Sparks the Matchmaker (Aaron Sparks Series) (13 page)

After Greg’s pills came a much needed shower, then lunch and chores. And whenever Greg got sidetracked Ollie would call him Pooky, and then Greg would laugh his way back to work.

***

When the time came they all drove over to Joy’s place, picked her up, and then headed to the circus. Ollie was hesitant at first, wondering if the bit of affection he’d received the night before was due largely to her need for sleep. Even before they made it to the freeway, though, Joy’s hand slid comfortably into Ollie’s, picking up right where they had left off the night before.
Today is going to be a great day.

The arena was swarming with all kinds of people. They had plenty of time before the show was going to start and there was plenty to see, so they wandered around the outside and inside of the stadium to get a peek at it all.

“Staff guy?” Greg asked.

“Yeah,” Ollie answered, walking next to him.

“Oh,” Greg said. “I couldn’t remember who my staff guy was. Just making sure you’re with me.”

They walked toward the elephants, where a small crowd had started to gather. A man was washing them with a big brush on a pole while some spectators snapped photos.

“Staff guy?” Greg asked.

“Yeah,” Ollie answered. Again, he was right next to him.

“Just making sure you’re here,” Greg said. “I didn’t know if I was lost.”

“You’re not,” D said. “You’re with us.”

Ollie’s phone rang. It was Lynn, asking him their location. He told her, and moments later Marie and Lynn found them in the crowd.

“You were supposed to meet us by the north entrance,” Lynn said, punching Ollie in the arm.

“I don’t remember saying that,” Ollie said.

“You’ve been hanging around me too much,” Greg said. “You’re losing your memory.”

Ollie saw a grin flash across D’s face and realized how he must look. There he was standing between two beautiful girls, one hanging on his right arm, the other punching his left, and he was enjoying every bit of it. He flashed a smirk right back at D before they all turned to walk toward their seats.

“Staff guy?” Greg asked.

“Right here with you,” D said.

They found their seats just before the show started. Greg and Marie, wide eyed, were glued to the bright opening ceremonies. The lion tamers came out, then the contortionists and the clowns. Marie was thoroughly enjoying the show, but Greg’s eyes wandered over toward the popcorn stand.

“I’m hungry. Can I get some popcorn?” Greg asked.

“Sure. I’ll go with you,” Ollie said.

“Um, can I have five bucks?”

“Why do you need five bucks from me?” Ollie said. “You have your own money.”

“I didn’t think to bring any,” Greg said. “I left it all at home.”

“No you didn’t,” Ollie said. “Remember? I told you to bring some money and you went searching through all your dirty clothes until you found some in one of your pairs of pants.”

“Oh yeah,” Greg said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled up wad of dollar bills. “Look at that!”

Ollie and Greg made their way up the aisle toward the snack stand. Ollie stood in the doorway so he could keep one eye on Greg and one eye on the acrobats below. The lights, the music; everything was simply amazing. Ollie was distracted just enough that he forgot about Greg for a split second.

A split second was all Greg needed to disappear.

Ollie walked quickly down the hall.
Greg either went right or left, so I’ve got a fifty percent chance of spotting him quickly. Won’t be hard to find a guy as big as a house, right?
How hard could it be to catch up with a guy who moved so slowly?

But how dangerous will it be if I can’t find him right away?
Ollie sped up. Nobody was in sight in either direction; everybody else was in their seats enjoying the show.
What if he’s not wandering around the building? What if he’s wandered out one of the doors and is roaming the streets?
Ollie was jogging now. After completing a lap of the entire inside of the building, he ran outside.

What’s Greg gonna do if he starts to panic?
Why did I take my eyes off him?
Stupid, stupid! And why didn’t I ask Sparks to come?
He felt like he’d run a half marathon along all the main streets before the phone in his pocket sounded off. He recognized Joy’s number and answered quickly.

“I lost Greg! He took off when I wasn’t looking!”

“He—” was all Joy could say before being cut off.

“He’s not in the corridors!” Ollie panted. “I searched the whole building and can’t find him. I can’t find him in the parking lot. I—”

“I know, I know. Ollie,” Joy said. “The security guard came and—”

“Security guard? Oh no! What did Greg do? He didn’t hurt anyone, did he?”

“Relax,” Joy said. “He’s fine. Everyone’s fine. The security guard found him wandering around and asked him where his seat was. I think he just needed to go to the bathroom or something. Anyway, when he told the security guard that he didn’t know where his seat was, the guard asked to see his ticket, which he luckily still had in his pocket.”

“So he’s there with you?” Ollie asked.

“Yeah, he’s here. He’s fine,” Joy said.

“He’s not mad or anything?” Ollie asked.

“No. He’s just watching the show,” Joy said. “He’s probably already forgotten about getting lost.”

It was over. The whole ordeal was over. Greg hadn’t wandered too far. He hadn’t gotten himself killed, and he hadn’t killed anybody else. Crisis averted. Ollie’s heart was still pounding.

He kept a very close eye on Greg for the rest of the circus. He didn’t let him stray more than 5 feet from his side as they walked back to the car. He engaged the child locks for the back doors so that Greg couldn’t wander off at a stoplight. He stuck right behind him as they walked from the car back to Greg’s apartment, where at last, he was home safe and sound.

The evening finished in much the same way that the previous night had. Greg was snoring on the sofa next to them. The only real difference was that D was keeping them company this time. Joy’s arms were wound tightly around Ollie’s waist. And still, no kiss yet.
The night’s still young
.

Chapter 16

The night was dark, the single light above their heads illuminating only the front porch of Joy’s apartment. Still, Ollie could see and read everything her eyes wanted to tell him. She faced him and smiled, let go of his hand so she could put her arms around him, and pulled herself close to his broad chest. Joy didn’t seem, to Ollie anyway, to be the type of girl who would shy away from what she felt, what she wanted— so when she relaxed her embrace and lifted her head to look into his eyes, he thought he knew exactly what she was thinking.

As much as he wanted to kiss her; as much as he wanted to close what little distance was left between his lips and hers, he held back. He could feel her warm breath on his chin. He
wanted
to kiss her, badly. But Keith’s words reverberated within him:
I never kiss a girl for the first time on her doorstep.

And it was true.
The doorstep kiss always feels like you’re doing that because you don’t know how else to end the evening. Why not make it someplace a little more memorable?

They stood on her doorstep, locked in the moment. He pulled her closer, but his eyes were drawn away toward the clear October night sky. He looked at her beautiful face, those stars shining in her deep eyes as they continued to present him with the opportunity for the first kiss. It was obvious she wanted him to take it, but he didn’t take it.

“Thanks for a fun evening,” Joy said, the awkwardness of his refusal to kiss her present in the tone of her voice.

Ollie smiled at her. “I’m not ready to say goodnight yet,” he said softly. “Wanna go for a walk?”

She smiled. “I’d love to.”

The night kept getting colder with each step, so Joy pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up. She then pulled Ollie’s arm around her, jamming his hand into her sweatshirt’s front pocket along with her own. He felt a mixture of excitement and nerves all jumbled into one; augmenting with each step that carried him farther away from her doorstep but closer to that first kiss.
Don’t mess this up.

“I’m not ready for winter,” she said. “I’ve never liked the cold.”

“You’re from Colorado. I bet it gets pretty cold there.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t even lived there since I was 17.”

“You know, I never really asked— who was it you were visiting when we were there?”

“Just a friend.”

“What kind of friend? Was she your best friend in high school or something?”

“Well, I saw pretty much everyone that I used to hang out with. The ones who still live there, anyway. I had a lot of friends, once upon a time.”

“But not after you moved to St. Louis? I find that hard to believe. I bet you made friends there pretty quick.”

“No, I kinda turned into a shut-in. I kept to myself for a few years after we moved.”

“Even at school?”

“I stopped going to school. I only had a few months left and I didn’t want to go to a new school, so I just went a different route and got my GED instead. So I never really met any new people after we moved.”

Her tone had changed. He could sense a new negativity in her mood, and after only a matter of seconds.
Was it something I said?
Instead of getting to know each other better, he now felt like he was prying into her personal life.

They continued their walk, but the night kept aging, getting colder. Words continued to come out of their mouths, but the conversation was stale now. They eventually wandered their way back to her doorstep.

“Thanks again for the circus, Ollie. I loved seeing you around Greg and Marie. You’re a good man.”

Ollie was dumbstruck; he couldn’t help but wear an awkward smirk on his face. She wasn’t wrapping her arms around him this time. She wasn’t pulling herself into him or closing the distance between her mouth and his; he couldn’t smell her sweet warm breath on his face. She resisted eye contact, staring at the concrete below their feet.

The kiss had been abandoned on the walk— before that, really.
I don’t know what I did, but I blew it.
“Thank you for coming. I had a great time tonight,” Ollie said.
The things people say.
“All except for the part where Greg escaped.”
I guess this is how tonight ends.

Joy laughed at the reference to Greg. It was not her usual energetic laugh, but it was there, a little laugh nonetheless; a tiny sliver of Joy’s lively personality showing through. “Yeah, all except for that.” She pulled her hands out of the front pocket of her sweatshirt and wrapped them around Ollie’s middle, pulling him in close and squeezing him.

Ollie’s left arm reached fully around her while his right hand held the back of her head into his chest, gently running his fingers through her hair. He knew that the woman he held in his arms wasn’t ready for love. This was not an embrace destined to escalate into a passionate first kiss. No, her embrace said simply, “I hurt, and I just need to know you’re here.”

Ollie held on tight, not knowing what her pain was about, but he understood this wasn’t the time for questions. He held on as long as she needed. After a long while, she finally released him and turned, stepping into her apartment, not allowing him to see her eyes.

Ollie grabbed the porch rail for support. He was breathless. The numb fingers of one hand gripped the Yankees cap in his back pocket and transferred it to his head as he stared at Joy’s front door.

When he turned to face the cold dark night, there was Sparks, standing on the sidewalk.

Chapter 17

Ollie stepped away from Joy’s apartment slowly, looking over his shoulder at it like it was a predator. Everything had been going so well. He wasn’t the best at reading the feminine mind— he would have foreseen his fate with Anne otherwise. But Sparks… he might be able to decode everything.
Hopefully.
“I don’t get it. Did I say something wrong?”

“Nope.”

“But what happened? What set her off like that?”

“I don’t really think I’m the one to tell you, Bomber.”

“Why not? You know, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know. At least in this case. That’s exactly it, though. I could tell you, but it’s not my place to
say.
Joy will tell you everything when she’s ready.”

“You’re going to let me stew in my own thoughts for the next day, maybe even the next week, let me sit and wonder what that was all about? Don’t you think that’ll make things a little awkward between us for a while?”

“Well, you don’t have
to torture yourself, Bomber. I mean, you can if you
want to.
But that’s kind of the way new relationships go sometimes, isn’t it? People figuring each other out. Isn’t that what you want? A normal, healthy relationship? That’s hard enough on its own, even more so with me helping you cheat.”

“I’m sorry, Sparks. It just that it doesn’t really seem like tonight helped us take a step forward. And I think you enjoy watching me beat my head against the wall thinking about how to fix it.”

Sparks shook his head, turning to walk, and Ollie followed him. “What I want,” Sparks said, “is for you to handle it the normal way. Go talk to your friends about it. Richie and Keith are about to get home. D’s standing in the kitchen right now. Go talk to your friends like a normal person.”

“You know what’s up and I bet you know how I could help her fix it, but you don’t want to tell me. You’re going to risk everything because you want things to be ‘normal.’”

“You worry an awful lot.”

“You aggravate me an awful lot.”

“You’re in an awful hurry all the time, Bomber. You agreed to do things my way, and this is how I want to do it.”

Ollie was dying to know exactly what it was that had set Joy off, and he wasn’t really too surprised that Sparks wouldn’t come to his rescue. But talk to his friends? He hadn’t gone to any of his friends with any of his concerns or personal issues in a long time. He couldn’t
ever
tell Richie anything too personal; that would be a disaster. He’d spent the day with D, who was the only other one of his friends who knew Joy, but D wasn’t exactly best friend material. Keith was the obvious choice, but still. Ollie didn’t like being vulnerable.

***

“Hey, Keith. Can I talk to you for a sec?” Ollie asked.

“Anything you can say to Keith, you can say to me,” Richie said.

“Step into my office,” Keith said, swinging his bedroom door open like a bellhop.

“Just let me talk to Keith alone,” Ollie said, noticing that Richie was following them.

Richie looked at Keith with eyes that said
do I have to?

“Seriously, Richie,” Keith said. “Give us some space. You don’t have to be in the middle of everything.”

“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted,” Richie said, trawling for sympathy. He didn’t get any.

Once they were alone, Ollie spilled his guts, ending with his lonely kissless walk home.

“First of all,” Keith said, “I’m glad to hear you took my advice about kissing on the doorstep. It’s just so—”

“Cliché, I know. But I can’t think of what I said that set her off. I didn’t think I was getting too personal.”

“Yeah, she must have had some kind of bad experience in Saint Louis or something. She doesn’t seem to be very fond of her time there.”

“Ya think?” They laughed. “I mean,” Ollie continued, “do you think she just hated it, going from being a big fish in her school to being a small fish in a new city? She made it sound like she was pretty popular in Colorado with her friends.”

“That could be, but I doubt her high school in Boulder was a very small pond. I’d venture a guess that something specific happened to change her life. People don’t usually just change for the fun of it. Did she say something happened to her in St. Louis?”

“Nah, I don’t know. We never really got that far. I dropped the subject when I saw how she closed off. I don’t know for sure, but she may not have even tried going to the new school.”

“And you can’t exactly just call her up and ask her what happened.”

“You mean like Richie would?” Ollie snorted.

“Richie’s a player, a real ladies’ man.”

“Yeah, right,” Ollie laughed. “Anyway, thanks, Keith. I hope this thing with Joy doesn’t have anything to do with me. How can I clean up a mess I don’t understand?”

“Exactly, man. Somehow… I don’t think it’s got anything to do with you; not directly anyway. I mean, you said she held onto you real good, right? She wouldn’t let you go there at the end?”

“Yeah.”

“See, that makes me think you know, whatever it is, it’s something she’s been dealing with for a long time. Maybe she’s hoping you’ll be able help her with it.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You’re a good guy, Ollie. For wanting to help her out, I mean. Just keep in mind that everyone comes with some sort of baggage. Hers just seems to have like, this special attraction to you or something. Until she’s ready to tell you about it, I wouldn’t push it too hard.”

“Easier said than done. It’s gonna be on my mind until she tells me.”

“Of course it is. But you might chase her off if you push it.”

“I know. I know. I’m not going to push it. I just wish there was an easier way.”

“You seem to really like her.” Keith looked Ollie in the eyes for a moment. “I haven’t heard you talk about Anne for a while. Is she out of your mind and gone for good now?”

“Not completely. Lots of memories. And it’s hard to walk around campus and
not
think of her.”

“Yeah.”

“Anne will probably have a piece of me until I fall in love again, I guess. But at least I’ve started the process.”

“And at least you’ve got Joy. Maybe that will turn into something. Crazy how you found her so fast.”

“Yeah, crazy,” Ollie said, thinking of Sparks. “I’m pretty lucky, I guess.”

***

That night, Ollie stared at the orange glow of the clock face from under the covers of his bed as he thought things over. He had a thousand questions; very few answers. Sparks— as usual— had a thousand and one answers, but no willingness to share them.

What’s the purpose of all this?

Ollie was like his on-again, off-again space heater— one minute he felt confident he’d get the girl eventually, but the next he was full of anxiety that she could still just dump him in the end. Hot, cold, off, on, and millions of questions in between.

Maybe he could get some answers tomorrow afternoon. The weather was supposed to be nice and warm. Maybe they could plan something together.
Like what, a picnic? Yeah right… that’s a great idea. Those usually go well for me.
At the very least, what Ollie craved most was just one opportunity to see her face: to see if she was excited to see him or if she was still emotionally stuck. He hoped he would see excitement. But what if he didn’t? What would he do without Joy?