Sparks Will Fly

by Daniel Banner

  Like the idiots in the skybox last night who had treated her as if she wasn’t a real person, just a big cartoon, the media had given Lucy a free pass as if she didn’t have free will. As if she hadn’t been the one who had made such horrible decisions. She had been working on a public apology most of the day but before it went public she wanted to reach out personally. Blue’s dad wasn’t making it easy.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Reed. As I said—”

  “Twenty-four hours ago, I was on the short list of candidates to take over as university president next summer. I had a ten-million-dollar donation within my reach. Now, because of the stupid actions of a selfish, immature girl, I’ll be lucky if I keep my job and there’s a chance I do jail time!”

  Lucy was aware of that. In the hours she’d spent with the police the night before, they had asked repeatedly if she planned to press charges. The last thing the situation needed was escalation due to her vengeance; she wouldn’t pursue any sort of legal retribution against Mr. Reed or his guests. She also wouldn’t sit here and let him scream at her and call her a stupid girl.

  She told him, “I’m sure we can be civil about this.” It was the first sentence he had allowed her to finish, but he wasn’t about to let her go on.

  “Civil? Civil!”

  Lucy could practically see the red rising from his neck to his face.

  “Where was civility when you led the unwashed swine of your so called university into a private viewing box, and like the animals that they are, they trashed it. No surprise there. And yet, who is the media looking at? Not the people who caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Not the ones who started a brawl. And of course not the cute little innocent Loco Lucy, who is content to sit back and laugh as everyone fights to clean up the mess she caused. I can only hope that when Blue’s brother Jesse gets involved with a woman, he seeks out a higher class of person, say, a convict, or a prostitute. That would be less embarrassing to the Reed name.”

  “I did not call so that you could abuse and demean me. I do not have to listen—”

  He said something, trying to interrupt her, but Lucy pushed on.

  “—to your insults, but if you would like to discuss this like adults, I am willing to take responsibility for my role in the events.” At some point in there, her voice had caught with anger or some other emotion and Lucy hoped it wasn’t misinterpreted. The last thing she wanted to do in front of this bully was cry.

  He laughed. A mocking, cruel, scoffing laugh. “Adults. Now you want to act like an adult? That’s rich, I don’t think you even know what the word means. So why don’t you just go off and cry to someone who cares, all while you blame someone else for your asinine actions. Just don’t come crawling to Blue. He doesn’t want anything to do with you after you embarrassed, no, humiliated him in front of the entire country. You want to know his exact words? How could I have been so stupid? How did I not see that that girl was nothing but a selfish, out of control little bi—”

  Lucy hung up, wishing she had been recording the conversation. The media would have killed for that kind of scoop. Oh how the New Mexico Board of Regents would love to hear how a major university’s Athletic Director talked to a woman who had already been assaulted by his friends right in front of him.

  No, that kind of vengeance was misplaced and unproductive. As pointless as the tears trickling down her face. It had been hard to find the courage to call and apologize, and being treated like that was not what she’d expected. She’d been certain that the incident with the drunk guys and the pushing and vulgar words was all just a fluke that had been out of Mr. Reed’s hands, but apparently that was the type of behavior common to the boys’ club in his skybox. Apparently that’s the kind of family Blue was raised in—put on a professional face to keep up the image, but when you are alone, then let your true self come out.

  That’s what hurt the most. Lucy thought she had Blue pegged for a man of integrity, yet he had stood back way too long watching and listening as his friends assaulted and demeaned her. No one wants to stand up to their father, but so many lines were crossed before Blue found his backbone.

  What happened to the stand-up guy who had taken her on the vacation of her dreams with no strings attached? Hadn’t it been Blue who lost the game of Chicken when she acted like she was going to take off her shirt? Where was the firefighter hero who had saved Tia Santa’s life? Who had she stayed up with later than the moon on the side of a cliff without being scared of being taken advantage of? Was it really the same guy? Had he really said the things his dad claimed?

  It just didn’t sound like the Blue she knew. And, it was easy enough to find out. Blinking through tears, Lucy found Blue’s contact and dialed. Almost immediately the phone started to ring. And it continued to ring. And with each ring, Lucy’s confidence faded. He knew it was Lucy calling and he wouldn’t even pick up and talk to her? Didn’t even have the decency to tell her himself that he didn’t want anything to do with her.

  But what about the guy who’d she’d spent hours and hours talking to on the plane as if they’d known each other their whole lives, but somehow couldn’t live without knowing more about each other? That was the guy she had to talk to.

  The tone chimed for a message.

  “Blue? It’s Lucy. I’m … I don’t even know how to say how sorry I am about everything that happened. I understand you’re angry and I want you to know that I’m sorry and I want to talk to you about it. Please call me. Let’s talk. I was mad yesterday … and … I just don’t even know what else to say. I really hurt a lot of people, and I hope you can forgive me. At least give me a chance to apologize to you.” She was about to hang up, but knew there was something else she wanted to say and also knew the voicemail would cut her off any time, so she just blurted without thinking, “And I want to give you a chance to explain yourself—”

  Another beep indicated the end of the message recording time and a voice asked if she wanted to re-record the message. She did want to, but she was afraid she would chicken out, and the rambling words she’d already left were better than nothing at all. Even the last thought about explaining himself. She didn’t really know if she wanted the explanation or if she just wanted to give him a chance to explain. Did it really matter?

  Lucy darkened her phone and stared at the blank screen. It would take a few minutes for him to listen to the voicemail and call her back, and that was after he even got the message. She still didn’t believe that he would completely ignore her call or that he had said what his dad said. Maybe he and his dad were having a conversation right now about how Mr. Reed had treated her on the phone.

  Waiting was driving Lucy crazy. What if he didn’t realize he’d missed a call? Just to be safe, she sent a text message. Just want to make sure you got my voicemail. I’m really sorry about yesterday. Call me.

  And that was it. The pressure lifted immediately from Lucy’s shoulders. Yeah, she still had to send out her public apology, and do everything possible to make the rest of the situation right, or at least do what little she could, but the part of the scandal that she’d been most worried about—doing what she could to repair fences with Blue—was behind her. She’d done everything short of driving to his house and barging in on him. The last time she’d shown up unexpected, it hadn’t turned out well.

  Of its own volition, Lucy’s hand went to her phone and the screen came alive. Blue was drafting a reply! She could see the three little dots. For minutes she watched the screen, waking it up every time it started to go to sleep. What was taking so long? Was there a chance Mr. Reed was being honest and Blue was drafting the official break-up text?

  Lucy jumped when her phone vibrated.

  You really hurt my family, Lucy. I don’t see how we could ever get past that. I have to put my family first, and I could never be with someone who has hurt us so bad. It’s over, Lucy. I’m sorry, but I need you to just leave me alone. There is no more Blucy.

  There was the proof. It had to be Blue because no
one else knew about that silly nickname. She was looking at the end of the best thing in her life.

  “It wasn’t me!” shouted Lucy at her phone. “I didn’t do it! I just wanted to have a little fun with the rivalry and get a playful shot in at your Aggie-loving dad and brother! I’m sorry!” Tears turned to racking sobs. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Her chest and her voice shook as she repeated that over and over.

  And she was sorry. Sorry that she’d made one big, dumb mistake and sorry that she’d been stupid enough to think Blue was someone different than he really was. How could she spend so much time so close to him and not see it? Stupid. No wonder she was still single. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Apparently Blue’s bully dad had been right—Lucy was as stupid as they came.

  18

  Blue finished a lap then climbed out of the pool. The air was chilly, but the sun was out and after a half an hour in the water, the chill felt refreshing. The swim had been cleansing in a way, and now, dripping wet and out of breath while the warm sun and cool air bathed him, he felt better than he had since the incident yesterday.

  Now he could talk to Lucy and try to fix things.

  After watching the coverage on the local channels and the sports channels, and the national news channels until the sun rose, he hadn’t gotten any kind of a good night sleep. Oh, and YouTube. A guy had captured the entire event from right outside the skybox. Well, he caught it all until an Aggie fan had cold-cocked him, knocking him unconscious and sending him to the hospital. That guy was only one of the dozens and dozens of injuries.

  Watching the video had been torture. Why had he moved so slowly? Why had he given his dad and brother a chance to be decent human beings before moving in? And when he did decide to act, why had he let his dad’s grubby little friends block him from intervening? The video showed them getting in his way as Jesse and his friends pushed Lucy around and around in circles. Trying to be polite, Blue had side-stepped and spun away from them rather than just shoving them to the side, or better yet, punching them out and getting to Lucy as quickly as possible.

  What he’d done to his father had come as a surprise to Blue when he watched the video, and he’d been careful to only watch it once since it was so painful to re-live.

  All of that had only delayed him ten seconds or so, but those seconds had been vital in the abuse Lucy had taken and in the escalation of the incident. If Blue had been faster, everything would be different now.

  There was nothing he could do about it now except call Lucy and beg her to forgive him. He didn’t know if she would ever forgive him, and didn’t know if she should after what Blue’s family and their friends had done to her. The thought of it made him burn up all over again. Yeah, it was time to call her and plead with everything he was worth for her forgiveness.

  When Blue walked into his dad’s house, he saw him sitting on the couch holding his phone, shaking his head. The black eye was a bitter reminder of everything that had happened in the skybox, and his father still hadn’t given Blue a good reason for trying to keep him from helping Lucy. Blue shoved his anger down. This was his father after all, and he hoped to forgive him at some time. Blue definitely had to be careful in the future about trusting his dad with … well, with anything he cared about.

  “Feeling better after blowing off some steam?” asked his dad.

  He was, but he could tell by his dad’s scowl that something new was worrying him. “What’s wrong?” Blue realized he had stopped one step into the room and had the towel on his head drying his hair. He pulled the towel down and wrapped it around his damp shorts.

  “I tried reaching out to her, Blue.” He shook his head again. “If I had known yesterday that you two…” he made a vague waving motion with his hands, “then all that never would have happened. You should have told me sooner. Regardless, I called her this morning because I wanted to let her know I was sorry about what happened, and see if we could start fixing it, but she started yelling at me, using profanity and everything. I let her vent for a minute, and she even threw some Spanish words in there that sounded particularly harsh.”

  Blue knew Lucy could be fiery and feisty. Blue didn’t imagine her going off on someone like that, but he did understand if she was still ticked. And the Spanish seasoning did sound like her.

  His dad got up and came to stand next to Blue. “When she finally let me get a couple words in, I told her that she can be mad at me all she wants, after all it was my guests who mistreated her, but she shouldn’t take that out on you. I asked her to at least talk to you.” He laid a hand on Blue’s shoulder.

  Maybe now wasn’t the best time to call her. It might be a good idea to let her cool off for a minute.

  Wait, what had he just told himself? Be careful. Don’t trust him. That hand on his shoulder was suspiciously affectionate.

  It wasn’t like his dad would flat out lie about something like that. It would be way too easy to know if he wasn’t telling the truth because what else were he and Lucy going to talk about once they finally got a hold of each other?

  “Sit down, Blue. Let’s talk about this.” They took up opposing spots on the long L-shaped couch. “Both sides were so wrong yesterday. I feel bad, but the whole incident wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t come up there. Universities have restrictions on athletes and cheer for a reason.”

  He must have sensed Blue retreating because he pushed harder. “That girl could never be accepted into this family after such bad blood, and I’m not just saying that because she’s a—” he muttered an unpleasant word under his breath, “—Lobo. I might lose my job, son. And even if I don’t, I don’t think it’s possible to ever recover the damage done to my reputation. You think the NCAA is going to want me involved in the March Madness bracketing again? Who’s going to invite me to speak after seeing that horrible, one-sided YouTube video?”

  “One-sided?” said Blue. He really didn’t want to start anything with his dad yet, but pretending like events had happened differently than they actually had, wouldn’t help. “It’s video. It’s not like it’s been doctored or anything.”

  His dad sat back and sighed then stared at Blue for a moment. Blue stared right back. There was still a lot of healing left to do between them, as well as an honest confrontation, but that could wait until the media storm died down and some of the decisions were handed down by the university and the Las Cruces Police Department.

  “I can see you’re still not ready to give her up,” said his dad. “Text her. She flat out told me she already had your number blocked, and never wanted to see you again. Call her. Ask her. If you can get her to answer.”

  That sounded like the first smart thing his dad had said all day. The rest of it about how Lucy would never fit into their family after what had happened—Blue wasn’t ready to process. Even after half a day to let everything simmer and sink in, he was far from feeling on top of it all. He just knew he couldn’t go another minute without reaching out to her.

  He jumped to his feet. “I’m gonna do it.” He jogged to his room, which was right off of the family room where they’d been sitting, and grabbed his phone. He didn’t want to hurt his dad, and maybe Blue’s lack of trust and having to call her would take even more healing than they already required, but he could worry about that down the road. He’d never felt as strongly about anyone as he did about Lucy. Not even close.

  Just seeing her name in the list of his text contacts made him smile.

  Lucy, I really want to talk to you. Are you still in town? Let’s meet up. Say when and where.

  And he waited. On a day like today she had to be practically staring at her phone, right? Answering calls and texts from concerned, or at least interested, friends and family. She’d always been one to reply quickly, and as the seconds ticked away, so did Blue’s hope.

  Maybe she was in the pool or on a bike ride or just trying to hide from everything. If only Blue knew where she was staying he could show up at her door and apologize in person.

  The
text still hadn’t gone through. Or at least it hadn’t been received. Why had he waited so long? Why had he given his dad a chance to call her before Blue even called?

  Blue plopped down on the couch as he hit the dial icon on his phone and avoided looking at his dad. Suddenly he felt frantic that he wouldn’t be able to reach her. It rang and rang until a pre-recorded message notified him the number he was calling was unavailable. No voicemail or anything. He checked the text and it still hadn’t been received.

  She really had blocked him. Ten minutes ago she had been talking to his dad and told him she was going to do it. Well, she had done it and now he had no way to get a hold of her. Blue’s dad had been straight with him.

  “I can tell it’s killing you, Blue.” He didn’t look up and his dad went on. “It’s probably better for something like this to happen now instead of down the road when—”

  “I’m going to take a shower.” Blue stood and walked out, looking down at his phone as his dad droned on.

  “I know you thought she was special …” his voice trailed as Blue got farther away.

  She is special. It wasn’t just a thought. From that moment at Questival when she’d come bounding up the steps of the Capitol carrying her teammate, it was as if his guardian angel was shining a spotlight that even a self-proclaimed bachelor like Blue couldn’t ignore. He hadn’t actually seen an angelic marquee or anything, but he could easily imagine huge neon signs pointing at her that read: THIS IS HER! THE ONE YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE WAITING FOR! THE ONE WHO IS WORTH IT!

  He’d give her some time. She’d respond.

  Blue had to force himself to put the phone down and climb into the shower. As soon as he got out, he grabbed it, still dripping wet and stared with disappointment at the lack of notifications. She hadn’t even seen his text yet. Or if she’d seen it in a notification screen, she hadn’t opened it.