Valentine's Day - Part One

Before I knew it, February arrived. If there was anything to obsess over this month, it was the one holiday that everyone either loved or hated. That holiday that just so happened to come right in the middle of the month.

Valentine’s Day. At times, it had the power to make or break.

To tell the truth, I never was a fan of the holiday. The reason for that could have been due to the fact that couples everywhere made their “love” public. Or, maybe it was just because it was another day in general for others, friends or lovers, to have fun with each other. Whatever the case was, there was one thing for certain. It pained me to realize anytime I had been an outsider of something.

There’s only so much you can take when you’re constantly exposed to a recurring element in a day. Seeing couples go all out with candies, balloons, and even poetry?

It’s just one day, dude. Chill out. You literally started going out with that chick only a week ago.

In any case, as far as I was aware of, the day was almost hell for anyone who was single. If you had a girlfriend or boyfriend, you were too busy spending it with him or her. If you had no one, well, you were forced to watch other people have fun instead.

As for me, I had plans to keep myself from being just a spectator this time around.

A lot of people seemed to believe that Valentine’s Day was a sole day for couples. I somewhat believed otherwise. I liked to think it was a day for friends of the opposite sex to spend together, even if it was out of pity. Of course, that thought could have also stemmed from the idea of asking Naomi to be my own “Valentine”.

Had this been a few months ago, I wouldn’t have dared to consider an idea like that. But over this past month, I’d have to be blind or deaf to say that things hadn’t changed between us. After our last few hangouts, I was sure that she had warmed up to me a little at the least. If I wasn’t mistaken, she wanted to spend time with me whenever she was able to. What better way than to invite her to spend the day with me? I wasn’t necessarily looking for romance or anything like that. As pitiful as it sounded, I just didn’t want to be alone and feel like a loser because of it.

Although, even if we were on better terms compared to before winter break, I found it hard to bring the idea up to her. I couldn’t exactly control my jittering nerves, and there was also the fact that she was usually busy. After all, as far as I was aware, she never even made time for any kind of afterschool activities. Like she told me before, she spent the majority of her time studying to stay on top.

At any rate, I knew I had to take a chance. Like the motivational poster I’ve seen before in one of my classes, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.

I decided to finally make my move when our lunch break came around. Finding her immersed with another one of her books, I arranged the seat in front of her and sat down.

“Hey, Naomi,” I managed to greet her before my words had the chance to stumble over themselves.

“Hm?” She lifted up her head and faced me. “Oh. Hello, Chase.”

“Class is over, just in case you didn’t know.”

She took a short glance at the nearly empty classroom and spared a look at the clock on the wall.

“Oh, it seems you’re right. Thank you for reminding me.”

As I watched her close her book and bury it within the confines of her bag, I felt myself tense up. After an uneasy swallow, I parted my lips and decided to bring up the question to her.

“Are you doing anything for Valentine’s Day?” I asked.

Her eyes pointed at me just as she began straightening herself out on her seat.

“Valentine’s Day? I’m not doing anything different apart from what I usually do.”

Yeah, I figured as much…

“I hear they’re having some kind of festival tomorrow afterschool for Valentine’s Day. It’s like this big formal get together or something. Apparently, they’re going to have food, activities, and even some dancing going on. I don’t know if you’ll be too busy that day, but I was…well… I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to check it out together?”

Naomi kept her gaze glued onto me as she remained quiet.

“A ‘formal get together’? Like a kind of social gathering?”

I wasn’t sure what exactly she meant by “social gathering”, but it seemed to fit the bill.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“I see…” The top of her thumb and index finger rested on her lips as she lowered her gaze away from me. “You’re asking me to attend this event with you?”

I nodded. “Y-Yeah…”

She seemed to think to herself for another minute as I awaited her answer in unnerving silence.

“I might be able to attend, but I’ll need to confirm it with my parents. What time and where will this event take place?”

If I was hearing things right, it sounded like she made her decision for the most part. Because of this, I was able to relax a bit more and worry less over how my words came out.

“It’ll be around the school courtyard from six to midnight. I think they’re also going to be using the gym as the dance floor if I remember right… If you end up going, I can escort you in from the front.”

With a calm nod, she replied.

“I see. I’ll talk to my parents about it.”

“Yeah, sure. Let me know if you’re able to go.”

Our conversation had gone pretty smooth, but there was still the issue of what her parents would say. I didn’t know what they were like, so I had no idea what their response would be. Judging from the fact that studying was one of her main priorities, I could only assume they were strict. After all, by the way she had put it, it sounded like her parents had the final say.

In the end, all I could do was hope for the best.

After school, her answer had stuck to me even during the trek back home on my bike. As much as I was yearning for the final verdict, I had to force myself to stay patient.

Though I was pedaling with somewhat of an absent mind, I noticed the convenience store on the way back. It was a small shop I frequented every now and then when I was too lazy to go to the superstore. After taking a gander at the snowy scenery around me, there was an unexpected spark on my taste buds.

I had a sudden craving for a convenience store cappuccino.

Parking and making my way inside within the next minute, I noticed that the store was pretty empty. If there were any customers at all, they were probably hidden behind the few linear aisles. Even so, it looked like it hadn’t reached its peak hours, despite not being around too long to notice. I decided to head straight to the dispenser so I could get out while there was no line.

“Hello!” A soft yet cheerful greeting surfaced from behind the register.

“Hey,” I returned out of courtesy as I walked towards the front section of the store.

Approaching the right machine, I looked over the buttons in front of me in case there were any new choices. French Vanilla, Sugarfree French Vanilla, Banana Nut, and your occasional hot chocolate. There was even an extra option for the same hot chocolate with some kind of pumpkin spice in it. My available choices were all the same, and I guess it wasn’t much of a surprise. I usually always got the same thing, but I didn’t reject the thought of having something new for once.

I grabbed the usual sixteen-ounce cup and placed it underneath the nozzle. From there, I pressed a finger on the big button labeled “French Vanilla”. Steam spurted out for a few seconds before a smooth liquid began filling up the cup. I kept a silent focus on the rim of the cup, preparing to release my finger at the right time. Just a few centimeters shy from the very top, I let go. After letting it finish up, I fished out for a plastic lid to cover it up.

I was just about to get a good grip on the hot beverage, but that changed when the tip of my fingers barely touched the cup. The plastic coat was already about scorching hot, and it was clear I needed something else. Unfortunately, the shop didn’t have any cardboard holders as the fancy coffee shops had. As a substitute, I had to make do with some napkins.

Remembering there were napkin dispensers on the tables behind me, I turned over to fetch one. As I extended out my hand towards one of the tables, something caught the corner of my eye.

A girl had been sitting at one of the tables by the storefront window by herself. She rested her right hand on the bottom of her chin. Her lime green eyes appeared fixated past the pane of glass in front of her. But, the look on her face wasn’t lit up as if she was witnessing something particularly exciting. In fact, it looked like she had been either daydreaming or going through some intent thinking. She actually reminded me a bit of myself.

She seemed pretty young, but not too far off from my own age. Her hair appeared to be a dark shade of umber, and it ended just at her thin shoulders. Before I could get a better look at her small and fairly short figure, I noticed something on the table in front of her.

If I wasn’t mistaken, in her possession was one of those pretty damn expensive DSLR cameras. Was she some kind of photographer? She looked way too young to be one.

My inner questions came to an abrupt end when her head made an unexpected turn towards me. For a short moment, we had been facing each other directly. I didn’t realize how long I had been staring at her until uneasy words escaped from her mouth.

“W-What?”

Coming to my senses, I shook my head and moved to apologize.

“S-Sorry. I, um, just noticed that camera you have with you.”

“M-My camera…?” She took a swift glance at the camera I had been pointing out. She almost gave the impression that it didn’t even belong to her.

“Yeah, is it yours?” I asked out of curiosity.

“U-Um…yeah.”

Her responses lacked confidence.

“Are you…taking pictures around here?” I said next, believing she wasn’t exactly capable of keeping a conversation going on her own.

“Mm-hm…” She nodded without making eye contact. Her slim fingers twiddled and messed with the buttons near the LCD screen. “I guess…I’m kind of a photographer. Well, not really… I’m just…interested in it is all.”

“Are you in a club or something?” I asked as I drew closer to the table she sat at in a calm manner. I was starting to feel awkward just standing in the same place.

“Mm-mm.” She shook her head, her fingers beginning to make light taps on her camera’s body.

“So, it’s more of a hobby?”

She returned a simple nod of her head.

We had been left in a verbal standstill. It seemed she wasn’t in the mood to talk, and I was seriously starting to consider taking off from there. With no noteworthy ideas for continuing our small talk, I spared a careless glance at her attire. As I began bringing up the right words to leave her with, I noticed something familiar about what she wore.

“Hey…” I spoke up, eyeing the small embroidered logo on her white polo shirt. “…you go to Polaris Middle School?”

“H-Huh?” Her head raised slightly from surprise. “Y-Yeah. How did you know?”

“The uniform you’re wearing,” I pointed out. “I went there last year. I go to Trinity High School now.”

“Trinity High School…?” she repeated as if the name was familiar to her.

“Yeah.” I decided to take the seat in front of her after having stood for so long. “Guess I wasn’t expecting you to still be in middle school for some reason.”

“It’s my last year…” she clarified, keeping her gaze on her camera. “I’ll be going to Trinity High next year.”

With my interest reaching its peak, I leaned in a bit towards her.

“Oh, so you’re in eighth grade? Huh. I must have missed you the last two years there.”

Her eyes shifted to the right side of her face as her hands dropped to her seat.

“I actually transferred in at the beginning of this year. I used to go to another school before that.”

“Oh. Guess that makes sense…”

I had run out of things to say yet again. All I could do was follow her somewhat absent gaze and stare at the table as well. Just as when I figured I should get going, I heard her speak unexpectedly.

“Trinity High School…”

“Huh?” I picked up my head and faced her.

“How is it?” she asked, still keeping her eyes averted. “Is it…fun?”

“‘Fun’?” I repeated, finding her question difficult to answer. “I guess it depends on the person. If you ask me, it’s not bad. It’s whatever you make it, I guess. As long as you have friends with you from middle school, I’d say you’ll have a good time.”

“Oh, okay…” she replied, almost sounding disheartened about something in particular.

She didn’t say anything after that. For some reason, I started getting the feeling that something had been bothering her. Of course, I had no idea what. I glanced over at the cup I had left to cool off over at the espresso machine and felt something hit me.

I could only assume based on the subtle frown on her face and her absent voice that she was having a bad day. Still, I wanted to do something nice for her. For whatever reason, she had been sitting here all on her own. Like when I first noticed her earlier, it almost kind of reminded me of myself.

I sat up and wrapped my hands around the cup of cappuccino by the dispensing machine. It had already cooled off enough to hold on its own. Turning back over to the girl by the window, I approached her with the cup in front of me.

“You want one of these?” I asked.

“H-Huh?” She looked up and noticed the drink I had been holding in front of her. Once she seemed to realize what I had been talking about, she quickly shook her head. “O-Oh, n-noo! It’s alright!”

With a small smile, I shook the cup a bit. “They’re perfect for times like this. It’ll definitely help keep you warmed up outside.”

“W-We just met…” she looked away as the color of her face began to redden up. “It wouldn’t be right to ask you to do something like that.”

“You aren’t asking. And if you’re worried about me breaking my wallet, it’s no problem. A small one hardly costs a dollar. I don’t mind.”

Before she could try protesting any further, I returned to the dispensing machine. I poured her a small cup, just in case she didn’t want to drink too much. Afterward, I carried it over to her as quickly as I could and placed it in front of her.

As a response, she only stared at it with a bit of an agape mouth. Seeing the gratuitous act a good note to leave her with, I decided I would get to heading back home.

“I should probably start heading home. But, hey, once you start attending Trinity High, maybe we’ll see each other again? If we do, feel free to say hi.”

She returned a slow and soft nod. “Okay…”

“Careful on your way home,” I told her as I began turning around and heading towards the counter to pay. “See you around.”

I paid for both of our drinks and walked outside. As I walked towards my bike, a short thought came to mind.

I wonder if I should’ve asked for her name.

I shook my head. If I go back now, it’ll probably be too weird.

I approached my bike and began fishing through the pockets of my coat for my keys. When I pulled them out and held them over the lock on my bike, I realized something. In my left hand was the hot beverage I hadn’t drunk much out of yet. I would have to carry it with me if I wanted to take it home, and that wasn’t going to be exactly easy.

Wanting to avoid the pain and nuisance of trying to hold my drink and steer at the same time, I decided to stick around. I moved on with unlocking my bike and took it with me towards a bench that faced the street near the sidewalk. From there, I sat down as I sighed heavily and looked out at the scenery around me.

Aside from the sound of passing cars, it was somewhat quiet and peaceful. It was actually sunny today, despite the small fields of snow around me. I had a good amount of time before the sun would start setting. Bringing the lid of my drink to my lips, I took a careful sip. Once I was aware that my beverage was at an appropriate temperature, I moved to swigs. Between the swigs, I allowed my mind to roam freely.

A vibration emerged from my pocket. After fishing out my phone, I read the new notification on my screen. It was a text message from Chasing_Faith.

What are you doing? :3

I followed back by tapping my free thumb on the screen.

Stopped by the store to get some espresso. I was going to head home but then I realized it was going to be hard to bring the cup with me. So, I’m just drinking it on a bench here.

Within the next minute, I received a message back.

Haha, dummy. That totes sounds so good right now! But I’m already heading home, so it doesn’t matter. (T＿T)

Taking another sip, my thumb continued to tap dance ontop my phone.

You could always make some hot chocolate.

She responded back.

Yeah, that isn’t so bad either. Too bad Christmas is already long gone. (T⌓T)

I found it hard to resist the smile that began to poke out on my face. Just as I was about to try and come up with a response, I heard a differentiating sound from a short distance. Turning to my right, I spotted the city bus not too far from where I was. Its diesel-fueled engine stood out from the occasional passing car as it drew itself closer to me.

If I didn’t have my bike with me, I figured it would have been possible to just ride the short way back home instead. Since that wasn’t the case, I could only refrain from heading to the stop on the other side of the street. The buses did have bike racks on them, but I wasn’t so willing to trust them. It didn’t help that I hardly ever saw anyone else use them in the first place.

At any rate, I didn’t want to go through the trouble of trying to bring the bike over with my drink in hand. So, I remained seated and only watched as it made no intention of stopping by.

Pressing the warm black plastic lid of my cup against my lips, I kept my eyes particularly on the windows of the bus. From what I was able to see, there were a few people in there, but other than that, it was empty for the most part.

Not more than a few seconds after, an unexpected sight came into view once the bus was within close range. It was almost a blur, but in the short span of time I had as the bus passed me, I saw someone.

There was a girl sitting by a particular section of the bus, and she was looking straight in my direction.

Autumn brown hair. Sky blue eyes. Pink glasses. This was a familiar face.

At first, it seemed she had only been looking in my direction. But that changed when I realized her eyes had been glued onto mine. Even though the bus had already been leaving the area I was in, the two of us gazed at each other for a moment. It was only a matter of seconds, but it felt like a long while. At any rate, our momentary distant contact broke apart once the bus was long gone.

Despite the bus disappearing from the area, I remained in some kind of a subtle trance. My mind was blank until I gave my head a little shake.

Wait a second. That was Faith Hills, wasn’t it? So, she did take the bus home after all? Huh… Either way, the more I thought about it, the more I found it a bit odd with the way she looked back at me. Guess she was just surprised to see me out here.

Pointing the base of my cup towards the sky, I chugged what espresso I had left and threw my trash away in the nearest bin. I still hadn’t texted Chasing_Faith back yet, but that could wait until I got home. Grabbing the handlebars of the bike leaning against the bench I sat on, I started heading off.

That night, I heard my phone ring as I busied myself with my computer on my desk. Expecting it to be my online companion, I grabbed the phone by my right hand as my eyes remained fixated on my screen.

“What’s up?” I answered.

“Am I speaking to Chase?” a calm voice responded.

My brow furrowed in confusion. This wasn’t her voice. In fact, I didn’t remember ever hearing this kind of voice on the phone before. Wrong number?

I glanced at my phone screen and nearly choked on the air I had been breathing. It was Naomi!

“Hello?” her voice called.

Trying to regain my composure as much as I was able to at the moment, I pressed my phone against my ear. “Y-Y-Yeah! This is Chase!”

“Do you have time to talk? I hope I’m not bothering you.”

I physically shook my head as I swallowed what felt like a huge lump down my throat.

“N-No, I’m free. What’s going on?”

“I have an answer for you in regards to your invitation earlier today. I didn’t want to call you in the evening like this in case you were busy. But I figured it was best to let you know as soon as possible so you have time to prepare.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was kind of last minute anyway. Tomorrow would have been fine, but I appreciate the call.” I stood up from my chair and began running my fingers through my hair uneasily. At this point, my heart was racing. “So, are you going to be able to come?”

“Yes, I’ll be able to attend.” Hearing those words, it almost felt like time itself stopped. For a second, I almost fazed out completely, but hearing Naomi’s voice brought me back to reality. “If I’m remembering right, I believe you said this will be a formal social gathering of some sort? So, the attire will be formal as well?”

Still recovering from the shock, it took me a moment to give her a response.

“Y-Yeah, yeah. Guys will be in suits. Girls in dresses. You know.”

“I understand,” I heard her say. “However, as for the event, I’m afraid I will not be able to stay the entire night. I believe I’ll have to be leaving at around eight.”

At eight? I had to say that her having to leave early kind of bummed me out. Even so, I was still grateful that she was coming with me in the first place. I’d have to be a jerk to not be satisfied with that.

“Sure, that’s fine. Do you have a ride? I don’t think riding in a bus or walking all the way to school in a dress is exactly appropriate, heh.”

“Thank you for your concern, but I have transportation arranged for the occasion.”

“Alright. Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yes. I’ll leave you until then, Chase.”

“Good night, Naomi.”

“Good night, Chase.”

After hearing a click from the other side, I turned my back towards my bed and allowed myself to fall back. I proceeded to stare up at the ceiling in complete silence. I didn’t know what to think or say. I almost couldn’t even believe Naomi’s call had been real.

I needed to tell someone, and there was only one other person I could talk to about this.

Bringing my phone up against my face, I began writing out a text message to the one girl who was no doubt going to freak over the news.

The next morning, I sat at my desk completely buried in my own thoughts. Last night, Chasing_Faith had pretty much lost it as I had predicted. As soon as I told her I pretty much had a “date” later on tonight, she just unloaded her excited commentary all over me.

“Now’s your chance! You’ve got to make the move on her! Officially ask her to be your girlfriend before she leaves for the night! You’ve got this!”

Granted, I didn’t think I was going to go to those lengths, but I was curious about what kind of progress I was going to make. Is it possible some kind of romantic relationship might bloom by the end of the night? Maybe…but, I wasn’t counting on it.

At some point, I managed to leave my thoughts for a moment and focused on what was going on around me. Classes hadn’t started yet, and, as expected, students were all over the place. Things like chocolates, cards, and even roses were being gifted all around. And seeing this take place made me realize something all of a sudden.

Should I have gotten Naomi something too?! I knew I wasn’t exactly her boyfriend, but I did still ask her out to the festival. In a way, she was my valentine for the day, so did that warrant gifts too? Damn it. I probably should have at least gotten her chocolates or something.

I turned my head and found Naomi at her seat with a book on hand. Despite the somewhat loud ruckus everyone else had been causing, she paid no attention to it. Seeing her seem to not hold a single care for the day kind of made me feel relieved. Based on her reaction, I could only assume she wasn’t expecting to get any kind of gifts. But at the same time, did that mean she wasn’t going to take the festival seriously either?

Before she could catch my wandering eyes on her again, I tore my gaze away and rested my cheek on my left fist. Then, I spaced out and dwelled in my inner thoughts once more.

Even if she didn’t particularly care for gifts, I still did want to get her something. The only thing I was afraid of was how she would take it. Were gifts actually too much for what we have between us? Can’t be. Friends can give each other stuff too, right? Haah, I don’t know.

“Hi, Chase…” I heard an unexpected voice, breaking me away from my thoughts.

“Huh?” I turned to find Faith standing by my desk. She seemed to hold something behind her back as she stood with a timid posture in front of me.

“Uh, hey.” An uneasy giggle escaped her lips.

“Hey.” I rested my arm on the table and faced her in my seat. “What’s up?”

“U-Uh, nothing really. I just actually, um, wanted to give you something.” She brought her hands out in front of her and held what appeared to be a small velvet box wrapped with string. She stared in silence at it for a moment before she practically shoved it towards me.

“W-what is it?” I asked, surprised by both her gift and sudden move.

“Chocolates,” Faith answered as she averted her gaze. “I…um…made them. It’s Valentine’s Day…and you’ve helped me a lot and stuff. I guess you could say they’re a sign of my appreciation. You’re also my neighbor, so, you know. They’re not perfect like store bought chocolates, but I think they came out pretty nice.”

I was honestly speechless.

“Wow…” It was all I could say. I grabbed the box with a careful grip and brought it over to me in a slow motion as if it was fragile glass. “I…I don’t know what to say. Wasn’t expecting to get anything today actually.”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Her shoulders seemed to relax as she giggled once more. “After what you’ve done for me, it was the least I could do…”

“Thanks, Faith. I really appreciate it.”

Her gift was so sweet of her. I was still at a loss of words.

“No problem!” She closed her eyes and offered a sweet smile. “I’m actually glad that you like it.”

“Knowing the effort you put into making these for me? I almost can’t wait to try them out.”

In response, she released a hearty giggle this time.

Hearing that, my eyelids suddenly stretched out for a second.

That giggle… Am I just hearing things, or did that sound like…?

Before I could try to sort out those thoughts, I heard Faith’s voice intervene.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, holding a clenched yet loose hand in front of her chest. Her head was at a slight tilt to the right as she faced me with a look of worry.

“Oh, sorry. It’s nothing. I was just thinking about something else.” In an attempt to play it off, I exchanged a friendly smile with her.

“Oh, okay,” she said and held her right arm with her left hand behind her back. “Hey, um, so, I was wondering about something…”

“Hm?” I returned.

For whatever reason, she took a while to open her mouth again. As I continued waiting for an answer, she finally looked at me and shook her head. “On second thought, never mind. Um, I should probably get back to my seat. See you later?”

“Course. Thanks again for the chocolates, Faith.”

“Hehe, no problem,” she expressed happily before making her way back to her seat.

I spared another look at the box she had given me and suddenly felt the need to open it up. To be honest, I wanted to at least try one or two, but with classes starting soon, I decided it was best to wait until lunch.

When it came to around that time, I joined Naomi at her seat with Faith’s chocolates in hand. I was tempted to dive straight in, but I figured I would save them after I actually had my lunch.

Once her box of chocolates was the only thing left on my desk, I began to open it up with anxious fingers. Inside, there was an assortment of what appeared to be a handful of dark sweets. They weren’t exactly separated in an orderly or clean manner. They also seemed to have some kind of a bumpy and pudgy figure to them as well. I assumed that was the reason for warning me about them not being “perfect” like ones from the store. They still looked good though.

“Are those the chocolates that girl gave you earlier?” Naomi asked, noticing the box in front of her unfinished bento.

“Faith? Yeah. I was just about to try one out.” Positioning my index finger and thumb like her chopsticks, I moved in. Like a crane, I grabbed one and retracted my hand back in a slow manner. Eyeing my target for a good second, I finally plopped it into my mouth and took a bite. There, a savory, soft, and delicious cream-like coating overpowered my taste buds. “Wow, this is amazing. Never in my life did I ever expect to get handmade chocolates from a girl.”

“Perhaps she has feelings for you,” Naomi commented as she continued to pick at her food with her chopsticks.

It was a good thing I had swallowed every bit left by the time she had said that. Otherwise, I might have just ended up spitting it out at her based on what I just heard.

“Are you kidding? What makes you say that?”

“Back in Japan, it’s customary for females to give chocolates to their male peers. Typically, women don’t take the time to handcraft their chocolates if they’re only going to give them to someone they’re just acquainted with. I didn’t see her giving any chocolates to anyone else, so I figured she must see you differently.”

“Come on. She’s just being nice. There’s no way she likes me or anything. We haven’t even known each other for that long.”

“If you say so.”

She dismissed the subject, focusing her attention on her boxed lunch. She continued to raise various foods with her chopsticks and calmly brought them to her lips. As for me, I couldn’t help but take her words a bit too serious. It definitely was strange of her to bring up such a thing like that. I was taking her to the festival in the evening, after all.