Page 25 of Levi Bailey has Butterflies

Meredith.

Heat rises to my head. And I am instantly annoyed.

See, Coco? Not attraction. Not butterflies.Annoyance.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I say, pushing my way through the glass door.

Miles and Meredith freeze in place—not that she’ll be able to go anywhere.

“Oh, hey, Levi,” my brother says—unfazed by my tone. Which isn’t happy, by the way. Does no one respect the displeased tone anymore? Does it say nothing? “I was just helping Meredith—”

“I know what you’re doing. I don’t knowwhyyou’re doing it. She has a concussion. She shouldn’t be on that thing.”

Meredith smirks. “Just a small one.”

Miles’s grip on the one handlebar he holds tightens. “Maybe you should hop off,” he tells her. Well, at least my little brother isn’t a total idiot.

“Maybe?” I say.

Meredith slides off the bike. Her arms flap at her sides, making her dress poof out around her. She unbuckles her helmet and hands it over to Miles. “Stop looking at him like that,” she says. “You’re ruining the beauty of your eyebrows. They don’t look nearly as great when you scowl like that.”

“Well, you don’t look nearly as great with a hole in your head. Or did you not notice the sutures, Miles?”

Miles’ mouth opens, making him look a little like a dead fish. He closes up his flap, then stutters. “Ah… I didn’t.”

“You should probably get back to the studio,” I tell him. I’d rather not yell at my brother anymore. I smack the white paper bag, with his now smashed donut, to his chest.

Miles only smiles and shakes his head. “Nice meeting you,” he says to Meredith.

“Thanks for…” She bites her bottom lip, drawing my eyes there. “Ah, the helmet.” It sounds more like a question. “And being willing.”

Miles gives one quiet nod and he’s out the door, taking his crumbled Penny’s donut with him.

“What are you doing here?”

“My bike is here,” she says. “I thought maybe you would have come to see me.”

I thought about checking up on her. In all honesty, I wanted to. But every time I’d start to go, I’d change my mind. “Well, I didn’t.”

“Nope. But that’s okay. I brought you cookies, as promised.”

“Cookies?” I walk over to the checkout counter, picking up and stacking a few files that don’t need to be stacked.

“Yes.” Her body turns, following me like the earth orbiting around the sun. “Did you already forget? I’m paying you for bike lessons with cookies.”

I look up from the work on this counter that doesn’t need attention. “Lessons? I’m pretty sure I said one. One lesson. Singular.”

“You said you’d teach me. I haven’t learned yet.”

“That’s because you can’t even stay upright.” My jaw clenches. Sure—I may not mean any of it. But it comes out easy enough.

“I may have a concussion, but it’s slight. I’m not convinced it even is a concussion. I remember what you said, Levi. You saidsorry. You were worried about me.”

I swallow. I was worried. I can’t deny it. “So, you’re okay?”

“I am. Just a little headache.” She sets one hand on her curvy hip. “So, when is our next lesson?”

I walk behind the counter, ignoring the way her puppy dog eyes beg up at me. “I don’t think there should be a next time. I think you should move on to another hobby.”

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