"Here," was all that Lovino could say, as he stood before the two older girls.
He had been determined. Greatly determined to hand out chocolates today. No matter how embarrassed or nervous that he felt, he would do it. Because, well, it was a manly thing to do! And he was obviously a man, since he was in high school now. Being a man meant that he had to do brave things, right? Brave things, such as giving chocolates to the very two girls that he'd been crushing hard on, ever since the beginning of the school year. All of those months, he could never decide which one he liked more, they were both just so pretty! Isabella and Felicité. The happy Spanish girl and the flirtatious French girl. And damn, they were two of the most gorgeous girls in the entire school.
Unfortunately, there just so happened to be two reasons that he could never catch their hearts. One, they were Seniors. Two years older than Lovino, since he was only a Sophomore. It made him sad, because they would graduate at the end of the school year and he would still be there. The other reason was far too embarrassing to even admit.
"Chocolates? For us? Aw, that's so cute!" Isabella exclaimed, taking the boy into her arms and hugging him so tightly he could've died. But he didn't mind dying against her chest. "Thank you, Lovi! You're the greatest little brother that a girl could ever hope for."
Yup. That was the other reason that Lovino hated to acknowledge. No matter how much he tried to prove to them that his age didn't determine how great of a boyfriend he'd be, they had still went on and stuck him into that zone. The zone that was far worse than the friend zone. That's right, Lovino was stuck in the brother zone. The worst of all zones to ever be in! They had always seen him as a younger brother and never took him seriously.
Whenever he called them pretty, it was 'cute' and they pinched his cheeks. Whenever he acted protectively because some older bastard tried flirting with them, it was also 'cute' to them. Everything he did was cute, and he hated it. But he knew that, no matter what, things would never change. Their view of him wouldn't change, but he was glad that, at least, they even noticed his existence.
"Thank you, Lovino. That's so very sweet of you," Felicité said. She then leaned closely, and kissed his cheek.
He probably looked like a cherry at the moment, but he didn't care. Why? Because he was receiving unlimited kisses, that's why!
He decided not to protest it, when they attacked his cheeks with kisses. Sure, he would have very much preferred them on the lips, but whatever. Maybe one day he would catch up to them in society, after he was done with all of this school bullshit. And they would swoon, they would swoon so hard and fight over who would be his wife! Yeah, definitely.
"We've got to get to class now, so we'll see you later, okay Lovi?" Both of the girls gave him one last hug and a pat on the head, as if he was some special toy of theirs, before waving goodbye as they made their way to the classrooms.
"Um, yeah! See you…" Lovino called out.
It sucked. It sucked a lot, that he wouldn't be able to see them until lunchtime, if he was lucky. Not because he had an obsession with seeing them or anything, definitely not that. But it sucked that he couldn't give his famous death glare to any other guy who even dared to give chocolates to his women. Of course, Lovino wasn't stupid enough to start a fight and get his ass kicked. No, he'd rather glare silently and maybe growl, if he was brave enough.
And he knew that those girls would receive so many gifts today, it was inevitable. They were pretty, popular, and very sociable. God, just the thought made him so jealous! Oh well. There wasn't anything he could do about it now, and he had received many kisses. So he should be satisfied, right? With a sigh, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and began to walk to his own classroom, and away from the school gates.
"Hey, squirrel boy!"
Or so he tried to walk away.
"Fuck…" He cursed to himself, trying to pretend that he hadn't heard that annoying voice calling him. But it was hard to ignore someone who was always so noisy! In fact, her overall existence was noisy and Lovino wished that his feet would move faster so that he could escape.
But it was too late, mainly because she was faster and riding on a skateboard. And no matter how much Lovino tried to ignore her, it was insanely hard to do when she kept circling around him, before jumping off of the board. If that wasn't bad enough, now she was laughing, that annoying laugh that grated mercilessly against Lovino's eardrums. He found himself simply standing there now, since it was useless to try and run away.
"Didn't you hear me, squirrel boy? I said what's up!" She continued to pester him.
"Yeah, I heard ya, but my name isn't 'squirrel boy' so stop fucking calling me that," he hissed.
"Wow, really? And I was so sure that it was! After all, your cheeks are as pudgy as a squirrel's whenever you get angry." The smirk on her face was nothing but devious, and it was times like this that made Lovino wish that she was a guy. Then he would've definitely given her a taste of her own medicine. "Or would you rather me start calling you curly again?"
"I don't want you to call me either of those! Not squirrel boy, not curly. So just leave me alone, Julie."
Lovino tried to walk past her, but she stood in his way, poking at his chest just because she could. If he ended up late for class because of her bullshit, he didn't know what he would do, but it wouldn't be good. At least the morning bell hadn't rang yet.
"And just where do you think you're going, curly? Seriously, your mama should've named you that when she discovered that weird curl on your head! It's kind of cute, I suppose. But most of all, it just makes you look like a weirdo."
Yes, you might've guessed it by now, but Lovino was being bullied by a girl the same age and size as him. Maybe she was just an inch shorter, but it didn't matter. The fact remained that she was a girl, and he shouldn't be intimidated by her or any other girl! Ever! Because he was a man, and men don't get intimidated by annoying girls. But she always found a way to get under his skin, making him feel so small. She had been doing it for years now, ever since they had first met at the very beginning of middle school. And would she stop now, even though they were supposed to be more mature? Nope.
But Lovino had an excuse, those few years ago. She used to be taller than him, and she was so much more outgoing and loud than he was. So, it was hard to do anything but take the abuse. After all, what the hell was he supposed to do, anyway? He was only eleven, at the time. This annoying albino girl in his class had randomly decided to pull his curl one day, and ever since then, she had always screwed around with him. Lovino could remember the feeling of loathe in his stomach, when he found out that they would attend the same high school.
Basically, Julie could be described perfectly by the very word that Lovino would never call a female, no matter how evil that she was. And there was definitely some evil in this chick.
"…Are you going to move?" He finally spoke up, deciding to be the mature one in this situation and ignore her teasing, for once.
"Nope! Besides, aren't you forgetting something important?"
Lovino briefly furrowed his brows in confusion, before shaking his head. "No?"
"You silly boy, it's Valentine's Day!" Julie rolled her eyes, as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. "And so you know what that means. I saw you giving chocolates to those two older chicks that you're supposedly obsessed with. I've gotta admit, that was kind of cute, how they pinched your cheeks!"
"…Y-yeah, so what? I was just being nice. It's none of your damn business, either."
Lovino wished that he could hide the blush on his face that continued to grow. Especially since now Julie was obviously amused by it. But, he was glad that no one else was around to see it, since they were far from the entrance gate now, and most of the students were already sitting in their classrooms or roaming the hallways before classes would start that morning.
"So then," She smiled, "Where's my chocolate?"
Lovino's eyes widened for a moment, and he was sure that he'd heard wrong. "What?"
"I said, where's my chocolate? Geez, you going deaf or something?"
It seems that he had heard correctly after all. And man, that made Lovino laugh.
"And just what makes you think that I would give you chocolate?" He asked, quite amused now.
For a brief moment, Julie looked taken aback by his words, as if surprised. But almost immediately, she covered it up with her usual smirk.
"Because I'm me, duh! For an Italian boy, you sure are clueless when it comes to romance. I bet that you're just dying to confess to me, aren't you? Well, let's hear it then, squirrel boy! Just maybe I have something to say to you, too."
Whatever this chick was saying, she was definitely crazy. Lovino could only shake his head, because she had to be joking. After all, Julie was always joking about stupid crap and no one took her seriously. Why should they? Taking someone like her too seriously resulted in making yourself look like the world's biggest dumb ass. Lovino knew by experience. And that's why he never truly listened to her, whenever she talked. He had stopped a long time ago.
"Okay, seriously, enough joking around. Why the hell would anyone consider giving chocolates to you? Especially me. I don't even like you," Lovino said, cutting her off. "Besides, I know everything about romance. And on Valentine's Day, guys give chocolates to girls. You hardly count as a girl."
Even though Lovino was just teasing, his blunt words hurt way more than Julie was willing to admit. He was just teasing her back, right? After all, she had always teased him, calling him effeminate and a sissy. So, it shouldn't have hurt at all that he said she was hardly a girl. Because she had always called herself a tomboy, as a kid. Even so, she had let her hair grow all the way down to her hips, since she was in high school now. Despite how such long and thick hair annoyed her, she thought that she was a pretty girl, her parents always said so. But it didn't matter, because a certain someone wouldn't say it to her. The very person that she'd sought to look pretty for. None of it mattered anymore.
Because to that someone, she was hardly even a girl.
"…And another reason as to why it would be ridiculous to give you chocolates," Lovino continued to go on, "is because you're never nice to me. Ever. But whatever, I couldn't care less about that sort of thing now and—"
Slap!
He was suddenly cut off by an angry hand to his cheek. It really stung, too, because he hadn't expected that. It was so random, and when he looked back in front of him, Julie was already many feet ahead of him with the skateboard in her hand, rushing past a couple of the students that blocked the doorway to the main building.
"…Ow? What the fuck was that?" Lovino, holding a hand to his stinging cheek, was more confused than angry. Despite the many of times that he and that strange silver-haired girl had argued, she had never hit him before. And he was pretty sure that just a moment ago, they hadn't been arguing at all. It was just the usual. She was teasing him for absolutely no reason, and he eventually ended up retorting.
So why did she get so furious this time?
"Oh, fuck it."
Whatever. Lovino didn't care to find out. He could never understand what went on inside of that girl's mind, and he didn't want to. Some pretty creepy shit was no doubt lingering in that head of hers. Shrugging it off, he finally began to rush to the classroom, since he only had a single minute to spare.
At first, Lovino hadn't noticed it. But Julie never showed up to homeroom. She even missed most of their first period class. Lovino knew, because he had the misfortune of sharing most of his classes with her that year. When she finally did show up, she silently walked into the classroom as everyone chatted amongst themselves and worked on their group activities. Lovino watched curiously as she spoke to the teacher for a moment, before walking to her seat. He wasn't sure of what she had said to the man, but when she walked back to her seat, he had caught a glimpse of something.
Her eyes were bloodshot red, as if she had been mercilessly rubbing them. Maybe she had gotten something in her eyes and had been in the nurse's office all this time? Yeah, that had to be it. Because the only other explanation would be that Julie had been crying. And she was a girl that never cried! She had no reason to, after all. She was the wicked witch that Lovino could never get away from, and she didn't deserve his concern, so Lovino shrugged it off once again and resumed working.
But for whatever reason, it just wouldn't leave his mind. All throughout their morning classes, Julie wouldn't speak to him. She didn't even look his way, which was strange, because every single day she would harass him and give him strange looks. Lovino couldn't count how many times she had thrown things at him, copied off of his papers, poked or tickled him, and even made perverted comments just so that he would be uncomfortable!
She was the root of all evil. Lovino felt that he definitely shouldn't give a shit as to why she was acting so strange! If anything, he should have taken advantage of this weird mood of hers and simply went about his own business. He couldn't remember the last time that he had a school day in which he didn't get pissed off to the point of ripping out his own hair. If she didn't feel like annoying the fuck out of him, then so be it. He was damn glad, too, not to have to deal with her shit. He couldn't stand her, after all, and he was sure that she felt the same.
So then, why couldn't he stop staring at her?
It was lunchtime now, and Julie was still acting strange. She only quietly ate her lunch, alone, on the other side of the quad. Usually, she was either bugging Lovino and trying to mess with his food, or she was in the center of the noisy kids that ate lunch together and occasionally tossed around food like a bunch of animals. Something must have really been wrong with her, if she was eating so far away from everyone. Lovino was genuinely curious.
"I don't care or anything, I'm just curious," he said to himself. He tried to find a distraction, taking time to eat his delicious homemade sandwich and whatnot. But every couple of minutes, he found himself glancing towards her direction.
Dammit. Since when did she have such an effect on him? This was so annoying! Lovino desperately tried to think of why that emotionless expression stayed on her face for so long. Maybe something had happened, after she'd ran away earlier that morning? Or maybe… maybe it was 'that time of the month', she was a girl going through puberty, after all. So perhaps this was just a mood swing?
Lovino quickly shook that thought away and wrinkled his face. He did not want to think about such things. Especially since it was her, of all people. Gross. Oh well, his curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he still wanted to know why he had deserved that slap she'd randomly decided to initiate. After he had finished his food, Lovino stood up from his table with a sigh and made his way over to the empty section that the albino girl was still sitting at.
"…Hey," was all that he could muster up. It was the first time that he could remember willingly starting a conversation with her. It made him feel beyond weird.
As soon as he had approached, though, she turned the other way and resumed idly drinking from her bottle of water. Maybe this really was a mood swing.
"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you today? It's none of my business, but you've been acting strange."
"Exactly, it's none of your business so don't even bother," she immediately replied.
And, for a moment, Lovino really did consider just walking away. But his body said otherwise, as he sat down across from her. He would probably end up regretting this, but it was too late to go back now.
"Well… Seeing you look so down is pretty damn annoying now, and I figured that I'd see what's up. Of course, you don't have to tell me what it is, and it's not as if I care or anything…"
Julie grumbled to herself, before finally looking in his direction. "Again, it's none of your business, squirrel boy. You don't care, so why even bother? You don't like me, remember? You said so yourself."
"Well hey, it's not as if you like me, either! I mean, you pretty much proved it when you fucking randomly slapped me this morning. I really don't get you. What the hell made you so furious?"
Since the girl refused to answer and simply turned away, Lovino figured that she was giving him the silent treatment again. And now this was so bothersome, much more than before. With a loud, irritated sigh, Lovino was about to seriously get up and leave this time, when something in his mind clicked. He looked around him, seeing that everyone was either enjoying Valentine's Day chocolates, making out with their crushes, or fussing over their boyfriends and rejections. This mushy atmosphere had been going on all day, but Lovino hadn't paid any attention to it since he had been busy trying to figure Julie out.
But now, it sort of made sense. Even so, he hoped like hell that he was wrong. So, so wrong.
"Wait… You're not upset because I didn't give you chocolates, are you?"
The way that her eyes seemed to widen and there appeared what seemed to be embarrassment on her face, told Lovino that he was correct. Dammit.
"You can't be serious. But, why? I mean, surely other guys have given you chocolate already, right..? All of your friends are guys, too. So why would it matter if I gave you chocolates? You hate me."
Groaning loudly this time, Julie looked back at him again as if he was the stupidest person on earth. And right now, he was. "I don't hate you, you jackass! I don't… hate you at all. I never did. Hmph."
Now she was pouting, as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the table. Any other time, Lovino would have probably said that she was bullshitting, and that he wouldn't fall for her lies. But the way that she was acting now was so strange, he could tell that her words had been nothing but the truth. He wasn't used to it, and he didn't know what to say. If she didn't hate him, and she had actually wanted him to give chocolates to her for Valentine's Day, then that meant…
"…Y-you can't be… serious?" Lovino repeated. He wasn't sure what to say or even what to think!
Suddenly, Julie shrugged and collected her trash, then stood up from the table. "It doesn't matter anymore, just forget what I said. I don't need chocolates, that romantic shit is so girly and I hate this holiday," she scoffed, but Lovino could see that it was just a façade. "Besides… no one even approached me today, and why would they? You were right when you said that no one would ever consider it."
Lovino could only watch as she tossed away the trash and quickly walked off again. With his mouth wide open and a million thoughts running through his mind, Lovino still had no clue what to think. What the hell had just happened, anyways? Had that been a subtle way of saying that she actually liked Lovino? No, no, no. No way! How could she possibly like him? All those years, the only effort that she made in communicating with him was to make his school life a living hell. Endless teasing and harassment galore. Is that normally how a girl expresses her feelings for someone?
No, not that Lovino knew. But for whatever reason, he felt like shit. Pure shit. Whether Julie liked him or not, he couldn't help but feel guilty for saying such things to her that morning. Why did he feel guilty, though? It was her fault for provoking him. Always provoking him. She should have seen that coming. But the fact that she was so hurt by it, must've meant that she really did feel something for him. What made it even worse is that Julie had seen Lovino give Isabella and Felicité chocolates, but not her. Maybe that, combined with the fucked up things that Lovino had said, hurt her feelings more than she was willing to admit?
God, Lovino felt like such an idiot right now. He wanted to bang his head against the table and every wall that he walked along, when he finally decided that sitting at the empty table wouldn't ease his headache. Julie may have been immature, a bully, and everything else that made a person want to jump off a cliff, but she was still a person. She was a girl, and she had feelings just like everyone else, even if she pretended not to. She had always tried to act tough and as if she could do anything better than the rest of the class, so Lovino hadn't even considered her feelings. Not even once. And how could he, if she never showed them to anyone?
But Lovino knew that he was also a person who had trouble expressing their true feelings and thoughts. He would either hide them or take his anger out on someone, not to mention he'd always been the type of guy who could cry easily. He wasn't ashamed of any of that, even if most of the time it proved to be inconvenient. People had always made fun of him for being so sensitive, too. And, he had always been the type to hold a grudge. Once someone got on his bad side, that was it. He refused to see the good in them, if they had ever decided to prove it.
So it didn't make sense, that he felt so bad right now! Lovino groaned loudly and furiously scratched his head, earning strange looks from some of the others who walked along the hallway. He knew for sure that Julie was on his bad side, so there was no need to feel guilty about making her sad. Right? But he did, and he wouldn't stop feeling guilty until he did something about it. Yeah, that's it. All he had to do was make her happy again and she'd go back to making his life a living hell. That was much better than feeling guilty over all of this.
Staring at the Valentine's Day booth where a few students were buying the excessively pink and red items, Lovino knew what to do. The money in his wallet was previously being saved for something else, but he was willing to make a sacrifice. Anything to stop feeling like the world's biggest bastard.
"Julie? Aren't you coming?" one of her classmates asked.
Julie simply stood frozen in front of her locker, staring at the note in her hands. After a moment, she shook her head, but didn't take her eyes from the small paper.
"Y-yeah, I'm coming… You two go on ahead, I forgot something!"
One of the girls nodded. "Alright, just don't be late, you know how the teacher gets!"
She waited until they were gone, before letting out a deep breath. Her heart was racing a mile a minute — no, even faster than that, because of the note that she had found when she opened her locker. Did someone put this into the wrong place? No, they couldn't have. It had her name on it, after all. Nervously licking her lips, she decided to read it once more.
Dear Julie,
You are one whose beauty cannot be defined,
And I know I've been a jerk who may have crossed the line.
But say, would it not be quite divine?
If we put the past behind us and take heed of all these signs?
The signs that point to why our paths always seem to intertwine.
I feel like such a dumb ass for only noticing this now.
And yes, I realize that that did not rhyme.
So what do you say? Would you be mine?
If you accept, meet me behind the gym after school is out.
Julie nearly squealed with excitement as she held the note closely to her chest. Never before had she received such a thing. Never. It was such a good feeling, too, because she was sure that no boy would ever like her, once she opened her mouth. She knew that she was overbearing and quite intimidating, but she didn't care, that's just who she was and everyone should just deal with it. And now, for some reason, there was someone out there who really could deal with it.
She actually had a secret admirer.
For the rest of that school day, Julie was nearly bouncing up and down in her seat. She was nervous, anxious, excited — everything. She wasn't focused on who could have possibly wanted her to be their valentine. The fact remained that someone did, and that was enough to get her going. Her shitty mood from earlier had been completely dominated by the mood that she was in now.
When the last bell finally rang, the only thing that people noticed was the sprinting figure that dashed through the halls as if her life depended on it. It seemed as if it took years before she finally reached the gym. No one was waiting there, though, so she supposed that perhaps she had run a little too fast. Oh well, she could wait. And wait. Now, she wished that she'd stopped by one of the bathrooms to check how she looked! Her long hair probably looked raggedy, since she didn't bother to slow down, even when bumping into others. She quickly brushed her fingers through it to make sure that none of it was sticking up, and ignored the small but sharp pain as she untangled a few knots.
And who knew that waiting for fifteen minutes could be so torturous.
There she was, waiting. And so all Lovino had to do was walk over there and, well, he hadn't thought that far into his plan yet. "Goddammit…" he cursed silently, peaking from behind the wall. It was either fight or flight now, he knew. Even though everything in his mind told him to get the hell out of there, he couldn't. He'd put so much effort into this, and so he had to go through with it. Even if he was confused about why he was doing this in the first place.
It was strange. Just that morning, Julie had been annoying as ever. And now he was about to go ask her to be his valentine? Yeah, that didn't make sense. Especially since he didn't like her in that way. He didn't like her, right? Then why was he doing this? His mind kept going in circles and circles around the same stupid thoughts. But in the end, he decided to be a man. Valentine's Day was just one day, and so it didn't matter if he asked her to be his. The day was almost over, anyway. He just wanted her to be happy again, and even though he wouldn't admit it, he sort of missed the attention that she always gave him.
The approaching footsteps along the grass made Julie's heart nearly jump out of her chest. She looked up, but almost immediately looked away afterwards. What the hell was this guy doing here?
"Go away, Lovino," she grumbled, crossing her arms on her chest. "I happen to be waiting for someone, someone very important! I don't have time to argue with you today, Italian boy."
As bothersome as this already was, Lovino only sighed and kept his hands behind his back. "Yeah? W-well, I just so happen to know who that person is, too."
Julie quickly faced him again, her eyes wide with curiosity. "You do? Who is it! What's their name?" She was nearly bouncing with excitement again, which was just too cute. Finally, though, he was somehow able to calm her down so that he could speak without raising his voice.
"…It's me, dammit." Lovino quickly held out the small box of chocolates and the mini stuffed bear that he'd bought from the booth earlier. Desperately trying not to drop everything and run away while he still could, he swallowed nervously before continuing. "Happy Valentine's Day, Julie… Here, take them."
All the while, Julie could only stare down at the items with her mouth wide open. Her hands seemed to work on their own when she finally took them. And it was silent. Neither of them really knew what to say, Julie was still in shock and Lovino had expected her to punch him right about now.
"You..? But this… how? I mean, why? And the note…" was all that Julie could sputter out, as she traced her fingers along the edge of the heart-shaped candy box.
"Um, yeah… I put the note in your locker. And, I-I wanted to apologize," Lovino began, shifting from one foot to the other. "What I said this morning… Just forget it, okay? I was being an insensitive jerk. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things."
Julie bit back her bottom lip and slowly nodded. She kept her gaze to the ground, before murmuring, "It was beautiful."
"Er, what was?"
"The poem in the note. I liked it."
"Oh…Yeah, thanks." Lovino really sucked at whatever this type of moment was. He had put that note together in a total of five minutes and didn't think too much of it. But hearing that she actually liked it was kind of satisfying, in a way.
"Oh! Um, hold on!" Julie suddenly spoke up again. She clumsily began rummaging through the book bag that hung over her shoulder and eventually took out a small pouch. It was tied close with a pretty ribbon, and Lovino hesitantly took it when she held it out to him.
"I meant to give this to you, earlier this morning… You better be grateful, I put a lot of effort into making something so girly!"
Lovino chuckled at her puffed out cheeks, and quickly undid the ribbon. He was surprised to see that inside, were many little homemade chocolates in the shape of something familiar.
"…Squirrels? Really?" He said, shaking his head.
"You bet! I thought that chocolates shaped like tomatoes would've been really dumb. So I made squirrels instead," she chimed, looking proud of her creations. She had spent hours making them, after all. And after two failed attempts, the third time was definitely the charm.
"Well thanks, they're really delicious." Lovino eagerly popped another one into his mouth and chewed happily.
But even so, he still felt strange. This was all strange. He and Julie were having a somewhat normal conversation, and she was acting shy. The bright shade of pink on her cheeks only grew brighter from his compliment, and seeing that made his stomach flutter. It was so weird to see this side of her, the side that wasn't intentionally trying to piss him off or irritate him. For once, Julie was smiling. A real smile, not that usual mischievous grin that she always wore or the sinister smirk.
She was blushing and smiling and being cute — And oh fuck, now Lovino could feel a blush growing on his cheeks, as well. How was it possible that she could do this to him? He didn't even like her, but… Oh, to hell with that thought. He didn't know what to think anymore, so he decided not to think at all. However, there still remained one important question.
"So..?" He spoke up again, after they had shared a few of each other's chocolates.
"Hmm?"
"Will you be my valentine? You… never answered."
Julie swallowed hard, glad that she hadn't choked on the piece of candy in her mouth. She hadn't expected him to suddenly ask like that! Especially since she would have never imagined those words to come from Lovino, the one that she'd had a crush on for longer than she could even remember. And now she was feeling flustered again, but she had to play it off! It would be totally uncool and not awesome, if she continued like this.
"Well… First, you have to give me something else! Yeah, because I'm not satisfied. And you owe me, squirrel boy." She loved her ability to tease him, even if they had just been mushy together, only a few moments before. But she hadn't teased him all day! And she needed this.
"Are you serious? But I just gave you all of that stuff! You can't just start calling me that stupid nickname again, dammit. That's not fair." Lovino frowned childishly, sad that their moment of peace was already over. Oh well, though, it was actually kind of fun now. Just being there with her.
"All is fair in love and war, Lovino!" She snickered. "So, do you dare accept?"
"Fine, fine… I accept, I suppose. What is it that you want—"
All of a sudden, Lovino's words were hushed from the soft lips that connected with his own. Of course, it took him by complete surprise, but before he realized it, he was actually leaning into the kiss. Lovino and Julie were actually kissing. That thought would have never, ever crossed his mind if they hadn't been doing it at that moment. And strangely enough, he liked it. He liked it a lot and almost found himself whining when their lips finally parted. But now she was hugging him, almost clinging to him, in fact. Lovino felt his chest tighten, as his arms slowly slithered around her waist and he held her. Just like that.
"Thank you, Lovino. You made me really happy," she whispered, nuzzling into him. "I would love to be your valentine."
Any moment now, Lovino was sure that he would melt. He would just melt into a puddle of feelings that had somehow crashed into his body and made him feel all fuzzy inside. Or, maybe, just maybe, these feelings had already been there? Perhaps they had been buried, and the events today had brought them to the surface. That didn't really make sense, but then again, nothing did. It didn't matter, though; Lovino felt content.
"Ah, I wish that today could last forever!" Julie whined, and clenched the skateboard to her side.
They were walking home now, her other hand linked with Lovino's, their fingers intertwined. If she could have, she would've pretended that her home was far away so that they could continue walking slowly like this, hand-in-hand. But of course, Lovino knew where she lived. After all, he had been forced to go to her birthday party a few years ago when he had been invited. It was silly, how much he had begged his mother not to force him to go. But even his mother knew back then, just how much Julie liked him.
"Well, we can always hang out tomorrow, y'know," Lovino suggested, and he couldn't help but grin as Julie playfully swung their hands. "And, um… we can eat lunch together, too. I mean, if you want to. I don't mind. And then we can walk home again, stuff like that."
Julie raised a brow, before a wide smirk slowly formed on her lips. "Oh? Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, curly?"
Lovino's face instantly turned scarlet as he shook his head in denial at that preposterous assumption. "N-no! Don't be stupid! I was just suggesting it… since I suppose it might be fun to be around you now, and… ah, screw it." Taking a deep breath, he lightly squeezed her hand. "Would you go out with me..?"
Although she found his embarrassment to be funny, Julie was just as flustered as he was, if not more. But she only nodded, happy and content.
"I accept, Lovino."