February in New York wasn't what one would call 'beautiful'.
It was cold, slushy, nearly everything in Central Park was dead or frozen. That was a main reason why Katie hated February.
But there was another reason too, a stupid, little reason that only lasted twenty four hours but still managed to bring her down faster then a it took Travis Stoll to steal her watch.
Valentine's Day.
On one particular Valentine's Day she had to remain at Camp Half Blood, to her chagrin that was the year Mrs. Stoll decided that Travis should stay as a round year camper.
Surprisingly, it was actually one of the best Valentine's Days of her life.
"Breakfast time guys!" Annie, the cabin leader called. Katie let out a groan and got out of bed. She ran her fingers through her auburn hair and decided not to do much else. There were like, three guys here. Why should she bother to look cute?
Her youngest sister Lilie was wearing a bright pink shirt and a pair of wings and was giving each of her siblings a big frilly heart.
'Oh gods' Katie thought internally groaning. Today was Valentine's Day. Freaking Valentine's Day! Mushy-Gushy Couples Day, Single Awareness Day.
One of the stupidest holiday's next to Flag Day.
Seriously, who celebrates flags?
"Hi Katie! Happy Valentines Day!" Lilie said happily giving her half sister a large pink heart.
"Gee, thanks." She muttered as she tossed it on her bed. "So it begins." She muttered under her breath.
At the Dining hall, Mr. D had decided to participate in the holiday (a.k.a Aphrodite told him too). There were so many pink streamers and cut out hearts that Katie's eyes began to heart if she looked at the ceiling to long. Naturally, the daughters of Aphrodite were in a frenzy. Decorating, passing out valentines, kissing their boyfriends. There was so much love in the room Katie thought she could hear The Beatles playing in the background.
Oh wait, the satyrs had their pan flutes and harps with them.
"Somebody doesn't look to cheerful." an incredibly annoying voice commented from behind her.
"Great observation Travis." She deadpanned. She looked and found he was decked out completely in pink. Pink shirt, pink bracelets, pink socks, pink shoelaces. Her expression probably said it all because he started to laugh.
"I personally love Valentine's Day. We both do. Connor dyed his hair pink, he sent me a picture."
"Whoop-dee- doo. Go away."
"What, I don't get a valentine?" He pouted. She pushed him to the side and went over to the food. Travis trailed behind her. "Katie, I'm still waiting for my valentine." She spun to face him and crossed her arms.
"I don't do valentines."
"Oh come on, not even for your boyfriend?"
"You're not my boyfriend Travis, now leave me alone." She said turning back to the food and grabbed a couple heart-shaped waffles. She sat down at her table and somewhat violently ripped the waffle heart in half and drenched it in syrup. Travis sat down rather close to her.
"Just to verify, when you say 'you're not my boyfriend' did you mean that someone else was your boyfriend or that you don't have a boyfriend." He asked looking very serious. Katie almost spit out waffles when she laughed.
"Are you serious?" She asked still giggling. Travis looked down and she could see his ears slowly turning red. "Oh my gods you are! Travis Stoll is asking me if I'm single."
"Are you even supposed to be sitting here?" Darren, a half-brother of hers, asked. Travis quickly got up and went over to the Hermes table. Katie happily finished her waffles. Travis Stoll embarrassing himself in front was almost enough to make this day decent. At the end of breakfast, she looked down to check her watch only one problem…it wasn't there.
"Travis!" She cried. Travis scampered over to her eagerly.
"You called m'lady?" He said in a British accent. Katie rolled her eyes.
"Give me back my watch."
"What?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows.
"I know it comes naturally for you, but don't play dumb. I know you took it."
"Katie, I honestly didn't take it." He said looking her in the eyes. She let out a huff.
"You're lying, give it back!" She demanded. Travis looked hurt.
"I didn't take it!" He said angrily.
"Stop lying to my face!" She yelled. He stormed away from her. She followed after.
"Give it back!" She demanded.
"I. Did. Not. Steal. Your. Watch." The two were standing in front of the Big House both glaring at each other. Katie was about to retort when Darren tugged at her shirt. She whipped her head around to face him.
"Um, you dropped your watch…" He handed it to her. Katie's stomach dropped and her face began to turn a fiery red. Looking at the ground she turned back to Travis, but he had gone.
"Styx," She cursed. Darren looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "I just made a total bitch out of myself didn't I?" Darren nodded. She sighed and headed towards the Hermes cabin.
"Travis?" She asked quietly opening the door. No answer. She walked inside to find that no one was there, but she did find a large pile of red and pink paper in front of Travis's bed. She looked a bit closer and saw a bunch of valentines all addressed to her.
She felt a blush rising on her cheeks. She picked a random one up, it was a big heart with lace around the outside.
"To Katie, You're like the prettiest girl at camp who's not from the Aphrodite cabin." She read, the blush fading. "Oh wow Travis." She picked up another, this one was a normal card but had a bunch of heart cut outs on it.
"Dear Katie, when I first saw you I thought that you were my sister." She burst out laughing. What kind of a valentine was that? She continued through the stack, laughing at the corny and stupid little messages he had wrote to her. She heard somebody come in but she was laughing to hard to care.
"What the Hades?" It was Travis, his face was as pink as his shirt. Katie had tears streaming down her face.
"I-I-I" She was laughing to hard to form words. He ran out of the cabin terribly embarrassed. She got up still giggling and followed him.
"Come on Travis! I-I-I…"
"Oh shut up. I get it, I'm an idiot and I can't do romance at all." He said looking at the ground crossing his arms.
"Come on! I mean…I mean…'you're eyes are like dirt?' How the Hades is that romantic?" She said trying to contain her giggles.
"Well, they're a really nice brown and I was trying to think up something plant related because you really like plants and stuff…" His pink cheeks were turning red.
"So that's why I look like that one hot girl from that David Bowie movie? You're so stupid!" She said smirking at him.
"Hey, I couldn't remember the names! Look, can you just leave me alone!" He quickly ran into his cabin.
"Oh my, Travis!" She called. He was such a cornball, it was kind of amusing. She went over to the cabin. She peaked in and saw Travis ripping up all the valentines. She went in.
"Stop it! Those are mine!" She said snatching them out of his hands.
"You said they were stupid!" He tried trying to get them back. She rolled her eyes.
"I said you were stupid, not the cards." She said, causing him to sputter words of confusion.
"What…you…huh?" He cried. "I thought you hated valentines!" She felt a little butterfly in her stomach.
"I do." She said hoping the butterfly would die. "But…I …kind of….like…the cards…you…made…me…" She got quieter on each word. It was Travis's turn to smirk at her.
"Does Katie Gardener like me?" He asked trying to turn on the charm. She rolled her eyes.
"I think your cards were sweet. Don't look into that any deeper."
"Oh you so like me!" He said laughing.
"I do not like you. I don't get valentines so it was kind of nice is all." She grabbed her cards and started out the door.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He stopped in front of her. "You've never gotten a valentine?"
"Not from a boy." She said with a shrug. He looked skeptical.
"Really? You've never gotten one, not even from your boyfriend?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Stop trying to subtly ask if I'm single. I've never had a boyfriend ok?" She said grudgingly. The butterfly in her stomach had turned into a swarm He shook his head.
"That's so weird."
"What is?" Katie asked holding the cards closer to her.
"You've never had a boyfriend; I always just assumed I guess…" He scratched the back of his neck.
"Why would you assume that? The only boy that I ever liked enough to want to date laughed in my face when I tried to give him a rose." She looked at her feet. She dug her heel into the ground.
"Well he's stupid." Travis said simply. "And that's me saying that." Katie stifled a laugh.
"So can I keep the stupid cards? If I erase your name people will think I'm popular." She said with a playful roll of her eyes.
"Fine, but look, if you're going to keep my cards can you at least take the real one?" He began to rummage threw his drawer.
"The real one? So you mean one of these gems isn't the final draft?" She deadpanned. He whipped out a dark pink card. There was a crudely drawn rose on it. She opened it and read out loud.
"Dear Katie, at least you spelled my name right this time." She commented.
"Oh shut up!" He said a goofy smile still on his face.
"Dear Katie, I'm a kleptomaniac so it's not my fault if I steal a kiss." She felt her heart melt a bit. Travis Stoll was an annoying idiot but he was such a damn sweetheart.
"I know it's really corny and stuff, but I thought you might…" He trailed off blushing a bit. She looked at him for a few seconds. "I'm sorry if you don't like it. I asked Conner for the-"
But she cut him off and planted a kiss on his lips. (No pun intended)
I've had writers block, writing silly romance usually helps. Its nothing to special, but it's my way of saying happy unimaginative, consumerist-oriented, entirely arbitrary, shallow and manipulative interpretation of romance day!