WANTED: Love of my Life

18. Lepidoptera in my stomach

See what doing crosswords can do to you? How else would I have known the Latin word for butterflies, which incidentally, with over 180,000 known species and 127 families, are, after the bugs (Coleoptera), the second largest order of insects. Amazing, isn't it?

Not that those were the thoughts that occupied me when I got up the next morning, though. Oh no. I didn't care how big the family of some insect was or how many annoying relatives it had.

When would I see him again? How would he react? What would happen? Where would we go? What would he do? Would he ever kiss me again?

Those were the questions that kept whirling around in my head – particularly the last one. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, staring into the glass and not seeing anything, I touched my lips, very carefully, with the tips of my fingers. When I closed my eyes and let myself drift, I almost could still feel his full lips softly pressing against mine. But I didn't want the memory. I wanted him. Again and again – and then again. And then some more. And perhaps a bit longer than that...

“Imp!”

Someone, I didn't particularly care who, was hammering against the locked bathroom door.

“What the heck are you doing in there?! Hurry up! Mark is taking me to school, and if I keep him waiting because of you, I'll strangle you with my bare hands, understood?”

“Hmm.”

“What was that? What did you say?!”

“I... I'll be out in a minute. Won't take long, I promise.”

What should I do when I left the... where was I again? Oh yes, the bathroom. What should I do? Run to the shelter? Dinner wouldn't be be served for another twelve hours, but he might be there anyway. No, wait, wasn't there something I had to do first?

“That was a minute and a half! Imp, I have go get to school! Get out of there!”

School! That was it. Yes, school usually came before the evening. But was that really important? I mean, I knew the most important thing anyway: Giacomo and I had kissed. And the most important thing I didn't yet know, namely whether it would happen again, I wasn't likely to learn in math class.

“Mom? Mom, come here and help me! Angela won't get out the bathroom!”

Oops. A black cloud momentarily covered my bright sky of happiness. My mother... my mother couldn't know there was anything wrong with me. Well not wrong. Right. Righter. The rightest! Things had never, ever been so fantastic. And my mother could never know – because she was sure to have a slightly different opinion on the whole me-kissing-an-eighteen-year-old-derelict-thing.

Time to return to planet earth. I blinked down at the toothbrush in my hand. I was sure that I had been about to do do something with it... Yes, brush my teeth, that had been it! Well, too late now. Cathy was ready to contemplate the use of a battering ram, and I could hear my mother coming up the stairs. So I stuffed the unused toothbrush back into the bathroom cabinet and then unlocked and opened the door, just as my mother had reached my sister's side.

“No need to make such a fuss,” I said, and couldn't keep the bright smile off my face. I just couldn't. I was so insanely happy. “I'm finished.”

“You are, if Mark's upset with me,” Cathy spat. I just grinned up at her.

“I love you too, sis. Bye.” And with that, I ran off. I could practically feel Cathy staring after me. When I'd reached the stairs, I heard her ask: “Mom? Do you keep drugs in the bathroom cabinet? Because if you do, I think you should check if some are missing...”