Sparks Will Fly

by Daniel Banner

  The next exit approached; it wasn’t as far as he’d expected.

  Wait, it was another T or C exit. It looked like the previous exit ran into the town from the south and this one went into it from the north. The freeway kind of jogged around it, giving two approaches to the town.

  So what now? He had another chance to hit the town and maybe clear his mind from whatever fearful superstition had taken over.

  No. He had to just keep driving. Find Lucy. Face her. That was the only thing that would help.

  Blue switched lanes into the left lane so that he wouldn’t be tempted to pull off at the last minute. Hopefully once he got past this exit the weird feelings would pass and the two-hour trip would only take two hours. And hopefully only feel like two hours.

  The clouds above him split and a brilliant pillar of light busted through, shining off to his right in the area of the exit. Like a spotlight, it turned the exit into a yellow brick road.

  Blue signaled as he cut to the right, through the slow lane, and onto the exit. As he merged onto Cemetery Road, he realized the sunny spotlight was further to the southeast, along Date Street. Or maybe it had shifted from where he’d first seen it.

  Regardless, that was the road into town so Blue merged and headed toward the town. Headed straight into the golden glow of the celestial spotlight.

  The sunlight was a welcome break from the cloudy skies Lucy had been driving under since she left Albuquerque. After her failure to make any progress in finding an address, the light had a strong tinge of hope, and it made her even more anxious to get to Las Cruces as quickly as possible and see Blue and talk to him and make him tell her to her face that he didn’t want anything to do with her.

  Oh it would be wonderful to see him again. That slightly crooked smile that made him look like he was about to say something clever. Those arms and that chest that she’d spent a few glorious hours wrapped in. His blue eyes, more perfect than any artist could create.

  The tunnel of light was closing and Lucy glanced across the median of the highway to where the pillar was hanging on—

  Was that Blue? Driving a silver car, heading south?

  The car was gone before she could be sure. It had sure looked like him, but what would he be doing in T or C? And what were the chances that she would spot him from so far away? Yet, whoever that Blue lookalike was, he’d been staring straight over at her.

  Lucy took her foot off the gas pedal and kept one eye on the rearview mirror. The brake lights on that silver car were on, and at the next gap in the median, the car swerved into a U-turn and started flying back in her direction. She pulled onto the narrow shoulder, half on the asphalt of the shoulder, half on the desert ground.

  Cars drove by in both directions, but Lucy had eyes only for the silver car in her rearview mirror darting through traffic to race toward her.

  She hoped and prayed that car was coming for her. That somehow she and Blue had stumbled across each other in this little town and that he was in that silver car and wanted to see her. There was a chance it was him, and he just wanted to tell her to leave him alone, or yell at her for ruining his family’s life or whatever.

  No, Blue wouldn’t yell or scream. He was more of a gentle giant. Except when it came to protecting her. Then she pitied anyone who got in his way.

  The car got closer and Lucy found herself biting her lip in anticipation. The car pulled up on the shoulder behind her. Lucy let out a pent-up breath and bounded out of her car. The door of the silver car flew open. Lucy was already running toward it.

  Blue stepped out. It was really him, big muscles, blue eyes, and all. He ran to her and when they reached each other, their hands interlocked.

  “I’m so sorry,” Lucy said, and realized Blue had said the exact same words at the same time.

  “Let me go first,” she said as he said something similar about going first. But she wasn’t going to let him. Her actions had started the entire incident and his only crime was ignoring her the last ten days. She deserved to get her apology out first, so she took a breath, ready to race in front of him.

  Apparently, Blue wasn’t willing to let that happen. He pulled her toward him, released her hands, and brought his hands up to cup her face.

  And he kissed her.

  Once the shock faded, Lucy let herself relax into him and slid her arms around him. The kiss was a dream come true—all the worry and pain of the last week and a half were gone. They were together again, and she was alive again, energized by his full lips.

  Blue released her from the kiss and pulled his head away slowly. The pleasurable tingle still danced along her lips, but the real world—the truth of what had happened, and the consequences—crashed in again.

  Why did he just kiss her? He was mad, he never wanted to see her again, he had ignored her.

  Lucy realized she was a little out of breath, but managed to say, “Are we… Why did you …”

  “Lucy,” he said, and his tone said it was impossible that he hated her.

  “Say that again,” she told him, before he could go on. It was a fact that he’d told her to stay away from him then ignored her, so whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be pleasant. But her name had been more than pleasant. It was enough to make her think she might be wrong about the last ten days, enough to make her ignore facts and just hope.

  “Lucy.”

  “One more time?”

  Blue smiled that mischievous smile. Maybe things could be right between them eventually. “Lucy, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “You big dummy, you should be sorry.” If they had just talked sooner, there was a chance they could have worked it out. “Why did you ignore me when all I wanted to do was talk, and tell you I was sorry?”

  “What?”

  “I just wanted to apologize,” she said. “I know you were mad but—”

  “No, wait,” he interrupted. “What did you say about ignoring you?”

  Lucy stepped away from him, bringing her hands out to the side. “You didn’t even give me a chance to talk to you about what happened.” Now the frustration of the previous week and the anger—she hadn’t even realized anger had been part of what she’d been dealing with this week—was fully on the surface. “You hid from me! Instead of manning up and facing me, you were a big old chicken and blocked me out!” That was not what she’d planned to say, but why couldn’t he have just been a man and talked to her?

  “Hold on.” His smile was gone and he was studying her face. “I wasn’t the chicken.”

  “Okay, you acted like a two-year old then. You stuck your fingers in your ears, closed your eyes, and chanted, ‘La, la, la, la, la, I can’t hear you.’”

  Blue had a confused, lost for words expression on his face. “Are you still mad at me, Lucy? I was driving to Albuquerque to find you and apologize and I still have a lot to tell you I’m sorry for, but being a chicken or a coward is not one of them. If you need to vent go right ahead. I’ll take it all day long.” His voice grew even more serious, and maybe a tad emotional. “But do not make up things about me ignoring you, when I’ve been banging my head against your electronic wall all week long.”

  He was dead serious, there was no doubt about it. But there was also no denying Lucy had been the one who was ignored.

  “What are you talking about—electronic wall?”

  “You blocked me. I couldn’t text, couldn’t leave a voicemail.”

  “Uh, no,” said Lucy as if he was stupid, because he was being stupid. “You texted me and told me I hurt your family and to leave you alone. You said, and I quote, ‘There is no more Blucy.’”

  “First of all, I wouldn’t say that. You know I hate those kind of nicknames. Second of all, I texted you over and over to tell you I was sorry and you just ignored me.”

  For a few seconds, Lucy studied his face, looking for a sign of a joke or something, but Blue obviously believed in what he was saying.

  “Don’t run off,” she said,
turning and going back to her car. She grabbed her phone and opened her text messages as she walked back to him, then turned the screen so he could see the text he’d sent.

  Blue’s eyes tracked across the screen, moving down, then went back to the top and read everything again. “I did not send that.”

  “Oh really?” Now he was denying the proof that was right in front of his eyes? “It must have been the other Blue Reed that I know.”

  “I didn’t send that,” insisted Blue, reaching into his pocket. He poked and scrolled then turned his screen to face her. At the top of the screen it read Lucy, and there was a page full of texts from him to her.

  I’m really sorry. Can we talk?

  Lucy please call me.

  And so on from new to old. The last, or oldest text read, Lucy, I really want to talk to you. Are you still in town? Let’s meet up. Say when and where.

  She hadn’t received any of those, but right there at the top of the screen was her name. Why couldn’t she scroll up any further and see the texts before the incident. “Did you delete the message thread after … what happened in Las Cruces?” That was kind of petty, but she could understand him being mad for a minute and getting rid of their chat history.

  “What?” Blue turned the phone back toward himself and tried to scroll. “No, that’s weird. I didn’t delete anything. Why isn’t there anything older than the incident?”

  “Looks like you’ve been sending texts to the wrong Lucy Avila.”

  “I don’t know any other Lucys,” said Blue, still looking at his phone, “and I definitely don’t have any other Lucys in my contacts.” He turned the phone so they could both see it, and clicked on the little ‘i’ for information next to her name. “See? Lucy Avila.”

  There was her name, right at the top of the screen. It didn’t make any sense. How in the world could they both have been texting each other, and have proof of it, but not have received anything from the other? “What number do you have for me?”

  “The same number I’ve always had. We’ve been texting, calling, FaceTiming for weeks now.” He touched the screen and her contact page came up.

  “That’s not my number,” said Lucy. “That’s a 575 area code. Albuquerque is 505. You’ve been texting someone in Las Cruces.”

  Blue’s mouth was hanging open and he didn’t speak for a while. Lucy could practically hear gears grinding inside his head as he tried to put it together. He was trying to figure out why her number in his phone was wrong. Lucy needed some answers, and fast.

  “What’s your number?” he asked.

  It was silly, but she felt a twinge of frustration that he didn’t know her number, even though she couldn’t have told him his. She rattled it off for him as he entered it into his phone.

  “John Smith?” said Blue, reading the name that came up. “Who the heck is John Smith?”

  He dialed and a couple seconds later, Lucy’s phone rang. She showed him the caller ID: Blue Hulkie-Hulk Reed. She said, “Apparently, I’m John Smith.”

  “Try calling me,” he said, ending the unmade connection.

  In her missed call menu, Lucy tapped Blue’s name and heard a ring tone from her phone. They both watched Blue’s phone.

  “It should say John Smith,” said Blue.

  “Not if I’m blocked,” said Lucy. “I mean, not if John Smith is blocked.” Her phone continued to ring, but Blue’s stayed silent until he woke it up. It never rang and it didn’t show any missed calls. He went back into the contact and scrolled down. One of the lines near the bottom of the menu read: Unblock this caller. He tapped it and it changed to: Block this caller. Then Lucy called back. The screen lit up with John Smith’s name on the Caller ID.

  “You didn’t block me, huh?” It hurt all over again, and even though she didn’t fully understand why he was acting so confused and why he’d go through the trouble of changing her name and everything, knowing that he’d come and flat out lied and that he had actually blocked her, made her stomach sink.

  “I didn’t, Lucy. I swear on my honor as a fireman. But I think I know who did. What did you tell my dad when he called you the day after everything happened?”

  “When he called me? No, no, no. I called him. Actually, yeah, he did call me … all sorts of names and said he wished you’d dated a prostitute instead of me. I had to hang up on him.”

  Blue’s head dropped and his eyes closed as he took in a few slow breaths and let them out slowly through a clenched throat. It sounded like giant stone doors grinding open against a dirt floor and she could tell he was trying to control his inner Hulk.

  Lucy put a hand tentatively on his shoulder. On the day of the incident she’d seen what happened when he got angry. He wouldn’t hurt her; that’s not what made her nervous. Now flipping cars over and uprooting some of the desert trees on the shoulder, that was a possibility.

  “What is it, Blue?” she asked quietly.

  “My dad,” he uttered through clenched teeth. “He did all this. I’d bet anything that number under your name goes to a disposable phone in his desk drawer. He has a history of using them for deceit.” Blue opened his eyes and turned toward her. “Lucy, I am so sorry. I had no idea. He told me he called you and—”

  It was Lucy’s turn to interrupt and she did so by flinging herself into his arms. Blue had no choice but to catch her and as she brought her lips up to his, he returned the kiss and pulled her close to him.

  All of the energy that he’d been using in the fight against his inner Hulk came out in the kiss. Lucy had never felt so safe and so helpless at the same time and it made her feel like she might explode from the passion. Blue still loved her, and if she didn’t already know because of what they’d just discovered, she could feel it down to her toenails as his mouth worked with hers and his massive arms held her like he’d never let go. Lucy hoped he never did.

  A passing car honked, and they both turned to see a group of teenagers whooping and cheering.

  Lucy and Blue chuckled and she looked back up into his face. “Do you know how good this news is?” she asked.

  “That my dad went behind my back, manipulated my phone to make us think we hated each other, and planted poisonous thoughts in our head?”

  “No,” she told him. “That we still love each other.” Was that too strong, too soon, too much?

  Blue kissed her again, solid and lingering, and she could feel that playful smile come back. Maybe it was too soon, but at least it was accurate.

  When he released her lips, he said, “The day after the brawl, I went for a swim. When I came inside, my dad told me he’d called you and that you were rude and told him you never wanted to see me again. Hold on,” he said, aware that she was about to object. “My phone was in my room. That must have been when he went in and blocked you and changed your name and sent that text that you showed me.”

  “And read our text thread,” said Lucy. “That’s how he knew to tell me there was no more Blucy.”

  Blue’s jaw clenched for a minute. “He couldn’t just delete your contact info, then you could have called me, so he had to put you under a name I wouldn’t notice and block John Smith. Then he deleted all the history of any of it.” Blue kept his arms wrapped around her but she could feel his hands go to fists. “I want to break his neck!”

  The protectiveness of him made Lucy feel so safe and loved, but there had been enough fighting and suffering. “Vengeance won’t solve anything,” she said, bringing her hands up to his face.

  “I can’t ignore it, and I can’t forgive it.”

  “Ignore it, no,” said Lucy. “Forgive it, well, you’ll probably have to learn how to do that eventually.”

  “How can you say that?” he asked. “You should be the one who hates him right now even more than I do.”

  “I did,” she admitted. “For a while there. I wanted to sue him, and I wanted him to go to jail, and oh man, I wished I had recorded what he said to me when I called to apologize so I could give it to the media. But you
know what?” She pulled his face down so that his eyes were directly in line with hers. “The reason I was so angry wasn’t because of what happened in the skybox, or the names he called me when I was trying to be civil. I was mad because he was keeping me from you. I didn’t even realize he’d gone so far, but I knew that he was going to do everything in his power to keep us apart and that was unbearable.”

  “Lucy Avila,” started Blue, and she had to rely on the strength of his arms to keep from turning into a puddle at his feet. “I love you.”

  Before she could reply, Blue had claimed her lips again and Lucy was holding on around his neck for all that she was worth. It was like trying to ride a lightning bolt and she wasn’t about to let go, not when her whole body was tingling with pleasure. Blue deepened the kiss, cranking the electricity up to levels Lucy had never known and she felt herself moan with pleasure. A car blared its horn, but Blue just held on tighter and kept kissing her.

  Let them honk.

  Let the sun shine another spotlight on them, or let it pour rain.

  Let rivalries and entire universities and even families combine against them.

  Blue was strong enough to withstand it all, and Lucy would rather have him than the rest of the world put together.

  25

  “Told you we’d fit it all,” said Blue, rolling the door down on the U-Haul trailer, then dusting his hands off on his jeans.

  Lucy had to pull her attention away from how good he made those jeans look. The other half of his wardrobe had been chosen as a joke, she was sure of it—the hated Cienciano jersey from Cuzco—and she had purposefully ignored it all day.

  It was a beautiful early January day. They couldn’t have asked for better weather and it was a good thing because it had taken some serious coordination by Blue and his guys to pack all of Lucy’s belongings into the small trailer. “The five of you should start a moving company.”

  “No way,” said Jeremy. “That would require actual work on our days off.”