Arianna Smith's Arc

Chapter 10 of 23

Kylie left for the downstairs studio early. Arianna woke alone in the huge house. The twisted ribbon ornament still sat on the piano where Kylie had placed it. It looked pretty and meant nothing yet. Words wouldn't fill it. Neither would waiting. Arianna needed to do something real while Kylie worked and couldn't see. She wandered the halls and found the kitchen. On the counter sat Kylie's phone, face up, buzzing. The screen showed a name Arianna knew from every sad song on Kylie's EP. The best friend who had betrayed her. A voicemail waited. Then a text slid in. "Just pick up. I can explain everything." Arianna's chest tightened. Here it was. The exact test. She could read the messages. She could learn Kylie's secrets. She could even answer and stir up drama that pulled Kylie back toward her old wound. Any obsessed fan would grab this chance to matter. Instead Arianna turned the phone screen down. She did not read another word. She left it on the counter, untouched. Then she found paper and a pen in a drawer. She thought of her old Valentine card, the one full of aching lines she had mailed years ago. She wrote something plainer now. "Your phone kept buzzing. Someone tried to reach you. I turned it over and left it. Your business is yours. I'll be at the piano if you want company." She signed her name and set the note beside the phone. She went back and sat at the piano. She didn't touch the ornament. She just waited and played soft notes. An hour later Kylie came up the stairs. She held the note. Her face was hard to read. "You saw who called," Kylie said. "I saw the name," Arianna said. "I didn't read the message. I didn't answer it. It's not mine to touch." Kylie stared at her. "She's been calling for weeks. Trying to worm back in." Her voice shook. "Anyone else would've dug through the whole thing. Sold it. Used it." "I know what she did to you," Arianna said. "I wasn't going to be the next person who did it." Kylie sat down on the bench. She reached past Arianna and picked up the ribbon ornament. She turned it slowly in her hands, the same way she had the night before. "You said this would mean something when it felt earned," Kylie said. She set it back down, closer to Arianna this time. "It's starting to." She wasn't smiling big. But something in her shoulders had loosened. "Come downstairs," Kylie said. "I want to write with you. Not test you. Write." Arianna stood. The ornament no longer looked empty. She had filled a little of it, not with a promise, but with a choice Kylie could see. The distance between them had shrunk by one real step.