THE NEXT VALENTINE'S DAY

Daydremar P.

Ok, I admit my story "Hopeless" was a bit too tragic. I hope you'll enjoy this one. It's just a very short story I wrote for the Valentine's challenge that has been posted on the Tyrfic' livejournal community.

Bye!

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Kid opened slowly the bunkhouse door, careful to not make it creak, Lou had returned from her ride just a couple of hours ago, and he knew that she was resting now. He went to take what he needed from his trunk and he spotted her, what he saw made him smile.

Lou was sleeping in his bunk, she must have been exhausted, because she had just took off her shoes, and now she was laying on her stomach, with a hand under the pillow and the other curled near her face. The sight warmed him, it was fool, he knew, because it wasn't the first time she slept in his bed, but it was the first time she did it since their break up. But something had changed between them since the day she found him near the pond, after Doritha's funeral. They weren't get back together officially, but both of them felt to have crossed the friendship line once again.

He was going to exit when he heard Lou call him.

"Kid?" she said rubbing her eyes.

Surprised, the young man turned to her again "Hey Lou, I didn't want to wake you. Sorry"

The girl shook her head "You didn't wake me up, don't worry." She smiled and sat up stretching herself. "Beside of that, I had plenty of rest. Thank you for your bunk."

"You are welcome." Kid responded to her. "Anyway you can use it whenever you want… Oh, well I mean…" he bit his tongue, afraid to have gone too far, but she turned to look at him with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Well Kid. Thank you for the offer. I take it into consideration. Who know when it will come in handy..." Lou threw at him a teasing smile that made Kid blush, then she got up and began to straight the blankets she wrinkled during her sleep.

At a certain point she felt something solid under her fingers.

"Oh? What is this?" She dipped her hand in the space between Kid's bunk and the wall.

"Wait Lou!" Kid tried to stop her, but he was too late.

She pulled out a small decorated hair comb wrapped in tissue paper. Lou observed it. How come did Kid have a thing so refined? Then a sudden thought hit her: Doritha. Her face fell. However, seeing his look of discomfort, she hurried to reassure him.

"It's ok Kid. It's right you want something to remember her."

"Her?" Kid stared her dumbfounded, then what she was saying dawned on him. "Oh no Lou. It wasn't Doritha's. Well I…" he began to blush. "Well, I bought it for you."

Lou look at the comb more closely and recognize it; she had saw it at Thompkins' store months ago, she had fallen in love with it immediately, but she couldn't buy it without raising suspicion so she had had to renounce it.

"Well…" Kid continued to say, "I saw it at Thompinks' and I thought it would be perfect for you when you pull up your hair".

She stared at him wide eyed. When she saw that comb, she was still so mad at Kid that she can barely stand his presence. And that fool, instead…

"But we barely talked to each other when Thompkins had this in his store." She said.

Kid shoved his hands in his pockets. "For that reason I didn't give it to you. I didn't want you threw it at my head." He grinned sheepishly. "So I kept it for a more appropriate occasion, Christmas, or your birthday maybe. I hoped you couldn't refuse it in that case."

Lou felt her eyes prickling for the tears. That big oaf before her could irritate her more than anyone she knew, but at the same time he was the only one that can made her heart melt like that. She approached him and looked up at him.

"Well Kid." she began. "There's another occasion I would be glad to receive this comb from you."

"When…?"

"Valentine's Day. Kid." she raised on her toes and dropped a kiss on his lips, then she returned to look at him. "From the way we are going right now, I'm sure we'll can celebrate our Valentine together, don't you think so?"

She left an astonished Kid in the middle of the bunkhouse and she hurried to go out before her cheeks became too red. She can't believe she had the nerve to say what she had just said, but deep in her heart she hoped only for that. The life gave them a second chance, and she didn't want to ruin it. Little by little she wanted to build with him something that would last not only until the next Valentine's Day, but for the rest of their lifes.

FIN