Butterflies

"Oh Lord, this shouldn't be happening." I groaned as I leaned over the toilet and my brother held back my hair the next morning.

"What all did you eat yesterday?" He asked, concern written all over his face, though it wasn't visible to my eyes as they were fixated on the toilet bowl.

"Nothing!" I groaned as I felt the urge to throw up the contents of my stomach again. "I, I had oreo cookies last night, but that's all." He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well don't you think maybe that's the problem? You need to start eating better, Melacia." I grabbed a Kleenex from the back of the toilet and wiped my mouth clean.

"Josh, honestly, now is not the time for you to nag me about my eating habits." He sighed as he tied my hair back in a pony tail.

"Are you anorexic, Melacia?" I stopped brushing my teeth long enough to glance at him in the mirror with a look that said he must be an idiot. I swished some water around in my mouth rinsing the tooth paste out before replying.

"Do I look anorexic to you?" I turned to him placing my hands on my hips.

"Well, no. But this could've just occurred, too." I rolled my eyes and turned to wipe up the mess.

"Don't be ridiculous, Joshy. You know me better than that."

"Well I sure hope so. But if this happens again, I'm taking you to a doctor. To see what's up at least." I nodded and waved him off.

I honestly didn't know why I was so nauseated and vomiting. It was probably just from lack of food. He worries too much. I got myself dressed and headed down stairs.

"Melacia, Michael called for you." Annika's voice trailed from the couch where she was watching Hannah Montana. I smirked to myself before grabbing the cordless phone and running back upstairs to my room with it. I dialed Michael's number quickly and listened to his ring tone, "Wanna Be Starting Something." I smiled as I sang along lightly until the music was cut short.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Michael."

"Oh, hey, Mel."

"You called?"

"Yeah." He trailed off.

"So what's up?" I asked, trying to get straight to the point.

"Billie Jean showed up not long after you left last night." Came his soft reply.

"And?" I urged him to continue.

"And well, she's gonna be staying with me." I could hear his slight smile right through the phone and it made me smile, myself, despite the fact I wished it were me instead of her.

"That's great Michael, I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thanks. Janet called, said she's been trying to get a hold of you and you never answer, she wants you to call her." I slapped myself in the forehead then.

"Right! I forgot my cell's down right now. I should probably give her a call." He laughed lightly from the other end of the line.

"I'd do that."

"Michael, sweetie. You coming?" I cringed at the sound of Billie Jean's voice through the phone.

"Yeah, one sec." He told her.

"Well I'm gonna have to go for now, Mel. But thanks again for everything." I could hear the true, genuine gratitude in his voice and I sighed.

"Anytime Michael." I hung up after that without another word and bit my lip as my mind drifted off. It wasn't until the phone rang that I was jerked from my thoughts of Michael. I jumped at the sudden interruption of silence before answering.

"Hello?"

"Melacia! Where have you been, girl? I have been calling your cell since Wednesday and you ain't answered." Janet's voice bit through the line. I smirked.

"Calm down Janet, my cell's down right now. And if you were really that worried you know where I live." She sighed.

"Honey, do you know how hard it is to come see you with all that I've got going on?" I smiled.

"I know, I know. I was kidding. Anyway, I just talked to Michael and was getting ready to call you 'cause he said you were freakin' out."

"Of course he did. So why didn't you call?"

"I got - distracted." I could tell she was grinning then.

"Yeah, distracted by thoughts of my brother." She teased.

"I can't help it, Jan! I feel like a little high school girl again talking to her best friend about her secret crush." She laughed at this.

"Maybe we need to find you a man, then." I groaned.

"No, I don't want one."

"You just want Michael." I sighed.

"Honey, when will you give?"

"When these feelings or Billie Jean goes away. Whichever may happen first. Preferably, the latter." I smirked as I said this.

"Sweet dreamin', babe." I rolled my eyes.

"I know. I just hooked them back up, again last night."

"Seriously? Honey, why do you continue to do that? See if I were in that situation with Josh, psh, I'd be telling her where to go and tellin' him how I felt about him." I grinned.

"I'm glad we can relate here. If Josh only knew the way you felt."

"Yeah, hon, and if Michael only knew about you." I rolled my eyes, but smirked.

"We're pathetic." I laughed.

"Indeed." She agreed, laughing along.

"We need to hit a club and party it up instead of fantasizing over each other's brothers." I could picture her nodding from the other end.

"Si, yes we do." I grinned.

"So it's a date! How about Saturday?"

"What? Tomorrow, Melacia my schedule is so full-"

"Cancel, we can get LaToya and Rebbie to come along, too." She sighed.

"We'll see. They have schedules, too, ya know." I grinned, knowing I'd already won her over. She laughed then.

"What's so funny?"

"I just thought, if you were to one day end up marrying Michael, you'd be my sister in law."

"Well duh, Janet." I laughed.

"No, no, let me finish. And then, if I'd ever be so lucky to marry Josh, in some weird, awkward way, you'd become my sister in law, again. Only you'd become Michael's sister in law, too." I laughed at how funny, yet awkward, that would be.

"And you'd be Josh's sister in law!"

"We'd all be related!" She laughed.

"And married - wow." I laughed even harder.

"Okay, honey. I'm gonna go for now and call you later alright?"

"Tomorrow night." I reminded her with a smirk.

"Later." I could hear her grinning.

I shook my head, grinning, as I walked down stairs again. "Melacia, can we talk to you a moment?" My dad's voice rang out from the dinging room table. I was curious of the situation. My parents and my brother were all sitting there looking - serious.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked, sliding a chair out and taking a place across from Josh.

"Josh told us you got sick this morning." My father started. I stared at Josh intently, then. If he gave them the idea that I might be anorexic, I'll kill him. They'll never get off my case.

"Now look, honey. We realize that you want your own place and stuff, and that you're maturing, but if this is a possibility, don't you think it's a little too soon?" My mom picked up from where my dad left off.

"Think what's too soon? Will somebody fill me in here please?"

"They suspect your pregnant." Josh squinted at me, worriedly. My jaw dropped as I gaped between my father and my mother.

"You, you think I'm pregnant?!" I shrieked.

"Well sweetheart, it's the only thing that really made since. It's called morning sickness." I jumped up from the table then and back away.

"I know what it's called, Mom. I'm not stupid. But for you guys to think that I get around like that-" I trailed off shaking my head and crossing my arms.

"We didn't say that." My father's voice came to my ears.

"Then how else would you suspect i got pregnant?!" I was shouting now.

"You have been spending and awful lot of time with Michael, lately." I sighed and rolled my eyes at my mother's words.

"I'm not listening to this." With that I emerged from the room and out the front door.

I'd been driving for probably a half hour when I came to a small park that looked vaguely familiar from childhood memories. I parked the car to the side of the road and ventured over to the old swings. I sat down on one and started to play with the sand with the toe of my shoe as I sighed. I couldn't help the few tears that escaped my eyes after a little while.

I should've known he'd track me down. Josh is usually like that when he's around. Especially when I'm upset. So I wasn't surprised at all to feel a hand placed on my shoulder. I looked up to look up at him.

That's what surprised me.

It wasn't Josh at all. It was Michael.

"What's wrong, Mel?" He came around to the front of the swing and knelt down in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" My voice wavered as I tried to hide my face and my tears from him.

"Walking, what about you? Why are you so upset?"

"I'm not." I sniffled.

"Why are you lying to me, Melacia? Don't you trust me?" I looked him dead in the eye the as my heart broke. Of course I trusted him. I trusted him more than anybody else on the entire planet! I trusted him with my heart, my life, my soul, my everything, but he just didn't get it. I broke down into a thousand more tears then. "Come on, Mel, tell me what's wrong." He stood up taking my hands in his, and with his strength, he pulled me from the swing, effortlessly, and into his arms. There, had it not been for him supporting me, I would've collapsed. I buried my face in his chest and cried as I held onto his over shirt. He held onto me tightly and stroked my hair gently. "You've gotta tell me what's wrong." He murmured after a while of my crying. I tried to speak through my sobs.

"My p-parents don't understand an-anything." I sobbed into his chest.

"There we go." He encouraged, finally getting a response from me. "What don't they understand sweetheart? Tell me." He kissed the top of my head. I decided then I would tell him everything. But he wouldn't know it was about him.

"I got sick this morning, so th-they want to accuse me of being pregnant, and automatically jump the gun. When they kn-know how I feel about him. And they h-honestly think I'd go and do something like th-that. It's ridiculous." It all came out in such a jumbled rush, I wasn't sure if he understood any of it. He pulled me slightly from his chest, which I protested to, so he could look at me.

"They think you're pregnant?" He asked slowly, staring at me intently. I nodded before burying my face in his chest again. "You're not, are you?" I thought I almost caught a hint of worry in his voice.

"No!" I shrieked. "That's what nobody gets!" I pulled away from him. "They suspect that I'm sneaking around doing stuff with him, when they know how I feel about him. They know I'd never be able to do anything like that when I have to many feelings for him. I could never just sneak around with him behind his girlfriend's back." I felt him come up behind me and wrap his arms around me.

"Exactly who are we talking about, Mel?" His soft voice whispered in my ear as he rested his head on my shoulder. I shuddered at the slight gesture. I turned my head slightly upward and to the side to face him. Once again, I found him so close. The opportunity was right in front of my face! In two ways actually. To tell him the truth, and to kiss his beautiful lips. But I couldn't do it.

I just couldn't.