Chasing a Broken Butterfly

Chapter 25:

"Mikey, help me pin this flyer on here. It won't stick for some reason," I try pushing the thumbtack into the wooden post with no avail and sigh.

"Elle, we'll get her back. I promise," he hugs me from the back, but I push him away. I can't deal with this right now.

"Are you okay?" I look at Mikey and I can see an expression of hurt that I've never seen on him before. I turn away and look over at the road; desolate and quiet as people enjoy a lazy morning inside their homes.

Mikey and I have been up since 5:30 in the morning posting up fliers around town. It's 9 o'clock now. I know with only fifty copies, it should've taken us less than an hour to put them up, but after a sleepless night, I needed to get out of the house and stay out.

I used most of the time trying to find perfect places to put the fliers up. I'm also just trying to avoid my mom. I've been trying to think about what I will say to her when I return home. On top of that, I have to meet with Nathan in a few hours. My stomach is in knots just thinking about the possibility that Nathan is involved in Lacey's disappearance. I've yet to tell Mikey that I'm meeting with him. I already know that he's not going to like it, so I feel like it's another secret I need to keep from someone I love. I don't know when our friendship got even the slightest bit complicated, but I don't like it.

I turn back to Mikey, who's waiting for my response and say, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay..." and leave it at that. "Besides this one that's not screwed on right, we only have two more left to put up, then we're done," I announce. I head over to turn the corner and cross the street when my body crashes into somebody hard and I fall flat onto the floor, the two sheets of paper flying freely out of my hand.

I grunt as I try to get air into my lungs from the heavy weight I have on top of me.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Wait... Elle?" I blink my eyes a few times before they focus and see Nathan's eyes pouring into mine. "Well, this just made my morning more interesting," he smirks.

I feel the butterflies in my stomach and suddenly feel the desire to remain pinned under this boy and forget about the rest of my problems, but then I hear another girl's voice screaming Nathan's name.

Our little spell is broken and we untangle ourselves from each other. I look behind Nathan and see Kylie in an all pink get-up. Her hair is pulled perfectly back into a high ponytail with a pink headband to hold any flyaway hair from roaming free. She's wearing pink Capri yoga pants with a matching pink zipped-up hoodie, and pink Nike running shoes. I think she's even wearing sheer pink lipgloss on her already perfect lips.

Only Kylie... I think to myself.

I look down at what I'm wearing. Black opaque leggings, black Toms, and an oversized grey sweatshirt with the words 'San Francisco' on it. Moments like these, she makes me wish I were a bit more composed.

"Nathan! You were supposed to count to three! I wasn't even ready!" Kylie complains, completely ignoring me.

Nathan rolls his eyes at her and I find myself trying to suppress a smile. I've never met a guy who wasn't infatuated with her. He looks back at me, "Are you okay by the way? I didn't mean to crash into you. We were going for a run." I didn't notice his matching black Nike outfit, I was too focused on his black beanie that he's wearing. He looks good in beanies...

"Oh, no it's fine. I should've made sure to check both sides of the sidewalk before I crossed the street," I joke half-heartedly. Between my feelings for Nathan, envy towards Kylie, and all the trouble at home in relation to Lacey's disappearance, I'm not sure what to feel. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. It's confusing.