Laura Miller - Butterfly Weeds

Yep, it was him — the same guy. He looked so different now.

“You still never told me what you wished for,” I whispered into his ear.

He turned and faced me again.

“Well, since it came true, I guess I can tell you. That is how it goes, right?” he asked playfully.

“Of course,” I whispered, nodding confidently.

“Well then, I wished for my first kiss — but only if it could be with you,” he went on.

I refused to say anything then, as if a word would force us into the next moment, and I had no desire to do that. It surprised me at how much I wanted to inhabit our most recent minutes together and rerun his last words on a continuous loop for the rest of my days. Had I really fallen for Will Stephens?

Bringing our locked hands closer to my lips, I kissed the back of his hand and then positioned it so that it softly touched my cheek.

Will’s eyes met mine then.

“What did you wish for?” he asked softly, curiously.

“I can’t tell you. Mine hasn’t come true yet,” I confessed with a mischievous smile.

Will chuckled and kissed my lips again.

“Will you tell me what it is when it does?” he asked, after unlocking his lips from mine.

I thought for a moment.

“Yes,” I said softly, smiling and gently biting my bottom lip.

“You promise?” he asked.

“I promise,” I assured him.

He shook his head, as if satisfied with my vow.

“Jules,” he whispered.

“Mm hmm?” I asked softly.

“I’m glad you finally said yes ,” he whispered again.

“Me too,” I said.

“It was worth the wait,” he said, smiling up into the heavens.

Rachel and I arrived at Will’s house in my jeep at five after nine. The sun was well on its way to making its exit from the world that day, and though it was still barely daylight outside, it would only be a matter of maybe minutes before the sky was completely swallowed by darkness.

“So, you have no idea what they’re up to this time?” Rachel questioned me when we pulled into Will’s driveway.

“No idea. Your guess is as good as mine,” I replied as I slid the jeep into park.

“You guys are late,” I heard Will protest just then, while marching vehemently around the corner of the back porch with a duffle bag slung over one shoulder. His two buddies followed close behind him.

I hadn’t even had the chance to reach for my door handle before the boys closed in on my vehicle in a single-file line.

“What?” I questioned and then laughed. “It’s only five minutes.”

The three guys’ faces screamed seriousness, well, except for one. One was giving everything he had not to smile, but in the end, wasn’t being very successful at it. Though, all three of them looked very much like they had a job to do, and by the way it seemed, it was no doubt of an urgent matter.

“You got the camera?” Will questioned me.

“Yeah, I brought it,” I said, trying my best to hold in my giggles.

“Good, you two are our press tonight.” Will exclaimed, now smiling, as he threw the duffle bag into the back of the SUV.

Then, Will and the other two boys climbed over the jeep’s sides and squeezed tightly into the backseat.

I watched them through my rearview mirror.

“Wow, you guys all fit back there?” I remarked, surprised.

The army of severe faces just stared back at me in silence.

“Okay, where am I going?” I asked, shrugging off their glares.

“To the windmill,” Will announced, sounding very much like he was on a vital, secret mission.

The windmill?

Of course, I knew what he was talking about and where it was. Everyone did. At the edge of town was this huge, old windmill that hadn’t been in use for as long as we’d been alive. What I didn’t know was why we were going there.

I glanced over my right shoulder so that I could see the three boys now stuffed into my backseat like a Polish sausage in its casing. My puzzled expression did nothing to deter the boys’ looming smirks across their mischievous guises. I turned around again and teasingly glared at Rachel, hoping by some sixth sense that she had come up with some answers in the last couple of minutes, but Rachel only shrugged her shoulders and slowly shook her head back and forth.

“Don’t look at me,” Rachel demanded. “I’m only along for the ride — and maybe to save you from whatever mess these boys might put you into tonight.”

I smiled and peered again at the boys through my rearview mirror as I slid the jeep into reverse.

“You guys better stay out of trouble tonight,” I said playfully as I eased the SUV into drive and pulled out of the driveway.

“Don’t worry, even if we don’t, at least Spiderman will save you,” the half-smiling boy spilled to me as he tried desperately to wipe the devilish smirk off of his face.

Will elbowed his chatty friend next to him.

“What does that mean?” I, now more confused than comforted, questioned the boy.

“Never mind him, Jules. Let’s just get to the windmill,” Will exclaimed, sending a stern glare in the direction of his blabbering partner in crime.

I shook off the boy’s bizarre comment and continued down the street. In less than ten minutes, we arrived at the windmill located at the southeastern edge of town. The area was mostly unlit except for the little bits of moonlight that, by now, peeked through the passing clouds every once in awhile. A small, chain-linked fence that wrapped around the windmill’s base only promised to minimally ward off trespassers. The barrier standing four feet tall was the only thing that worked to separate us from the thirty-something-foot wind contraption.

As the jeep neared a narrow driveway, almost completely obscured by weeds, I tapped my breaks and slowly eased into the tiny, white-graveled area and brought the jeep to rest facing the windmill.

“Okay, now what?” Rachel protested, as she turned around to see the boys.

“Now, it’s time,” Will’s friend said as he and the other boy spontaneously flung their legs over the sides of the jeep and hit the ground running, leaving Will behind.

“They are having way too much fun with this, Jules.” Rachel said, half seriously, and turning back toward me.

“I know, but we’re bound to find out what this is all about soon, right?” I questioned her.

“Let’s just leave ‘em and go get some ice cream,” Rachel whispered.

“I can still hear you, Rachel,” Will said, smiling from the backseat.

Rachel stared at me with eyes that looked like she had just gotten caught with her hand in the brownie batter. Her face made me burst into laughter, and soon both of us were giggling contagiously.

In the meantime, Will had evidently set out to put his plan into motion. Reaching into the back of the SUV, he grabbed the duffle bag, walked to the back of the jeep and dropped the bag so that the rays of the taillights made it ever so visible in our dark surroundings. Then, he marched toward the tall, once-wind-powered structure and scaled the fence, as his buddies looked on from the outside.

“Turn your lights off, Jules, and grab your camera,” Will shouted to me. I was still sitting in the driver’s seat next to Rachel, still giggling at the sight of the three, severe-looking boys taking immediate charge of the still mysterious situation.

“When are you going to fill Rachel and me in on this little conspiracy of yours?” I shouted back to Will as I switched off my lights and then turned off the SUV.

Seconds went by with no answer, and soon it became painstakingly evident that my question had fallen into the Great Abyss. I looked at Rachel, and then, as if we both had simultaneously surrendered, I begrudgingly grabbed the camera from my center console, and we both pushed open each of our doors and slowly made our way to the boys, now standing on the opposite side of the fence, next to the base of the metal-framed tower.