Lingus

by Mariana Zapata

I was used to eating pretty regularly, and if I skipped a meal, I turned into Nikki—a bitch.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Wine gets better with age, so do some men.

His smile reminded me of the sun after I'd been in the dark for too long; it'd be so bright you had to squint.

"If my little gold digger wants to win a game, we'll win a game," he promised with a crooked, wicked smile.

I hated it when people said they would do something and then didn't.

A good high-five said a lot about a person; just like a handshake did. I hated limp fish handshakes like you couldn't imagine.

"K, don't you waste your time on him when he doesn't want the same thing you do. At least, don't waste all of your time on him hoping that something will come out of it. You need to live your life, too. Okay?"

His fingers cupped my cheeks tighter as he leaned forward again, scanning his eyes over the discolored skin. "I thought I was going to have to murder someone,"

"Kat?" "Yes?" He let out another yawn. "You're my favorite person in the world. Goodnight."

"I thought you left me." His face took on a pained expression at my words. "I'd never leave you, you should know that."

"You're my favorite person in the world, Kat. I could never forget about you."

"If you were going to kiss me to death, I'd be okay with it."

"You're the only person I want to spend time with and nothing will change that, okay?" I nodded silently, trying to take in his kind words, which only confused me more. What did he really want? "You matter to me," he said softly, dropping his hand to his side.

"I can’t stand this anymore. You’re all I think about."

"I'm pretty sure I should be the one fishing for compliments, not you, jackass." "You already know that I think you're the prettiest thing I've ever seen."

"I just want you to know that I'm dead serious about what I told you last night, okay? You're all I want, and I don't want anything to make you think otherwise."

"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end."

"You're like my moon. Pretty pointless according to other people, but without you, the world is pretty much over.

I knew better than anyone that life was unexpected and fast, and that you couldn't plan for anything. I mean, everything really did happen for a reason, even if it didn't make any sense.