Sparks the Matchmaker

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?