Sparks the Matchmaker

CHAPTER 20

Ollie was ready to face the world free from the burden of someone telling him how to do everything. His body and his spirits felt lighter than usual as he got himself ready for the day. It was awesome. He felt carefree as his brain jogged through the things he was going to tackle over the next week. It was incredible how bold he felt about facing Joy.

Sure, he didn’t like how Sparks had brought it about, but that didn’t change the way he felt about the girl Sparks had pointed him toward. There were things within his relationship with her that he hadn’t felt for a very long time… since the early days of his relationship with Anne.

Joy was fun. She was beautiful. Amazing. He wasn’t going to let her slip out of his hands, and especially not just for the sake of spite— he knew Sparks wanted it as well, but he would beat him at his own game, and he would do it Ollie’s way.

He knew Joy well enough anyway. He knew she’d be there at her apartment waiting for him to walk her to class like she had been every morning. He was confident she would shake off the weirdness of the night before, that she would be wearing that contagious smile on those lips again. Ollie and Joy would have a normal day together. He was sure that the opportunity for them to talk about her issues would present itself before too long. Most importantly, he knew these things for himself— not because Sparks told him so.

When Ollie bounced up Joy’s front step and tapped the front door with his knuckles, it wasn’t Joy who answered. She wasn’t even home. She’d left earlier than usual for class and hadn’t told her roommates why.

When he showed up at her cash register later in the day, the uneasiness set in further when he saw that her contagious smile hadn’t found its way back to her lips. She shot him down when he asked her if he could walk her home, saying she had something she needed to do elsewhere on campus, that he wouldn’t be able to come along.

At the end of a full day of being in full control, the only thing he did know was that the opportunity to talk about her past had slipped by. But he wouldn’t pull the Yankees hat out of the closet. He didn’t need Sparks.

He walked slowly down the long hill on one corner of campus. The pathway was divided by a metal railing, one side being for pedestrians and the other for cyclists. Ollie defiantly chose to walk down the bikers’ side. If he couldn’t be in control of his life, he was going to control a small part of the lives of the people around him. He found sick satisfaction when the second biker to pass him yelled at him to get back in the pedestrian lane. But satisfaction turned to anger when the last biker to pass him hit him with his elbow as he zoomed by. He fumed, knowing that it had been done on purpose, even though he also knew that he’d brought it on himself. He usually succeeded in making himself even more upset when that was his goal, and it was that time for sure.

He fumed a little more as he walked past Skywalker House on his way home, thinking about what was going on within those brick walls. He was sure someone inside there was plotting some scheme to steal his girl. There were enemies inside.

Though each step he took on the sidewalk heated his temper more and more, even though he walked in the door fuming, D’s unexpected presence took some of the heat out of him.

“I went down to the Ascend office today,” D said. “I put in my application for the job with Greg.”

“Yeah?” Ollie was glad to focus on someone other than himself for a change. “How’d that go?”

“Good. The guy there was completely surprised to see me. It was almost like he was trying to talk me out of it, giving me all the reasons why Greg is so tough to work with and all that.”

“I still haven’t seen why myself, yet. Except for the laundry, it’s not that bad. I think he’s more teddy bear than Grizzly bear.”

“That’s kind of what I told him, but he insisted that it wouldn’t stay that easy. I think I’ll like the job, though.”

“You did get it, then? I mean, you’re probably the only one applying.”

“Yeah, I got it. He probably thinks I’ll just keep the position warm until someone more qualified comes along.”

“So he thought you were qualified?”

“I guess so, but I’m not. Not really. I mean, I’ve never worked in this field before. I don’t have any handicapped siblings or friends. I don’t have any credentials. The only thing I have going for me really is that I’m a big guy and they need a big guy to work with him.”

“So he doesn’t fight with you.”

“That’s kind of what the guy at the office meant, though he didn’t quite say as much. It was more like he felt I could get away when Greg does fight with me. He made it sound inevitable.”

“He is a pretty intimidating guy. Even when he’s in a good mood, you just can’t guess what’s going on in that brain of his.”

“We talked for a pretty long time about the job,” D said. “I think he wanted to make sure I wanted it; he was feeling me out the whole time to see if I could be easily intimidated.”

“Did you talk about that staff worker who didn’t show up on Saturday?”

“Yeah. I told him the whole story about how the note was there when we got there and all that. He called Lynn up and talked to her about it too. Naturally, they’re going to fire that guy.”

“That leaves two empty spots. The manager and the worker.”

“Yeah. You are still planning on being the one to fill that other position, right? I mean, because if you’re not, then I’m gonna have to... ya know…”

“Find someone else?”

“No, give you the beating of a lifetime.”

“So I either get beat up by Greg and get paid for it or get beat up by you for nothing?”

“That’s a good way to look at it, yeah.”

“Which one of you do you think can hit the hardest?”

D laughed. “Ya know, I think the key to Greg is going to be keeping him busy. From what I can gather, pretty much all of his explosions are when he’s just at home doing little nothings around the house. We can’t really avoid that, but it sounds to me like he’s never erupted out in public or when friends are over.”

“Well, if we don’t have anything to do, we can just take off and write in the log book that he was getting upset, like the other worker did.”

“Exactly,” D laughed. “My first official shift with him is going to be on Wednesday. I think we’re supposed to go grocery shopping that day, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have to think of something else to do to fill up the day.”

“Keith and I have a softball game that day. You guys should swing by. That’ll take up a few hours, and he’ll probably like it.”

“Good idea.”

They eventually parted, and though he was glad to be calmer now, the rest of Ollie’s day was uneventful. Since Joy wasn’t there to share his dinner with, he made himself a quesadilla and planted himself on the couch with the TV remote in his hand. After that it wasn’t too long before he surrendered the remote to D and the gaggle of girls from Ivy House who had come over to watch a movie.

Ollie wasn’t interested in socializing, so he slipped out. He found his brain stuck on Joy, wondering what she might be doing. But later his thoughts wandered from Joy back to memories of Anne, and they even wandered to the point where he thought a little about Lynn. He wondered what that meant for a split second, until he slapped himself.