One Night Only

[Cactus]

As she wheeled her bag out of the hotel lobby, Ariana looked out into the horizon. Dusk was beginning to settle in, and she felt a sense of finality to the big, end-of-year school trip for George Hunter High School. All in all, the trip had been a success. Her roommates had been okay. She'd seen the sights, visited the attractions. Ariana had even managed to pick up a couple of souvenirs, including one probably-too-expensive picture frame that she planned to fill with a picture of her and Ross. She fingered the locket around her neck. Two could play at that game, after all. In the end, the trip had been almost everything that she could have asked for.

She hadn't even considered — nor come close to — killing anyone!

So definitely, a huge success.

((Ariana Moretti continued from The Rest of My Life))

The front lobby and the foyer of the hotel were abuzz with students, teachers trying to organize chaos and the poor bus company employees who were trying to help them out. Ariana couldn't help but smile. One would have figured everyone would have been tired or trying to relax before an overnight bus ride home, but it felt like just the opposite. Chatter was in the air, and an excitement was palpable. She raised an eyebrow at the spectacle. For just a moment, it felt like she could reach out and feel what excitement felt like. From all of the people she'd talked to, it seemed like everyone had enjoyed themselves, but all good things had to come to an end. It was time to get home. She was excited to sleep in her own bed, see her father, visit her boyfriend, and just get ready for the upcoming summer.

Wheeling her bag towards one of the buses, Ariana found herself waiting in a small line. People were talking amongst themselves, she thought she overheard someone excitedly recounting a trip to one of the museums. A small smile crept upon her face. Such excitement reminded her of how enthusiastic Ross had been about the whole thing, even after he'd hurt himself and been confined to his house. She'd called him - often, and there had been a few days in which she'd taken in the sights with only his voice in her ear, chatting and describing what she was seeing for him and punctuating it with pictures and videos. Social media was a useful tool, and even though he'd been devastated not to come along, it still felt like he'd been there the whole time.

"Can I grab your bag for you?"

Ariana snapped her head back into the real world as she looked over at the expectant face beside the bus. His dark skin and white teeth were a contrast beside the white side of the bus, but it didn't surprise her to find Claudeson Bademosi helping load up. Wherever anyone went, be it the school's blood drive, any volunteer event around town or even running the door at #Swiftball, he'd been watching over. Smiling, she shoved the retracting handle down and handed him her bag. Naturally, Ariana could have gotten it herself, but it was heavy, and she wasn't about to deprive the man of his do-gooder attitude.

"Sure, knock yourself out. Thanks, Claude-man."

As he took her bag and neatly packed it into the underside of the bus, Ariana nodded and shot him a thumbs-up as thanks. He nodded, smiled, and moved on to the next person. His smile seemed genuine, but Ariana couldn't help but notice his eyes. Was it her imagination, or did they seem a lot sadder than usual? She blinked and shook her head, moving away and not giving it a second look. Probably her imagination; that guy was always walking around with a smile plastered to his face.

Stepping away from the side of the bus, Ariana looked around at the assembled mob of people. To her chagrin, she likely wouldn't be able to steal away for one last cigarette. It wasn't like she needed it; her smoking had cut down substantially since her and Ross had gotten together, but she'd indulged a little while on this trip. He hadn't been here, so there was no real reason not to. The small hits of nicotine had probably helped her deal with some of the more trying classmates; she'd been fresh off a cigarette when she'd passed Marco in the hallway at one point - she'd actually managed to just ignore the greasy little weasel instead of slapping him again.

It wasn't like he'd done anything then, but some people just had a slappable face.

Ariana laughed out loud. Let's be honest, he'd probably done something. She'd heard someone talk about how he'd thrown Jeff Greene in a pool or something, and while she didn't know Jeff at all — he was one of those football guys whom she usually tried to steer clear of — she couldn't imagine that had gone very well for him. Maturity was an interesting bugaboo about high school, she thought as she found a convenient pillar to lean against. Everyone was working on different levels of maturity, so you never knew who was going to pop off because of their hormones and who might be more relaxed than you expected.

Glancing around, she saw a few people smoking on the periphery of the parking lot and shrugged to herself. Fuck it - worst they could tell her to do was put it out. Rifling around in her jacket pocket, she retrieved a cigarette and lighter. She'd have to toss the box at one of the rest stops, but there weren't many left as it was. Flicking the lighter, she sparked the smoke and inhaled.

Sweet relief. The knot in her back relaxed as she felt the nicotine flood into her system. That was better. None of her roommates had smoked, so she'd usually just popped out on her own when she felt the need.

As far as her roommates on the trip had been concerned, she actually hadn't had a terrible time with any of them. She hadn't really been sure what to expect when she'd gotten put with them. She knew Paloma, artsy warts and all, but Katrina and Sierra weren't really people she'd associated with too much. Truth was, they'd actually kind of had fun. Sierra seemed a bit overly serious at times, but Katrina's constant energy and drive to do and see almost everything had been infectious. Dare she say it; she'd actually enjoyed their company quite a bit. That had seemed to be the common thread for the trip. Whenever she'd seen someone she went to school with, they really did genuinely seem to be having a good time.

"Aw, c'mon Madison, there's no point in goin' through it all now!"

Ariana's attention was instantly diverted to a scene that had become so familiar through the hallways of George Hunter High School that she wasn't at all surprised to see it here, too. The sour face of Madison Springer, storming towards one of the buses. The outcry had come from someone whom she'd actually gotten to know a little more over the last few months, to her own surprise. Connor Lorenzen looked frazzled, his long hair swaying as he tried to catch up with his colourful other half. Ariana was okay with Connor; as far as popular rich kids went, he wasn't all that bad, and Ross was weirdly close friends with him. Madison, on the other hand, was known to be a bit of a force of nature, and not one whose bad side you wanted to end up on.

Somehow, Ariana and Madison had never clashed, which caused a broad smile to make its way upon her face. Difficult and a force of nature. She bet there were a few people who'd probably say the same thing about herself.

They weren't wrong, either.

Turning to face Connor, Madison's face was scrunched up in annoyance, but he thrust his arm out in front of her. They were barely a meter away from Ariana but since she was leaning against the foyer pillar with her cigarette, neither of them noticed her.

"It'll be fine. Take my jacket; I won't need it. I'll go out and grab a sweatshirt from my bag at the first rest stop, okay?" He smiled, and to Ariana's surprise, Madison's sour face evaporated and sweetly smiled at him.

Wow - when she wasn't walking around looking like someone had shat in her cereal, Madison was actually quite pretty. Who knew?

It felt like there was something Madison wanted to say, something unsaid that passed between the two of them. Reaching out to take hold of the jacket, Madison slipped it around her shoulders. Connor was a big guy, so it draped loosely around her. She started to open her mouth to respond to him, but shut it again, and instead took his hand and squeezed it. The two of them then set off towards the bus, hand-in-hand and looking every bit like the all-American couple that they were.

The smile didn't leave Ariana's face. Aww. That was actually kind of sweet. She knew the rep that the two of them got around school - he was the big man on campus and she was a bit of a harpy, but to see them both in that light, just a girl who was cold and needed a jacket and he as a boy who was more than happy to provide? There was something pure in it. Amusing, too. Ariana took another puff of her cigarette. It was amusing to see what happened when people let their guard down and actually showed a vulnerable side. Everyone had 'em. Even the baddest of the bad or the biggest of the big.

Raising the cigarette to take another drag, she heard a throat clear to her left. Oh, great. Busted. Dr. Terrance was standing, arms folded in front of him disapprovingly. He didn't have to say anything, but instead gestured to the pillar that Ariana was standing in front of - and the very large, very visible no-smoking sign that she was literally standing in front of.

"Whoops! Uh, sorry sir."

Ariana's face got red, and she quickly extinguished the cigarette on the side of the pillar. About to toss the butt in the bushes, she stopped herself, or rather, Dr. Terrance's look stopped her. Okay, fine. She'd walk over to the receptacle and not push her luck. Thankfully, he didn't follow her. As she moved away from the pillar, she scanned the area for a trash bin. After a moment, she found what she was looking for and made her way back towards the hotel lobby doors.

Disposing of the cigarette butt, she rolled her eyes once more. Math wasn't her favourite subject - hell, it wasn't anyone's favourite subject with that particular teacher in charge, but she'd made a point to avoid him. She had it on good authority that his lectures were dull, plodding and pedantic. Where was his sense of enthusiasm or excitement? How did one become a teacher if they found no joy in it?

"Hey, Ari!"

Speaking of enthusiasm; here it was in human form. Turning around from the disposal bin, Ariana confirmed that the voice matched the face; Morgan Dragosavich stood in front of her. Giving him a once-over, she raised her eyebrow at his bright, kelly green shirt. Tilting her head, she looked at it. The shirt seemed to display a cat standing beside some sort of alien creature, both exclaiming "hiss" at one another in speech bubbles. Not her style, but hey - it fit his.

"Nice shirt, Morgan."

The boy's face went a little red and he shrugged, his bag in one hand barely moving with his shoulders. "Uhh, thanks. Found it online. Hey, listen," he started but stopped again, as though sorting through his own words.

"Mmm?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I just want to thank you for doing all that for Ross this week." She blinked in surprise. Her spreading the word of her boyfriend's misfortune had seemed to be a natural step. Morgan, being an old pal of his, had been readily on board, and had done a lot of the legwork himself of getting to the people in school she might not necessarily socialize with.

"He's been a lot happier since you two started going out, and he's been talking about this trip for like, months." Morgan gesticulated a bit as he spoke, Ariana knowing him to be a fairly excitable guy anyhow. "I've known the dude for like, forever, and I had to think he was crushed when I found out he had to miss this. But I talked to him an hour ago, and like... everyone's been blowing up his phone. He was telling me about shit that I didn't even know about."

That made Ariana smile. Her plan had been a success after all. Ariana wasn't one for overly sentimental gestures, but she was glad that it had worked out the way she'd hoped.

"Thanks, hun. It's," she shrugged, "it's the least I can do. I wish he was here as much as he did, I'm sure."

Morgan nodded, and clapped Ariana on the shoulder, something that surprised her. Morgan seemed a lot different, more sure of himself than he had at the beginning of the trip. There was a certain twinkle in his eye that gave her pause. He must have had a good week himself.

"You're a cool cat, Ariana. Ross is a real lucky dude." Morgan shouldered his bag, and turned to leave, hesitating for a moment with a grin. "But you're a real lucky lady, too. I'm happy for you guys."

The sentiment was really sweet of him. He was beaming and his enthusiasm was infectious. Morgan turned from her and took a step towards the bus, where he immediately saw someone and called out to them, his face lighting up and pace quickening as he headed towards the bus. "MIKEY FREEZE, MY MAN! You'd better save me that seat, buddy!"

Ariana laughed as Morgan ran off after one of his friends, leaving her alone once more beside the trash bin. It did make her feel good that she'd been able to do something nice for Ross after his bold and insanely romantic gesture the night before they'd left. She actually hadn't been aware that so many people had been messaging him, when she'd spoken with him he'd only mentioned that he was getting a lot of texts; she assumed they were mostly from Morgan or his other friends. That Morgan had confirmed it was going around the entire class...

She was happy.

The buses were starting to fill up now, and even the smokers on the far periphery were starting to head towards their final transit home. Taking a last look around the foyer and the hotel lobby, Ariana started to head towards the bus herself. The teachers were starting to funnel the students into some lengthy lines, which didn't seem overly appealing for her to wait in. Instead, she had a better idea. Taking her phone out of the pocket in her jacket, Ariana held it in front of her, toggled the camera to selfie mode, and started to record.

"Hey babe, it's me!" She smiled at the camera. "We're just about to get on the bus and head back." Ariana toggled the camera to see the lengthy line for the bus, flipping it back to herself with an unamused look on her face.

"As you can probably see, it's a bit of a shit-show. Just like I'm sure that your week was a bit of a shit-show, too." Her expression turned once more. "I know how much this trip meant to you, and I'm so sorry that you couldn't come. But I'm really glad that you encouraged me to come in your place. I think I understand now why you were so excited; Washington really is a neat city. Maybe one day, I'll work here." She winked.

"I'm sure there are all kinds of jobs out there for someone with one arm. You are going to be all better by the time I get back, right?" Ariana's laugh was more of a snicker. Ross would appreciate the jabs.

"All seriousness though, I'm really glad that we're coming back. Doing this without you hasn't been as good as it had been if you were here, even though I've had you in my ear most of the time. I can't wait to see you. We have a lot of catching up to do." Another meaningful wink. "But really, we should be back tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see you, tell you about all the stuff you might have missed."

Something struck her funny, and she raised an eyebrow at her phone.

"Or haven't missed, if Morgan's telling me right. Maybe you'll be the one filling me in on the gossip!"

Taking a quick look over at the buses, Ariana saw that the line had finally more or less cleared, only a few people left to load.

"Anyway, it's time for me to get going. I love you. So much." Ariana grasped the pendant around her neck firmly, as though to reaffirm it. "I'll see you soon. I just have to survive one more bus trip with these jokers. Good thing you're here with me for moral support." Ariana laughed and released her hand from the pendant.

"Take care, Ross. Love you and I'll see you soon."

Thumbing the stop button, Ariana started walking over towards the bus, head buried in her phone. Sending the video off to his social media accounts — she never was sure whether he preferred Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook — she waited as it satisfyingly sent off into the ether. This had been such a good week; to think that she'd almost stayed behind at the last moment. She might have missed it entirely. It was rather nice to think that she had people back at home who were looking out for her. Ariana was so used to being the one who felt like she had to stand up for those who couldn't look after themselves; to have Ross or her father there to make sure she remembered that part of being a student was having some fun?

It made Ariana feel really, really good.

As she approached the bus doors, she nodded to Dr. Terrance, who gestured her aboard. The dull man knew who she was and obviously just wanted to get on the road, so he wasn't checking any identification. She knew the feeling. Washington, D.C. had been a wonderful time and a part of high school that she would remember forever. It was the perfect coda on a year that had actually, when it was all said and done, pretty damn good.

Taking the steps up to the bus, Ariana was confident, happy, and certain. This was the way that she'd always hoped she would feel by the time high school had passed her by. When she'd been a little girl, unsure of herself and confused about her own identity, she'd wondered if she would ever feel this way. But now, she did. She was comfortable in her own skin, she'd found someone who loved her for exactly who she was, and she even had a relationship — albeit complicated — with both of her parents. Her path was set, and she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. Things were good.

Her thoughts were all for the future, and she headed toward it with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

Ariana Moretti was ready to take on the world.

((ARIANA MORETTI PREGAME CONCLUDED; CONTINUED IN SOTF V7))