Falling for the Fire

Chapter 16

"Ariana, please just hold on for a second," Owen said as he walked after me in the parking lot.

"Why Owen?" I asked as I suddenly turned around and faced him, "so you can explain to me why you told the bitch that you cheated on me with about my dead father??"

"No I - I just, I'm sorry," he mumbled.

He reached out and tried to put his hand on my arm to comfort me, and I quickly pushed it away.

"Don't," I snapped, "I don't want to hear it, I need you to leave me alone."

He sighed as he rubbed his hand over his eyes, but he finally nodded. I stood there and watched him go back inside before turning around and continuing to walk through the parking lot.

I made my way over to the opposite side of it and sat down on the edge of a large raised flower bed. I felt the familiar stinging in my eyes of tears threatening to fall, and I tried to hold them back.

I didn't have much success, and I eventually gave in as I buried my face in my hands.

My dad had passed away less than a year ago, and Owen was one of the few people who actually knew about it. The fact that he had told Eliana for some reason was absolutely sickening.

If him cheating on me wasn't enough of a betrayal, this would definitely do it.

I took a deep breath in, trying to pull myself together, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I quickly sat up and tried to shrug it off.

"Owen I told you to fucking leave me al -"

My breath caught in my throat when I turned around and realized that it was Brooklyn that was standing next to me, not Owen.

I wiped at the tears on my cheeks and quickly looked away.

"Sorry if I scared you," she said, "can I sit?"

"No Brooklyn," I shook my head, "I can't deal with anything else right now, I don't need shit from you too about whatever this is."

"I'm not - that's not why I came to find you," she said.

"Then what do you want?" I asked.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she said.

"Give me a break," I scoffed, "don't act like you care."

"Ariana," she said in a quieter voice, "I'm being serious."

I looked over at her and saw the sincerity in her eyes as she sat down next to me, and I sighed.

"Okay, then why do you care?" I asked her, "because none of this makes sense."

"I um - " she paused and cleared her throat, sounding like she was nervous.

I furrowed my brow and gave her a confused look, I'd never seen her act like this before.

"You what?" I questioned.

She sat there for a moment looking down at the ground, and I waited for her to go on.

"My dad," she finally said as her eyes met mine, "I've lost my dad too, so I - I can relate I guess, that's why I came to check on you."

Her face fell slightly as she told me, and I suddenly felt bad for trying to get her to leave.

"I - what? You have?" I stammered as I wiped more tears away from my face.

She nodded at me before looking down again.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I shouldn't have - "

"No," she quickly cut in, "you don't need to apologize."

A silence fell between us, and I couldn't keep the tears from continuing to fall.

I hadn't cried like this in a long time, and I was embarrassed that it was happening in front of Brooklyn.

I heard her rummaging around in her purse, and she held a tissue out in front of me.

"Thank you," I mumbled as I took it from her.

I glanced over and saw that she had also taken one for herself, and she discreetly wiped at the side of her face.

"Eliana is a bitch for saying that by the way," she told me, "I don't know why she felt the need to do that."

All that I could do at this point was nod in agreement as Brooklyn watched me. I had gotten to the point where my crying was making it hard for me to catch my breath, and my embarrassment grew.

I tried to take a deep breath, but it didn't do much to help.

I leaned my elbows against my knees and let my head fall into my hands again, this was miserable.

A moment later, the feeling of Brooklyn's hand on my thigh startled me. I knew that she was trying to comfort me, but it had caught me off guard.

I slowly looked up at her and she pulled it away.

"Sorry," she said, "I was just trying to -"

"I know," I cut in, "it's okay."

Her hand was resting next to mine, and she ran a comforting thumb along the back of it. This was obviously a side of Brooklyn that I'd never seen before, but it made sense that something like this would bring it out of her.

"When?" I abruptly asked her.

"What?" She responded as she gave me a confused look.

"When did you - when did your dad pass away?" I asked.

"Oh," she sighed, "about a year ago."

"Mine too," I nodded, "a little less than a year."

"It sucks," she said in response, "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy...not even you."

I looked over to see her giving me a soft grin, and I couldn't help but smile at least a little bit.

"Wow," I said, "well thank you for that."

"I um, I know this is going to sound weird coming from me," Brooklyn started, "but can I give you a hug? I didn't want to just - after, well you know..."

I got just a little bit of pleasure out of seeing her squirm like this, but she was still being sweet.

I looked over at her and nodded, and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against her.

"I realize that we haven't exactly been very good at working together so far," she said quietly, "but if you ever need to talk...I'm here if you want to."

"Thank you," I responded as I felt her arm fall.

I sat back slightly, but she made no move to lean away.

Her dark eyes were boring into mine, and I suddenly felt my stomach flutter.

Brooklyn leaned forward, just barely tilting her head down towards me.

I felt like I was back in the bar on the first night that we met, when I tried to tell myself not to let this happen.

And just like that night, it didn't seem like I was going to listen. I felt the sexual tension radiating between us as I inched closer.

She rested her hand fully on top of mine, and just as our lips were about to meet, a bright pair of headlights flashed in front of us.

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