“Bridgette, please stop. Yes, I’m on the pill. No, it wasn’t in the bathroom.” She swallowed and mumbled her next answer. “It was in the alley behind the building.”
She couldn’t look up to see her best friend’s eyes. She just couldn’t. The shrieking was enough to make her cheeks burn hotter.
“You did it in an alley? Please tell me he was huge. And I don’t just mean down below the southern hemisphere. Did he have huge muscles to grab onto? Oh my God, we need to go ruin some more cakes and go over there. I need a man. I need sex. I’ve never had a shifter. What kind is he? Do you think their peckers are different depending on species?”
The squealing of each one of Bridgette’s words pulsed like a sharp razor right behind her eye. “Please, Bridgette. I really don’t feel good. I must have overworked myself, all the stress of the last few months trying to pick up the slack of losing Harold.”
Bridgette scoffed. “Yeah. I don’t think lost is the right word.”
“Whatever. You know what I mean. I think I finally lost it today. That and snow. "
Finally, Olivia looked up. Bridgette was dang near red, her lips pressed together tightly and almost white.
“Oh, for crap sake. Just say it,” Olivia said.
Bridgette burst into hysterical laughter. “If you lost it, what a way to go. Obviously,he liked what you were offering up, and this time it wasn't cake.” Bridgette thrust her pelvis into the air as she mimed humping an imaginary guy.
Olivia reached for a plastic spatula and tossed it at her. The spatula froze mid-air, as if saying don't mess with me, Livi. I can pretty much undo anything you throw at me, I did get an A+ in Inanimate Object Mastery.
“It's not fair using magic when I’m trying to wound you."
"It's not really nice to try and hurt your friends, so it serves you right." A roll of her eyes and Bridgette just smiled. “Seriously though, back to this snow thing. Oh, and your transgression.” Bridgette raised an eyebrow, her hand going back and forth against her cheek as her tongue poked out.
“I think we should reevaluate this friendship. This is not funny. Besides I was pressed up against the wall.” Olivia instantly regretted her words.
“Good Lord, woman. When you go bad, you go straight for the dark side,” Bridgette laughed.
“Fine. Make jokes. I need to go fix my hair. It’s all matted, and I had to put it in a ponytail,” Olivia patted at her head.
More hysterical laughter ensued, and Olivia had to let her finish. She stretched out her arms across the dark counter, stopping as her head bumped onto the granite.
“I’m a terrible person. I’m a slut.”
Bridgette snorted so hard Olivia thought she might choke on her own snot. Slowly though, she felt a giggle start in her belly. She sucked in air against the silent laughter and thought that she didn’t like the disinfectant they were using. Maybe it was even odder that she could smell it. Then again, what about her life wasn’t strange as of late?
Tears streamed down her face as she looked up and met Bridgette’s wide-eyed expression.
“What the hell? I don’t want to clean this up? What is this even?” Olivia asked a panic she couldn’t hide wavering in her voice.
Bridgette blinked. “I didn’t do this. You did. They’re butterflies. Hundreds of butterflies. They appeared out of nowhere.”
Olivia held her hand out, and a purple winged beauty landed on it. It fluttered slowly, moving its wings in a constant steady motion. Another vibrant red and orange butterfly hovered before landing. She turned her hand, studying the sight in front of her.
“There is no way. I couldn’t have. I can make a flower out of icing. I can conjure a bluebird figurine out of fondant. But this... these are real butterflies.”
Trying to take in the vision of color fluttering around she wasn’t sure her eyes could get any bigger.
“What exactly do we do?”
Bridgette shrugged.
Olivia jolted away from the counter, passing the dark cabinets of the small kitchen, running past their small dining table, and headed for a window.
“Alright butterflies. Go. Run free. Do something. Anything. Go.”
“Livi, they are butterflies, not the army from Braveheart. I’m pretty sure you can just will them to go. Use your magic.”
She stood up and put her hands on her hips. Tilting her head, she tried to think what she wanted her magic to do. The sudden realization that her body felt alive with vibrating magic hit her. With no idea how to handle what was going on she lifted a hand and spoke to the power within her.
“Guide them.” As if the power had its own colors, Olivia swore she saw pink and yellow threads connecting to each butterfly. A jerk of her fingers and she pulled them to the open window. Each tiny insect fluttered past her as she blew the wisps of magic out the window.
“Well you don’t see that every day,” said Bridgette.
Olivia did a double take. Her heart nearly beating out of her chest in surprise. In excitement.
“Here.” Bridgette walked up to her and handed her the phone.
“Call your mother now.”
Olivia shook her head. “What if it was a fluke?”
As if to prove herself wrong, she whistled out the window and waited. “See, look. Nothing. A mis-”
Olivia froze as two small Finch birds landed on her. Her eyes following and crossing as one rested on her head.
“Tell me that I didn’t just call two birds like a freaking fairy-tale creature.”
“Okay. You didn’t just call birds like Snow-White, you demanded the attention of two chirping assholes like the freaking boss lady you are.”
Olivia popped her lips. “You really don’t get me at all do you?”
“I get you just fine. You called some birds, made some butterflies,
