Read Online My Butterfly by Laura Miller - Free Book Online Page A

thoughts.
    She was smiling when I pulled away from her.
    “All right, my little Hollywood agent,” I said. “I’ve got you, and that’s all the fan I ever wanted.”
    She tried to put on another one of those pouting faces she keeps in that little expressions box of hers, but she wasn’t quite successful at it. Her smile never really went away.
    I intertwined my fingers in hers. Then, suddenly, I felt something wrapped around her finger, and I brought her hand closer to my face to get a better look at it.
    She must have noticed me examining her hand because I felt her eyes on me again.
    “Funny story about that little, grass ring,” she said.
    I started to smile.
    “Oh, really?” I asked. “Let’s hear it.”
    “Okay,” she said.
    I noticed her eyes travel back to the ring on her finger.
    “See, one night, this boy and his buddies decided to take this girl and her best friend—practically as hostages—to this old windmill at the edge of town.”
    “Hostages?” I asked.
    Her smile grew as she nodded her head and continued.
    “Evidentially, the boy had a plan to dress up like Spider-Man and to climb said windmill to fool all the townspeople into thinking that Spider-Man was alive and well in their own town.”
    “Hey, I bet some people still believe it,” I said.
    She stopped and playfully rolled her eyes.
    “Anyway, that same night, in the shuffle of almost getting caught, I sprained my ankle and wound up hiding from Officer Brian on the other side of a mound of dirt and grass next to, who other than, Spider-Man himself.”
    I angled my head back and laughed.
    “Baby, I still don’t know how you managed to sprain your ankle,” I said.
    I heard her giggle.
    “I don’t know either,” she said, shaking her head. “But anyway, this boy or Spider-Man made me this grass ring,” she said, eyeing the ring again. “And right there in the grass and the dirt, he asked me to marry him someday.”
    I was quiet and busy trying to fight back a wide smile after she had finished her story.
    “That sounds made up,” I eventually said.
    She lifted her head and met my gaze.
    “But I have the ring to prove it,” she said, positioning her hand so that the ring was clearly in my view.
    “So, you do,” I said, bringing her hand to my lips.
    I kissed the ring and the finger it was on.
    Then, suddenly, a loud thud forced both of our eyes to the river where a stream of reds, whites and blues were already sprinkling the night sky and lighting up the bluffs opposite us in the distance.
    Julia giggled and pressed her hips against mine. I pulled her closer and watched the next firework race to the sky and then explode into tiny, little pieces of light. Jules squealed, and I felt her arm squeeze tighter around my side as she nestled her head deeper into the muscles in my chest. My eyes fell onto her face, and I smiled and noticed a piece of her long hair resting on her cheek. I picked up the strand and then gently laid it back down onto her bare shoulder. It was hard to just simply watch the fireworks because I couldn’t stop thinking about what I wanted to tell her—what I had wanted to tell her for a long time now. Suddenly, there was another loud shriek, followed by a big thud and a colorful burst of light in the sky again. Jules looked up at me with wide eyes and a happy smile, and I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.
    “I love you, Jules,” I said, in almost a whisper.
    She was quiet, and her smile was starting to fade, but her eyes were still on me, still locked in mine.
    My heart sped up. Say something, anything. I watched her eyes trace a path in mine. I wondered if she had even heard me. But then, I saw her lips fall slightly open.
    “I love you too,” she whispered.
    Her eyes smiled before her lips did. Then, she returned her head to my chest and her attention to the lights still dancing in the night’s sky.
    My heart was pounding. I bet she could feel its thuds. I wanted to shout something, but I