Valentine
Fall For YouValentines Day was right around the corner. Us, girls, were at the mall shopping. “I hate Valentines Day,” Erich muttered while the rest of us was looking through racks of men’s clothing.
I turned to her and then linked my arm through hers. “Oh, ‘Rich, you only hate it because you’re alone. But don’t worry, I’m here with you.”
She sighed, “This holiday isn’t even real. It’s more commercial than it is an actual Day. I mean for those who have someone to spend it with,” she coughed, “Which is you guys, it’s just a day to remind you of your love for that special someone. But for those who are alone, me, it’s a mere reminder that you’re alone. It’s a horrible holiday.”
I stopped looking at racks of clothing, and dragged her out of the store, telling everyone that we were going to get something to eat. We took a seat at the food court. “Okay Best Friend, what’s going on? You’re more upset and bitter than usual,” I .
“Oh, am I that transparent?” She said sarcastically. “I shouldn’t have even come today.”
“Erich, what’s going on with you? You’ve been acting like this ever since Mel’s birthday.”
She nodded, “You know I love you, right?” I nodded agreeing. “And I’m so happy about Gerald and you; I just can’t help thinking that it’s more like he replaced me.”
I grabbed her hand, “Replaced you?” My jaw dropped, “Erich, you’re my best friend, no one can replace you!”
She smiled, “It’s just that we used to spend Valentines Day together and watch sappy romance movies, and badmouth our horrible relationships. At least when you were with Jake you couldn’t wait until Valentines and you always had something to complain about. But now, you have this perfect boyfriend, and you’d rather spend the Day of Love with him.” Erich shook her head, “I guess I’m acting like a child aren’t I? An over possessive child in the least.”
I tilted my head to the side, “You know what, let’s continue this tradition.”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“I want to. Look, you’ll come over for a sleepover, we’ll watch movies, order in pizza, eat popcorn – specifically eat all carbs – and then we’ll bash all the men out there whose met you or haven’t met you. Gerald won’t mind, at least I don’t think he would.” We laughed and she asked if I was sure, and I nodded, assuring her it’s what I’d rather do.
I went back home after buying what I thought the perfect gift for Gerald was, and went inside the pool house. He looked like he was just leaving. “Hey, I’m glad I caught you.” I said sitting on the foot of the bed.
“Yeah, but I was just leaving. Chris and Isabelle are following Jake. He just went into the forest.” He put on his jacket. “What’s up?”
“I know you had something planned for Valentines Day, but I kind of invited Erich over for the night.”
He paused and stared at me in confusion. “Okay, but I’m not sure what time we’ll be back.”
“Okay, maybe I wasn’t really clear; I invited Erich over for the entire night.”
He chuckled, “I thought your school had a dance you wanted to go to. And then I was going to pick you up early, and we were going out.”
“I know, but she was kind of upset that I was going to abandon her because I have a boyfriend now, and I told her we’d ditch the party and we’d have a girl’s night in.” I saw the looked on his face, and he didn’t look pleased.
“So you cancelled our plans without telling me. I had a whole night planned out, and let me tell you it didn’t come cheap.”
I sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was a big of a deal. You said it was only a dinner, I didn’t think there was a whole thing planned. You even said it yourself that was a commercial driven holiday.”
“That was before you made such a big deal about it.” He retorted. “Look, I got to go. We’ll talk about this tonight, okay?” He gave me a kiss and headed out the door.
I was in my room when he arrived back. “Hey, your mom said you were in your room.”
“Yeah. How’d the forest go?” I asked sitting up.
He shrugged, “Jake was walking around looking at the trees and taking soil samples. Not sure why but then he went home.” He paused. “So what’s this about cancelling our Valentines Day?”
I sighed, “I’m really sorry. Erich was really upset that we were drifting, so I promised her a night of just the two of us.”
“Why not the day after Valentines Day?”
“Look, why can’t we do everything the day after? Me and Erich did have a tradition. Come on, Gerald, it’s not a big deal?” I told him.
“Come on, Erich is a big girl, I think she can deal with the fact she’ll be alone.” He stood up and paced around the around. “Do you have any idea how much planning I put into the night? I wanted it to be perfect; I wanted it to fit every dream you had for Valentines Day.”
I sighed, “I never asked you to. Why are you making this such a big deal? Why are you having a go at me?”
“You never thought about what it’d do to me? You think I only had a dinner planned? How naïve.”
“Oh, so now I’m stupid. Wow, if I thought you’d have this much of a breakdown I wouldn’t have done it.” I said standing up. “Look, I can’t cancel on Erich now. Do you know how upset she was, she said I was replacing her! She is my best friend, Gerald. I thought from everyone else you’d understand that.”
“Fine, you know what, go and be with your best friend. Maybe she’ll have something much better planned.” He stormed out of my room slamming my door shut.
I followed him, “You know I didn’t think cancelling on you made you such an !” I followed him down the stairs.
“Oh, okay, so I’m the when you were the one who told me – wait, scratch that, forced me to do something romantic, and then you go around and make plans with your best friend because she can’t face facts that she’s alone and you have a boyfriend.”
We were in the kitchen now, “Kimmy, you have a boyfriend?”
It was my Mom, great. I scoffed, “I’m not sure. Gerald do I have a boyfriend?”
He stared at me. “Why would you ask Gerald?” Mom chimed in. And then she got it. Her face lit up. She was always so happy when she found out a secret. “Since when?!” She grabbed Gerald’s arm. “You’ve been dating my daughter?” Her voice went all stern, but quickly broke into a smile. “Wait until your father hears this.”
I shook my head and went back to my room and slammed my door shut. I couldn’t believe him, he turned into such a loser. I guess that’s what I got for having a perfect boyfriend for so long.
It was a good thing Valentines Day was Friday, but then again, Gerald was avoiding me. I told Erich about the fight Friday at lunch. “Are you serous, okay now I feel awful!”
“Don’t, it’s okay. If Gerald doesn’t understand that I’m going to my best friend first, than I’m glad I figured it out now.” I said waving it off like it didn’t mean anything.
“No, I made you guys argue over something so stupid. It’s all my fault. You know what, go call him right now, and say I was sick or something. Just go and do something.”
I smiled at her, “At least now I have something to about.” I laughed.
“Well, about that.”
“Don’t tell me you’re cancelling.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s…my mother bought me a dress for the dance thinking I was going. And she kind of really wants me to go. So maybe we can go to the dance and then see how it goes. It is Valentines Day. I might find a love on the Day of Love, right?” She smiled.
I nodded, “Okay. Let’s go to this stupid dance.”
We went to her house because I didn’t want to go see Gerald. She lent me one of her old dresses that I found in her closet. It was sort of a red one-shoulder dress. It hugged my top half, but then it poofed out in the bottom. At least it didn’t make me look fat. It also showed off my ‘endless’ legs. Erich curled my hair, and swept it into a side pony. She wanted to become a beautician, so I trusted Erich to do my make-up. She also lent shoes that matched.
When we looked at our reflections, we looked like sisters separated at birth. Erich wore an off-the-shoulder red mini dress, that caressed each and every curve of her body. “Are you ready?”
I linked my arm through hers, “Hoes over bros?” I asked laughing.
She laughed too, “Definitely.”
We got to the dance in our school gym and met all our friends. I was surprised to see Mel and Matt there. At least one relationship made it through Valentines Day. And I was so happy when someone asked Erich to dance. I gave her a thumbs up saying I approved.
It was 10:20 and I was sitting down at our table alone. Everyone else was out in the dance floor having fun. I sighed. I was partly upset that I blew off Gerald for this. I was so stupid. And then someone touched my shoulder. “Is this seat taken?”
I knew the voice anywhere. I smiled and turned to face him. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Your Mom said you were here.” He kissed my hand. “I’m sorry about before.”
I shook my head, “No I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder. Tears began falling. “I’m so sorry I made you cancel your plans. You have no idea how bad I feel that I missed it because of this.”
He laughed, “I actually know how bad you feel. Don’t worry. I was just having a bad day.”
The song Fall for You by SecondHand Serenade started playing, and he kissed the top of head. “Come on, it’s a dance.”
I wiped my eyes dry and took his hand. He pulled me into an embrace and I put my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder again. He began my back slowly. “So I have a question for you.”
I nodded and looked into his brown eyes. The song was still playing so I wasn’t worried about people watching us. He went into his pocket and pulled out a perfect rose. “Will you be my Valentine?”
I smiled and chuckled quietly, taking the rose into my hand, and reached up so our lips would meet. It was a warm, soft kiss. He on my bottom lip. Our lips were slanting like we couldn’t get close enough. “I’ll always be your Valentine.” I kissed his lips again.
“So do you want to spend the entire night here, or do you want to do something that I did have planned?”
I nodded, “Just as long as I’m with you,” I said in his ear.
“You’re always going to be with me.” We danced the rest of the song before escaping into the night. All I could think about was how happy I was that I was back in his arms, and that I was his Valentine.
I KIND OF RUSHED THE END BECAUSE IT’S LATE AND IM EXHAUSTED. PLEASE COMMENT, AND HAVE A GOOD NIGHT YOU GUYS :D
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