To Fall in Love

“So, who are you going to confess to on Valentine’s Day?”

Cough! Cough! A part of the sandwich I was eating got stuck in my throat when Mona casually asked that. Valentine’s Day was just a few days away, so of course I should’ve been expecting it at some point. Though, the Lunch Bringers Society had some remote get togethers along with a few little excursions to the mall, movies and whatnot over the past month. Additionally, we all had been hanging out for almost six months, so I figured we all knew that none of us noticed any romantic inclinations in each other. Though, I feel like Mona just wanted to tease me…

Valentine’s Day was the best time to reaffirm your love for your significant other or try your luck at confessing. People confessed to other people so often that even the school halls were more crowded on that day. You also saw the occasional couple passionately locking lips like they were trying to make you jealous. Hmm? I was only jealous because I didn’t have anyone? I have no idea what you’re talking about…

I grabbed the water bottle on the table, eventually washing down the sandwich chunk. After a few moments, I recollected myself and turned towards Mona; she was smiling at me…ergh.

“Well, what about you?” I emphasized, trying to get her embarrassed and distract her from my bright red face.

“I’m not confessing to anyone. I only want to fall in love with someone who can beat me in anything.” Mona promptly stated without a hint of embarrassment. I frowned in displeasure.

“Mona, that’s unreasonable. That basically only leaves Lucas and a few girls.” Wait a second… My face lit up in surprise. No sooner than it did…

“Lucas doesn’t count. He’s more of a rival than a romantic interest,” Mona quickly shot me down, sticking her tongue out teasingly. My head fell straight onto the desk. That hurt. I mean, that was how I felt too, but…seriously. It still stung me to hear it said aloud. I once again recollected myself as Mona continued to laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aito also stifling a laugh. My face grew even redder as I put on an awkward smile.

“Yeah. Plus, I only beat Mona once every thousand times,” I laughed uncomfortably, trying to play off my growing discomfort. I glanced back over to Mona…

“That’s still better than never,” Mona slovenly tempted. She leaned forward onto the table and subtly emphasized her beauty and curvature. I immediately turned away while snorting; an even deeper glower appeared on my face. Can you please stop teasing me like that…

It took me a moment to realize I was staring at Aito. She was desperately trying to hold in her laughs as she continued to eat her lunch.

“What about you Aito?” I said with a bit of panic, trying to swap the attention onto someone else. Aito took a moment to finish chewing. She was still chuckling as she swallowed.

“No one.” I wasn’t that surprised; Aito never seemed to talk or communicate with anyone other than us.

Bam! I looked over and saw Lego had slammed his hands down on his desk, leaning forward towards Aito.

“Really?” Lego exaggerated, leaning even more than he had prior. “I would’ve figured there was at least one person. What about those boys you talk to in the Art Club?” Wait…Aito actually talks to other people?!? A brief look of surprise quickly passed on my face. Aito looked up for a second, seemingly thinking about what to say. Then, she looked back at Lego.

“Closest you and Lucas…” My eyes slightly widened. “...but you are good friends.” My head slammed onto the desk once again. Even though I agree, I should really stop getting my hopes up…

“Aww,” Lego professed playfully, “but that’s fair enough.” Lego nodded his head in agreement.

“Yeah, ha-ha!” I gave a strained smile and laugh. Mona and Aito were both silently giggling. I wanted to curl up into a tiny ball.

“Umm…Lego! Your turn! Who are you going to confess to?!” I was panicking even more trying to distract Mona and Aito from me, but they started laughing harder than ever. I was about to explode when I noticed Lego had a serious expression on his face. He had crossed his arms and titled his head downwards. Occasionally, he would look up towards the ceiling, but almost immediately he would look down again. After a minute, he let out a slight “Huh.”

“What does it mean to be in love anyways?” All of our mouths dropped; we were shocked. In my head, love wasn’t an easy concept to understand, but I still understood it. It seemed like Mona and Aito were also in the same boat. We each scrambled to explain what it meant to fall in love with another person. Mona was the first to have a go at it.

“Love is where you always want to be around another person every single moment.” Isn’t that just being obsessive? I thought. I hadn’t expected her definition to be so shallow. Maybe Mona just liked to be pampered by whomever she would go out with. Though, keeping up with her is already a challenge. Or maybe she had a skewed view based on school relationships since those couples did spend almost the entire day together. In any case, I gave a silent prayer to whomever her partner ended up being.

Next, it was Aito’s turn. She mumbled the first few times she said it, so Lego had to ask her to repeat it. Aito had started to twiddle her thumbs as she spoke louder and louder. Eventually…

“Something the heart wants,” Aito eventually yelled. There was no one in the classroom, but if there were, that would have turned some heads. I looked up and thought about what Aito said. Well, I can get angry and yell at someone because of my heart, so I’m not sure that’s love. It was definitely a more deep answer than Mona’s, but it didn’t really describe why your heart wanted it. That would mean every time you heart guided your actions, that could be considered love. Aito apparently liked more deeper connections. I guess everyone has their own definition of love.

I focused back on the others; they were all staring intently at me.

“What about you Lucas?” Lego asked. He looked more invested in what I had to say compared to the other two.

“Well…” I began, clearing my voice with a small cough. I looked directly into Lego’s eyes. “To me, it’s just whether you enjoy being with that person and want to be with them. It’s not like you have to be with them every moment of every day. It doesn’t mean you always have to be happy with everything they do. It’s just if you want to keep seeing them even through all that and manage to enjoy your time together, sorta like an evolved friendship.”

Lego closed his eyes and tilted his head back down, thinking intently. I turned to my left; Mona and Aito both had shocked expressions on their faces. Hey! I can have good answers…sometimes! I turned back towards Lego. He remained in that position for a solid five minutes. Then, he tilted his head upwards, opened his eyes, and casually said:

“Well, guess I’m in love then.”

A few moments passed. None of us moved; none of us spoke. I was not even sure if any of us had registered what Lego just said. We sat there, frozen in time, for nearly an eternity. Aito was the first to react. Her face contorted in bewilderment. She had completely stopped eating; the chopsticks she normally held were scattered across her desk. I was next. My eyes opened wide like they were about to fall out of my head while the rest of my face remained neutral. I instinctively learned towards Lego. Last was Mona…? Mona still had a vacant look on her face. It seemed like she hadn’t registered it at all.

“Umm, Mona?” I said while waving a hand in front of her face. She remained completely still. I guess her brain short-circuited. Well, I could worry about her later. More importantly–

“Who???” Aito and I asked at the same time. It was the most exciting news of the school year, mainly because we hadn’t noticed Lego acting any differently at all.

“Hmm, I wonder?” Lego put on a playful smile, similar to Mona’s when she teased me, and started looking around the room. I started looking around the room too, thinking, Is she in this class?!?! Aito seemed to have the same idea. We both looked at the desks around the classroom, focusing on the areas where Lego’s eyes wandered. We were so focused, neither of us noticed Mona had finally recovered from shock. Even worse, after ten minutes, when I turned back to Lego, I failed to notice he was stifling a laugh at us trying to figure out who he loved.

“Pfft. They’re not even in this class, so…pfft.” Lego cracked up even more. Aito and I looked at him menacingly. Lunch was almost over. We were so busy trying to figure out who Lego’s mystery crush was that we had forsaken eating. We were both annoyed and hungry. Lego, of course, wasn’t fazed at all by our glaring, continuing to take another bite of his lunch. His eyes glanced between us and our food. Ugh. I stopped glaring, reluctantly, and took a bite of my lunch. Aito had picked up her chopsticks and began eating again as well, putting on a neutral expression. Though, I think I can still see a vein popping out of her forehead. I calmed down a bit as well; it wasn’t worthwhile to get mad at Lego. It led pretty much to the same place as when Mona teased me: nowhere. At least Lego has some self control…

As I begrudgingly continued to eat my lunch, I looked back at Lego. “So, are you going to give her some chocolate then?” Lego nodded his head.

“Yeah, I’ll buy some from the store on my way home.”

Bam! I looked over to see Mona stand up and slam her hands onto her desk. She then scowled at Lego like she was actually mad at him. Wait…she may actually be mad with him. Lego slightly leaned back. It was the first time I had ever seen him really intimidated by Mona.

“You can’t buy chocolate for Valentine’s Day. You have to make it yourself,” Mona yelled, slowly inching closer to him with every word she said. Lego was backpedaling as fast as he could.

“But that seems hardly necessary…” Lego had gotten out of his chair and continued trailing backwards. Mona pressed on the attack.

“It’s a confession! You have to put in all your effort, not half of it!” Lego was pressed up against the wall, stopping him from going even further backwards. Mona was only centimeters away from Lego’s face.

Bam! Mona slammed her hand against the wall directly to the right of Lego’s face. Out of context, it looked like a girl was cornering a guy to confess her feelings. Though, looking at Lego’s face, you could tell that wasn’t the case; he was absolutely terrified. Mona’s face curled into a devilish smile. The pressure emanating from her prevented even Aito and I from moving, and we were behind her. Lego held out for a few seconds until–

“Fine, fine! I’ll make the chocolate myself. Happy now?” Lego put his hands up in defeat. The pressure emitting from Mona immediately disappeared, allowing Lego to sneak out from under Mona’s arm. Lego let out a relieved sigh. However, Mona was soon back in front of him; the pressure from before was twice as strong.

“I’ll be watching to see if you actually make the chocolates, so don’t think you can get out of it.” Lego quickly dropped to his knees into a dejected pose. I assumed he was going to fake making the chocolate. You reap what you sow. Not even a moment later, Lego looked to Aito and I, begging us to help with puppy dog eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen him so desperate. Aito quickly turned away; she didn’t seem to want to get involved with Mona when she was this mad. I brought my hand to my face, letting out a troublesome sigh.

“If you’re gonna make chocolate,” I said, ignoring the fact that Lego was forced into it, “wanna make it at my place then? I was already planning on making chocolates for you guys, so it works out.” It wasn’t like I was in love with any of them. They made my last year of high school enjoyable. Mona gave me a fun challenge to overcome, Aito helped me express my emotions, and Lego made me laugh even when he annoyed me. I simply wanted to say thank you. Helping Lego out was just an added bonus.

Lego, Mona, and Aito looked at me with kind eyes. We then started to make plans for the upcoming weekend. We ended up deciding to go to Mona’s house to bake the chocolate. Apparently, I didn’t have the baking equipment necessary to make good tasting chocolate, at least according to Mona. We each returned to our seats as the school bell rang, indicating the beginning of afternoon lectures. Only one thought remained in my head:

I wonder who Lego’s gonna confess to.