It was Valentine's Day and the school's cafeteria resembled a green house. Bouquets of roses and heart balloons filled each table as new loves were made and old loves rekindled. But Cece's table was empty. She and Rocky each piddle with their food, while never really eating anything.
"I don't see why girls get so excited about getting balloons and roses." Cece says admiring a set of pink roses on the table nearest them. "Balloons pop and flowers always die."
Rocky looks around and feels empty inside. Just like Cece she didn't have a valentine either. "I wouldn't mind getting some flowers." Leaning back in the hard plastic chair she sighs. "I never have a valentine…"
They both let out an even deeper sigh a moment later when they are joined by Tinka. Her clothes sparkled and reflected the red, pink, and yellow of all the surrounding flowers. It was quite distracting. "Hello girls" she says taking a seat next to Cece.
They each ignore her but she is undeterred. "I see you don't have a valentine yet" Tinka scoffs and checks her reflection in a mirror. "Perhaps if you put a little more effort in your looks, you might get a handsome valentine like me."
"And who is your valentine?" asks Cece sarcastically.
"Ty of course, after our date we really hit it off." Tinka explains.
Rocky tosses her fork onto her plate. "That was a month ago, and he never called you back." She states trying to clear the delusion.
"He is just playing hard to get." Tinka grins and looks absently into the air. "Ahh American boys, always playing hard to get."
"Or maybe they are just running for their lives." Cece mocks and Rocky joins her in laughing.
"We'll see about that. Here Ty comes now." She points towards the other side of the cafeteria. "And look he has a bouquet of roses just for me!"
Ty walked closer and Tinka stands up to greet him, stepping in front of Cece's seat. Cece turns around to see what was going on. When he is close enough Tinka outstretches her hands. "Ohh Ty you shouldn't have!"
He stops short a puzzled look on his face. The look soon turned to embarrassment as what seemed to be the whole cafeteria now eyed them. Another awkward moment goes by before he says "Umm actually…"
Tinka opens her eyes slowly; her heart began to speed up a little. Why hadn't he given her the flowers already? "Actually what?"
He hesitates before saying "Actually they're for Cece."
"What?" Tinka couldn't believe her ears; she must have heard him wrong. Cece? That twig of a redhead? He couldn't be.
Rocky was just as surprised as Tinka matching her question of "What?" But after a moment of thought Rocky started seeing the signs. 'Kind of makes sense' she thinks remembering all the times Ty hung out with Cece. His flirting had been subtle, but in hindsight it was still flirting.
"Me?" Cece's cheeks went red. "Oh my god!" she yells coming to the realization he wanted her as his valentine! Not the weird blonde with fashion problems, but her; Cece Jones. She stands up pushing Tinka out of the way.
Tinka furiously stomps off as Ty hands Cece a dozen bright red roses. "Cece will you be my valentine?"
She glances at Rocky who was already grinning from ear to ear and nodding her head. If she needed any confirmation from her friend that was it, "Of course I will!" Cece leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Valentine" she whispers her head still next to his.
"Valentine" he responds just as softly, pressing his cheek gently against hers. She then backs off and takes a deep breath of the flowers. "So I'll catch you later or something?" Ty asks nervously. Although normally cool-headed around women Cece really knew how to stir up the butterflies in his stomach.
"Of course. See you after school?"
"Definitely." Ty walks off happily in his own little world. He didn't even notice the scathing look Tinka gave him as he passed.
Cece however did notice Tinka's death-stare and simply sticks her tongue out. She points at her flowers before mouthing the words 'My Valentine.'
"Oh my god, did you know he was going to do that?" Cece asks now rejoining Rocky at the table.
"Nope, I'm just as surprised as you are. Although looking back I think he has liked you for a while."
"Well I'm not complaining Ty is sexy!" she replies impulsively before glancing back at Ty. He was now by the drink machines with Deuce. But Rocky was still transfixed on Cece's use of the word sexy.
"Please don't call my brother 'sexy'. I don't mind if you date him but please keep the descriptions to yourself." She shakes her head. "He's still my brother…" She didn't mean for it to come off as bitter. But now she was the only girl without a valentine. Well Tinka and herself, and she didn't really care about Tinka.
"So how'd it go?" Deuce asks removing a cola from the machine.
"She loved them and said yes." Ty says excitedly and puts some change in the machine.
Deuce fist bumps Ty. "Awesome man. Guess it's my turn then." He pops the top of his cola and downs the entire can. Tossing it in a trashcan he adds "Wish me luck."
"Good luck! But you don't need it."
"Why's that?"
"Well let's just say someone likes to write about you a lot in her diary." Ty explains grinning.
So with renewed confidence Deuce starts walking towards the lunch tables. Towards the very table Rocky and Cece were at.
Rocky was admiring Cece's bouquet slightly jealous of her friend's gift. Why couldn't anyone ever give her flowers? She silently sulks not wanting to ruin her best friend's moment.
"Hey Rocky" a nervous voice says bringing her attention back to reality. She looks to see who it was. It was Deuce. She brightens up; perhaps she still had a chance?
"Oh hey Deuce." She responds gleefully turning his direction. "What's up?"
"Oh nothing much." He says tripping over his words. Ty made this look so easy… "I was just wondering if you heard about the new Valentine's Day deal I had."
Typical Deuce always trying to sell something, "Not today Deuce. I'm not really in the mood." Rocky starts to around but feels someone gently grasp her shoulder.
"But you didn't even look at it. How do you know if you don't want it?" Deuce's voice trembled with nervousness as he opened the right side of his jacket. He hoped she liked it.
Rocky turns back around, expecting to see basketball tickets or some other bootlegged item. But to her surprise there was only a red Valentine's Day card in the shape of a heart. And attached to it was a Pink rose. She was at a loss of words.
"Be my valentine?" Deuce mumbles but manages to get out the question. His face burned with anticipation as he awaited an answer. But a stunned Rocky said nothing.
Deuce looks over at Cece, his face begging for help. She snaps her fingers loudly in front of Rocky. "Rocky? You're going to give poor Deuce a heart attack if you don't respond soon."
Deuce was now holding his breath wondering if she would ever respond. "Yes" Rocky finally says coming out of her daze. "Yes!" She screams jumping up and hugging him before taking the card and rose. Afterwards she goes a little insane.
Deuce and Cece watched as Rocky ran up and down two isles of tables yelling "I got a valentine! I got a valentine!" Other students looked on with wide eyes as she continued up and down the isles. Eventually she makes it back to the table and retakes her seat. Her breathing was heavy. "Whew, sorry about that I might have got just a little excited."
Cece laughs. "Yeah maybe just a little." But a moment later they each simultaneously say "Naaahhh!"
Deuce decided to let girls be girls and bids them farewell. "Rocky, I'll call you later ok?"
"Ok?" She responds giggling. "Bye, Valentine." She waves cutely as he walks away. Then card in one hand, rose in the other she looks back at Cece. They each grin and start singing in chorus together "We got a Valentine! We got a Valentine!"
Back at the drink machines Deuce and Ty fist bump once more. "I see that went well" Ty comments hearing the girls chant loudly over all the other voices.
"Couldn't have gone better." Deuce responds pulling out two Olive Pit gift cards. He hands one to Ty.
"What time are the reservations?"
"I reserved us for seven." Deuce says buying another can of soda. "The girls will be so surprised."
Ty chuckles, "Yeah, but let's just hope they don't break out into chorus over it too." He looks back at the girls. Their chanting had finally died down, but not before getting the attention of the principal, who was now lecturing them on noise control. Soon after the bell rings, and lunch is over.
A/N: Hey guys, Valentine's Day is coming up so I wanted to share a little one-shot I had on my mind. Happy Valentine's Day.
Shout out to 'CeceLovesTy' and all the other CY and DRock fans, if it weren't for all of you I would have no one to write for. Thank you all for reading!