The What If Anthology: Special Episode

A Person You Wish You Had on Valentine's Day

By

Henry Peters

To those who wish for a bright tomorrow

I got up, knowing that it's the day after Valentine's Day. I got up early this morning. I got on the shower, dried myself up, and I went to put on my clothes. During that I got a call. My phone was on top of the drawer, and I saw that it was Penny. I answered with a "Hello."

"Hey, Tobias," she said. "How's it going?"

"Uh, okay, I guess. Yours?" I asked.

"Don't even get me started," she said. "My boyfriend, Gumball—he, get this, broke up with me on Valentine's Day, in my own house."

"That stinks."

"There's more," she said. "I invited him over to meet my parents. They didn't like him at first, but I finally convinced them to give him a chance…I looked like an idiot." She began to tear up.

"It could be worse," I said.

"How?" she said. "How could it be worse?"

I thought about saying something, but I didn't. "I don't know. I think you should try to be positive about the situation."

"Maybe I can if there was something positive about it. There really is nothing," she said. "He even told me he wanted to go out with Carrie. She's just an emo ghost. She barely even talks to anyone. I don't know why he would leave me for her."

"Well," I said, "you still have your family."

"That's something," she said, "but I don't think it really helps. Are you doing something right now?"

"Yeah, I'm going somewhere with my sister. You know Rachel, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I know her. Well, I'll just be alone in my room. If you need me, just call," she said.

"All right," I said. "Bye."

"Bye," she said.

I went back to getting dressed. I got on my fancy black suit that my dad gave me…

"You ready, Tobias?" she asked.

"Almost, Rach," I said. I didn't bother cleaning up my room. I only had little time to go. I grabbed my phone before we left. We drove away, locking up the house.

During Valentine's Day, I was alone. I didn't have a girlfriend, or a crush. I was alone, watching people give gifts to people, handing cards to friends and such. I didn't really care about Valentine's Day. In my opinion, it's a cheapskate. Valentine's Day is only acceptable when you decide you want to show love for that person you want to be with. You don't use it as the one day of the year to give your girlfriend or boyfriend (I'm not against them) some flowers or little heart chocolates or some big stuffed animal. That's a rip-off to the one who loves you. You show you love that person every day, not just one day of the entire year. Some use it for their own personal need, and we can't stop that. We just mind our own business and let it happen.

I was eating a slice of pepperoni pizza, when I heard crying from the table behind me.

I turned to see that it was Carmen, saying Alan broke up with her by text message. She was sitting there, crying, letting the masquerade come off, and tissues coming around from her friends. I didn't care. I just went back to eating my pizza, until Masami said, "Just keeping trying to get him back. If he doesn't, forget that pig. You do what you can to make that jerk's life a living hell. Make him feel the same way he did to you."

I got up, walked over there, and asked if I could see the message.

Masami said, "Get out of here! It's none of your business!" I would have done that, if it weren't from the same person who told her all of that.

I told her to shut up, and I sat down. I told her if I could see the message, so I can help her. She handed me the phone, where the message said:

"Listen, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I can't do this. It's over. I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way. I don't want you to think of this as a fling. We only kissed, but I felt that it wasn't right. I felt that maybe you should be with someone else, and I should too. We're only in high school. We shouldn't take this serious. Goodbye."

I was thinking it over and said to her, "Look," I began, with her looking at me, "how long have you guys been going out?"

"T-Two weeks," she said.

"There's no reason to be sad. Plus, that doesn't mean you have to be sad today. Some people mope around thinking it's a bad thing, but you should take this advantage and just go out with someone else. There are a lot of people here that you can go out with and have a good time. Plus, you probably have people coming after you. You shouldn't be sad."

She looked at me with a smile. But Masami said, "Why don't you get lost. You're not helping. It's not like you know what love is."

"And like you do?" I said. "I can tell either if you're just protecting her, or you're just an annoying bitch who sucks the life out of people…And I don't think you're doing much protecting."

"You're an asshole," she said.

"No," I said. "That's just an opinion—your opinion. If that's how you see me, all right, but don't you tell her lies and bullshit about what you would do."

She was about to grab her small milk carton and throw it at me, but couldn't. She was stopped by Carmen. She told her not to.

She obeyed, but I left. I know that she was probably going to take my advice and be happy. If she weren't, she would have let her throw milk on me. But she didn't.

I got to the place with Rachel. We went further than we thought. We thought it was going to be easy, but not by a longshot. We walked further since it's been a while since we've been here. We had the flowers and kept walking. We got to where we wanted to.

Rachel asked me if I wanted to set the flowers. I told her she can do it. She laid them on our mother and father's tombstone. They died on Valentine's Day. They went out, leaving Rachel to take care of me. When we expected them to come home, they didn't. We got a phone call that there had been an accident. Our parents were in a car crash and had died…

Rachel had always looked up to my mom, saying she was a mother who cared, got the job done right, and such.

I looked up to my father, typically. He wasn't like many people. He really meant by his word. He helped me out through many difficult times. (He even helped me through puberty and sex.) I counted on him for that stuff. I don't want to say much since thinking about him starts giving me headaches. Those headaches lead me to feel pain and misery. He always told me that I had to work things out if I start having problems. I did, but knowing I can't talk to anyone else kills me inside…

We didn't stay long like last time. We just couldn't bear it like last time. I just couldn't. We left the cemetery, knowing that there are people who are sad on Valentine's Day for not having a Valentine…Well, my sister and I don't have a mom or dad to celebrate Mother's Day, Father's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, our birthdays…

People are so ungrateful…

THE END