Sparks Like Ours

by Melissa Brayden

  “Too late. I have to enjoy this. A major breakthrough has happened. So many questions have been answered.” She sat taller. “Oh! Wait till the surf rags get ahold of this.”

  “There’s not anything to get ahold of yet. And if there is, they’re not getting it. It was one thing to have fun with us when it wasn’t real, but it feels different now somehow. I feel the need to protect it. Protect her.”

  Holly nodded. “Did you hear yourself?”

  Elle shifted in the chair to so she could see Holly. “What?”

  “You just said it was real.”

  Elle nodded, and felt herself drift back to a stolen moment in her kitchen when the world felt right for the first time. “I guess time will tell.”

  Chapter Ten

  Gia loved the way the small fire on the beach danced in an unpredictable pattern. She glanced across it at the smiling faces of her friends, all gathered for Autumn’s big reveal in a jumble of anticipation and excitement. And what better way for them to celebrate the news than with a beach fire? One of their favorite longstanding traditions. First, as always, they’d dined on steak à la Hadley, straight from her trusty hibachi grill, and chatted as the sun disappeared beyond the water line. Between the grill and the beach fire, they were breaking all the important Venice Beach rules. But they were careful enough with the fire, and it didn’t hurt that Gia had made friends with the local cops, who happened to be fans and generally looked the other way.

  Wrapped in a blue hoodie and cradling a beer in both hands, Gia couldn’t wait to find out what kind of small folks they’d be meeting in just a handful of months. In fact, she’d been counting the hours until they found out, a detail she didn’t admit freely, because those kinds of bursts of emotion were best left to Hadley. However, the energy that floated playfully in the salty air around them had Gia’s spirits high and her heart full. This was her family, and it was growing! This made it a big night for all of them.

  “Are we taking bets?” Taylor asked with a grin, snuggling farther beneath the blanket around her shoulders. “Because I’ve been feeling like this is a pair of boys from the beginning, and I’m known for killer intuition.”

  Hadley’s eyes lit up. “Two little boys in caps and bowties will cause my heart to burst. I won’t be able to take it.”

  “We wouldn’t blame you,” Isabel said.

  Autumn placed a hand on her tummy, from where she sat cross-legged near the fire for optimum warmth. “I don’t know, guys. We might be dealing with one of each. Remember they’re likely not identical. We transferred two embryos.”

  Taylor hugged herself. “I love that you guys don’t know, either.”

  “Nope,” Autumn said. “I handed over the sealed envelope the doctor gave us. Only the bakery knows what was inside. I get that pink cake and blue cake is clichéd, but for clarity, that’s what we’re dealing with today. I considered going with green and yellow to be politically correct, but with pregnancy brain, I didn’t want to confuse myself.”

  Gia waved her off. “No judgment here.”

  “Girls,” Kate said. “Just to break our hearts, and make us worry for them. They’re gonna be girls. Just wait.”

  “Now I’m picking out their swimsuits,” Hadley said, staring up at the stars. “You guys are killing me!”

  Gia laughed. “I think we have to know already or risk losing Had. Where are the clichéd cupcakes? Is it time?”

  Kate picked up a foil-covered tray prepared by the bakery up the street. “Yep. I think we’re there.” She moved around the outside of the circle, handing out little cupcakes with chocolate frosting. “Two for everybody. One with chocolate icing, one with vanilla.”

  “I’m going to die,” Hadley said. “We’re moments away, but I’m going to die before we get there.”

  “You won’t die.” Autumn laughed as Hadley fanned the side of her face even though it was freezing out. “How are you more nervous than me?”

  “Because she’s Hadley,” Isabel supplied. “I’m pretty sure she might shoot up into the stars at any moment, which is why I’m staying the hell over here.”

  “Mock me all you want,” Hadley said, gleefully raising a cupcake in each hand. “This is a huge moment!”

  “Okay, ready?” Kate asked the group, who nodded back. “Chocolate first. On the count of three, take a bite. One, two, two and a half…”

  “Hurry,” Autumn called out.

  “Three!”

  In unison, six women bit into their chocolate cupcakes and began screaming through mouthfuls of pink cake.

  “It’s a girl!” Hadley squealed, leaping to her feet and turning in a circle, as if not quite sure how else to express herself.

  Autumn laughed through sentimental tears, meeting Kate’s gaze. “We’re going to have a daughter.” Kate kissed her in response.

  “Oh, man,” Gia said, shaking her head in disbelief. “A tiny surfer chick.”

  “Congratulations!” Isabel and Taylor yelled in unison, still scarfing the cupcake. As the chatter picked up, and they all talked over one another in a celebratory flutter, Autumn held up her hands.

  “Wait. Don’t forget, we have one more.”

  As if programmed, everyone fell into silence and focused on the vanilla iced cupcakes. “You ready?” Autumn asked Kate, who nodded happily back.

  Autumn turned to the group. “One, two, and three!”

  A burst of blue greeted Gia as she took a tentative bite. Her heart filled and she grinned at her friends.

  “Oh my God!” Hadley said to her cupcake. “You’re a boy. You’re a little baby boy.”

  “One of each,” Kate said, in mystification. “Now I feel like the one about to shoot off into the stars. Was not expecting this.”

  Autumn smiled knowingly. “I just had this feeling.”

  “Did you peek?” Isabel asked. “Honestly. Did you?”

  Autumn shook her head and touched her stomach, which seemed to have grown since even the day before. “Didn’t have to.”

  It had been an evening Gia would never forget, filled with warmth and friendship and the excitement of things to come, of people to come. As the formality of the evening shifted, the group relaxed into side conversations, flanked by the tunes from Autumn’s radio. Gia’s thoughts drifted off on their own as she drank her beer and wondered what Elle was doing tonight, what she was wearing, how she was feeling.

  “Did you hear anything we just said?” Autumn asked, knocking her in the arm.

  Gia blinked and played back Autumn’s words. “Yeah, you just asked if I heard you.”

  Isabel laughed. “And did you?”

  “No.” She tossed a stray woodchip into the fire. “I was somewhere else for a minute.”

  “Anywhere good?” Isabel asked.

  “Maybe.” Gia smiled into the fire.

  “What’s Elle up to tonight?” Isabel asked boldly. Hadley smiled knowingly at Gia across the fire. Gia hadn’t divulged the fact that she and Elle had shared a kiss to anyone, wanting to hold on to that information for herself a little while longer. But her friends knew her well enough to pick up on a change.

  “What makes you think I would know?” Gia challenged, but the smile crept onto her face against her will.

  Isabel’s eyes danced, and though that would have irritated Gia just last week, tonight she didn’t mind the insinuation. “Just a hunch.”

  Hadley was on her feet and moving around the fire until she landed next to Gia. In fact, it seemed as if everyone inched in until they were sitting in a tight little group. “Any developments on the Elle front?” Hadley asked, as if the most natural of news reporters. “There are, aren’t there? Don’t you dare hold this back. Do you remember Isabel when she first started up with Taylor? Do not be like Isabel.”

  “Hey!” Isabel said. “I didn’t know the friend rules back then.”

  “We forgive you,” Hadley rattled off before scrambling to refocus on Gia.

  Gia took a deep breath, because what she was about to
say was new for her. “I do have a confession.”

  “Here we go,” Autumn said happily, as she popped the last of a pink cupcake into her mouth and leaned in.

  Gia decided to just say it. “I think maybe I’ve misjudged Elle in the past or whatever. Maybe. Probably.” She’d come to terms with that concept internally but had never articulated it out loud before. In front of people, no less. The words were not her most eloquent, but they were all she had. Her declaration was met with five people exchanging knowing smiles with each other, understanding what a big moment this was for Gia.

  “What do you mean by misjudged?” Taylor asked, delicately. She held out a hand. “And if I’m prying with that question, I respectfully withdraw it.”

  “Nah, you’re good,” Gia told her, and considered the question. She appreciated Taylor’s sensitivity. “I guess I don’t think Elle’s the fake and plastic Barbie Doll I always thought she was. I’ve gotten to know her better, and she doesn’t seem fake at all. I think that’s just how she is. Bubbly, I guess. And nice.”

  “I’ve been working on unhating her. I should keep at that, then?” Hadley asked, very seriously.

  Gia smiled at her. “Probably should.”

  “Okay, I can do that. Hating takes too much work anyway. Such a chore.”

  And almost like Isabel couldn’t resist, she asked the question they all seemed to want to ask. “And are you two firmly living in the friends column, as in now and forever, or are we tiptoeing through the tulips to the avenue of hot and heavy?”

  Taylor passed Isabel a look that didn’t seem to deter her one damn bit.

  “I think we’re friends,” Gia said conservatively. “Who are maybe attracted to each other. But that’s about it. Nothing major.” She could try to downplay this all she wanted, but she knew these women, and now that she’d given them this much, they would be desperate for more.

  “I knew it!” Isabel practically shouted.

  “This is pretty big news,” she heard Autumn murmur to Kate.

  Hadley sat there beaming, no words necessary, while Taylor brought them all back to the fold of the conversation the way only Taylor could. “That’s great, Gia. Take your time. Don’t let these guys rush you.”

  Gia met Taylor’s gaze and nodded once in appreciation. “Thank you, Taylor. I won’t.” She addressed her friends. “No biggie. Elle’s a better person than I thought originally. Not a bad discovery.”

  “Not at all,” Kate said, with a smile of support. She could always count on Kate, who never overreacted—probably a skill that helped her when fighting fires.

  “I’m just bummed we’re losing you to the road again soon,” Autumn said. “How long this time?”

  “About eight days,” Gia told her. “I’ll get there in advance of my first heat, and we’ll take it from there. If I’m knocked out early, which I won’t be, I’ll be home even sooner.”

  Isabel raised her beer. “Here’s to not getting knocked out early.”

  “And to the tiny boy and adorable little girl we’re going to meet soon,” Hadley added.

  Gia thought on the week ahead with a mixture of enthusiasm and trepidation. She needed to win this tournament in order to strengthen her ranking and take down the one person who could get in the way of a head-to-head battle with Elle: Lindy Ives, the powerhouse from Australia who was hot on Gia’s heels. She was ready to go hard and land the points she needed.

  Beyond surfing, it hadn’t eluded her that the Swatch Pro would afford her the opportunity to see Elle again, and God, did she want to. But honestly? She wasn’t sure she could wait that long. She felt uneasy with the way they’d left things, and that night at Elle’s house was never far from her mind, her daydreams, her…fantasies. Had the kiss been a fluke, as amazing as it was? Quite possibly.

  But then again, maybe not, and she had to explore that option. Every part of her wanted to. She understood that with no call, no text, no word from Elle at all, maybe she didn’t want to see Gia.

  But it was a risk she was willing to assume.

  “Another beer, Gia-Pet?” Autumn asked.

  “You know, I think I might head out. I have an errand to run.”

  “Must be important for a Friday night.”

  Gia nodded. “Yeah, it really can’t wait.”

  * * *

  “I don’t think you properly appreciate the music,” Christopher said to Elle as they turned the corner into her neighborhood. They’d hit up the little jazz place, the one that had snagged all the rave reviews, only to find that they were at complete odds over the music.

  “I love jazz,” Elle explained. “But that music tonight had no identifiable melody. It was a series of random notes. I couldn’t get into it.”

  He shook his head. “I think you’re missing the point. Jazz is supposed to be unpredictable.”

  “Then call me crazy, but it was too jazzy. I need beginner’s jazz. That was advanced placement.”

  “Who’s that?” Christopher asked, ducking his head and peering through the windshield as they approached Elle’s house.

  She followed his gaze and her breath caught. Seconds later, a smile took shape on her lips. Sitting on her curb, headphones in her ears, sat Gia in jeans and cozy blue hoodie. A chill moved through Elle and she shimmied against it. “That’s Gia.”

  He nodded. “Her photos don’t do her justice.”

  Elle sighed, knowing that was the damn truth. “She a knockout, isn’t she?”

  “I see why you’re dreaming about her.” He reached for the door handle. “I’m gonna say hello.”

  She froze. “Do not say anything embarrassing. Or that I don’t understand jazz.”

  He balked. “I’m a gentleman.”

  As the car pulled into the driveway, Gia stood and pulled the headphones from her ears. She smiled tentatively as they exited the car. Elle had wondered how she’d feel when she saw Gia again. If she’d get the same butterflies, if she’d be happy to see her or awkwardly trying to find her footing after that kiss. But once her eyes landed on Gia’s chocolate brown ones, any worry she had flew straight out the window. Her heart thudded out of happiness, not concern.

  “Hey,” Gia said as she approached the car. “You weren’t home, so I thought I’d wait a little while. See if I could catch you.” She turned to Christopher. “Hey. Gia Malone.”

  “Christopher VanCamp. Elle’s date tonight.”

  Gia’s eyebrows rose and Elle passed Christopher a pointed look.

  “Her very platonic date.”

  She watched as Gia’s features relaxed once understanding took hold.

  “Nice to meet you,” Gia said. “Elle speaks well of you.”

  He turned to Elle with a grin. “I’m flattered. Well, if your intentions are honorable, I’ll leave the two of you to whatever you have going. Are your intentions honorable?”

  “Christopher,” Elle said flatly, in warning.

  Gia smiled. “Intentions of gold.”

  Christopher backed up toward his car, still in big brother mode. “Great. Holding you to it. You guys have a nice night. Play her a little jazz,” he said to Gia.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Elle said through gritted teeth. While annoyed by his protective act, she couldn’t help being touched by the sentiment. He cared, which mattered to her.

  They waited as Christopher pulled out of her driveway and headed off into the night. Alone in front of her house at close to eleven p.m., Elle stared at Gia and Gia stared at Elle.

  “Hi,” she said, finally, after drinking Gia in.

  “Sorry I crashed the end of your night. I didn’t mean to—”

  “I’m not upset.”

  “Good.”

  Another pause, but not the uncomfortable kind. No, this silence came laced with something light and important. That didn’t make sense, but then not much did lately. “I’ve been meaning to call you,” Elle said. “I should have. Called you. Or sent a text.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t think there’s a har
d and fast rule. I just…wanted to see you.” Wow, that made her stomach tighten pleasantly. “Once the tournament hits, who knows where our heads will be.”

  Elle nodded. “The calm before the storm.” She glanced around, acutely aware that they were still standing outside and she’d completely lost the manners her mother had instilled in her. “Why don’t you come inside? I need to pack, but we can talk.”

  Gia nodded and followed her up the walk. Once inside, Elle moved about the house flipping on lights. An overabundance of them, she now realized. She flipped off a couple for good measure. All the while, Gia watched as amusement crept onto her features.

  “Lighting schemes are important to you,” she said, from where she stood in the entryway. That blue hoodie sure did look soft. She imagined gripping it and pulling Gia toward her.

  “I’m a details girl. A micromanager.”

  “Let me guess. You have a packing list and organizational gadgets to keep all your stuff color-separated and tidy for any and all tournament travel.”

  “Follow me and find out,” Elle said, with a proud smile. She led the way down the short hallway off the living room to her bedroom, where her suitcase was already laid out and halfway packed. She turned to Gia and found her studying the room. “What’s that look mean? I’m afraid I don’t know all of your looks yet.”

  “Yet?” Gia asked, with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

  Elle felt the color rush to her cheeks. “Yet,” she repeated quietly, owning the statement.

  “I was just thinking that every room in your house is the epitome of comfort. Look at this place. You have like twelve amazing pillows on this bed, all fluffy and soft looking.”

  Elle shrugged. “I work hard physically. I like to be comfortable when I’m off the clock, and I go out of my way to make sure I am.”

  “More planning,” Gia said. “I’m learning more and more how important control is to you.”

  On that cue, Elle flipped open the suitcase on her bed.

  “Holy hell,” Gia said. “You have sections to your suitcase? It’s like a grid system in there.”