You Made Me Feel Butterflies

The third-storey balcony seemed oddly inviting, even bathed in the day’s heat as it was. She stepped carefully through the cramped lounge room, dodging stacks of books and boxes of tissues on the floor. Her room mate was curled up in one of the arm chairs, a lovely worn hard cover in his hands; he had almost finished and it was bound to end up in a stack, or dropped carelessly next to him. Kate wrenched open the sliding door and stepped into the scorching heat, the breath knocked from her lungs.

She slid into one of the plastic green chairs that they had set out, and sighed heavily. The fresh air felt nice on her clammy skin, despite the sweat it brought along with it. Kate closed her eyes, letting herself relax. Opening an eye, she reached out with a foot to drag the other chair towards her, propping her feet up on it when it was close enough. She heard a rustling and the tell-tale thuds of books toppling to the floor, then her room mate’s deep voice.

“Close the door if you go out.”

“Yeah.” Kate replied, shimmying into the chair a little further. Kate heard a huff and the whining of the door, but took no notice. It had reached a high of forty, and she was tired of being stuck inside with only Scott and the frequent sounds of him blowing his nose for company. She was, for the first time in a long time, grateful that she had work tomorrow. Fortunately, she was working a morning shift and Scott an afternoon, so she was potentially Scott-free all day.

She started dozing, and awoke when a breeze hit her skin; the cool change had set in and she shivered from the sudden change in temperature. The hair tie around her wrist went to pulling her hair back in a high ponytail, the unruly curls determined to stay free. Kate wiped the sweat from the back of her neck and continued to relax, enjoying the clearer weather. She returned inside when Scott knocked on the sliding door, asking about options for dinner.