Page 31 of Sparks Fly
Now she was writing for a Netflix show that legally she couldn’t tell Stella much about but would be starring some TikToker Stella had never heard of yet had millions of followers. Jackie was in town for her sister’s sweet sixteen that weekend, so as they always did when Jackie was in town, they were getting a drink at the Irish American Pub, the bar they had often frequented when they were interns with very little money and not a lot of places to go.
“Hello?” Jackie said, poking Stella’s arm. “Space cadet, what is happening in that big, beautiful brain of yours?”
Oh yes, so this was the other thing about Jackie. Stella had had a crush on her once, when they’d first become friends, and sometimes, when Jackie touched her or called her brain beautiful, Stella had to remind herself that she wasn’t actually interested in Jackie; she just liked the idea of being interested in someone. She knew this because although she loved Jackie, she also hated how Jackie would often disappear, leaving Stella on read for weeks and sometimes months, and then suddenly pop up again as if she’d never gone ghost. Stella understood that that happened sometimes. Friendships could ebb and flow. And Stella knew deep down that she could tolerate it as Jackie’s friend, but she was much too needy of a person to have a partner like that, much less one who lived on the other side of the country.
Also, and most importantly, Jackie was very straight, despite all of her queer friends trying to convince her otherwise.
“I met someone,” Stella said finally. “Like, romantically.”
Jackie’s eyes bugged out as she sat back in her chair.
“Whoa,” Jackie said. “When?”
“Last week,” Stella said. “It’s very new. I actually don’t really know what we’re doing but…it feels good. Nice. But also maybe too nice? Like I honestly can’t believe this is happening to me, you know?”
Jackie nodded sagely. Although Jackie had lost her virginity back when she was in college, she’d only done it that one time in an effort to get it over with and hadn’t been with anyone else, romantically or sexually, since. So she was one of the few people in Stella’s life who really understood what it felt like to be long-term single.
Chelsea, Kira, and Effie were all single now, but it wasn’t thesame. They’d all been in relationships before and hooked up with people fairly regularly. Stella hadn’t even had a prom date.
She knew her friends were great and gorgeous, but Stella also thought she was those things. And yet, when they went out to bars, Stella often found herself standing off to the side while her friends were approached, and only getting a drink if the person interested in one of her friends decided to get one for her, too.
Stella tried not to let it get to her. She never wanted to have multiple partners or a “hoetation.” She would be happy just finding the one special person who would beherperson. But there was a part of her that couldn’t help but wonder why it felt so easy for everyone else to find mutual attraction when it seemed like everyone Stella ever liked never really liked her back.
Until Max.
“Are you worried it’s too good to be true?” Jackie asked, pulling the thought right from Stella’s mind.
Stella huffed out a laugh. “No, I know it is.”
“What do you mean?”
“So that’s kind of a long story,” Stella said. And then she took Jackie through the whole thing. Meeting Max at Red as Sin, learning who he was in relation to her job, and their decision to keep seeing each other despite all of it.
“It’s like, of course I finally meet someone who’s interested in me and it’s this complicated mess,” Stella finished.
“Okay, but he said he’s taking himself off the project for you, right?” Jackie said. “That’s good at least. He clearly cares about you a lot if he’s willing to do that when he barely even knows you.”
Stella bit down on a smile. “I know. It’s kind of crazy, honestly. A part of me can’t help but think about why he wants to do this for me.”
“Probably because he wants to get into your pants,” Jackie said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Stella laughed.
“No, but seriously,” Jackie went on. “Obviously, he’s into you. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be doing all this. So maybe just let yourself enjoy the ride.”
“You don’t think it’s stupid to involve myself with this guy who may or may not become my villain origin story?”
Stella’s conversation with Effie and Effie’s matching looks of concern whenever she glanced Stella’s way in the office continued to plague her thoughts.
“I think that’s the best reason to do it,” Jackie said. “Seriously, isn’t that part of dating? Doesn’t everyone have some kind of story about a horrible ex? This could be yours! Do it for the plot!”
Stella laughed again at that, but nodded.
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I have to see this through.”
“You gotta see the dick!”
Jackie said this way too loudly, and even with the music blasting in the bar, people still turned their way. Stella hid her face behind her hands, shaking her head. She needed to get quieter friends.
“Literally, why are you like this?” she asked Jackie, pulling down her hands.
