Love's Butterfly

Shining

I knocked on the wooden door and Sage's mother, Laura, opened it. "Hi, come in!" Laura chirped and hugged me. "Hi, how are you?" I asked politely. "I'm good honey, did you bike here?" Laura asked concerned. "No, I took the bus," I said and kept smiling as I took my shoes off. "Good, it's super warm today," Laura noted and continued small talking whilst showing me the way to Sage. Their house was filled with guests. The air was filled with jazz, mingling, and the smell of delicious foods.

"Hi!" Sage jumped from the outdoor sofa and gave me a big hug. She whispered, "thank god you're here, it's deadly boring". I laughed. After Sage let me go she said "Let's go get a drink". We walked through the guests inside and greeted a few people here and there. We took two champagne glasses and a bottle of soda.

We sat back on the balcony and poured glasses. The sun umbrella was covering the shadow of the burning sun perfectly. "To the beginning of the most legen...wait for it...dary summer ever!" I toasted and Sage laughed. "You really should delete Netflix," Sage told jokingly. "I know," I answered and took a sip of my drink.

The afternoon had gone quickly with good company. I and Sage had just been talking and laughing and eating. I put my glass on the table, sat back, looked at Sage, and asked "So...what's going on between you and Nicco?". I couldn't help but smile with excitement. "Um, I think we're together! Yesterday we went on our first date and it was everything I ever imagined. Sunset, good food, nice boy, amazing kiss". My smile reached from ear to ear. "That's amazing! I'm so happy you guys hit it off," I told excitedly.

"By the way, you know, we have been planning that one evening at Nicco's cabin..." Sage started telling. I nodded for her to continue. "So I was thinking that we should invite the guys, Robert, Hugo, and Elias...if that's okay with you!" Sage suggested.

I sat there for a while, thinking about the beach day. My body got filled with anxiety when I thought of Elias. I had just been working. With Dominic. I hadn't heard anything from Elias.

"I don't like him, but it's Nicco's cabin. You can invite him if you want" I told as my lips formed into a line. Sage nodded.

I don't know if I should tell Sage what happened with Elias. I feel like it's best to keep the information to myself. At least for now.

"I kinda...yelled at Elias," I told Sage while looking down at my lap. Sage scrunched her eyebrows together and asked "About what?". I took a big breath and explained "You know, that I fell for him. We even slept together for one night. Now he's back with his girlfriend and he was rude at the last party. I went boating and then Elias was asking all things like why was I with one person, and just being a jealous brat".

"I had no idea," Sage whispered. I nodded slowly. "You don't have beef with the rest of them, do you?". I laughed and answered, "No, Rob is actually a really nice guy".

Sage lifted her eyebrows and said, "Do you like him?!". I scrunched my eyebrows together and said "No! I don't like him". Sage squinted her eyes to make sure that I wasn't lying and added, "But you seem different". I tilted my head in confusion and asked worriedly "What do you mean?".

Sage slowly said, "You're shining, you're really happy". I rolled my eyes and asked, "Does my happiness need to do anything with a guy?". Sage laughed and answered, "Of course not, I just had a feeling".

Her feeling was right. I was happy because of a guy. Actually because of a man.

This week I hadn't heard anything from Elias. I had been working almost every day because Sage was also busy. It was nice to see her today but she cancelled five times in the last week. I just feel shitty because of her. But since I had been working so much, I had spent a lot of time with Dominic. We hadn't flirted or anything. We were like we were before the boating.

I was on my way to Pilates. I had eaten so much at Sage's that I would've just wanted to drop on the road and roll. It was pretty hot. The bus wasn't full, maybe seven people plus me. I walked to the gym and opened the front door. The cold air felt so good. I changed into a light green top-shorts set. I found it as a really cute outfit. I braided my hair and left the locker room. I went downstairs since I had pilates there.

I was sitting in the pilates room, laying on top of my yoga mat. I was stretching my quadriceps. The room was quite full but luckily I got a good spot from the side. A lot of people were coming in, all females. For the year I had gone to this pilates class, there have been only 2 guys and both came for only one class.

I looked at the door and I saw a familiar man walk in. My eyes widened and my chest rose rapidly. He lifted his tattooed arm and waved to me. He ducked a little under the door frame and started walking towards me. I grew a little anxious since I could feel the other girls looking at me.

"Hi, love" he greeted and smiled widely as he was standing next to me, looking down at me. I looked up at him and smiled back answering "Hi, Dom".

"Where should I put this carpet? Is this the right type of carpet?" he started asking me. I stood up and said "Yeah, that's the right type of yoga mat, don't call it a carpet," I laughed. "Noted" he smiled and added, "Can I go there behind you?". I nodded and said "Sure".

Fuck. Why is he here? He is at Pilates. MY Pilates class. I looked as he put his mat on the floor and sat down on it. I sat down also and turned around to face him.

"Why are you here? Like at Pilates?" I asked and couldn't help but smile. "You told me that you love Pilates and that you come here every Saturday, so...we haven't seen in a while... I wanted to see you and see if this Pilates is really as good as you claim it is" he explained.

I liked this feeling. The warmth in my heart. He came to Pilates just to see me.

"Dom...we saw yesterday" I smiled and felt my cheeks getting red. He leaned back to his hands and said "Exactly, too long ago". I tilted my head to the side and smiled. "Good that you're here because I can just look at what you're doing," Dominic told which I added "I don't know if I make the moves correctly" and laughed a little.

"Well, I'll do them incorrectly also," Dominic said and smirked. I felt fireworks in my heart. "Hello everyone and welcome to Pilates" the instructor began. I gave Dominic one last look before I turned around to face the instructor.

The class went well, it was fun to see Dominic struggle with some moves. Thank god he had me there to help him. As the class was over we collected our belongings. "Since when did you go to this gym?" I asked as I looked up at Dominic. "Since today" he answered as the other corner of his lips lifted a little. I raised my eyebrows and nodded.

"Pretty earrings," Dom complimented and brushed my hair behind my ear so he could see them better. I was wearing golden butterfly earrings. "Thank you, I love butterflies," I told, and felt like I started to blush. He nodded while still staring at my earrings.

He grabbed me from my side, turned me to the doorway, and said "Let's get you home now, love". I just walked as his hand guided me.

I'd do anything that man tells me to do.

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Word count: 1370

Happy weekend!

Love,

M