The Worst Valentine's Day Ever
The month of February was now approaching. At work, Victoria has been on the DL, making Ryan and Marissa even better than ever! It's amazing how much more mature they are in their relationship. Definitely nothing like high school. More communication, less drama, and definitely more sex. It was almost like, it was too good to be true. Something was bound to happen... they felt it. But being optimists in love, they hoped that day would never come.
And when it hit Valentine's Day... the day came.
Ryan woke up to find an empty spot on the bed next to him. His eyes were still half asleep as he got up. Realizing he was naked – almost forgetting the activities he shared with Marissa last night – he quickly put on the boxers and sweatpants on the floor. Too lazy to find his usual wifebeater, left the room to go find where Marissa went off to. As he entered the living room, he saw a bunch of red and pink balloons everywhere. His eyes immediately shot open. The table was set, pancakes fresh and ready to be made.
"SURPRISE!" he heard a voice say behind him. He turned around, only to have a foam arrow hit his face. Marissa started to laugh, "Happy Valentine's Day! Looks like cupid got you good."
"Wh-What is all this?" Ryan asked confusedly. Although, because of his tiredness, it came out slightly annoyed.
Marissa felt rejected, "It's just a little something... for Valentine's Day. I know you hate Valentine's Day, so I tried to play it light... I guess..." she put away the bow and arrow and made her way to the table.
Ryan saw what he did and felt like an idiot. He crept up behind Marissa, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be a jerk. I just woke up, you know me in the morning..."
"No, yeah, I know..." She lied, still slightly hurt.
"Hey..." He said, grabbing Marissa's attention. Her head turned slightly to meet eyes with Ryan. "I love for doing this. Happy Valentine's day." He gave her a crooked smile that she returned gladly.
"C'mon, let's eat. I have your favourites – blueberry pancakes with syrup and a cup of fresh black coffee."
"Best... Girlfriend... Ever..." He punctuated each word with a kiss.
After finishing breakfast, Ryan offered to clean up while Marissa got ready for school. Meeting in the bedroom, he saw Marissa in a bra, busy trying to put on her shirt; so Ryan ran over and attacked her before she could slip it on. They landed on the bed laughing.
"Ryan! I have school in an hour!"
"I know, an hour. Besides, seeing you putting on this shirt made me realize how much I hate it when you wear clothes..." He smiled seductively. He played around with her bra.
Marissa flipped them over so she was on top. She straddled Ryan's body and bent down. Before reaching his lips, she instead kissed down his body. She could feel Ryan's body reacting to each kiss and she smiled. She looked down at him again and started undoing her bra. "Thirty minutes, and you're giving me a ride."
/
Noon hit and Ryan and Marissa agreed to meet up for lunch. However, Lily crammed up loads of paper work for him to do by 5 and he didn't know if he would have enough time. When it was just 15 minutes before he had to meet Marissa, he decided to cancel and just make it up to her during dinner.
Hey I'm so sorry but I have a lot of paper work Lily wants me to finish by 5. Could I take a rain check for lunch? Ryan texted.
It's okay. I have a lot homework as well. Finish up your stuff, I'll finish up mine so tonight, we're all free. Marissa replied.
Okay, thanks. Dinner together. Promise. Love you.
You better! Love you too.
Ryan put away his phone and continued to work. After a couple of hours passed by, Ryan checked his clock, 2:08. Just 3 more hours he tried encouraging himself. He was almost halfway done, so he thought he could do it. But just then, a knock came from his door.
"Come in!" he yelled out.
The door creaked open revealing Victoria, in a very tight business suit.
"Oh great, it's you." Ryan rolled his eyes at the sight before him. He refocused his attention back to the paper work.
"Hey, I wouldn't be so mean to me," Victoria shot back. "So I see you made your temporary office a little more home-y?"
"Lily always sends me down here to do some stuff and I thought why not... Besides, it's just a few pictures." He explained.
Victoria observed his desk and saw some picture frames. She picked one up of him and Marissa back at high school graduation. "Wow, you were one hot teenager." She said.
Ryan looked up, "Can you please put that down? Don't touch anything."
Victoria rolled her eyes and did what she was told. "Look Ry, I should let you know, Daddy always asks me about who he should hire permanently when this internship is over... I could help you out you know. Put in a good word?"
"Do you always do this? Exchange sex with someone's future career?"
"Not always. You're only like, the third intern...?" Victoria said, thinking.
Ryan shook his head and continued to work. Victoria went around his desk and sat on it, crossing her legs seductively. Ryan pushed his chair back and tried to get as far as possible.
"Ryan, think about it. This is a really good thing going for you. You could be an architect easily, if you would just do your part..."
"Victoria, I come from Chino. I've gone a long way; worked hard to get where I'm at, right here ... and I think it's safe for me to say that, I'm used to going the long way. You can't bribe me. I'd rather suffer years of making my way to the top than cheat my way there." Ryan glared at her.
Victoria knew he would never budge. She tried one last attempt. She quickly attacked him on the lips and kissed him hard. Ryan shoved her off, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
"Ryan! I'm not even asking for a lot okay? Jesus Christ, the offer was on the table... ready whenever you were... but now, it's gone."
"I don't care! I have a girlfriend who I love. I'm not throwing away what I have with her just so my dream of being an architect can come true?! I'll work my way there. But I'm not doing any of this!"
Victoria glared at him and bent down. She grabbed the arms of the chair and stared at him right in the eye, "Fine. Be that way. But you're going to pay for this – for humiliating me."
A knock came on the door and a girl came in. "Oh..." she said, seeing the sight before her. Ryan realized this and immediately got up. He straightened out his hair, "Sorry to interrupt... whatever this was." She stumbled on her words.
"No you weren't interrupting anything." Ryan immediately replied, "Victoria was just leaving." He looked towards her and she showed herself out. Once she was completely out of the room, Ryan spoke again, "So what can I do for you?"
"Umm, Lily was just wondering on how the paper work's doing?" The girl asked him.
"Good, I should be done by 5, just as she asked."
The girl nodded and left the room awkwardly.
Ryan sat down on his chair; inhaled and exhaled deeply.
/
When it hit 5, Ryan was done everything just as he said he would. He quickly got all of the papers together and made his way to Lily's office to drop them off. Once he did, he hurried out the building. It was almost 5:30 and Marissa was probably worrying. He quickly stopped by the grocery store to buy a box of chocolates and a rose. Once he arrived at the apartment, he knocked on the door realizing he forgot his keys.
Marissa opened the door with eyes that showed she was crying.
The smile on Ryan's face immediately faded away, "Marissa, what's wrong? Why were you crying?"
"You tell me." She shot back.
"What? What're you talking about?"
"I know about you and Victoria's little meeting during lunchtime. That's why you cancelled?" She glared at him.
"What? How did you –"
"So you two did?" She cut him off.
"What no, I mean –"
"My friend from class, his sister works at the firm. She told him and he told me right away. 'Aren't you and Ryan dating?' he asks me. 'Uh yeah?' I thought. But then he told me and it all made sense." She crossed her arms.
"Look she walked in on us – yes, but nothing happened!"
Marissa still wasn't convinced. She grabbed the chocolates from his hand. "Nothing yet, I bet." She closed the door on his face.
Ryan rested his head on the door. He looked at the rose in his hand and threw it on the ground. He knew Marissa was reacting the way any girl would when she hears gossip like this. But he also knew she knows he would never cheat on her... right?
/
Ryan went for a walk around the campus, hoping by the time he was done, Marissa would let him in the apartment. He checked his watch. Damn. Only 30 minutes passed. No way would she have softened up by now, He thought. Still another hour, he bets. He found an empty bench looking out to the architecture building; he took a seat.
He observed the sculpture before him when a voice crept up behind him, making him jump, "Hey man!"
Ryan turned around to find a friendly face, "Greg, hey." He tried smiling but it didn't come out.
"Oh, bad day?" he asked, sitting down next to him.
"Not even close." Ryan said rubbing his temple.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Remember Victoria?"
"Trying to forget..." he chuckled.
"Me too. But unfortunately, she never gave up. This time, she tried to force herself on me. I pushed her off but Lily's secretary-assistant-whatever... she misinterpreted it. And word spreads around and now Marissa knows. She kicks me out of our apartment and yeah. Now I'm homeless for the time being."
"Dang. Happy Valentine's Day man." Greg joked.
Surprisingly, Ryan laughed, "Yeah. This is why I hate Valentine's Day. Never have I once, had a good Valentine's Day..."
"You always have next year? Or what's left of today...?"
"Yeah I don't know. If Marissa ever lets me in..." Ryan sighed.
"Well, till then, come over. It's cold out. My roommates and I hate Valentine's Day as well so we decided to just spend this day, drinking some beers and watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies... We're just taking a break, we're onto the second in 10 minutes. So come!"
Ryan was getting a little cold so he decided to take the offer.
He followed Greg to his apartment. It was a couple blocks away from his and Marissa's. When he entered, three guys were gathered around the living room, getting ready for the second.
"Greg, man, finally! We were about to start without you!" A guy on a bean bag said over to him.
"Sorry. Hey guys, this is Ryan. He's having girlfriend troubles... on Valentine's day... typical... so he's gonna join us until she lets him in their apartment again." He explained bluntly.
Ryan felt a little embarrassed but the guy about to put in the DVD spoke up, "Don't worry man. Same with me. We haven't talked since this morning... so I'm gonna try again tomorrow." He shrugged, "Grab a seat! I'm Mike."
The guy on the bean bag chair spoke after him, "Chris!"
"I'm Brad." The last guy finally said, reaching out a hand to shake. After introductions, Ryan grabbed a seat and they all began to watch the movie.
/
When the movie finished, Chris got up and stretched. Then he made his way over to the TV, "Last one guys!" he said, showing them the last DVD and putting it in.
Ryan's phone began vibrating. "Sorry, it might be Marissa..." he said, getting up. He answered his phone and made his way around to the kitchen where he can't be heard.
"Hello?" He replied.
"Hey Ryan, it's Lily."
"Hey Lily, How are–"
"Ryan I'm sorry to inform you but, we're gonna have to let you go. I know you just started this internship and we were hoping to hire you after it was finished. You're a great worker!" she complimented him.
"Okay, then so what's wrong?" he asked confused.
"But word has been going around and I don't know both sides to the story. But to play it safe, I'm going to have to just let you go."
"Wait, is this about Victoria?" Lily didn't respond. "Lily, What did she tell you? Whatever she told you is a lie!"
"Look Ryan, I love all the hard work you've put into this, and I'd be happy to reference you for future opportunities. And as much as I believe you and not believe Victoria's stupid story, her father believes her and would have it at my neck if he saw you were still here. I'm so sorry."
"This was a once-of-a-lifetime thing. So that's just it? You're telling me there's nothing else to do?"
"Just finish up college. And stop by as soon as possible to pick up some of the stuff you left at the office... I'm sorry, Ryan."
"It's not your fault. Thanks for all you've done..." And Ryan hung up the phone.
He walked back into the room, the guys waiting for him to start the movie. Greg turned around and asked, "Hey, was that Marissa?"
"No, Lily. She let me go..."
"What?! Why?!"
"A little birdie has been spreading some false news around the firm and now I'm no longer an intern there. And there's definitely no chance for me to even get hired in the next fall. There goes an idea of graduating college early!" he said light-heartedly... when deep down, he was infuriated.
Ryan was attacked by a skank, his girlfriend found out and assumed he was cheating, kicking him out of their apartment, and now, he had no hope for his future. Out of all the Valentine's days he's had in the past, this was the worst Valentine's day ever.