Sam Holmes was 7 years old when he met 7-year old Blair Rivers. They were in the playground around in the afternoon, and for some reason not many kids were there that day.
She was in a light green spring dress and a wide-brimmed hat, most likely her mother's given it was really big for her. Blair was busy trying to catch a butterfly with a net in the park. Sam could see the glass jar by her feet. It had been 5 minutes and she wasn't doing so well at it.
He sat in the swing set moving a few inches back and forth. He held on to the metal chains of his swing, wondering if he should give her a hand. She looked kind of silly at this point, but he figured it was none of his business.
After about the 15th try, she groaned. She turned to his direction, steel eyes locking with his. His eyes turned downcast; she had known he had been watching.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Are you helping me out or not?" She said, exasperated.
Sam looked up, surprised by her words. She stood with her arms crossed across her chest, waiting impatiently.
"Come on. Go help a poor little girl" She added.
Sam thought she was being a little...haughty. Regardless of the thought, he stood up and walked towards her until they were at a reasonable distance from each other. He looked at the butterfly flying around them, as if mocking them.
"So, what do I have to do?" Blair asked, wanting to catch her prey even more.
Sam kept his eyes focused on her target as it was fluttering around and moving towards the flowers. He extended his hand to her. "Give me your net."
Blair pouted. "But I want to-"
"I'll do it." Sam said with finality. He didn't want to argue with the girl, but he figured it would be faster if he had done it himself.
The girl frowned scoffed, but handed out her net anyway. He held it to the side.
His eyes did not lose focus. The butterfly fluttered a bit but then landed on a leaf...
In a quick sweep, Sam had caught the target on his first try. In that same speed he placed the opening of the net into the opening of the jar for the butterfly to enter then shut the jar shut.
Blair blinked a couple of times,wondering if what just happened was real. When Sam handed her the jar, her mouth was agape.
"That was amazing! How did you do that?!"
Sam shrugged, pushing his glasses to his face. "You...just need to be quick, that's all." He added as an afterthought "Sugar water also works. It's less of a fight."
She stared at the butterfly flying around in the jar, then at the boy next to him.
"Are there any other alien things you can do?"
Sam eyed her carefully, a little offended by the statement. "I'm not an alien."
"You aren't, but what you did was crazy."
"It was not."
"Yes it was!"
Sam rolled his eyes. Why was he even fighting with this girl? He looked around and tried to see if his father was around. He thought of using him as an excuse to leave this rude girl alone.
Blair didn't notice his gestures and wrapped the jar with her arm and held it between her arm and stomach. She extended her free hand.
"Anyway, never mind. I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Blair."
Sam looked in her direction, took her hand and shook it. "Sam"
The young girl smiled. "Well that sounds like a human name."
Sam frowned. Blair laughed. "I'm sorry. So how did you learn how to catch like that?"
"I don't know. Practice I guess."
"Mmm..." She smiles again.
"What do you plan to do with the butterfly?"
"Hmm? I dunno. Take it home and place it in my room."
Sam's eyes widened in horror. "Don't do that! It'll die!"
"Huh?"
"You need to leave it in it's natural habitat!"
"What's a habitat?"
Sam eyed her carefully. Blair really had no idea what he was talking about, and this bothered him a bit.
He said his sentence carefully, emphasizing word for word. "You.Will.Kill.The.Butterfly."
Blair looked horrified. "Then why did you help me catch it?!"
"Because I thought you would let it go after a while! Not keep it for display!"
She looked at her jar, which currently symbolized her hard work. She sighed, opened the jar and set it free.
"What's the point of catching something so beautiful if I don't get to keep it?" She grumbled.
Her annoyance amused Sam, so he smiled at her.
"It's not about keeping it. The thrill really is trying to catch it."
Blair raised an eyebrow. "You did it too fast for anyone to find a thrill in!"
Sam's smile just widened. Blair huffed.
~*~
Ever since that simple quiet day in the playground, they had met every other day and it lasted for years. In the 4 years they had met in there,talked about their lives and interests. Sam sometimes arrived in the park with his guitar, and would play some songs at Blair's request. Blair would in turn bring her sketchpad and show him her drawings.
Blair loved to draw. At the age of 3 she would find old notebooks of her parents and doodle. When her father had given her a sketchpad at the age of 5, she was utterly thrilled. It had only taken about a week before she needed a new one. She also loved to take pictures, and thus at the age of 8 she was given a camera. At the time the medium was film, so she was scolded eventually when she used up the film too quickly. It wasn't cheap to buy and develop those after all.
Sam on the other hand, had a couple of skills that impressed Blair (but she tried to deny it for the most part) but the one skill he usually showed was his love for the guitar. He was given one at the age of 5, and it was his best friend. He had mentioned wanting to make a one-man band, but he figured it would have been nice to have band mates. He tried teaching Blair once; She got fed up after a while, but she could play a tune or two. Blair would just defend that she could sing better, which they both agreed on.
Over the years, Blair had matured gracefully and beautifully, and Sam was starting to notice. Even at age seven, he had found her cute but it had been nothing more than that. He blames his hormones.
Likewise, Sam was getting taller, his voice was changing, and Blair could see some of the girls giggling when he passed by. Blair didn't find Sam drop dead good-looking, but he had this way of carrying himself that someone would find fairly attractive. She would shrug it off easily by drawing.
~*~
Both had different events on how they started to feel differently for each other.
For Blair, it had been when she was 10 years old. She was bored waiting for Sam to arrive and decided to climb up a tree to take a photo from above. A few feet above the ground she held on to a branch and it broke, causing her to lose balance. She fell and was in shock she had no voice to scream. The world started to move slowly for her as the sky looked even more distant. She shut her eyes, and hoped if this was her moment to die, it would be painless.
It wasn't. She felt arms holding her right at the last moment. The impact made the other person lose balance and nearly got him to his knees, but he held firm and Blair was safe.
She opened her eyes and right there was Sam, breathing out deeply. He looked like he had ran a bit, sweat glistening down his face. He looked down at her, concern written all over his face.
"You okay?" He managed to say.
In the future, Blair would wonder what had happened to her at that moment. She would wonder if it was because of his cologne. She would wonder if it was because of his eyes, which were dark pools putting all his attention on her as if she were the only person in the world that mattered. She would wonder if it was because through thick and thin, even if she was late several times when meeting him at the playground (which was slowly turning into a park), even if she had teased him when he wore a silly shirt, even when she had pointed out bluntly that he was off key in singing, even if she had called him an alien the first time they met...
He had been there, and for Blair it felt like he would always be there.
At that time, Blair was flushed and could only speak out the words "Yeah...thanks." before Sam had helped her to her feet.
For Sam, it had been the moment he saw her struggle with catching a butterfly, and as every day passed, it just grew stronger.
~*~
They were 12 years old when Blair had to move. It was in another city, not too far away, but there was no doubt she couldn't pass by the playground. They were getting too old for that anyway. Sam had a feeling something like this was to come. Blair had been distant when they met up over the weeks. She would just doodle away, not speaking. It bothered the boy, but he said nothing.
Today, on a warm afternoon Blair had told him the news. They sat next to each other on a green bench facing the swings. The wide-brimmed hat was starting to fit Blair now as she wore it with her vanilla ruffled dress.
"I'm changing schools too." She added. "All-girls...haha, that might be fun."
Sam smiled. "At least I won't worry about you having boy problems huh?"
Blair laughed, trying to not over-analyze that statement. "You'll be there if ever I get a crush on a girl?"
Sam snorted. "Of course, but I would definitely not know how to give advice there."
There was a terse pause as both parties wondered what to say. Sam was the first to speak.
"I'll miss you. You'll call right?" He said softly.
She looked at him. "Yeah. Of course."
Gray and dark brown eyes locked, and they both had wanted to say something. Whatever it was, it got caught at the back of their throats. Sam cleared his throat.
Blair looked at her watch. It was time for her to head home. She stood up.
"Wait." Sam said. He stood up and fished something in his pocket. He held it out, and the gold chain fell and dangling at the end was a pendant of a blue butterfly.
Blair opened her mouth in awe, then shut it. She looked at him. He looked nervous.
"I thought..you'd remember me...with this." He said as he took her hand and placed the necklace in her palm. "I...I...really liked being with you."
Before this moment, Blair could hear children laughing, the swings squeaking, and other ambient noise one would hear in this environment. Now, she could only hear her heart beating. This was the same for Sam.
"Likewise, Sam. Don't worry. I'll visit every now and then." She smiled, the hand dropping to the side as she held the butterfly pendant.
"Goodbye Sam. I'll keep in touch"
Before she could turn, he blurted out. "I loved you since I was seven."
Blair stared at him. Her mind was racing for possible replies to this one. Honestly, she had not expected this.
Sam bit his lip, waiting for an answer. He had played this situation several times in his head, with several possible scenarios and he had prepared for each one. He was prepared to never hear from her, prepared for a series of awkward phone calls, prepared for a possible yelling and some punches he could block...
He wasn't exactly expecting a sly smile from Blair. She only said one sentence before she walked away.
"Well, you'll have fun catching me won't you Sam? It's not about getting the butterfly after all."
~*~
A FEW YEARS LATER
"Blair, you are cruel."
She laughed at her friend as she walked towards their destination. "How am I cruel?"
Her friend gave her a look, which pretty much said "You have got to be kidding me."
"You have known this guy since you were 7, liked him when he caught you like the damsel in distress that you were..." Blair's companion ignored her "Hey!" protest and continued. "And when he reciprocated you wanted him to pine over you via a long distance relationship?"
Blair frowned. "Well I wasn't sure okay? I thought he may have been doing it because I was leaving...and I wanted to take things slow."
They continued their conversation towards the park, not noticing right away that they were being watched.
~*~
Sam could already see her, chatting happily with another girl her height only with jet-black hair. She had mentioned another girl possibly coming with her. Amy was it? He thought. It didn't matter.
As they spoke, a butterfly had passed their way. Blair and her companion stopped to admire it. A thought flashed on Blair's face and she pulled out something from her bag. It was a spray bottle. She sprayed it on her hands and cupped it close to the butterfly. Her companion stared at her, puzzled by the action but Sam knew the contents of the bottle.
It was water mixed with sugar, something he recalled he had mentioned to her many years ago.
It didn't take long before the butterfly landed on her palms, and she cupped her other hand over it.
Blair as a 7 year old flashed before Sam's eyes, and he had remembered how desperate she was to get one. How she would jump and swat her net everywhere, and how she stared at him after he caught it.
And after all the years of settling with telephone calls and letters, she was here.
Blair was right. There really was some thrill to this.
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