WANTED: Love of my Life

41. Meeting in the Shadows

And he was never seen again on the face of this earth. Miss Ellis' words haunted me the remainder of the evening and made it absolutely impossible for me to do my math homework. Well, okay, that might also have had something to do with my absolute inability to solve equations. But even if I had been a mathematical genius, I wouldn't have been able to get any work done that evening. I was suffering from an emotional crisis here!

And there was one other thing which probably didn't do much for my concentration, and which became increasingly evident as I lay in bed later that night, trying to stay awake until the time for my next date had arrived: I was suffering from sleep deprivation.

All these late night dates were getting to me. For a moment, I considered putting on a punk rock CD Jen had given me for last Christmas. Then I remembered that I didn't own any headphones, and that my parents would therefore probably notice the music, as would the entire neighborhood, and that insane ideas like this one only proved further that I hadn't gotten enough sleep the last few days. I tried to hold my eyes open with my fingers. That didn't work very well, either. Yet I supposed it could be worse. Other girls might get tired of seeing their boyfriend – I just got tired because of seeing my boyfriend. That was infinitely preferable.

With all my might, I tried to cling on to my consciousness. But I was just so sleepy... surely, five minutes... a little nap couldn't hurt. And even if I didn't wake up, would it matter that much? Surely he wouldn't worry that much...

Suddenly, an image shot through my muddled head: the situation reversed, I, waiting for Giacomo, and he didn't show up. The pain that image caused was indescribable. And he was never seen again on the face of this earth.

Oh God, what was I thinking? I couldn't risk standing him up, no matter how tired I was! I knew how devastated I'd feel if that happened to me. And even if he couldn't be half as crazy about me as I was about him, I was pretty sure that it would hurt him if I didn't show up. Never, ever in my whole life would I want to do that.

In the end, I started counting shepherds. I figured, if counting sheep helps you fall asleep, maybe counting shepherds helps you stay awake. All in all, it seemed to work. Maybe because each of the shepherds was tall and muscular, with long curly brown hair, a leather jacket and a devious smile that knocked the breath out of me, but those, I'm sure you will agree, were just negligible details.

At around midnight – I couldn't be totally sure, because the clock appeared to be kind of blurred, as did the rest of the room, as a matter of fact – I stumbled out of bed and towards the window. Somehow I managed to get it open and myself outside, and somehow I managed to be not upside down as I landed on the fire escape. I gripped the railing tightly as I made my way down towards the street, perfectly aware of the fact that I was not unlikely to stumble and break my neck in my current condition.

Yet as soon as I spotted the dark figure leaning against a lantern post in the distance, all my drowsiness disappeared. I was wide awake again, and there was no stopping me. Quickly, I sprinted down the last couple of steps, ran across the road and into his arms.

And he was never seen again on the face of this earth.

“I'm so glad to see you,” I whispered, only just able to prevent tears from coming to my eyes.

“See me?” Giacomo asked. “It's pitch black.”

“Well, then I'm just going to have to feel you. You know, just to make sure you're really there.”

I started to make sure.

“And you have to use your lips, do you?” There was laughter in his voice