Page 11 of Sparks Fly
“And I’m sure it’s great,” Effie said. “You don’t need me there.”
“But I need moral support,” Stella whined.
“I shall support you from here.”
Stella scooted forward until her chair knocked into the side of Effie’s chair.
“Pleeeeease.”
Effie finally sighed and turned to face Stella. She was wearing her usual square black-rimmed glasses that always made her look more serious, and her dark blue curls were pulled up in her trademark I’m-in-the-zone messy bun.
“Pitch first, and I leave right after,” Effie said.
Stella squealed, which made a few heads turn in their direction, but they quickly moved on. Strange things were always happening in the Yellow Sparks office, and people had bigger fish to fry today.
“Thank you!”
She threw her arms around Effie in a hug, and Effie very lightly patted her back.
“Yes, yes, now let me get back to work,” Effie said, pulling away. “I have forty minutes until I will be forced from my chair.”
Stella scooted away again and gave her a mock salute.
“Aye, aye, captain!”
Seven
The meeting, which was held in Destiny’s Child, was a small one.
When Stella and Effie arrived, the only people at the round table were Melanie; Katy, one of the other content writers; and the three new editorial fellows, Sam, Tracy, and Liz.
“Okay, I think this is everyone,” Melanie said as Stella closed the door.
Melanie sat at the head of the table in front of the blacked-out TV with a branded Yellow Sparks notebook in front of her. Unlike everyone else in the room and most other Yellow Sparks employees, Melanie did not carry her MacBook with her wherever she went. She once told Stella that she could only brainstorm with pen and paper.
As far as bosses went, Melanie was an interesting one. She was only thirty, a mere three years older than Stella, and hadmade her way to Yellow Sparks via Tumblr. Not that she worked for Tumblr; she’d just amassed a large following there, and after Yellow Sparks had made a number of viral posts based on her content, she threatened to sue if they didn’t hire her.
Or at least that was the urban legend. Melanie said legally she wasn’t allowed to talk about it.
Regardless, Melanie was a peak woke white woman millennial. She went out of her way to make sure everyone on her team felt heard and validated, and she always emphasized that she was an Ally™?, although it took her way too long to finally remove her Hogwarts house from her bio.
For the most part, Melanie was chill, letting the team write about almost anything as long as it fit with the Yellow Sparks brand and wasn’t some long-form essay about why comparing Beyoncé to Taylor Swift was like comparing Jay-Z to Harry Styles, something no one does because they’re men, not women. Stella had pitched that one a couple weeks ago and was reminded that was something the Spark News team would handle.
Today, however, Stella had the perfect pitch, so when Melanie said, “Happy Hump Day, everyone! Who’d like to start us off?” Stella’s hand shot straight up in the air.
Melanie gave her a polite smile. “Stella, as I’ve said many times, you don’t have to raise your hand. The pathway of communication between you all and me is always open and clear.”
Beside her, Effie snorted, and Stella shot her a glare before shifting her attention back to Melanie.
“Right, sorry,” Stella said. “I’m just excited about this one.”
Melanie waved her hand as if to say, “Go on,” so Stella did.
“ ‘Eleven Places to Lose Your Virginity,’ ” Stella said proudly. “Or ‘The Eleven Best Places to Lose Your Virginity.’ I was thinking it could be either general, like a car or in the house, or I could make this a series and do it by city. We could even open it up to the Sparks community and ask people where they think the best places to do the deed are. That would generate even more traffic!”
In the midst of all her tossing and turning last night, Stella had found herself asking why she thought having sex in a sex club would ever end well. Then she wondered, wherewasthe best place to lose your virginity?
From there, she spiraled herself into a pitch. One Melanie seemed to like, based on the way she was nodding her head.
