Pretend // Brandon Arreaga

21- Butterfly is My Spirit Animal

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Peaceful was the word that came to mind as soon as Caroline walked into the doors of Butterfly Wonderland. She was in awe at the beauty of the place. It was literally a rainforest in the middle of the desert.

"Do you like it?" Brandon asked, snaking his arm around her waist as they walked in.

"I love it. It's so pretty and peaceful." She chirped happily as butterflies flew around them.

Colorful butterflies flew around them as they entered the conservatory. Brandon was too busy looking at Caroline to enjoy the butterflies himself. He smiled proudly as she gawked as a butterfly landed in her outstretched hand. Instant relaxation came over her. Brandon felt like he was watching middle school Caroline dance before him. He had never saw her so excited before, she hadn't even been that excited for the observatory.

"This is heaven." She giggled, pulling around by his hand as she danced around in the middle of the conservatory.

They came across a butterfly bench and Caroline, all but, demanded a mandatory photoshoot. Brandon and her took a bunch of candid and posed photos before moving further into the atrium. Caroline had fell in love with the place. She couldn't believe she had never been before until Brandon found the place on google.

"Did you want to check out some of the other things around here?" Brandon asked, as the got towards the end of the walkway.

"There's more?!" Caroline squealed with excitement. She could barely keep her feet still as the stood at the entrance to the conservatory

"Yeah, they have an aquarium and some dinosaur thing." Brandon said, looking down at the brochure he was handed when he bought the tickets.

"Holy fuck, this is literally how heaven will look for me." Caroline breathed.

Brandon chuckled and followed her back into the lobby of the butterfly place. Caroline had Ben to excited to notice there was a lot more than one building around them. Even the butterfly place had a store and other things scattered around.

"This so amazing! I love it." Caroline reiterated.

While Caroline was busy watching a butterfly larvae hatch into a butterfly, Brandon snuck off to the gift shop. He looked around trying to find the perfect gift to remember the day.  Finally, he found a shirt about a butterfly being a spirit animal. After the way she acted, he felt that was true about her. Butterflies bought out a whole different side of her. When he got back to Caroline she hadn't even noticed he had been missing.

"Brandon, if the balloon ride is anything like this, we are getting married tomorrow." Caroline said, looking over at him.

"Getting married before we even date, that's a jump." Brandon chuckled. "I'm ready though."

Caroline giggled and linked arms with him. He led her outside where the crowd was beginning to calm down some. They still had a good many hours until they had to go for the hot air balloon ride, but going home just sounded better. There time was best spent watching Netflix while tangled together on the couch eating snacks. Somehow they bonded more doing that than going on actual dates.

Back at her place, Caroline sat on the couch waiting for Brandon with a bowl of popcorn. She was making him watch some of her favorite shows while they waited for 5 am to get there. Brandon came out the bathroom and looked up from his phone, disappointment all over his face. He locked eyes with Caroline who was watching him intently.

"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned for him.

"They had to cancel out balloon ride for reasons beyond their control. So we can't go on the balloon ride." Brandon explained, his face faltering a bit.

"Oh! Oh that's okay! It's fine really." She said, reassuring him with a smile.

"I know, but I really wanted to ride the balloon." Brandon chuckled.

"Hey, we can still watch the sunrise after ya girl gets some sleep tonight." Caroline laughed.

Brandon laughed and sat down beside her on the couch. He could tell she was incredibly sleepy. She had been up for so long and he had kept her busy doing stuff all day. Not even 10 minutes into the show and Caroline had fell asleep.

After some time, Brandon woke her up gently. It was minutes before the sun was supposed to rise and he was eager to see her reaction to the sunrise.

"Get up." He whispered, jabbing her in the side.

"Oh, fuck you." She mumbled, rubbing her side. She sat up and looked at him. He had to be running on red bull to be that energetic.

"Come on, Let's go up to the roof." Brandon said, pulling her up from the couch.

She sleepily followed him up to the roof with a blanket wrapped around her. She was beginning to regret agreeing to doing that. They got up to the roof and sat on the edge.
Caroline cuddled up against him and laid her head on his chest.

"I so tired yet anything is 100 times better when your around." Caroline whispered.

"I'm glad you feel that way. I enjoy your company too." Brandon said, wrapping his arm around her.

"I love you." She whispered, looking up and kissing him.

Brandon was in shock by what had just happened. He hadn't expected her to say that yet, not that he minded. He knew he loved her, he had just been waiting for her to love him back.

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