Ruby hated Valentine's Day. She never liked how the corporations turned her favorite color into a big day of love. She never liked how lovey-dovey couples walked around as if they owned the place. She never liked how overcrowded so-called "romantic" spots became. Sure, maybe a coffee date on Valentine's Day is romantic, but have some consideration for the people that just want to study!
Yang claimed Ruby was just jealous because nobody ever gave her Valentine's Day candy after the 5th grade. Of course Ruby begged to differ, but Yang never believed her. Then again, Yang had always gotten lots of love confessions and candy on Valentine's Day.
You might be wondering; how did the great Ruby Rose spend Valentine's Day? The answer is simple, snuggled under layers of blankets watching movies.
Shhk, shhhk, shhk
A soft noise snapped Ruby from her brooding on the long-passed holiday. She blinked a few times, finding those chalky hearts with little words printed on them. They had been arranged in a smiley face on her notebook. A tanned hand still lingered at the end of the smile. It pulled away as if it had touched something hot.
Ruby turned to look next to her where her classmate, Oscar Pine, sat. A pile of the conversation hearts scattered on his lecture notes and a bag in his lap. Ruby looked to him in confusion, mouthing a silent "what?"
Oscar dug in his bag, pulling out a little pad of sticky notes. He scribbled a little message on it before sliding it to her.
"You looked zoned out so I thought I'd arrange some in a smiley face."
Ruby tried not to giggle out loud, as to avoid the attention of the professor. She took the pad and wrote a reply
"Ah, yes, love messages on candy hearts. The prime of Valentine's Day candy."
"They were discounted. I'm not going to pass up on 50% off candy."
"You have a point."
Ruby pulled some of the candies from the face. She specifically took from the eyes, smiling victoriously at the now blind smiley face. Oscar's jaw dropped. He dug into the bag of hearts and pulled out more. He replaced the candy eyes with new ones, even took a moment to turn the smile into a frown. Ruby nearly choked from holding back laughter.
She rearranged the candies to form the word "Hi." Oscar covered his mouth to suppress a chuckle. He dug through his bag, sifting through the candies. He grinned at a little purple candy and slid it to her.
"Hello," The little candy read. They exchanged looks, quietly holding back laughs and snickers.
They quickly moved their backpacks together to act as an impromptu table for the candy bag. Oscar peeled off half of the pad of sticky notes and slid it to Ruby. The candy only had flirty messages, but that didn't stop the two college students from enjoying their candy conversation.
"Hey you. Call me."
"You bet."
"Dream Big. Sweet Pea."
"Hey Cutie. Be True."
"Hug Me. Hot Stuff."
The last one had both of them nearly falling out of their chairs in laughter. Ruby had to put her head down to cover her snickers. When she lifted her head, Oscar was already crafting new shapes with the candy. Ruby watched him for a few moments before digging a hand into the candy bag and pulling out a large handful.
Ruby began arranging them in little towers and shapes. She pulled the sticky note pad closer to her. She scribbled "Ruby City" in pen and pulled on Oscar's sleeve. He jumped a little but smiled kindly at the little city she created. Ruby grinned before carefully deconstructing her little city before the professor saw.
She looked over Oscar's shoulder to see what he was creating. The letters "I" and "U" sandwiched a heart arranged from the candy. Ruby scribbled her thoughts on the sticky note.
"Cool." She slid it to Oscar. Ruby pulled it back when he started writing a reply.
"Thanks." Oscar slid it to her. She only got a brief look at it before Oscar slid it back. He quickly scribbled another message on it and slid it back to her. "What do you think?"
"It's really cute and creative."
Oscar didn't look too pleased with her answer. He pulled the pad back to him. Ruby tried looking over his shoulder to see what he was writing, but Oscar put an arm around it.
"It's about time we wrap up," the professor announced. "I will see you next week."
Oscar quickly shoved the pad into his pocket. He scooped the candy into his hand and dumped half on Ruby's notebook. The rest, he shoved into his pocket.
"I'll see you later, Ruby." Oscar stood up. And quickly left. Ruby didn't get a chance to say goodbye or even tell him that he left the bag of candy.
###
"Ooh~ You got Valentine's Day candy~!" Yang chirped as she dug into the candy bag sitting vulnerably on Ruby's desk.
"Yeah, Oscar brought it in, but he forgot to take it back," Ruby replied without looking up from her homework. Yang looked guiltily at the handful but shrugged before shoving them in her mouth. She took her usual spot on Ruby's bed and immediately made herself at home.
"How is he anyway? I haven't seen him around since your group project last semester," Yang asked as she pulled out her scroll.
"Uh, he's doing ok, I guess. But he was right about taking Professor Peach for my biology course. She's super cool."
"Cool, cool." Ruby rolled her eyes as it was clear Yang wasn't really paying attention. "Sooooo~ has he done anything to warrant your attention?"
"What?"
"Don't think I forgot how you spent all of last semester fawning over him. So what's the new Oscar news?" Ruby rolled her eyes.
"I'm over it. I'm not interested in him and he's not interested in me. We're friends."
"Right, and that candy wasn't your Valentine's Day gift from him."
"That's because it's not."
"Right," Yang's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Nope! You're not getting my hopes up! You're not convincing me!"
"So you admit you still have feelings for him!"
"Nope! LALALALALA! NOT LISTENING!" Ruby covered her ears. She grabbed her backpack and began shoving as much homework as she could into it.
"ADMIT YOU STILL HAVE FEELINGS FOR OSCAR PINE!"
"NEVER!" Ruby grabbed the candy bag and shoved it in her backpack. "YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME!"
Ruby ran out of her room as fast as she could. All she wanted was a nice, quiet place to study. Was that too much to ask for?! Her only safe haven from her sister would be the library. Ruby knew Yang would never willingly step into the library's study area other than to play games.
Ruby knew just where to go. There was a quiet little spot in the back of the second floor that Oscar had brought her to complete their group work the previous semester. The only risk was running into Oscar, but what are the chances of that happening?
Apparently very high.
Oscar sat at the table in the back. A few books lay before him with highlights and tabs to mark important readings. He absentmindedly munched on chocolate from a little plastic bag.
"Hey, Oscar!" Ruby chirped. Oscar nearly choked on his chocolate. He banged on his chest a few times to clear his throat.
"Hey-Hey Ruby," he rasped out.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry for scaring you."
"No, it's alright. I'm just… jumpy."
"I've noticed," she giggled. Oscar nervously laughed along. They just stood there, awkwardly staring at each other for a few moments.
"Uh… Why don't you take a seat? We can study together," Oscar finally said.
"Sounds good!" Ruby took the seat across from him. She started unpacking the contents of her backpack, careful to not overlap her books with his.
"Want some?" Oscar offered her some of the chocolate from the bag.
"Wow, you sure got a lot of discount candy!" she smiled, taking a tiny piece from the bag. It was the high-quality kind, the perfect milk chocolate.
"Er… these I made myself." It was Ruby's turn to begin choking on chocolate.
"You made this?!"
"Uh, yeah. For Valentine's Day."
"Well, whoever got it was very lucky."
"I didn't give it to anybody." Ruby's jaw dropped.
"You kept perfectly good chocolate to yourself?!" Oscar laughed at her response.
"Well, I may have wimped out… I couldn't give it to the girl I wanted to."
"That's a shame," she commented, grabbing another chocolate from the bag. She waved it in front of his face. "This chocolate is amazing, she's really missing out."
"Thanks." Oscar grinned. Ruby popped the piece of chocolate in her mouth and smiled back. A few chews in she remembered about the candy bag in her backpack. Ruby pulled out the candy bag and gave it back to him.
"You forgot this in class today."
"Oh, uh, thanks. But, if you want it, you could have it."
"It's alright! I'm not overly fond of the candy."
"Oh…" Oscar looked a bit sad as he pulled the bag closer to him. Ruby felt bad for insulting a candy that he probably liked a lot.
"I mean, that's just me! They're just a bit too… plain? For me. But they do remind me of being a kid again!" Ruby knew she wasn't making much sense. She grabbed another piece of chocolate from the bag and ate it. "But this chocolate is really really good!"
"Uh, thanks. I didn't think you'd like it, so…."
"Are you kidding me?! You really have a knack for this!" Oscar smiled, his hand resting on the back of his neck.
"Thanks."
"Much better than the candy hearts to me! I mean, no offense if you like them."
"It's ok. Candy hearts aren't… my favorite candy in the world either." Ruby blinked a few times.
"Then why did you buy such a big bag?"
"I, uh, thought you would like them? More than the chocolate, but I guess I was wrong."
"Huh… that's kinda funny. Hey if you want, you should give this chocolate to that girl!"
"What?"
"This has the Ruby seal of approval! And better late than never, right?"
"Uh… It's alright…"
"Really! I can give you moral support if that's what you need!"
"No, really, it's alright."
"It isn't! You put a lot of effort into these chocolates! Now, who were you going to give them to? If I know them, I can call them over to study with us!"
"I…." Oscar was blushing from his ears all the way down to his neck. His eyes refused to leave the floor "I…. don't….."
"I'm sorry if I'm pushing you," Ruby's tone softened. "You, uh, don't have you if you don't want to."
"No!" Oscar's head shot up. Flustered, he ducked back down again. "I want to…. It's…. it's just…."
"Well then let's start with a written message. Or…." Ruby reached over and grabbed the bag of candy hearts. She grabbed a handful and placed them between them. "If that's too hard then use the candy hearts to write out a message. Then I can use your phone and text it to her! How does that sound?"
Oscar didn't reply. With shaky hands, he reached out and started judging the candy hearts. He picked out a single pink heart that wrote out "I heart you"
"Simple and easy!" Ruby chirped. She pulled out her half of Oscar's sticky note pad. "Now write her name right here."
Oscar hesitated a moment before scribbling a quick name down. He slid it back to Ruby.
"Alright! So we just have to text Ruby Rose!" Ruby stopped.
She read the name over and over again. She looked between Oscar and the note. Oscar covered his face with his hands. He quietly handed her his half of the notepad, a note already written down.
"Ruby, I love you" was scribbled in clear letters. Ruby pinched herself. Then she peeled off her name on the sticky note pad. She grabbed a green candy heart and slid it to Oscar on the pad.
"Oscar Pine," the note read, the candy heart finishing the sentence, "Date me."
Ruby watched Oscar do a double take. He just stared for a few moments before sliding the chocolate bag closer to her.
"Ok," he choked out.
"Great," Ruby replied.
They sat in silence for what was quite possibly years. Whether it was a comfortable silence or an awkward one was completely up in the air.
"I like chocolate covered strawberries!" Ruby suddenly announced. She wracked her brain for more words to finish her thought. "We could make some if you have a lot of leftover chocolate!"
"That… That sounds fun!" Oscar smiled awkwardly at her.
They both wordlessly turned back to their work. Every once in a while, Ruby found her new boyfriend staring at her. They'd exchange laughs and go back to studying before it happened again and again.
Ruby picked through the candy hearts, they made a quiet shhhhhk as she slid two to him.
"Let's kiss. Sweet stuff."
Oscar laughed as he slid her a response. Their work completely neglected as they talked through those chalky little candy hearts.
Ruby hated Valentine's Day. But maybe next year wouldn't be so bad.