My Butterfly

didn’t even bother finishing my sentence.
    “I was wondering if you wanted to go fishin’,” he said.
    I found the clock. It glowed six twenty in its neon numbers.
    I took a breath in and then let out a sigh.
    “All right,” I said.
    “Good, I’ve got the poles in my truck,” he said.
    Just then, my eyes fell onto the business card sitting on the chest across the room.
    “Just put some pants on. Let’s go,” he squeaked.
    Another peanut hit my face and broke my stare from the card.
    “Is there something wrong with you?” he asked.
    “What?” I asked, returning my attention back to him. “No…I just remembered this crazy dream I had.”
    He threw his head back and laughed once.
    “Buddy, your life’s a crazy dream,” he said. “Now, let’s go.”
    My eyes eventually settled onto the card again.
    “Okay,” I said. “Just give me a second, and I’ll be out there.”
    I glanced back at him. He was giving me that dumb, puzzled look he does best. I didn’t say anything.
    “Okay,” he eventually said.
    I watched him turn and leave the doorway. Then, I pulled the sheets back and walked over to the chest. I picked up the business card and held it carefully in between my fingers. I read over its words, then spotted my phone sitting on the chest next to a bottle of cologne. I reached for it, picked it up and cradled it in my other hand. Silent moments passed with the business card in one hand and the phone in the other. Then, finally, I took a deep breath, slowly let it out and then pressed number six on my speed dial.
    “Hey, buddy,” I heard a voice answer on the other end a few rings later.
    “Hey, Matt. I didn’t wake ya, did I?” I asked.
    “No, no, we just got back from a call,” he said. “What’s up?”
    “Uh, you still want to give this agent a shot?” I asked.
    He was quiet for a second.
    “Uh, yeah,” I eventually heard him say. “Do you?”
    I smiled to myself.
    “I think I do,” I said. “Do you think you could talk Daniel into it?”
    “Daniel’s in,” he said. “He just needed some reassuring that it wasn’t quite the craziest thing we’ve ever done.”
    I laughed.
    “Okay,” I said, taking another deep breath.
    “So, we’re really going to do this?” he asked.
    I could hear a smile in his voice.
    “I’ll give this Jesse Sovine guy a call, and we’ll see what happens, I guess,” I said.
    “All right, great,” he said. “I’ll tell the guys.”
    “Okay,” I replied, nodding my head.
    My finger lunged for the button that would end the call but stopped when I heard his voice again.
    “Wait, Will?”
    “Yeah?” I asked.
    “What made ya change your mind?” he asked.
    A smile started to slowly etch a path across my face, as I let a silent moment pass.
    “A girl,” I said.
    I heard him laugh on the other end.
    “I should have known,” he said.
    “Hey, call me after you talk to him,” he said.
    “Okay, I will,” I said.
    I hung up and found the number on the card still cradled in my hand. Then, I methodically punched into my phone each number, until all ten digits were displayed on the phone’s screen. And after another deep breath, I counted to three in my head and then hit the call button.
    Five, long rings later I heard his voice telling me to leave a message. I contemplated hanging up, but I didn’t and instead, waited for the beep.
    A second went by after the beep before I said anything. Then, I cleared my throat.
    “Uh, hi, Mr. Sovine, this is Will Stephens from District 9,” I said into the receiver. “We talked at the Home of Blues a while back. And I don’t know if you’re still interested, but we’d like to talk about you possibly representing us.”
    I hesitated for a second.
    “Uh, you can call me back on this number. Thanks.”
    I stopped, ended the call and carefully set the business card back onto the chest. Then, I felt something small hit the back of my head, and I watched as a peanut rolled to a spot on the floor.
    “Dude, I thought you went back to sleep or something,” Jeff said in his whiney voice. “Why don’t you have pants on?”
    I looked down at my boxers, then turned around and shuffled back over to the other side of the bed without even acknowledging him. I found a pair of jeans I had worn the day before lying on the floor and stepped into them. Then, I reached for a shirt from an open drawer and squeezed it on over my head.
    “Voilà,” I said, turning and facing Jeff with my arms out to my sides.