Chapter 5

As gaudy as a butterfly
Very colorful.

• o 🦋 o •

I waited in Mica’s room while he showered. It wasn’t necessary. Even sweaty he smelled great. I know that might sound very weird.. but.. I’m just being honest here.

Mica’s room was light like his personality. It was mostly white and creme tones but the bed sheets were a soft peach and all round the room were little peach-colored accents. The room looked like Mica’s cheeks, blushing.

It also smelled amazing in here. It smelled like him but more concentrated. It was absolutely heavenly.

Mica came out of the bathroom wearing light blue shorts and a mint green sweater. His hair was wet from the shower and his cheeks looked soft and flushed.

I’d never seen him look so casual.

He smiled at me when our eyes made contact and he sat down next to me on the bed.

He kept looking at me though he didn’t say a thing. I didn’t know what to do so I just looked straight ahead like a creep.

Finally, Mica tore his eyes from my face and grabbed his massive notepad.

We continued to work out Riley’s birthday plan.

One of the most time consuming things we’d have to do was booking all the different services we needed, and more importantly, seeing if they were up to Mica’s high standard.

We had chocolate shops to call, cakes to try out, bands to find. He was really going all out with this. If I hadn’t known any better I’d think he was planning a wedding. But Mica was excited about this and he kept insisting he owed Riley so I followed him in his excessive kindness.

Mica was looking into a bakery for the birthday cake on his laptop. 

“Look at this,” Mica said. 

I peered at the screen. He was on a website of a bakery in town called ‘Le Petit Delite’. Super fancy. Super posh. Absolutely out of my budget but I wasn’t the one paying for all this so.. 

“Isn’t this adorable?” Mica asked, pointing to a picture of a cake in the shape of a teddy bear. 

“Yeah. There’s no way Riley wouldn’t like that.” 

“I’m just not sure about the flavor..” Mica mused. 

His voice was so nice. He could talk about nonsense and I’d still listen. 

“We’re gonna have to do a tasting.” Mica smirked at me. “Poor us.”

I was not ready for him to look at me. Especially not like that. 

“Y-yeah. That’s gonna be so hard. All those flavors.. I feel so bad for us.” 

Mica smiled and kept scrolling. 

Now, we were pretty close together. And Mica occasionally (accidentally) brushed his arm against my arm or my leg and.. well, it made me nervous. Happy, but nervous. I wondered if he could tell I was..

Mica began to hum. It was the melody of the song we’d danced to earlier. 

He glanced at me and chuckled. He lightly bumped against me. 

Was this our thing? Was that our song now? Would we go out in public together and would he randomly start humming, causing us both to chuckle at the memory and everyone else around us to wonder what was so funny but they’d never find out because it was our thing and ours alone????

No. Probably not. I was most likely making things up and Mica was just being his charming self.

• o 🦋 o •

We were finished for the day and I was getting ready to leave when Mica suddenly said:

“I like you.”

I froze as I was packing my bag. He liked me? Really? Like romantic?

‘I like you too’ I wanted to say but all that came out was:

“Huh?”

Mica chuckled. “I mean, I understand why Riley talks about you so much. You’re easy to be around.”

Oh.

“Thanks.” I smiled as I picked my bag off the floor. “I’ll see you… Next week?”

Mica nodded.

“I’ll walk you out.” Mica got up.

Yes!

“No, I’ll find it.”

IDIOT.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah. Totally.” 

Why?

“Alright. Goodnight, James.”

“Goodnight.” I answered sheepishly as I made my way out of the room.

I wanted to get out of this house as soon as possible so that I could get on my bike and release all my energy, scream into the night if I must! It had been such a crazy, jam-packed day. I felt so many things at once. I needed some time to think.

Charles had asked to escort me to the gate but I refused.

I made my way over the gravel. The lights in the garden were on and the sound of the water fountain was calming.

Suddenly I heard the door behind me open and someone step onto the gravel.

I turned around and faced Mica who’d stepped out of the house barefoot. It was chilly out and I was sure that the stones were… well.. stone cold.

“Shouldn’t you get inside? You’re going to catch a cold..”

“Oh. Right.” Mica stepped from one foot to the other and held his arms close to his body.

He was looking down at the ground and his hair fell over his face. He was so cute. I wanted to comb his hair out of his eyes so bad but I didn’t have the courage.

“Did you have fun today?” Mica asked, suddenly looking up. The light of the moon colored his hazel eyes blue.

“Yes. A blast.” I said honestly.

Mica smiled to himself. “Did you really like watching me dance?” He asked quietly.

“Yes! I loved it!”

I looked down at Mica’s bare feet again. He really had to get inside soon.

“Cause I have a… a ballet recital on Sunday. And I was wondering if you wanted to come watch. It’s pretty long.. two hours. So I understand if you don’t want to.. I just thought I’d ask.”

He seemed so unsure and a little shy. I hadn’t seen him like this yet.

“I would love to come.”

Mica smiled happily.

“Here.” He handed me a ticket. “I’m not playing the lead..”

“As long as you’re in it I’m happy to watch.”

Mica seemed relieved and overjoyed. It made me happy seeing him so stoked about something as simple as me coming to watch him.

“Now will you please go inside? I don’t want you being sick on your big day!”

“Right! Sorry!” Mica sprinted into the house.

He peeked outside one last time.

“I’ll see you on Sunday.”

I waved at him and he closed the door.

• o 🦋 o •

That entire night I spent dreaming about Mica and how it would be on Sunday. I was so excited that when I woke up on Saturday I just wanted to go back to sleep and wake up on Sunday already. And that was rare. It was the weekend for Pete’s sake!

I opened my eyes and someone opened the door.

“Get out!” I said sleepily.

“It’s your big bro.” Kyle said.

“I repeat: get out!” I threw one of my butterfly pillows (don’t ask) at him.

He caught it in his hands. Damn football players.

“Broski, we’re going camping tomorrow. Mom and dad have decided it is time to rekindle our bond with nature.”

“Didn’t we rekindle that bond like a month ago?”

“We can’t let the nature spirits get angry with us. That’s what mom said.”

“What a load of crap.” We said simultaneously.

We smirked at each other.

“I can’t go. I have ballet.”

“What?!” Kyle started to laugh.

“Stop being an asshole. It’s not for me. It’s a recital. From Mica.” I felt my body tingle as I said his name aloud.

“Mica? Oh that kid with the red hair?”

“Strawberry-blonde.” I corrected.

“Whatever.” Kyle rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the stones from my stone collection on the windowsill.

“He’s pretty hot for a guy.” My brother mused.

I shot up from the bed. “What?!”

Kyle smirked at me. “Yeah, I mean with the face and the hair.. and the body. Some different clothes and he could’ve passed for a girl.”

“Ew! Could you not?! He’s my friend! Don’t sexualize him!”

“I’m not, I’m feminizing him. Come on, you gotta admit. Even as a guy…” My brother stared up in thought.

“You know what they say.. The anus is the male g-spot..” He wondered.

“Kyle! Stop! I’m gonna throw up!”

My brother laughed at me. He just loved making me as uncomfortable as possible.

I’d been pretty uncomfortable dancing yesterday but still I had fun in the end. I smiled from the memory.

“Holy shit.” Kyle said.

I met his gaze again. Oh crap.

“Holy cow! Are you gay for him?”

“No!”

“Oh my— I knew it! I just knew it! He isn’t like your usual friends.”

“We’re just planning Riley’s birthday party together, that’s all!”

“Is that why you’re going to his recital tomorrow? Because last time I checked Riley doesn’t like ballet.” Kyle smirked at me. He was just so proud he’d cracked the code.

“Get out.” I said as I fell back down on the bed.

“As you wish.” Kyle walked back to the door.

“Loving you is easy cause you’re beautiful..” Kyle started singing. Or rather, wailing.

“Kyle!” I groaned.

He went out of the room and just as I thought he was gone he stuck his head back in the room.

“La-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la—”

“Get out!” I threw my last pillow at Kyle who laughed evilly as he left the room.