Sparks Fly

Chapter Eighteen

Natalie

Natalie knocked on her bedroom door. "Dad? Can I come in?"

In the shuffle of wedding preparations, she had gotten bumped to her studio to get ready so that her dad could use her room, and Emily could have their room to herself.

"Hey," her dad opened the door, already all dressed up. "How's my best girl? Are you ready?"

"Not yet." She brushed past him. "I grabbed the wrong lipstick."

"Hold on a second." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. "You look so beautiful."

She returned his compliment with her toothiest, most obnoxious grin. "Thanks, Dad."

He laughed and released her. "Goofball."

She found her favourite lipstick and applied it. "There, now I'm ready. I should go see if Emily needs anything."

"What about me? I need things."

She laughed. "Like what?"

"Quality time with my daughter?"

"So needy." She teased as she sat on her bed. "Are you nervous?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. I'm too excited."

"Me too."

He sobered up. "Nat, I just want you to know that today wouldn't be the same without you being... where you are. I'm so proud of you."

Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. Thank god for waterproof mascara, but still. "Dad, I'm not supposed to cry until the wedding actually starts."

"Sorry, sweetheart." He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Natalie mustered all of her courage. She hadn't been planning on having this discussion until after her dad and Emily got back from their honeymoon on Tuesday, but he had given her a golden opportunity. "Dad, I know that you asked Josh to make sure that I was eating this summer, and that you built the studio because he called you. And I know that I've given you a million reasons not to trust me, but I've been working really hard to make up for that."

His worried gaze stayed on her. "I know that, sweetie."

She took a deep breath. "I guess what I'm getting at is I need you to trust me when I say that I can handle something. Not Josh. Or not only Josh, at least."

He was silent for a second, and she was scared to even meet his eyes, but then he slowly nodded, and she relaxed.

"That's fair. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you." He said quietly. "As long as you stay committed to recovering and being honest with me, I'll work on taking your word for how you're feeling and what you need. Deal?"

"Deal." She was so relieved that he understood- or at least was trying to understand- that she would have agreed to anything. They shook on it, then she saw the clock and jumped up. "Five minutes until go time! Are you ready?"

His smile grew. "More than ever."

Luke

Luke loosened his tie and looked around. The ceremony and first dances were finished, and now he was starting to wonder if he could sneak out early. The fact that Emily and David had had a backyard wedding and reception would make it absurdly easy. And he didn't love huge crowds and parties at the best of times, and almost everyone here were neighbours and friends of his parents'. People who had thought that they knew him, and were shocked and disappointed that he "got himself into trouble" and now were subtly- or, in some cases, not so subtly- avoiding him.

Even his dad had noticed. He pulled Luke aside less than ten minutes into the reception to tell him that he had done nothing wrong (aside from not telling the truth earlier) and to keep his head up. He didn't mention that everyone here obviously thought that he had done a lot wrong, but he didn't need to. That was impossible to miss.

"Hey, man." Josh dropped into the chair next to him. "You aren't thinking about bailing early, are you?"

Luke tried to hide his expression, but he wasn't fast enough.

Josh laughed. "I knew it! You're so obvious."

"Sorry, I just can't be here for much longer." He tried not to look around at all of the people who he used to know.

"Is this an anti-social thing or a juvie thing?"

He made it sound so simple. Maybe it was. "Juvie thing." He muttered.

"Stay." Josh demanded. "I want you here, my mom wants you here, Natalie wants you here, and David probably does, especially since it makes the rest of us happy. Nobody else matters."

Luke smiled slightly. If only that was the case. "I'm not guaranteeing that I'll party all night with you."

"That's fine. Just stay for now." He requested. "Oh, and ask Natalie to dance."

"What? Josh-" He sputtered. "It's not- we're friends!"

Josh's expression made it clear that he didn't believe a word of that. "Dude. You are the literal worst to wingman for. I've been talking you up to Nat all freaking summer, and first you practically tried to prove me wrong, and then you just did nothing about it. Seriously? How are you two still in this whole "will they, won't they?" thing after your idea got her dad to build her a dance studio?" He stopped to laugh a little. "Come on, man. You know you like her, I know you like her, and I'm about eighty percent sure she likes you too. Just do something about it already."

Shit. That was such an incredibly Josh thing to do. Luke still had to make sure, though. "You... don't mind?"

"Of course not, dumbass." He snickered. "You two dating would be a hell of a lot easier than you two bitching at, or awkwardly tiptoeing around each other."

He laughed in relief. Of course Josh didn't mind. He was the most selfless person in the world. If it made someone happy and didn't hurt anyone, he was all for it. "Thanks, man. Really."

"Go! Get the girl or something!" Josh waved him off.

"Okay, okay." Luke wove through the crowd. After searching aimlessly outside didn't pay off, he headed around to the front of the house to check her studio. The garage door was wide open, revealing Natalie sitting on a chair she must have brought over from the yard, massaging one of her feet, with her heels discarded about a foot away.

"Hey," he said. "Okay if I come in?"

"Of course." She smiled up at him. "As long as you don't mind my ugly feet."

He sat on the steps for the door to the house. "You look beautiful. Not that you don't always, but..." Shit. Very smooth, Taylor. "I like your hair down like that." He finished lamely.

"Thanks," she said, failing to conceal her laugh. The song drifting in from outside ended and a new one started up. "Oh, I love this song."

He saw his chance and stood up. "Want to dance?"

"I'd love to." She took his hand and allowed him to help her up.

He spun her onto the dance floor area of her studio, and pulled her in close. When she looked up at him, he was stunned all over again by how radiant she looked when she was happy. He started to lean into her-

And she pulled him down into a kiss before he could instigate it, and if he thought that he was head over heels for her before, oh man. He'd had no clue what that even meant then. This was everything he hadn't realized he wanted, and was so much better than anything he could have imagined. What had started out as gentle and soft quickly became fervent. When she moved away, he couldn't stop the smile that took over his face, and he didn't even want to.

"Wow." He said softly. His heart was still pounding, and he wasn't sure that he was capable of saying much else.

"Wow?"

He tenderly moved a stray curl away from her face, and cupped her cheek in his hand. "You're amazing."

When she smiled, he pressed his lips against hers again.

The End