Daring the Wild Sparks

by Alexander, Ren

  As most of us get up to leave, Morgan stays behind, I’m assuming to fill in Brandon about her condition.

  After I finish up a few brief reports, I notice I have a new email. Is it Finn? Finally? I open it, and I’m disappointed when I see it’s from Rod.

  Read this email I sent this morning and the

  following response I just got two minutes ago.

  You might be interested in it.

  P.S. Don’t hate me! ;p

  Greg Rodwell

  Rhodes, Dryden, Charleton & Associates

  ___________________________________________

  Dear Finn,

  I have a proposition for you. My office is

  organizing a softball team and we will be playing

  other local businesses. We need at least one head

  coach and a couple assistants. Since our office is

  small, we need people from the outside to guide

  and coach us in our games. We have about a

  month before our first game, so we need to

  practice as much as we can. Sadly, we don’t know

  how to do this without missing something or

  looking like gigantic fools.

  Therefore, I am writing to dare you to be our head

  coach. Yep. I’m daring you, Finn Wilder.

  I’ve already cleared it with the lords of the manner

  here. If you can’t do this or aren’t interested in girly

  softball, can you point us in the right direction of

  someone else for a head coach, or some assistant

  coaches? Possibly a magician? Because believe me,

  we need a lot of help.

  Thanks.

  Greg Rodwell

  Rhodes, Dryden, Charleton & Associates

  P.S. There is a chick in my office who I think

  would be right up your alley. She’s a close friend

  of mine and a huge Finnatic. She has an

  embarrassing crush on you and would love to meet

  you in person. Maybe I could hook you two up?

  Make a love connection? She’s not much to look

  at,

  but she’ll probably do until you can trade up.

  ___________________________________________

  Rod,

  Well, this is unexpected. You really would want me

  as a head coach? Whose idea was this? I wouldn’t

  be able to make it to all the practices or games,

  though, but I think we can work that out with some

  assistants helping out.

  I do have a proposition for you in return. If I agree to

  this, I’d like to include this as part of The Wild Side

  every week, just a small glimpse of the team

  progressing throughout their season and of me

  coaching, since this is officially a dare.

  That all being said, I’d love to do it. Challenge

  accepted.

  If my counter-proposition is a go after you’ve

  received permission from your supervisors, there

  will be a release for everyone to sign so that I can

  bring my camera crew with me to shoot some

  footage every practice and game. Even if I can’t be

  there, I’ll send a crew to at least get some shots.

  At that point, I’ll need to get the other teams’

  permission as well, but will try to keep the camera

  on our team only.

  We will have to arrange a meet-and-greet of sorts

  with your office soon. How long is the season?

  What’s the team’s name? Do you have uniforms?

  Have you discussed possible positions you all are

  able to play? How often you would like to practice?

  Where? How long? Can you send me the email

  addresses of your supervisors so I can

  communicate this with them and to have these

  questions answered? I’d appreciate it.

  Thanks for daring me.

  Finn Wilder

  P.S. About your friend and coworker, thanks for

  the offer, but I’m already seeing someone. If you

  haven’t watched my latest dare, you should check

  it out. I’ll be happy to give your friend an autograph

  or take a picture with her, though! We’ll set it up

  when we meet.

  P.P.S. Really, do all of your coworkers know that

  you dared me to do this? I’m afraid that if not,

  someone might be taken by surprise and have an

  issue with me being your coach. Please give her a

  heads up (pun intended) about this before you drop

  the ball (another one) and upset her. That’s the one

  stipulation. I won’t do this if it’s going to affect my

  relationship with a certain someone we both know.

  I’ll talk to her, but at least mention it to her first.

  I also have a favor to ask you, but I’ll send you a text

  if you give me your number. Thanks, Rod.

  ___________________________________________

  What the hell?

  How could Rod do this to me?

  I pick up my desk phone to call him and before he can even offer a greeting, I snap, “Get in here.” I slam the receiver down and agitatedly stand to pace over to the large window behind my desk, watching cars drive past the building and the caretakers of the cemetery mowing the grass on giant mowers.

  After a few minutes, I hear, “You beckoned, madam?”

  I don’t bother to look away from the window. “Come in and shut the door.”

  “Yeah… No, I’m good out here. If this is about your Aunt Blow, I—”

  Whirling around, I cut him off with a steely glare and a crook of my finger, beckoning him. Only his head pokes through the opened door. “Come closer, Rod.”

  He gives me a regretful half-smile. “I can’t, Hadders. I have exploding diarrhea. I’m really contagious.”

  I walk around my desk and stalk him like the rat he is. “I don’t care.”

  He wrinkles his nose. “That’s even more disgusting than me having it.”

  I stop in front of my desk and point to the floor, akin to summoning a disobedient dog. “Come here.”

  “I believe I have a restraining order against you, so I can’t. I think I should call and have you arrested for violating said order.”

  I finally lose my patience. “Get the hell in here, Gregory Rodwell!”

  Flinching, Rod says, “Shit, Hadley. You don’t have to shout.” He slips into my office and shuts the door behind him.

  I immediately go on the attack. “Why did you ask Finn to be our coach when I told you not to?”

  Sliding along the wall to get away from me, he reasons, “I technically dared him.” He shrugs and nervously smiles as he scoots. “You know how that guy is about dares.”

  I follow him down the wall. “No shit.”

  He bumps into a shelf, forcing him to a standstill. I have him cornered. He asks, “Why are you so pissed? Don’t you want to spend more time with him? This way, he’ll be doing his job and you two can spend time together. We’ll also have an awesome coach!” Resembling an ill cheerleader, he warily pumps a fist into the air and tentatively offers a fearful smile. He squeaks, “It’s a win-win-win for everyone involved!”

  I bite my lip and confess, “I don’t want him around Shasta.”

  He puts his hand down and his eyes drift around the office as if he’s looking for my sanity. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want my boyfriend to see what he could have.”

  “You don’t think he already knows what else is out there?”

  I shoot him a scornful look. “Thanks a lot!”

  He pushes off the wall, puts his hands on his hips and glowers down at me. “You know what I mean. He’s not stupid or blind. He’s an extremely good-looking son of a b
itch. I’m sure he has all kinds of chicks throwing themselves at him all the time.”

  I step closer to him, growing more disdainful each time he opens his mouth. “Not helping, Gregory!”

  He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “The point is, women already do that, but he doesn’t pay any attention to them. He’s in love with you! He doesn’t want any other woman. Just you…for some insane reason.”

  Glancing at the carpet, I fold my arms and come clean. “I don’t want Finn to see how much prettier and overall better she is than me. It’s bad enough that he’s around women like her all the time, but we’ll be side-by-side in comparison.”

  Rod grips my biceps and shakes me gently. “He only wants you. He’s made that pretty well-known, hasn’t he? Fuck. He inked himself for you!”

  I whisper to the floor, “He could always have it changed.”

  He sighs as he moves past me. “Oh, get with it, Hadders. Wilder is nuts about you.” He turns his head and mutters, “Shit. He has to be nuts.”

  My cell phone suddenly rings and I jump at the sound. Stepping to my desk, I hurriedly pick it up.

  Finn. It’s about time!

  I decide to go for slightly detached. “Hello?”

  The deep, familiar voice that I love caresses my ear and makes my heart ache. “Hey. I was going to wait until you get home after work to call, but I’m guessing that you probably know about Rod’s dare by now.”

  I glare at Rod. “Yes, I do.”

  Rod starts making obscene sexual gestures with his hands on his crotch and mouthing crude things to go with them. I stride over, grab his arm and shove him out the door, closing it in his face.

  Finn asks, “Can you talk now or do you want me to call you later?”

  I sigh and walk back to my desk, sitting down in my chair, crossing my legs as I stare at a stack of reports. “I can talk for a few minutes.” That’s all I feel like giving you at the moment. I petulantly add, “I’ve been waiting all day to hear from you.”

  “I thought it’d be better to wait and call you later, but then I got the email.”

  I shoot daggers at the closed door. “Yeah. I just heard about it.”

  “Um, about the dare. Are you okay with me doing it?”

  I go for a lie. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He doesn’t have to know how I feel about Shasta. That might just send him right into her bed. I can’t believe that thought entered my mind. He wouldn’t sleep with her, so why am I being so paranoid…and insecure? I hate myself now for thinking Finn would do that.

  He gloomily answers, “I don’t know. You might not want me around.”

  “Right now I don’t,” I gripe under my breath.

  “Last night, I… I only went to Ricky’s for a little while.” His tone hardens and I can almost hear his teeth snapping together. “Why’d you leave?” He’s seriously asking me that question?

  “Because you left…so I did.”

  He snips, “I was coming back!”

  I scoff, “Probably not until I was asleep.”

  “I just needed to calm down.”

  I close my eyes. “You need to do that a lot, especially around me. I’m seeing a pattern.”

  “It’s not just you,” he dissents.

  Opening my eyes, I swivel my chair and stare out the window. “Your mom. I forgot.”

  Not commenting about my remark, he impatiently asks, “Why’d you take all of your clothes?”

  I mumble like a sulky teenager, “Because I felt like it.”

  “But you took everything out of the drawers, the closet—every last stitch you had there.” I don’t reply and he raises his voice. “Becks!”

  I up the ante by raising my own. “We had an argument, Finn, and you left! I had no idea when you were coming back or if I’d even see you before I had to go to work in the morning. I was so hurt and mad at you for doing that!”

  He nosily inhales, which seems to calm him somewhat. “You went to take a shower, and were going to go to bed…without me.”

  “It’s your apartment. Your bed. I can’t stop you from going to bed.”

  “It’s our apartment. Our bed. Aren’t they? I didn’t want to go to bed and fight with you. I wanted to…” He angrily sighs. “I wish you wouldn’t have left me.”

  “I know what you wanted to do.” Shaking my head, I stare at the tree tops across the street. “I didn’t leave you. I left the apartment. You must’ve gotten home late because if you really wanted to be with me, then you would’ve come over to mine.”

  “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

  I roll my eyes and mutter, “Right. You got home late and you didn’t want me to know what time.”

  His anger builds again. “Are we going to keep going around and around about this?”

  “About what? Your about-face or your leaving? Because I’m still pretty upset about both.”

  “Becks, come on!”

  “No, you come on, Finn! Are you going to change your brand new desire for me taking…” I look over my shoulder to note if anyone had opened the door, “…medication?”

  “No.”

  “Why do you want me to? What’s the real reason? Why is it different from what we currently use?”

  There’s a short pause before he answers, “I told you why. It’s a way to be closer to you. We’ve been together for three years and going without rubbers or the gel shit this weekend was incredible. Wasn’t it for you?”

  Instead of an enthusiastic answer he’s probably expecting, I sound dreary. “Yes.” It was incredible, but not for the same reason as his. I thought he had really changed his mind about having a baby, even if he hadn’t about marrying me.

  He caustically inhales and I imagine that he’s digging his fingers into his hair. “Why is this such an issue for you now? You complain about me changing my mind regarding this, but you wouldn’t question me at all if I changed my mind concerning marriage. You’d jump on that train without even a second thought.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.” I probably would…

  He brusquely growls, “Don’t give me that shit. If I told you I want us to get married when I come home, you’d be buying a dress and picking out our rings before I even hang up the damn phone. No questions asked.”

  “Maybe I would. I don’t know. I’d want you to want to do it though. I wouldn’t want you to do it because you felt pressured.”

  “Exactly. So don’t.”

  Feeling like he just smacked me across the face, I argue, “But that’s what you’re doing to me now. I don’t want to go on it, Finn. It’s not just about the impulsive shift in your point of view. It should be my decision if I want to take it too, don’t you think?”

  “It is your decision, but don’t you think I should also have a say? You don’t want to take the Pill only because of how I felt about it. Well, all I can say is I’ve changed my mind. I want to feel you, Becks. I had that for a few days, and now I’m addicted. I don’t want to go back to wearing a damn rubber all the time or sliding into a ton of gel. They’re only more barriers between us and we don’t need that. We already have enough as it is.”

  I check the door again before saying, “I hear you, but I’d have to deal with the side effects and I’d be the one taking it every day. Not you.”

  “True, but there are other options. You can wear a patch or get a shot every few months. That’s what Shay does.” Of course he’s talked to Ricky about this.

  “Oh, is that what your guru told you? Your sidekick? Your vice president? Your security advisor? Life coach? It gets his approval, so now you’re okay with changing your mind?”

  He tersely says, “No. He had nothing to do with it.” And chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows.

  “Now you’re lying. What else does he know about our intimate details, Finn?” I lower my voice and say, “I’m sure you tell him everything. Did you tell him about your temporary change of heart over the weekend? I bet he knows where my birthmark is, every freckle I have and the things you do to
turn me on.”

  “No, Becks. I keep those things to myself. They are only for me to know.”

  I disregard him. “Did you tell him my curtains match my drapes? How my field is kept? What about the things you like? Did you tell him what Finnigan does to you? The way you purr when I pull on your hair or bite your lip? How about the mistakes I make or the things that I don’t do? Did you tell him I haven’t…?”

  He replies testily, “Knock it off.”

  “You tell him everything. I know you’ve told him that.”

  “Fuck. Can we not fight on the phone?”

  “Then what are we supposed to do? Pretend that everything is fine?”

  “We shouldn’t even be arguing about any of this shit!”

  I glance at the door again. “Why? Because I should just give in and do it? Just like everything else you want me to do?” I repeatedly run my hand through my hair. I think I watch Finn do it too much.

  “What about the fucking things you want me to do? Marriage. A baby. All I’m asking you to do is go on the damn Pill and to move in with me. How hard are those in comparison? And I never misled you. It was just a weekend thing. I told you what I did was an Easter gift. That’s all.”

  “Did you keep the receipt?”

  Finn sighs and barks away from the phone, “Wait a minute!” I hear him shuffling around and he grumbles into the phone, “Hold on. I have to answer the door.” There are clicking noises in the background and then Finn greets with a cordial, yet muffled, “You again?” He laughs. “What’s up?” There he goes slipping into his charming public persona as if he just put on a mask and cape. So, does that mean I get Bruce Wayne, only without all the money?

  A woman’s voice replies, “I wanted to ask if you would like to go down to the bar with me.”

  I hear the smile in Finn’s sexy voice, “Ah, definitely. Give me a few and I’ll meet you down there.” What the hell? He is going to drink his problems away yet again, only this time with a woman I don’t know. Shit. Can I trust him? Does he ever think about cheating on me? Maybe the thought crosses his mind more than I think. Will he get drunk and cheat on me tonight, thus stomping on my heart and killing me? Or even more hurtful, will he cheat on me sober?