Perfectly Wrong For Me

21. Butterflies

Diana

I take a sip of my water as Dante approaches after talking to his mom.

I chuckle at the frown on his face. "It couldn't have been that bad."

On the way here, he had told me he would have to talk to his mom for a while to discuss how he was feeling about his brother Carter. I thought it would be good for him to finally let out his feelings about it since he hadn't said a word about it since that night.

He rolls his eyes and leans against his mom's kitchen sink. "Easy for you to say. You didn't have to sit for two hours listening to your mom go on about all the things you and your brother did as a child."

"She's grieving, Dante. Show some sympathy. Everyone grieves differently."

"Yeah, but she drooled, Diana! She fucking drooled on me!"

I shake my head, "No she didn't."

"I'm dead serious. She hugged me and started crying and I kid you not, I felt drool fall to my neck. I love ma with all my heart, but that shit nearly made me vomit." He shudders in disgust and I laugh.

"How did your dad take the news?" I ask as he fills a glass with scotch and leans back on the sink.

"Dad is dad. He played it off like he cared in front of ma but everyone else knows he doesn't care about Carter's passing. "

What a dick.

I shake my head in disappointment and reply, "What about you? How are you feeling?"

"You know I don't like talking about that kind of stuff."

"Oh, come on, you have to do it sometime in your life."

He grins, "Alright then, what about you? How are you feeling?"

I almost gag at the thought of having to express my emotions through words.

"Touche."

The rest of his family are speaking to each other. They were all gathered in the dining room, and Dante and I were in the kitchen.

The first hour after arriving had gone well. I wished Dante's mom a happy birthday and had given her my gift for her. His aunt had greeted us and we managed to really nail the part. Then Dante's mom brought up Carter's death and gathered all her family around to make everybody express how they were feeling. That's when I ran off.

I started off with talking to Fiona, who was hanging out with the other kids, but she soon ditched me. Then I moved to the game of Monopoly that Dante's cousins were having, but they also ditched me after seeing how competitive I was. Then I came in here for a drink and never left.

I lean back on the counter across from Dante. "Biggest fear?"

He raises an eyebrow, "Why the sudden interest?"

I shrug, "We never got to ask each other."

He waits a minute before answering.

"Butterflies." He finally admits.

I wait for him to tell me it is a joke, but when I see he is dead serious, I start to laugh hysterically. After a minute of him pinning me down with a death stare, I stop laughing.

"Why?" I ask and cover my laugh to stop the laughter from escaping again.

"When I was ten, my brother and his friends used to always do little pranks to piss me off. I was younger and smaller than them so it wasn't like I could really do anything to get them back, so this made them do it all the time. One night when I was sleeping, they put a bunch of butterflies on me. I had never seen one before and when I woke up they were all over my eyes and ears and from then on I hated those disgusting demons."