Lasagne, Lasagne, Lasagne, Lasagne! Mark's going to teach me to make Lasagne!
I bounce into the living room, all the ingredients piled up in my arms. Danny's sat on the settee, looking exhausted. What's gotten into him? I didn't think his job was that stressful? He glances over to me and smiles.
“Alright, love?” he says. His voice is louder than usual. “Have a nice time shopping?”
“Yeah. I've never seen a shop so big. I had no idea what I was missing back when I was living by myself.” I heard some clanging coming from down the hall. “What's that?”
“Just Mark. He'll be out in a...”
But I ignore him. I bounce towards the sound, nearly banging into Mark as he comes out of a room. That isn't his bedroom. That's the spare room, where they keep all the unnecessary shit that came along with the flat. Maybe he's missing something...
He grins at me as he spots me.
“Alright, poppet?” he beams. “How did it go?”
“Mission accomplished,” I say proudly, holding out the bag of goodies for him.
“Perfect. I'm starving. Come on, lemme show you how to make lasagne.”
I bounce after him. I sure am doing a lot of bouncing today...Watching him as he lays out each ingredient in front of him on the worktop. He runs me through each step of the process, delicately showing me how to open the tins of tomatoes, how to make up the stock water properly and how to align each layer symmetrically in the tin. It's fascinating! So much more interesting than popping a meal into the microwave.
“Right. Now it goes in the oven.”
He lets me place the concoction into the blazing furnace of goodness. I make sure not to spill even the slightest drop, pushing it as far as I possibly can before letting him close the door. As he sets the timer, I take my place on the floor. Carefully watching the layers of goo as they bubble with the heat.
“And now we wait for an hour for it to be done. You coming?”
“Can I watch it?”
“For an hour? You'll get bored.”
“I used to do much more boring stuff when I was alone. I used to count the cracks on the walls, then count them again. And then I used to count them backwards. Just to pass the time. So trust me. This is nothing compared to that.”
I hear him chuckle and sit down next to me.
“You are quite easily the strangest person I know,” he says.
“I hear that a lot.”
“Yeah, but I think it's cool.”
“Me? Cool? Now you're talking out of your ass.”
“When don't I?”
I giggle, feeling the butterflies start all over again as he looks at me. The Best Friend Butterflies. They're starting to get on my nerves a bit. I'd like to go a day without them making a fuss.
I turn my head to look to see if we're alone. Looks like it. I think I vaguely remember Glen suggest that him and Danny go play Call of Duty in his room. They're addicted to that game, I swear...But that doesn't matter. I need to talk to Mark about these stupid butterflies.
“Hey, Mark?”
“Hmm?”
“D'you feel the butterflies?” I feel my gaze drop as the words leave my mouth, suddenly embarrassed. What the hell, body?!
