These Butterflies

Kate smiles nervously.

She’s still as breathtakingly beautiful as I remember with her flawless skin and eyes as blue as a clear ocean. Her light, honey hair flows down her back in smooth waves. She’s wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans a nicely fitting floral top that compliment her small, fit frame. She’s still a few inches taller than me, but still shorter than Alex. She looks up at him with big, pretty eyes full of excitement. “Hi Alex.”

“What-what are you doing here?” he stammers.

I assume she was expecting a warm welcome because a look of sadness comes over her. “I want to talk to you. Can I come in?” Alex gulps and remains quiet. “Please?” she begs.

He scratches his head and nods doubtfully. When he steps out of her way, her eyes light up at the sight of me. “Hi Milan!” she squeals as she extends her arms out to embrace me. I hug her back with less than half of her enthusiasm. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time. You look so pretty!” she gushes.

I smile half-heartedly. “Thanks.”

She sighs before looking at Alex again. He stiffens at the sight of her face and shoves his hands into his pockets uneasily.

“You look good too, Alex. How have you been?” She takes a nervous step towards him.

“I’m… doing okay.”

She smiles softly. “I missed you.”

“You left me,” he mutters bitterly. By the way Kate’s smile disappears, I can see that she understood him too.

She turns back to me. “Um… do you mind giving Alex and I a few moments?” I don’t want to, but I don’t have a choice. I give a single nod and glance at Alex before making my way upstairs to my bedroom.

I crawl onto my bed and try to get my mind off of it, but I can’t. She looks great, and I still remember how charming she used to be. But he doesn’t have feelings for her. He can’t, I try to convince myself. And I don’t understand why this is worrying me so much.

My head snaps up at the sound of their voices getting closer. I hear Alex’s bedroom door close. I can hear them exchanging words quickly. It sounds like a quiet argument, or maybe a highly enthused conversation. I’m not positive. I can’t make out anything they’re saying and the curiosity is killing me.

I put my ears on high alert for the next twenty minutes or so. I start to get frustrated because I can’t seem to make out any useful words at all. I want to know why she’s here, what she wants. I can’t stop imagining what they might be talking about. Are they catching up? Are they fighting? I freeze when I realize that the voices stopped. After a few moments of silence, I come to the conclusion that they’re completely done speaking. I sigh and get up from my bed.

I can’t help but feel silly for getting so stressed about her sudden visit. Alex is probably saying goodbye to her right now at the front door, or maybe she just already left and he’s in his room alone. Either way, she’s gone, and I’m relieved.

I’m walking towards the hall to find out what just happened when I notice Alex’s “Enema Of The State” copy from the corner of my eye. He let me borrow it a few weeks ago and I still haven’t given it back. If I don’t do it now, I’ll probably forget for another few weeks. I’m already standing next to the bathroom door that connects our bedrooms so I decide to go through there. And when I enter his bedroom, I realize why I didn’t hear their voices anymore. I drop what I was holding.

His legs are on either sides of her. He’s pulling his shirt off and her hands are all over him. I hear Alex gasp for air when their lips separate for a single moment, but he doesn’t hesitate one bit to continue. He moves his hands to both sides of her face, pressing his mouth harder against hers.

“Alex?” I call with a shaking voice. His head snaps up almost instantly at the sound of my voice. “What’s going on?” I ask.

He looks down at Kate and then back at me. He gulps and pulls himself off of her. “Leave.” I freeze for a moment before turning myself around. I’m fighting to hold in the tears when he says, “Not you.” When I turn back around, I see Kate snap her head away from me and towards Alex. “Kate, you need to leave,” he says.

She furrows her eye brows. “Why? I thought you-”

“Go.”

She stares at him in shock for a few moments. “Alex, please…”

“I have a girlfriend. Get out.”

She stares at him with a sad, confused look in her eyes before pulling herself up out of his bed. She looks at me, like she wants to say something but remains silent and walks out of his room. She gives Alex one last, hesitant glance and when he doesn’t return the stare, she disappears down the staircase. When I look back at Alex, he groans and buries his face in his hands.