Page 40 of Gabriel's Album

“I thought that maybe we could have lunch at one of the restaurants in Manhattan.”

“No, thank you,” Ariana says coldly. “I’d rather just go back to the hotel if you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” I reply, and instruct the driver to take us back to the hotel.

I give Ariana a confused look but settle back in my seat as we begin our journey back to the hotel. I’d really been looking forward to showing her more of the city, but it looks like that’s over, and I feel disappointed that our day out is being cut short.

I know my comment was shitty, though, and I should probably apologize. However, I still don’t understand how our day has gone from a sexy, fun outing to this awkward tension over me buying a couple of outfits.

We arrive at the hotel, and I thank the driver as we get out of the car. Ariana keeps up her silence as we head into one of the elevators. I swipe my card and press the button for the tenth floor. Ariana leans around me and presses the button for the third floor.

Okay, so it’s like that, then. I decide not to comment, but I do give her a quizzical look, wondering if she’s going to actually say anything. The elevator doors open, and she strides through them, heading toward her room while mumbling goodbye to me.

I watch her walking away from me as the door closes and obscures her from my view. I hate this. I’m still holding the stupid bag of clothes, and I wish that I’d never bought the damn things. The elevator travels swiftly up to the tenth floor, and I walk to my room, feeling like shit.

As I’m just about to swipe my card to get inside my room, one of the doors a little way down the hall opens, and Heather walks through it, laughing as she does.

“Sure, if you say so,” she comments.

“I do say so, Heather York, and you know it’s true,” Sebastian says, smirking while he does so.

Harrison follows them through the door, and all three seem to notice me at the same time. I’m not in the mood to explain what the fuck just happened, and I can’t force myself to smile, even though I’m not angry at them.

Instead, I swipe my card and enter my room. It’s quiet and dark in here, but I don’t move. I stand where I am and listen to the voices of my friends as they walk past in the hallway. Sebastian is talking as they go past, but I can’t fully hear what he’s saying to the others.

I flick a switch to turn the lights on, then walk over and place the bags of clothes on the table in the main sitting area. I sit on the sofa for a second, but I feel unsettled, and I know that I won’t feel better until I have this out with Ariana. I grab my keycard again and head back down to level three.

I get to her hotel room and knock on the door. It doesn’t take long before she opens it, and immediately, I want to wrap my arms around her and hold her tight because I can tell that she’s been crying.

“Can we talk, Ari?” I ask instead.

“Sure,” Ariana replies and moves aside so that I can enter the room.

I sit down in an armchair facing the bed, and Ariana sits down on the bed facing me. She crosses her legs under her and returns my gaze.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t think I want to be here anymore,” she tells me.

I’m in complete shock. She wants to leave me? There were plenty of things that I thought she might say, but I did not expect it to be that.

“Why?”

“I’m not contributing anything here. I’m just lazing about and wasting everyone’s time and money,” she says with a shrug.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most ridiculous suggestions I’ve ever heard. As if I’m sitting here counting up every penny that’s spent on her. As for not contributing, I’m not sure how she thinks that being my girlfriend contributes zero to the tour.

“What? Where on earth did you get that idea?”

“It’s the truth.”

She can’t seem to bring herself to look at me anymore, and her gaze shifts to her lap, where she begins fiddling with the duvet cover. She chews her bottom lip the way she usually does when she’s nervous or unsure of something.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“You pay for everything. I don’t have money like you do, and I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is leeching off other people for their money.” She frowns.

It’s always the fucking rock star thing with her. I just wanted to buy her a gift, to do something nice for my girlfriend, which is about as far from what she’s suggesting as you can get.

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