Butterfly

014- Let's Party!

Having not been able to sleep the night prior, as her dreams kept reminding her of her past, Teddy sat in her dark room listening to her music. For the fifth time that night, the tape reached the last song of the second side of the playlist, but instead of passing it up this time, Teddy let it play. As she did, El walked into the room, holding her blanket around her and staring at the older girl. Neither girl said a word, as El sat next to Teddy on the bed, and Teddy wrapped her arms around the younger girl. They sat there listening to the bittersweet lyrics sung by Charlie Gracie.

As the song came to an end and the room once again became enveloped in silence, El stared up at the older girl once again. "What is that song?"

"Butterfly by Charlie Gracie," Teddy said with a smile.

"What is 'butterfly'?"

"It's a bug with wings that are identical to each other. They look the same."

El scrunches up her face at the explanation, "He kissed a butterfly?"

Teddy's eyes widen for a second before she bursts out laughing. "No no. Remember when I told you about metaphors?"

"Yes..." El pauses as she thinks. "It's a symbol of something, not the real thing."

"Yes. So the lady that Charlie likes he compares to a butterfly. He means that she is really pretty and that she is free to go wherever she likes. She's a flitting thing."

"Oh," El goes silent again. "Who is the butterfly?"

"I don't know him," Teddy answered. "But everyone has their own at some point. Someone that they love but can't have."

El nods again, "Oh... so you have a butterfly?"

Teddy shrugged. "Yeah. I guess."

"Who is it?" 

Teddy glanced at the framed photo sitting on her desk right next to El. She shook the thought out of her head, but El was already looking at the photo. 

"Him?" She asks, pointing to Steve in the photo. 

It was the one from a year ago when they had been playing in the pool. Teddy had hidden the photo in a box for a couple of weeks after Steve had given it to her, for some reason she just couldn't help but feel guilty when she looked at it. But she also couldn't deny how happy she looked in that photo, and she liked the reminder that there were still things to live for. That even though the last several years of her life had looked like shit, she still had people that could make her smile even if she didn't want to. 

"I well..." Teddy hesitated, looking at her younger sister. How was she going to explain her feelings about Steve? He was only her best friend's brother, just an acquaintance. But at the same time, there was always that bond they had shared. Something undeniable that made them both want to protect the other. Teddy sighed, in defeat. "In a way I guess."

El smiled, putting the picture down and the two of them sat in silence as they continued to listen to the playlist again. Before the two of them know it the rising sun begins to peak its way through the curtains. As it does this, the smell of French toast begins to waft its way to the two girls, signaling to them that Hopper is finally awake. Teddy throws the sheet over El's head that they made together and they both step out of the room silently, watching Hopper cook breakfast in the quiet morning.

After a minute he finally turns around, jumping just slightly as he sees his two girls standing there, one dressed with a sheet over her head.

"Ghost," El says.

"Yeah, I see that," Hopper says, quickly turning back to the French toast on the stove.

"Halloween," El says trying to get his attention again.