My Butterfly

sighed and then lowered my head. That was a lie. I couldn’t lie to her.
    “Okay,” I said. “It was on purpose, but I had to.”
    My gaze traveled back up to her face again, while she dropped her shoulders and dug her dagger eyes deeper into my forehead.
    “You knew I was looking for it,” she said. “I just don’t get why…”
    “Wait,” I interrupted her, as a smile slowly started creeping its way back to my face again. “When did Rachel tell you?”
    Rachel couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
    “The day I lost it,” she said. “I ran into her later. You were also supposed to tell me that she was looking for me.”
    “Wait,” I said again. “You knew where it was and that I had put it there this whole time, but you still pretended to look for it with me.”
    Had she liked hanging out with me too?
    She narrowed her eyes at me, and I knew she had read my mind. A new, obnoxious smile beamed across my face now over the obnoxious one that was already there.
    Then, I watched as she grabbed her duffle bag from the ground and slung it over her shoulder.
    “Will, the point here is that you threw my ball into the rafters,” she said. “Nothing ever comes down from there.”
    I really tried hard, but I couldn’t stop smiling.
    “You’re such a child,” she said, letting out a deep sigh and then turning and walking away.
    I sat there frozen—and speechless.
    “You owe me a ball, Will Stephens,” she called out over her shoulder once she had gotten several yards away.
    I watched her strut into the sun as I leaned my back against the straw bale in our makeshift bench again. There was a permanent smile now tattooed to my face, and on that smile in big, bold letters, I was pretty sure it read: Today was the best day of my life. Today, I learned that Julia Lang actually liked hanging out with me.

Chapter Four
    The Bonfire
     
     
    I bent down and concealed my face behind his before I brought my hand to my mouth.
    “Hey, uh, I didn’t want to say anything in front of the girl, but I’m pretty sure you left the dome light in your truck on, and there’s a copy of that Cosmo your sister left in there on the seat,” I whispered.
    Jeff’s eyes grew wide, but he kept his stare straight ahead. I was pretty sure he was calculating the cool points he’d lose if anyone were to see the magazine in his truck. I was waiting for him to question why I hadn’t just turned off the light myself and hid the magazine, but he never did. He just sat there for a second, then stood up, dusted off his blue jeans and squared up to Julia.
    “I’ll be right back,” he said to her then.
    And just like that, he hopped over the log he had been sitting on and disappeared into the night behind the fire.
    When my eyes fell from watching Jeff trot away, they stumbled onto Julia. Her bright green stare was already on mine, and there was a soft, questioning smile planted on her face. It was cute.
    “Will Stephens, what did you say to him?” she asked.
    She was trying her best to scold me, but I could tell she wasn’t that upset by whatever it was I had just said to make the lanky boy dance away.
    A smile edged across my face, as I took Jeff’s now vacant seat next to her on the log.
    “I told him his truck lights were on,” I said.
    Her eyes lingered on me, and she didn’t say anything for a good second.
    “Are they?” she asked.
    I knew she already knew the answer.
    “No,” I said, grinning into the flames.
    I watched the flames pop and dance among the logs being consumed by the fire. I watched them for long seconds before I felt her stare still on me. Then, I turned my attention back toward those pretty eyes of hers.
    Her face was angled just enough into the light the flames gave off that it made her features glow with warm colors. Her lips were soft-looking but sexy, as if she could give one, out-of-this-world kiss. And her eyes, even without the fire’s light, were that shade of green that made you stop and want to stay in them for awhile. My own eyes were drawn to them like a moth to light. I loved those eyes of hers. I had always loved those eyes.
    “When are you going to say yes ?” I asked.
    She kept her smile, but her eyes broke from mine and returned to the fire.
    “Depends on what the question is,” she said, gradually returning her gaze to me.
    “Same question,” I said.
    I traced the path her eyes made. They seemed to be searching every feature on my face.
    “Then, same answer,” she