Orange Summer

Sparks

Shayna

   "Shove off, Jess," I warned her as we walked back to The Indigo.  

   "I'm just saying you should be careful, Shay.  A guy like him is very good at playing nice, but for all you know he could be a complete asshole.  I'm just trying to protect you."

    "Aw, let her have some fun for once, Jess," Rachel grinned.  "I mean, you won't find boys like this in New York.  She should get all the treats she can get get while we're here!  And I'm going to do the same."  Rachel had her eyebrows raised, licking her lips--A look I knew as her standard predatory face.

   "You're disgusting, Rach," I groaned, only half-joking.  Rachel never looked at the same boy twice--sex was an endless game for her.  She should have been a man.  "And I'm not going to sleep with him."

Now both of my friends stared at me, appalled. 

   "You're not going to sleep with that?"  Rachel looked horrified.  "Can I, if you're not?"

I glared at her.  "No.  And...I just want to get to know him.  He seems really sweet."  And a hell of a lot of other things I wasn't going to mention to my friends.

    "Key word: seems," Jess cut in.  "Once he realizes you're not going to give him what he wants, he'll lose interest."

   "You don't know what he wants!  You guys are so supportive," I snapped, pushing my way through the hotel doors.  My friends followed grudgingly, muttering to each other.  God, could they go anywhere without bickering?  Though somehow, I could understand their shock.  How could I not sleep with him?

I wanted to.  God, how I wanted to.  Just something about him--or everything about him--sent sparks of desire and want through my whole body.  I'd never felt anything like it before, and I wanted to keep this feeling.  But it wasn't just about wanting him.  I knew he was sincere, but how could I explain this to Jess and Rachel?  How could I explain that I knew him, somehow, and yet didn't know him?  It would sound like I was in a sappy romance movie, where the couple knew each other from when they first met.  I threw my purse on the second queen bed, shrugging out of my black leather jacket and kicking off my matching heels.

    "He's different, guys," I said lamely,  and cringed at their skeptic faces.

    "That's what everyone says," Jess said.

    "He doesn't want sex?"  Rachel fired back.

I cracked a grin, pulled my camera over my now frizzing curly hair, and pressing down the button that would turn it on.

    "I know.  And of course he wants sex!"

My friends didn't reply, and I couldn't see their expressions.  I was staring at Jace's picture--he was slouched in his bar stool, sandy hair shaggy about his head, his navy t-shirt and form-fitting blue jeans tracing his figure.  That half-smile was on his face, the smile that had convinced me that there could be nothing wrong with dancing with him.  I could look at his picture all night.  Jess and Rachel had come up behind me, peering at the picture over my shoulder.  Rachel whistled appreciatively, but Jess scowled.

    "But this is exactly my point!  Boys like him are genetically programed to make girls like us want them, and they know it!  Then when the got us right where they want us, they're gone."

Rachel and I glanced at each other, then back at Jess sympathetically.  

    "Jess..." I hesitated.  "I know you're trying to protect me, but...not every boy is Oliver."

Jess glared at me.  "But they are!  That's my point!"

I just shook my head at her.  Oliver was the only boyfriend Jess had ever had.  He had told her he loved her, but then she found him cheating on her when she came back from the University.  Oliver was a weak, scummy bastard, but that didn't mean that Jace was.

Realistically, I knew I could be totally wrong.  Jace could be a scummy bastard too--but he had intrigued me too much.  I had to find out what he was like now...find out who he was.  Damn attractive, sweet country boys.  I had always been a sucker for them, even through I'd never really met one before.  I placed my camera on the side table, pulling back the bed covers.  I fiddled with the sheets.

   "he asked me to go back tomorrow," I told them quietly.  "He plays guitar for the bar...I think I'm going to go."  Screw it, I knew I was going to go.

Rachel smiled, a genuine one this time.  "Well, I'm coming with you."

Jess shook her head helplessly at us.  "Well, I guess I'm coming too.  I mean, I can't stop you.  But God Shay, remember we're only here for the summer."

I padded over to her in my bare feet, throwing my arms around her.  "I'm sorry, Jess.  I'm so sorry you got you're heart broken.  But maybe you could find a nice country boy too.  I hear they're a lot nicer, and not to mention hotter, than the crummy New York ones."  I knew what I said about the New York boys was a compete lie, and I think Jess knew it too.

Jess let her smile spread across her face.  "Yeah, maybe."

Rachel slipped her arms around our shoulders.  "Yeah, yeah, we all love each other, whatever.  Can we get off this mushy shit and watch a movie now?"

Jess and I burst into laughter, more because breaking the moment was so Rachel, and just like that I felt better than I had in years.  I was away from the dirty city, I could breathe for once in my life, I had my best friends with me, and maybe I had a man who wanted to get to know me as much as I wanted to know him.  I was going to find out.

As I lay in bed that night, I thought about Jace.  About his smile, his bright blue eyes, and the way we danced together.  I wondered if he would still stare at me the way he had tonight.  But most of all, I hoped he would kiss me.