The Spark Inside
So my piece for The Spark Inside is due the 1st of July, and I've been spending the last few days trying to finish and revise it. :) Since I'm close, I decided to post just a little of the beginning. Right now it's about 7000 words, and it still has a little ways to go. It may end up being a bit more or less after editing.

Brittney is going to post the stories by theme, a theme a day. So I'm not sure when the full piece will be posted, but once it's posted on there, it'll be posted in its entirety at my site as well. My theme was best friends falling in love, and I had to include three things, but you don't get to read about those yet because they don't show up until later in the story. :) But I had to include ripped jeans, "Fiesty, aren't we?", and Where's Waldo? Let me tell you, I had fun coming up with ways to fit them in. :) I really enjoyed writing this piece even though sometimes I wanted to strangle it. hah

Anywho, here's a little bit of it, and I must admit, what I've posted isn't too terribly exciting but it's something. I'd love to post it all right away, but of course I can't do that just yet. As for a title, I have a few running through my head, but I have yet to decide on one. But enjoy the little snippet, my dears!



When Maggie Hagen was four, being in love wasn’t even a phrase in her vocabulary. It held no meaning for her. Of course, she loved her parents and her sister and brother, but then again, at four, she loved her pink and purple Big Wheel and her array of My Little Pony’s, believing there was nothing better in the word. At four, her biggest worry was which toy she was going to play with and how to stop her brother from ruining her Barbie Dream House.

At age four, Maggie met Zac Hanson. The first day of summer her older brother, Adam, brought over his newest friend he’d made at his first day of swimming lessons, and that friend was Isaac Hanson, Zac’s older brother. Not wanting to be stuck at home with his other older brother, Taylor, who also found him annoying, a screaming and crying one year old and his parents, Zac begged and pleaded his brother to let him tag along. His parents had already readily agreed to let Zac go because it was one less child in the house, and Isaac fought them every step of the way, only to almost be grounded from going to the Hagen household.

Scowling, Isaac biked as quickly as he could to the Hagen's house with no regard for his younger brother who was desperately trying to keep up, his little legs pedaling as fast they could. After arriving, the three boys wasted no time in wreaking havoc, especially on Maggie, and she flew out the door and down the front steps when she saw them running over the head of her Kid Sister doll with their bikes, laughing as they did so. Anger etched across her small features, Maggie stomped over to them to yank her doll off of the ground, yelling and her chubby pointer finger wagging at the three boys.

As punishment, knowing she didn’t have much control over her brother or Isaac, she grabbed Zac by the hand and forced him to play Barbies with her for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, as they trekked home, Isaac teased Zac endlessly about his new girlfriend, and in typical boy fashion, Zac whined and pouted the entire way, shouting that Maggie was not his girlfriend and that girls had cooties. And while he didn’t care for playing Barbies or Maggie’s bossy attitude, he returned the next day with Isaac, and as soon as he entered the Hagen house, Maggie whisked him off, confining them to the basement where all her toys were stored. This was the routine for the next few weeks before finally Maggie no longer had to force Zac to play with her, and he would freely seek her out as soon as he arrived at the Hagen’s.

In no time, they became regular fixtures at each other’s homes, soon declaring each other their best friend. Even as Isaac and Adam’s friendship fell apart in their teenage years as they made new friends upon entering high school, Zac and Maggie continued their friendship, spending nearly every day they could together, and when Zac and Maggie graduated from high school themselves, they followed one another to the same college, continuing the course of their friendship, knowing they could never be farther than ten minutes apart because surely, neither would be able to function and the world would end. The idea that they were best friends for life had been cemented in the early years of their life, and they believed that nothing could ever change that, that nothing could ever separate them. If only life were that naïve and innocent.

Zac’s interest in the opposite sex emerged at an early age. However, that interest, much to Maggie’s dismay in later years, was never focused on her. They’d never once explored that other side, the side that consisted of heated kisses, roaming hands, and racing hearts unless you counted those years of playing “doctor” as a child, exploring the forbidden. Maggie watched him date girl after girl through their high school and college years, not one relationship ever succeeding, but that’s not to say that they didn’t try. A few came close. She had been there through all the bruised and broken hearts, always wishing he’d give her a chance to have his heart, knowing she’d never abuse it the way other girls did.

She wasn’t sure where along the line of their friendship she had fallen for him. Of course, there had been days of wondering “what if” when it came to taking their friendship one step further, but she figured it was only natural to contemplate such things through her years of puberty when boys were no longer just glue-eating buffoons covered in mud, spending their days playing football or wrestling with one another. Or perhaps it was just because of the pure fact of how close they were and she told herself it was only natural to feel that way towards him with how much time they spent together. Most times, she would quickly write off her thoughts as her just being lonely and desperate and move on, ignoring her thoughts and feelings until they came back around again in one of her moments of desperation and weakness.

Through the years, she did her best in ignoring her feelings, distracting herself with other boys, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that some days her heart ached so bad from wishing Zac would fall in love with her, and as time went on and they grew older and she watched Zac with woman after woman, wishing she could be them, she finally faced the fact that she was, indeed, in love with Zac Hanson, best friend extraordinaire.

There were many listless days and drunken nights where she had almost just blurted it out, but every time, the repercussions and consequences were able to seep into her mind, stopping her before the words verbalized and escaped, potentially ruining their friendship. However, nineteen years later, and it had finally become too much for her to handle.

Thus, she left not too long after she graduated college, heading off to the West coast. She had told him she needed a change, to get away and experience something other than Tulsa, Oklahoma. In reality, she couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t continue to stand by as he dated girl after girl, waiting, wishing, and hoping for her chance. She couldn’t be the one to mend his bruised and broken hearts anymore. It hurt too much, and after nineteen years, she was finally tired of hurting.

Maggie was an analyzer. She analyzed every soft touch, every coy smile, every inflection of his voice, every word that was whispered to her, and no matter how hard she tried not to analyze it all, it didn’t work, and after nineteen years, she was just too tired of it. She was tired of the blood rushing through her veins, the hard pounding of her heart, and the flushing of her cheeks every time he touched her or smiled at her. She was tired of the hope it instilled in her when, really, it all seemed hopeless.

During her time away, they talked on the phone, but she always found a way to cut their conversations short, not being able to bear the hurting of her heart every time she heard his voice. In the three years she’d been gone, she’d only been home five times, one for each Christmas, once for her Memaw’s funeral, and the other for her sister’s wedding. Of those five times, she’d seen Zac twice, always making an excuse so she wouldn’t have to face him and the reality of her feelings for him. It was easier to distance herself and try to forget Zac and everything she felt for him. It was easier than feeling the clenching of her heart and stomach every time she heard his voice or saw his face, knowing he didn’t feel the same way she did. She supposed one could say she ran away, and really, she did. She figured the more distance she put between them physically, the easier it would be to distance herself from him emotionally.

Now, she was about to make her sixth trip home.