MMM: Hey there! Sorry, I didn't get to any updating lately, but I spent the last couple weeks getting things in order before my family vacation. We went down to Plattsburg for my cousin's son's wedding. It was so wonderful! I really wishing them the best! But just before we left, my other cousin was having these serious pains in his joints to the point of where he had to go to the hospital. Developed a bit of a fever there, but it broke almost as quickly as it came. In the end, turns out he has a small case of gout. OUCH! But he seems to be doing fine now.
So with that being said, I would like to apologize again for not updating sooner by doing so now.
Ch. 12 True Love
February 14th, 2000
Anya chuckled at the love sick students around the college grounds, thinking how cute some of the men displayed their affections to their sweethearts: beautiful bouquets of flowers or some special piece of jewelry. One guy even began to serenade his girlfriend with an A Capella version of 'Bella Notte' with his buddies singing backup, then he proposed. It was so sweet.
For the longest time, Anya use to think that Valentine's Day was nothing more than an overly-commercial holiday that card, candy, and flower industries used to jack up the prices on everything because they could. Then again, she use to be one of those people that didn't call it Valentine's Day but rather 'Single's Awareness Day.' But that was all before Anya was in a relationship of her own. Now, she was just as doe-eyed and giddy as everyone else around her on campus.
This was also the one year anniversary of when she and Draco began to date again. Sure, they had the occasional date or two before then, but it was last Valentine's Day that Draco asked her to be his girl... again. And Anya had the greatest plan to celebrate.
Anya knew Draco was going to be working somewhat late that night, having to go to his classes along with dealing with more of his family matters to try and bring around the Malfoy family reputation. So she was going to have dinner ready for him when he got home- with her mother's help, of course. Thank God for the invention of video chat. Tonight's menu was going to be homemade chicken, spinach, and dried tomato pizza, a light Caesar salad, and angel food cake with a raspberry white chocolate icing. Maybe she'd even sit through his favorite horror film... Or at least sit beside him, curled up into his chest while he watched it.
Anya noticed her classmates gathering their things together and looked up to see that the teacher had already dismissed them, giving everyone the chance to leave early to prepare any last minute things to celebrate Valentine's Day. Quickly gathering her books and shoving them into her bag, she got up to leave. "Anya!" She turned to see who had called her and she found herself groaning with annoyance when she saw.
Andrew King, Mr. Big-shot on Campus. He had those classic handsome traits that are often put in books or movies with a male doctor as one of the leads: thick light brown hair, chiseled features, and charming smile. And like most guys who had those kind of looks, he prided himself on them. He had the notion that every girl on campus wanted him and any that didn't were just in denial. Anya was the latter, and Andrew took that as a challenge. Now, there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't try to impress her.
"Hey Anya... Happy Valentine's Day," Andrew said with a smile.
"Thanks," she muttered in response. "Well, love to stay and chat..." She didn't even give him the chance to reply before she began making her way to the door.
"Hold on. I've got something for you," Andrew said as he dove in front of her, blocking her path. In his hand, he was holding a single red rose.
Anya rolled her eyes. "Andrew... I thought I already made myself perfectly clear when I told you that I have a boyfriend," she told him. She should have seen this coming.
Andrew simply shrugged and held the flower out again. "Call it a peace offering. From one friend to another," he replied.
Every instinct in her body told her to not trust him. She's spent the last several weeks constantly turning him down at every turn but he kept coming back like some kind of boomerang. Then again, she originally had that very same feeling about Draco when she first met him and look where she was now. So she figured she might as well try to be friends. There was still another year of the program that she'd have to go through with him in most of her classes and it was better to not go making enemies in the industry before she even graduated. So she accepted the flower.
BIG MISTAKE!
When she took it, she was simply going to thank him for it, wish him a Happy Valentine's Day, and then go on her way. But the moron leaned in and tried to kiss her, causing the witch to step back and slap him across the face. "What the hell?!" she shouted.
Andrew rubbed at his sore cheek before glaring at her. "What was that for? Are you honestly trying to tell me that you're not even the slightest bit curious as to what it's like?" he asked.
Anya gave him an appalled look. "Are you kidding me? How many times do I have to tell you?! I have a boyfriend! I'm sure as hell not interested and wouldn't be even if I was single!" Shoving the rose into his chest, she turned to leave the other way, but he grabbed her wrist before she could.
"Listen here-"
"I suggest that you take your hands off my girlfriend- now." Anya sighed with relief when she heard Draco's voice and saw him standing in the doorway; judging by his expression, he'd seen what happened.
Andrew was in serious trouble.
But the other wizard didn't even seem to notice the way that Draco was glaring at him. Instead, he roughly shoved Anya's hand from his person as if it burned him. "So... You're the mysterious boyfriend, huh?" he asked with a sneer, clearly unaware of who he was talking down to- a very protective wizard. "Name's Andrew King. Perhaps you've heard of my father- founder and owner of Kings Enterprise," he boasted. Movie-star looks and rich daddy- enough said.
Draco simply gave the other wizard a cool look and replied, "Draco Malfoy." Anya saw the color drain almost instantly from Andrew's face. It didn't take any rocket scientist to figure out that he had heard of the Malfoy family name and like a good amount of people, feared it. She looked up at Draco as he came to her side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, the cold expression on his face gone and one of warmth and love replacing it. "Hello love. Ready to go?"
"Sure," she replied with a smile.
"Bye Anya. See you next week in class," Andrew said before dashing out of the class. Anya was positive that except for class, she would most likely not be seeing him around. Thank God for that.
"Who was that?" Draco asked, the green-eyed monster of jealousy still rearing its ugly head.
Anya shrugged it off. "Just some loser jock who's not going to be a bother anymore. But that's not important. What I'd like to know is what are you doing here? I thought you had that meeting about your dad's estate."
Draco shrugged. "I did, but I was able to persuade the lawyers into taking a long lunch so that I could enjoy a nice picnic with my number one girl," he smiled as he led her to the door, picking up the large wicker basket in his free hand as they passed. He led her through the campus grounds over to the greenhouse where he already had prepared a red and white checkered blanket among the blossoms and buds. "Happy Valentine's Day... and Happy Anniversary," he whispered in her ear. Lunch consisted of a baby greens salad with feta cheese and baby tomatoes, poached salmon with red potatoes and watercress dressing, a large cheese and fruit platter, and a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice. It was just perfect.
After lunch, Draco insisted that he walk her to her next class and made quite the show of kissing her soundly on the lips. "Just so none of these other blokes get any ideas," he whispered, slightly inclining his head toward the on-lookers, causing Anya to chuckle. And with another kiss, he left. "See you tonight, darling."
For the entire next period, the other girls in class whispered and gushed about how lucky Anya was and teasingly asked her if her boyfriend had a single brother.
MMM: And there we have it!
Nancy (aka megamatchmaker)
