After dinner they headed downstairs into his basement. He showed her the industrial laboratory his parents conveniently set up for his experiments. The whole place was bright and wonderful. Different gadgets surround the room. Glass apparatus whirled and churned, inside each is a marvellous mix of differently coloured chemicals. It was like a scene from a futuristic, mad scientist’s laboratory.

“Well, if you head over here, this is our... project,” Gerald said proudly. He took her hand and led her to the center of the room. On the tiled industrial table is a chemical set-up very foreign to Kim. A couple solutions in glass burettes were being heated on a burner. Beakers with labels of different chemical names she couldn’t figure out, lined up the laboratory table. On one side, several caged white laboratory mice ran endlessly on their exercise wheel.

“I can’t believe your parents gave you this for your birthday!” said Kim. “It’s really beautiful...but maybe if it were me I would have settled for a new car!”

“Well, I have that too, but this lab is really, really special to me!” he said.

“I could imagine...” Kim said tenderly as she sees Gerald’s really proud reaction. “Now, what are we going to do tomorrow? Tell me all about this project of ours.”

“Well, this is our baby over here...” he beamed like a proud father. From a metal case, he pulled out a vial filled with a pink, bubbly liquid.

“This is nice, what is this?” Kim said as she snatched the vial away from him.

“Hey, be careful! That’s years of hard work you’re holding there!” Gerald said as he snatched back the valuable concoction from Kim.

“What’s that stuff, don’t tell me it’s the cure for cancer?” Kim said excitedly.

“That thing you were holding is the most dangerous thing in the whole world!” Gerald exclaimed. “It is the only one of its kind in the world. I managed to perfect the formula for it...I call it “élixir d'amour!”

“Doesn’t that translate to...” Kim said recalling her very shallow French vocabulary.

“Love elixir,” he said curtly. “Some people call it Love potion #9. But till now, nobody even came close to what I have formulated. I have physical evidence to show....”

“Is that it? The most dangerous thing in the world?!” Kim was definitely astonished.

“Hey, love can be a dangerous thing. Don’t you know that love is a hairline away from obsession? Love can make people crazy. Unrequited love can make people depressed and sick...” Gerald explained as he places the bottle on the table.

“Sorry, I just don’t see the U.S. launching chemical warfare against Iraq using your love potion. I can’t see them Iraqis and Afghans suffering terribly from lovesickness, and at the end all of it, they would finally surrender Bin Laden to the US, begging for a love cure!” Kim digressed. She found a spot on the table and she slowly hoisted herself up to sit on it.

“You’re silly, but you know, if we have drugs now that help us feel better when we are depressed, might as well have drugs to make other people love us, so that we can feel ultimately better.” He explained.

“Come to think of it, it would be a dangerous thing. Can you imagine, forcing another person to love you against their will? Imagine making people your willing servants with just a drop of that thing in their drinks. That will make a world full of obsessed people running around after one another.”

“You see my point now?” said Gerald.

“What I can definitely say is that...you’re a genius!” Kim egged him on.

“Thank you! Now, tomorrow, we’ll be there early, you’ll help me set up the display, then we’ll get the projector, have these proposals photocopied....”

“Yes, boss!” Kim replied. “But, are you really sure it works?”

“Of course it does!” Gerald exclaimed. “Here, I’ll show you.”

He helped Kim off the table. He led her to the table where the mice were. He took out two Swiss white laboratory mice and placed them in a plastic holding chamber.

“Let’s have Brad and Angelina help us here a little bit,” Gerald said referring to the mice.

Gerald then slowly uncorked the bottle of the love potion. Kim meanwhile observed the test subjects. The mice on the table were constantly bickering over a piece of cheese.

“Now, this love potion is absorbed directly on the skin. Watch as I put a tiny drop of this solution on one of the mice...”

Gerald, on full concentration, slowly withdrew using a pipette a small amount of the solution. He then placed several drops of the potion onto the torso of the mice he christened as Brad.

“We’ll have to wait for a few seconds...” Gerald said.

Kim, totally engrossed, moved in closer to watch the mice’s reaction to the potion. All of a sudden, Brad stopped chasing Angelina. The drug free mice, Angelina, looked back in confusion to Brad. As if by magic, the contaminated mouse slowly made its way to the other mouse amorously, like in a drunken stupor. Angelina, seeing the ardent Brad, squeaked and tried to get away but apparently the mouse was quick to react. Brad slowly cornered Angelina and began humping her.

Kim jumped with glee.

“You did it!” She ran over to hug him.

Gerald meanwhile shook his head. “I must have put on too much.”

Kim immediately got hold of herself and let go of him. “That is amazing! Our teachers will surely be impressed!”

“I hope they will…” Gerald said. He picked up the amorous mouse and placed it back on the cage. The mice continued on to be frisky. It relentlessly tried to escape the cage.

“Oh my God, it won’t stop,” observed Kim. “Have you found a cure for it?”

“Not yet,” Gerald admitted. “A little bit of sedative tend to generally help, but they still wake up a little bit…lovestruck?”

“Make it stop!” Kim shrieked as the mice became a little bit more agitated and violent.

Gerald took a cotton swab from a marked container and slowly dropped it on the cage. Instantly the mouse fell asleep. “I placed halothane on it. It should feel better now. Usually, if the dose is right, they will only go on like that for a few days, then the effect wears off.”

“What if you put on too much?” asked Kim.

“They die...trying to...you know...let’s put it this way, they would practically die from exhaustion.” Gerald replied, as placed the potion back into the metal casket.
Kim gasped. Now she knows that his experiments are no laughing matter. In fact, it seemed dangerously exhilarating what she just witnessed. It did seem really trivial in the beginning, but now she discovered a new found respect for both the experiment and the scientist.

“How did you ever manage to mix up this horrible mixture?” Kim wondered.

Gerald took out a folder from a metal cabinet. He laid several pieces of paper from the envelope into the table.

“See, this plant here,” Gerald pointed to one of the picture. “This plant can only be found in South America and had long been known to show aphrodisiac properties. What I did was I chemically synthesized the active proteins in it, combined it with several other substances and voila! Love potion no. 9!”

“You’re crazy! You’re one stark, raving mad genius!” Kim exclaimed in delight.

“So, you really think we can pull this off?” asked Gerald as he moves in closer to Kim.

“Yes, I have 100% trust in you...I have total faith in what you do!” Kim said honestly.

“Excellent answer, ” said Gerald with a smile.
.
.
X 0 X 0 X 0 X 0 X
.
.
“Thank you, I had the most amazing time,” said Kim as she stood by the porch of their house. “It was... unexpected in such a circumstance, but I really had fun.”

Gerald placed his hands on his pocket. He was looking oddly at Kim, muttering some incomprehensible stuff to himself.

Kim meanwhile was fumbling with the wrong house keys.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Kim said as she looked back at Gerald. She was kind of hoping that their night won’t end in such uneventful fashion.

“I said I’m glad you had a fun time...see you tomorrow!” With that Gerald turned around, upset with himself.

“Good night,” Kim said softly, doubting if Gerald even heard it.

Gerald was chastising himself really badly for not having enough courage to say what he wanted to say. He was partly hitting his head with his hand when...

“Uh, Gerald wait!” Kim called back.

Gerald was back at Kim’s door in record speed.

“What it is it?” Gerald asked, his eyes sparkled in anticipation.

“Why of all things you could possibly create, why a love potion?” asked Kim.

Gerald’s face was suddenly crestfallen. He was expecting Kim to say something “nice” to him. He was wishfully expecting her to be all over him this very minute.

“Let’s just say I was inspired... by somebody to create it,” Gerald said in compunction.

“Okay...see you tomorrow!” Kim closed her door before Gerald could get any more words in.

From the other side of the door, Kim leaned over to listen what’s going on outside. All of a sudden she heard the door bell ring!

Kim had to open the door.

“Lewis, it’s 1 a.m. everyone is already asleep, what’s with the doorbell?”

Gerald still has his nervous hands in his pockets, still looking very much your average wimp.

“I have something to ask you...”

“What is it?” asked Kim, rolling her eyes.

“What we did tonight...is a date, right? And usually in dates, like in the movies, if couples like each other they would kiss by the doorstep, right? So, this, being a real date, means that somehow I’m entitled to a... kiss?” he said, looking down on the ground.

He was the most adorable thing Kim has ever seen.

“You’ve never really done this a lot, have you?” Kim fondly asked.

“NO...not a lot. This was actually...my first official date...” Gerald admitted.

“Are you kidding me?” Kim could not believe her ears. “You mean to say I was....”

Gerald nodded. Kim slowly leaned into the wall as her knees felt like jelly. The glow of the mounted conch added a nice romantic touch to the otherwise tender scene.

“I was pretty busy with my studies...” Gerald said as he moved closer. “But, honestly, how did I do...on our date?”

“I must admit you were cool, funny...nice....” Kim flustered as he moves in closer.

“...and what else?” Gerald said, with a renewed confidence in his step.

They were now face to face. Gerald slowly brushed his hand to the side of her face.

“I must admit...” Kim said looking on to his luminous brown eyes. “You knocked me off my feet...”

“I’m glad to know,” Gerald said as he moved his head closer to hers.

Then, they kissed...

The kiss was not like anything that they both had experienced in their young lives. It was the perfect blissful union of two kindred souls. The moment their tender lips touched, it was if everything in the world ceased to exist other than the two of them. Their innate chemistry flowed from their warm embrace. In their heightened minds, they were floating through the clear, crisp air of that warm December morning. Slowly, they soared higher, lips locked tenderly.

Gerald was the first to let go. As he did, Kim was left longing for more. For the longest time, Kim just stood there, her eyes closed, her lips lightly pursed.

Gerald grinned. He turns around, hands on his pocket, whistled his way back to his house across the street.

Kim meanwhile, still emotionally raw, placed her hands on her lips. Realizing what had just happened, jumped up and down and ran giddily back to her house.

That night, there was no need for any more love potion.
.
.
.