Of Butterfly Kisses

An encounter with a mysterious lover. Originally written for Writer's Cramp entry 8/16/10

Here I am, rejected again, and feeling dejected. Sara hadn't needed to laugh at my advances, as clumsy as they may have been. Now I just wanted to go home, but I couldn't do that to Pat. Pat was having much better luck with Ashley. I looked over to where they stood on the far side of the bonfire, kissing in a passionate embrace. I watched, not without a trace of envy, and in a few moments they broke their embrace, and walked off towards my van holding hands. She even did a little skip. How does that Casanova do it?

I picked up a nearby half bottle of rum. Elbows on my knees, bottle in my hands, I stared at the label. Do I drown my sorrows and put her from my mind entirely? I gazed at the brown liquid, searching for the answer I sought. While I gazed through the abyss, lost in my own self pity, a hand fell upon my shoulder. A small hand, with orange painted fingernails. At least I thought they were orange in the firelight. My eyes drifted up her slender arm and over her tight tee shirt, orange with black sleeves and white dots. My eyes couldn't help but linger over her supple curves before continuing to her face. As our gaze settled upon each other, her brown eyes sparkling in the firelight, almost pixie-ish, and her teeth came out in a huge grin. Her hands moved to mine, replacing the bottle I'd been so fixated on a moment before, and she pulled me to my feet.

Away she took me into the firelight, and we danced. If there were others dancing I didn't know, nor would I have cared. My world was now the firelight, and this angel that had removed my sorrows with a smile. We danced, she a graceful ballerina, and me clumsy like a bear. Her skirt fluttered up and down, and then she would come in close and brush against me. Our breath flowing out onto each other's lips, little more than a hairs-breadth away, and then she would move back again, twirling around and teasing me some more. All around the inferno that was the centerpiece of the night's activities we danced, and when it seemed I could dance no more, stand the tension no more, we stopped, and our mouths interlocked. My stomach churned in delight at the taste of her tongue, the way she pushed hers against mine. At the press of her body against mine. Our kiss could have lasted an hour or a minute. I opened my eyes, looking into hers, and could see my joy reflected back.

We separated, and she turned away, her hand in mine pulling me along into the forest. I followed, and when our hands parted I felt like a dream had ended, reality returning like a bucket of cold water. But there she was, and when I hesitated to follow, she half turned and beckoned me along. How could I not keep going? I kept as close behind her as I could, following the path by the moonlight. Still she got farther and farther ahead of me, no matter how much I increased my pace, until I lost sight of her. I stayed on the path for awhile longer, until I despaired at last, thinking I lost this wondrous angel that promised me everything and nothing with her small hands and tantalizing kiss. And then a Monarch Butterfly came to me, fluttering in my face until it landed upon my nose.

Follow me.

Had I heard that, or was it in my head? The butterfly flew off along the path, and so I went after it. Just when I was about to give up again, thinking I had gone insane by following a butterfly, I came upon a clearing bathed in moonlight. The Monarch drifted lazily in the air until it came to rest on the angel I had entered the forest with. She lay there, naked but for a pendant of a Monarch like the live one that had settled upon her short brown hair, upon what might have been silk, and gazed at me. She beckoned me forward with a smile and a finger, and I didn't hesitate. I went to her, fell to my knees, and together beneath the moonlight we made love.

My lips traveled from her hand and along her arm, over her shoulder to her tattoo, and then her lips were on my shoulder. Our mouths traveled along each other's bodies until finally they met, and we entwined ourselves as we became one being. My hands were like clumsy paws over her supple flesh, her embrace passionate and intoxicating. Her thighs, nearly as soft as the silk upon which we lay wrapped around me, became strong as any other grip I have ever known. We thrust against each other, lost to the outside world, lost to our partner alone. The sweat dripping from us as we spent hours there, again and again beneath the moon. Until we could thrust no more, and collapsed to the blanket, spent.

As we lay there, exhausted, I couldn't help but start to think. Who was this woman, who seemed so small and pure with butterflies tattooed all down her back? Throughout the whole night she hadn't said a word, only giggles and moans, and I had been too dumbstruck and swept away to voice anything myself. I opened my mouth to bring forth my questions but her finger came to my lips, as if she knew what I had been thinking. She giggled and shushed me, then rolled over and pulled my arms around her small body. We lay like that for a while longer, until she came up to her knees, and gave me a gentle peck on my forehead. When I moved to get up as well, she laid a hand on my chest and held me down, clearly intending for me to stay.

“Will I ever see you again?” I asked, finding my voice. She only giggled, then, after seeming to be lost in thought for a moment, removed her pendant, and placed the monarch around my neck. She walked away and I admired the graceful movements of her body, the sway of her bare hips, and the way the tattoo across her whole back shifted, as if the hundreds of butterflies inked there were alive. She reached the edge of the clearing, and strode behind a tree. She gave me one last smile before walking around the tree, but she didn't appear on the other side. Instead, what looked like thousands of Monarch Butterflies flew from where she should have strode, and flew off into the moonlight.

I silently fingered the pendant around my neck, my proof that tonight had been real. I also knew I would never see her again but in my own dreams.