La Muerte spent the rest of the week trying to avoid Xibalba, and she was doing a fine job. She hadn't seen any sign of him since she'd left. Honestly, she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Yes, she was avoiding him, but she would have liked it if he were at least trying to meet with and talk to her. But no, nothing. If she didn't know any better, La Muerte would think that Xibalba was avoiding her as well, which was ridiculous.
On the night of Valentine's Day, La Muerte, looking like Mary Beth, went with Kierra to have a girls night out, since neither of them had any previous plans for the evening. The disguised goddess was determined to not even think about her husband this evening, tonight was just for her.
For the most part, Mary Beth had fun at the club that Kierra had brought her to. The one thing that Mary Beth could have done without were the countless boys who came over to the two of them to flirt. Each time, Mary Beth politely said she was with someone, the guy got the message, and left her alone for the rest of the evening. As mad as she was at her husband, she would never stoop so low as to cheat on him. She loved him too much.
It wasn't until the later hours of the night that Mary Beth decided to call it a day. She had enjoyed the evening, but honestly, it wasn't anything special. Kierra had left a little while ago, so Mary Beth was by herself. And seeing all the happy couples there just made her heart ache. Why didn't Xibalba want this? Maybe she would never know, but she was beginning to not care. She just wanted to be with him.
"Now what is a beautiful woman like you doing here by yourself on the most romantic day of the year?" A young man said as he took the seat next to her. Mary Beth sighed and stood up.
"I was with a friend, but she left already. I should probably go home now too." Mary Beth said. She began to leave when the man grabbed her arm to stop her.
"What's the rush?" He asked. "How about you let me buy you a drink?"
"No, thank you, though." Mary Beth replied.
"Oh, come on." The man said. "I think we both know you want to." She was starting to feel uneasy at the insistent look in his eyes, and was about to get rather forceful herself when a cool reserved voice interrupted.
"And I think we all know that the young lady already said no." A man who seemed to come out of nowhere said. "Now, I must insist that you unhand my wife." Mary Beth felt her breath catch in her throat, she recognized the newcomer, and was so glad to see him. For no matter how hard she had tried, she couldn't get her thoughts away from him all night.
It was Xibalba, or Esteban, Mary Beth's husband. Unlike his other disguise, Esteban was tall, handsome, and had an air of dignity about him. He still had his moustache and beard, but he also had hair atop his head. All of which was pure white, despite his appearance being that of a young man.
The man who had been bothering Mary Beth looked from her to Esteban a couple of times, a little nervously, but didn't let go of the woman's arm.
"Hey, man, I was just showing some common courtesy to a lonely young lady." He said. "A young lady, I might add, who is only alone because you weren't around." Esteban's amber eyes flared angrily. He wrenched the man's hand away from Mary Beth's arm.
"A funny thing for you to say," Esteban remarked in a casual manner, "When chances are, you also have a woman you're leaving alone tonight, just so you can pursue other women." The man blushed furiously, which revealed that Esteban had guessed right on the mark. The man yanked his own hand away from Esteban, only to curl it into a fist and suddenly hit him in the face, hard.
The man felt victorious at seeing Esteban stagger quite a bit at his hit. The feeling of victory began to fade when Esteban began to chuckle. Why would he do that? He had just punched the guy, hard, so why the heck was he laughing. After a moment Esteban stood up straight again, a dark grin on his face.
"You call that a hit?" Esteban asked in a taunting manner, "My wife hit's better than that. Don't you?" This last part was directed to Mary Beth, who was more than happy to take the invitation to slap the man into next week. He deserved that much. Strike one had been not leaving her alone, even after she'd made it clear she wasn't interested. Strike two was that he was a cheater, and there was nothing she hated more than a cheater.
The last strike was that he had punched her husband. Nobody was allowed to touch her husband, let alone hurt him. Only she could do that. Sometimes there were cases when she had let somebody else hit him, for when he was being a bigger jerk than usual. But this was not one of those times.
After slapping the man so hard that his cheek would be stinging for hours, Mary Beth grabbed her husbands man, deciding that it was time to go. The two disguised gods left the club and headed for the park to be alone. Mary Beth lead the way to a bench, where she sat down, feeling a little awkward. Neither of them had said a word since they'd left the club. Technically, they hadn't actually spoken to each other since their argument days before, and she wasn't sure where to start.
"Thank you." Mary Beth finally found herself saying.
"It was no problem. That guy was a jerk anyway." Esteban said.
"No, I mean thank you, for coming after me." Mary Beth said. Esteban blinked. That hadn't been what he had expected. He sat down beside her, taking her hands in his own.
"I will always come after you, mi amor." He said. Mary Beth smiled and brought one of her hands to his face affectionately. She wasn't expecting him to cry out in pain and pull away from her touch.
"Are you alright?" She asked, wondering if he was hurt.
"Just because you hit harder than that guy, doesn't mean it didn't hurt." Esteban grumbled as he rubbed his hand over the soreness.
"Oh, now you're just being a baby." Mary Beth chuckled. Esteban scowled, though his eyes showed signs of amusement. That look didn't last in his eyes though, as they were soon replaced by something that looked determination.
"I had to come after you." Esteban said. "I figured that I should tell you the reason that I do not like Valentine's day."
"Oh, you don't have to." Mary Beth began to say, but he held up his hands to stop her.
"Yes, actually, I do." Esteban said. "First, let me ask you. When you think of Valentine's Day, what comes to mind?"
"Romance, happiness, and love." Mary Beth said. "Couples that only have eyes for each other."
"That is the precise thing that I don't see." Esteban said completely serious. "What I see is a bunch of fakers. Couples who fight and hate each other for every other day of the year, then pretend to get along for one night. I see unloyal men who are just looking for an easy night by taking advantage of girls who are desperate for love."
"Not everyone is like that." Mary Beth argued.
"Perhaps not, but plenty of people are." Esteban countered. "Besides, there shouldn't be just one day devoted to love. If someone has somebody they love, they should show it more than once a year."
Mary Beth bit her lip. She hadn't known that Esteban felt this way. Sure, she thought he was being completely unfair with his judgements, but he always was when it came to humans. There was nothing she could do to change that about him. Besides, though unfair, his reason for not wanting to celebrate Valentine's Day was actually romantic in its own way. His dislike of the holiday wasn't hurting anybody, so there was no reason to not respect his wishes.
"So," Esteban continued after a minute, "Though I despise this holiday, I suppose if it's that important to you, we can do something." Mary Beth was shocked at this. He was willing to do that, for her? Sometimes she forgot just how sweet a guy her husband could be. If she were honest with herself though, this holiday just didn't matter to her, she just wanted his love and attention, which he gave her all the time. It was foolish and selfish of her to feel she needed his love on a day she didn't care about.
"I would love to go out." Mary Beth said. "First though, give me your watch." Esteban looked at her curiously. What kind of a request was that.
"Don't ask, just do it." She insisted. Esteban rolled his eyes, but handed over his watch. She smiled when she saw the time, then kept hold of it. "Now, we will wait for five minutes."
"Wait?" Now Esteban was just confused. Why on earth did she want to wait. "Why do we need to wait before going?" He asked.
"Hey, no talking." Mary Beth said in a mock harsh tone. "Just waiting." Esteban knew better than to question her at this point. The two of them sat in silence, He wondering what was going on, while she kept her eye on the time. Around five minutes later Mary Beth stood up and held up the watch to show him the time. It was now just after midnight.
"Now it's no longer Valentine's Day." Mary Beth said. She transformed to her natural goddess form. Esteban looked shocked for a moment before grinning slyly and turning into his god of death form as well.
"Thank you." Xibalba said simply.
"I honestly couldn't care less about Valentine's Day." La Muerte admitted. "I'm not sure what got into me."
"Probably the same thing that gets into the humans to make them so obsessed with the holiday." Xibalba said. "Now, what do you want to do?" La Muerte smiled and ran her hands across his wings affectionately. How she loved those dark, ragged, and surprisingly soft wings of his.
"How about we go for a flight?" La Muerte suggested. It was her favorite activity to do with him. The thrill of flying through the air never got old. It was always as exciting as the first night he'd taken her up in the air.
Xibalba smiled wickedly and scooped La Muerte into his arms. He too loved flying, but especially with her in his arms. It also made him very happy that La Muerte trusted him to not let her fall. He would, of course, never drop her. It was a great feeling though that she knew that.
"I love you, Balby." La Muerte said lovingly.
"And I adore you, mi amor." Xibalba said with just as much affection. Without a further word he took to the air. The two of them flew through the clear, cool night together, leaving the world, and their worries, far below them.
Well, How'd I do? Did you like it? I got the idea of Xibalba feeling this way about Valentine's Day because my mom says that her mother didn't like Mother's Day, because their shouldn't be just one day to glorify mothers when they should be glorified every day of the year.
Anyways, please review.