Sparks Will Fly

by Daniel Banner

  Oh! Right. Lucy. There was no sign of her down there yet. Blue saw only the stupid Lobo Louie taunting the crowd with his stupid tongue lolling out of his stupid mouth to the side. Lucy must still be making the transformation to Lobo Lucy. She’d be appearing any second.

  At the far end of the skybox from where Blue sat, the door opened. He had thought everyone who was coming was already there, so he checked over his shoulder and was stunned to see Lobo Lucy strolling into the box as if she belonged there. Blue had to be seeing things. She had flat out told him that she was confined to that one corner of the stadium. How would she find her way all the way up to one of the most hostile skyboxes in the stadium?

  Blue started walking toward her, but Jessie's friends were much closer. Four or five of them surrounded her, all taunting, asking if she was lost and what she thought she was doing.

  “You going to stop this, Dad?” asked Blue, pausing momentarily. If ever there was a time for his dad to do something decent, it was now. After all, this was his box, his ‘Whales’, and his son’s friends. None of them knew that Blue was dating the Lobo mascot. He’d been waiting until she came out of the field to point her out to them. This situation would deescalate much better coming from his dad instead of Blue getting in between everybody and trying to defend her while they kept at her.

  One look at his father’s face told Blue everything he needed to know. He was laughing along with all the other guys in the room.

  What in the world was going on? Had there really been enough alcohol consumed in the box to make everyone lose their minds like this? Blue hadn’t been raised to treat anyone like this, even at a rivalry game. At least not by his mom.

  Blue never struggled with anger issues, but everything about this situation was pissing him off. How could his dad and brother condone this? What was Lucy thinking coming up here? He felt like he was ready to Hulk out.

  The circle of men surrounding Lucy started spinning her around in a circle.

  That was it. Blue couldn’t sit back any longer. No little twerp was going to lay a hand on Lucy, or any woman, for that matter. Not in Blue’s presence.

  16

  Lucy crept toward the skybox where she knew Blue would be hanging out. Fans from both teams watched her as if wondering what she was doing all the way up here, but she was moving quickly so she wouldn’t get busted before even making it to her destination. It was a gutsy move for her to leave the safe little corner of the stadium, but what could she say? Decision-making wasn’t her strong point once she put on the Lobo Lucy suit. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Blue’s face when she infiltrated one of the holy sanctums of Aggie football.

  A gray-haired man with an Aggies Polo shirt and a radio stood outside the skyboxes, making sure no one got in who didn’t belong. In all her years as mascot, Lucy had never been stopped by any security guard or door watcher. Acting as if she belonged, Lucy walked up and offered a hand to shake. When the guard reached out, Lucy pulled her hand away and ruffled his hair instead, then blew by him and pulled the door open.

  She strutted in like a tough gang member invading a rival gang’s turf. This one would go down in history.

  The look on everyone’s faces was priceless. Lucy wished the mascot gloves didn’t have such fat fingers so she could get a picture of it. Their stunned surprise only lasted a second, then the guys nearest the door were coming toward her.

  It took a second to locate Blue, but she finally spotted him in the far corner, looking more surprised than any of them.

  “Look what the dog dragged in,” said one of the guys, who were now forming a circle around her.

  Did they know she was dating Blue? Probably. They were most likely just having fun with her. However, when they closed in around her, they were closer than she was comfortable with, and not in a friendly way, so maybe they didn’t know.

  Lucy had limited vision to begin with and being surrounded in these close quarters made her nervous. Maybe coming here hadn’t been the best decision. At least Blue was here. If things got ugly, he would step in and rescue her.

  “You lost, little kitty?” asked one of the other men.

  “Here, kitty kitty,” said someone behind her. “Come here, little pussycat.”

  Yes, this had been a very bad idea, but Blue was heading toward her and the look on his face had turned to anger. He paused for a minute next to a silver-haired man. Lucy recognized the man as Blue’s father, and was disappointed to see the distinguished looking man laughing alongside a couple of short old guys.

  “Blue,” muttered Lucy, but he disappeared from her vision as someone grabbed her shoulders and started to spin her. The taunting got worse, and the language got downright vulgar and multiple hands spun her in a circle, making her feel nauseated.

  Where was Blue? Why was he letting this happen? Who were these friends of his that would treat another person like this?

  Lucy wished she had the claws and teeth of a wolf. She would rip these guys to shreds, since no one else was going to do it.

  Apparently, Lucy was on her own. The guy who had been so supportive and kind and nearly perfect was a different person surrounded by his Aggie friends and family. That hurt even more than the disgusting words his friends were throwing at her.

  With no hope that she stood a chance against all these men, Lucy tried to grab one of them to get her bearings. If she could straighten up she’d start kicking for the crotch and stomping toes. It was already clear that this would not end well tonight.

  Every arm that she tried to grip just slid out of her grasp. These furry gloves weren’t meant for anything useful.

  Any more spinning and Lucy would throw up. Someone kicked her in butt, and as she was spun around the shoves were getting harder. Lucy went to the ground and curled up in a ball, praying they wouldn’t keep kicking her, now that she was really defenseless.

  Oh Blue, why are you letting this happen?

  Sounds of a scuffle, maybe bodies falling, came from above and around her. Lucy didn’t dare uncover her head to look up. Even if she did, she didn’t think she’d be able to see anything through her narrow vision slit and through dizzy eyes.

  There was definitely a brawl going on around her. Chairs or furniture being scattered, bodies hitting the ground.

  “Whoa, Blue!” shouted someone. “Chill out!”

  Was that the sound of a punch landing on someone’s face? The spinning world was starting to normalize again. Just as Lucy opened her eyes and looked up into the room, there he was, leaning over her, kneeling next to her.

  “Are you okay, Lucy?” he asked.

  “What’s … why are they … why’d you let them …?” Lucy didn’t know how to make sense of everything that had happened and anger was rising through her fear. She smacked his outstretched hand. She didn’t need his help. Where had he been thirty seconds ago?

  “Lucy, let me help you out of here.” He held out his hand, but Lucy slapped it away again.

  “Get away from me!”

  That gray-haired security guy was there next to Blue. “C’mon, you.” He bent all the way down to put one hand behind her back and take her hand with his other. “This is no place for a lady Lobo.”

  He helped her up, though it took longer than big, strong Blue could have done it. Lucy suspected Blue had his hands in there assisting as well, but with the limited visibility of the mouth hole, she couldn’t be sure who was doing what. At least no one was shoving or kicking her any longer. Once she was up, she took a second to steady herself on her feet.

  Outside the door of the skybox, one guy appeared to be taking video with his phone. A bunch of guys in Lobo gear suddenly appeared around him and the guy who was filming said, “Those Aggies beat up Lobo Lucy!”

  The Lobo fans, about two dozen college-age men, broke for the skybox. This was Aggie territory, but this group of Lobos appeared to be intent on murder and they had enough guys to do some damage.

  Lucy was still ticked, but the image of these men rushing
forward sobered her a bit. Things could get very bad, and it was all because she was in the wrong place.

  “Let’s go,” said Lucy, as loud as she could over the commotion of the scene. She realized she had said it to the open air, but still didn’t want Blue’s help, not now, not after he’d let her struggle on her own. She took the security guy’s arm in hers, and said, “Can you get me out of here?”

  The guy didn’t answer, just stepped in front of her and with one shoulder down he started heading upstream into the murderous Lobo fans.

  “Let me help you!” yelled Blue. He rushed to her other side and she could see him just enough through the vision slit to see he was in full-on quarterback mode, scanning every direction and trying to find the best way to escape the swarming defense.

  Lucy kept her free arm away from him. She didn’t need help from the traitor.

  But her guide, her gray-haired escort was no match for the steady stream of men pouring into the room and he was forced to put his arms over his head and retreat slowly. Blue stepped in front of all of them, like a wedge breaking up the riotous fans, a pillar of protection in the river of rabid fans. Lucy and her guide were at least able to breathe for a moment.

  One guy was picking up chairs and throwing them at the skybox glass. Another had upended a snack table and was scooping cans of beer into an improvised sling he’d made from his shirt. Others had gone straight for Blue’s friends and family. It only took seconds for the scene to go from a brawl to a beating.

  Lucy broke out of position and led the old security guy to a chair next to the wall. “Sit here. Get on your radio and get back up. Maybe if I leave, it will diffuse this situation.”

  The guy obeyed, and pulled out his radio.

  “Okay, Blue,” you stinking Aggie, “get me out of here.”

  Blue nodded and rolled his neck. Lucy felt sorry for anyone who got in his way. “Hold on to me,” he ordered her, then put his head down just as the security guard had done and started stomping forward. More and more men were pouring into the skybox, but the ones who were unlucky enough to hit Blue just bounced off and went sprawling to the ground.

  With one arm wrapped around his firm midsection, Lucy could barely feel the reverberations of the contact as men careened off Blue in every direction. She was still spitting mad at him, but also grateful that he was such a force of nature to be able to get her away.

  They cleared the doorway and things opened up a bit. Blue pulled her into a clear area and asked, “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Lucy. “Thanks to you, but no thanks to you. Where were you?”

  “We can talk about that later,” he said. “We’re still in the pocket with plenty of blitzers after us.”

  As if on cue, the guy with the camera phone pointed at them and yelled, “What’s that Aggie doing with Lobo Lucy? Go help her!”

  Hundreds of people now filled the concourse outside of the skybox, mostly Lobos, but the number of Aggie fans was growing. That’s how it appeared, anyway. The two schools had such similar colors it was hard to tell at a simple glance, especially with people shouting and pushing and some fights starting to break out here and there.

  About twenty guys in Lobo gear broke off and came running at Blue and Lucy. This was bad. Blue was like a Spartan captain, but that was way too many guys and there were so many more to take their place if these twenty didn’t do the trick. Things were getting worse by the second. People could get seriously hurt. People could die.

  Lucy had to do something but what could one woman do? No, one mascot. One mascot who had basically started this whole mess. Only one idea came to mind, and it was something Lucy had never done while in costume, but she didn’t even have time to think about it.

  Just before the men reached Blue, Lucy stepped in front of them and pulled her mascot head off. “Stop!”

  For the first time in her life a wave of agoraphobia swept through her as the terror of coming free of her safe, secure persona hit her. She was no longer Lobo Lucy, representative of a university and foremost fanatic. Now she was just Lucy Avila. Exposed and weak. But it was worth it if she could stop this madness.

  She watched in awe as the riot around her continued unabated. No one even noticed her, and the men storming toward Blue—and now her—just parted around her and hit Blue like a tsunami wave, surrounding him and taking him down.

  It hadn’t worked. Her big reveal, the only tool she had and it didn’t work. And Blue was getting pummeled or worse under a pile of angry Lobo fans. Things could not possibly get worse than this. Lucy wasn’t going to let Blue go down alone. She turned toward the mass of thrashing bodies, still yelling, “Stop!” but as she reached for the nearest guy, the pile just … exploded outward.

  And there was Blue, rising from the ground, huffing like a racehorse and looking for someone who was next. Like the Hulk, snorting and snarling. When his eyes fell on Lucy, they softened, and while he was still breathing hard, he calmed immediately.

  After one more threatening glare at his attackers—none of whom wanted anything to do with him—he said, “Let’s go.”

  There was no telling him no, even if she wanted to anymore. He took her hand and started running along the wall toward an exit. Lucy took one glance behind her and saw the place filling from all directions, and the newcomers seemed to be heavily in the majority Aggie fans. Lucy felt sick at the thought of being the cause of any of it. What had she been thinking coming up here?

  She hadn’t been thinking. They made it out of the breezeway and found a stairwell that was mostly clear and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What are you doing up here?” snapped Blue as he continued to lead her to safety. He was right, but she didn’t need him to chastise her. She was more than capable of doing that herself.

  “Me?” she snapped back. “I don’t remember walking in there with a sign that said, ‘Assault me!’ You could have stopped that before it escalated like that!”

  As they turned a corner, she spotted a bunch of security guards climbing. No, not security. Those were policemen, about a dozen of them. Good. Finally, someone who could do something.

  Should she stop and tell them what was going on? No. They obviously had an idea or they wouldn’t be going up there in such force.

  Two of the policemen stopped her, however, while the rest continued up.

  “You’re the mascot?” asked one.

  “Of course I am,” she said, then saw him looking down at the head and remembered she had taken it off. “Yeah, I am.”

  “We’ll get you down to the field,” he answered, and they moved to take up stances on either side of her.

  “He can do it,” said Lucy, nodding toward Blue. She was still spitting mad at him, and was pretty sure he felt the same toward her, but the scene upstairs needed as much police help as possible.

  “No,” said the officer. “You’re in Las Cruces. I don’t know how you ended up way up here, but we’ll get you back down where you’ll be safe.”

  “I got it,” said Blue.

  “Sorry, Mr. Reed,” said the other policeman. “We’re going through Lobo territory. We don’t need another brawl down there.”

  Each of the officers put a hand gently on Lucy’s shoulders and started leading her down the steps.

  Blue was still worked up and he got in front of them. “You can’t stop me … I …” He didn’t seem to know what he wanted to say.

  The policemen both turned a shoulder toward Blue. The hands that were furthest away from him rested on Tasers.

  Please, no, thought Lucy. Every second of the standoff felt like minutes. “There’s been enough fighting today, Blue. I’m going with them.”

  This time Lucy led the way, with the two officers trailing her. The words had been harsher than she planned but there wasn’t any room for taking chances with this. At the bottom of that flight of stairs, Lucy glanced back.

  Blue stood mid-flight, fists clenched, jaw clenched. Just as he had after he’d thrown a dozen guys
across the breezeway above, he softened immediately when he met her eyes. Yeah, there was some frustration directed toward her, but all that immense anger she’d seen him exhibit was directed at the situation and the other people involved.

  There was so much they needed to talk about, but not now. Lucy pulled the mascot head on and he was gone.

  Lucy couldn’t help but feel like it might be a forever kind of gone, and she had no one to blame but her wild, free Lobo Lucy self.

  17

  The morning after the incident at New Mexico State, Lucy sucked it up and dialed the number she’d been staring at for the last ten minutes. Through her mom, who was already talking about a lawsuit against NMSU, Lucy had obtained Blue’s father’s cell phone number. Before Lucy approached Blue, she wanted to reach out to his dad and apologize for how everything had turned out. The media had been having a heyday with the coverage for the last twelve hours.

  “Hello.”

  Oh, boy, he did not sound happy.

  “Mr. Reed? This is Lucy Avila. I’m the former mas—”

  “I know who you are.” That was it. No other comment or opening.

  “I’m really sorry about … everything that went down yesterday. It wasn’t my intention—”

  “What was your intention?” he shot. Without giving her time to answer he said, “Your cute little stunt turned into the biggest media circus in a year. My university hasn’t been involved in a scandal like this since the email scandal in 2008! You have no idea what your little unsanctioned visit will cost.”

  Lucy knew the details. Over a hundred people arrested. At least 31 treated at the hospital. None dead, thank goodness. If anyone had lost their life, Lucy didn’t know how she’d live with herself. But the repercussions had only just started. The little bit of media coverage that Lucy had allowed herself to watch painted Jeff Reed as the evil architect of the whole disaster.