I See Sparks Fly Whenever You Smile

Alex

"I can't believe you cried!" I teased Brook as we walked out of the movie theatre and toward the car once the movie ended.

"Shut up," she whined, using the sleeve of her coat to wipe away the eyeliner that smudged under her eyes. "I didn't cry. I just got teary-eyed."

"That's just a cop out way of saying you cried."

"Shut up," she whined again, nudging me with her shoulder. "It's not my fault you have the emotional depth of a fork."

I laughed a little, opening the passenger's side door for her and she rolled her eyes at me when she climbed. "What a gentleman..."

"Listen," I said, getting into the driver's seat and starting up the car. I quickly cranked the heat because I knew it would be seconds before Brook whined that she was cold. "Tonight I may have realized I have some competition and it's time I step it up."

"Competition?" she laughed. "From who?"

"Zac Efron," I answered as if it was obvious as I pulled out of the parking lot of the theatre, not entirely sure I knew where we were going.
"It's funny. I thought it would have been Jon Bon Jovi."

"Oh," she laughed. "Yeah. Well, Zac Efron... There are no words. You know how I feel about the Disney Channel."

"Zac Efron is considered Disney Channel?"

"Uh, hello? High School Musical, duh!" she said, looking at me like I had three heads for not realizing.

"Uh, hello? I'm not a thirteen year old girl, duh!" I shot back at her and she giggled.

"Are you sure? You're kind of acting like one right now," she teased, playing with the air vents and turning almost all the ones within her reach in her direction so the hot air was blasting on her.

"Yanno, Brook... Santa left some gifts for you at my house. But I'm beginning to think that Santa wouldn't appreciate this bad attitude being rewarded."

Her eyes snapped to me and her entire demeanor changed. "You got me a Christmas present?"

"No," I said slowly. "Santa did."

She cracked a smile. "Alex, you didn't-"

"Hey," I interrupted. "Don't play the "you didn't have to" card with me. It's nothing that big of a deal. And I saw that you have a bag with you, so you're just as guilty as I am."

She nodded, surprisingly caving. "You have a point there."

"I usually do," I chuckled causing her to roll her eyes. "What do you suppose we do now? Or do you enjoy mindlessly driving the neighborhood?"

She turned me to, looking deep in thought. "You're going to think I'm incredibly crazy."

I shook my head. "No, I already think that."

"Fine. Forget it then. You can just bring me home," she scoffed and faked a pout.

"Brook. What?"

"I want ice cream," she answered.

I slowed to a red light and turned to her. "Really?"

"I'm craving a lot of junk tonight. It's almost that time of the month," she said.

I laughed a little when I saw her face turn pink with embarrassment when she realized what she just said.

"I'm sorry. That was way too much information," she said softly.

I smiled, reaching over and squeezing her mitten-covered-hand. "I like that you can be open with me like that. Besides, I know the drill. Girls have their monthly issues and I know you also poop and fart and burp too."

She looked up at me and laughed. "Maybe burp. I don't know about the other two."

I smiled a little and brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it quickly. It was lame and yeah, I'd kissed her glove, but I still thought it was a nice gesture.

I figured she did too when she gave my hand a squeeze and smiled, not letting my hand go as I continued to drive.

"Any specific ice cream place you prefer?" I asked her.

She thought for a second before she nodded. "Actually, yes. There's this great little mom and pop ice cream shop down this way. They make the best homemade ice cream."

"But not as good as your homemade ice cream, I assume."

She nodded. "They actually might be better. My ice cream making skills aren't too perfected yet. But I'm working on it."

She directed me to the ice cream shop and it surprised me in all the years I've lived in this area that I'd never actually gone in there before.

The place was packed from wall to wall with families and teens who were all still in the holiday celebration spirit.

After waiting on line for almost fifteen minutes just to order, we decided to take the ice cream back to my house and eat since the place was so packed there was no where to seat.

"Brook, no," I argued, reaching over and trying to rip the television remote from her hand. "We're not watching this movie."

"Oh, come on," she pouted as she pointed the remote over the tv's on-demand movie selection. "The Last Song is a great movie. And you said so yourself, you have a soft spot for chick flicks."

"I do," I agreed. "And I regret telling you that. But it's the holidays and I'd much rather watch something happy and up-lifting. Please?" I pouted.

"Okay. Fine," she caved and scrolled down to the Holiday Favorites list. "Do you have a preference?"

I glanced over the options. "I'm good with any of those."

She smiled big and started the movie of her choice. I knew which one it would be before the opening credits played.

"Home Alone. Really?" I laughed.

"Didn't I tell you about my Kevin McCallister crush?" she asked, digging into the bag of our ice cream and setting the two cups out in front of us.

"I think I need to introduce you to my friend Jack. He's got some weird obsession with this movie too."

"It's a classic," she stated very matter-of-factly.

I laughed. "Yeah. That's what Jack says."

"Keep talking about this Jack guy and maybe I should be sitting in his living room watching Home Alone and eating ice cream."

"Yeah. Well, you'd probably be pretty lonely. He recently moved to California and he's currently in Lebanon with his family for the holidays."

She turned to me and smiled. "Jack's in your band, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. He kind of started this whole mess."

She took a mouthful of her vanilla ice cream. "You love it, huh?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I really do. It's all I've ever really known."

"I can tell how much it means to you. Your eyes kind of sparkles when you talk about it."

"They do? Really?" I asked, blushing a bit, no doubt.

She smiled. "They do. It's cute."

"Cute?" I laughed. "You think I'm cute?"

She shook her head and shoved her mouthful of ice cream in attempt to avoid the question.

"Okay. Moving on," I said taking a spoonful of my own ice cream. "Let's open the gifts."

"Okay," she smiled excitedly and ran off to get the bag she had with gifts for me.

It was glad she seemed really excited to give me her gifts for me. I would hate if that was something Lina held over her.

"Opens your's first," I insisted, passing her three boxes.

She looked up at me, no doubt wanting to protest the gifts but I gave her a look that practically demanded she just open them.

"Is there one I should open first?"

I thought for a second and pointed to the biggest box. "This one."

"Okay," she smiled and set the large box on her lap and started to pull the wrapping paper off the box. "Alex," she said, her eyes widening when she saw what was inside.

Brook

After pulling off the wrapping paper on the first girl Alex was giving me, I revealed a Keurig one cup coffee maker with a few boxes of the Starbucks brand crush cups.

"I just figured you could use it at work instead of drinking that mud coffee they offer you. And you still get you Starbucks fix without leaving the building."

"This was a great idea, Alex. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," he smiled and gestured to the smallest box. "Open that one next."

I nodded and quickly pulled the wrapping paper off that box to reveal a coffee mug in the shape of Chip from Beauty and the Beast. I'd forgotten I'd mentioned to him at some point that I was my favorite Disney movie - if not my all time favorite movie.

"You can drink your coffee from that mug."

I smiled. "Alex. This is adorable," I said, suddenly feeling really bad about the gifts I'd brought for him. They were not nearly as thoughtful as these. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now open that last one. It's my favorite."

"Okay," I smiled and felt a wave of excitement wash over me as I carefully tore the wrapping paper off this box. "Oh my God," I gasped. "Alex, how did you get this?" I asked, holding up a pink Talk Girl.

"Ebay," he answered like it was no big deal.

"Alex. I told you about wanting this when I was a kid four days ago with Christmas in between."

"I know. I found it on Ebay the night you told me about it. It probably ended up costing me to pay more to overnight ship it with the holidays in between than to pay for the actual toy."

"Alex, I don't even know what to say. This is seriously the nicest thing..." I said trailing off.

I was so flabbergasted by the fact that he was able to track this toy down and spent so much extra money to get it to me in time.

"Just say thank you," he said.

"Just say thank you?" I repeated. "This goes way beyond a simple 'thank you,' Alex," I stated.

"You can try thank you very much?" Alex tried, a smirk on his face.

I smiled, moving a little closer to him on the couch. "Thank you," I said softly, leaning in and kissing him lightly. "Very much."

"You're welcome," he smiled, leaning over and kissing me this time. "Very much."

"Okay," I said, pulling back before he could kiss me again and I got distracted. "Your turn."

"Yay," he smiled as I passed him the two boxes.

"It's so lame. I'm sorry. I feel terrible now that you went through all this trouble for me and I just-"

Alex cut me off with a kiss. "Shut up," he smiled and pulled the paper off the first gift, revealing a cookie jar in the shape of a football helmet with the Ravens' logo painted on the side.

"I took the liberty of filling the jar already with some of the cookies me and Jenn made the other night."

"Brook," Alex smiled, peaking inside the jar at all the cookies. "This is awesome. I love it."

"You do? It's not corny?"

"Of course not," he smiled and I passed him the other box.

"Please be honest with me if you don't like this one. You won't hurt my feelings," I said as Alex unwrapped the box and pulled off the top.

"Did you make this?" he asked, holding up a knit-scarf made up of the Ravens' colors.

"I did. I noticed the other night that you didn't have one. And like I said, if you don't like it, you can tell me I wont-"

He interrupted me with another kiss and I couldn't help but smile against his mouth as I kissed back. "I love it," he assured me, pulling back way too quick for my liking. "It's perfect."

"That makes me feel so much better," I said before Alex's lips were on my own again.

He cupped my face between his hands and deepened the kiss quickly. My hands found their way to his sides where I gripped the fabric of his t-shirt tightly, pulling him closer to me.

The minutes that passed seemed to slip into one another while Alex and his lips became the only thing I knew.

I couldn't explain it but whenever Alex kissed me, no matter the intensity of the kiss, butterflies erupted in my stomach and it literally felt like firework were exploding inside me.

I soon found myself laying back against the arm of the couch with Alex hovering over me, his hands now gripping my hips and my arms wrapped around his shoulders.

Alex lightly brushed his tongue across my bottom lip and it was all I could do to not let a moan slip out of my mouth when Alex's tongue met mine as the kiss deepened just a but more.

Alex was gripping my hips so tightly he was causing the fabric from my shirt to ride up just as bit and I felt a chill run through my body when the cool air from the room hit my overheated skin.

All of a sudden realization and rationalization flashed before my eyes and for the first time that night I thought about everything Sami had told me on Christmas.

"Wait," I mumbled against Alex mouth. "Wait, wait, wait."

He pulled back just enough that our lips were barely touching. "What's wrong?"

"I just-" I kissed him again, unable to stop myself. "I just think I need to clarify something with you before this continues."

"Okay," he said, lips lightly brushing mine. "What is it?"

I shoved him off and sat up, hoping that didn't come off too rude. "I know that you have a past and so do I. And I know that there are things that maybe you should tell me. But I know we're not serious enough yet where I deserve to know that stuff. But I know you'll tell me when the time is right, just like I'll tell you what you need to know from me. But for right now, there's just one thing that I need to know," I said in one quick breath.

Alex stared at me for a second before quickly kissing me. "What's that?"

"You're not going to hurt me, right?" I asked and I could feel the seriousness of the question on my facial features.

Alex tucked some of my hand behind my ear and I bit back a smile. "I would never hurt you, Brook."

I smiled at his answer and call me stupid but I believed him. I Immediately crashed my lips back to his as if we'd never stopped before. I laid back against the arm of the couch, pulling Alex with me.

"Wait," Alex pulled back this time. "Are going to hurt me?"

I stared into his eyes for a moment and I could see he was genuinely asking and for a second my heart broke a bit for him. He had definitely been hurt before and the look in his eyes at that moment told me.

I shook my head. "No, Alex. I'm not going to hurt you."

He smiled and cupped my face again and pressed his lips to mine. This time I straddled his legs, crawling into his lap and wrapping my arms around his shoulders as I kissed back

I wasn't sure how much time had passed this time, but I did know that I was disappointed when Alex pulled back again this time and shifted over on the couch, causing me to move off his lap and sit next to him.

"Brook, I have to be honest with you about something," he said softly and instantly my heart jumped into my throat. "I'll be right back," he said kissing me lightly before he got up from the couch and disappeared into another room.

While he was gone, I took the opportunity to adjust my clothes back into their right place and wipe the smudged lip gloss from my mouth. I couldn't really remember the last time I had spent so much time making out with a boy on the couch. I felt like a teenager again and it felt nice.

"You need to see that," Alex said walking back into the room with a big while binder.

"Oh God," I mumbled. "Please don't let that be the list of every girl you've ever hooked up with."

He sat down next to me and squeezed my knee. "Don't be silly. It's just the girls from age 17-18," he chuckled.

I shot him a glare. "That's not funny."

"You're right. It's actually just 17."

"Alex," I frowned.

"Okay. I'm sorry," he said, leaning over and kissing me softly and setting the binder down in my lap.

The cover read in big black letters "ALL TIME LOW TOUR SCHEDULE." I was beginning to think I'd prefer to look at his hook-up list.

"These are all the dates we have confirmed so far for 2012," he told me.

I took a deep breath and opened the binder. At first glance I realized he would be going to the UK first. Upon a second glance I realized he was leaving in less than two weeks.

"Y-You leave really soon." I stated.

I nodded. "I leave January 10th."

I knew this was coming but holding the list of every day he wouldn't be around for me to see him in my own two hands was a weird feeling.

I swallowed funny and felt my mouth sort of dry out as I glanced over all the UK dates.

"I'm gone for twenty six days. Then I get to come home for 3 days. And then I'm gone for another twenty six days. And then I'm home for a little while in March until we go to Japan... But all those dates having been completely worked out yet."

I let out a huge breath I wasn't even aware I'd been holding in. "How do you do it? I couldn't imagine being away from home so much like that."

I shrugged. "The time away sucks and it definitely had put a lot of strain on our relationships with people back home. But like I said before, music is the only thing I've every known. And I can't imagine doing anything else for a living."

I smiled, leaning my head on his shoulder and slipping my hand into his. "Well, it looks like there's only one thing we need to do right now."

He kissed the top of my head and looked down at me. "What's that?"

"I need to learn how to use my webcam without Jenn's help."