Butterfly Kisses
By
Robin Falcon
Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 – Tyler
Chapter 2 - Ryder
Chapter 3 – Tyler
Chapter 4 – Tyler
Chapter 5 – Tyler
Chapter 6 – Ryder
Chapter 7 – Ryder
Chapter 8 – Tyler
Chapter 9 – Ryder
Chapter 10 – Tyler
Chapter 11 – Ryder
Chapter 12 – Tyler
Chapter 13 – Ryder
Chapter 14 – Tyler
Chapter 15 – Ryder
Chapter 16 – Tyler
Chapter 17 – Ryder
Chapter 18 – Tyler
Chapter 19 – Ryder
Chapter 20 – Ryder
Chapter 21 – Tyler
Chapter 22 – Ryder
Chapter 23 – Tyler
Chapter 24 – Final
Butterfly Kisses
By: Robin Falcon
Copyright ©2019 by Robin Falcon
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by and information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.
The Characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any Similarity to real person, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Acknowledgments
This is for all those that taught me about love and
heartache.
Chapter 1
Tyler
I’ve known Ryder since the day she was born.
Of course, I was only a year old at the time, but I know for a fact I can't remember a day in my life where Ryder wasn’t there annoying me in some way.
Our parents were not only friends, but neighbors as well. So, before we were even born, they’d already decided that Ryder and I’d be lifelong friends.
I can say, among the stockpiles of photos our parents decided to keep, it was obvious we never left each other’s side, even back then.
In fact, our parents loved showing off all our embarrassing bath time photos, nap time cuddles, and thousands of us playing together with two toothy grins.
However, it wasn’t until I turned about five years old that I could really recall any of my own memories of Ryder.
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When I started school, as a Kindergartener, I quickly realized Ryder wasn't like most of the other girls. She didn’t wear dresses, play with dolls, and she definitely wasn't scared of bugs or getting hurt.
She was more like one of us boys.
She liked getting dirty, playing video games, throwing a ball around, and she was usually the one thinking up new dangerous adventures for us.
I never really questioned my friendship with her until I noticed that none of the other boys in my class had friends that were girls. A few had sisters, but none of them spoke fondly of them.
If I’m being honest, my first real memory of Ryder was, ironically, me questioning my friendship with her to begin with.
Why was I friends with a girl when none of my other friends were?
In fact, it started to bug me so much, I remember begging my parents on a daily basis to let me bring over any other friend from school.
They always said no.
They didn't want me to exclude Ryder since she was homeschooled and didn't have any friends of her own. At first, I blamed her. We even fought for weeks over it, in a way only five-year olds could. I told her I was tired of playing with a ‘stupid girl’, and she told me I was the ‘stupid girl'.
After a few weeks went by, I missed playing with her.
Soon, I stopped bugging my parents all together about my other friends. Instead, I found myself riding bikes with Ryder again, and playing in the treehouse behind her house until it got dark.
I knew as long as my friends at school didn’t know about Ryder, then they couldn’t pick on me for having a ‘girl friend'. So, maybe it wasn’t so bad keeping Ryder a secret for now.
It worked too…for a while.
I went to school every day and played with the boys. Then, each day, I got to come home and play with Ryder too.
On occasion, I’d even go to one of my buddies houses for the weekend. They never saw Ryder, and she never saw them.
The set up worked for two years.
Then, I turned seven.
A friend, from my second-grade class, had his parents call mine and ask if they’d watch him for a few hours after school. For the first time in two years, they’d agreed to let one of my classmates come over.
It was inevitable, my two worlds were about to collide.
Now, thinking back, I still remember the look on Ryder’s face the first time I broke her heart.
Ryder knocked at my door like clockwork, five minutes after the bus had dropped me off. When I opened the door, I saw her standing there in sneakers, a pair of shorts, and a white t-shirt stained with dirt already.
I had to admit, the only reason I knew Ryder was even a girl was because her parents told me. That, and maybe her voice. Otherwise, nothing about her screamed, “I’m a girl.”
Her dirty blonde hair matched my own, shaggy, and short. It was usually unkept and messy along with whatever she wore for the day.
Strangers frequently confused us for brothers, but it rarely bothered us, or at least it hadn't at first. Now, as she stood there, I felt annoyed that people could assume we were brothers.
Her hair fell into her face, hiding green eyes that were already covered by glasses. She started wearing them last summer, and I remember she refused to let me try them on.
She was so annoying.
The second she saw us, as I opened the door, she smiled. She’d just lost
