The Butterfly Keeper

25

TWENTY-FIVE

I SLIP my hands into the back pockets of my bermuda shorts and toss my hair behind my shoulders as Mia grabs the handles of a woven laundry basket and motions her head to the side for me to follow behind before walking ahead. It's Sunday and Mia's mom has her washing.

"It's kind of werid, you know." She breaks the silence and takes a quick look back at me. "Well, ish, I was just thinking about you yesterday and-boom you reappear out of nowhere today."

I shyly lift my shoulders and lower my eyes to her shoes. "Maybe, it's a sign." I kid, but cringe when I realize I sounded like Sebastian.

"What kind of sign?" Mia tips her head sideways and lifts the basket higher up her body.

"That we are meant to be friends?" I say, more like question, and look up and force an airy laugh out to further disguise the grimace threatening to seep through.

Mia mouth opens wide into a toothy smile and the high point of her cheeks crinkle, causing her eyes to shrink in. Happiness waves off her in high intensity that I can almost feel it smothering me in a hug.

"I'm happy you're here, Vanessa." She tells me and turns away before she can see the knotted feeling in my eyes.

I don't respond and trail behind until Mia stops at the clothesline extended across the front of her house and sets the basket on the ground. She bends back and cracks her back and turns around to face me with a hand held out.

I pull my hands from out my pockets and take out a small amount of clothespins. I cup my palms around the clips to avoid dropping any and stretch my arms closer to Mia. She grabs one and crouches down to pick up a damp T-shirt and extends it on the clothesline. As she reaches for another clip, I hear the sound of laughter coming from my right side and I turn my head in that direction to spot a small group of teenagers pushing each other around. It's hard to decipher them from where I'm standing, but it's easy to tell that they're a couple years younger than me.

"What are the other kids like?" I ask.

Mia looks over to the young group, laying the clothing in her hand over her shoulder, and then over to me. "Have you not talked to any of them?" I shake my head and she returns to looking at them. " Well, they're nice and amazing people. You should say hi to them, we're all family here anyway."

I like being with Mia and talking to her, but looking at her right now, all I can see is a flashback of my time here streak through her eyes all in just a second, and I suddenly can't stand the thought of being anywhere near here. The reason I came over to Mia's was to get away from Sebastian and the nauseating feeling that I get every time he looks at me, but I'm starting to realize he's everywhere.

"Maybe," Is all I can manage out.

Mia squints her eyes at me for a moment and then looks down at the basket before going back to hanging the clean clothes. When the clothespins can now fit in one palm, I bend down to grab a piece of clothing and begin hanging alongside her in silence, occasionally taking a glance at the teens that are still playing around.

There's a small pit of jealousy starting to simmer in my stomach.

"They're waiting for you to speak to them first. They're being respectful of your space." Mia explains when she catches my eyes gazing over there.