Falling for the Fire

Chapter 38

*Brooklyn's POV

"Oh fuck," I muttered under my breath.

After Ariana's mom had just dropped that bomb on her, I felt like all that I could do was look on in horror.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going through right now, especially after learning why she hadn't wanted to talk to her mother.

"You - what?" Ari asked as her mouth hung open in shock.

"This isn't how I wanted to tell you honey," her mom said, "but I had to make sure that you knew, and you wouldn't -"

"It hasn't even been a full fucking year!" She shouted back.

I could hear the pain and anger in her voice, and I wanted to help, but I had no idea what to do.

"If you would just -" her mom started.

"No," Ari cut in, "you need to leave, get the hell away from my house."

Her voice cracked again as she turned and walked inside, slamming the door behind her.

I stood there wide-eyed, glancing between the door and the person that was still standing in her front yard.

"I'm going to uh...yeah I'm going to check on her," I said, "you should probably listen and just leave."

I rushed inside, hoping that I could figure out something, anything that would help Ari.

"Hey, are you - " I was stopped short when I realized I didn't see her.

"Ari?" I shouted.

She didn't answer, but I could hear noise coming from the kitchen, so I made my way there.

When I walked around the corner, Ariana was hunched over the counter, and she was breathing heavily.

"Ari, are you okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me, and I could very quickly tell that the answer was no. She shook her head in response, and it sounded like she was hyperventilating.

She fell back against the wall that was behind her, and her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head. It looked like she was about to pass out.

Her body began to slide down the wall that she was leaning on, and I rushed over and grabbed on to her.

I guided her down on to the floor so she was sitting with her back against the wall, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

She was still almost gasping for air, and I took ahold of her hand that was resting in her lap.

"Ari," I said quietly, "look at me."

She met my gaze, and her red, bloodshot eyes were a stark contrast to her ghostly white face.

"Take a deep breath, okay? Slow down," I told her.

I slowly breathed in through my nose before exhaling out of mouth, trying to guide her to do the same.

I felt her hand trembling in mine, and I squeezed it tightly as her breathing started to steady at least a little bit.

I nodded at her, encouraging her to continue the slow deep breaths as I ran my thumb over her knuckles.

"You're okay," I said to her, "keep breathing."

I had no idea what exactly was happening with her, but it was kind of scary.

She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, and I watched as some of the color seemed to come back to her face.

We sat there in silence for a few moments, and I could feel her breathing becoming more normal.

I could see the tears that were starting to run down her cheeks, and I felt absolutely terrible. I didn't know what else I could do to help.

I let go of her hand and reached up to gently wipe them off of her face.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.

She shook her head as she sat up and looked at me, and when she spoke her voice sounded shaky.

"No I - I think I'm okay."

I nodded in response, but she didn't sound very convincing. I glanced up at the counter that we were near and I saw her phone sitting there.

I should call Avery, I thought to myself. If anyone would know how to help Ariana right now it would be her.

"I'll be right back, just stay right there, okay?" I said.

She looked straight ahead with a dazed look in her eyes, but she nodded.

I grabbed her phone off of the counter, making sure that she didn't see me take it, and I stepped outside to call Avery.

From what Ari had told me, she wasn't the biggest fan of our little arrangement, which wasn't extremely surprising. I was hoping that she would be okay with me calling her like this.

"Hey Ari," she answered.

"Avery, hey, it's Brooklyn actually," I said hesitantly.

"Brooklyn?" She questioned, "is everything okay?"

"Uh, I don't - I'm not sure," I told her, "Ariana's mom showed up at her house and she...I think she might have had a panic attack or something?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and I wondered if I'd said the wrong thing.

"Shit," she sighed, "yeah she - that's happened before."

"It has?" I asked, sounding more surprised than I meant to.

"Yeah," Avery said, "not a lot, but I've seen it a couple of times."

"I wish I could come over, but I'm out of town until tomorrow," she continued.

"I'll stay with her," I quickly said, "what else should I do?"

"You're going to stay?" She questioned.

I knew why she was skeptical, Ari and I never stayed at each other's houses, but this was different.

"Yes," I said, not thinking twice about it.

"Okay," she responded, "well I'm glad someone will be with her, I don't really think there's anything else you can do unfortunately."

"Alright," I sighed, "I better get back inside then, I'll talk to you later."

"Brooklyn," she quickly responded before I could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling and letting me know," she said.

"Yeah of course," I told her.

I hung up the phone and went back inside to find Ari still sitting on the floor of the kitchen. She had her knees bent up in front of her with her arms wrapped around them.

I sat down next to her and rested my hand on her leg as she looked up at me.

"What were you doing?" She asked.

"I called Avery...I hope that's okay," I told her as I handed her phone back.

"You didn't need to worry her," she said as she shook her head.

"Sorry," I responded, "you're kind of worrying me, and I didn't know what to do."

"I'm fine, and it's fine," she insisted, "you just didn't need to."

"Are you - are you feeling any better?" I asked hesitantly.

"I think so," she sighed, "but I guess I kind of ruined our night, didn't I?"

"No you didn't," I shook my head, "we can just order dinner or something."

"Yeah okay," she said, "I guess that will work."

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