The Butterfly and The Moth

25

Although I'm sure that Tiff's words were supposed to be fun, and playful— I felt a tug of anxiety in my stomach.

We all have some secrets to come out. I felt my lips roll together, whipping my head away from Sterling, pointedly looking anywhere but at my sister. I was suddenly very aware of how close she was standing to me. There weren't any alarm bells ringing in her skin, I could feel it. Daisy was as calm as she could be.

She didn't know that my secrets were her secrets, too.

I felt the anxiety increasing, moving from my stomach up into my chest. Then, I felt mad. I felt annoyed. I had drank the stupid alcohol, hadn't I? It worked. It had taken away my thoughts and my feelings and my memories. But, it stopped working.

Maybe I just needed more.

As if that single thought was an agreement between my brain and my body, I reached out quickly towards the empty shot glass and the bottle of alcohol Tiff had just poured from.

However, my hand barely touched the glass before I heard Sterling's voice at the same time I felt his grip on my arm.

"Dahlia," he said my name quickly and the softness that I remembered from his voice yesterday was back. "Slow down. You're going to make yourself sick."

I clenched my teeth together in annoyance, filtering my thoughts so that my true feelings didn't come out in the sea of curious teenagers. But, before I answered, Daisy's voice sounded out first.

"Leave her alone, Sterling," Daisy's voice floated out in a half laugh. "Dahlia is a big girl, she can take care of herself. Besides, you're not her boyfriend. You don't have to..." she stopped speaking, a stunned smile forming on her face.

"You're not her boyfriend... right? Oh... my... god! You two totally are dating aren't you! Aren't you?" She seemed thrilled at the prospect.

There was a stunned silence, for a single second in the crowd of kids that had known Daisy and Sterling for years. I wasn't sure what to do, or say, so I took the opportunity to finally take the alcohol that I had been seeking. I quickly poured some into a red cup that I found beside me, not bothering to measure the amount. I brought it to my lips, noticing the sharp taste but ignoring it as I gulped down as much as I could.

I heard laughter, and I wasn't aware people were laughing at me until I heard Micheal's voice.

"She'd rather drink than answer!" He yelled out.

"Shut up," Sterling muttered at his friend, before he turned back to Daisy. "You shut up, too."

Daisy didn't seem swayed by his words. She lifted an eyebrow, and spoke again. "That wasn't an answer."

"Because it was a stupid question," Sterling said sharply, and I could see the way he was scolding Daisy with his eyes, trying to communicate with her.

Daisy didn't seemed to care, she continued. "I disagree. I think it's a perfectly reasonable question."

She was communicating silently right back with Sterling, having a conversation with their eyes. I couldn't understand it, but their expressions were quite clear. Daisy was having fun. Sterling was just pissed.

"I agree with Daisy," Tiff's slurred voice stunned me. I had forgotten her existence for a second.

"It certainly is a perfectly reasonable question," Tiff continued. "For Truth or Truth."

"What the hell is Truth or Truth?" I asked, and my slurred voice almost rivalled Tiff's. The constant sipping of the clear alcohol in my cup was certainly helping... or, maybe not helping.