Me: Hiya y'all, how are you? Happy Valentine's Day!
Unyielding Wish: Beta'd by me. Characters may be OOC. Slight.
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He felt silly, and very shy.
"Just go!" Julie hissed in his ear.
"Strap on a pair and knock!" Runo said, jabbing at his back with her finger.
Julie shoved the small heart shaped box into his hands, which was fixed with a rose. Runo knocked on the door and the two girls immediately ran to hide in the spindly bushes.
Shun sighed. It had been their idea, not his.
After two seconds, a beautiful redhead opened the door. "Hello?" she said, poking her head from behind the door. "Oh! You're Shun, aren't you? Come in, come on in! It's cold out here."
"Oh—uh—h-hi, Alice." Shun was scared, something his grandfather taught him to never be. Well of course his grandfather never taught him anything about women so there was a ninety-nine-point-nine-five chance he'd ruin everything.
"It's rude for me to keep you out waiting so long," Alice insisted. "Besides, you'll catch cold. Come in."
Shun's mind went completely blank. What should I say, oh god oh god oh god what do I do? I'm going to be in a girl's house for the first time AHHH— Instead of saying that out loud, he nodded, and Alice stepped into her house to allow room for her company.
"Make yourself at home; would you like a drink?" Alice asked.
"Uh, okay."
"Water? Pop? I really don't have much, sorry; that's why my folks are out shopping."
"Water's fine," Shun answered, feeling awkward in Alice's courteous, unselfishness.
"Then I'll be back. Have a seat on the couch."
She disappeared into the kitchen. Shun stiffly sat on the couch, not sure of what exactly he was supposed to do. The box, adorned with the rose, was rubbing against his leg, scratching, irritating him. After several long moments of waiting, Alice came back holding a spotless glass of sparkling water. How'd she make it so clean? wondered Shun. He took it from her small, pale hands.
"So what brings you by? It's Valentine's Day. Shouldn't you be on a date or something like that?"
"Well, you see—"
"Don't tell me you don't have a girlfriend! Shun, tall, handsome, and yet no girlfriend." She made a disapproving clucking noise just to tease him and keep her quivering, excited insides at bay.
"I should be asking you the same question…"
"Me? Oh." Alice laughed. "I have been asked but I really kind of like someone else. It would seem rude to lead someone on and just drop them." Her deep burgundy eyes bore into him, and Shun felt a hot blush creep up his neck as he demurely sipped his icy water. "Why, don't you agree?"
"True… so what were you up to?"
"Come into the kitchen," she answered mysteriously, taking his free hand and leading him into the kitchen. He almost gasped in shock.
Dozens—no—hundreds of gifts, chocolates, cards, flowers, some roses, baskets, huge teddy bears, and perfumes overflowed her table. He looked down at his gift. It looks pathetic, compared to some of hers… So what if she rejects the gift I bought for her? Laughs in my face? Oh god oh god oh god.
"Is something wrong?" she asked. She followed his eyes and spotted the heart shaped box and rose in his hands.
"Oh, they're beautiful," Alice said dreamily. "I always did love roses. Hearts were especially quite romantic. So," she added, snapping out of her reverie, "who's the lucky girl?"
"Well, uh, see here…"
In a fast move, he shoved the gifts in her hand and began to run to the door when a pale-yet-strong hand grabbed his. Shun felt like a deer in headlights, and lightning strike him down if he didn't look the same way.
I'm a coward, a coward for not being able to face her directly, a… Shun berated himself.
"Are these… for me?" Alice gasped.
"Yes," he admitted, not meeting her eyes. His legs had turned to jelly.
She began to giggle, her cheeks flushed red.
So this is her answer, he thought sadly in dejection.
"So… Fabia doesn't get any?"
"What? No."
"I thought you liked her."
"What?"
"Well, you always would hang out at school. She often told me that she would go to your house, and you would kiss her, make out on the floor…"
"Wait, WHAT?"
"That's a lot of 'whats,' Shun. Fabia told me that, though. You didn't really, did you? I'd hate to think that you learned the arts of, well, that, when you're only in eighth grade with me. It's terribly disappointing. So I refused to believe her about making out, except the idea of you kissing her was very likely. She's pretty and you're handsome, and I can just imagine you two."
"That's lying. We're family friends. But I don't like her as a lover, I like her as a friend… maybe less now that she's been spreading untrue rumors."
Alice nodded and opened the box.
Inside were beautiful truffles, some of them heart-shaped; but most were rose-shaped. She took one out of the box and tasted it.
"Delicious. They're gourmet. What type?" Alice asked, her mouth full of chocolate, and her head tipped back.
"I don't know," Shun said honestly. "Runo and Julie just pushed me to the mall and made me take one to admit my—…"
Alice looked back at him, her eyes dancing, laughing. "Love for me?"
Shun turned his face away, blushing hard now. "It's just a Valentine…"
"Your Valentine to me. Come here, Shun. You giving me such a gift as this—gourmet truffles, with an edge of alcohol, but not enough to make me drunk—you deserve a lavish gift as well. Let me see…" She dug in her pile.
"Kiss her," Shun could almost hear Runo yell excitedly at him in his head.
This was the perfect moment. He walked over to her, knees knocking against each other, leaned down and captured her lips with her own. It wasn't hard. She tasted like… chocolates. Shun didn't want to try what Julie suggested—feel around Alice's mouth—so he just pulled away after a mere brush. Alice's cheeks were flushed happily, and she looked up at him with sparkling eyes, holding a simple velvet box in her hands.
"Happy Valentine's Day."
"I like you." Shun blushed just saying it.
"Well, I like you too. Maybe not too much as to love you, but just right."
"What about the other gifts?" he asked, his eyes darting to her gift table.
"I keep them," she answered. "Oh—give them out to Runo and Julie and such. But the rest, I just make them to pass the time. From me to me."
"Alice…"
"Shun." She stood on her tiptoes and gazed into his eyes, suddenly serious, and not like dreamy Alice at all. "Promise you'll not encourage Fabia?"
Shun shook his head, and she smiled with the familiar childish charm that so enchanted him.
Hmmm chocolates… not a bad idea.
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Me: Hahhahaha happy V-day everyone
Unyielding Wish: I grow more paranoid each day that a crazy stalker is out to get my account here. -.- So that's why... I beta as quickly as possible...
Shun: TROLOLOLOLOL
Me: Alice, what on earth did you do?
Alice: I swear I only kissed him…