Fire

❤️Cole's POV

Her voice was in my head the whole night. Kia was eerily similar to Gabriela and it just didn't sit right with me.

I was driving to the studio to see my dad. I sadly smiled. All I ever had was my dad. My mom died when I was five. I still miss her so much. I closed my eyes and my jaw stiffened. Parking my car, I walk out and into the building rubbing my temples. I look up to see Kia coming my way. I went past her and hid my face so she couldn't see me. Once I reached my dad, I gave him a hug.

"Hey. Where were you yesterday? I stopped by the house but I didn't see your car."

"Hello Cole, I know, I was busy with some old friends."

"Oh."

"So did you find her?"

Knowing that he was referring to Gabriela, I nodded.

"Yeah, she's pretty talented. I got some pictures of the new dresses she made."

"Let me see."

I showed it to him and he smiled.

"She really is talented. I want her. Her clothing should be everywhere."

"Okay, I'll tell her that."

I left him so he could direct and stood in the back against the wall. I watched as Kia emerged from her room and placed herself in the coffin. The scene was played nicely until I noticed the sparks coming from behind. One of the cords was burning up. I quickly scan the room for an extinguisher and yell out "fire" and everyone freezes. The man nearest to the cord saw the open flame and quickly backs away, breaking the glass and tried to take out the fire before it grew. Everyone starts to panic once the smoke starts to thicken and quickly use the exits. Kia, she's inside the coffin. I run towards it, open it up and pull her out. We run until we are outside safely. I turned her so that she faced me and gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked while placing her down on her feet, still holding onto her.

"Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you. What happened?" She said in between breaths.

"A cord was on fire," I reply.

When she pulled back a hint of light caught on her hair and I looked at it and saw that a piece of it was ginger. An image of Gabriela popped up in my head. My heart practically leaped out of my chest, If what I was thinking is right, I should shut my mouth if I know what's good for me. For her sake, I hope I'm wrong and that it was just the sun playing tricks on me. Yea, that's it, just playing tricks on me.

"Are you sure you're okay Kia?" I asked again.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Um, you can let go of me now please."

Kia looked very stiff in my grasp and I let her go.

"Kia!"

I look towards my left and I see my dad jogging towards us.

"Hon, are you alright? Cole, how about you?"

"I'm fine," said Kia and I at the same time.

My dad looked between the two of us and arched his eyebrows.

"Are we going back into the building or not?" I stated, interrupting the awkward silence.

"No, I'm letting everyone go home early today, I'm staying behind to find out how that rope caught on fire in the first place. You can go home too, Cole."

"Thanks, Jack. I'll see you next week then," said Kia, at barely more than a whisper.

She looked slightly pale and seemed as if she was shaking; as if someone threw her in cold water.

"Hey, let me walk you to your car."

"Oh, um, okay."

As we walked in silence across the parking lot towards her pink Bugatti Veyron. The image of her hair, well, the ginger part of it, just felt too real. I kept trying to put Gabriela's face together with Kia's but it just felt weird. I shouldn't be thinking about either of them at all.

When we reached her car, I waited for her to unlock it, and I opened the driver's side for her and shut it when she got in. I watched her drive away and deeply sighed while shaking my head. Oh, I hope for her sake that she isn't who I think she is.

❤️Gabriella's POV I rush to my house as fast as possible, wishing that I just stayed in or called in sick today. The minute I stepped into my house I look to the mirror hanging on the side on top of my piano and I dropped my keys at the sight of my hair. My real ginger hair was sticking out of my brown wig.

"Oh my God!"

❤️Cole's POV

I tried talking to her all week. You know just to ask if she was okay. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet so I kept quiet. She just avoided me as much as possible. I was at home walking down the hallway into the kitchen when I heard my dad on the phone.

"Yeah text, call, email all of them to get to the studio for a retake. We lost a lot of time...okay I'll see you then. Bye." And he hung up the phone.

I smiled, grabbed my keys, and left.

Kia would be there early to avoid me. I'll just be there early too. When I walked in, she was there just as I had known, sitting on a stool. I crept up behind her and gently put my hands on her shoulders. She jumped slightly and turned around, her eyes growing wide.

"You've been avoiding my calls. Why?"

"What? No, I'm not. How did you even get my contact anyway?" She said avoiding eye contact.

She turns around and crosses her arms, staring me down as if she's studying me.

"Never mind that, I have a question for you. You have been following me around for some time now, first at the red carpet event and now you're here at the set. Why?"

"First of all Mr. Davis, your director, is my dad."

"Yes, I know that-"

"I never told you that."

"Oh, I- well I was curious so I asked him."

"Yeah sure. Now you didn't answer my question, you are avoiding me. I've tried calling, texting, even emailing you to ask if you were okay, you seemed pretty much in shock of what happened." I said moving closer.

"I-I was busy. And I am usually not the type to pick up unknown numbers on my personal phone."

"Busy doing what?"

"That's none of your business."

"Oh, so I'll just think you weren't really busy,"

She stares me down and I smile at her giving her a crooked smile.

"Okay whatever, think what you want. Now if you'll excuse me I have a casket to be inside of."

She went around me and walked away and into her room.

I smirked as I watched her walk away. I then proceeded to check out the area where the flame was to make sure everything was in order before they started anything. As I bent down to examine the cord that caught on fire I frowned. It must have been cut. Shit. Someone planned this but who, and most importantly why? Why would someone-if it was anyone in the building at the time-go out of their way to cut up a cord and cause a fire? I got up from my crouched position and walked outside towards the security guard by the front door.

"Hey Cole, long time no see."

"Hey what's up Neil, hey, um quick question. Were there any visitors here yesterday by any chance?"

"Nah man, just the usual people. Why?"

"The cord that caught on fire last week, it was cut."

"Wait are you for real?"

"Yea, I hope to God I'm wrong but I think that someone did this on purpose and I plan to find out who it is."

"Whatever you're doing I'm in."

"Thanks, Neil. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay, later."

❤️Gabriella's POV

I placed myself into the casket, staring at the small opening they left for me because of the incident last week. I was mixed with emotions right now. I was frustrated, scared, tired, and exposed. I was supposed to live my life in peace, with no distractions. He, however, is a big distraction, and not to mention a very nosy one too. I hope for my sake that he didn't see my real hair color. Especially with my career, this whole thing could turn into a scandal. And I don't like drama. Not even in movies or shows, they just give me anxiety. Ever since that day in middle school, I not only told myself I would never sing again but I also couldn't even talk to a crowd of people. Which meant simple school presentations also. It just brought me right back to how I felt on that day. See, I loved to sing as a kid and many people loved it too. So in middle school, they egged me on to compete in the talent show. I will always remember that day clearly. There were three shows, one for each grade. During the first show, the crowd was so loud to the point where I couldn't hear the track for my song, so I finished after the music ended which was terribly awkward. During the second show, the same thing happened, only I finished singing before the music ended. Yikes. But the third show was the most traumatizing. I decided to sing without my track and yeah I did well. But when we were all on stage for the awards, The announcer called my name for first place. Everything inside of me was telling me that she was wrong and for me not to go up. I listened to my gut until I noticed that the other contestants along with the audience as starting dead at me. One of them nudged me forward and I slowly walked up to claim my trophy, but before I could, I saw the looks on the judge's faces. They looked confused and suddenly they started talking amongst themselves. They called the announcer back and the whole thing turned into basically the same thing that happened when Steve Harvey announced the wrong Miss Universe. Anyways t was really embarrassing, a bunch of kids bullied me over it for like a good week. But look at where I am now. I face my fear, yes, but every now and then I get little flashbacks from the scarred memory and go back into my little bubble of comfort and certainty.

We finished up fairly quickly and before I could even get a chance to walk out the door Cole stopped right in front of me, putting himself between the door and me.

"What do you want now." I breathed out.

"Just a quick question. Hear me out."

"Fine, but you're walking with me."

"So, I was checking out the cord that caught on fire last week and, I think it was cut. Someone cut it on purpose and I'm trying to figure out why. I think that somebody is out to get you."

"Why just me though?"

"Well it can be other people being targeted also but, I checked with Neil and we haven't had any visitors that day, which means its someone from the inside, and since you don't look like a person who would sabotage anyone, whoever it is must be coming after you or a specific amount of you. I'll find out after I talk to the rest of the cast."

"My best friend would love you." she snickered. "I'm sure it was an accident. Are you sure the rope was cut?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Do you have any enemies, people who don't like you, a creepy fan, stalker?"

"I don't think so, I hate drama so I wouldn't want to be tied to any of those things. And why would someone hate me? Well besides my parents, I haven't done or said anything wrong to anyone. Ever. I'm way too nice."

"Yes, I know that but are you sure no one around here or someone that is close to you doesn't envy you for your job, money, or any other thing?"

"Cole, I am single, only own one house and car, I spend my money on others before myself, and I barely take vacations. I don't think anyone who has a right mind would envy my hectic life."

"Well, please just take my advice and be careful, wherever you are, please."

"I'm always careful."

"Okay then, good."

"Um, I have to meet with someone right now so, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah."

"Yeah sure, um, have fun."

"I will. Bye."

I got into my car and left for the coffee shop to meet Kemberly.

"There you are. I was just about to call you."

"Hey Kem, I got caught up. You wouldn't believe what Cole told me." I said as I mindlessly circled the top of my coffee.

"Ooh, yes the tea, spill everything."

"Okay so, I was about to leave and he called out me asking me if I had any enemies or stalkers, things like that. And of course, I told him no, you know me better than anyone else, I'm not the one to be envied or anything like that. I don't like putting myself out there."

"Yea I know that, so then what happened?"

"Well, before I continue you have to know what happened before. So last week, I was inside the casket for my death scene right, and all of a sudden I'm being grabbed out of it and I'm running out the building. Apparently, there was a cord that caught on fire, and if Cole hadn't dragged me out I would've been barbeque. But anyway, I think with all that running and snatching, my wig must've been taken out of place and so when I walked into my house and took one look at myself I wanted to cry myself to sleep. My real hair was sticking out of my damn wig."

"NO. Did he see it!"

"I don't think so. If he did I'm sure he would have said something. But then again, even I would've been too scared to say something."

"If he did see anything, at least he's smart enough to keep it to himself. You a big and continually rising celebrity. If this gets out who knows what they could do to you. You could be tried for death or something. I've heard stories you know, at my job and I can't tell you enough of how I am genuinely scared for you but at this point, you're basically in too deep to back out now."

"Yea I know, I'm sorry for putting you through this."

"It's okay! we both got you into this mess in the first place when we decided that you should live out your dreams. We didn't know this was gonna happen."

"I wish it was never a thing, to begin with. It really sucks."

"Same. But hey don't worry we'll figure something out. We always do."

"Yea, we do. Thanks for this. You have to come over soon. We need a night out."

"Of course! I'd never pass up a chance to go out with you."

"Mmhm, yea I know, come on imma walk you to your car."

"Thanks. I'll text or facetime you when I get an available spot and well figure out what we wanna do."

"Okay, I'll see you soon okay?"

"Yea, bye G."

"See ya Kem."

I watched as she left and started to head towards my car. Before I could open the door to get inside I felt a tap on my shoulder and immediately whirled around to face the person.

"Hey, I'm sorry to bother you but someone told me to give you this note."

With that, he handed it over and left as quickly as he came.

Confused and really tired I decided to open it when I got home.

"You think you're all that but you really aren't. You. Are. Nothing."

I read those words over and over again. The more I look at it the more I start to panic. I quickly reach for my phone and call Kem.

"You missed me that bad huh?"

"Someone just gave me a note-"

"Wait what?"

"It says that I think that I'm all that but I'm really not. It also says that I am nothing."

"Kemmy I think someone knows, you think that Cole said something? No, I don't think he would. He seemed genuinely concerned about my safety. Kem I'm freaking out here."

"Hey calm down it's okay, we'll get through this remember. I'll stop by your house tomorrow after work and see if I can find out who wrote the note. Who gave you the note anyway?"

"It was a stranger. He was tall, had dark blond hair, blue eyes, kinda looks like Ken if you ask me."

"Lol, so someone must have paid him or something. But I need you to take the note and put it inside a bag for me when I stop by."

"Okay sure, I really hope we find out whoever this is I don't want to live my life watching every corner, afraid that someone is out there watching my every move."

"Well, for now, make sure you don't do anything that could cause this situation to escalate. And don't tell anyone else what is going on until we know whos on your side and who isn't."

"Wait before you go though, I think you should meet Cole, figure him out and he claims he wants to help me and who knows he might have some info that might be valuable to you."

"Okay I got it, you can talk to him and set up a day where we can sit down and talk."

"Thanks, Kem, I owe you a big one."

"You bet your ass you do," she said with a laugh. "But don't worry we'll find out who this bitch or jerk is."

"I'll talk to you later k?"

"Yeah bye!"

I sigh, end the call, and close my eyes as I felt my teeth rubbing against each other. God, I need a drink. I walk towards my wine collection, grab the biggest glass I own, and pour myself some up to the brim. I walk out of my room and go to my piano. I paused and looked at the lyrics that were sitting in front of me. Huh, what I am going through. I set down my glass on top of the piano start to play and sing along.

"I know it's not easy,

To let go of the pain

I know it's not easy,

It's stuck inside your brain.

I know it's not easy,

To let go of the past,

I know it's not easy,

But remember it while it lasts

You can steal my crown,

We can fool around,

But don't play with my heart,

Don't make a sound,

You're all I want,

And you're all I need,

But don't make me a fool,

Baby please,

I know it's not easy...."