Sparks the Matchmaker (Aaron Sparks Series) (7 page)

The girl smiled at Ollie and reached for the books he was holding. “Thanks. I think I can manage, though.”

“Really,” Ollie said. “I don’t have anywhere I really need to be right now. I’m not going anywhere important.”

“We’re just going to the Wilkinson Center,” Sparks said quickly.

Ollie gave him a look of confusion that the girl didn’t see.

“Oh! Well in that case I’ll take you up on your offer,” she said, smiling at Ollie and handing him a book to carry. “That’s where I’m going too.”

“Cool,” Ollie grinned. He knew the Wilkinson Center as well as any of the other students. It was one of the most frequented buildings on campus; with auditoriums and offices, a bowling alley, even a food court. He knew exactly where it was on the eastern side of campus, but he didn’t know what he was going there for. Was he going to end up paying for a bowling lane for the two of them? Was he going to buy her a taco?

“Joy,” she said.

“Huh?”

“That’s my name,” she laughed. “Joy.”

“Oh. Ollie. Sorry. And this is my friend, Sparks.” He had wasted no time at all walking himself right into an embarrassing moment, which he was sure could have and should have been avoided if Sparks had just told him her name beforehand.

“I know,” she said. “Well, I knew your name, anyway. Sparks, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“You know?”

“Yep,” she smiled. “You practically live next door to me. You live in Tall House, right? I’m in the small apartment right behind you guys.”

“Oh man,” he muttered under his breath.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s not like you forgot my name or anything. We’ve never met before.”

“So how do you know my name, if we’ve never met?”

“I don’t remember. I must have heard it in class or something,” she said. “Ya don’t meet too many people named Ollie, so for some reason it stuck.”

“Oh,” Ollie said nervously. He felt a slight bump in his confidence level knowing that she already found him important enough to remember his name, even though she couldn’t remember where she’d heard it. That could only be a good thing. “I should probably make more of an effort to get to know the people on my block.”

“That’s all right,” she smiled. “You don’t seem antisocial to me. I’ve seen you come into the bookstore with that girl a number of times, so I’m guessing you’re plenty busy with your circle of friends.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking down at the ground. “Looks like I’m going to need to make a new circle now.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said.

“Oh, no. No worries,” he said. His early missteps made him uncomfortable, but making her feel awkward was even worse. He didn’t want his first conversation with Joy to be based around the girl who dumped him less than twenty-four hours earlier.

Thankfully, she quickly changed the subject. “So, what are you going to the Wilk for?”

“The ride board,” Sparks said, as Ollie looked to him for a lifeline.

“Really? That’s a funny coincidence,” she said. “So am I.”

They got to know each other a little more while they walked. Joy said she used to live in Boulder when she was a teenager, but her dad got promoted, and with that came a transfer to St. Louis. So she had to move with her family halfway through her senior year of high school. She waited a few years after that before starting college, so she was a twenty-two year-old sophomore on the path to becoming an elementary school teacher.

Ollie had seen the ride board before, but he’d never used it. It was a large map near the front entrance of the Wilkinson Center where students would go if they were either needing a ride somewhere or offering a ride for other people to go along. If you were offering a ride, you would put your information on a small blue piece of paper and stick it in the slot near the place you were planning to go. If you needed a ride, you’d fill out a yellow slip of paper and put it into the same spot. Anybody could go rummaging through the slips of paper to find someone to split gas money with.

Ollie began to wonder where on that map he was about to go. Standing behind Joy, who was busy with the map, he looked at Sparks a little desperately.

“Are you offering a ride, or are you hoping to get one from someone else?” she asked.

“Ollie’s driving to Denver to see his aunt this weekend,” Sparks said.

Joy looked at him. The smirk on her face was all at once both delicious and razor sharp.

“She’s always telling me I need to come see her, and I finally have a weekend free,” Ollie said.

“You’re funny,” she said, smiling at him.

He looked at Sparks for any cue he might have been be missing. “Anyway, I could always use someone to help chip in a little for gas.”

“Denver, huh? Now I’m starting to think you’re stalking me.”

“What? No. No, I’m not. Honestly, I—”

“Relax!” she laughed. “I’m just kidding. Anyway, stalker, not even my roommates know I’m planning on going to Denver this weekend. Um, is anyone else riding with you?”

Ollie turned to look at Sparks. “Are you coming with me? I know you’ve been considering it. Did you make up your mind yet?”

“I think I’ll stay here,” Sparks said. “Since you have someone to split gas with, you don’t need me.”

“Well, if it’s okay with you,” Joy said, “I think I’d feel a little more comfortable if we found someone else to come along. It’s not that… it’s just… riding alone to Denver with a guy I’ve barely met and all…”

“Of course,” Ollie said, feeling like the world was right for the first time that day. “That’s a great idea.”

“There’s only one person in here,” she said as she pulled the yellow slip of paper out of the Denver slot.

“Do you want to call her or should I?” Ollie asked.

“Probably better for me to call,” she said, laughing. “I know I’d feel more comfortable accepting a ride from a strange girl than from a strange guy.”

Ollie watched as she pulled a cell phone from her pocket and punched the number in. While she made the call, he wandered a little away from her, thinking of what kinds of things they might be doing on their trip. Though thanks to Sparks he had seen it all coming, it was still moving pretty quick. Only minutes earlier he had caught her name for the first time. Now they were planning a weekend getaway together. Only minutes before that, he had awakened to her existence for the first time, and now they were going to take a romantic drive up into the Rocky Mountains to get to know each other better. Maybe he would take her to a Colorado Rockies baseball game and Sparks could tell him which seats to buy in order to catch a foul ball.
That would be so cool!

She probably already had plans for the weekend, though. She clearly wasn’t planning a random trip with a stranger just to meet someone.

As he leaned against the wall not far away, another guy walked up to Joy as she was talking on the phone, and put his arm around her waist. Ollie looked at Sparks, questioning, but he just pointed him back to them. Ollie tried to fit the puzzle together. Her lack of surprise told him she was used to that arm being around her waist. But her lack of enthusiasm, as if the guy weren’t even there, told Ollie far more.

She had never mentioned him, which probably meant she didn’t want him to come. That could only be good news for Ollie. On top of that, Sparks didn’t seem the least bit concerned about him, which told him not to worry.
Still though… I don’t like that arm being there.

Joy finished and hung up. “Whatcha up to, girl?” the guy with the intruding arm asked.

“I’m going to take a trip to Boulder,” she said curtly, without looking him in the eyes.

“You are? But what about the John Mayer concert?”

She finally looked at him. “Sorry, I feel like I really need to go.”

“What’s going on in Boulder?” he asked with disdain. “I thought you didn’t go back there much anymore.”

“I know,” she said. “I know, but…” she turned away from him and hid behind her hair a little. “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen, you know, my old high school friends,” she wrapped her arms around the thick book she held, and pawed at the tile floor with one foot. “…Or even kept in touch with them. I really need to go this weekend.”

Joy was giving out so many nonverbal cues that Ollie couldn’t believe this guy wasn’t picking up on them.
Or maybe he’s choosing to ignore them.
She wants to get away from you, dude.
He approached them. “So, did you get it all figured out?” he asked Joy, ignoring her accoster for the moment.

“You going with these guys?” the accoster asked as he eyeballed Ollie and Sparks, scanning them up and down.

“Ollie and Sparks,” Joy said.

Ollie offered his hand and the guy shook it lamely.

“He happens to be going this weekend,” Joy said. She handed the yellow paper from the ride board to Ollie. It had a number and a name: Lynn. “We’ve got another girl from the ride board that’s going too.”

“Well, would it be alright if I jumped in with you guys too?” he asked.

“We’re going to be pretty crowded already,” she said.

Ollie smiled, realizing she was looking for any excuse to keep this guy out of their car. He knew they still hadn’t discussed how many seats his car had. For all she knew, he could drive a school bus.

“Come on. We can cram in there,” he said. “You and I can share the back seat. We’ll be fine.”

“Nope.” She meant it.

Ollie took a pen from Joy’s backpack and wrote his number on the yellow paper next to Lynn’s. He looked at Joy, wanting to step in to help her, but it was clear she was the mature one in the relationship— such that it was. The unwanted guy knew he wasn’t wanted, but he was still trying to manipulate her, to work his way into the trip anyway.

She wasn’t budging, though, and that made things awkward for everyone— including Ollie. He left them there to settle things between them while he made his way back home.

He felt sure that Joy was going to kick this guy to the curb. Besides, with Sparks coaching him, what could go wrong?
Shall I count the ways?

“Mission accomplished,” Sparks said once they were on the sidewalk outside.

“Oh yeah?” Ollie said. “That hardly seems to be the case. You’ve got me going on a trip with a girl who’s still trying to break it off with her jealous boyfriend. How smart are you, Bomber?”

“Oh come on. Trust me a little. Your aunt will be excited you’re coming. Besides, you’re nowhere close to being ready for your history test. You can spend the weekend getting ready for that.”

“I’d like to spend the weekend studying something else.”

“Oh yeah, like Joy’s going to go crazy for Total Stranger Guy over the weekend. Can you say rebound? Double rebound? Double the rebound or your money back? You guys would be a couple of regular racquetballs.”

“Okay, Bomber. What about the boyfriend guy?”

“He’s not a threat. Look, she’s been hoping for a while now he was gonna take the hint, but he’s a little slow.”

“Ya think?”

“She’ll break everything off before you leave Friday. She’s not attached to him at all.”

“You’re sure she’ll break it off before this weekend?”

“Pretty sure. Yeah.”

“Well, ain’t that great. And typical.”

“Hey, you get what ya pay for.”

“Yeah? And what is that? You still haven’t told me what strings you’re attaching to this. What’s it costing me?

“All in due time.”

Ollie shook his head and moved on. “I haven’t even seen my aunt in about two years. It’ll be kinda random and awkward to just show up. You know… without Anne.”

“Trust me. It won’t be awkward. You’re going to enjoy the weekend. Joy’s gonna have a great time, too.”

Ollie started asking all kinds of questions about Joy, but Sparks told him it would be much be better if he just found out for himself. “Don’t you want to have something to talk about in the car?”

“I just don’t wanna screw it up, okay?”

“Ollie, you couldn’t screw this up if you tried.”

“Really?” Ollie was genuinely surprised.

“No. Not at all,” Sparks said. And then he grinned.

“Shut up, Bomber. You’re a jerk. You know that, right?”

Chapter 7

Ollie spent the next morning washing his car. He needed some distractive therapy, and that was his favorite. He was able to think things over. He wasn’t being antisocial, or purposefully trying to cut Keith and Richie out of his life— or D either, for that matter. He needed space and time to be able to think. He didn’t feel much like one of the boys. He wasn’t used to sharing much of his life with them anymore, not since things had become serious with Anne and he’d become used to spending every waking minute with her. Now, with so many crazy things going on since the Anne era had come to a crashing end, he was at his limit. Try to explain any of it to Sparks as well? He didn’t want to go there.

He took his time washing and polishing, and when he finished up he went inside.

“Hey,” Keith said, “Richie says you were out there washing your car again today. What’s that all about? You washed it the day before yesterday.”

“I’m taking a trip for the weekend,” Ollie said simply.

“And?”

“And what? I just wanted it washed before I left, that’s all.”

“I think I know you well enough to know you’re not telling me something.”

“Like what?”

“Like why you washed your car. You never wash your car just because you’re going somewhere. Where are you going and who’s going with you?”

“Just a couple of girls.”

“That explains the clean car, but not the secrecy. Is Anne one of them?”

“Don’t be dumb.”

“Dumb? How’s that dumb? Who is it, then?”

“Just some girls I found on the ride board. I’m gonna spend the weekend at my aunt’s place in Colorado.”

“And you weren’t going to tell any of us?”

“What for?”

“Why not? Maybe it’s nice to know a little bit about your life in case you ever decide to go hiking alone or end up stuck in jail somewhere. Especially since you’ve recently taken to punching holes in things and knocking over catchers.”

“I’m just going for a short trip. I’m fine.”

“Okay, okay. I’m just a little worried. That breakup hit you pretty hard.”

“Keith, I know. I shoulda told you I was going. It’s been a crazy week. I could just use a couple days away from here, so I’m taking some textbooks with me and spending the weekend at my aunt’s place.”

“Hm. See Ollie? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Just keep us in the loop, would ya? We’re all a little worried and that’s okay. Let us worry about you. That’s what friends do.” Keith waited for a moment, but when he got no further response, he turned toward the door. “Alright then, have a fun time.”

“Okay.” Ollie headed upstairs to pack. He pulled out a duffle bag and started shoving clothes into it. In a way, he felt like he was going on this trip because he was being asked to go, but at the same time he really did look forward to a break from his normal routine. It didn’t hurt that he was going to have a beautiful traveling companion, but he knew he needed some time to get away regardless of his potential new romance. The contact he’d had with Joy had been short and sporadic over the couple of days since they’d met— just enough to plan for their trip.

Memories of Anne still dogged him on campus everywhere he went. Every sidewalk, every store, every couple walking hand in hand housed a trigger that jogged a memory of them together. He really needed this road trip. What made it worse was that Sparks was only feeding him information on a need-to-know basis. That meant there were a couple of informationless days during which he thought about little other than Anne.
Yeah, a weekend with Joy; some time with family will be a welcome break.

***

Ollie was in the process of packing some clean underwear into his bag when he heard Sparks’ voice from the doorway. “Joy still hasn’t broken up with her boyfriend. I thought she would have done it by now.”

“What?” Ollie was stunned. “Are you serious?”

“Relax. She’s a little harder to read than most people. I really thought she’d have dumped him by now.”

Ollie suspected Sparks was concealing something, but he couldn’t guess it. “That’s just great. I’m picking her up in a few minutes, man! And now I’ll have that looming over my head the whole weekend.”

“It’s not a big deal. Seriously. Not a big deal.”

“It is to me. Are you trying to tell me that you guessed wrong on that? I mean, that’s something that seems pretty pivotal and important. You seemed so sure before,” Ollie said.

“Yeah, I was. She’s just harder to read, that’s all. Nothing’s gonna change. Everything is still on track. The boyfriend won’t come into play at all… for the weekend, anyway.”

“Huh, it
sounds
like it’s going to make everything awkward.”

“Oh, I get it. You’re under the impression that you were gonna hit it off this weekend. But you’re not going to be doing any kissing or holding hands or gazing into each other’s eyes in soft moonlight. You won’t be doing anything but getting to know each other. You know, as friends will do?”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? Sparks, you keep leading me into situations like this, and you don’t tell me anything. You like to keep me in the dark as much as you possibly can.”

Sparks looked at Ollie like he was missing something really obvious. “Listen. I’m not responsible for the things you imagine. I give you information you wouldn’t otherwise have, and I give it to you on a need-to-know basis. You need to be able to act spontaneously in order for everything to come out right. Besides,” he pushed his hat back on his head, “I don’t like to be wrong when I’m guessing stuff. I prefer to wait when I give answers… just in case things change.”

“I can’t tell you how reassuring that is.”

“You don’t have to accept my help, you know. I could go help someone else.”

Ollie took a deep breath and then let it out as a rumble in his throat. “Ah. You’re probably right anyway. I like to find extra things to worry about, I guess. I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you, Ollster.”

“You sure you won’t, uh… come along this weekend?”

“You won’t need me. You’re just getting to know each other, remember. And trust me: that boyfriend of hers isn’t going to be a problem.”

“But why did you say Joy was harder to read than some people, though?” Ollie wondered what Sparks was setting him up for now. “That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

“Shouldn’t be. Some people are just harder.”

Ollie sighed. “You’re cryptic, dude.” He zipped up his duffel bag, grabbed the backpack with his books inside, and headed down toward his car. “Well,” he said, “this is it. I guess I’ll see you on the flip side.”

“Wait,” Sparks said, “One last thing.”

“Yeah?” Ollie paused in the hallway outside his room.

“Remember how I told you I’d be asking you to do a few things along the way?”

“Yeeeeeeees.”
Here we go.
The other shoe was about to drop, but at least he would finally know.

“The other girl who’s going to ride with you— Lynn— she’s going to offer you a job. You’re going to take it.”

“What’s the job?”

“You’ll see. Don’t worry about it.” He grinned. “Have a good weekend!” And with that, he slammed the door in his face.