Milkweed and Gossamer

The floor of the butterfly house was gravel with pathways of pavers decorated with flowers, hummingbirds, and butterflies leading to the stations on the tour.. There were concrete statues of gnomes and wizards tucked into corners and between displays. There were stations set up around the path. Each featured a poster describing a stage of development in the life cycle of the monarch.

"We start here," Jamie said. She pointed to a map of Mexico and the United States.

"Each March the monarchs leave the Oyamel Fir trees of Michoacan, Mexico where they spend the winter and begin their migration to the southern United States. This first generation of butterflies will lay their eggs on the leaves of the milkweed plants in the south.

"This is the first reason that the milkweed is so important," she explained, lifting a leaf on the plant in front of her. "The monarchs will only deposit eggs on milkweed plants. See the egg here?"

"You're very professional," Josh interrupted.

"I know. Thank you," she said, brushing off his compliment. "It takes about three or four days before the eggs hatch, and tiny caterpillars crawl out."

"How many eggs do they lay?" he asked.

"A lot. I don't really know. I think a hundred, at least. Their lives aren't long, so they each have to lay enough to keep the next generation viable," she said. "The caterpillars spend about ten to fourteen days doing nothing but eating milkweed leaves. This is the other reason that the milkweed is so important. It's the only thing the caterpillars eat."

She put her hand on Josh's elbow and led him to the glass aquarium tank at the next station.

"When we find a caterpillar, we put it in this tank so it doesn't get stepped on. We give them plenty of leaves and let them go crazy."

"Sounds like a boring diet to me," Josh joked. "Maybe they'd like a pizza or something. Here. I'll call Dominos." He reached for his phone.

Jaime rolled her eyes.

"Jeez, Milkweed. Every time I see you, you're rolling your eyes at me."

"Good reason for that." She looked around to see if anyone was nearby. "At least you don't have a boner this time," she whispered.

Josh's face turned the color of Jaime's shirt, but he grinned. "Trust me. It's a compliment. You're really cute," he said. "But you're too young for me. I don't want to end up in jail."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, Josh. I'm not sure what you could possibly mean," she said dramatically. "I am eighteen, after all, and I don't know what you'd be thinking of doing with me that would land you in jail."

He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice. "You're eighteen?"

"Weren't you at my birthday party? I mean, working at it anyway?"

"Yeah, but I figured it was a Sweet Sixteen party," he said.

"Nope. I'm eighteen. Legal and everything," she said with a smile. "Not that my father would let you date me or anything. How old are you?"

"Twenty-two. Just like Scott."

He struggled to keep his eyes on her face. Her T-shirt hugged her tits, and he could see that her nipples were hard even out of the corner of his eye. His cock was waking up again, so he smiled and turned around to look in the tank.

"So, what's the problem with the milkweed, Milkweed?" he asked, changing the subject. "If it's a weed, why doesn't it grow like a...weed?"

She smiled at his corny wordplay. "Well, yeah, except that scientists have been so successful in genetically engineering their plants, they have made them so that farmers can use herbicides on the weeds and not kill the crops. The milkweed all over the country is being snuffed out by weed killer."

"Don't they know that?" Josh asked.

"Sure they know. They don't care though. If you're a farmer, all you want to do is raise your crops and sell them. You can't think about butterflies and shit like that," she said. "I don't blame them. I'd do the same thing if I was growing crops."

"You know," Josh said, "I saw something about this on some news show. I guess the pesticides are killing the honeybees, so the crops really need the butterflies for pollination. All this technology is creating the need for more technology." He shook his head in disbelief.

"You're absolutely right. Butterflies are important. Since I can't change the farmers' actions, I'm doing what I can to save the monarchs. I'm growing and giving away milkweed for people to put in their gardens. If enough people grow milkweed, the farmers can kill their weeds, and the monarchs will still have their habitat. That's my theory anyway.

"For my graduation project, I used half of what I earned here last year to buy materials. Dad and Scott helped me build the greenhouse, and Mom and I planted all those little plants."

"Wow," Josh said. "I'm stunned. They're so beautiful. Not the weeds. The butterflies, I mean. I didn't realize they were in trouble."

"Almost all of my first round of plants are gone. The second crop is almost ready to distribute. I've been making a list of the houses I've seen with butterfly bushes and nectar plants. I'm going to deliver the pots to those houses with a flier about the milkweed.

"Maybe you'd like to come with me. I could use an extra set of hands," she said with a shrug.

He paused and smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that."

She smiled back and looked into the tank.

"See this guy here, hanging in a 'J' shape from the lid of the tank?" she said, ducking down and pointing. "He's getting ready to go into his green, shiny chrysalis. It's like a non-fuzzy cocoon. He'll hang there like that on the lid for a while, and when we look again, all we'll see is his chrysalis and his molted skin on the floor of the tank."

"Is that one? Over there in the corner?" he said.

"Ooh. Good eye." She lifted the lid from the tank and removed the chrysalis. "We'll move him over there. C'mon."

Josh followed her to a corkboard where she put a dab of hot glue on the chrysalis and stuck it to a pushpin. She stuck the pushpin to the corkboard with the others in different stages of development.

"The glue doesn't hurt it?" he asked, ducking when a butterfly came close to brushing his face.

"Not at all."

"What are those gold spots?" he said.

"I don't think anyone knows for sure. Might be for camouflage or something. They're pretty though, huh? Here. Look at this one. This one's about to come out."

Josh could see the monarch's markings through the almost-transparent chrysalis.

"Holy shit," he said, awed.

"Stick around for a few minutes. Maybe we'll see it," she said. "Now for the fun part."

She grabbed his hand, and pulled him to a low shelf with a bottle containing a clear liquid and long cotton swabs. She took one for herself and handed one to Josh, then she pulled him closer to one of the nectar feeders.

"Hold it out, close to their feet."

He placed one close to an orange and black cluster, but not close enough. Jaime grabbed his hand and guided it until the tip of the swab touched the butterfly's delicate feet. She held his hand even after the butterfly climbed onto the stick.

"Oh my god, Milkweed. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen," he said. He felt the warmth of her hand on his. He looked at her smiling, hazel eyes and smiled back. "It's amazing."

Jaime finally let go of his wrist, and picked up her own swab. When she had two monarchs on the tip, she held them up in front of her face. "Look. A monarch mustache."

"You get more adorable every time I look at you," he said. "Hang on. Let me take a picture."

He snapped the photo and said, "I'll use this for your contact in my phone. Give me your number."

"Scott will be pissed off," she teased. "He'll tell my dad."

"Let him," Josh said. "You'll need to call me to go with you to deliver the milkweed, right?"

~~~~~

The next morning, Josh arrived at work just in time for a meeting with the garden staff. Josh was grateful for the extra couple of minutes to finish his coffee in the air-conditioned break room.

He was only grateful for a minute though.

As soon as Carlos arrived, Scott stood up and began the meeting.

"It has come to my parents' attention that one of you motherfuckers is sniffing around my sister," Scott said, placing his palms on the table.

Josh dropped his head, knowing that he was blushing. All I did was talk to her in the Butterfly House. And I called her "adorable." Don't forget that. And I got her phone number.

Carlos spoke up before Scott could continue the attack. "Seriously? You called a meeting for this? What's the matter with you?"

Scott put his hands up in front of him to demand silence. "Look, my mother told me that one of the ladies in the store mentioned it to her yesterday. She didn't know who it was. She just said that it was one of the garden guys.

"We told all of you to stay away from her. You're all way too old for her, and she's never really had a steady boyfriend. We'd like to see her...Um...Keep her...innocence. You are a horny bunch of assholes, and I don't want you anywhere near her. Especially you, Carlos. You've had sex with most of the women in the county."

Carlos shrugged and smiled. "Fair enough, man. Hey. I can't help it if all your girlfriends like me better."

Josh's thoughts raced. Did anyone see me in the Butterfly House? I was just delivering plants. How could somebody think I was putting the moves on her? Shit. I took that picture of her with the butterflies in front of her face. I can't believe this is happening.

Scott said a few more things that Josh didn't hear before he dismissed the meeting with a wave of his hand. The guys went back to work in the greenhouse.

"What the fuck?" Ethan said as he held the door to the greenhouse open. "She's eighteen. It's not like she's a child. Why are they so damn protective of her?"

"She's friends with my sister," Alex said. "My sister said she's always got a boyfriend, but she hides it from them. I guess she sneaks out or lies to them."

"But seriously, they have no idea?" Ethan said. "Look at her. She's gorgeous. How can they think for a minute that there aren't guys lined up to get with her?"

Carlos looked around to make sure no one else was in the greenhouse. "Look at Scott's parents. How old do you think they are?"

"I don't know," Ethan said. "What difference does it make?"

"He told me once that his mother was nineteen when she had him. I think they are trying to keep her from making the same mistake her mother made. They want her to go to college before she gets knocked up," Carlos explained. "And don't forget Jake last year. When Scott caught them making out behind the pavilion. Jake got fired, and Jaime got put under surveillance."

"I still think it's stupid," Alex said.

Carlos smiled and pointed at Alex and Ethan. "Now we know it's not Josh. He never breaks the rules. So which one of you dickheads is it?"

Josh mumbled an excuse, and left the greenhouse. He couldn't believe that someone would read so much into an innocent exchange. Well, there's also the fact that the first two times I met her, I had a hard-on, and she could tell.

He shook his head and vowed to be more careful.

~~~~~

Jaime picked a rainy day in the middle of August to deliver the milkweed so that the garden center wouldn't be too busy. When Josh arrived in the break room, she was sitting there with red cups with the logo Eight O'Clock for both of them.

"I didn't know how you take your coffee, so I left the cream and sugar on the side," she said, handing him the Styrofoam cup.

"Thank you," he said. "You didn't have to do that. I take it black anyway."

"Perfect then," she replied. "Can we take your truck?"

"Sure. No problem."

"Can I drive?" she asked.

"I don't know. Can you? I mean, you won't crash it, right?"

"Of course not!" she said. "Of course, we're going on dirt roads. That pretty, white truck of yours might need a bath when we're done."

"I'll tell you what. If you get my truck dirty, I'll let you pay for the car wash, OK?" He smiled. "Let's get the plants loaded."

The deliveries were uneventful, and riding in the truck gave Jaime and Josh an opportunity to get to know each other without Scott's supervision and the ladies reporting from the log cabin.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Nope," she said as she turned the truck onto a dirt road, bouncing everything around in the truck, including her tits.

"Why not?" he asked. "You're absolutely gorgeous, even without butterflies on your face."

"You've met my parents and my brother, right? Scott's made it his personal mission to preserve my purity until my wedding night, I guess.

"He's a hypocrite though. He fucks everything with a pussy," she added, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

Josh gasped when he heard the crude language coming out of her mouth.

She threw her head back and laughed, causing her to hit a pothole in the road. "Oops! Sorry I'm putting you through a blender here."

"Trust me, I don't mind," he said, watching the jiggle in the front of her shirt.

Jaime brought the truck to a stop in the middle of the empty road and put it in park.

"Are you checking me out, Josh?" she asked with a coy smile.

Josh blushed for the thousandth time since he'd met her. "I guess maybe I am. I'll stop. I'm sorry."

Jaime turned her body toward him and leaned forward a bit. "I don't really mind," she said in a husky voice. "I like you, Josh."

He leaned a little closer to her, feeling the blood rushing between his legs. "I like you too, Milkweed."

She reached for his hair, pulling a small fleck of a red flower from the side of his head. "Looks like I'm getting my milkweed all over you. It's on your shirt too."

"Maybe I'll attract a butterfly," he said with a smile.

She put her hands on his chest to brush the petals away, and he took a chance. He grabbed her elbows, leaned in, and kissed her. She squealed with surprise, but opened her mouth right away to accept his tongue. When he didn't offer it, she pushed hers against his lips, wiggling it into his mouth.

Josh couldn't hold back. He plunged his tongue into Jaime's mouth and explored her teeth, tongue, and lips. His cock was throbbing as it strained against his jeans. He brought his hands to the sides of her face and pulled her closer.

She moaned and arched her back, pressing her breasts against his chest. He brought a hand down to cup her tit, and he swirled his thumb over her nipple, feeling its hardness.

He brought his other hand to the other breast, but before he could apply any friction to it, the driver of a little, white hybrid behind them stopped and honked.

"Shit," Jaime said. She pulled herself together, and put the truck back in drive.

"Maybe we can continue this later," Josh said weakly, trying to compose himself.

"Yeah, later," she said, swallowing hard. She put her foot on the gas, and started in the direction of the next house on her list. Her nipples were still poking at the red fabric of her shirt when they got there.

~~~~~

He didn't have to wait long for "later" to arrive.

The next morning, Jaime was sitting on a bench in the parking lot when he arrived. He waved out the window, hoping she was waiting for him. She had two red paper cups in her hands once again.

"Hey!" she said when he approached. "I brought you coffee."

"Again? Thanks," he said with a smile.

"C'mon. Let's go drink it with the butterflies." She grabbed his free hand, and led him around the front of the log cabin. He looked over his shoulder to see if Scott was watching. Scott wasn't around, but he saw Alex and Ethan getting out of their cars.

"What if Scott or your dad sees us?" he asked.

"They're not here. They had to meet with some guy about something. I don't know. All I know is that I'm pretty glad Scott's not here breathing down my neck for a change."

They arrived at the butterfly house and made small talk and drank coffee while Jaime checked for changes. Josh helped her check the milkweed plants for caterpillars that hatched during the night. She collected them and put them into the caterpillar cage.

Jaime went through the cage to see if any of the more mature caterpillars had formed their chrysalides during the night. She found two new ones, and she moved them to the corkboard.

"I'll have to check in the log cabin to see if they need their cage restocked," she said.

"Why do they have a cage?" he asked.

"You've seen the Nature Jars, right?"

He nodded.

"Once you buy a Nature Jar, you can bring it in and get a free caterpillar to raise in the jar. It's pretty cool. We try to give out the biggest, fattest ones, so they don't die. Usually they form the chrysalis in a couple of days, and about two weeks later, there's a butterfly in the jar, ready to be released back into nature."

"That's cool," he said.

"Yeah. I was giving out milkweed plants to go with them, but I'm all out now," she added. "Looks like we have two more butterflies that will emerge today, and three that made their way out between last night and this morning."

Jaime moved the two folding chairs from the corner to the middle of the path. "C'mon. Sit. Enjoy nature with me."

Something in the way she said it struck Josh as funny. He started to laugh, imagining the two of them sitting naked on cold chairs in the middle of the butterfly house.

"What's so funny?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face or something?" She brushed her mouth without realizing what she was doing.

"No. Nothing like that," he said, shaking his head and laughing. "The way you said 'nature,' reminded me of 'naked' or something. Can you imagine? Sitting out here naked?"

Jaime's face was suddenly very serious. "I did that once."

"Excuse me?" he said, surprised by her announcement.

"You heard me. I sat out here naked once. The sun had just come up, and nobody was here yet. I just sat here with the nectar sticks, waiting for the butterflies to land on me," she said, her cheeks reddening.

Josh took a minute to recover from this revelation. "You're not shitting me, are you? That's the hottest thing I've ever heard."

Jaime glanced at his midsection, the bulge in his pants confirming it. She smiled and leaned forward, placing her hand on his fly.

"Yep. You do think it's hot. Wanna try it with me sometime?" she asked.

It was Josh's turn to blush. He couldn't tell if she was serious or not. "I'm not sure how we might pull that one off. I think Scott would cut my dick off if he saw us."

"You're probably right, but—"

"No probably about it. He'd freakin' kill me." He realized that she was serious, and blushed a deeper shade of red.

She sighed. "Look, Josh. I like you. I know I'm too young for you, and I know that Scott's a pain in the ass, but I like you. I'd like to go out with you sometime."

Josh raised his eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? You're adorable, and you've helped me all summer with the milkweed. When we kissed in the truck...Didn't you feel something for me?" Her face was suddenly serious, pleading with Josh.

"Well, yeah, but..."

"But what? You're four years older than I am. I'm eighteen. I'll talk to my brother. I'll tell him that you're not pushing me into anything. I'll tell him—"

"Jaime, I'm leaving in August." Josh put his hands on Jaime's shoulders. "I'm starting grad school. Anything we might have is only temporary. I don't think it's a good id—"

Jaime cut him off by pressing her lips against his. As her tongue poked into his mouth, he felt his hands moving from her shoulders to the sides of her head, her silken braids hanging over his hands. The kiss deepened, and his cock swelled even more than before. He was falling hard for her, and he wasn't sure he could stop it.

They kissed until Ethan and Carlos interrupted them with obnoxious catcalls and whistles. They released each other with a start, both blushing madly.