Chapter 2 :) Hope you are enjoying this so far!
The next morning, Ariadne woke up alone. She reached over and patted the empty side of the bed next to her confusedly.
"Arthur?" Ariadne called out but there was no response. She slipped on her robe and made her way around the apartment looking for any sign of the point man. Ariadne noticed a new note stuck on the fridge by a magnet and read it wearily.
Went to the warehouse early. See you soon, my love. –A
Ariadne felt a little upset that Arthur hadn't bothered to wake her. They always went to work together. Must be some important friend. Ariadne thought and headed back to the bedroom to get changed.
Ariadne arrived at the warehouse much later than everybody else. As she walked in she realized they were all lounging around on desks and in chairs with their backs to her as a woman chatted lively in the middle. Ariadne walked into view and Arthur's eyes lit up as he spotted her.
"Ari! Here, I want you to meet Scarlett." Arthur said as he jumped up from the desk he was leaning against and pecked her on the cheek.
"Scarlett, this is Ariadne, my fiancée." Arthur held out his arms to the two.
The woman in the middle stood up and Ariadne was immediately intimidated by her beauty. She had long flowing locks of naturally dark red hair and the hourglass body every woman dreamed of, especially Ariadne. Her complexion was near perfect and had bits of freckles across her nose along with the most glowing green eyes.
Scarlett immediately reached forward and shook Ariadne's hand very vigorously. She gave Ariadne a warm smile revealing a set of pearly white teeth but there was a flash of anger in her eyes that only Ariadne saw; as soon as it showed it was gone.
"Your fiancée? Oh Arthur that's just fantastic!" Scarlett squealed and enveloped him in a hug, leaving Ariadne awkwardly standing next to them. "Isn't she just precious?" Scarlett said to Ariadne as she pulled away from Arthur and placed a hand under Ariadne's chin.
Ariadne couldn't help but feel that Scarlett was acting very demeaning towards her. Ariadne knew she was much shorter than the 5 foot 7 woman before her and she was well a couple years younger than everybody on the team, but none of them have ever treated her as if she were a child. She shook her thoughts away and took her seat next to Arthur as Cobb began explaining the job. Ariadne found herself zoning out as Cobb talked, staring at her ring sparkling in the sunlight coming in from the window.
"Ariadne?" Cobb's voice sounded far away and she hadn't comprehended that he was speaking to her.
"Ariadne…" The small nudge from Arthur on her left brought her out of her reverie. She looked expectantly at Cobb.
"We'll need another two level maze, got that?" Cobb said staring back at her.
Ariadne nodded dumbly and looked back down to the ground. Arthur reached over and casually took her hand in his. Ariadne smiled and shared a loving look with him. Neither of them noticed the look coming from the person across from them.
Everybody had retreated back to their respectful work stations after the team discussion. Ariadne sat with her back to her friends and worked away at her beginning sketches. After about an hour of working, Ariadne stood up to stretch. She walked around to the other side of her desk and took a seat there to get a different perspective on her maze.
She continued to sketch for the next twenty minutes when she heard the light lilt of Scarlett's voice float through the air. Ariadne looked up to see Arthur and her laughing about something and her eyes immediately dropped back down to the paper. She felt silly for being intimidated, and even a bit jealous, already by this woman. But she couldn't help the hurt feeling she felt when Arthur had rushed to the warehouse this morning without her.
Ariadne shook her head to clear her thoughts and continued to delve into her design. She was so lost in creating she hadn't even noticed the point man come up behind her and begin to massage her shoulders. She had to admit it felt amazing but she wasn't in the mood at the moment.
"Not now, Arthur." Ariadne said shortly and shrugged off Arthur's hands. She walked to the side of her table and examined her design.
"Is something wrong?" Arthur asked, immediately detecting the slight bitterness in Ariadne's voice.
"No, it's just nothing. I'm sorry." Ariadne apologized quickly and rubbed her forehead.
Arthur looked at Ariadne concernedly. "If something's bothering you, you can tell me."
Ariadne chewed on her lip and tapped the pencil in her hand against the table top. She shrugged her shoulders and spoke quietly, "How do you know Scarlett?"
Arthur sighed and stepped forward, latching his arms around Ariadne's back. "She's an old friend from college. She was actually the one who introduced me to Dom and dreaming. She dropped off the map a few years ago and none of us have ever heard from her since. Jesus, we thought she was dead."
Ariadne hooked her arms around Arthur's neck and kissed him, grateful with his openness and honesty. "Let's go get lunch, hmm?"
"Sounds good."
Ariadne and Arthur walked down the street hand in hand, with sandwich wraps in their other. Arthur rambled on and on about the adventures and cases he worked on back in the day with Scarlett. The more and more Ariadne heard about her, she began to feel smaller and smaller. She wondered if Arthur did the same about her when talking to Scarlett. But still Ariadne had a small part of her that held admiration for the feats that Scarlett had achieved. Arthur obviously thought very highly of her so Ariadne thought she should try and do the same.
"So Scarlett's your mentor?" Ariadne asked, trying her best to seem interested.
"Yes she's taught me everything I know and more." Arthur replied.
"So you guys are kinda like partners on this job?"
"Mhmm I guess you could say so."
Ariadne looked towards the bright blue sky scattered with puffy white clouds and then back at Arthur who watched her curiously. "Where should we get married?" she asked suddenly very animatedly. Arthur's face broke out into a smile.
He wrapped his arm around Ariadne's shoulders. "I was thinking maybe a nice church, y'know very traditional. Or a garden."
"Ooh! A garden!" Ariadne's eyes lit up. "Please can we have a garden wedding?"
"Anything for you, Ari." Arthur murmured and kissed the top of her head.
After their hour long lunch break Ariadne and Arthur arrived back at the warehouse. Ariadne picked up right where she left off, her creative juices flowing. Before she knew it night had fallen and the work speed around the warehouse began to slow. Ariadne looked to her left to see that Eames had reclined back in a chair and fallen asleep with a file splayed out across his chest. Cobb was acting as Yusuf's test subject after Arthur refused to be the guinea pig again ever since the Fischer job.
As the night progressed Ariadne grew more and more exasperated. She walked around the partial design that she had worked on all day and finally trashed the sketch. She placed her hands on the table as she stood and closed her eyes as her head hung low.
"Rough first day?" the sound of Scarlett's voice made Ariadne jump. "Oh! Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
Ariadne shook her head as her pulse began to slow. "No, no it's fine."
"You know we should really take the time to get to know each other, being the only two women on the team and all. And I know Arthur really wants us to be friends."
Ariadne searched Scarlett's eyes for the flash of anger that she saw in them earlier but saw nothing but genuine kindness. "Yeah that sounds like a great idea."
"Lunch tomorrow?" Scarlett offered and Ariadne agreed.
"Don't work too hard. See you tomorrow!" she said with a little flick of her long red hair.
Ariadne nodded after her and watched as Arthur began to walk over to her next.
"Ready to go soon?" Arthur asked and Ariadne checked her watch. Half past one already?
"Yeah." Ariadne replied, kissing him lightly on the lips and then added, "Scarlett and I are getting lunch tomorrow."
"Really? That's great!" Arthur replied.
Ariadne gave him a tight smile and then turned to grab her coat.
The next morning Ariadne woke up in bed alone again. She sighed and didn't bother calling out to Arthur, assuming he had left already. Ariadne slipped on her robe and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. There was already a pot brewing. Well that's considerate. Ariadne stood on her tiptoes and started to reach for a cereal bowl out of one of their cupboards. She had to remind herself to move all the dishes down in reaching height for the short architect. Ariadne finally grasped the bowl with the tips of her fingers when a gruff morning voice behind her spoke.
"Good morning, sweetheart."
Ariadne let out a small scream, extremely startled that Arthur was still in the apartment. The ceramic bowl tumbled down from the cupboard and shattered into pieces around Ariadne's feet. She jumped back stepping onto a sharp shard from the bowl and cursed under her breath.
Arthur was at her side immediately helping her maneuver through the broken pieces, careful not to step on any himself. In the end he just decided to pick up Ariadne and set her on the counter. Ariadne noticed that he was wearing his bathrobe and his hair was still wet. She could smell his aftershave and then immediately realized that he must've been in the shower. She cursed herself in her head for being so stupid.
Arthur laughed slightly as he examined the bloody cut on her foot and Ariadne winced. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
"I didn't know you were still here." Ariadne said in a quiet voice.
Arthur looked up at Ariadne's face then and immediately felt remorse for leaving her behind yesterday.
"Ari, that was just a onetime thing. I was excited to see my friend that's all. And anyways you look so peaceful when you sleep I didn't want to disturb you." Arthur said, receiving a small smile from Ariadne. She placed her hands on his shoulders and then moved them to his back bringing him in for a tight hug. Arthur snaked his arms behind Ariadne and pulled her forward on the counter.
"Alright. I'll be right back. I've gotta get you bandaged back up." Arthur said and Ariadne momentarily had forgotten about the blood dripping from her foot.
"Thank you."
"I love you, Ari." Arthur said and turned to head for the bathroom.
"I love you too, Arthur." Ariadne said, never getting tired of hearing it or saying it.
