Reggie sighed looking out the window. His love had just passed by, but he would not run after her today. She came back to live here a few months ago and had been running after her ever since. They had become friends, but he wanted more – so much more.
He wanted to hold her hand as they walked through the village. He longed to sit and stare into her beautiful blue eyes for hours on end. His heart skipped at the thought of kissing her and taking her breath away. A smile would pass over his face as he thought of settling down in a cottage with a family of their own.
From his parlour he could hear Peter Pan calling her name. Peter, the boy who would never grow up and who had stolen a dance with Reggie's love at the social. Ever since that night, there had been tension between the boy and Reggie and it became quite apparent when Peter came to Reggie needing his hat repaired from whatever battle Captain Hook and he had that week or some adventure the Lost Boys and he had.
Reggie could hear her respond back and heard her feet retrace their steps back the way they came. He walked to the window and opened it. He was a gentleman and had no intentions of eavesdropping on their conversation, of course, instead hoped to let the breeze in. At least, that is what he would tell them in case they caught him and asked what he were doing. From his window it would be impossible not to hear what they were saying, or see how beautiful she was.
Her beautiful blonde locks were pulled back in a loose French twist with little wisps falling in to her face. She was wearing a dress in a flattering shade of blue, which was well fit through the body and fell mid calf with a billowing skirt. She wasn't wearing her cute white apron today. Instead, she had on a lovely gold locket. It looked familiar, and Reggie then remembered it was the one he had given her on her birthday a couple months ago. Seeing her wear it brought a smile to his face.
"Oh, Peter. How are you?" she said politely.
Still flying above fence and dancing in the air, he replied, "Oh, just wonderful! Tinkerbell and Wendy have both agreed to be my Valentines this year. Wee!" he said, gleefully leaping high into the air while she was laughing along with him.
"Don't you think you will make them both jealous when they find out you have two Valentines?"
"Of course it will! That's the point, now isn't it?! A clever game this will be. I wonder what will happen," he said.
He had stopped flying and his face was now mere inches away from hers. He was donning a smile and pulled a flower from behind his back, presenting it to her. She laughed and took the flower from his hand. She was smiling back at him, and Reggie could see their eyes were locked.
"Peter, Peter, Peter – whatever would we do without a playful flirt like you?" she said moving a few inches closer to him.
Reggie watched their interaction and felt his heart stop. Was she really going to kiss him? Surely she wouldn't, especially since she fully admitted to him being a flirt. She was a lady and wouldn't give her kisses away so freely.
"Alice, will you be my Valentine?" Peter said as his feet touched the ground, his lips still moving closer to hers.
At the last moment Alice turned away, and leaned against Reggie's fence. He let out the breath he had been holding and closed his eyes. That was a little too close. If anyone was going to kiss her it would be him, or he hoped it would be him.
"Peter, as fun as it would be to play Valentine's with you, I am going to have to say no."
"Ah, c'mon, it is a game. Don't you want to play?"
Chuckling she responded, "It sounds fun, but I don't want to play Valentine's this year."
"What do you mean? Only grown ups don't want to play, and you can't be grown up, because you are fun and I like playing games with you." Peter said, clearly confused.
Reggie's attention remained constant as he also waited to hear her reply.
"You see, I do like to play games, and I still would even if I were grown up – which I'm not. But this year, I don't' want to play Valentine's."
"I get it. You want to play something else. What do you want to play?" Peter asked?
"Peter, I don't really want to play anything. This year I don't want to do anything but sit and enjoy tea with someone while they are holding my hand.."
"I can do that."
She merely raised her eyebrows at his response.
"And what if I wanted to do this everyday, Peter? What if you get tired of not playing?'
"Everyday? Sure, I could do that."
"And as we are having our afternoon tea what would you want to do. Would you want to sit and stare at each other, or see who could drink more tea than the other?"
"That's an easy one! See who could drink more tea, of course. That would be fun, right?"
"Yes, for some that would be fun. But, for me, right now, I don't want to have that kind of fun. Do you see what I'm trying to say?"
"That you don't want to have fun with me anymore?"
"Of course, I want to have fun with you. But a different kind of fun. One that isn't so . . . competitive."
"Girls are weird," Peter said.
This made the beautiful young woman laugh.
"Yes, I suppose we are," she laughed good natured. "You better hurry off now, don't want either of your two Valentine's to miss you."
"I completely forgot about them. I wonder if the mermaids want to be my Valentines, too . . ."
"You'd better hurry and find out. It's getting dark soon."
Peter jumped in the air and kissed Alice's cheek.
"Let me know if you change your mind and want to play. The Lost Boys and I have a new adventure we are going on tomorrow. Do you want to come?"
She nodded and he flew off.
Reggie still stood at the window and admired her. He let out a sigh. Maybe he should give her the gift he bought her for today.
Without turning, Alice said, "Reggie, what are you doing? Don't you know it's rude to listen to conversations you have not been invited into?"
Drat, he was caught.
"Oh, hi, Alice. I was just walking by the window, and here you are! When did you get here?" Reggie said, sure she would believe him.
"Reggie, I brought you something," she said walking through the front gate and up to his window.
His interest was peaked as he leaned out his window.
"Here, it isn't much, but I thought you might like this," Alice said as she handed him a small package wrapped in pretty paper and string.
He nodded as he opened the package and smiled at what was inside.
"My favorite tea, Alice. Thank you, very much," he said looking into her eyes, smiling.
"Happy Valentine's Day! I hoped you would like it."
"I do, I love it. And I, uh, I actually have something for you," he said getting a little nervous. "Would you like to come in and have some tea?"
"I'd very much like to, thank you."
She left him at the window and rushed to the door. On the inside of the door was a mirror. He took one glance at himself and fixed his hair, tucked in his shirt, and straightened his jacket. He opened the door and welcomed her in, leading her to the parlour.
"You look very nice today, Alice."
"Thank you, Reggie," she said, taking a seat on the loveseat.
"If you would get the tea ready I'll get your gift," Reggie said as he left her in the parlour and went to his bedroom.
Once there he went to his beside table and got the box he had picked up last week for her. The lady at the store helped him pick it out. Not only did the woman have good taste, but she was friends with both Reggie and Alice and hoped their friendship would bloom. He remembered standing in the store getting ready to pay and she had given him advice with how to help him move forward with the next step.
"Remember, she is not just a girl, she is a young woman and likes to be reminded that she is thought of as such."
This gift would remind her of that, he was sure of it. Whether or not the advice the kind woman gave him came of anything, it didn't matter. If he could see Alice smile today then it was worth it.
He walked down the stairs and stood in the parlour doorway. He watched Alice as she busied herself preparing the tea to be served. She was graceful as she moved through the room and he was again able to admire the beautiful woman without her noticing. Taking a deep breath he walked in the room.
"Here. This is for you," he said, handing her the small package.
Her face was full of wonder and she opened the gift. Inside the box she found two silver hair pieces, each decorated with sapphires in the shape of flowers. Alice wasn't saying anything which was making Reggie nervous. He watched as she picked them up and turned each piece over in her hand.
"I thought you'd like them."
She still didn't say anything and he could see her eyes starting to tear up.
How stupid of him. He bought these for her and she didn't even like them. She must think he was ridiculous; he sure felt ridiculous. Tomorrow he would just have to return them. Hopefully the kind woman from the store would take them back.
"Here, put them back in the box. Tomorrow, I can take them back to the –"
He was cut off by her finger against his mouth silencing him.
"Thank you," she said as she let her hair out of the twist it was pulled back into. She pulled back a little hair on each side of her head and fastened the strands back with the hair clips. Her hair fell down her back in wavy tendrils, her natural highlights being accented from the light coming through the windows and the hair pieces.
"They look beautiful in your hair – I knew they would. When I saw the sapphires, they reminded me of your beautiful eyes."
She put her hands on both sides of his face and said, "I love them," and kissed his lips.
At first he was stunned to do anything, but when she pulled away and looked into his eyes, he realized he wasn't dreaming and went in for another kiss. She wasn't pulling away which was very encouraging for him. While their lips were pressed together, he could feel her smile and he knew he was smiling, too. After a moment, he pulled back and held her hands in his.
"Alice, I want you to know, I love you. I have loved you for so long, and I wanted to give you a gift that let you know how I feel."
"Reggie, I love you, too. I didn't always want to admit it, but I do."
They sat like this, on the love seat for a few moments – holding her hands, staring into each others' eyes, smiling like the love sick fools they were, before either one said anything.
"You know, Peter seems to be playing a silly Valentines game with both Tinkerbell and Wendy," Alice said.
Reggie scoffed.
"Peter is always playing a game, Alice dear."
"Yes, he is. And he was trying to get me to play, but I told him I didn't want to play with him this time."
"Oh, and why is that?" he said releasing her hands and taking a sip of the tea.
She didn't reply instantly. Instead she took her cup of tea in her hands and drank some.
"Because, I don't want to play Valentines."
"And is there a game you want to play?" he said putting his cup down on the tray, turning towards her.
"Hmm, there are several games, but for now, I like the sound of 'Boyfriend Girlfriend.' Then 'House' followed by 'Mommy and Daddy.' What do you think? Do you want to play with me?" she said, also placing her cup of tea on the tray.
His heart sped up as his hopes and dreams seemed to finally be coming true.
"I would love to," Reggie said, closing the distance and capturing her lips once again, their tea now forgotten.