Winding Roads {A Creative Writing Journal}

Butterflies (A2E23)

Prompt 28

"Oh, no," Skylar whispered, cupping a hand over her mouth, "Not again."

She watched in muted horror as basketball captain Nate Highland reached for his duffel bag only to notice a black and blue butterfly hovering over the top of his hand.

"What?" he asked aloud, and Skylar ducked behind the bleachers.

He wasn't even supposed to be at school yet! The only reason she was in the gym was to find her missing cheer ribbon before classes started, because she wouldn't have time to look for it before the home game that afternoon.

Nate didn't even hear her come in as he ran his own solo drills, and Skylar didn't mean to stick around to watch him practice after finding her bow. She had only ever caught glimpses of him as they passed through the crowded hallways or watched and cheered him and his team on with the rest of her squad.

Normally, she could brush off the beginnings of a crush before anything serious happened, but as she watched him leap into the air and slam the ball into the basket, butterflies welled up in the pit of her stomach. And just like that, the cause for so many awkward moments and never-quite-a-relationship relationships appeared.

Nate tilted his hand with a curious eye as the butterfly rested on his hand. Where it came from, he had no idea, and he had never seen one land so easily on a person without immediately taking off again. Another butterfly joined the first--flying around his head and landing on his sweaty forearm without a care.

Skylar slowly glanced around the bleacher she was hiding behind and felt her face heat up at the gentle, confused smile Nate wore at the four or five butterflies fluttering around him. That only made the effect worse as more pale blue, black-tipped butterflies joined in.

"Now how did you little guys get in?" Nate asked the friendly kaleidoscope of black and icy blue, and Skylar quickly ducked back into her hiding spot.

"Stupid, freaky magic!" she hissed, inwardly chiding herself for her lack of control over her feelings, "Come on, it's just Nate. . . talented, gorgeous, gyah! Get a grip, Sky! You're making it worse!"

"Making what worse?"

Skylar shrieked as Nate peered around the bleacher, his dark, semi-damp hair hanging over his equally dark eyes. The comparatively lighter butterflies and his pale blue shirt only accented his tanned skin and dark hair.

No! No! No! Get away before I ruin everything! she mentally screamed.

Nate looked down at the startled, admittedly adorkable, girl he briefly remembered seeing on the cheer squad. Messy blond curls fell around her face in an almost frazzled mane that framed her blue-gray eyes.

After a beat of silence that verged on awkward, he continued. "Hey, uh, you okay? My practice didn't go long, did it? I thought for sure I had another hour before everyone else got here," he rambled, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck, sending the little butterflies resting in his hair back into the air. He still needed to figure out where they came from. . .

"Uh, nope! You're good! I was just looking for my ribbon," she laughed nervously, her hand clenching around the glittery silver bow, "I have a tutoring session after school, so I wouldn't have time to look for it before the game."

"Gotcha. You're on the cheer squad, right?" he found himself asking.

"Yeah, I'm Skylar," she introduced herself.

"I'm Nate. Nice to formally meet you, I guess."

She nodded, biting her lip and not meeting his eyes. He found the corner of his mouth quirking into a tiny smile at the action, and a jittery, vaguely familiar feeling swelled in his chest.

No, he thought and quickly looked away. But it was too late.

A small white butterfly appeared in the corner of his vision, and Sky sneezed. He looked back and found three more of the offending bugs fluttering around her face and hair. But to his surprise, she didn't immediately freak out, unlike the last girl he almost asked to prom last year. Instead, she looked up at the butterflies in wonder.

"It happens to you too?" she whispered so low he almost missed it.

Then it clicked, and somehow a dozen more white butterflies surrounded them.

"The black and blue ones are yours, aren't they?"

Skylar scrunched her eyes closed. "Please, don't freak out. I know it's weird, but I don't know how to turn it off or--"

"Hey, hey," he interrupted, "It's chill. The white ones are mine. I never knew it could happen to someone else."

Skylar slowly opened her eyes and struggled not to gape at Nate's pensive expression.

"At least you didn't run away screaming," he added, and Skylar laughed.

"Or start swatting at them like a mad man," she replied. Nate shook his head with an amused grin.

The moment dissolved into silence as he let her slip out of her hiding place, black and blue and white butterflies intermingling in a lazy circle around the pair.

"How are we supposed to hide this before everyone gets here?" Skylar asked.

Nate rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know. Got a leaf blower anywhere?"

At her blatant eye roll and deadpanned expression, he laughed. It was the loud and contagious laugh that sent Skylar's heart racing. The number of blue butterflies sharply increased.

"Nah, we can worry about it later," he replied, "You're the first person to give butterflies back to me. Wanna see where it goes?"

Skylar swiped a wild strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't want you to feel forced into anything."

"Hey, it was my idea, right? We can go slow, figure it out as we go. If you want that is," he caught himself, coughing into his fist. "Don't wanna throw you into anything either."

Skylar shook her head, a smile finally appearing. "Let's try it."