by TorreS, Pet
Why?
I tried to concentrate, sighing heavily.
Soon I heard the sound of something being ripped and a mint aroma invaded the room. Then suddenly there was a really loud bang as a large and heavy book of seven hundred pages fell to the ground.
POOOOHHHHHH
At that point I jumped in fright on my chair, my heart beating wildly. Immediately I looked back over my shoulder and began to carefully observe the person who was responsible for this cacophony.
I saw a young man with dark hair, dark eyes and ruddy skin, sitting at the table behind mine. He quickly looked at me with a flushed face. He seemed embarrassed by his lack of care for the library books.
If the book of seven hundred pages could speak, it would probably curse him in that moment and ask him to stay away from it.
Quite seriously, the guy, in a navy blue shirt, looked down and seemed to contemplate the bright pages of his open book. I realized he was pretending to read. But I had nothing to do with it so I turned around and again looked forward and started to read a paragraph silently in my book.
Within minutes, my neck started to hurt. I passed my hand over it and rubbed trying to ease the pangs coming from it.
The young man sitting at the table behind me averted his eyes from the book and looked at my movements. My hand still massaged my nape. I was uncomfortable in my chair and I could no longer concentrate on my reading.
His curious gaze slowly slid down the contours of my slender body. I was wearing a pink dress with slim straps.
Serenely, his curious gaze stopped on the tattoo of butterflies on my back. He could see some of them on my back.
My red hair was a very deep red in the dim lighting of the reading room.
Not enduring more, I closed the book and muttered, “Enough for today!”
With that, the young man behind me quickly turned his gaze away from my back and back onto his book, afraid I might stand in a hurry and look towards him. I would realize then that he was secretly looking at my back.
Then I got up, gathered my things including the book from the library. I walked to one side and did not look at the table behind me. I felt that the young man had lifted his head and was looking in my direction as I walked hurriedly to the other room.
His gaze was still attached to the tattoo of butterflies on my back. He was probably fascinated by it.
Chapter 10
College Science Fair
Peta
The college was having an exhibition of students’ work and their research papers across various disciplines. Each course had its own tent and its themes and research to show for all those who wanted to appreciate them.
“Oh my God!” Denise lifted her sunglasses up onto her head. “How many cute guys are at this fair?!”
She looked toward the various tents of the different courses and saw young men of various races. Each had their own brand of beauty. “I love this kind of thing!”
She smiled while walking with me. Denise still wore her Chanel style haircut. She really loved that style. Red lipstick was another hallmark.
“Look at the tent of Agronomic Engineering! They are just Greek gods!”
She put her hand on her chest and rolled her eyes, looking thrilled by it all. “I need to go there to ask some questions!”
Denise gave me a mischievous smile. I knew what kind of questions she wanted to ask.
You’re single?
Have you got a girlfriend?
I looked up and rolled my eyes. Denise hastened her steps and headed for the Agronomic Engineering tent.
She arrived at the scene and saw dozens of handsome young men. They were all wearing the same green shirt with a slogan on the front.
Agricultural Engineering
She bent over to look more closely at the hundreds of seedlings. Each one had its own different style and size.
“What is this?” She questioned a muscular guy. He looked like he killed himself in the gym every day to get that strong body.
“This is an orange seedling,” the young man replied politely.
Soon I stopped in front of the tent, next to Denise. I knew Denise was just there to admire the future engineers and they probably realized that she was looking at the guy with the muscles.
“How interesting!” She exclaimed, looking into the guy’s face.
I looked around and realized that there were many girls close to the tent. Most of them were also interested in hot guys and not in tree seedlings.
I looked further into the tent and saw a young man leaning on a table. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He was further away from the other group of young men. He also didn’t seem to be interested in approaching the workbench to provide information for the curious girls. He was also in a green shirt and was an Agronomy Engineering student.
Narrowing my eyes in his direction, I realized that his face was familiar.
After that, I realized that he was the noisy guy in the library. The executioner of books. At that moment he also looked over at me and probably recognized me too.
His arms remained crossed over his chest. He was unmoved. Unlike the other guys around who seemed friendly and attentive with the female audience all the time, this guy didn’t interact with them.
“Let’s go,” I muttered holding Denise’s arm and looking toward the familiar guy. She looked at me.
“Now?” Denise looked around. “I want to know more about these seedlings! See how interesting they are!”
She winked at me.
“All right, so you stay there. I'm going to the tent on the other side. I want to see the art course exhibition.”
I turned my back to her and walked among the people. Denise stood there, wondering more about Agronomy.
Chapter 11
Peta
I entered my home and closed the front door. I put my heavy bag on the couch and started taking off my dress along the way, before I even got to the bathroom.
My body needed a light and relaxing shower.
Before I turned on the shower I heard my phone ringing inside my bag. I walked in my bra and panties through the house and went toward my bag which I had left on the sofa. When I got my cell phone, immediately I saw Denise’s missed calls. She had also left a written message.
Peta
Be ready at eleven o’clock. I'll come past your home and pick you up so we can go to a party that the Agronomic Engineering Course guys are hosting.
They invited me to the party and you will go with me.
I think the muscular guy is interested in me ... hmmm
Kisses from your good friend
Denise
Denise
We went down to my father's car, and when Peta and I got to the party we saw it was a ranch with a pool, a party room and a game room. It was lovely.
There was a DJ at the party and the place was jumping.
I walked beside Peta. Both of us were in dresses with plunging necklines, but mine was purple and Peta’s dress was a red wine color. High heels on our feet had left us feeling more attractive and powerful.
Peta had also put on red and bold lipstick.
“Look at that guy there!” she exclaimed, seeing him with his back to us. He wore a tight, white shirt plastered onto his body, shorts and sneakers.
“He's amazing!”
“I think you're falling for him!” I said.
Peta warned me with a look. I smiled and looked at the young man again.
“Do you think so?”
“I'm sure.” Peta looked at him and seemed to realize that he and I would make a beautiful couple.
Sensing my presence, the muscular guy departed from his circle of friends and came up to me.
“Glad you came!” He said to Peta and then gave me a powerful gaze. He really seemed interested in me. I tried to hold back a content smile.
“I brought my friend Peta.”
“Great!” He said and smiled. “Feel free, Peta. My name is Pablus.”<
br />
“Thank you!” I smiled back and looked around.
“Enjoy yourselves. We have so many drinks, barbecue and also if you want to jump into the pool. It is available to you any time!”
He looked at me and winked sensually. “Talk to you later, now I have to talk to the guys there.”
“All right,” I said and smiled at him.
“Excuse me!” Pablus walked back to his group of friends.
Peta
After a while, Pablus returned to us and took Denise to the dance floor. At that moment I looked around and thought that almost all the engineering students must have been there. With the exception of that guy from the library.
Instinctively I walked toward the pool.
I could see the dark blue water from afar as I walked. There was no one in it but there was a guy with back his to me, sitting around it. He was alone, away from people.
Approaching him I recognized his back.
He was not a stranger to me. Immediately I leaned down and removed the sandals from my feet. I started walking with my sandals hanging down between the fingers of my right hand.
I circled the pool and sat next to the lonely guy. He was wearing a dark green shirt, dark jeans and sneakers.
Realizing that someone sat beside him, he looked to his left into my face. He looked into my blue eyes and finally his gaze dropped to my red lips.
Then he lowered his head and looked back at the water of the pool.
“You're the library guy?” I questioned looking at the pool water too, while I touched the tips of my toes in the pool and began to move them gently. His dark eyes began to observe my pale feet still in contact with the blue water.
“Yes, it’s me,” he finally said raising his head and looking away. His face was serious, as always.
“You study Agronomy?” I asked looking to the side and seeing his profile.
“Yeah.” He paused. “What about you?”
“I study History. I am in my first year.”
“I see.” He looked to one side, to my face, and his face seemed less serious, but he had not smiled yet.
“What's your name?” I asked.
“Natanael, but you can call me Natan. And what’s your name?”
He looked at my face again and his eyes noticed the freckles on my pale skin.
“Petalouda, but everyone calls me Peta.”
“Petalouda?” he shook his head. “It's a different name!”
Soon I began to explain to him the origins of my name.
“My mother chose that name because Petalouda means butterfly in Greek.”
“I see!” he said again. “That’s interesting! I did not know that.”
“Few people know it,” I said and smiled slightly. “My mother loved butterflies.”
I looked down at the pool water and it reminded me of my mother's face.
“I miss her so much.” I confessed.
Natanael looked at me. I knew my face had changed in that moment because I felt sad talking about my mother.
“What was the cause of your mother’s death?” He asked unexpectedly. He seemed moved by my loss. Almost immediately he looked away. Not feeling comfortable with our conversation, but he needed to ask that.
“She died during heart surgery three years ago. My mother could not survive it.” I stopped talking and lowered my head.
“I'm very sorry,” he said.
We were silent for a moment, until he broke the silence with a less painful question.
“So that’s why you tattooed butterflies on your back? To honor your mother?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I got this tattoo when my mother was still alive.” I smiled feeling happier. “My mother loved this tattoo! I remember it as if it was yesterday.”
“How good that your mother was in favor of it.” He looked to one side and smiled timidly. “If I get a tattoo on my body, I’m sure my parents would kill me and would not attend my funeral. I would simply be buried as an orphan.”
I frowned. Natanael seemed to live imprisoned in a world of inflexible principles.
“Your parents are rigid?”
“Yes, they are very much so,” he confessed and looked down. “Much more than you can imagine.”
I looked ahead. The silence arose between us again. Natanael pulled a mint from his pants pocket and rose, standing before me.
“Would you like one?”
I shook my head. “No, no. Thank you.”
He pulled the mints to him and put it back into his pants pocket. He had done it just to be polite with me. Immediately I remembered that he was surrounded by mint bullet drops. I confess that I held back a smile. It reminded me of that day in the library.
Natanael was very different from all the other guys I had met at college. He was shy, reserved and a complete demolisher of books. I would say that he was a professional executioner of books. Maybe he hated studies and was studying agronomy to satisfy the wishes of his controlling parents.
“Do you drink?” I asked him after a while.
“No, I do not,” he answered seriously.
“Do you dance?”
“No, I don’t.” Natan shook his head.
“HAHAA, but today you will dance to a song, Natan!” I exclaimed standing up.
He looked up and saw my arms pulling him by the shoulders.
“Come on! I want you to dance with me to this song!”
At that time a song was beginning to play - the music of Sia - Elastic Heart.
“No, no! I do not know how to dance!” he confessed, still sitting down.
“Please! Dance only to this song with me!” I insisted.
He looked up at my face. “Okay,” he finally muttered.
Slowly he stood up.
“But you have to teach me all the steps. I really do not know how to dance.” He ran his hand through his dark hair. “I'm a very shy guy! I don’t even know why I'm at this party. It’s not really my thing.”
“Yes, I’ve realized that you are a shy guy!” I smiled. “But don’t worry, I'll teach you how to dance tonight.”
I supported my hand on his waist and led him to the dance floor. Natanael stopped in the middle of some people who were dancing. He looked around and noticed that the other guys were putting on quite a show on the dance floor. They danced in front of some flirtatious girls.
He looked back and saw me before him. I smiled and started to move my body gently. My sandals were still by the pool and I was dancing barefoot.
“Follow my movements,” I commanded him looking at his face. He continued standing, watching my movements as I danced in front of him. I raised my arms above my head as my waist and my hips moved with sensuality and lightness.
Natanael shook his head, looking quite confused.
“That's too hard!”
He refused to move his body on the dance floor in front of me and a hundred more people. Natan was afraid of making mistakes and looking silly in front of everyone.
“Try it! It is not difficult!”
I kept moving with the music. Involuntarily I turned my back to Natan and pulled my hair over my right shoulder, bringing forward my left shoulder.
Natanael's dark eyes fell on my back and I knew he could perfectly see the tattoo of butterflies on my back. They were beautiful, perfect and fascinating. I was sure he thought so too.
He seemed mesmerized by my body as it moved. Gently I danced like a snake, going up and down without stopping.
Natanael became even more hesitant. He remained still.
His right hand rubbed his forehead. I turned to face him and stared at him in the eyes as I continued to dance. At the time Natanael’s gaze moved down to my red lips, I could sense he felt strongly tempted, confused and lost at the same time.
Finally, he pulled back, saying, “I'm sorry, but I don’t dance!”
He took two steps back and walked to the side, stepping off the dance floor. I stopped moving and started walking barefoot hastily behind him.
/> “Natan! What happened?” I questioned at his back.
He stopped walking and turned to face me. I looked in his eyes. They were timid. His face was pale and bland. Natan was really very shy.
“Excuse me.” He looked around. “Get another guy to dance with you! Really this kind of thing is not for me!”
He turned his back to me again and started walking toward the gate. He was leaving without saying goodbye to me.
Immediately, my shoulders moved up. I looked around, feeling like a fool after being left on the dance floor by an extremely shy guy.
“Wow! He is very strange!” I muttered to myself and walked toward the pool to get my pair of gold sandals.
The desire to dance had disappeared. My motivation had accompanied Natanael’s departure and made me feel no longer interested in the party that was just beginning to come to life. All the others there were having a lot of fun.
Chapter 12
On Monday afternoon
Peta
With the end of classes, I had to return to the college library to finish completing my summary about the artistic representations. The reading room was packed and all the tables and chairs were full with students. I was sitting at the dividing with a table full of books and notebooks with a young woman I did not know.
She was also making some kind of summary to be delivered to her teacher.
Moments later, the girl got up and carried her lesson materials with her. The chair in front of my table was unoccupied.
My body was bent as I was reading a paragraph in the book and trying to assimilate it. My lips were holding a pen while I was writing with the other hand.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared before me blocking out the light. I raised my head and gazed up.
What I saw standing before me made me look down again and look at the pages of the book another time.
