So, I was wanting to write a fanfiction for Valentine's Day...yeah, I know that it's late, but not only did it take longer to write than I originally thought, but then I began having troubles uploading this to the site. Hope you still enjoy the late Valentine's story.
Anyways, I don't own The Book of Life, I just love it.
La Muerta, or, as everyone at the museum knew her, Mary Beth, smiled happily as she waved goodbye to the children who she had been giving a tour to. Unlike many of her co-workers, Mary Beth loved the field trip groups, even those who were there for detention. She loved children, with their boundless energy and excitement. She had a way of giving tours that children actually behaved and loved to hear what she had to say.
As much as she loved being around the children though, Mary Beth was glad that with that tour finished, it was now her break. She made her way to the break room and joined a friend of hers, a fellow tour guide by the name of Kierra.
"Hey, Mary Beth, how were those school kids?" Kierra asked as Mary Beth sat down.
"They were great." Mary Beth said with a hint of a smirk. Kierra was also fairly good with kids, but even she had trouble keeping all those uninterested school children in line. Mary Beth was the only one who never had any trouble, and all the other tour guides were jealous about that. Mary Beth enjoyed to tease them in a friendly way about it, which just annoyed them even more.
"I really don't understand how you do it. Some of those kids can be such creeps." Kierra said. The door to the break room opened and a security guard entered. When Kierra saw who it was, she groaned. "Speaking of creeps, look who's here."
Mary Beth turned and smiled slightly when she saw her husband in his human disguise. Many of the museum employees disliked the old security guard, who they knew as Guicho. They all saw him as a perverted old man who was always in a bad mood and had a thing for Mary Beth. None of them knew why she even tolerated him, but most of them had all given up asking why.
Guicho had only come into the break room for a minute to grab something before he went to check in on the Book of Life. When he had it he turned to leave, but couldn't resist looking at his wife for a moment first. When she saw his gaze she smiled and winked at him. He smiled back at her and, because he was so distracted by her, ended up walking straight into the closed door. Mary Beth laughed and Guicho scowled and left the room without another word or glance. When Mary Beth turned back to Kierra, she saw that her friend looked annoyed.
"What?" Mary Beth asked, her voice full of amusement.
"Why do you keep indulging him like that?" Kierra asked.
"Oh come on, give him a chance." Mary Beth said. "He's actually quite sweet once you get to know him.
"If you say so." Kierra rolled her eyes. "If you want to speak of sweet guys, fine then. How's your husband doing?"
"Esteban's doing fine." It was now Mary Beth's turn to roll her eyes. While La Muerte was content with just her one human disguise, her husband had two. The old security guard was the first, but the second was Mary Beth's husband, Esteban. La Muerte found it very amusing that her tour guide friends all thought that Guicho was an ugly grouch, but agreed that Esteban was a charming gentleman.
Mary Beth and Kierra spoke for a few more minutes until Kierra's cell phone rang. She left for a few minutes to talk to whoever had called her, and when she came back she didn't seem very happy. She actually seemed quite depressed. Kierra sat back down next to Mary Beth and sighed sadly.
"What's wrong?" Mary Beth asked.
"That was Albert." Kierra said. Albert was her boyfriend, and they'd been dating for about a year. "He said that he has to work all day this Saturday."
"Okay, so what's wrong?" Mary Beth asked again. "Did you have plans?" Kierra looked strangely at Mary Beth, wondering if she was joking or not.
"Hello, Valentine's Day is this Saturday." Kierra reminded Mary Beth. "Did you seriously not know that?"
"Uh, no, I didn't." Mary Beth said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I guess I forgot about it this year."
"But aren't you and Esteban doing something special that night?" Kierra asked. Esteban and Mary Beth were so in love that Kierra thought it was impossible that they didn't have plans for the most romantic day of the year.
"Actually, we're not." Mary Beth said. "Esteban doesn't like Valentine's Day." That was an understatement. Xibalba hated Valentine's Day with a passion, and since La Muerte honestly didn't care if they celebrated it or not, they didn't.
"He doesn't like Valentine's day?" Kierra just couldn't believe that. "Why not?" Mary Beth opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again a moment later in thought.
"I actually don't know." Mary Beth said thoughtfully, "He's never told me." La Muerte hadn't really cared why, but now she was curious. Just why did Xibalba hate Valentine's Day so much? It couldn't be just because of all the merchandise that he found annoying about all holidays. No, there had to be something else.
Kierra and Mary Beth spoke for the rest of their break. When they noticed the time and realized they had to get back to work, Mary Beth got up, ready to give more tours. Kierra though was another story. She really didn't want to start working again, which Mary Beth didn't quite understand.
"Why are you complaining?" Mary Beth asked. "Your shift only started an hour ago."
"Yeah, which means I have to work for the next five hours." Kierra said. "Of course you're not complaining. Your shift ends soon, you get to go home." Mary Beth rolled her eyes, but she knew that Kierra had made up her mind about not wanting to work, and it wasn't about to be changed.
The two girls made their way to the main area of the museum. They were about to begin working when a voice called out to Kierra. She turned around to face the one who had called to her, Albert. Before she could question him to why he was there, Albert gathered her in his arms and kissed her. They were like that for a minute before Kierra pulled away.
"What was that for?" She asked. Albert smiled, reached into his pocket and brought out a beautiful necklace.
"I could tell you were disappointed about me having to work on Valentine's Day, so I decided to give you your gift today." Albert said. He stepped behind Kierra and gently put the necklace around her neck. Kierra smiled and admired her gift.
"Thank you. It's beautiful." Kierra said, turning so she could look at Albert.
"And that's not all." he said. "What do you say about me and you taking today off and going out?"
"Wait, today?" Kierra asked. "But I have work. I can't just leave."
"Yes you can." Mary Beth cut in. "You two go out and have fun. I'll take your shift for you."
"You will?" Kierra asked. "Are you sure?"
"Of course." Mary Beth said. "I promise, I don't mind."
Kierra made a noise that sounded very much like a squeal and hugged Mary Beth. "Thank you so much. I'll make it up to you sometime, I swear."
"Oh, you bet you will." Mary Beth said teasingly. "Now go have your romantic day with Albert." Kierra didn't need to be told twice. Albert put his arm around Kierra's shoulder and the two of them left the museum. Mary Beth sighed as she watched them go, feeling a little sad. No, she wasn't upset because she had to work longer, she was happy to do so. She just felt a small twinge of jealousy, seeing them so happy together.
Now don't get her wrong. She and Xibalba were happy together, very much so. But seeing Kierra's happiness when Albert surprised her with a special Valentine's Day gift got her thinking. Maybe there was something special and romantic about Valentine's Day, but La Muerte wouldn't know, she'd never celebrated before. Well, this year, she was planning on changing that.