It had been not only one of the coldest Februarys on record, but also the coldest Valentine's Day according to the Fighting Wakas morning news at Ravi's high school. So when he got a text from Lou around 8 p.m. that Saturday night, he put on his warmest coat over his coziest sweats and rushed out the door to the car he had just received for his sixteenth birthday.
Can u pick me up?
The restaurant wasn't far from his neighborhood or Lou's neighborhood in the opposite direction and there was a grocery store on the way to the Italian restaurant she had asked him to pick her up from. Even in his rush to get to her, he had made sure to make a pitstop at that grocery store and pick out something nice . Ravi drove up the curved path in front of the entrance of the fancy restaurant. There was a water fountain in the front that had been turned off but ice glistened around it in the glow of the external lights.
Ravi's heart ached at the sight of Lou standing out in the cold alone, staring up at the night sky. There was a valet booth to the right of her, but the employee had obviously abandoned their chilly post. Ravi cranked up the heat inside the car when he saw her clutch her sweater closer around her arms. He honked the horn to get her attention then lowered the passenger-side window to wave at her. Music from the playlist that he knew that she liked drifted out the window. Lou lowered her gaze from the sky and Ravi could've swooned from the way the disheartened look on her face brightened to a smile once she recognized him.
"Whew, it feels so good in here!" Lou exclaimed as she practically melted into the passenger's seat.
She shrugged off her sweater before clicking on her seatbelt. Her dress was knee-length and flowy and bright red like the single, long-stemmed rose that Ravi hoped she hadn't noticed on his dashboard. Around her neck was the silver heart-shaped locket that he knew she only wore on special occasions.
"You look…"
The word beautiful caught in his throat when she turned towards him. He gave her a nervous smile and cleared his throat.
Lou lowered her lashes as she continued to look in his eyes and asked, "You were sayin'?"
"Nothing," he stammered. He flashed her another quick smile and then focused on driving out of the parking lot.
"Oh," she said as she fidgeted with her necklace. "Well, thanks for picking me up, Ravi."
"Of course," he replied. He wanted to ask more details about why exactly he needed to pick her up from her date. Her texts only included her location and her request to be picked up, but nothing else.
He heard her humming softly to the music playing in the background and he felt proud of his playlist. He felt her gaze on him and it made his stomach twist in knots. He glanced over at her a few times and saw the way she seemed to be studying the side of his face. He felt his face heat up from the attention. But it wasn't until she placed her hand on his arm that he felt like he was on fire.
"Really, Ravi," she said. "Thanks for coming to get me. I'm sure you had somethin' better planned for your Saturday night than this."
"Oh, no," he replied, keeping his eyes on the road and trying not to think about her hand on his arm or the way it made his tummy fill with butterflies. "I was just watching old soap operas someone uploaded to YouTube."
Lou chuckled. "You're a weird kid, Ravi."
Ravi slowed to a stop at the red light. He tried his best to keep his expression neutral as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He glanced over at her as she pulled her fingers through her lovely hair and he bemoaned the fact that even after five years she still thought of him as a kid. He saw her eyes flicker toward the rose on the dashboard and he instantly felt nervousness wash over him. He refocused his attention on driving as the light changed to green.
His voice was shaky as he asked, "Did you know this was the coldest February on…"
"That better not be a pity rose," Lou interrupted him as she lifted the rose from the dash. "Pity chocolate I'll take, but that's it."
Ravi considered lying. He could say the rose was for someone else. Or he could agree that it was a pity gift and not a symbol of his affection. Both would be good enough lies.
"Well, uh."
"Do you know what that jerk Connor did? He ordered an appetizer and then broke up with me!" Lou fussed as she ripped the petals from the rose. "Can you believe that? On Valentine's Day!"
"He what!" Ravi exclaimed in disbelief. "But it's the most romantic day of the year…I've heard."
"That's what I'm sayin'!" She continued ripping the petals. "And that rodeo clown stuck me with the bill and freakin' left me at the restaurant." She closed her eyes and tilted her head back against the headrest. "I should've known something was up when his mom dropped us off and then waited at the restaurant."
Ravi turned the car down the street that led to Lou's house. The streetlights were of course on and warm glows came from the windows of the houses that lined the street.
"Connor seemed like a nice fellow," Ravi said. "He plays tuba in the marching band, correct? I always assumed tuba players were…"
"Cow poo," Lou grumbled as she tossed the stem down to the floor mat. She crossed her arms as she looked over at Ravi. "The worst part of it is Emma's gonna be so disappointed."
"I can't recall a single time Emma's ever expressed disappointment in you, Lou."
"Yeah, but you know how she is about me dating. She's the one who stuck me and Connor together. And she's gonna hate that she's out with Xander tonight and I was dumped by a guy who puts breadsticks up his nose to 'be a walrus'."
Ravi grimaced as he parked the car in the Hockhauser driveway. "Seriously? Breadsticks up his nose?" He reached over the driver's side seat and grabbed a paper bag from the backseat. "You may want this."
Lou lifted a heart-shaped box and grinned. "Pity chocolate!"
Ravi chuckled. "Or just chocolate chocolate."
Lou ripped the plastic off the box and tossed the lid over her shoulder. "Is it sad that I'm eating my feelings in my bestie's baby brother's car? Yes," she said with a mouth full of candy. "This is my senior year of high school, folks. The boyfriend I didn't even want to be my boyfriend broke up with me."
"Well…I wouldn't say I'm a baby," Ravi replied with a shrug. "And I'd like to think I was, um, more to you than just Emma's brother…"
Lou paused as she lifted a chocolate from the box. She lowered it and fixed her eyes on Ravi. He felt his heart stop when she gave him the look. Sometimes, when he sat too close to her or when they were waiting after school in the hallway for their mutual friends to arrive, Lou would give him this same look. Whenever he thought about burying his crush further in his heart, she would break out the look and he would continue to dare to hope that she would one day notice him in a new way.
"Um." She looked away and bit into a chocolate covered caramel. "Yeah, you're a witness to my Singles Awareness Day." She offered him a square-shaped chocolate sprinkled with coconut shavings. "Want one?"
He shook his head, "No, thank you."
Ravi frowned and downcast his eyes to the steering wheel. He had harbored a crush for Lou Hockhauser from the moment she picked him up and carried him home after he fell off his bike when he was eleven and she was thirteen. She was the first person that was nice to him and his siblings when the Rosses first moved to the small town from New York City. She was nice and funny and sometimes when it was just the two of them he was certain that there was a chemistry between them that she felt too. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe the look was something he had been imagining.
"I'm sorry abou Connor, Lou. You deserve the best Valentine's Day," he said honestly.
He shifted his gaze to meet her eyes and he couldn't help but smile because she had a tiny speckle of chocolate in the corner of her mouth. She wordlessly smiled back at him before unhooking her seatbelt.
"See you in math on Monday," Lou said as she closed the box of candy. She wiggled back into her sweater and then opened the passenger's side door, letting the cold air in.
Ravi shivered slightly and watched her get out of the car. Instead of his stomach sinking from the fact that she was leaving, he felt his heart light up in anticipation of Monday afternoon when he would be sitting beside her in math class and chuckling at something random she said.
"See you Monday!" he called out. He sighed once she walked away. "Playing it cool as always," he mumbled to himself.
He prepared to take the car out of park, but he heard a knock on the driver's side window that made him jump slightly. He saw Lou motioning for him to open his door, so he unlocked it.
"You want to review the math assignment? I know how you hate factoring polynomials," he started as he opened his car door.
He gasped in surprise as she leaned into the car and grasped the collar of his winter jacket. She leaned into him as she crashed her lips into his. His heart beat wildly as all of his senses became hypersensitive. He could feel the soft pressure of her mouth against his mouth. The smell of chocolate and her floral body spray. And as quick as it happened, it was over and Lou was rushing away from his car. By the time Ravi's brain caught up to reality, she was already gone.
"What…" Ravi whispered as he caught his breath. He blinked. "What!"
He unhooked his seatbelt and stumbled out of the car. His face was burning with heat even as he made his way through the cold. He knocked repeatedly on the house's yellow door until it slowly opened a few inches.
"Yes?" Lou asked with only part of her face visible from the other side of the door.
So many thoughts were running through Ravi's mind that he couldn't focus on a single one. He opened and closed his mouth as he tried and failed to form words to express all of his competing feelings: shock, excitement, confusion, disbelief. Finally, he inhaled deeply and slowly let out the breath, making wispy clouds in the February air.
"I…Lou, um. What is going on?" He asked. He wrapped his arms around himself as he stood on the porch.
"So, you're not going to let me have my dramatic exit are you?" Lou sighed. She leaned her forehead against the side of the door.
"Not a chance." Ravi gently pressed the door open, causing Lou to step back slightly. He gave her a soft look and shy smile. "I have liked you for so long, Lou. I cannot let you kiss me and walk away without…some sort of explanation. Please."
Lou looked dumbstruck. "You like me?" She tucked her hair behind her ear. "But you didn't kiss me back?"
"I can!" He enthusiastically moved forward, but Lou held out her hand to keep him a little less than arm distance apart.
"Slow down, Casanova," Lou said with a blush. "You skipped the part where you answer my question. You like me?"
Ravi leaned away from her and raised his eyebrow at her. "I am skipping steps?" He asked incredulously as he pointed at his own chest. "You are constantly reminding me of how I am such a, and I quote, 'baby brother' or 'kid.' Which I feel I must point out, I am only two years younger than you. And now you are passionately kissing me in my car!"
Lou's blush intensified as she snorted out a nervous laugh. "It was like two seconds, Ravi."
"It felt longer," he whispered with awe in his voice.
The freezing temperature began to affect Ravi. He held his arms tighter around himself and tensed his shoulders upward towards his cold ears. Lou shrugged off her sweater again. His heart skipped a beat as she moved forward and wrapped the warm material around his shoulders. She stood close enough that her breath warmed his face.
"I'm sorry I've got you out here in the cold," she said without moving her hand from his chest.
Before she could step back from him, he took hold of her hand and said, "I don't mind."
"I don't know why I kissed you," she confessed. She squeezed his hand. "Sometimes, when it's just you and me, I feel…like you're not just Emma's brother. And you're not just my math buddy…" She gazed into his eyes. "And you're not just my friend."
Ravi considered pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream. Was he really in front of his crush about to pour out his heart to her?
He said, "The rose you destroyed in my car and the chocolates that you ate without sharing…"
"Hey! I offered…"
"Nonetheless, they were not purchased out of pity, Lou. They were Valentine's gifts for you because I want you to be my Valentine." He gave her a small smile. "And based on the fact that you passionately kissed me…"
"It wasn't passionate," she muttered in embarrassment.
"Oh, it was. And the very interesting statements you just made implying that you feel the obvious chemistry between us." He saw that she was about to speak so he quickly added, "Yes, I said 'obvious.' Just let me have this."
Lou chuckled. She let go of his hand and took a step backward to the doorway. She bit the inside of her cheek and fiddled with the ends of her hair.
"I'm sorry I say all that stuff about your age. It's just easier to say those things than admit I've got a tractor-sized crush on you."
Lou's phone buzzed in the pocket of her sweater, which was still draped over Ravi's shoulders. He took out the phone to reveal Emma's picture for the incoming call. He handed the phone to Lou, who gave him an apologetic look.
"She'll text me nonstop if I don't call her back. Um, goodnight?"
He wanted to ask more questions. Talk to her more. Hold her hand again. But he could tell she was uncomfortable by the way she fiddled with the ends of her hair. And Lou wasn't the type of person who was often uncomfortable, so her telling him these things must have been a big deal for her. It was a big deal for him.
"Goodnight," he replied sweetly. He stepped closer so that he could once again feel her chocolate-scented breath on his face. "But before I go, may I kiss you back?"
Lou's face lit up and she wore the brightest smile he had ever seen. She nodded and then, without giving him the chance to make the first move, she kissed him again. Ravi was taken by surprise again, but the shock didn't last long. He made sure to pull her closer and kiss her like it was something he had been waiting to do for years.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said in an airy tone as he stepped away from her.
Lou waved him goodbye and then disappeared behind the yellow door to call Emma back. Ravi grinned like an idiot on the Hockhauser porch until the cold made his toes numb. He returned to the warmth of his car and planned how to make the day after Valentine's special for Lou.
Author's Note: Based on a Valentine's Day tumblr prompt
