Butterflies

"I still don't understand the point in this." I shook my head as Michael pulled us up outside of a "For Sale" house.

"I thought I'd made my point very clear, Mel." He said, unbuckling his seat belt and climbing from the car.

"Why this one? I told you I'd let you buy me a house on the conditions that I got to choose which house." His face dropped a little.

"You don't like it?" I shifted slightly.

"No, it's beautiful, but beautiful is expensive." He sighed and brought his hand up to his head rubbing his temples with his fore finger and his thumb.

"Melacia, exactly how many times are we going to have to go over the money situation?"

"I just don't think you should be spending so much on me." I shrugged and crossed my arms.

"Well," He walked toward me and placed his hands on either of my arms, "no matter what you think, I'm getting you this house. If you like it." He added, before that gorgeous, bright smile found it's way to his face again.

I said no more. I wasn't going to continue in an argument over something I knew he'd just maneuver and find a way to win in. I followed him through the front door to the house and looked around the small living room area. The lights couldn't be turned on because there was no electric in the house, but all the windows gave sunlight plenty of access. I continued to smile and nod as we walked from room to room.

"Look, Mel. You've even got a nice basement. You could turn this into like a game room or something." He smiled at me. I smiled in return because it was inevitable with him.

"Right, like I could ever afford that kind of-" I trailed off as I noticed the look he was giving me. "Michael, no." I protested before he said a word. "It's already too much that you're buying me a house, I'm not gonna let you fill it up, too." I folded my arms over my chest to make my statement bolder.

"Really now? Then how do you expect to get furniture? Food?" I looked away for a moment biting the inside of my lip.

"I'll talk to my parents, they're gonna find out I'm moving anyway."

"Melacia, please let me do this for you. I want to. I really want to, I don't know how you could not see this. I love you." He smiled, my heart did a back flip. "You're my best friend, Mel." He stressed the words and my heart ached slightly. As if on cue, his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his back jeans pocket and looked down, then back up at me with a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Who is it?"

"Billie Jean." With that he left the room for a minute to talk to her. It put the stamp on the envelope to what he'd just said, and he didn't even realize. It's like she knew what he was saying. Like she knew right when to call.

"Mel, ya okay?" I snapped out of my daze and shook my head slightly.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. So it was Billie, what'd she want." The smile found it's way back to his face at the thought of her and a frown made it's way onto mine which I had to try desperately to hide.

"She just wanted to know if I could come over tonight. I told her yes, of course." He grinned.

"Oh." I nodded simply.

"So do you agree with me, yet, Mel?"

"Huh?" I almost sounded shocked to myself. Was he asking me if I finally accepted Billie Jean? I never knew he suspected I didn't. When did this conversation take a hard left?

"I wouldn't be so persistent on this, it's just, I know you don't have much, and I wanna help you." I mentally slapped myself. The furniture and crap. Of course that's what he was talking about.

"No, no it's fine Michael." I waved off his ramblings.

"Really?" His face brightened up. I nodded. "Just like that?"

"Are you just waiting for me to change my mind?" I laughed lightly.

"Well sorta, I mean you were just in denial." I shrugged. "So what do you say, is this the one?" I looked up at him from under my I lashes biting my lip and he smiled.

"Well I surely hope you'll be satisfied with your new home, Miss." The tall, lean man smiled at me. I returned it and shook his extended hand.

"I'm sure I will, thank you." I grinned.

"Anytime." He smiled.

"Thank you for your convenience." Michael smiled at the real estate agent before turning to walk away with me. "I can't believe I actually got it done." Michael grinned and winked at me.

"I can't believe I've actually got my own place." I grinned.

"Yes, but you can't go near it for the next week." I gaped at him.

"Why not?"

"Because," He laughed musically, "I'm going to have movers and decor people in and out of there all week long."

"Oh." A small smile found it's way to my face. "So I can't see it, or tell you how I want my own house?"

"I pretty much know your taste." He smirked. I said no more after that. "So how are you going to explain this to your parents?" He glanced over at me from the road on the way home. I shrugged.

"Simple, tell them I got a place and I'm moving. It's not like they can stop me, I'm twenty one years old!" I laughed slightly. He nodded in agreement. Not long after, we arrived in front of my house.

"Well I hope you're ready." I nodded.

"Are you coming with me?" He shook his head lightly.

"I've got something I've gotta do."

"Billie Jean." I teased leaning over towards him. H smiled lightly at the name but shook his head.

"No, not this time." Usually that would make me smile, but my teasing grin dropped. Curiosity made me wonder what he was up to, but I didn't press.

"Alright, well call me later, okay?"

"Of course." He smiled. "I want to hear how things work out." I nodded and gave him a quick hug before slipping out of the car and walking up to my front door, or what would soon only be known as my family's front door.

"Momma! Dad! I'm home!" I called through out the house as I walked in and set my purse on the couch.

"There you are." My mom smiled. "Were you out on a date?" She asked this with such a tone as if I'd never gone on dates.

"No, Mom. I was out with Michael." I shrugged slightly. My father walked in at the wrong point of the conversation then.

"Since when did you start dating Michael?" I rolled my eyes and placed my hand over my forehead.

"Geesh, Daddy. I didn't. Michael and I had some errands to run, stuff to take care of. Is everyone clear on that now?" Annika and Freesia didn't look away from the TV to care about what we were talking about.

"Well, honey, I was only wondering because he's usually out with Billie Jean." I sighed, not really caring to here about Michael's 'beloved' girlfriend any longer than necessary.

"Yes, Dad, I know this, but I am his best friend." My parents simply nodded. "Now, I need to talk with you guys about something important, could we go to the kitchen?" They nodded and my mother was first to speak.

"Of course."

As soon as we were all seated, I took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh before speaking. "I'm moving out." They looked at each other and then back to me.

"You're what?" My father asked.

"Moving out." I shrugged as if it weren't a big deal, and it wasn't really, to me.

"Honey, why would you want to do that?" My mom asked, looking concerned. "You didn't go and get yourself into some kind of trouble did you? Are you pregnant?" I gaped at her.

"Goodness, Mom, no. But I am twenty one years old and counting. I can't live under the roof of my parents forever."

"Exactly where are you staying?"

"I've got my own place now." I smiled confidently.

"And how did this happen?" My father questioned.

"Michael. He bought me my very own house, today."

"You just let him spend out that kind of money on you?" He started making assumptions.

"No, Dad. I tried, and tried, and tried to tell him not to. But you know Michael, when he's determined about something, he's gonna make sure it gets done." I shrugged slightly.

"And that's it?" My mom asked.

"Basically, yeah. Except for I'm going to have to stay here for another week because Michael insisted on furnishing the place and wants me to stay away until it's finished."

"Well," my mother started, "we can no longer make your decisions for you, but we can help advise you in the decisions you make. How do you think you're going to keep food in the house? You don't have a job."

"I'm gonna start applying in that area, anywhere I can. Try harder." They shook their heads.

"Well in the least, I'm proud of you for trying to do this on your own. At least your not bunking with some guy." My dad smiled reassuringly at me. He could be hard to deal with sometimes, but once you got past that he was usually easier to please.

"Just please think about your future, Melacia." My mom sighed.

"I will, Mom. Now I've gotta go."

"Go where?" She asked.

"See Janet."

With that I grabbed my purse which held my car keys, and I was out the door. It took me all of twenty minutes to get to Janet's house. Her car was in the drive so I knew she was home and I hadn't made a wasted trip since I hadn't called her first. I walked briskly up the drive to her front porch and rung the door bell. It moments, the house keeper greeted me.

"Hello, Dear." She smiled.

"Hi, Mrs. Bobkins. Is Janet home?" I knew she was, but it seemed like the proper thing to ask.

"Yes, Dear, she's up in her room."

"Thank you." I smiled.

I made my way through her luxurious living room and found myself at her winding staircase. Before long, I was walking down her long hall. I knocked lightly on the door which I knew all to well to be hers.

"Come in." She called. I opened her bedroom door and walked through.

"Hey." I smiled. She turned from her wardrobe and smiled back.

"Hey!" She sounded surprised. "What are you doing here?" I shrugged.

"Came to talk."

"Alright." She set the dress aside that she was previously holding and sat down on her bed motioning for me to come sit next to her. "So what's up?" She asked after I was seated.

"Michael." She raised a brow at me. I smiled as she did this. She looked just like Michael in times when he would question or doubt me. "He bought me my own house today."

"Ah, yes. I heard something about that." She bit her bottom lip lightly, as if thinking.

"Word spreads like wild fire when it comes to him, don't it?" She laughed lightly and nodded.

"Yes, yes it does. So is this why you came to talk? To tell me he bought you a house?" She grinned.

"Well, yeah, but that's not all." She nodded.

"I didn't think so."

"It's just, I can't get him out of my head! And then he unexpectedly showed up at my door a couple days ago for the first time in Lord knows when, and I thought it was really just because he wanted to hang with me, ya know, as friends again, at least. But then he starts talking about buying me a house and how he'd already been planning it, and ugh! I can't do this Jan!" I cried out as I let my head fall into her lap. She rubbed my shoulders sympathetically. "And then, when we first went to look at the house, it was like he was emphasizing how we were best friends. Almost as if he knew my feelings for him and was trying to tell me that friends is all we'll ever be. Then to but the stamp on the envelope, Billie Jean called right after." Unknown to me Janet bit her lip and shook her head.

"Well first off, honey, there's no way he knows how you feel about him. I mean, I have no security cameras up in my home, so I know he hasn't watched any security videos behind my back and caught one of our conversations like this. He's never around when we talk, like now, he's out taking care of something." This caught my attention and I sat up, regaining my composure.

"Janet, do you know what he had to take care of?" I questioned. She sighed.

"He didn't want me to tell you, or anybody else."

"Come on! It can't be that bad!"

"He just wants you to find out from him, is all." I sighed and shook my head.

"If he does something stupid, I'm gonna kill him." She laughed almost uneasy.

"Relax. You just need to relax. You've had a long weekend, and you just need to chill." I sighed and nodded.

"I think you're right. I just need to relax." But even though I knew this, thoughts of what Michael was up to wouldn't leave my mind. Even though he wasn't going to see Billie Jean, maybe he was going to buy a ring and ask her to marry him. Maybe he was going to ask her to move in with him. Or start a family.

Maybe I just need to go home and get some sleep.