Falling for the Fire

Chapter 18

I woke up the next morning feeling just as confused as I had the night before.

Avery and I had talked for a while longer before she left, and it made me feel a little bit better, but I still didn't know how I was feeling about everything with Brooklyn.

It was like I'd seen a completely different person last night, and I liked that person a lot more.

I also couldn't help but think about my dad, and wonder why the hell Owen would've ever felt the need to tell Eliana about him. None of it made sense.

As I was laying in bed, letting my thoughts run wild, my phone went off next to me. I squinted at the screen and tried to read the message from the unfamiliar number.

"Hey, it's Brooklyn, just wanted to check and make sure you're doing okay."

I scowled at my phone, trying to figure out how she would've gotten my number. Maybe something from work had it listed...but there was nothing that I could think of.

"How did you get my number?" I sent back.

I realized how bitchy I had sounded after she'd just gone out of her way to check on me, and I quickly sent another message.

"Sorry, I'm doing fine I guess, thanks."

"I made Eliana ask Owen for it," she responded.

I smiled slightly to myself, thinking about how pissed off she must have been when Brooklyn forced her to get my information.

My phone went off again and I looked down to read the message.

"That's good though, see you tomorrow."

Well okay, I guess that's all we were going to discuss.

                                       ***

I went into work on Monday morning feeling extremely anxious about everything. I knew that I needed to try and talk to Brooklyn, and I had no idea how she'd act towards me after what had happened at the party.

I also didn't want to deal with Eliana. I wished there was a way that she could just be done working on this project, but I knew that was unlikely.

I wanted to get the conversation with Brooklyn over with, but I was worried that it would derail the entire day if I did it first thing.

Both her and Eliana were already sitting in the conference room when I walked in, and neither of them looked up from their work.

"Morning," Brooklyn said dryly.

Well at least she gave me something. Elle on the other hand, didn't say a word.

It was probably better for both of us this way, I didn't care if I never spoke to her again after what she'd said.

We all stayed together in one group for most of the day, and I had partially planned it that way on purpose so I could avoid being alone with Brooklyn.

She was acting fine towards me, but it really wasn't much different than how she usually was. I wasn't sure if I should've been concerned by that or not.

When the day was almost over and people started to leave, I pulled Brooklyn aside.

"Can you stop in my office for a minute before you leave?" I asked her.

She looked irritated that I had even asked, but she nodded, "yeah, just give me a minute and I'll be right there."

I nodded back at her and walked down the hallway, taking a deep breath as I went.

I put my things away, and heard a knock on my door a few minutes later.

"Yeah come in," I said as I looked up at Brooklyn, "you can shut that behind you."

She stepped in and pushed the door shut as she watched me carefully.

"What's this about?" She asked.

I came around to the front of my desk and leaned against it, trying to gather the courage to ask her everything that I needed to.

"I thought we should probably talk after what happened this weekend," I cautiously said.

"It's not a big deal," she said as she waved her hand dismissively, "I don't really like to talk about my dad though, so I'd appreciate it if it didn't get brought up again."

"Well I - I didn't exactly mean that part," I told her, "but yeah, I get that."

"What part did you mean then?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Really?" I questioned her as I raised my eyebrows in surprise, "you don't know - "

"Ariana just ask me what you want to ask me," she cut in.

"Brooklyn, we almost kissed," I said, "when are you going to stop acting like this shit isn't happening? I can't really ignore it anymore."

"I'm not acting like it's not happening," she insisted, "I'm just telling you that it isn't a big deal."

"Right," I laughed, "totally not a big deal, not at all."

"I don't know what the hell you want me to say," she sighed, "I don't know why you keep trying to talk about this when there's nothing going on."

"Why I keep - Brooklyn I've only said something to you twice," I said in an irritated tone as I stood up straighter, "it's not like I'm constantly bugging you about it."

"I just - I can't not know," I continued.

She brought her hand up to her face and shook her head slightly as she rubbed over her eyes.

"This," she said as she looked up at me, "this is why I said you drive me crazy."

"What?" I scowled, "what do you -"

Before I could finish my thought, Brooklyn closed the distance between us and put her hand on the side of my face, her lips nearing mine. She only paused for a moment as her dark eyes searched over my face for any sign of reluctance.

"Brooklyn..." I trailed off, almost in a whisper.

Her thumb slowly trailed over to the bottom of my chin, and she turned my head to the side. Her mouth barely grazed across my cheek, and it sent a shiver through my body.

When I turned back to face her, she was still watching me intently, like she didn't know if she should continue or not.

"Stop me now if you don't want me to do this," she said quietly.

My eyes briefly flitted down to her lips, and then back up to meet her gaze.

"I'm not going to stop you," I responded.

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