The butterfly hovered above the treeline a moment longer, its black wings stroking slow, unhurried, uninterested in hiding.
But after a long minute, it darted around and flew farther away. Alex let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding.
The noise of the campus came back in around him.
"...and THEN Ash said the banner might not fit the railings, so we went back and measured them again with the tape measure. TWICE!" Anna was mid-speech, still hanging off his arm, not noticing he'd been somewhere else for the last minute. "It fits. Barely. We had to hold it up to check, and a security guard came and asked us what we were doing, and I explained to him that we are professionals."
Ash raised an eyebrow at him. "I helped with one end."
"It needs to be perfect." Anna said. "I can't believe I'm excited for a basketball game."
He let the current carry him for a while, the two of them orbiting, the plan working all around them, students flowing past gazing at them.
