Her Spontaneous Heart

2 - Butterflies

~
"Oh my god!"

Caleb was wearing a vomit green and putrid yellow polo shirt, and I nearly ripped it off of his torso.

"Caleb! Big fashion don't! Please go change! I will not go out in public with you looking like that!"

Hayley giggled and I saw Mom trying to hide her wide smile. Dad simply chuckled and took another long sip of his dark roast coffee.

"Fine, Annie. Be right back!", he yelled, already halfway down to the basement where his bedroom was.

I sighed contentedly and opened the refrigerator, grabbing some strawberries, blueberries, a banana, and some vanilla yogurt. I then searched the cupboards for granola, which I found among Hayley's sugary, high-fructose cereals.

By the time I made myself a delectable parfait, Caleb had reentered the room wearing a plain grey t-shirt. I nodded my head and smiled, and then sat on a stool to enjoy my breakfast.

Ten minutes later, my bowl was empty and cleanly rinsed in the sink, awaiting our return so I could wash it more thoroughly as part of my chores.

"Annie, let's go! Our flight leaves in 20 minutes, and we're running incredibly late! Grab your stuff and jump in the car!" My mom was yelling this to me as she pulled her heavy luggage out the front door.

"Coming, Momma," I said, following her quickly so as not to irritate her.

Hayley and Caleb were already in the car, wearing their very similar Beats by Dre headphones and watching a movie on their own laptops. I hoisted my bags into the trunk, and slammed it shut.

I jumped in the car next to Caleb and began rummaging through my backpack to find my phone. Just as I found it and began to pull it out, Dad started talking.

"Okay guys, here's the plan. We're very late for our flight, so the second we park the car at the airport, grab your bags and run inside. Katie and her family are already at the gate. If we miss this plane, then we won't make the event in New York. We need to get through baggage check quickly so we can board our flight. We have 20 minutes. Let's do this."

Mom turned on music and we sped down our street, almost hitting a few mailboxes along the way.

Caleb and Hayley were immersed in their laptops, so I just plugged my earbuds into my iPhone and shuffle-played the Top Hits album on Spotify.

I opened up Snapchat and sent a quick picture to Arden, to Liv, and then to Jade, my friend from a meet up. Then I played around with the filters and finally decided to use one of the distorted lenses to put on my story.

Half-way through Justin Bieber's new song Destiny, I got a text from Josh, a boy I met last week at the mall.

It said "When can I see you again Annie? I've been thinking about you."

I smiled and typed back, "Soon. When I get back from New York in a few days, why don't we go see a movie. Maybe Tuesday around 4? I can't wait to see you."

Sending the text, butterflies fluttered uncontrollably in my stomach. I opened my camera roll and clicked on the picture that I took of him last week while he was eating frozen yogurt. I got tingly and a huge smile popped onto my face. Luckily no one in the car noticed.

I was smiling because of the way his dark brown hair flopped to the side in an adorable but effortless way. Smiling because of the way his kind, soft eyes stared into mine. Smiling because of his smile, sparkly and genuine.

It was the real thing. My first real crush. I could feel it in my heart, and even though I knew I wasn't aloud to date anyone, I wanted to so bad.

I closed my eyes and imagined what it would be like to hold his hand, to hug him, to... kiss him.

My mind spiraled and I felt my heart lurch in a longing way.

All I could think was Josh.

His name echoed in my mind for the entire car ride, and when we parked at the airport, I was so focused on him that I left one of my bags in the car and had to run back and get it.

~

Longish chapter.

Wasn't planning on having a crush figure this early in the story, but it sorta just happened.

I don't quite know where I'm going to take this, but we'll have to wait and see.

xx,
jenna <3