Текст книги "My Butterfly"

Автор книги: Laura Miller

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Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Chapter Three
Caught

“I don’t know, Jules,” I said, tossing a tennis ball into the air and catching it. “We might be searching for this volleyball for the rest of our days.”

She turned her face toward mine. Her blond hair was in a ponytail and was spread every which way over a straw bale left over from archery class. I had constructed us a pretty nice lounging bench using the bales, and now we were each lying against a home-made straw pillow. She was squinting. The sun was in her eyes, and her big eyelashes looked as if they were trying to shoo away its rays.

“I’m sure it’s somewhere safe,” she said and then turned her head again so that it was out of the direct path of the sun’s rays.

I lifted my head off the straw bale.

“You don’t seem that worried about it anymore,” I said.

“Hmm?” she asked, as she turned her face back toward mine and used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

“It’s your favorite ball, right?” I asked. “You still want to find it, right?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s not that big of a deal,” she said.

I hesitated before I continued.

“Well, I mean, it’s got to be around here somewhere,” I said, fearing my time with her might be coming to an end. “Maybe it’ll just take a couple more days.”

“Uh,” she said, shrugging off my comment and turning her head again. “We don’t have to look for it anymore. It’s okay.”

“No,” I almost shouted, sitting up.

I paused then and took a second to regain my composure and to clear my throat.

“Actually, you know where we haven’t checked?” I asked.

“Hmm?” she replied, not bothering to turn her head this time.

“The shop,” I said. “We haven’t checked the shop.”

I watched her shrug her shoulders again.

“I don’t think it’s in the shop,” she said.

She was facing away from me, and her eyes were closed, so I took the opportunity to stare at her without her knowing it. And why was she acting so strange all of sudden? A few days ago, all she wanted was that dumb ball. Now, it seemed as if she could care less about it. She was a strange creature, but she sure was pretty. She was about an hour removed from volleyball practice – little, spandex shorts, cut-off tee shirt and all. Pretty.

“You know where we haven’t looked?” she asked, opening her eyes and turning her face toward mine again.

I sat back against the straw bail, startled, hoping she hadn’t noticed me staring at her.

“Where?” I asked.

“The rafters…in the gym,” she said.

My heart stumbled and then came to a complete halt for a second. Then, I watched the corners of her lips slowly start to turn up, and I couldn’t help but smile too.

“The rafters?” I managed to get out, through my grin.

“Mm hmm,” she said, nodding her head.

We were both silent for a moment, each searching the other’s eyes.

“Yeah, we could look there,” I eventually said.

Just then, she shoved my shoulder. She shoved it hard, but it didn’t do much to move me, in the end.

“Will Stephens,” she said, raising her voice and now standing over me.

She was pouting, but she was smiling too – sort of.

“I know you put it there,” she said.

My jaw dropped open. Caught red-handed.

“I…,” I stuttered. “How, how do you know?”

She rested her hands on her hips.

“Rachel told me,” she said. “She saw you do it.”

Damn it, Rachel.

The corners of my mouth started to turn up again. I knew they weren’t supposed to, but I couldn’t help it. She looked so darn cute. And besides, it had been worth it. That ball had given me her undivided attention for a week. As it turned out, I had grown to love that dumb ball after all.

“Jules, I promise it wasn’t on purpose.”

I 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 softly said.

She was smiling with that temptress smile of hers. It was beautiful, but, God, what did it mean? Did she want me to pull her against my body right now and finally touch those lips of hers I had been dying to kiss? Was I supposed to just sit here? Woman, what do you want from me?

“Come on, Jules,” I protested instead. “I know you like me. And you’re gonna love me, someday,” I added for effect, while throwing a piece of bark into the flames.

“Love?” she questioned.

She had this surprise in her voice. I expected it.

“Jules, just let me take you to Donna’s,” I pleaded.

She laughed, and I watched her long curls fall from her shoulders to her chest as she shook her head.

“That sounds like a date, Will,” she said.

I paused for a second and pushed my lips together.

“Yeah, it kind of does,” I admitted, smiling and nodding my head.

I glanced at the fire for a moment and then returned my eyes to her, but her gaze was already planted on me. She wasn’t smiling anymore, and her face had grown sincere.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked.

I was speechless, while I thought about her question.

This girl must be completely and utterly out of her mind. Of course, I was serious. Why wouldn’t I be serious? She was gorgeous; she was smart; she thought Jeff was an idiot; and she was the sexiest woman I had ever met. Done. Done. Done. And done.

“Jules, I was always serious,” I finally said.

“Will, you threw rocks at me in third grade.”

I couldn’t help my smile turning up a little more. I tried to hide it by sending my eyes to the ground at my feet.

“It was out of love, I promise,” I assured her, as I met her eyes again. “You could think of it like Cupid’s arrows, only they were rocks.”

She pursed her lips, and her pout refused to waver. Could I kiss her now?

“No?” I asked. “Not Cupid’s arrows?”

And the pout disappeared.

“I guess I just had a funny way of showing it back then,” I said.

“Will, you purposely got my favorite volleyball stuck up in the gym’s rafters,” she went on.

I laughed once and shook my head.

“You still remember that?” I asked.

She glared at me through her sexy, green eyes.

“It was last week, Will,” she said.

I took a deep breath and then slowly let it out, allowing my eyes to come to rest in hers.

“Can I just take you to Donna’s – to make up for all my past wrong-doings?” I asked again.

She hesitated as silent seconds drew on.

“You know, you kind of owe me,” she said, as a soft smile found her face.

My heart fluttered, and I couldn’t help but smile too, but before I could get another word out, a group of girls appeared on the other side of the fire from out of nowhere. They were giggling and seemed to have no clue as to what epic moment they were interrupting.

“Will, sing us a song,” a girl’s voice commanded.

My eyes reluctantly followed Julia’s gaze to Rachel, standing directly across from us. I found a piece of bark on the log I was sitting on then and pulled it free.

“Rach, I can’t sing,” I said, throwing the bark into the fire.

“What?” Rachel asked. “Then why was THIS in your car?”

She pulled out an object from the dark shadows behind her and passed it around the edge of the fire. I knew immediately what it was.

“My car?” I asked.

“Yep, that little SUV next to all of those other cars in the field back there,” Rachel said, pointing into the darkness behind her.

She was wearing a proud smile. I kept my stare on her.

“It’s a truck, Rachel,” I said.

“What?” I heard Rachel ask. “Does it have a bed? No. It’s definitely an SUV, Will. But don’t worry; SUVs can be just as manly, even if they do have girly names.”

She playfully rolled her eyes, and I sent her a sideways smirk and returned my attention to Julia.

Julia was giving me a strange look too now, but I brushed it, along with Rachel’s comment, off.

“Jules, remind me to lock up next time,” I said under my breath.

The object finally reached me, and I extended my arm and took a hold of its neck. And with my other hand, I grabbed its body.

I smiled then and shook my head.

“Play us something,” Rachel demanded again.

I let a steady breath pass through my lips as my eyes fell back onto Julia. She was smiling up at me with that beautiful, sexy smile of hers.

“The girls want a song,” she said.

I let my eyes linger in hers, forgetting for a second the audience that had just joined us, before I glanced back down at the strings on the guitar and felt my grin widen.

“Okay,” I softly conceded, shaking my head.

I tickled the strings for a moment and then found a melody. It was the same one that poured through Julia’s jeep’s stereo every time she turned it on. I might have learned it a little while back. I figured there would come a time when Jules wanted to hear it and she didn’t have her CD. Plus, it reminded me of her, and it felt good to sing it. And now, it was the first song that came to my mind.

Eventually, I started in on the words as well, and after a few moments, I heard the girls on the other side of the fire chime in. They didn’t seem to know all of the words, but they tried anyway. I caught Julia’s stare and smiled. She returned an almost-bashful grin.

I tickled the guitar’s strings until the melody ended. Then, there was a strange, awkward silence before Rachel said something first.

“Wow, Will,” Rachel exclaimed. “I’m not going to lie. I was really expecting a voice from the boy who starts a band in his garage only to still be in his garage forty years later with a beer belly and a mullet. I wasn’t expecting a rock star.”

My eyes instinctively darted toward Julia but then hit the ground just as quickly as they had found her.

“Well, I can see that maybe you two have something new to talk about, so…we’re just going to get some more hot chocolate,” Rachel said before motioning for the other girls to follow her away from the fire.

It was only moments before Julia and I were alone with the fire’s flames again. Then, I listened for seconds to the fire’s soft popping before Jules spoke.

“Will, that was really good.”

My face turned up toward hers.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, really,” she said, starting to laugh. “Will, all these years…How didn’t I know that you could play the guitar – or sing? And that good?”

I returned my eyes to the flames, as a slight grin found my face.

“Not many people do know, I guess,” I confessed. “I’m pretty good at keeping secrets around here.”

I winked at her then and propped the guitar against the log beside me.

“So, I see,” she said, smiling wider.

“Do you write songs too?” she asked.

My gaze stopped in her eyes. I wasn’t quite expecting her question.

“I try, when I get a chance,” I said. “Writing’s the best part really. It’s the words that change people’s lives in the end, right?”

She paused, as if she wasn’t expecting my answer.

“Hmm, I guess that makes sense,” she said, eventually. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

I laughed once.

“I’ll have to write a song for you sometime,” I said.

I wanted my words to have come out gentle and honest, but I was pretty sure they just came out cheesy.

I watched her smile and then try to hide it.

“Do you write a song for every girl you have a crush on?” she sarcastically asked, returning her attention to the fire.

“Well, I will once I write one for you,” I said.

She let go of her smile and then looked back at me, locking her stare in my eyes before she spoke again.

“I’m pretty sure it’s brown-eyed girl, by the way,” she said.

Her voice was playful again.

“What?” I asked.

“In the song, you said green-eyed girl,” she said, looking away again.

I hesitated but kept my eyes on her.

“Let me see,” I said, as I gently touched her chin and turned her face back toward mine.

“Nope, pretty sure it’s green-eyed girl,” I said.

I watched as a slight smile lingered on her lips.

“Will Stephens, what am I going to do with you?” she softly asked.

I grinned wider and took a deep breath. I could think of plenty.

“Jules, I’m sorry about the rocks, your ball and every other stupid thing I’ve ever done,” I said, lowering my hand from her chin.

Her eyes fell toward the ground, and she laughed.

“It’s okay,” she said. “You get the ball down for me someday, and we’ll call it even.”

I slowly nodded my head.

“Okay,” I said. “But I’m not gonna stop askin’, you know?”

Her eyes quickly found mine again.

“I considered that,” she said. “And what if I never say yes?”

I sucked in a deep breath.

“Well, then I suppose I would have spent my life doin’ something worthwhile,” I said. “My parents can’t be disappointed in that.”

“Will,” she protested.

I watched her toss her head back and laugh again, then lift her eyes toward mine, catching my stare. My heart was racing. My breaths were short. I wanted to kiss her. I was going to. I memorized the short path to her lips, and I closed my eyes and tried to remember the path I had just memorized.

“Will,” a voice suddenly called out from the darkness behind us.

The voice was already annoying and unwanted. And before I could even acknowledge it, a skinny figure was squeezing himself into the small space on the log between Julia and me.

Damn it, Jeff.

“Will, those were Ben’s lights, not mine,” he quickly informed me.

He didn’t even bother looking at me as he spoke.

“Here, Julia, here’s some hot chocolate,” the lanky boy announced, facing Julia and presenting her with a steaming, Styrofoam cup.

My eyes shot back toward the orange flames as I scooted over and ran my hands against my thighs, trying to recover from my thwarted move.

“Thanks, Jeff,” I heard Jules say.

Her voice resurrected my attention, and I turned my face back toward hers. Jeff had already resorted to poking a stick into the fire’s ashes and had, by now, all but faded into my background again. I watched Jules’s eyes follow the flames for a couple of silent moments. Then, suddenly, her eyes found mine, and I caught her soft lips slowly turning up at their sides. Her smile was different this time. In fact, this might be her best – forgiving and curious and sexy – though I loved them all. I kept my gaze locked on hers, and I smiled too. If I didn’t get my yes tonight, I’d happily settle for this.

Chapter Five
Donna’s

We turned the corner, and I saw her. And instantly, I wondered if I jumped off the wagon, would anyone notice me gone? She smiled and waved. I waved back. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her hair was down and in those blond curls she always wore. Her green eyes matched the jacket she was wearing – the jacket everyone was wearing. I seriously gauged the distance from the wagon bed to the street and then tried to guess at what rate of speed the tractor trailer was going. But by the time I looked back up to find her, she had disappeared into the sea of green. I sighed, but a smile quickly returned. It couldn’t take that long to loop around town.

* * *

The tractor and wagon pulled catawampus into the school’s parking lot, and fourteen guys and a couple of coaches jumped off. My feet hit the ground, and my eyes hit the crowd. Where was she?

“One state championship and one championship parade down,” I heard a voice call out from behind me.

I turned and felt the corners of my mouth start to rise.

“Julia, I wasn’t sure you’d come,” I said.

She laughed and glanced at the big crowd behind us.

“I didn’t want to be the only one who missed it,” she said, still smiling.

My eyes turned down to the ground at my feet. There was something about this girl that made me nervous every time I was around her.

“You hungry?” I asked her, as I kicked a rock back and forth on the asphalt.

I didn’t hear anything, so I looked up. She was still smiling at me, but her smile looked less soft and more suspicious. I stared at her staring at me. If this were some kind of staring competition and the winner got his way, I was determined to win.

Just then, her smile widened, and she nodded her head.

I stood there dumbfounded. I was pretty sure that that meant yes—even in girl talk, but I couldn’t be certain.

Her eyes faltered for a moment but then returned to mine, and as if she had been reading my mind, her next word was all the confirmation I needed.

“Okay,” she softly said.

“Really?” I asked.

There was a part of me that felt as if she were pulling my leg.

She nodded her head again.

I stared at her for another, full second. Then, I quickly scooped her up into my arms.

“Will, what on earth are you doing?” she squealed.

She was laughing, so I figured I was okay.

I hurried over to my truck, pulled open the passenger’s door and gently set her down onto the seat. Then, I closed the door and ran over to my side and threw myself behind the wheel.

“What are you doing, crazy person?” she asked, as I jammed the keys into the ignition.

“We’ve got to hurry, before you change your mind,” I said, only semi-joking.

I saw her out of the corner of my eye toss her head back and laugh. And within seconds, I was peeling out of the parking lot and heading toward the little diner at the edge of town.

* * *

Donna’s was filling up, no doubt because of all of the people in town for the parade. Julia and I quickly found a corner booth and slid in. A few seconds later, I watched as a shorter boy with shaggy hair and a Donna’s Café polo noticed us and shuffled toward our booth.

“Hey, man, congrats on your guys’ win,” the boy said after he had planted his feet at the end of our table.

I looked up at him. He had a cheesy grin on his face, and he was wearing a pin with our mascot on it.

“Thanks,” I said, through a smile.

“Hey, Adam,” Julia warmly said.

“Hi, Julia,” the boy replied, cowering a little.

He looked at her a little too long with that cheesy grin of his. Julia had already returned her eyes to the menu, so she didn’t even notice. I cleared my throat, which seemed to do the trick. It broke the boy’s stare, and he started instinctively scribbling something onto his little notepad. It couldn’t be words.

His pen eventually stopped, and he looked up and caught my stare. I was pretty sure I had a puzzled, though now slightly intrigued, look on my face. It was interesting how he had been so drawn to her to the point that I might as well have been invisible. But I couldn’t be mad at him. He probably only saw what I had always seen in her.

“Uh, I’ll just give you guys some time to decide then,” the boy said, smiling awkwardly.

I watched him jam the little pad of paper back into his pocket and scurry off.

My eyes fell back onto Julia then. She was still looking at the menu. I had a smile on my face that I couldn’t imagine wiping off.

“Cheeseburger or chicken strips?” she asked me, without looking up.

I heard her, but her words sounded more like a song than a question, so I failed to answer her.

Her eyes eventually turned up toward mine, and soon, her lips broke out into a smile.

“Cheeseburger it is,” she said.

She glanced at the paper menu one more time and then slid it behind a ketchup bottle against the window.

“So, how does it feel to be a state champion?” she asked.

My eyes faltered, and a laugh followed.

“Pretty good,” I admitted. “But I’m not so sure it’s better than this.”

She stared at me for a second and then laughed.

“You’re ridiculous,” she said. “I know that every one of you guys have been dreaming of a basketball state championship ever since the day you picked up a ball.”

I lowered my eyes and chuckled to myself.

“Julia Lang,” I said, pausing and then returning my eyes to hers.

“If you only knew how many cheesy Valentine’s cards I wrote you that never reached you,” I said.

She stopped and sent me a slightly puzzled look.

“Yeah, I know it might seem like I’m head over heels for a girl I barely know, but I know more about you than you think,” I said.

“Really?” she asked.

She sat back in the booth and smiled, in a challenging kind of way.

“Really,” I said.

Her suspicious eyes locked onto mine.

“You guys ready to order?” asked the boy, in a high-pitched, cracking voice.

He had reappeared from out of nowhere.

Julia looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back, held his stare a second too long, then quickly hurled his gaze in my direction.

I knew I must have given him a puzzled look again because he quickly forced his eyes back to his notepad and started scribbling nonsense again.

Eventually, my puzzled stare left the boy and caught Julia’s bright green eyes, and I smiled.

“I’ll have the cheeseburger with fries,” she said, her eyes still locked in mine.

I’ll have the same,” I said, only taking my eyes off of her long enough to make sure the shaggy-haired boy had gotten our order.

He finished scribbling onto his pad and then quickly disappeared.

“So, we played on tractors together when we were kids,” she said, now resting her elbows on the table, her hands under her chin. “That hardly counts as ‘knowing me.’”

I chuckled and sat back in the booth.

“Okay,” I said. “Fair enough. What about the basketball game in junior high when you broke your arm?”

I watched her brows dart together and her eyes squint a little.

“You were there?” she asked.

“I was,” I said. “I had my mom drop me off. We almost got lost finding the place. Turns out, those little, rural schools are pretty well-hidden.”

She slowly sat back in the booth again. She seemed to be thinking – back, maybe.

“You didn’t cry,” I said.

Her lips started to part into a half-smile.

“I was the one who held the door for you when you left the gym to go to the emergency room,” I said. “You said ‘thank you,’ and I remember thinking, Why isn’t she crying?”

Her expression looked soft and thoughtful, as if she was playing back each moment in her mind.

“And when we were nine,” I continued, “I was at the park, and I fell trying to skateboard and tore my knee to pieces. You stayed with me until my dad came and got me.”

“That was you?” she asked.

There was surprise – almost disbelief – in her voice.

“And there was another time,” I went on, “when you were at the movies with your friends and Jeff was being Jeff, and he strolled right up to you and hit on you – like you would expect a seventh-grader to hit on a girl. I couldn’t hear what you said to him, and he never told me, but you whispered something into his ear. But as you were whispering, you were smiling at me.”

I watched her cock her head a little. Her stare was now off somewhere in the distance.

“I said, ‘I have a boyfriend,’” she eventually said, returning her eyes to mine. “But I didn’t have a boyfriend.”

She shook her head, and a wide smile danced to life on her face.

“I remember looking at him – you,” she said and then paused. “I remember looking at you and then coming up with that excuse.”

Her stare faded away again before returning to me.

“Wow, now I see it was you all along, but it’s like it wasn’t you – like…”

“It was like you didn’t notice me,” I said.

Her smile softened and then slowly, she shook her head.

“It was like I didn’t notice you,” she confessed.

“Well, as long as you notice me now,” I said, smiling what I was sure was a goofy grin and sliding deeper into the booth.

Her lips broke open into a wide smile, and she softly laughed.

“I notice you now,” she said.

She was piercing my eyes with those beautiful, green weapons of hers. And I loved the hell out of it.

“I notice you now,” she said again.