A Valentine's Night

Alexandra capped her pink marker and put the last Valentine’s card into its envelope. 16 red envelopes were stacked on her bed, ready to be put into her friends’ lockers tomorrow. She pulled at the hair tie keeping her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head, ashy blonde locks tumbled down to her shoulders, covering her face and the sad frown she didn’t know she was sporting.

“Lexie!” Her mother’s voice called from downstairs. “Lexie, supper’s on the table.”

“Coming…” Leaving her phone behind on the bed she shuffled down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Hope you don’t mind leftover lasagna.” Alexandra smiled at her mother. Krystyna Drozd was stunningly beautiful with her long black hair in a braid over her shoulder, porcelain white skin and clear blue eyes. The fact that she was in a wheelchair was something you didn’t notice at first, and her infectious laugh and good mood made most people forget all about it if they did notice.

“I love your lasagna.” Alexandra kissed her mother’s cheek as she took her seat at the table. “And it’s even better the day after.” To prove her point she loaded her plate with food and started eating.

“Are you done with your cards? There seems to more of them every year!” Krystyna laughed and buttered a warm roll, placing it on Alexandra’s plate.

“Yeah. It’s 16 this year and they’re waiting to be put in my bag.” Alexandra put a fork full of lasagna in her mouth to not have to say anything more.

“You’re always so kind to your friends.” Krystyna beamed at her daughter. “They’re lucky to have you darling.” Alexandra nodded and focused on her food. She felt her eyes burning and a lump in her throat and didn’t know why.

The next day was Friday. It was a beautiful morning, the sun seemed to have climbed over the horizon only to sparkle in the heavy frost coating every surface outside. Clutching her bag’s shoulder strap Alexandra waited for the bus down the street from her house. She was the always the first to arrive, a deep fear of missing the bus made her hurry in the mornings. They had no car and riding the bike to school would take nearly half an hour. There was no way she would be on time if she ever missed her bus.

“Lexie.” Alice Long, her 13 year old next-door neighbor, pulled at her coat. “Do you want to buy more Girl Scout cookies? Mom said to ask you.”

Alexandra was careful to keep her face neutral at the thought of buying yet another box of overpriced cookies. She offered Alice a friendly smile and adjusted the knitted cap, which sat lopsided on the younger girl's head.

“I'll have to ask mom. Why don't I come by after school?” Alice smiled, knowing another box would be sold to Alexandra and her mother.

“Alright.” Alice’s friends soon arrived and the girls were giggling and talking excitedly among themselves about Valentine’s Day and boys. The school bus soon pulled up along side them and Alexandra let the younger girls go on ahead of her, Alice and her friends walked to the very back of the bus before sitting down. Alexandra took one of the empty seats at the front, if she was lucky no one would need the seat and she could sit in silence the whole way.

It was a little painstaking making the rounds to her friends’ lockers, the school had three floors and she had to climb the stairs from the bottom to the top to put her Valentine’s cards through the slots beneath the metal doors. Many lockers had big red hearts taped on them, there were even a few with heart shaped balloons slightly swaying in the breeze from students walking to and fro. Alexandra tried to push the last envelope into the locker of Dominic Higgins, his locker was completely covered in red and pink hearts with different girls’ names written in all colors of the rainbow.

Dominic was ridiculously popular, everyone liked him and most girls at school were half in love with him, including the female staff. Alexandra told herself that she only liked him as a friend, ignoring the fluttering of her heart whenever he gazed into her eyes before asking her if he could borrow a pen. Dominic knew the power he had over girls, but never really used it for anything but good. Sometimes Alexandra wondered why he was hanging out with them .His best friends were Ben and James and those two were just regular non-dreamy boys, but apparently they had been good friends since preschool and really, she’d never complain about the fact that she got to hang out with Dominic Higgins almost every day.

Eventually she had to admit herself defeated by his close to bursting locker. There was no way of getting the Valentine’s card in there without ruining it. Dominic had never cleaned out his locker ones during the two years he had had it. That, and the amount of Valentine’s cards and notes stuffed in there made Alexandra take a few steps back of fear of having it explode in her face if she bumped into it. Instead she walked down the row of lockers to the very end. She had scored a locker next to her homeroom and it being at the end of the row meant she only had to elbow one person to get her stuff. First bell rang and the amount of students in the hallway tripled. Alexandra got her World History book out of her locker and slid the red envelope inside, she’d have to hand it over in person.

“Ugh!” Rosie Garcias let her bag fall heavily on the desk next to Alexandra before throwing herself across it, face buried in her arms.

“What’s wrong?” Alexandra didn’t add ‘today’ to her question, Rosie had a new problem every day but they disappeared by lunchtime most days.

“Mom has a new boyfriend.”

“Oh.” This might actually be something to be upset about.

“She told me at breakfast that he’s taking her out for Valentine’s Day and I have to babysit Daniella and Victor.” Rosie’s brother and sister were 12 and 10, not yet old enough to be left by themselves a whole evening.

“So I guess this means we have to rethink our plans for tomorrow?” Alexandra’s mind had already started to alter the plans made, going to the movies to see the latest zombie film and afterwards to the diner for hamburger and curly fries. Rosie sat up and looked at her, surprise all over her features.

“No, seriously Lexie! You can’t change everything just because I have to stay at home.” Alexandra didn’t have time to answer, Mrs Bloom stepped into the classroom and went straight to the whiteboard. They would have to talk about this at lunch, their schedule divided them for the two following periods.

In Calculus Alexandra talked with Lucy Robins about how Rosie had to babysit tomorrow night and Lucy agreed that they needed to come up with something that could include Daniella and Victor. Lucy later talked to Maxine and Luke, who talked with Ben and James and no one had any problems with changing their plans. They had always, or at least for the last two years, done something as a group on Valentine’s Day, so that no one felt left out and alone.

“Hey Alexa, I heard Rosie got stuck with babysitting tomorrow. What’s the plan?” Why did everyone assume she was the one with the plan? Dominic put his arm around her shoulders as he caught up with her. Suppressing the need to lean her head against him she tightened her grip on the strap of her bag and gave him a quick smile.

“I don’t know yet.” Theresa Evans, the queen bee in their year, gave her a dirty look when she saw Dominic’s arm around Alexandra’s shoulders, but Alexandra was so used to the constant jealousy displayed by females when she was with Dominic that she only rolled her eyes a little. “Everyone seems okay with not going to the movies, so I guess we’ll grab something to eat and then hang out at someone’s house.”

“I’m down with that.” A pretty brunette, a senior, stepped up and forced them to stop as to not walk straight into her.

“Hi Dominic.” She fluttered her eyelashes and showed her dimples. “I have something for you.” A white envelope covered with lipstick kisses was thrust into his hand before she winked and walked away, swaying her hips all the way up the stairs.

They started walking again, his arm was still around her but the sudden stop had made it slide down to her waist. It felt more intimate and so nice it made her cheeks turn pink. Dominic was quiet, turning the envelope over, reading his name surrounded by hearts. She hoped he wouldn’t open it while she was around.

“Oh. This reminds me.” Alexandra stopped, his arm almost losing contact with her body before he too stopped. Ignoring how he resettled his arm around her waist she reached into her bag and retrieved the red envelope from her World History book. It had his name in simple black block letters on the front, it wasn’t even sealed.

Dominic didn’t seem to know what to do. She held the letter out to him and eventually he let go of her and stuffed the other letter in his back pocket.

“Thanks Alexandra.” The genuine smile he gave her made her knees feel weak and she hoped her smile looked neutral instead of blissed out. When he didn’t make a move to start walking again but to open the envelope she felt a slight panic take a tumble in her stomach.

“Uh, you don’t have to read it now.” Suddenly she felt very conscious of the fact that she’d used the L-word in his card. Dominic only grinned at her and pulled the card out, looking at the simple red heart on the front before reading what she had written inside.

“You bring a smile to my days, and even though you steal my pens I love that you’re my friend.”

His face lit up. “And I love that you’re my friend too.” The hug came as a complete surprise. His arms held her tight, his chest was hard against her’s and the smell of his cologne filled her head with visions of kissing him. Before she could think of anything to say he had let go of her and placed his arm over her shoulders again. In a daze she let him lead her into the classroom and she took her seat behind him.

Mr Perkins droned on and on and she took notes, but if someone had asked her what the history lesson had been about she wouldn’t have been able to answer. Visions of Dominic’s smile swam before her eyes along with the feel of his arms around her and her hair had stolen some of his scent.

The cafeteria was a colorful buzz of students talking and eating, flirting and arguing. The table by the window where Alexandra and her friends usually sat was half full, Ben and David were shoveling food into their faces like they hadn’t seen any in days and Lucy was done eating and waved as she walked past them out from the cafeteria. Rosie was talking animatedly to James and Maxine who were laughing at whatever she was saying.

“She doesn't seem like she's suffering.” Dominic’s voice carried a smile, his breath in her ear made her shiver with delight. Alexandra shook her head slightly and let Dominic lead the way for them to get something to eat.

“You know Rosie, nothing can keep her down for long.” The cafeteria line was moving along slowly. Alexandra hoped they had stocked up on her favorite snack again, but since she wasn’t the only student who enjoyed peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies they tended to sell out quickly.

“Just my luck…” She sighed. The tray holding her favorites was empty, why the lunch ladies didn’t only stock these particular cookies was beyond her. Glancing at the oatmeal and raisin ones she shuddered. She grabbed a BLT, an orange juice and a banana, no cookies for her today. The lunch lady taking her money seemed to be half asleep with boredom.

“Not hungry, huh?” Dominic’s tray was filled with cookies and cans of soda, a plate of nachos with cheese and a chocolate pudding. Alexandra couldn’t help the grin taking over her face.

“I’m not a growing boy, unlike some.” Dominic lifted the tray to her face.

“You know you want some.” Her laugh felt forced as her eyes took in both boy and tray, so she only shook her head and went to sit by Rosie.

“Thanks for the card Lexie.” Maxine smiled at her and James nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. You’re the sweetest.” Alexandra felt her cheeks flush and raised a hand to stop their words.

“No. It’s nothing. You’re my friends, of course I’ll give you Valentine’s cards.” Rosie gave her a one armed hug before resuming her story of how Mr Russell had totally spoiled her interest in biology by going on and on about how bacteria multiply and spread disease.

“Like I really need to know that! Yuk.” Everyone shared a look and smiled at her dramatic way of looking at life. Rosie either ignored them or didn’t care as she went on with another story.

The sandwich and banana hadn’t really done very much in staving off her hunger. Dominic was sitting beside her, munching his way through the food on his tray, mixing cookies and nachos and washing them down with grape soda. How could someone so absolutely gorgeous eat like a pig, but still remain so very gorgeous?

“You can have some.” He managed in between bites, pushing his plate of nachos closer to her. Alexandra hesitated for a second before scooping up some of the orange cheese flavored goo with a chip. It really was very good. She ended up eating half of it.

Dominic scarfed down the chocolate pudding and gave her a wide smile. “We should do this more often.” Alexandra gave him a raised eyebrow. “Share lunch.” Knowing she was blushing she looked away.

“Oh. I didn’t mean to eat so much…” She licked her lips, they tasted of salt and processed cheese. Dominic chuckled and nudged her with his shoulder.

“I don’t mind. Next time I’ll just get a bigger pile of chips.” There wouldn’t be a next time, Alexandra would just have to make sure to not sit next to him, ever again.

Maxine and Rosie had hurried off to Spanish class, leaving James and Alexandra waiting for Dominic to finish his last can of soda. The three of them had English after lunch and then Alexandra had her last class of the week, Creative Writing. She was the only one of her friends who had chosen this particular class, but the teacher Mrs Clemens was so inspiring and her classmates were all nice people.

Today they were going to listen to each other’s love poems and Alexandra was looking forward to hearing them all. Everyone had agreed on not saying who they were talking about in their poem, though she wouldn’t be surprised if a few of the students had written about Dominic. The thought had a giggle escape her as she stopped by her locker to change books.

“What’s so funny?” Damn that boy! She hoped he hadn’t noticed her jumping. Play it cool Alexandra, play it cool. You’re friends, just friends.

“Just thinking about my Creative Writing.” She double checked her bag for her poetry notebook, ignoring the closeness of him. Was he always standing this close?

“It can’t beat my Art class, no way.” Dominic had already admitted taking art because it would be a slacker course, though he did seem to enjoy it. Slamming her locker shut she started walking towards English.

“We’re reading our poems today, so I’m sure it’ll beat your Art, hands tied behind its back.” Dominic laughed, the sound sending ripples through her. He had sneaked his arm around her again, Dominic always did this but for some reason she felt like everyone was staring at them today. She was so relieved when she saw James waiting outside the classroom, she would use him as a buffer, get away from Dominic’s gravitational field.

“Jane Austen.” Mr Cole ignored the groans from the male half of the class. “We’re reading Pride and Prejudice.” Alexandra smiled at James and Dominic, she had an idea for a movie tomorrow night. Both boys looked like someone had told them they needed to have their wisdom teeth extracted. Oh, boohoo...

After receiving a battered paperback copy of the book and sheet of questions for the first five chapters they listened to Mr Cole as he read the first chapter to the class, along with a posh accent and different voices for the characters. He always did this and it was one of the best things about this school, not counting certain students.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife...”

Creative Writing was Alexandra’s sanctuary, no one here knew her very well. For some reason none of them hung out outside of the classroom. Maybe it was the narcissistic streak of any writer that had them all seeking out non writers? Everyone was really serious about their writing though, it kept them all on their toes and Mrs Clemens pushed everyone to do their best. When it was her turn to read her poem she felt the support of everyone in the classroom.

“I’m going to recite my poem Let’s not be like Romeo and Juliet.”

I don't want to be a Juliet

to be forced to sit at a window

waiting for you to return from your exile

I don't want you to be a Romeo

to stab yourself through the heart

if I'm no more a part of your world

I don’t want us to be star-crossed lovers

to burn brighter than a thousand suns

only to be reduced to ashes

There was a pause as she stopped, then the whole class started applauding and Mrs Clemens looked very pleased. Alexandra smiled and sat down to listen to the last of the poems, they were all so different, yet the same. All were about love, about lost or found or forgotten or unrequited or happy love. Alexandra felt each poem, she closed her eyes and let images and memories come and go.

Walking to her locker she searched the crowd for Rosie, she had an idea she wanted to run by her before talking to anyone else. Seeing Dominic talking to Alan, David and Stacy she took the long way back to her locker, she tried to not think of why she wanted to avoid them.

“Leixieeeee!” Rosie’s voice threatened to pierce her eardrums and she swiveled around to see where it came from. Rosie was slumping against the wall next to the long row of lockers outside their homeroom, looking like someone had condemned her to death.

“What? What’s wrong?” But Rosie just shook her head and looked off into the distance, Alexandra’s stress level went down instantly. “Rosie!”

When her friend wouldn’t answer her, but kept being all dramatic and staring off into space Alexandra drew her lips into a thin line and walked passed her. Feeling a stab of irritation she went up to her locker and got the books she would need for her homework over the weekend and grabbed her coat to go catch her bus home. She could talk with Rosie over the phone later on tonight, there was no way she would listen to a word Alexandra said in the state she was in.

“Lexie, is that you?” Her mother’s voice came from the kitchen as Alexandra closed the front door. Who else would be coming in through the door at this time on a Friday afternoon? Sighing she shrugged out of her coat and forced herself to let go of her annoyance for Rosie and her antics.

“Yes mom, it’s me.” Placing her school bag on the stairs she went into the kitchen to see what her mother had been up to. The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted out from there and Alexandra hoped that meant her mother had been making strudels, the thought had her mouth watering. “What are you baking?” Her mom’s face lit up at the sight of her daughter and she motioned with floured hands for her to kiss her cheek.

“I’ve made apple pies for Mrs Duncan, she ordered six of them for her Valentine’s dinner tomorrow, and now I’m making strudels for the Peterson’s next door.” Alexandra’s face must have shown her disappointment because her mother laughed heartily. “Oh honey, don’t worry. I’ve made one for us too.” Laughing at herself Alexandra washed her hands and put an apron on.

“What can I do?”

“Fill those two with apples and raisins and check on the one in the oven. I’ll start washing up and then I think we should call out for Chinese.” Kissing her mom’s cheek again Alexandra went to work.

After putting everything into boxes and having people come get them they got takeout and sat in the kitchen, enjoying each other’s company while nibbling away on egg rolls and noodles.

“Oh, by the way. Lovely Alice came by earlier this afternoon, she wondered if I wanted to buy more cookies. I told her I’d love to, I got us a third box of Thin Mints, but I do wish some of our other neighbors would buy more of them too.” Her mother looked at her and smiled. She put her chopsticks down and rolled away from the table. “I’m going to watch The Great British Bake Off, I missed the last two episodes.”

“I’ll clean up and put the leftovers away.” After leaning down for her mother to kiss her cheek she straightened the kitchen and made a cup of tea and brought it out to the living room where her mother was captivated by the show. “I’m going upstairs to shower and then I have to talk to Rosie.” Her mother nodded, but had most likely not heard a single word. Pulling her phone from her bag she texted Rosie walking up the stairs.

You

i have an idea for tomorrow - pride and prejudice

Rosie

omg that would be perf! <3 <3 <3

You

we could get pizza & watch the old one. the really long one. we could be here at my house, mom won’t mind

Rosie

ily Lexie! i’ll check with mom but it should be ok

Smiling to herself she slung her bag on the bed. There was a crinkly sounding crunch and Alexandra just stood there, eyebrow raised, looking at her bag. There was nothing in there that was supposed to make that sound, just books and pens and a notebook or two. Carefully she opened her bag, piling books on her bed alongside pens and notes, and then her fingers touched plastic. Out from the bag she pulled a school cafeteria peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie. Who? When? How? Why?

The cookie had broken into three pieces, but the plastic wrapper was still whole. Turning the cookie over in her hand she tried to picture one of her friends slipping the cookie into her bag some time during the day. Rosie came to mind, sitting close to her in class and hugging her at lunch. A voice whispered Dominic’s name, but she shut it up, crushing the tiny flicker of hope that dared make itself known in her heart.

Searching for her phone had her spreading her books all over the bed, it was half hidden beneath her poetry notebook. Opening up Snapchat she held her cookie in her palm and posted the picture to her Snap Story with the caption: Who loves me this much? ;-D

After depositing her books on her desk she removed her shoes and flung herself on her bed. She should take that shower and then check with her mom if it would be okay to bring all her friends over tomorrow evening, but Alexandra was sure her mom would only be too happy to have them and would insist on baking all kinds of goodies. Her room lay in semi darkness, but turning on the lights would mean getting up from her bed and she was too comfortable where she was.

Alexandra closed her eyes, falling asleep now would be stupid. She would end up waking up early in the morning and not be able to stay awake tomorrow evening, which would be embarrassing. An image of her head resting on Dominic’s shoulder flashed. Her stupid brain needed to get a grip. Her phone lit up, the light penetrating her closed eyes and Alexandra reached for it, wondering what Rosie wanted. It was a text, but she didn’t recognize the number.

Unknown

what’s the plan for tomorrow?

Alexandra stared at her phone. She had all her friends’ numbers saved on her phone, she had even asked Dominic to add his. Though that had taken two days of gathering courage. One of her friends would start a group chat about something and soon everyone would talk about anything but the original topic. Rosie would complain about something, Maxine would suggest them going out and so on. She rarely had one to one conversations with anyone but Rosie.

Unknown

it’s Dominic btw. new phone

Ah. Alexandra wondered what had happened to his old one, she had seen him swiping away at it before English class. They weren’t allowed to use their phones at school, but most students would check theirs between classes anyway.

You

i’m asking mom if we can hang out here. we could order pizza

Unknown

i’m down with that

You

i’ll text everyone later

Unknown

yeah cool

His answer left her un-awed. Sometimes she imagined him watching her, almost like he was trying to figure her out or something. But other times he hardly paid her any notice, she was just someone in the crowd. Alexandra held her feelings back when it came to him. Sure there was attraction, but allowing herself to fall for him would be like asking for heartbreak. He wasn’t interested in getting into a relationship with anyone. If he were he would have chosen someone out of all the girls fawning for him, not the boring and quiet girl who no one noticed unless they needed something. Alexandra made a disgusted sound and dropped her phone on the covers, enough with the thoughts of Dominic.

After a shower and changing into pale blue flannel pajama pants and a white tank top Alexandra collected her long hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, emptied her bed of school things and organized her school books on her desk. Putting the battered copy of Pride and Prejudice on her bedside table to read after she had crawled under the covers.

She always did a bulk of her homework on Saturday morning, leaving her free to do things with friends Saturday evening and most of Sunday. Sunday evening was all about homework again. Unless her mom needed help with an order, then she would choose which of her homework was most important and stay up late to finish that after her mom had gone to bed.

A soft tinkling from a piece by Chopin drifted up the stairs, her mother had finished watching the show and was in the kitchen preparing the cup of herbal tea she always had before bed. Alexandra thought of the leftover strudel in the the fridge and sauntered down to treat herself a little. Her mother had been more than happy for Alexandra’s friends to come over and spend Valentine’s Day at her house and she had offered to bake up a storm, asking what everyone’s favorite was.

“Mom, I don’t know…” Alexandra laughed at her mother’s happy face.

“Well Lexie my dear, you go find out and I’ll place an order before I got to bed.” Knowing it was futile to argue with her about baking Alexandra kissed her good night.

“I’ll put it in an email, do you have your laptop in your bedroom?” Krystyna nodded and shooed her along.

“Yes, yeees.”

As she was brushing her teeth Alexandra sent a group text and told everyone that they were welcome to her house tomorrow afternoon, that they’d eat pizza and watch movies. And that her mother had offered to bake almost anything they wanted. Her phone wouldn’t stop blinking with notifications of new messages.

James

dude!

ask her if she can make that blueberry pie of hers!

actually anything goes

Dave

i’d kill for a piece of her pecan pie!

Maxine

anything your mom makes is good

Lucy

key lime pie!

pls pls pls

Steve

LEXIE!!! UR MOM ROCKS!

her apple pie is sooo good

Ben

apple pie!!!!!!!

Rosie

ily and ur mom

Victor

pie! just lots and lots of pie!

She wrote down her friends wishes and sent them to her mom’s email. There would be a delivery truck idling outside their house tomorrow morning and the cute delivery guy would knock on the back door and blush as her mother would tell him he’s a darling for showing up so early. And then he would refuse a cup of coffee because he had other deliveries to make, but she would force a paper cup on him anyway and he would leave their house with a smile on his face and freshly brewed coffee in his hand. Alexandra would watch all this from a chair by the kitchen table and love her mother a little more.

Her friends kept the conversation about tomorrow up as she crawled into bed and grabbed Pride and Prejudice. There were a few movie suggestions, but Rosie shut them up with being all mysterious about that a movie had already been chosen.

Two chapters in Alexandra felt her eyelids drooping, stifling a yawn she put the book down and rummaged on the floor next to her bed, looking for her phone charger. After connecting her phone she scrolled through her friends messaging each other about tomorrow. She was about to drop it to the floor next to her bed when a new message popped up.

Unknown

so what’s happening?

Dominic! How could she have forgotten about him?

You

oh sorry!

i forgot to add ur number to the group chat!

we’re getting pizza and watching a movie at my house

Unknown

which movie?

You

that’s a surprise! :D

Unknown

nah, don’t be like that!

You

oh ye of little faith

u’ll love it

i promise!

There was no answer. Alexandra’s heart was beating hard in her chest. What if he blew them off? He must have a thousand other people who’d love to hang out with him tomorrow night, not to mention all the girls wanting to date him. She busied herself by saving his number on her phone and then going through the too many creepshots she had of him. As if that would make the butterflies in her stomach stop.

Although her favorite picture of him wasn’t one of her candid photos, but a snap he had photo bombed making her laugh so hard she couldn’t take the picture. Dominic had grabbed her phone and snapped a picture, she was laughing, tossing her head back and he was smiling mischievously into the camera. He had then snapped it to a handful people, himself included.

“That’s a keeper!” Chucking to himself he had screenshot it and made her brain try to convince her he was madly in love with her. That he grabbed Rosie’s phone the day after and repeated the gesture, was according to her brain nothing. Her heart though had constricted at the thought and set up a new shield to save itself from more bruising.

Dominic

yeah yeah

not like I have anything better to do

Really Dominic? Really?! Shaking her head she sent him a thumbs up, she was growing drowsy and wanted nothing more than to sleep.

Dominic

so what u up to?

You

I’m in bed

She started typing “I’m kinda tired”, but he answered her really fast.

Dominic

me too

trying to get into this book

not happening

You

let me guess: pride and prejudice?

Dominic

how can this be good reading?

nothing happens!

Alexandra sighed and for a hundred of a second she was contemplating telling him what film they were watching tomorrow.

You

it’ll get better, just keep going

and it’s romantic, girls will love if u quote from it

Dominic

‘I do not cough for my own amusement.’

Oh why does he have to be so freaking adorable? It would make her life so much easier if he was plain and boring.

You

lol

yeah, u might need to practice that particular move…

besides, the best lines come later on

Dominic

too much work

I’ll just keep dazzling girls with my extraordinary charm

She was trying to find the right words to answer him when she was told he had sent her a snap. Hand shaking she tapped her screen and waited as the app opened to reveal the picture he had sent. Her breath caught.

He was in a ratty t-shirt where the print had more or less washed off, but he was giving her his most charming smile. Not even her shielded heart could help pounding hard in her chest. Without thinking she screenshot it. Oh no. What was she to do now? Panicking she swiped right and started writing: that’s a keeper! :D Holding her breath she waited for his response.

don’t I know it! ;D

Breathing a sigh of relief she snapped a picture of herself smooching at the camera: i’m going to sleep now, see u tomorrow. Without waiting for him to respond she plonked her phone down to the floor next to her bed and turned off her bedside lamp.

The next morning she woke up to the sound of whirring coming from the kitchen, her mother had started making all the things her friends had asked her to bake. Pulling an over-sized knitted sweater over her head she padded down on bare feet to see if there was anything she needed to help with.

“Good morning Lexie. There’s coffee in the pot.” This was code for ‘I don’t need your help, please sit down in the corner and stay out of the way.’ Smiling Alexandra poured herself a cup, nabbed a cinnamon cookie from the jar on the counter and sat herself down by the kitchen table.

Shortly there was a knock on the door, Krystyna opened and rolled back to let the young man carrying a box of produce into the kitchen. This was one of the best things with Saturday morning deliveries, they had had the same cute blonde guy delivering to them for about half a year now.

“Oh, you’re such a darling! Just put it on the counter.” He seemed a little confused.

“So, uhm… You don’t need me to put the things away?”

“Not today darling.” Her mother was working one of the dough in a machine, her back towards the young man. His cheeks turned pink and he took a step towards the kitchen table. “You’ll stay for coffee, no?”

“What?” He put the box down on the table with a thump. “I’m not sure... “

“Nonsense.” She filled a blue mug and forced it upon him. Alexandra couldn’t hide her smile and pulled out the chair next to hers. As he sat down she leaned in to read his name tag.

“David...” He looked up, surprised.

“Yes?”

“Oh, I read your name tag. We see each other a lot and I had no idea what your name was…” His cheeks turned pink again and he stared down into his cup.

They sipped their coffee in silence. Suddenly he checked his watch and gulped his coffee down. “I have to get going. Thanks for the coffee.”

“Lexie will have to sign today.” Krystyna held up her dough covered hands and nodded towards her daughter. They got up at the same time, he smiled shyly as he held out the small device for her to sign. She scribbled her name in the tiny window and he lifted it to read.

“Alexandra.” His smile was lovely and it was her turn to feel her cheeks turn pink. She couldn’t help but to smile back, tiny butterflies fluttering in her stomach. “See you next time.” He spoke to the both of them, but kept his eyes on her before turning around and letting himself out the kitchen door. Alexandra settled down in the corner again, cradling her mug and staring dreamily into space.

After swallowing down a piece of toast with her coffee Alexandra left her mother to the baking, Krystyna only shook her head when asked if she needed help.

“No Lexie, but maybe you could do a bit of cleaning. I don’t know when that rug in the living room saw the vacuum last.” Her mother’s laugh followed her up the stairs. She had already planned to clean the house, after doing her History and English homework. Sitting down at her desk she pulled her school books towards herself and opened her History book to the right page.

Closing Pride and Prejudice she sighed and scribbled down answers to the questions to the first couple of chapters. Not that she’d want to live in Jane Austen’s time and age, but this whole love thing seemed much easier back then. A match was found and you married them, having something to say about it if you were lucky, living happily ever after. A buzzing noise came from the floor next to her bed, the screen of her phone lighting up with a call. Caller ID told her it was Rosie.

“Hi.” Giggles could be heard in the background.

“Daniella! Stop it! Victor!” Alexandra waited until the giggling grew quiet.

“Rosie?”

“Lexie, mom wants to know when she’s to drop us off. Victor! Stop it!” The giggling had morphed into squealing and Alexandra pictured Rosie’s brother and sister going from ticking each other to wrestling. “God! I can’t deal with them right now!”

“Why don’t you get here early? Mom’s gonna be baking for a few hours still, we could get them to help her.”

“Oh god yes! Hey, snot faces! Wanna go over to Lexie’s and help her mom bake stuff?” The fighting stopped and was replaced with cheering. “Dude, we’re so there! When?” Looking at her phone and realizing she had to hurry up with the cleaning, not to mention get dressed, she did a quick calculation in her head.

“Well, it’s almost 11 now… if you guys come by at 2, then everyone else can come at 4. The long version is like five hours or something.”

“Sweet. You text the others and I’ll try not to kill these two. Love you! Mwah!” Alexandra didn’t have time to say anything before Rosie hung up.

Shaking her head she left her phone on her desk to change out of her pj’s and into something casual but nice, but she didn’t want to look like she had put too much effort into it. Gah! Standing in front of her wardrobe she had no clue what to wear, usually she’d just pick something but today she over thought every piece of clothing she pulled out. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she quieted her runaway thoughts.

“Today is nothing special, it’s just your friends coming over for pizzas and a movie. They don’t care what you wear.” She took another deep breath for good measure and opened her eyes again. A pair of black jeggings with a small hole in one knee caught her eye, then she saw her grey off the shoulder sweatshirt, the bright red print was a lipstick kiss and very Valentine’s Day appropriate. A black tank top with a built in bra finished off the outfit and she shrugged out of her pj’s and dressed quickly.

Pulling her long hair down from the messy bun she had slept in made her laugh. The mess of blonde tangles made her look like a crazy person, but she brushed the knots out and twisted it up into another messy bun. She pulled a few locks loose, letting them frame her naked face.

If they were going out she would have done a full face of makeup, but that didn’t feel right with her casual outfit. With a huff she did the bare minimum, filling in her eyebrows and covering the beginning of a zit on her chin.

Her stomach growled, reminding her of the measly breakfast she had had and she reminded herself that she should text her friends. Grabbing her phone she sent a group text walking down the stairs, remembering to add Dominic’s number this time.

You

be here at 4 for pies, pizzas and movies :D

There were a few snaps waiting: Maxine made a face as she pointed out a zit in the middle of her forehead, Lucy snapped about walking her crazy dog, Ben and James had been playing video games long into the night and then there was a blue square next to Dominic’s name. Looking at the time she saw he had sent it right after she had sent him her good night snap: sweet dreams beautiful Alexa

Her body refused to take her down the stairs, she sank down staring at her phone, rereading his message. Dominic said things like that to every girl he knew, Alexandra knew that, but that didn’t lessen the impact of him writing those words to her. The sweet smell of pecan pie wafted up the stairs, reminding her stomach of lunch. Although she wasn’t sure she’d be able to eat much with these crazy feelings tumbling around inside of her.

“Mom, you good if we nuke takeaway for lunch?” She marveled at her steady voice.

“Yes darling.” Krystyna was rolling out crust to cover an apple pie. “What time were they coming over?”

“I told them 4, but Rosie is bringing Victor and Daniella at 2.” Her mother gave her a big smile.

“Oh I love those two! I’ll save the blueberry pie for them.” Alexandra was sure her mother had wanted more children, but being a young single mother and later in a wheelchair had prevented her from going for it.

The only thing Alexandra knew about her father was that Krystyna had met him on one of her trips back to Poland and that she was the result of a summer fling. His name was Tomas and she had inherited his blonde hair and what her mother referred to as “kissable lips”. There was a photograph hidden away in a box in her mother’s room. Krystyna was 19 and her long black hair was down to her waist. With his arm slung around her shoulder stood Tomas, a tall and blonde young man, grinning into the camera. Alexandra understood why her mother had fallen for him, he was gorgeous and there was a sparkle in his eyes that promised mischief. They never spoke of him, but Alexandra suspected her mother still harboured a crush for her summer fling.

After clearing the table of the now empty takeaway boxes and putting the dishes in their dishwasher, Alexandra pulled the vacuum out from the small closet under the stairs and did her best to make the living room presentable. It wasn’t that it was particularly messy, it was just that both her and her mother would rather do other things than vacuum, resulting in dust bunnies multiplying with alarming speed under the couch and in the corners.

Shaking out the throw pillows and cramming cookbooks into their overflowing bookshelves she checked off the last things on her list. Looking over the tiny living room and deciding it was good enough she wound up the vacuum cord. The doorbell made her jump.

“I guess Rosie broke down and dragged them over here and hour earlier.” She called over her shoulder towards the kitchen, her mother laughed and started a blender with a new batch of pie crust.

With a wide grin on her face and a joke on the tip of her tongue she opened the door only to fall into a pair of bright blue eyes, her heart stopping and her brain taking a vacation. Dominic looked unusually sombre, no wicked twinkle or flirty grin. He was wearing a buttoned up black coat and there was a sprinkle of snowflakes in his brown hair. Alexandra realized she had to say something, anything, before she came off as super rude.

“Dominic? Eh. Hi?” Oh dear god, why did she make it sound like a question? Her cheeks were burning up and the palms of her hands were slick with sweat. Dominic shifted from one foot to another and she snapped out of it. “Come in. It’s freezing.” Opening the door wide and moving out of his way she ushered him into the hall.

“I know… I know I’m kinda early but… Ikindareallywantedtogiveyouthis.” He handed her something he’s been cradling in his hands. At first glance she couldn’t make out what it was, but as she accepted it she realized it was a bunch of pencils tied together with a pink ribbon. “I keep forgetting to give you your pens back, so I thought I’d buy you some new ones.“ Glancing up at him she noticed his cheeks were slightly pink and there was something she would describe as uncertainty, if she were to see it in someone else’s eyes.

“Thank you Dominic, it’s very sweet of you.” He seemed to relax and started to unbutton his coat, slowly slipping back into the Dominic she knew. And while he was busy with his buttons she leant forward on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. The smell of him had her head spinning and she regretted having to step back from it. He stilled, fingers on the last button, then he slowly unbuttoned it. She had never seen fire in someone’s eyes before, but the one in Dominic’s eyes had her breath catching.

His hands grabbed her and she dropped the pencils to the floor as she took hold of the lapels of his coat. His lips crashed onto hers as his hands went wandering, one stroked her shoulder and stopped at the back of her neck, the other skimmed her side down to her waist, sneaking its way beneath her sweatshirt. A voice in the back of her head was screaming hysterically, while another voice questioned the sanity her of kissing Dominic Higgins. Did she really want to be another notch in his belt? He nipped at her bottom lip and immediately stroked his tongue over it, making her open her mouth with a silent gasp. His breath was hot in her mouth, her hands were in his hair.

“Lexie? Who was at the door?” Her mother’s voice had them jumping apart, breathing heavily. Dominic looked almost dazed.

“It’s Dominic.” Alexandra couldn’t believe her voice was as steady as it was. The sound of his name had him shake his head and quietly hang his coat on a hook by the door. Krystyna rolled out from the kitchen, a huge smile on her face.

“Are you hoping to sneak a taste before the others come?” She loved all her daughter’s friends, but the ones with a healthy appetite were her favorites.

“You know it Mrs Drozd.” He caught Alexandra’s eye and she wondered she didn’t explode from embarrassment.

“It’s Krystyna, and come along, I have strudel left from yesterday that needs to be eaten. There’s no room in the fridge!”

Alexandra tried laughing with them, but her Ha! sounded forced. Dominic bent down to pick up the bunched together pencils, he smiled as he handed them to her again.

“I thought the pink ribbon would look nice in your hair, it’s kinda the shade of that lip gloss you wear a lot.” In what parallel universe does Dominic Higgins notice what shade lip gloss Alexandra Drozd wears to school? As she reached for her gift again he gave her a quick peck on the corner of her mouth. “I really like you Alexa. Like REALLY like you.” His cheeks were slightly pink again, but they couldn’t compete with her burning face. “And I was kinda hoping you’d like me too, and since you kissed me back instead of punching my face...” His grin was back and she felt all her defenses crumbling as she remembered their kiss.

“I do like you.” Her face was still on fire, but she knew her smile was anything but embarrassed. “A lot.” Dominic’s smile lit up his entire face as he took her hand.

“Cool.” He looked towards the kitchen. “I guess we have to go eat some strudel, but as good as I know it is, it’s nothing compared to your lips.” Alexandra laughed and was rewarded with a huge grin and another peck on the corner of her mouth. She turned her head just a little, sliding her lips over his, mentally high-fiving herself as he drew a surprised breath.

“I think we’ll have plenty of opportunities for more kissing, a whole Valentine’s day and night.”