(Asta x Noelle) Happiness is a Butterfly

Chapter One: Opening Closed Doors

Noelle takes in a deep breath.

Her lungs fill with air, and after waiting a good five seconds they deflate. She repeats the same process, looking herself over in the mirror once she's finished. "Okay," she says, flashing a smile. She cringes, immediately stopping. Not because she was ugly or her smile was ugly, she was pretty confident in her looks, but because of something else. Because it was fake. On her face when she curled her lips was a fake smile. A false display of her happiness...

Did she even have happiness anymore? It was a question that not just herself was asking, but many other people as well. They were worried about her. Many were. Still, she flashed that same fake smile and told them she was fine, that everything was alright. And she knew everything would be alright.

Or at least she hoped so.

"No," she tells herself. "Don't be so negative..." she trails before quickly realizing that she looked crazy. Thank God that she was home alone. It's not like anyone would be there anyway.

Never mind that, today she had goals. She had just recently moved back to her old town, the one she went to high school in. Santa Clara California. A really beautiful place that brought back wanted and unwanted memories. Anyways moving back was one of her goals. After leaving the military she decided to move to New York, while there she wrote and sold a book that's doing pretty damn good. Her siblings, mostly just her brother, convinced her to move back and here she was.

Another goal: to get out of the house. She had been out only just once, a welcome back dinner with her older brother Nozel, his wife Dorothy, and their five-year-old daughter Isabella. She had a good time, no denying that she just...couldn't gather any more courage to go out after that.

But despite that today was the day. She decided as soon as she showered that morning that she would something- anything, and once she thought a bit she decided on that anything to be Starbucks. She'd head to Starbucks, order her favourite, a mocha cookie crumble frappuccino, and then leave. And she wouldn't head through the driveway this time, she'd go inside. That wasn't so complicated. Or at least that's what she keeps telling herself.

Somewhere in the back of her head, she could feel that today would go wrong. That despite her putting on her best outfit and even practising her nicest smile, somewhere along the way, today would be a bad today. It was bad to think like that, she knew, but she couldn't help it.

Instead of dwelling on that, she finally exits her bathroom. She grabs her car keys, her purse, and her phone and heads out. Already, her life was a major fuck up, she couldn't go through any worse than what she had already been through.

She GPS's the nearest Starbucks, deciding on heading to whichever was closest. Once one shows up on her screen, she clicks the directions, igniting the engine within in her care before heading there. Just like google maps had said, she's there within ten minutes. She looks around as she finally finds a free parking spot. Like always, Starbucks was full. The drive-thru line was evidence of that and she was sure that the inside was even more packed.

Maybe I should- but she pauses that thought. She was here, already so close. She had found a parking spot and everything. There was no giving up now. She grabs her keys, and her purse and her phone and opens the door. Baby steps, that's all she was taking right now.

She makes her way to the front door, hesitantly thinking of running back before deciding that she would look further worse and weirder if she ran back now. Noelle arrives at the door just as someones walking out. They open the door for her and she decides just one more thing on her list: Say thank you.

She looks up, that same sweet yet fake smile on her face. "Thank you so much-" but she stops, her eyes finally stopping and staring and seeing who's in front of her. Her eyes widen, and a gasp escapes her voice as shock takes over her. "Asta?" she finally says his name, and although questioning she never would have thought she'd say that name ever again. At least not to greet them.

She looks into his eyes, his pretty shade of green eyes which look just as shocked as her own. "Noelle?" And he says her name. And it makes her heartache and butterflies begin to rise. She has no idea whether they are from affection or nervousness either. "Asta," she says his name again, this time knowing it was nervousness...because she's realized that he's here, right directly in front of her, holding open the door for her.

Isn't that ironic? How just about two years ago their doors closed by now here they were, opening news ones in front of an open door? Funny too, isn't it.

For Asta, in no ways necessary did he expect to run into Noelle. Not here, not now, not ever. Not because he never wanted to see again...the opposite, actually. Because he assumed she was long gone from here. And just when that idea began sinking down within his head here she went, appearing before him.

"What're you doing here?" he finally says, not knowing anything else to say.

"Uhm...to grab coffee?" she says, or is supposed to say since it comes out as a question; because what else would she be doing here?

"No, no," he says. "Not here, but here. In California?"

"Oh," she says, feeling like a complete idiot.

"I moved back...my brother convinced me to," she says. "What are you doing here?" she asks.

"In Cali?" he questions, and she almost wants to laugh. "No...I know why you're in California," she speaks. She was sure he was still in the military with the navy. "What're you doing here at Starbucks? You don't like coffee," she says. But then again people change a whole lot in 2 years. Especially when you haven't seen, talked, or even interacted with them.

"Oh," Asta says, a chuckle escaping his lips. "I'm here with-" "Are you ready to go?" asks a new voice. Asta looks towards it, not finishing his sentence. "Oh, Noelle! It's nice to see you again!" she says.

And here Noelle was, back to the fake smiles. "Nice to see you too, Mimosa," she says. She wasn't an idiot. There were only two reasons for them to be together and without a doubt, it was the ladder. She wouldn't even allow herself to get her hopes up. Still, she was curious. Who wouldn't be? Especially when it contained an ex-lover that you weren't sure if you still loved or...no, there was no or.

"You're back?" Mimosa questions. And she just nods, because any and all confidence she had just moments ago is far, far gone from her. "And you two? I'm surprised you're not in the navy on a mission or something," she says, trying to keep the small talk. And oh how she wish she chose differently, to instead say something like "It was nice seeing you," and just leave, walk right past them, but it was too late for her to be a coward now.

"Oh, I'm not in the navy anymore. I'm just a regular nurse now but Asta got some time off since we'll be getting married soon,"

Married.

The word rings in her ears and takes a second to process. The two of them...would be getting married soon. Husband and wife.

"Oh really? Congrats," she doesn't mean the words that come out of her mouth yet she still says them.

"I'm glad you showed up, Noelle! We should exchange numbers now that you're back in town! We could go out some time together, like how we used to," Mimosa says, a happy delighted smile on her face. "Sure," Noelle says, forcing yet another smile. She doesn't want to yet here she is again, pulling out her phone and exchanging numbers. "We'll talk soon! I'll call you!" Mimosa announces, the two of them leaving.

And as they walk away, she realizes that she should've stayed indoors. That she should've trusted her instinct and not gone out.

Yet here she was, opening doors that she thought she could've kept closed forever.