First Valentine

February 14th

Elizabeth had been dumbfounded at the way Henry had left things between them and it had resulted in her spending all night overthinking what had happened. How could things have gone so wrong in so little time? How could he just leave her like that when he was the one who had initiated things? At five am she decided to sneak out of bed, get up and start some schoolwork instead of lying in bed, worrying about how things were going to be in the morning.

It was a little after seven when Henry got up. Even though he'd stubbornly closed his eyes, he hadn't slept. Truth was, he'd been on edge all week; worrying about his ROTC training he'd received a letter about. He'd have to pick up his training as his deployment might come sooner than he had thought. He'd not mentioned it to Elizabeth, not wanting to worry her but it had got to him anyway. When she was out with her girlfriends last night he missed her and wanted to show her how he felt but instead things went terribly wrong. He felt bad for ending things the way they did last night.

He quietly opened the door of the bedroom. He saw Elizabeth sitting on his couch with a plaid covering her legs. She glanced up from the book she was reading, waiting for Henry to make the first move.

He scratched his head and padded across the floor to the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Opening his mouth, ready to ask if she wanted a cup as well, he saw she had a cup of her own on the coffee table. He noticed she was still reading and made no move to talk about what happened last night. He took his cup and headed towards the bedroom. As soon as Henry's back was towards her, she followed his every move, hearing the bathroom door fall shut and the sound of the faucet indicated he was about to have a shower.

Elizabeth sighed. She went inside the bedroom, put on her slacks and jumper and headed out. She needed air. The walls were closing in on her and she felt frustrated. A walk might clear her head. She took the spare key and headed out.

The park was quiet. Of course, it was only 8 and everyone was sleeping in, ready to celebrate Valentine's Day. She sighed. She contemplated going back to Henry's but instead she headed towards her dorm to take a shower. Becky was still sound asleep, so Elizabeth grabbed her stuff and some fresh clothes and headed for the shower. When she came back out, Becky was slowly waking up.

"Uh, Lizzie, how can you be up already?"

"I went for a walk."

Becky pulled the cover over her head. "How are you not hungover?"

"Because I didn't drink as much as you did last night and because I left at a reasonable hour. What time did you get home?"

"I think it was around 4 this morning. You've really missed something though. Christine made out with that cute waiter. They're going on a date tonight. Isn't that great?"

Elizabeth nodded but she couldn't act the part, knowing things weren't right between her and Henry.

Becky noticed something was off with her roommate. She sat up but groaned as she felt the headache worsen. "My god, my head is killing me." Her head in her hands, sitting as still as she possibly could, she hoped she could make it go away.

Elizabeth just looked at Becky being miserable.

"I am NEVER drinking again," Becky stated. As soon as she had said the words, her head snapped up. "Who am I kidding? HA!" She got up slowly and made her way towards her closet.

"So, tell me, why are you here at 9 am when you are supposed to be with Henry?" She tried to sound as nonchalant as she possibly could.

"Because I wanted to go for a walk."

Becky rolled her eyes. "Okay, what happened?"

"Why do you assume something's happened?" Elizabeth asked her with her best pokerface.

Becky crossed her arms and watched Elizabeth.

"Okay," she sighed. "We had a fight. Our first fight."

"What about?"

Elizabeth looked down. "I'm not sure, actually." She didn't know if she could tell Becky, she might feel bad if she told her it was about their plans for this evening.

"Elizabeth, what could you possibly fight about after midnight? Was he mad that you had been out drinking?"

"No, God no. Besides I wasn't drunk."

"Then what? Henry's not the guy to start a fight. Is he?"

"I would have guessed not." Elizabeth looked around. "It wasn't really a fight. Things were said. We disagreed. I tried to lighten the mood. He just neglected me."

"Maybe he was just tired."

"He wasn't, believe me."

"Oh," Becky came to realize what might have happened or not happened.

"Lizzie, I'm sure there's an explanation for the way he acted."

"He also rejected me." Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut; afraid she'd burst into tears.

"What do you mean, he rejected you?" Becky was all in for hearing the details now.

"When I came home, Henry was all over me. He obviously wasn't tired. You know," she gestured with her hands while shyly explaining what had happened. ''And then, while we were, you know, we were talking, we disagreed and he just stopped."

Becky had a smirk on her face. "He didn't finish you off?"

"Well, he never really started to begin with, but still…"

"Listen, go back. Talk to him. I'm sure he's up and ready to apologize… It's Valentine's Day for Pete's sake."

"Oh, he was up when I left this morning," Elizabeth was fidgeting with her fingers. "He didn't say a word. I'm afraid he's still mad for some reason and you and Tom are coming over tonight. It's just awful," her voice cracked and she dropped herself onto her bed.

"Listen up, why don't you and Henry figure things out on your own today, Tom and I can always come over for dinner some other time. I'm sure your boyfriend's cooking skills will only improve over time."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, Lizzy, don't worry. We could always go to a restaurant or we could order in. It's best that we're just not going to cook anything ourselves. I'll call Tom about our change of plans."

"Thank you!" Elizabeth whispered. She figured Henry would be happy if she told him Becky and Tom weren't coming over.

Becky, who was dialling Tom's number, told her roommate: "If Henry's still pissed tonight, you can always join us for dinner."

Elizabeth gestured towards Becky she was leaving. Becky was on the phone with Tom and nodded while putting her two thumbs up. She mouthed 'good luck'.

When Elizabeth reached Henry's apartment again, she noticed his car was not in its usual spot. Wondering where he'd gone, she entered the building and went upstairs.

An hour and a half later, Elizabeth was seriously getting worried. She was pacing the floor in front of his bookrack when the key turned in the lock.

"Oh my god, where were you?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Henry stated simply.

"I went for a walk," she answered.

"And when you weren't back after about two hours, I went grocery shopping. You know, you can always give me a hand bringing all these bags inside," Henry insisted as he turned towards the hallway again to get the bags.

Elizabeth helped him carry the rest of the bags inside. In no time, the counter was full and each of them was dealing with putting things away in complete silence.

"Well, I'm glad we're at least talking again," Henry said sarcastically.

Elizabeth eyed him before dropping her head. She put the bag of flour she was holding down a bit too roughly causing the powder to fly everywhere.

"You're the one who chose to end the conversation last night," Elizabeth retorted.

"You're the one who didn't tell me where you were going this morning," Henry quipped.

"Why is it so important that you need to know where I am?" she asked him feeling a bit confined.

"Same reason why you wanted to know where I was. Because I care about you and I worry about you," he stated.

"Well, you didn't seem to care or worry too much about me last night," Elizabeth added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Henry didn't know.

"Do you know what it feels like when your boyfriend gets you all worked up and then just ignores you, rejects you, doesn't want you anymore. When he isn't willing to work things out."

Henry smirked. "No, I've never had a boyfriend before."

"Don't make jokes about this. I'm serious, Henry!"

"Okay," he put his hands up in defeat as soon as he heard the crack in her voice. He made his way over to her but before he could reach her she had left her spot.

"This is ridiculous!" she said. "I can't believe Becky thought you would apologize."

"You spoke to Becky?"

She looked at him. "I went to shower in my dorm after my walk. We talked. That's what people do, you know. They talk."

Henry sighed and lowered his head. "Did you talk about us?"

"What?" Elizabeth asked not knowing where this was going.

"Did you tell Becky about our fight?"

"Becky just noticed something was off and I told her. But don't worry, she and Tom won't be coming over for dinner tonight."

"WHAT?" Henry's voice was louder than Elizabeth had ever heard. "Do you really think I've got nothing better to do than shop for your friends who were coming over for dinner tonight without me knowing they were even coming in the first place."

"You did know! I told you last week! And you were fine with it!"

"No, I wasn't!"

"What?" It was Elizabeth's turn to raise her voice.

"I wasn't fine with it. I was preoccupied…"

"Don't put the blame on me again just because I distracted you and we ended up having sex."

"That's not what I meant," Henry spoke softly now.

"Then what?" Elizabeth's hands were in her sides, demanding he clarify himself.

"My mind's been preoccupied with my deployment. I received a letter last week stating I need to do more training as I might be deployed sooner than we think. I just kept thinking about me being away from you for so long. And I just didn't want to worry you. That's why I probably just agreed to having Becky and Tom over for dinner tonight. But, honestly, I had no idea what I was agreeing to."

Elizabeth's hands had dropped to her sides. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"Well," she sighed.

Henry stepped closer to her. She put her hand up, indicating she needed a moment.

"That still doesn't explain last night," she wondered.

Henry took a deep breath before he spoke. "This morning I realized that ever since I got that letter I've been keeping you at a certain distance. I've pushed you away, always studying, always in the gym, always at arm's length. I also realized this morning how it would feel when you …," he stammered.

"When I?"

"When you aren't here with me. When I don't know where you are. When you're not around, when you're not in my life."

"And?" she whispered.

"It sucks!" he stated as simple as that. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the letter. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've pushed you away. I'm sorry you felt like I didn't want you, because I did. And I do. I will always want you."

He closed the distance between them never taking his eyes away from hers.

"I'm sorry, babe."

She took his head in her hands and smiled softly before pecking his lips. "I'm sorry too."

Henry closed the gap between them and hugged her tightly. "We survived our first fight," he said with a certain pride in his voice.

"It was a stupid fight," Elizabeth snorted.

"Very stupid," Henry acknowledged.

"Baby, I don't mind us fighting, although I prefer we're not," her words earned a smile from Henry. "Let's just not fight anymore before we go to sleep because I really had an awful night."

"Contrary to what you might think, I couldn't sleep either. Make love, not war. I think we can make that work," he kissed her lips again.

"Thank you!"

"So, tired huh?"

"Let's put the groceries away and then see what we can do to save this Valentine's Day." Elizabeth got up and went to the kitchen to put the rest of the groceries away.

"I'll start prepping dinner. You call Becky to tell her she and Tom can still come over."

Elizabeth turned around in disbelief.

"What?" Henry shrugged.

"You're the best, you know that," she stepped towards him to place a kiss to his cheek. "But you're going to work your magic using this," she lifted a pot, "and make us something in no time and then we can, you know, celebrate." She wriggled her eyebrows. "Alone."

"Just you and me?" Henry wanted to hear her confirm.

"Just you and me, babe." She patted his butt and both went to work again in complete silence.

Summer's over and I have more time to write now. Let me know what you think and what you'd like to read in the future.