And, no, Peanuts and all other related materials, indicia, and characters do not belong to me. That said, I disperse into the wonderful realm of fan fiction. :-)
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It was the night of Valentine's Day and Charlie Brown had finally awoken to find a Valentines card in his mailbox. Snoopy had seemed surprised that he'd actually gotten one for once, and, thinking it was a fake, had laughed in his face. But as it was, the card was from Heather. Having convinced him of that, Snoopy had tossed his head and gone off to cart out his wheelbarrow of valentines cards. Charlie, at this point on, was pacing restlessly in Lucy's house, which was decked with pink and red streamers for the occasion. The guests were streaming by, talking and laughing under the crepe paper, but Heather was not among them. Charlie's fist tightened around her present, hidden in his pocket; somehow, just by letting his fingers pass over its smooth surface gave him strength. He allowed a sigh to escape his lips and looked up.
In a corner, Lucy, the hostess, was perched on the edge of Schroeder's portable piano in a vain effort to get him to finally notice her.
"Are you going to give me a Valentine, Schroeder?" Lucy asked him, her face wreathed in a grin.
Schroeder continued playing in response, though the strains of "Linus and Lucy" had become unmistakably louder. "I won't and never will," he muttered through the sound of music.
Sally had taken to following Linus around his house; the older boy was frantically trying to push her away with his blue security blanket. In another corner of the room, Marcy was dancing with Franklin while Peppermint Patty was dancing with Pigpen, an unusually dirty boy; clouds of dust rose wherever he went. Freda found it repulsive, annoying, and rude: according to her, it messed up her naturally curly hair.
Heather hadn't arrived yet, and Charlie fingered the gold necklace in the pocket of his tuxedo as he paced, his eyes wide and fearful. "What if she doesn't come? What if she doesn't like me? What if…"
His voice was lost on the nighttime breeze as the door suddenly swung open and Heather stood in the doorway, her soft features highlighted with moonlight. Charlie spun around. She was dressed in the same short lime-green dress she'd been wearing last year. Honestly hoping he'd get her before Snoopy did, Charlie stepped forward.
"Heather… I got this for you," Charlie said, his voice soft as he, blushing, extended his locket out to her and hoping his embarrassment didn't show in his voice.
A faint smile flickering around her lips, Heather accepted the gift and clicked open the locket. A picture of Charlie himself had been pasted inside, complete with bouquet of roses and heart-shaped box of chocolate, right next to a picture of her. Heather smiled to herself and snapped it around her neck before offering her own gift to him, a small sapphire-coloured stone hung on a silver chain.
"T-thanks," Charlie said, looking up at Heather. He felt his face flush and he fumbled with the silver chain of his new necklace.
As the two of them blushed in perfect unison, a sudden thought struck them both. Flushing furiously now, yet oblivious to the stares that surrounded them, they leaned their heads together. As their lips touched for the first time, a single thought struck Charlie:
It's true love, Charlie Brown.
Then again, maybe it was just Linus, shouting at him from across the hallway as he peered over at the love in the air. Talk about Valentine's Day romance, eh?