Ariadne and Arthur had recently grown very close. So close in fact that people were starting to question whether or not they were 'just friends'. They had started to do almost everything together. They had private jokes that left Cobb, Eames and Yusuf absolutely clueless. They now knew to just ignore them. At work they'd even start talking about something completely off topic and come up with excuses to go over and talk to each other. Although somehow, they still managed to get their work done. It was now beyond the rest of the team.

Eames was fed up of it; he had to get to the bottom of this. He needed to know, on behalf of the rest of the team, what was actually happening with the pair. As soon as Arthur left to go on a coffee run, he grabbed the opportunity to start bombarding Ariadne with his thoughts. He had no time to try and subtly get the information from her.

"Please Ariadne, enlighten me. Because there is no way that you and Mr Point Man are just friends." She looked up from her work and looked Eames squarely in the eyes.

"Eames, I've been through this with you a million times, there is nothing going on with me and Arthur." The look on his face read 'Bullshit'. "You know a guy and a girl can be friends without there being anything more."

"That is true Ari, but not that close." Now that gave her something to think about. "Don't let him break your heart if he gets involved with someone else. You need to make sure that the two of you are in the same place."

"Don't worry about him breaking my heart Eames, because it's not his to break." Wasn't it? She thought about all the memories of her and Arthur. She came to realise why anyone else looking in would think that they were a couple, a very happy couple. They sure as hell act like it a lot of the time when they go out. In bars, guys don't even try to attempt to hit on her when she is with him, because they don't even pay attention to other people. Their attention is always on each other.

"That's not what it looks like. Trust me." He left with one last meaningful look in her direction. She looked down at her work; there was no way she could concentrate now. Her mind was reeling with thoughts about Arthur and their relationship. No, they were just friends. Who cares what anyone else thinks. It's their friendship. No one else gets a say in how they are with each other. And you know what? She wouldn't care if Arthur was in a relationship with someone else, he should go for it! He was an attractive man with a great personality. He could get any girl he wanted. So could she if she put her mind to it. They should both date.

That's it; she was going to find a new man. Maybe she could get one of the other guys to set her up. Scratch that, they don't have to know. She'd show them when she had a new boyfriend who would shock them by how in love with her he was. And she would love him back, she hoped.

At that moment the door of the warehouse opened and in walked Arthur, looking immaculate as always.

His eyes went straight to Ariadne and noticed her deep in thought, although not doing her work. He looked over to the other men to see if any of them noticed this. Eames glanced at Ariadne and back at Arthur, raising his eyebrow at him.

Eames must have said something to her, and she was now pretending to not make it look like it bothered her. But Arthur could read through the lines. He was now intrigued as to what Eames had said, he would have gone over and asked her, but Eames had a look on his face that stopped him from doing so. He would find out though.

That night, Ariadne decided to go out to find herself a guy, she had brought along her friend, Christina, as her right hand girl. Although she was now sitting at the bar alone because her so called friend had decided to go and make out with a guy she'd only just met. Even though that is sort of what she had planned on doing.

Waiting for a good guy to come along, she wondered if this really was a good idea. Ariadne knew she was only really doing it to prove a point that she hadn't got her heart set on just Arthur. This was all Eames' fault.

Just then, someone sat down at the bar next to her and she looked up at the guy. He was probably late-thirties, too old for her. Considering she was only twenty-five. He ordered a drink from the barman and then turned to her. "And she will have the same again, on me."

"No, it's fine. Thank you." This was a bad idea, she wanted to leave.

"I insist." She got a better look at the man, he wasn't the most attractive man in the world let's just put it that way. He had chestnut brown hair that looked like it was slowly receding; he was wearing a suit that looked like it had previously been owned by an elderly man who had smoked a pipe so much that the ash had burnt holes in it; he was pretty grubby.

He held out his hand for her to take, which she ignored by picking up her drink. "My name is Sean." He didn't even look phased by her rejection to his hand.

"Great." She shouldn't have come here.

"You're not going to tell me your name?" She could already tell that Sean was an annoying person, didn't he get the hint?

"Wasn't planning on it, no." She looked around the bar hoping to see Christina so that she had an excuse to leave.

"Oh, it's like that is it?" Yes it is dipshit, mind backing off now? "I like a feisty girl."

Judging by his age, he looked like he would like any type of girl, because he obviously wasn't getting any.

"Yeah, well I'm not interested." This guy was actually starting to repulse her.

"Well then why did you come to this bar alone then? Everyone comes her when they're after someone." What to say to that hey?

"I'm meeting someone actually." What? Now what was she going to say when no one actually turned up. He looked like the type of guy who would stick around just to humiliate her. She felt like breaking something on his face, preferably his nose.

"Oh, is there a boyfriend?" If there was a boyfriend, that would be his queue to stop hitting on her. "I can work with that."

He looked like he didn't believe that she had a boyfriend. Which was totally true.

"Yes there is actually." She was just digging the hole deeper now.

Sean leaned forward slightly and put his hand on her leg, which she immediately removed. "I don't believe you. You wouldn't be here otherwise."

She leaned backwards so he was further away, she didn't even try to mask the look of disgust now forming on her face. "Get off me, jerk. Leave me alone."

"Sorry I didn't realise I was bothering you." How could he not?

"Yeah well you are." It was getting blunt now.

"I guarantee I can show you a better time than anyone else in this bar." That had to be one of the grossest things she had ever heard. Didn't he get the picture?

"Just stop, please..."

Then a new voice interrupted. "Hey honey, sorry I'm late." She turned to look at the person and Sean did the same. "Work was crazy."

He bent down and kissed her passionately. Wow.

She didn't quite know what to do at first but then started to kiss him back.

What was that thing that Eames said about Arthur maybe liking someone else? Right now, it didn't seem so. But then again, he had kissed her once before as a distraction. She'd have to think about it later, because right now she was enjoying the kiss.

When Arthur pulled away, she carried on with his lie. "Oh no, it's fine. I'm just glad you're here now." There was a double meaning to her words that Arthur picked up on.

Arthur turned to Sean and said: "Thank you for keeping my girlfriend company."

Sean looked completely baffled. "Err... no, no problem." He managed to stutter out. He looked between the pair of them, confused. He obviously couldn't believe that she actually did have someone meeting her there, if only that were true.

Arthur took a hold of Ariadne's hand and she stood up, he led her out of the crowded bar and she gave Sean one last smug smile. He looked almost humiliated.

When they got outside she finally took in Arthur's appearance. He had his trademark slicked back hair, a three-piece suit which was no doubt designer; he had a smirk on his face which was absolutely adorable and his hand was casually in his pocket, as if the kiss hadn't even happened, whilst his other hand still held hers.

"Thank you for that. I actually don't know what I would have done." Ariadne was just about coming to terms with what had just happened.

Arthur laughed softly. "Don't worry about it. He looked like a jerk."

"Oh he was a jerk alright. If you hadn't of turned up, I think I might have thrown up... on him." She pulled a repulsed face.

He laughed again; she liked it when he laughed. "Well I think that definitely would have changed his opinion of you."

"Definitely." She agreed. At that point, she noticed that they were slowly walking towards his car.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride home." He offered. She didn't even think about Christina, she knew that the girl would be fine spending the night sucking some random guys face.

He opened the door for her and she climbed in. He had a very expensive car, obviously. This is Arthur we're talking about. It was more than likely that everything he owned was expensive. After all of these 'dream' jobs, he had more than enough money.

It didn't take long to drive to her apartment, and just as they pulled up outside, a thought came to her head. "Hey, why were you at that bar anyway?"

"Because I knew you were there and I didn't want you to do anything you would regret." She sent him a questioning look. "I spoke to Eames." Aah, that hit the spot.

"Oh..." She had no idea what to say to him, she wondered how much detail Eames had gone into.

"And you know what? Who cares what anyone thinks of our friendship?" Friendship. Eames obviously hadn't gone into too much detail. Maybe a little more would have been nicer.

"Yeah, you're right." She wasn't going to let any of this stop her, Ariadne and Arthur were great friends. Just because she might like him a little more than he liked her, that didn't mean they had to stop being friends. "Thanks again for earlier, I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled at him and stepped out of the car. "See you tomorrow Ari." He replied.

Eames was right, she couldn't let her heart be broken if Arthur found someone else. She would just try and ignore her feelings.

She did say 'try', but that didn't mean it would work...

To be continued...