A Butterfly in Maple Grove

by Bella Emy

  “I see,” was all I managed to muster out. I was too deep in my daydream of him on his bed to add anything sensible to this conversation.

  “Yeah. I wanted to hear your voice once more before bed, and let you know that I’m so excited about Friday. I’ll pick you up at six thirty and we’ll head on over to the diner in town. Then maybe go for a walk. We’ll talk again tomorrow, though. I’m beat. Good night, my butterfly.”

  I was swooning with happiness. Everything I had ever dreamed for was happening right before my eyes. What more could I ask for?

  “Good night, Ryan. Sweet dreams.”

  Chapter Six

  A few days later, as I was sitting in physics class with Bobby to my right–of course, he sat in the back of the room–my attention span was not all there. I was too excited for my date with Ryan that would be taking place later on tonight.

  I had been counting down the minutes as memories from last night’s conversation with Ryan overtook my mind. Again, like every other night this week, he had called me right before bed.

  “I’ll miss you till I see you tomorrow, butterfly,” he had said, and I just took it all in; the feeling of what was happening between the two of us could only be described as magical.

  “Hold on a sec… can I ask you something?” I had questioned, hastily.

  “Of course, butterfly,” he had responded in a sleepy tone.

  I giggled softly not to disturb him. “You never told me why you call me butterfly all the time.”

  I pictured his sexy grin with half-closed eyes, as he was getting ready to welcome a deep slumber.

  “Because,” he began, “you remind me of one… beautiful and free, spreading your wings, embracing the world, and gracing everyone with your presence.”

  Wow. If that hadn’t been the most wonderful thing I had ever heard, I didn’t know what was. Needless to say, I slept like a baby that night, dreaming of green meadows, purple lilacs, and floating butterflies amid the fields.

  During school hours, we would only see each other during the English class we shared, and in the hallways, maybe once or twice throughout the day. I knew when I’d be seeing him, since it was always the same every day, and I made sure to look at him directly in the eyes, and smile. He’d smile back at me, and we’d continue on our merry way. That smile alone was enough to get me through the whole day till he would meet me at my locker at the end of the day.

  Our friendship was completely innocent, but I was dying to place my lips and hands all over him. I was hoping tonight would be the night that I could explore his body. If not, I was hoping to at least push my lips up against his full ones. They looked so luscious and I had dreamt about kissing them so many times before.

  At the end of ninth period, I was standing at my locker, pretending to go through it, but I was actually waiting for Ryan to come see me like he had been doing for the last few days.

  Out of the peripheral of my right eye, I saw Sarah and her clan of Barbies walk past me. She gave me one chilling look that sent shivers down my spine. The girl was like Medusa. One look into her eyes, and you could turn into stone. I turned my gaze quickly, pretending not to have noticed her. Suddenly, I felt her bump into me. It caused me to lean forward a bit, making me almost hit my forehead on my locker door.

  “Oops,” she said with a stupid, crooked grin, and continued moving along. She was a total bitch, but I knew she was doing it because I was going out with Ryan tonight. There was no way she didn’t know about that yet. Everyone in school talked; the gossip was at an all-time high. I was sure “nerdy girl conjures the sexiest and most popular guy at Maple Grove to take her out,” was the juiciest piece of gossip at the moment.

  I shook my head and decided it was best to just let it go. She was already gone, anyway, and Ryan would soon be at my side. Nothing could turn my joyous mood into something other than happy-go-lucky.

  “Hey, butterfly,” Ryan said with his sexy dimpled grin, greeting me. He was already dressed in his football uniform. He looked so damn sexy. What was I just thinking about?

  “Ryan, hi,” I said smiling. He leaned in close to me and placed the sweetest kiss upon my blushing pink cheek. I could’ve died happy right about then.

  “I have practice till five tonight, but once it’s done, I’ll go home and get ready, and then I’ll swing by to pick you up, okay?” he questioned.

  “That’s perfect,” I said, still floating above the clouds.

  “Okay, I’ll see you then,” he added, placing another kiss on my cheek, and then lifting my right hand, placing one on there as well.

  As he walked away, I couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of his tight butt in his uniform.

  Yum. I’d love to sink my teeth into those buns…

  “Damn, butterfly. Please excuse my language, but you look so fuckin’ beautiful.”

  Ryan had arrived at my house ten minutes before I was expecting him.

  When he had rung the bell, I raced out of my room and down the stairs to open the door. I didn’t want my mother to quiz him and ask him twenty questions, and I didn’t want Charlie pestering him. I raced out the door before she had a chance to stop me, reassured her I’d be home by curfew, and that I’d be safe. She yelled back that she loved me and to call in case of anything.

  Like I didn’t already know that? Come on, Mom. I know better by now.

  But to save a fight, I just yelled out, “I’ll be home later, Mom,” and had made my way out the door.

  “Thank you,” I replied, immediately dropping my glance. Almost instantly, I looked back up at the immaculately sculpted canvas standing before me. His perfectly white smile and sparkling eyes were so mesmerizing; I could seriously look at him all day. I could feel a sudden heat rising from my chest and traveling all the way up to my face. I had spent the past couple of days trying on a number of different ensembles, but I finally decided on a black blouse and skinny denim jeans. I topped my look off with a pair of silver hoops and a matching bangle around my right wrist.

  He walked me to his car, I hopped in, and off we went on our date.

  We were seated toward the back of the diner, and immediately began flipping through our menus. I skimmed over most of the entrees. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, honestly feeling a bit too nervous to eat, but I decided on something simple.

  As we sat across from one another in our booth, I could feel his stare burning into me. My chestnut eyes met his shimmering green ones, and we smiled at one another at the same time.

  Chuckling, he asked, “You okay, butterfly?”

  I nodded. “I’m perfect.”

  “Yes, you are, Lacey,” he replied, making the same heat I felt before rise once again. I guessed he sensed how I felt, so he continued.

  “I mean it. I know we haven’t really known each other very long, but butterfly, you are everything that I have ever wanted and needed.”

  A waitress came up then and took our order. It was an oblivion to me because all I could think about were his words and the way he had looked as he said them.

  He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “You don’t know how much I look forward to going to school every day now.”

  It was all I could do to giggle at his comment. I had never disliked school before, but lately I counted down the minutes till another school day would begin. I had even started getting up extra early so that I could have more time to get ready.

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed your new attitude toward school. It suits you, Ry,” I added.

  He smiled and said, “You’re the reason for it all, butterfly. My days are complete because of you. I’ve been thinking about this since before we’d had our afternoon under the maple tree and I can’t think of anyone better I would rather go with.”

  Go with? Go where?

  “Lacey McAllister… butterfly, would you like to go to the Halloween dance with me?” he asked.

  Holy shit! I had totally forgotten about the dance! Because things had been going so well with Ryan, it had totally s
lipped my mind. And honestly, I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to get to go. Showing up alone to a dance at Maple Grove was just as bad as if I were to show up with my mother.

  “Guess you are not a school dance type?” he asked.

  “What? No, no! I want to go! Yes, I’d love to go with you!” I exclaimed, almost jumping out of my seat.

  He chuckled. “Awesome. I can’t wait to see what you’re going to be wearing, butterfly.”

  Crap! That was right! I’d need a costume. What the hell was I going to dress up as? I’d have to think of something epic. Jen would help me. She went to the school dances every year with her boyfriend, Luis. They’d been together since the eighth grade.

  After we finished up our dinner–which by the way had also become an oblivion to me because of my elated state–Ryan decided it was a nice night to just drive around town. Maple Grove was absolutely breathtaking at this time of year.

  We wound up in the parking lot facing the high school’s football field, and I didn’t think there could have been a more perfect place for us to spend the rest of the night.

  After turning off the ignition, he turned to face me and leaned in close. “What’s on your mind, butterfly? You’ve been so quiet. You’ve got me wondering if I’ve said or done something wrong.”

  He ran his fingers up and down the steering wheel and I only wished he were running them like that over my body.

  With a shocked expression on my face, I said, “No, no, not at all! I just can’t believe how my life has turned around in just the short amount of time that I’ve known you. I’ve never had the opportunity of attending one of the school dances before.”

  Dumbfounded, he said, “Well, I am planning on making your first experience a memorable one.”

  He leaned even closer to me then. So close in fact that I could feel his sweet peppermint breath on my face. Peppermint gum was now my favorite. Yum.

  My heart began to speed up, faster and faster. My palms had gotten sweaty, and hoping he wouldn’t notice, I ran them over my blue jeans.

  His eyes burned into mine. I was trapped by his gaze and I couldn’t stop staring if I wanted to. But I didn’t. I closed in the distance between us even more then and he followed suit.

  Softly, he murmured, “I want everything to be perfect for you, Lacey. I want you, butterfly.”

  Finally, he moved just a smidgen closer and our lips met. His soft, full lips complimented my own perfectly. They fit together like a glove. As we kissed, I parted my lips the slightest bit and allowed his tongue to meet mine. Caressing each other’s tongues with our own, and nibbling on one another’s lips, I again felt the heat rising from within me, but this time, it started at my core.

  Wow! Was that what a first kiss was supposed to feel like? Besides this one I just shared with Ryan, I’d had three other first kisses in my life and they didn’t even come close.

  My very first kiss was with Timothy Millington. I was twelve. Every Friday afternoon, a few of my girlfriends and I would hang out in front of Cory Hall’s house. He and five of his closest friends would either throw a football around or shoot some hoops. Us girls would watch them play, and the guys would show off in front of us. One day after they had been playing for a few hours, they came to sit next to us on the porch steps. Somehow, we got to playing truth or dare, and as luck would have it, I was dared to kiss Timothy. I didn’t mind because at the time, he was the guy I had had a major crush on. Rumor was that he had a crush on me as well.

  After that, I didn’t have another kiss for another year. When I was thirteen, I met Julius King at a barbecue-pool party. We got to talk and all of a sudden, he kissed me. It was on impulse, but I kissed him back, and after that night, although he left with my phone number, I had never heard from him again.

  My next kiss came from Justin. Although the sparks did fly when he had kissed me for the first time, it didn’t even come close to the fireworks I had just felt as Ryan’s lips had met mine. I wanted more of him. I wanted more of him now.

  I reached my right hand up and placed it on his chest. As he continued kissing me, he slowly caressed my neck with his hand, and then carefully bringing it down a bit lower to reach my shoulder.

  In between kisses and massages, I muttered, “Keep going, Ry.”

  All of a sudden, he pulled away.

  What the hell?

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He let out a deep sigh, shook his head quickly back and forth, and said, “Lacey, I like you so much. I like you more than you can imagine. As much as I want to go further with you, I don’t want to treat you like any other girl. I respect you. If we’re going to go there, I want it to be right. I don’t want it to be in my car, and I want it to be official.”

  He was sweet and romantic, but at that moment, I didn’t give a flying fuck about sweet and romantic. I wanted passion. I wanted lips, mouths, tongues, and hands exploring every inch of each other’s bodies. I wanted the type of hook-up I read about in my trashy romance novels. What I wanted more than anything was a horn-dog high school senior who just wanted a piece of ass. Did that make me a whore? God, I hoped not. But I didn’t care. I wanted Ryan all over me.

  When I didn’t respond, he said, “Butterfly, don’t be upset. I’m not dissing you. What I’m saying is that I want you… to be my girlfriend. Will you?”

  What! Ryan was asking me to be his girl? Hell yeah!

  “Of course, I will!” I jumped up in my seat and immediately smacked my lips against his. We spent the rest of the night making out in his car… PG-13 style.

  Chapter Seven

  The next day after the big varsity football game, I had made plans with Jen to hit up Party World to find the perfect Halloween costume for the dance. I had called her immediately after my date with Ryan and told her all about it. She couldn’t believe we were a couple, but she was ecstatic for me. Not only was she thrilled that my dream of being with Ryan had come true, but she was also elated about me being able to go to the dance with her. She had always wanted me to go, but I never went because I never had had a date. While Justin and I had dated during the Halloween season when we were together, he was never the dance type, so I never got to go.

  Earlier that day, Jen and I had sat in the bleachers, cheering on the Maple Grove Tigers. Ryan looked absolutely delicious, and thoughts of our kiss from the previous night kept running through my mind.

  In the end, we had won the game, and after congratulating Ryan on his near-perfect game, I kissed him goodbye and made my way with Jen to pick out a costume.

  “Now you have an excuse to dress slutty. Try this on,” Jen said with a smirk, pulling a sexy witch costume from the rack. It was short and tight with black and orange sequins lacing the plummeting V-neck. Sure, it would no doubt look stunning, but I wanted something to WOW Ryan; I wanted something to make him definitely remember the evening. No doubt, the sexy witch costume would do just that, but something was missing.

  I shook my head in disagreement. “Not quite the vision I had.”

  Jen placed it back on the rack and looked at me in disapproval. “You’d better make a good impression on that man… especially at the dance! You guys are a new couple and you know the Barbies at our school are gonna come looking like hookers off the street. They still consider him single.”

  “What are you saying?” I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms across my chest.

  “That those bitches are gonna pounce on your man if you don’t! Now, come on!” She exclaimed, pulling my arm.

  As she dragged me down the aisle passing fairy tale princess costumes, sexy she-devils, and a number of provocative get-ups, I spotted one that caught my eye.

  Immediately, I pulled her instead, and yelled out, “Jen! This is it! This is the one!”

  I pulled out the Halloween costume, and she beckoned in agreement.

  “Uh huh. That’s it. You’re right. There’s no way you’ll be forgettable in that.” Jen stood back, arms on her hips, and gave me another nod of a
pproval.

  A wide smile spread across my face. This was the perfect costume for me. I just knew Ryan would love it–and me–in it.

  A few days later, Ryan and I were walking in together at the Halloween dance. He held open the double doors for me of the high school gym, and as we walked in, the looks we were receiving were classic. I was starting to feel a bit self-conscious, but Ryan must’ve immediately sensed it. He quickly placed a hand on the small of my back and whispered in my ear, “It’s okay, beautiful. You truly are a butterfly for all to see tonight.”

  I felt myself instantly relax. His statement couldn’t be more true. With a white, skintight spandex dress covered in pink and purple shimmering glitter, and mesh wings attached to the low-cut back of the dress, I was the most beautiful butterfly of all. As soon as I had seen the dress at the costume store with Jen, I knew it would be the perfect one. She knew Ryan called me ‘butterfly.’

  I suddenly spotted her to my left, dancing really close with her man. They were having a great time, and not wanting to interrupt, I just waved at her when we made eye contact. She waved back, giving me a wide opened grin.

  As Ryan grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor, we spotted Bobby near the punch bowl.

  “Want some punch?” Ryan asked.

  “Sure,” I replied.

  I thought he was going to leave me there on the floor by myself. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and started dialing.

  “Yo, Bobby! Bring me two cups, fucker!” Ryan laughed, and I assumed Bobby was letting him have it then.

  He continued screaming over the blaring music saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, man. Grab your date and bring your punk ass over here. Oh! And don’t forget the cups of punch for me and Lacey.” He quickly hung up, turned his attention to me and smiled. I smiled back. He was so handsome when he smiled at me like that. Hell, he was handsome all the time.

  Ryan was dressed as none other than a football player. Not really a costume, unless you considered the zombie look that masked his face. He said his sister had enjoyed applying her makeup on him turning a regular football player into a Walking Dead quarterback.