When Sparks Fly

I look around the coffee shop, assuming there has to be another Avery who loves the same lattes I do, but no one steps up to claim it.

Ellie calls my name again and looks around the shop. When she spots me, she holds up the travel cup. I recognize it as Declan’s. I leave the line to claim my coffee.

“Hey, Avery! It’s good to see you again!”

“You too. Staying out of trouble?”

“Unfortunately.” She pushes the cup across the counter.

There’s a piece of paper under it. I assume it’s a coupon or a promotion, but upon closer inspection, I discover it’s a note. “What’s this?”

She gives me a sly smile. “I’m not sure, but I was told to give it to you when you came in to pick up the coffee and that you’re not supposed to order anything but the latte.”

“Those are some very specific instructions.”

“Yes, they certainly are.” She’s smirking now.

“Is that all you know?”

She shrugs. “I was supposed to give you the note and the coffee and nothing else.”

“If I gave you a twenty, would you have more information?”

Her grin widens. “I was given a twenty to provide only that information.”

I laugh. “Fair enough, have a great day, Ellie.”

“You too, Avery.”

The note has me stopping at a bakery two blocks down, where my absolute favorite muffin—which is usually only available seasonally—and another note wait for me.

Avery,

I hope you enjoyed the macadamia nut latte. I’m sure you’ve already finished it, and burnt the roof of your mouth because you tried to drink it too fast. I’ll never forget the first time you had one, you were a little skeptical, but when the flavors hit your tongue, your eyes lit up. I remember thinking that it was my favorite of your expressions, surprise and pure joy. After that I tried my hardest to find ways to make your eyes light up like that as often as possible.

~xo Declan

With each stop, I get a set of directions to the next place and something else to take with me, along with a little note from Declan, explaining what each item represents.

After the muffin stop, I’m led down the street to a music store. When I was in college, I had a CD player. It was old-school, but my parents had a ridiculous number of CDs and I hadn’t wanted to part with them, so I brought them with me to college. Declan loved the nostalgia of it, and we’d always listen to CDs when we studied together.

When I approach the counter, the barely awake teenager slides a CD and a note toward me. It’s a copy of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by The Cure. My mom had been a huge fan of their melancholic and angsty music, and I’d grown up hearing it all the time.

My copy had been scratched to the point that it skipped during all but two songs. I refused to get rid of it, though, because of the memories I associated with that CD. And now I’m holding a new copy of the same vintage CD with yet another note.

Avery,

We used to listen to this all the time back in college. It took me two years to realize you listened to it more when we were approaching the anniversary of your parents’ death. And I struggled a lot with that—realizing you associated this album with someone you loved and lost, and I associated it with how much I loved you.

This one is skip-free.

Love,

Declan

I realize as I head to the next stop that he’s set up a scavenger hunt that echoes one of the first events we ever took part in together. It was during frosh week. I’d been on the fence about doing it, thinking it was probably going to be silly. I hadn’t really known anyone, living in a co-ed dorm on campus and only having moved in two days earlier.

So when I joined the rest of the students from my floor and they broke us up into groups, I was teamed up with a bunch of other students and Declan ended up in my group. We hit it off right away—both of us wearing shirts that displayed our love for the same soccer team and the same player. After that we became fast friends. I’d come to college with a boyfriend out of state, so the lines were already drawn in the sand.

I’d broken it off a couple of months in, and by then I’d had a chance to witness Declan’s incredible ability to bed hop like it was a job. He was charismatic, gorgeous, and fun to be around, so I could totally see the allure. But at the time we’d established ourselves as friends. I’d become part of his core group and there was no way I was going to mess with that. And then I met Sam.