy while I came ahead and checked that everything was perfect,” he smiled at her.
“Heather,” Ariana said.
She’d known something was up with her.
“So…” Gabriel said, slightly nervously, as he walked over to her, “Ariana, you are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You’re sweet and kind, and I meant what I wrote—you’re the best thing in my life. I love you.”
She’d suspected his feelings for a while, but hearing him say it blew her away, and she was speechless. She stared at him for a full minute without saying anything; he looked so incredibly sweet and nervous.
Ariana blurted out the only thing she could, the phrase that had been on the tip of her tongue for months, the phrase that was behind every glance in Gabriel’s direction, every touch, and a lot of her thoughts these days.
“I love you, too.”
He took her hand in his, and they followed the path of white rose petals leading from the door Ariana was standing at over to the door into the bedroom.
When he opened the bedroom door, Ariana’s mouth dropped. Like the sitting room before it, the bedroom was filled with candles, and red rose petals were everywhere as well, but what struck Ariana dumb was the bed.
The path of white rose petals that she was standing on continued to the bed where, on a blanket of red rose petals, the words “I LOVE YOU” were spelled out, the white words starkly obvious against the red.
Gabriel’s face glowed as he led her to the bed and took her in his arms. Together, they proceeded to ruin what had possibly been hours of work for someone as they wrapped themselves in the message from Gabriel to Ariana that had been so meticulously laid out on the bed for them.
The Ninth Song
After the night of the “I love you” in Washington, DC, Ariana and Gabriel had become closer than ever. A lot of their time had been spent with Heather and Harrison. Being in relationships meant they had a lot in common, and as a result, Heather had pretty much become Ariana’s best friend.
When the guys were off doing band-related business, Heather and Ariana would while away the hours talking together, shopping, and checking out the tourist attractions in each city they were in.
In her spare time, Ariana would write. She found the creative juices were flowing better than ever before. Partly inspired by her situation on tour, she’d begun writing a story about her experiences, knowing that in the future, she would love to read back on her adventures.
Even though most of their time was spent with the other couple, they still spent a lot of time hanging out with Hayden and Sebastian as well. Despite their rocky start, Sebastian had actually become one of Ariana’s favorite people on the tour. He was a lot of fun to be around.
Although he had a tendency to be a bit of a jerk when he was drunk, and he definitely slept with a number of women that quietly horrified Ariana. For the most part, he was actually more sensible than people gave him credit for, and he was the person that Ariana turned to for advice on the occasions that Heather and Gabriel weren’t around.
They’d just arrived in a new city one night and had met up in Heather and Harrison’s room to discuss what they wanted to do that night when Sebastian asked the group if they wanted to play pool and nearly everyone groaned.
“Come on, guys, it’ll be fun,” Sebastian tried to convince them.
“Sure, Seb, watching you beat everyone? Sounds like tons of fun,” Heather said in a droll tone.
“Come on, sexy legs, you have to play with me. If I don’t play at least once a week, I’ll lose all my skills,” Sebastian said with all sincerity.
“Oh, poor baby,” Heather retorted and rolled her eyes at him.
“Is your goal in life to become a professional pool player or something?” Harrison asked.
“Or a pool shark in biker bars?” Hayden added while laughing, “you know I’m always up for pool, though.”
“Okay, Hayden’s in. You’ll come play pool, won’t you, Ariana?” Sebastian turned to her.
“Sure, why not. I don’t have anything else planned,” Ariana shrugged.
She was determined to one day get good enough to beat Sebastian at the game.
“You might not have planned anything, but I did,” Gabriel sounded slightly sulky, and Ariana leaned into him to give him a kiss.
“Cheer up, we’ll have fun,” she said, adding quietly in his ear, “then later, we’ll come back to the hotel and have even more fun.”
“I’m in,” Gabriel told the group with a grin.
It didn’t take much convincing after that for Sebastian to get Harrison and Heather to agree to come out with them. They ordered a car, and while they were waiting for it to come around to the front of the hotel, Sebastian found out the name of a pool bar near the hotel that they could go to.
Ariana had started to take being chauffeured around in limousines for granted. She wondered what she’d do when she got back to Chicago and had to catch public transport again; the thought was so foreign to her now.
It had amused her to no end when she found out that permanent limousine travel wasn’t a normal occurrence for a band. Since the tour wasn’t a part of their original contract and was a separate thing, Sebastian had managed to negotiate it with the record label by simply refusing to sign on for the tour until they agreed to it. The record company had caved because they stood to gain millions from the tour, which Sebastian knew. Trust him to use his leverage for something as frivolous as the use of limousines whenever they wanted them.
They arrived at the pool hall and got out of the car, heading inside as a group. Sebastian went to the counter and got them a table. The guy who served them turned out to be a fan and asked Sebastian for an autograph before turning to Hayden, who was the next closest and asking him for his autograph as well.
Surreptitiously, Ariana took a small step away from Gabriel before the fan could see them so that they looked less like a couple, and she heard him sigh quietly. Even though they’d been together for months, Ariana hadn’t been photographed with Gabriel in public. They had argued about it a few times. It was a constant logistical nightmare trying to avoid Ariana being photographed. She had tried so hard to change, but she just couldn’t take that step. Whenever she saw paparazzi, she had a panic attack and struggled to breathe.
She knew that Gabriel wasn’t her uncle, but that constant specter of the life she watched her aunt lead loomed above her. There was talk amongst the fans about Gabriel having a girlfriend who was on tour with them. She’d seen posts online about her, and while most of them were fine, there were still the odd nasty ones that got to her.
Heather tried not to let her dwell on them, though when she did, Ariana definitely wondered if this life was something that she could do for a long time.
Ariana watched Gabriel as he stepped forward to sign his autograph for the man behind the counter. He was always polite to the fans and seemed to genuinely enjoy their success as a band.
Luckily, it wasn’t too busy in the pool hall because it was a Thursday night, and Sebastian had asked if they could be placed down the back of the room. There were a couple of tables in use up the front, and a few of the
patrons watched them as they passed, but none of them bothered the group.
As Sebastian began racking up, Ariana took a seat on one of the chairs near the table. Gabriel came and stood behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders and began massaging them. It was so soothing, and Ariana felt the tension easing out of her.
“You want to play?” Sebastian asked Gabriel.
“No, I’m fine. I’ll play the winner, though,” he said as he continued to massage Ariana’s shoulders.
“So you’ll play me, then,” Sebastian said with a cocky grin.
“That’s what you think!” Hayden grumbled at him while grabbing a pool cue and preparing to break.
Hayden managed to sink two balls on his first shot, but those were the only two balls he got down during their match, and Sebastian easily beat him. Harrison had gone back to the counter during their game and gotten beers for the guys and vodka mixers for the ladies. Ariana sighed when Gabriel finished massaging her shoulders to take his place at the pool table to challenge Sebastian.
“You’ve got a good man,” Heather said from the chair next to her.
“I know.”
Gabriel was bent over in front of her to take the first shot of the game.
“He’s got a great ass,” she said to Heather, and Gabriel fumbled the shot, hitting the white ball to the side of the table with barely any force.
“Want to take that shot again?” Sebastian offered with a smirk.
“I think I will,” Gabriel replied, then said sternly in Ariana’s direction, “just as long as your apparent accomplice stops distracting me!”
Ariana smiled innocently up at him and then winked at Sebastian, causing Gabriel to growl. He hit the white ball with so much force this time that the rest of the triangle scattered when it was hit, and he managed to sink three balls—two of them solid and one striped.
“Which one are you choosing?” Sebastian asked him.
“Solids, of course,” Gabriel said and took his next turn, sinking another one.
“Nice shot,” Hayden said.
