Falling for the Fire

Chapter 29

*Ariana's POV

Later the next week, Brooklyn and I were on our way to the park again to look at a few things for our event.

I'd reluctantly agreed to let her drive this time after what had happened the last time we did this.

"Hopefully we don't run into any unexpected guests today," I told her.

"You want me to fight her off if we do see her?" Brooklyn joked as we pulled into the parking lot.

"Oh yeah, please do," I said, "I'd love to see that actually."

"Okay I'm on it," she responded.

I shook my head at her and smiled as she put the car into park.

There wasn't currently an event going on this time, but there was some set up going on for what was next.

We tried to map out a few more things now that there wasn't so much going on.

Our festival was inching closer, and the feeling of how much we still had to do was making me nervous.

"Hey, Ari," I heard Brooklyn say.

I faced her as I shook my head and tried to focus.

"Yeah?"

"You good?" She asked, "we need to go look at how they're putting up that stage."

She nodded towards a group of workers in front of us, and I followed after her.

"Yeah, all good," I said, "just stressed."

"We're fine," she told me, "I think seeing this set up should help a lot."

"The event they're working on right now is going to have the same number of stages that we are," she continued, "so we can kind of see if we like how they have it laid out or not."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"I've been trying to tell you that I know what I'm doing," she teased.

"Oh whatever," I grinned.

After working together for weeks, it seemed like Brooklyn had finally figured out how to be good at what she was doing without being a bitch to me.

I walked forward towards the stage that was being set up, and Brooklyn came up behind me.

"Quit stressing so much," she said, giving my shoulders a squeeze, "we have plenty of time left."

"It doesn't feel like it," I mumbled.

Although her reassuring touch did give me a tiny bit of comfort, I couldn't admit that.

My feelings towards Brooklyn were all over the place, and her being this nice to me lately wasn't helping at all.

I wandered closer to where the group of men were putting together a large stage as Brooklyn stood back and talked to a few people that appeared to be in charge.

I still felt like I was in way over my head with all of this, but having her around was definitely helping. I didn't want to admit to that either, but it was true. Brooklyn very clearly knew what she was doing, and she was damn good at it.

I got lost in my thoughts as I continued to look around, and I didn't really pay attention to where exactly I was going.

I walked past a large tree just as I heard a loud noise, and it took me too long to register what was happening.

Before I could move out of the way, I heard Brooklyn hurrying towards me.

"Ariana, look out!" She yelled.

I felt her hands grab on to my arms just below my shoulders and spin me away from the stage. Her adrenaline carried us a little too far, and my back slammed into the tree that I had just walked by.

"Ow, what the fu-"

Before I could finish my sentence, a large beam came slamming down to the ground right where I had just been standing. I jumped slightly as a gasp escaped from my mouth and my heart pounded against my chest.

Brooklyn winced in front of me at the sound, and her grip on my arms tightened as she moved in closer. I watched as her chest rose and fell rapidly, and she didn't make any move to back up.

Her gaze met mine, and neither one of us could look away. I felt a nervous flutter in my stomach as her brown eyes watched me closely.

The tension hung thick between us before she finally spoke.

"I - sorry, I didn't mean to..."

She nodded towards the tree that I was still leaning against.

"No it's - I'm fine," I stammered.

"Sorry about that, you ladies okay?" One of the workers asked, nearly making me jump again.

"Yeah," Brooklyn said, her eye contact never faltering, "we're good, thank you though."

I felt her thumb trail back and forth over my arm, and I don't even think she realized that she was doing it.

"I really wish you'd stop trying to get yourself killed," Brooklyn said in a quiet but playful tone.

"Seems like it only happens when I'm with you," I retorted with a soft grin.

"I -" she started to respond as she scowled, but decided to rethink her words, "I guess that is kind of true lately, isn't it?"

I nodded back at her, "but you're also the one who keeps saving me, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much."

"That's also true," she grinned, "are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm positive," I said, "might have a broken back but that's it, no big deal."

A flash of concern came over her face before she realized that I was obviously kidding.

"I was a little aggressive, wasn't I?" She asked.

"You were," I nodded, "but it's okay, I swear I'm fine...and better than I would've been if that thing would've fallen on me."

I nodded towards the metal beam that was still lying on the ground not far behind us.

"And besides," I continued, "I know you have a thing for throwing people against walls."

The comment had just kind of come out, and I immediately worried that Brooklyn wouldn't be amused by it.

She raised an eyebrow at me as her eyes darkened, and I was hoping that she couldn't tell how fast my heart was beating.

"Didn't expect that type of comment from you," she said with a smirk.

"You don't know me very well," I shrugged.

She gave me a questioning look as I glanced down at her hands that were still holding on to me. I'd almost forgotten that we were standing in the middle of the park with quite a few people around.

Brooklyn caught me looking at my arms that were in her grip, and she quickly let go.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's fine," I responded quietly, still feeling like I was under her trance.

She took a reluctant step back and cleared her throat.

"Maybe we should go back now," she said.

"Yeah..." I nodded, "I think we have everything that we need."

The silence that hung between us was more uncomfortable now as we walked back towards her car.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking after the tense moment between us, and I honestly wasn't sure how I was feeling either.

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