That Last Little Spark

**Jess**

I pulled into the parking garage behind my apartment building and actually found a place to park on the first level.

"Oh, apartment, I missed you!" I said to myself as I walked through the lobby, waving at the people at the desk. I rode the elevator alone up to the seventh floor and almost ran down the hallway, tugging my bag behind me.

My apartment had a slightly musty smell to it, so I opened every window I could to let the late afternoon breeze in. Then I called everyone to let them know that I was finally back home.

"Can you come out to dinner with us then?" Erica asked when I called her.

"I'm gonna relax a little bit, but definitely!" I agreed. She told me the name of the restaurant before we hung up. It was then that I noticed my answering machine light was blinking with a message.

I curiously pressed play. Nobody I knew ever called my actual phone, they always called my cell phone.

"You have...one...new message and...four...old messages. Sunday...one thirty two...PM." the annoying robotic voice dictated. A few seconds of silence passed and I reached for the delete button. Just before I pressed it, a song began playing, crackly and just a little loud.

You are not alone tonight,
Imagine me there by your side.
It's so hard to be here, so far away from you.

The song played until the end and faded into silence. Then I heard someone yell faintly, "Bam!" before the message stopped. I was frozen in place. I knew Bam was never the romantic type, but sometimes he just surprised me in the most touching ways that it was almost overwhelming and I felt tears streaming down my cheeks.

I opened my cell phone and typed out a message to him.

Just two weeks :) I sent and closed my phone. I saved the message to the machine and pulled my bag down the hall and into my bedroom to unpack.

*5 minutes later*

"Shit, shit, shit, shit! Where is it?" I exclaimed, dumping the entire suitcase out on my bed. Clothes dropped off the bed and onto the floor.

"Oh, come on, this isn't funny. Where is it?" I asked myself. I had lost the one article of clothing that I couldn't afford to lose in that house. I would never hear the end of it.

"That damn nightie! I knew I shouldn't have brought it! Damn you, Kelsey! Damn you, Erica! I love you all but that thing was nothing but bad luck! Son of a bitch!" I kicked the suitcase off my bed.

"What are you bitching about?" Kelsey's voice asked from behind me. I spun around and screamed in surprise.

"Uh...hello to you too?" she smiled. "So what did you lose and how is it mine and Erica's fault?" she asked.

"That goddamn nightie that you all bought me for Christmas." I groaned and flopped down on my bed on top of my clothes.

"What about it?" she asked before jaw dropped in realization.

"YOU TOOK IT DOWN WITH YOU?! JESSICA WALKER, YOU DIRTY LITTLE GIRL!" she screamed and jumped up and down, clapping her hands like a five year old at an amusement park. She launched herself onto the bed, nearly landing on me as she propped herself up on her elbows

"Tell me everything, actually, not everything, just spare me the bedroom details." she grinned.

"Down, girl. Nothing happened. I slept in the guest room. He slept in his room." I rolled my eyes at her.

"WHY?!" she whined.

"I don't know! It's not my house, I didn't make the room arrangements! April showed me to a guest room and I slept in it!" I shrugged.

"So why did you bring it?" she challenged, slightly disappointed, but still curious.

"I don't know, honestly..." I shrugged again.

"Wishful thinking?" she teased with a smile.

"Yeah, YOU wish." I laughed.

"So what happened to it?" she asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. It's not in my suitcase. So it's gotta be down there. And if any of the guys ever found it, I would never hear the end of it." I groaned and shook my head.

"Especially if Bam found it." she grinned.

"Please, that would be my worst nightmare." I sighed. "Why did I have to drink last night?" I asked myself.

"Oh I heard how you got quite tipsy on red wine." she smirked.

"Keep it up, I won't tell you a thing about how we danced and what happened." I raised my eyebrows and got up to put my clothes away.

"Whoa whoa whoa! You danced? Where? And what happened?" she sat up so fast she almost slid off the bed. I moved to put stuff away in my bathroom as I began explaining.

"Last night he took me to this restaurant by the lake. It was right on the beach...and after we left, we walked down the beach and sat on this rock pier and watched the sun go down. Then he took me further down the beach to where this small band was playing in a park. We danced to one of the songs...and...he told me he thought he loved me...and I kissed him." I caught a glimpse of myself in my mirror. I was smiling and my face was flushed, my hair falling out of the messy ponytail I had put it in.

"Oh my god!" she squealed. I heard her feet slapping against the floor as she kicked her legs in excitement.

"Then we rode the carousel a hundred times pretending to be outlaws before going back to the restaurant for more drinks." I laughed to myself.

"You would do that." she giggled and then sighed. "Oh man, I can't wait until the wedding now."

"Neither can I." I admitted.

"And don't worry. We can just go buy you another nightie." she said. I spun around to see her smiling like the Cheshire cat, sitting cross-legged in the middle of my bed.

"I saw this cute purple and black one the other day-" she began. I ran out of my bathroom and pounced on her, tickling her to get her to shut up, just like we used to when we were younger.

"What would I do without you?" I panted when we were too exhausted to hit each other with my pillows anymore.

"Slowly go insane?" she asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm already insane enough as it is. Come on. I think I still have chocolate fudge ice cream in my freezer." I grabbed her hand and tugged her off the bed and we raced down the hallway toward my tiny kitchen.