I See Sparks Fly Whenever You Smile

Alex

After Valentine's Day I was more sure than ever on my feelings for Brook and I knew that there was nothing I wanted more at the moment than to see her and talk to her and hopefully make her my girlfriend.

As the days until I'd be home dwindled down to less than a week, I knew there was one very important talk I did not want to have but knew that I had to.

"Hey Lina," I said when she answered my call.

"Hey. How are you, Alex?" she replied a little confused to hear my voice, I'm sure.

"I'm okay. I'm not going to beat around the bush. We need to talk," I said.

"I figured that. You called me. People usually call other people when they want to talk," she said, a playful tone in her voice.

I wasn't amused. "Lina, this is serious."

"Okay. Okay," she cleared her throat. "What's up?"

"What happened between us in Europe?"

"In Europe? Really? You don't know?" she sort of mocked me.

"I have my assumptions. But I would like to know for one-hundred-percent certain."

"Well, what do you think happened?" she asked and it almost felt like she was doing it on purpose to make me sweat it out.

"You know exactly what I think happened. It's us and I was drunk as hell, upset and woke up in your bed naked. You were already up and in the shower, but I'm willing to bet you woke up naked, too."

She was silent for a while. I'd thought for a second that she hung up.

"I didn't wake up naked," she explained. "I woke up three floors down in your hotel room, where I went to sleep after you passed out in mine."

I nodded slowly. "So, we didn't have sex?" I asked carefully.

"No, we didn't," she said.

"I'm sorry then. I shouldn't have jumped to any conclusion. But it's just-"

"Alex," she interrupted me. "You thought we slept together because there were a few things that I said that were very cryptic and could have been misunderstood."

"What did happen though? Why were you really saying you saw it coming and it was bound to happen?" I asked confused.

"You told me all about Brook," she said bluntly.

"I did?" I asked very surprised at myself. "But you knew what I thought happened, didn't you? You let me think it."

"I know," she sighed. "Not my proudest moment, okay? I'm sorry."

"What did I say?" I asked her, ignoring her apology.

"You said that you met this girl. And you went on and on and on about how great she was. And how much you liked her. And how much you missed her. You told me about the freckles on her nose," Lina told me and she sounded a little sad.

"What did you mean by it was bound to happen and you saw this coming?"

"You were different since I came back for Christmas. Normally with us if we're getting back together we would have slept together a long time ago. And you got tense
whenever I kissed you. I just had this feeling that there was someone else."

"I'm sorry," I said, though I wasn't sure for what.

"You don't need to apologize, Alex. I want you to be happy. And if that happens with Brook, go for it. I wish you nothing but the best."

"I am happy with Brook. But that's not to say that I wasn't happy with you, Lee. It's just-"

"We weren't meant to be," she cut me off. "And Lord knows we tried to be. And that's okay."

"I'm sorry if I said anything that night that ended up hurting your feelings. And I'm sorry for ever hurting your feelings in general. But, this whole thing with Brook feels so different now. Yanno? It's kind of like this is what an adult relationship should feel like."

"She must be really great," Lina said and I thought maybe I could detect a smile.

"She's the best. Believe it or not, you guys would probably get along really well," I said with a chuckle.

"Well, I'd love to meet her someday."

"You probably will eventually," I said. "We have enough friends in common."

"Yes. We do," Lina agreed. "This won't get weird right?"

"I won't let it get weird if you won't," I assured her.

"Okay. I promise I won't."

"Then I promise I won't either," I said and I wondered if this was really going to be possible.

"So, is this Brook girl officially your girlfriend yet?" Lina asked, kind of excitedly.

"No," I huffed. "But I'm hoping to change that as soon as I get home in a few days."

Brook

We just landed! You can leave now. We'll meet you outside in the passenger pick up area outside the Delta terminal. <3333333

I was practically giddy as I read that text message from Alex. He was finally home and he was going to be home for a while now. We had a mild argument over the phone the night before when I volunteered to pick him and Matt up from the airport. He felt bad because they weren't going to land until after 1 in the morning and he knew I had work the next morning early. I couldn't bare the thought of him being in Maryland and not being able to see him until after work the next day. I fibbed and told him I had off the next day - some Superintendents of Schools day. He wouldn't know any better and when I had to work the next day, I would deal with his bitching then.

He thought that I was going to wait until he texted me that he landed to leave my apartment and head to the airport and pick him and Matt up off the curb. In reality, I left my apartment thirty minutes before he landed, which got me to the airport fifteen minutes before he landed. I circled the arriving flights area until he texted me that he landed and that's when I pulled over to the curb at the passenger pick up. Almost immediately a security guard came over and told me that I wasn't allowed to stay there. Surprising myself a little, I turned on my charm and convinced the guy to let me stay there, while I ran inside to greet Alex and Matt. It looked like for a second he was going to tell me to get lost, but thankfully he caved and told me I was lucky it was the middle of the night on a Friday.

I paced back and forth for a couple of minutes, staring at the escalator in hopes of finally seeing Alex. Slowly, but surely his frame appeared at the top of the escalator and i watched the widest smile spread across his face when he saw me. Of course I couldn't help but smile myself.

"What are you doing inside?" he asked as he was walking closer to me. "Please don't tell me you parked the car in the garage or something just to meet us inside," he finished, standing in front of me - it was all I could do not to throw myself at him. His hair was a little longer than the last time I'd seen him and he definitely hadn't shaved in a few days, which left him looking a little scruffy - I didn't mind it.

"No, I didn't park it in the garage. It's right outside," I explained, shifting from one foot to the other.

"You better hope it didn't get towed away by now. Those security guards can be real assholes," Alex said.

"Don't worry," I shook my head. "I kind of flirted with the security guard."

Alex smiled again. "That's my girl," he said before closing the space between us and hugging me tight. It was probably the best hug I've ever gotten.

"Welcome home," I whispered in his ear, squeezing him a little tighter and pressing a kiss to his cheek as he lifted me off the ground a bit and spun me in a circle.

"It's good to be home," he said, gently placing me back down on the ground before lightly pressing a kiss to my lips. "You remember Matt, right?" he asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into my side.

"Of course," I smiled at Matt. "Welcome back."

"Thanks Brook," he nodded. "And thanks for picking us up. And offering to drop me off at my place. We really could have just gotten a cab."

"It's no problem at all," I shrugged, wrapping my arm around Alex's waist. "I don't mind."

"Isn't she perfect?" Alex gushed.

"Yeah. She's pretty great," Matt said with a smile. He looked between Alex and myself before suddenly backing away slowly. "I'm going to uh- I'm going to- I'm just gonna go be anywhere but right here for a few minutes," he said, walking in the opposite direction of Alex and I, clearly giving us a few minutes to be alone.

"Hi," Alex said, removing his arm from around my shoulders and spinning me around to face him as he placed his hands on each side of my waist.

"Hi," I copied him and a second later he moved his hands from my waist to the side of my face. Closing whatever space was left between the two of us, his pressed his lips down to mine.

I smiled as I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my body into his. There was no denying how right any of this felt.

I pulled back a few moments later, not too long after Alex had deepened the kiss. I was becoming aware of all the people around us and didn't like the idea of having an audience.

Alex smiled and rested his forehead against mine. "Now it's really good to be home."

My eyes fell closed as he kissed me again, this time wrapping his arms around my middle and squeezing me tight against him and lifting me off the ground a bit again.

I tightened my own grip around him when I realized that I was airborne again and he laughed softly at me. "Don't worry, Brook. I won't let you go," he assured me.

I smiled, the serious-ness to his voice almost made it seem like he wasn't just referring to holding me a few inches off the ground. "You better not," I said, pressing another kiss to his lips right before he put me back on the ground.

He put me down and held me at arms length, for a moment it looked as though he was inspecting my appearance. I felt self conscious for the moment because I had most definitely not dressed up for the occasion. Clearly, I was wearing sweat pants and an old beat up pair of boots, but what he couldn't see was under my big winter coat, I was wearing a Jonas Brother's tour shirt and Alex's hoodie he left me so long ago.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I finally asked him, tilting my head to the side a bit in question.

He shook his head slowly. "For a minute there I thought you may have grown a bit since I last saw you," he shook his head again. "But I must have been wrong. If possible, you might look shorter."

"You're a jerk," I rolled my eyes, walking passed him and nudging his side with my shoulder. "You luggage is going to come out down here," I said, walking in the direction of the appropriate bag claim carousel.

Alex caught up to me a second later, catching me in his arms around my waist and pressing me into his side. "I was just kidding about the getting shorter thing," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

"Not a funny joke when I've heard it so many times before," I said, faking a scowl.

"What I really should have said was that you've definitely gotten more beautiful since I last saw you. And I did not think that was possible."

I turned to look up at him, slowly a confident smile was spreading across his face and I couldn't help to break my scowl and laugh. "Good one," I complimented. "Real good one."

"But it's true," he whined, Matt coming up behind us a second later.

"Are you whining already?" Matt asked. "Sorry Brook."

I laughed again and Alex pouted. "I wasn't whining," he defended himself. "Is she or is she not the most beautiful girl in the world?" he asked Matt.

I felt my cheek flame as Matt looked over to me for a second and then back at Alex. "I feel like this is a trick question. Maybe I should walk away again for a few more minutes..."

"No, Matt, you don't have to do that. He's just being a pain," I said, nudging Alex with my elbow again. "Save it for later," I told Alex, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Oh, I will," he smirked, leaning down and pressing his lips to my cheek in a big wet kiss, leaving me to have to wipe my cheek with the sleeve of my coat when he was done.

"Thank God," Matt muttered when the bell rang out in an alert and a second later the luggage carousel began to spin and spit out suitcases of many different shapes and sizes.

"What do your bags look like again?" I asked Alex.

I'd seen them all before the night he left, but I was so preoccupied with the fact of him leaving me that I wouldn't remember what they look like if they were bright pink.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through it before shoving it in my face. When my eyes could focus, I realized it was a picture of three pieces of luggage. "I never remember what they look like.

I smiled a little at him, kissing his shoulder lightly as I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned into him. "It's a good thing you're cute."

"I know," he said like it was obvious as he wrapped his arm around my waist and we watched each suitcase go by, every so often Alex would check his phone and remind himself of what we were looking for.

About ten minutes later we were able to locate all of Matt and Alex's suitcases. As we dragged them out to my car, I began to worry if they were all going to fit in my car.

"Don't worry," Alex said. "Matt's a pro. He'll make it all fit one way or another."

"Good luck," I said, watching as Matt lifted the first few suitcases, twisting them at different angles before he got them to fit in my trunk. After all the rearranging, we only needed to put one suitcase in the backseat with Matt and a smaller one on the floor in the front seat by Alex's feet.

The drive to Matt's was quiet, I was sure for a little while that Alex had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, but every once in a while he would perk up and tell me some story about something funny that had happened on the road, that he hadn't managed to tell me when we spoke on the phone, emails, texting or web-cam.

"I can't thank you enough for picking us up, Brook," Matt said when I pulled up in front of his house.

"It's no problem at all," I assured her, taking off my seat belt to get out of the car and help Matt get his bags from the trunk.

"I got it," Alex said, giving my hand a quick squeeze before he jumped out of the car and he helped Matt lug one of his gigantic suitcase to the front door before jumping back in the car.

"I have a silly question," I said, once I pulled away from the sidewalk and started the drive back to Alex's house.

"What's up?" he asked, leaning back in his seat and turning his head to the side to face me.

"What do you guys do with all your stuff? Like the instruments and microphones and stuff?"

"That's not a silly question," he assured me with a sleepy smile. "We have it shipped back to a warehouse where we store all our stuff. When we first started and kind of did everything on our own it was a total pain when we had to travel. We had to cart everything with us. Matt would have a panic attack as soon as we stepped into an airport."

"Well, thank goodness you don't have to do it on your own anymore."

"You can say that again," Alex said.

The rest of the drive was mostly quiet again. There was no denying how exhausted Alex was. I kind of felt bad for him.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore ears," Alex said when I pulled up in front his house and he looked at the window at the place he hadn't seen in a month. "You're coming in, right?" he asked, turning back to me.

"Sure," I nodded, turning off the car and gathering my purse before getting out of the car and helping Alex with his suitcases.

"I can't decide if I want to dive head first into my bed or do a cannon ball," Alex said with a laugh once we made it into the house finally with all the luggage.

"I've always liked cannon balls," I nodded.

"Good, cause you can do one next to me," he said, grasping my hand tightly and dragging me in the direction of his bedroom. "Stay right here," he said, sitting me down on the foot of his bed while he disappeared out of the room for a couple of minutes. I took the time while he was gone to take off my coat and kick off my boots.

Alex came back, having lost his jeans and changed into basketball shorts. "Much better," he said, pulling back his comforter and sheet and gesturing for me to climb in. There was part of me that knew I shouldn't get comfortable. It was already after 2 in the morning and I had work in the morning. But there was another part of me, a bigger part of me, that just wanted to be with Alex.

"I can't stay long," I whispered into the darkness of the room once Alex and I had gotten comfortable under his blankets.

"What? What do you mean you can't stay long? It's already so late," I asked, squeezing me tighter into his side.

"Don't be made okay?" I asked leaning up on my elbows and looking up at him in the very little light in the room that was provided by the nightlight in the corner of the room. Alex insisted he had the nightlight for the dogs' benefit.

"I'll try..." he said slowly, his face twisting up confused.

"I have work in the morning. I kind of fibbed about being off so you would let me pick you up," I confessed.

"What? Brook, why would you lie to me? That's crazy. I could have found someone else to get us."

"I know that," I nodded. "But, look, if I didn't lie, I wouldn't be here right now and you'd be laying in here all by yourself."

He frowned. "I really appreciate that you wanted to see me so badly but you're going to be so tired tomorrow for work."

I shrugged. "I'll deal with it tomorrow. You're kind of worth the loss of sleep."

He smiled before pressing his lips to mine. "Fine, but you can't go just yet. I need to talk to you about something."

Alex

"Right now? Alex, you're exhausted. We can talk tomorrow," she tried.

"No," I insisted. "I can stay awake for this talk. Plus, I kind of practiced what I was going to say to you the entire flight home to Matt and I'm pretty sure he'll kill me if he found out I didn't say what I wanted."

I had driven Matt crazy the entire flight home trying to figure out what I was going to say exactly to Brook to let her know I wanted to be a legitimate couple. I'm pretty sure if Matt had a parachute, he would have jumped out of the plane.

"Well, okay then," she said. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath as she sat up and faced her body towards me. She was wearing my sweat shirt and a pair of old sweat pants. Her hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head. She wasn't wearing a stitch of makeup. She looked a little nervous about whatever I was going to say to her and even then, I was sure I'd never seen someone so beautiful.

"Alex..." she said softly when I hadn't said anything for too long.

I blinked a few times, pulling myself from my trance. "Be my girlfriend," I blurted out.

"What?" she asked, her eyes widening twice their normal size.

"I'm sorry. That's not how it was supposed to come out. But yeah... I want you to be my girlfriend."

This time her eyes narrowed at me. "That's the speech you practice for hours on the plane?"

"No," I said quickly, my cheeks turning a little red. "I guess I just wanted to cut to the chase," I explained, getting a little nervous because she hadn't actually answered the question.

She nodded. "I see."

"Look, if the answer is no, just say it. I think I can handle it," I said quietly.

"Alex," she scooted closer to me and gave my hand a squeeze. "Are you sure you want me to be your girlfriend? I mean, I'm kind of a dork."

"I don't care that you're a dork," I said with a chuckle. "All I care about is the fact that since the day we met I have not stopped thinking about you. I care about how different I feel when I'm around you. It's corny to say, but you make me want to be a better person. I'm so happy whenever we're together. You're amazing, Brook. I never thought I'd find someone like you and I'm so fucking crazy about you," I paused, biting my lip when I realized I'd cursed and I relaxed when she let out a small laugh. "Look, plain and simple, Brook, I want to be with you. For real. No more of this just being friends thing," I said. I was nervous and I didn't even really know what I was saying at this point and if she didn't say something soon I was going to just keep talking.

"We were never just friends, Alex," she said, leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine lightly.

Before she could pull away, I cupped he face between my hands and kissed her again. I was hoping maybe my kiss could explain what my words couldn't. When I pulled away from her, she had a smile on her face and it was making me feel a little optimistic. "So..."

"When we met I was so not looking for a guy. I was happy being single. And then you came swooping into my life with your boyish good looks and your dangerous charm and before I knew it I had feelings for you - stronger feelings then I was probably willing to admit. And then you were home for those few days after my appendix surgery, and you took care of me. You held my hair back when I got sick and helped me change my clothes and cleaned the bathroom after me. After that day I knew there was no denying it any longer."

I took a deep breath. "Denying what?" I asked slowly.

"How much we were supposed to be together," she answered, leaning in and kissing me again.

"So..." I said again.

"So, my answer is yes," she said like it was no big deal, but the smile playing on her lips betrayed her.

"Like, yes, you want to be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I want to be your girlfriend," she said and had barely gotten the words out before i lunged at her, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tight before pressing my lips to hers.

"You won't regret this," I said, pressing kisses all over her face.

Brook laughed a little, trying to wiggle out of my tight hold, but eventually stopped and relaxed. "Oh," she looked up at me and shook her head. "You better hope not."

"Look, the way I see it, is we don't have a choice anymore."

"We don't?"

"We're both too invested at this point. We owe it to ourselves to see how far this can go."

She laughed a little again, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me lightly. "How stupid are we?"