Authors note: Well, since I'm alone on Valentines Day, I figured the least I could do is bring Spinelli and Maxie a little closer.
"You know what today is, right?" Maxie asked as she sat opposite of Spinelli at the diner.
"Of course. It's Thursday," Spinelli muttered distractedly as he clacked away on his laptop.
Maxie rolled her eyes to herself. How could he be so smart, but so completely dense? She leaned forward on her elbow and shut his computer. She had to stifle a laugh when Spinelli's fingers nearly got caught in it.
"It's Valentines Day, you freak," Maxie said good-naturedly. She watched Spinelli's dark eyes pop open in shock and then blink dumbly a few times.
"Y-you know, Valentines day originated-"
"Save it. Got a date?" Maxie asked with an arch of her eyebrow. Spinelli continued to blink. "Oh, of course you don't. If you did you probably would've remembered it was Valentines Day."
"Snarky," Spinelli shot back as he opened his laptop again. Maxie leaned forward and shut it again. Spinelli sighed in defeat and looked at her. "What do you want, Marvelous Maxie?"
"Well, I hate being alone on Valentines Day. I was hoping you'd want to hang out, maybe watch another movie or something?" Maxie felt a little nervous asking Spinelli to make time for her, she wasn't really comfortable with the notion of having a good friend.
"I don't know," Spinelli said pretending to consider. "Last time your viewing choices were less than stellar. Then you fell asleep on my arm causing my arm to follow suit."
"Hey! I apologized for that!" Maxie protested laughingly.
"No, you didn't."
"Well, I meant to. It won't happen again," Maxie promised.
"It's okay. The Jackal didn't mind."
"So?"
"How about we just watch television. I'm sure there will be many corny shows for you to unleash your snark on."
"Sounds wonderful," Maxie said as she grabbed her purse and stood up. "It's a date."
Maxie's parting words rang in Spinelli's head over the music blaring through his Ipod. Of course, he knew she hadn't meant it like that. It wasn't actually a date, but his heart couldn't help but do a nervous jig at the thought.
Spinelli was beginning to pick up magazines off the coffee table when the door swung open and Maxie entered. He couldn't fight the slight blush that crept up his cheeks, as if he were caught doing something embarrassing.
"Spring cleaning?" Maxie suggested unhelpfully.
"Just wanted you to be able to move without your limbs knocking something to the floor," Spinelli said as he tossed the magazines on the chair.
"Because you figured we'd be having passionate sex on the coffee table?"
"W-what?" Spinelli stuttered. "No. No! The Jackal would never presume such a thing-" Maxie's musical laughter cut off his rambling and his heart began to beat again.
"Don't mess yourself, Spinelli."
Maxie walked over to the couch, swinging the plastic bag on her arm the whole way. Something in the bag was making a suspicious rattling noise. Maxie sat down and Spinelli followed, perching himself on the arm closest to her.
"What's in the bag, Marvelous Maxie? Please tell me you didn't let loose another blind rampage on the movie store."
"Keep that up and I'm not going to share," Maxie said as she shot him a dark look.
"The Jackal offers his most earnest apologies. In fact, I loved all of your movie choices! I have never seen such masterful portrayal of the-"
"I hate you, you know that right?" Maxie dug her hand in the bag and tossed a plastic heart shaped box at him filled with conversation hearts. Spinelli fumbled, but caught it.
Spinelli peeled open the lid and picked one up. The little purple heart said 'You're pretty' . Spinelli slid down the arm of the couch next to her, their arms brushing and grabbed her hand. He placed the little heart in the center of her palm.
"I think this one is yours," he commented. He felt a surge of emotion at soft smile, and a surge of something else entirely when she popped it between her pink lips. "Why don't any of these relate to me? There isn't one that says 'Get Jackalled' or 'Your html skills blow me into another dimension' or-"
Spinelli was cut off when Maxie's little hand swung in front of his face and pressed a little heart to his mouth.
"Just eat it, would you?"
Spinelli grabbed her wrist and moved it down. As it passed her fingers brushed against his bottom lip and he felt a shock of electricity that threw his mind back to high school science classes.
"I want to see what it says, since this one came from the Marvelous Maxie herself. Ah, interesting," Spinelli said with a secret smile on his face. This worked out perfectly.
"What? What does it say?" She asked tugging at the corner of his beanie.
"It says, 'I'm yours.Well who am I to argue with a conversation heart-" Spinelli popped it into his mouth and chewed. "A conversation heart that tastes like toothpaste."
"Yeah, they're pretty disgusting," Maxie said popping another one into her mouth and Spinelli laughed as he followed suit.
"So, what do you want to watch-" Spinelli broke off as he handed her the remote and triumphantly added, "Maxie Mine?"
Maxie's heartbeat stuttered a little when he called her that. Pressing a hand to her chest, she hoped her heart wasn't failing.
