That Last Little Spark

**Jess**

"You know that during one of these movies someone's going to end up dead, right?" I asked while I played with the box that had my food in it. We had finished eating and were waiting for Carson to come back with Bam's credit card. Apparently, he had one more surprise for me.

"We've talked about that, actually. And we're predicting that Ehren goes first." he smiled from across the table.

"I can only imagine how the funeral would go." I let my imagination run wild: a coffin on wheels, all the guys as pallbearers and dropping the coffin, Steve-o doing circus tricks on top of it while it was pushed down a street, pushing each other in the grave, pouring cement on it...and I voiced all of these to Bam.

"Don't give them, or me, any ideas." he shook his head at me.

"Have a good night, guys." Carson returned with Bam's credit card.

"Thanks, man." Bam said.

"Have a good night, mademoiselle." he kissed my hand and winked.

"Au revoir." I smiled coyly. We left the coolness of the restaurant and entered the balmy summer evening. The sun was just dropping down to the water, probably about 10 minutes away from going down.

"Come on." he opened the car and took my box before putting it on the seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Nowhere. Take off your shoes." he instructed mysteriously, taking his off as well. I left them on the floor of the car and watched as he shut the door. Then he took my hand and led me off of the sidewalk, right onto the sand.

"What are we doing?" I asked, swinging our hands between us.

"I figured it's been so long since you've seen the sun set properly." he grinned shyly, and I almost fell over. There was no way that this was the Bam I knew. The Bam I knew would rather make sand angels and dive into the water than walk on the beach.

"Are you feeling okay?" I felt his forehead.

"Yeah...why?" he asked.

"A sunset walk on the beach?" I asked, looking at the water.

"If you want." he shrugged.

"I want something else." I tugged on his hand and suddenly let go, taking off toward the water and a flock of seagulls.

"Hey! Wait up!" he laughed. From the sound of it, I guess he was glad he could drop the whole 'romantic' act. I knew he was trying to make this night memorable for me, but the only way that could happen was if we could be immature.

I knew he was right behind me, so I stopped right at the water's edge, laughing hysterically when he failed to stop and plowed right into the water.

"Dude I'm soaked! What the hell?" he whined, standing knee deep in the waves.

"You're such a baby." I rolled my eyes.

"I don't see you out here." he put his hands on his hips.

"I don't want to mess up my hair." I smiled, taking the clip out of my hair and allowing it to fall down my shoulders.

"That's a great reason. I didn't want to mess up my hair, either." he ran his hand through his haphazard curls.

"Again, you're such a baby. It's just water." I teased him.

"Oh yeah? If it's just water then why aren't you out here?" he asked again.

"If it shuts you up." I sighed like it was a big deal before walking right into the waves. But I didn't stop there, like he thought I would. I tackled him, bringing him down as a wave crashed right over us, soaking the both of us completely.

"Oh, you're so dead." he laughed and flipped over so he had the advantage while we wrestled in between the breaking waves.

"You know," I panted when we had stopped and were just sitting there in the water. "We're never going to be dry enough to get in the car if we sit here."

"I guess you're right." he sighed and pulled me to my feet. "But just because we stopped now, doesn't mean we won't continue this later, got it?" he challenged.

"Oh, it's on." I challenged back as we splashed back up on to the sand. My dress, soaking wet, stuck to my legs whenever I moved.

"Come on, let's go out there." Bam veered off to the left, heading right for a strip of rocks that jutted out into the lake like a natural, or possibly intentional pier. We hopped across the rocks, helping each other across the ones with larger gaps or ones that were uneven, until we reached the last three or four that were impossible to go out on because they were half submerged.

"It's gorgeous out here." I sat down on a flat rock and let my feet dangle in the water. The sun was right on the horizon, but it was unlike any sunset I had ever seen in the city. The sky closest to the water was dark orange as it blended into a sherbert pink before fading into a light gray. The gray mixed in with the light blue of the fading afternoon, which stretched overhead to the other horizon. The waves lapped softly against the rocks before washing away like they had never been there. Seagulls called to each other, dipping and soaring in the light breeze coming in from the water.

"Is it like any sunset in the city?" he asked.

"Never. It's beautiful." I sighed in content and closed my eyes, lying back on the rock. For a split second, the thought of what I was lying on crossed my mind: dried seaweed, bird shit...but I had just played in the lake, so it didn't matter anymore.

"Don't get too comfortable." he warned.

"Why?" I asked, cracking one eye open.

"Because there's still something else I want to show you. But we can't go yet." he explained.

"You and your surprises tonight." I sighed again and listened to the sounds of the lake, letting the events of the day sink in. Seeing Chase was something I never expected...or wanted. But I couldn't help wondering if Bam still would've done this if I hadn't run into Chase.

"So how long did you have this planned for?" I asked casually.

"Since last night, why?" he asked back.

"Just wondering." I shrugged.

"You're not having fun, are you?" he asked. I opened my eyes in surprised shock.

"What the hell do you mean? Of course I'm having fun." I sat up and almost launched myself off the rock by doing so.

"Well I thought you were asking because this just seems so thrown together." he tried to explain.

"Bam, shut up." I giggled and pushed him lightly.

"Oh that's it, you're goin' in." he playfully pushed me back, closer to the gray-green water that looked black below.

"You'll be coming in right after me." I challenged, dipping my foot in just to see how cold it was. It was still warm. I was tempted to jump in, just to see what he would do.

"Come on!" he suddenly looked up at the sky, and I noticed that the sun was gone, a few stray bands of sunset still remained. The sky was dark blue in the east and light blue-gray overhead.

"Where to now?" I jumped up and pulled him to his feet this time. We helped each other back over the rocks until we reached the sand. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my dress had dried while we watched the sun go down.

It wasn't long before I heard music. Bam just smiled and continued walking, swinging our hands between us.