Falling for the Fire

Chapter 27

When I got inside, I immediately went back to my bedroom and changed my clothes before flopping down on my bed.

Avery came in a few minutes later and sat down next to me, patting my leg reassuringly.

"Alright," she sighed, "tell me what happened."

I sat up and looked at her, feeling my eyes start to burn as I tried to hold back any tears from falling. I was so frustrated, and I had been such an idiot.

"My fucking mom," I said, "she showed up at the event we were at today, I don't even know how she found it."

"And you haven't talked to her since -"

"No," I quickly responded as I shook my head, "and I don't want to."

"So what was she even trying to do?" Avery asked.

"She wanted to talk to me about her and Jack," I scoffed, "the fucking nerve of that woman."

"Jesus," Avery responded, "no wonder you're upset."

"But..." she continued, "you still probably shouldn't have - "

"I know," I cut in, holding my hand up to stop her, "I shouldn't have tried to drive, or just shouldn't have driven like a maniac."

I buried my head in my pillow and groaned, wishing that I could start this day over and try again.

"Wait," I said abruptly as I sat up again, "you didn't tell Brooklyn, did you?"

"No, of course not," Avery said, "but for what it's worth...she did seem genuinely concerned."

"Right," I laughed, "I'm sure she did."

"I'm serious," she said, "and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have driven you home and everything if she wasn't worried."

"Ave, she accused me of calling her a slut and then said sleeping with me was a mistake," I reminded her, "I don't think she really cares about me."

"She doesn't have to want to fuck you to be concerned," Avery said with a laugh, "there is such a thing as being friends, you know?"

"Yeah somehow I don't see that happening either," I told her, "but I guess it was a good thing that she was there today."

"Or you probably would've gotten yourself killed driving like you were from the sounds of it," she added.

"I know," I sighed.

We sat there for a moment, and I laid back and put my arms over my face.

"Are you going to talk to your mom?" Avery asked hesitantly.

I jerked my arms down and looked over at her.

"No," I said, "definitely not planning on it."

"What if -"

"Avery," I quickly stopped her, "don't push it."

"Sorry," she mumbled, "you're right."

She was the only one that knew why my relationship with my mom was so strained, so she should be the last one questioning my decision.

"What about Brooklyn?" She asked.

"What about her?" I questioned.

"I mean...are you going to talk to her about all of this?"

"Uhh no," I responded, "I barely know her, I'm not going to tell her about something like this."

"I didn't necessarily mean about everything with your mom," she clarified, "just about what happened in general I guess, with her calming you down and driving you home and stuff."

"I wouldn't really say that she calmed me down," I said, "I think you're making more out of this than it really is...she didn't do that much."

"Maybe it's not a big deal but uh, pretty sure you would've crashed the shit out of your car if she hadn't been there," Avery said as she gave me a stern look.

"Yeah fine," I admitted, "that part is true...I guess I should probably give her a little more of a thank you."

***

When I woke up to get ready for work the next morning, I had more missed calls from my mom. Apparently she wasn't giving up yet.

My eyes were swollen and red, and I did my best to cover it up.

I went straight back to my office when I got in, not even bothering to look in the conference room first. I was embarrassed about what had happened yesterday, and I didn't want to face Brooklyn quite yet.

I set my things down on my desk, and realized that there was a cup of coffee sitting there with a sticky note next to it.

"Hope you're feeling better today."

I smiled to myself as I picked it up and took a sip, but it was still a little confusing. I didn't know why Brooklyn was deciding to be so nice to me now. She'd been fine since we'd slept together, but this was different.

I decided to try and talk with her before we started working on anything, hoping it would make things easier. I stepped out of my office and poked my head into the conference room where almost everyone was sitting already.

"Hey Brooklyn," I said, "can we work in my office today?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she responded as she pushed her chair back.

Eliana gave both of us a suspicious look, but she was the least of my worries right now.

I held the door open for her and shut it behind us as she sat down in the chair at my desk.

She was writing something down in her notebook as I took the seat across from her, noticing that she looked as unbothered as usual.

"Thanks for the coffee," I said.

She looked up at me and a slight grin came across her face, "yeah, no problem."

"I um, I owe you an apology for yesterday," I told her.

"No you don't Ari," she shook her head.

"I definitely do," I insisted, "I kind of almost got us killed...I was an idiot, and I'm sorry."

"Well you - it's obvious you're going through something," she said, "I'm not going to fault you too much for what happened."

"Why are you doing all of this?" I asked, giving her a thoughtful look.

"All of what?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow at me.

"Driving me home, buying me coffee," I started, "I don't know."

"You really don't think very highly of me, do you?" She teased.

"You know that's not what I meant Brooklyn," I sighed.

"I know," she said as she leaned forward on to my desk, "but I can be nice...sometimes, as hard as that might be to believe."

I couldn't help but grin as I looked down at the cup of coffee in front of me.

"And since I - " Brooklyn paused momentarily before she continued on, "well since we've had similar things happen to us recently, I just know it's a lot to process I guess."

"Yeah, it is," I nodded, "thank you though, I appreciate it."

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