February 14th. Valentine's Day. A day of love and affection, a day for everyone to do something special with the ones they held dearest. To make memories that would last a lifetime. And that's exactly what everyone was doing.
Everyone except her.
Whilst her brothers had Penny and Carrie, and her parents had each other, she had no one. She was all by herself. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem. She was too busy with her experiments and studies to care about love. She had no time for such a thing. She didn't get the appeal of it anyway.
But today was different. Today she was forced to watch as her entire family went and hung out with their special ones, laughing and smiling as they had the time of their lives together. They all looked so happy, so content, and she couldn't help but feel a little envious of all the fun they were having.
It didn't help that her brothers had decided at lunchtime to drag her to the park with their girlfriends. She'd asked why she had to come but they just kept dodging the question or giving vague non-answers. Then, if that wasn't bad enough, once they arrived they just dumped her on a bench before ignoring her and walking over to a tree, cuddling up, and being all lovey-dovey right in front of her!
What were they playing at!? Were they deliberately trying to make her feel worse? Cause if they were it was sure as hell working!It's as if they wanted to make her feel jealous. Like they were trying to rub it in.and it wasn't only them either! All around her, the entire park was full of people sitting by trees and holding hands, having picnics in the field, and going for long romantic walks, and here she was stuck sitting on a bench, forced to just watch it all happen!
"Hello, Anais." Shesuddenlyheard a voice speak up to her. A voice she hated more than any other. She felt the bench become weighed down by the owner of the voice taking a seat next to her.
As if it wasn't already bad enough, now he was here!? Why? Why him of all people?
"Go away." She responded, not even bothering to look at him.
"Now, now, that's no way to greet a friend." He replied.
"Friend? Pfft, you wish." She rolled her eyes, not that he could see.
"Yes, I really do..."
"I said go away. Now."She replied, already feeling annoyed.
"You aren't even going to ask why I came over?"
She hesitated before sighing and turning to look at him. "Fine, what do you want Billy?"
"To talk to you."
"About what exactly?"
"Nothing in particular. Just...friendly conversation."
She hesitated."...Why?" She responded sounding unconvinced.
"Well, uh...I saw you on your own looking rather glum and thought I might try to lift your mood a little."
She exhaled through her nose."Since when do you care about me?"
He looked away, rubbing his arm. "I always have..."
"Really? Well, you have an odd way of showing it." She crossed her arms and looked away.
He looked down an expression of guilt on his face. He quietly sniffed before replying, barely audible. "I'm sorry..."
Her ears pricked up. Had she heard that right? "W-what?"
She turned and looked toward him, and her face fell at what she saw. He was wiping his face as tears trickled down it.
Her ears lowered as she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. Wait did...did she feel bad for him?
"Billy?" She asked with a worried tone.
He looked up, the tears continuing to stream down his face. "I-I-I'm sorry Anais. I never...I never meant to hurt you. H-Honestly, I didn't. I was just hurting so badly myself that I unfairly took it out on you.".
"Why me? Why not take it out on anyone else? Why pick on me specifically?"
He sighed. "Because..because you're the one who hurt me."
She looked at him with a mix of shock and confusion. She had hurt him? How? What could she have done to hurt him so badly? "Me? What did I do?"
He looked up, unable to hold back the tears streaming down his face."You rejected me! We had so much in common, we got on so well, and we had such a great time together! You were the most sublime girl I had ever met, but you threw all of that away over a silly TV show!"
Anais felt a pit open up in her stomach. He had been picking on her this whole time because he was heartbroken. Because of her. All because she'drejected him...all he'd wanted was to be friends with her, but she'd thrown that all away over a TV show..."
Her eyes widened in horror as she remembered all the times that she herself had been rejected, how awful she had felt, how unwanted and alone and worthless. She had done the same thing to somebody else. Became the exact kind of person she hated...
She began to tear up with guilt. "Oh my god, Billy, I...I'm so sorry...I had no idea I upset you so badly...I-I-I never meant to...t-t-to..." Anais responded, sounding genuinely upset.
He suddenly raised his voice and interrupted her, much to her surprise."Upset me?The girl I loved rejected me!You didn't upset me, you broke my heart! You took and rent it in twain! Shredded it to pieces!"
"The girl you..." She gasped, covering her mouth, beginning to tremble at the realization of how badly she'd hurt him. Oh my god...he didn't just want to be friends with her...he was in love withher! He had a crush on her and she'd had no idea! She'd completely rejected him without even knowing the true extent of what she was rejecting!
She felt the pain in her chest grow as she began to feel incredibly guilty, tears now trickling down her face. "You have a crush on me!? Oh my god...I...I-I-I had no idea..."
"I thought we were going to be the best of friends, no, more than that!I thought we were going to do everything together..."
She began to choke up as she placed her paw on his hand. "I'm so sorry Billy, really I am! I-I-I genuinely had no idea you felt that way, I...I feel horrible..." She insisted, her voice filled with guilt and regret.
He sniffed as he looked down. "It's too late to apologize now. What's done is done. You can't take what you did back..."
She hesitated, deep in thought. Suddenly she squeezed his hand."You're right. I can't change what already happened. But that doesn't mean I can't make up for it..."
"What do you mean?" He looked up in surprise, sounding hopeful.
She looked down and fiddled with her paws, a light blush forming on her face as she twisted her feet embarrassed. "I mean,I really did enjoy hanging out with you...a lot..."
"As did I..." He looked down as he fiddled with his fingers. "I've never felt more alive than with someone as wonderful as you..."
A blush appeared on her face and she quickly looked away embarrassed."Maybe... m-maybe I was a little hasty ending this over a TV show..."
"Well, Fireman Pete is arguably the better show but-" Her head snapped back around with a glare, making himlaugh nervously. "Ah hahaha, just...just kidding!"
She hesitated before shaking her head with a weak smile and sighed. "If we're gonna do this properly I guess we're just gonna have to agree to disagree about some things..."
He gasped in delight, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Wait...you mean..."
She smiled and nodded, placing her other paw on the same hand. "I wanna give this a go again. A proper go. If you still want to of course."
His face lit up. "Oh yes, yes, that would be wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
She chuckled. "Then it's settled."
He suddenly hugged her, much to her surprise. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me! I promise you won't regret your decision!"
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, "You're welcome..."
After what seemed like forever they finally let go of it each other, and sat in awkward silence, unsure of what to say now that they were no longer hostile toward each other.
"So...what do you want to do now?" Billy eventually asked.
"Well, I was planning on doing an experiment later back at home...we could do that now, I-if you want..." She rubbed her arm
He smiled."That sounds like a wonderful idea!"
"Alright, let me go and tell Gumball and Darwin where we're going."
She went to get up but he suddenly held onto her arm and stopped her.
"Huh? What are you-" She turned back to look at him and her eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly leaned forwards and kissed her on the lips.
She sat there stunned and in shock as her entire face turned a deep red. Oh my god...She had...she had just had her first kiss...with a real boy...and she'd liked it...
Seeing her reaction he began to panic slightly, worrying that he might have upset her."I-I-I'm so sorry, I've just been wanting to do that for so long now a-a-and I saw the opportunity and just... I couldn't help myself..."
She finally snapped out of her trance and cleared her throat. "Okay, uh...w-wow...we just... that was...I was not expecting..." She finally responded and she struggled to find the words.
"That was amazing..." She finally admitted. "Maybe warn me next time though..."
Billy gasped and her eyes widened slightly, her cheeks turning red again as she realized what she had just said. She began to wave her paws as she frantically tried to cover herself."N-N-Notthat there'sgoing tobe a next time o-o-or anything, Imeant it purely hypothetically! T-T-That doesn't mean I don't want there to be a next time though...B-BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DO EITHER! I uh...I..."
She looked down in defeat before awkwardly clearing her throat."I'll just...go and tell Gumball and Darwin where we're going..."
She quickly walked away, feeling deeply embarrassed.
As she walked up to them she saw Gumball and Darwin with huge smirks on their faces.
Gumball made a wolf whistle. "Looks like someone's in love..." He teased.
"What, n-no! I was just talking to him!" She blushed deeply.
"That's not what it looked like to me..." Darwin joined in. "in fact, it looks like you were having quite the time together..."
"Told you you'd get the appeal of kissing eventually!" Carrie playfully punched her arm.
"N-N-No, t-that's not what happened! He just-"
Gumball turned around and wrapped his arms around himself to make it look like someone was hugging him, before beginning to make kissing and smooching noises. "Oh, I love you so much Billy! Mmm, you're so hot and smart! Oh, kiss me more you sexy man! Mmmm!"
As he continued he broke down into tears of laughter, followed by Darwin, and finally by Carrie. Penny shook her head and chuckled at Gumball's immature ways whilst Anais meanwhile crossed her arms and looked down embarrassed.
Penny placed her hand on her shoulder. "Aww, don't pay any attention to them, they're only teasing you."
She smiled weakly and rolled her eyes and she sighed. "I know...do you have to though?" She asked, turning to them.
Gumball grinned. "Anais, we're your brothers. Of course we do, it's our duty to do so."
She shook her head with a chuckle. "Whatever, Billy and I are going home to work on one of my experiments."
"Alright, we'll come with you then, walk you back home."
"Darwin, I can walk home by myself. I'm not stupid." She defended herself, crossing her arms defensively.
"I know, but you're only 4, and it'd be morally wrong to let two 4-year-olds walk home by themselves."
"I..." She sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Give me a second, I'll go get Billy." She turned to go and get Billy.
"Alright. You're welcome by the way." Gumball suddenly called out.
"Huh? For what?" She stopped and turned back around, a confused expression on her face.
"For bringing you here so that Billy could patch things up with you."Darwin replied.
"and for helping you find someone to spend Valentine's Day with," Gumball added with a wink.
She gasped."Wait...you knew Billy would be here? You...you set this whole thing up?" She asked surprised.
Darwin smiled."Yup. He told Gumball just before you did that run-up kick on him that he had a crush on you, and once he was out of the hospital he asked for our help to try and get you to forgive him," Darwin revealed.
Gumball nodded. "and wellsince Valentine's Day was coming up, we figured you'd feel a little left out with no one to spend it with, so we thought we'd do you both a favor and secretly become your wingmen and help set you up together. I mean, why else do you think we brought you here on Valentine's Day? To watch us make out with our girlfriends?"
"To be honest...yeah, that's exactly what I thought."
"Come on, you know we wouldn't do that! We aren't jerks!" He crossed his arms.
She raised her arm and tilted her paw from side to side in an unsure manner. "Ehh, that's debatable..."
"Oh yeah, they'redefinitely jerks!" Carrie teased with a smirk.
"Oh, for sure!"Penny giggled.
Gumball rolled his eyes before smirking and holding out his arms. "Come on you..."
She accepted and came into his arms for an embrace. Darwin joined and the three hugged happily. "Thank you...you going out of your way to help me like this...it really means a lot..."
Darwin smiled. "You're welcome sis!"
Penny and Carrie smiled. "Awww..."
After hugging for a little while longer they finally let go. "Alright you, let's get going..."
She nodded and the four of them began to head toward the exit of the park as Anais turned and gestured for Billy to come over.
He ran over and joined her, and the two traIled behind at the back of the group.
As they walked Anais slowly moved her paw and closed around Billy's hand, squeezing it. The group ahead noticed and grinned amongst themselves, Gumball and Darwin high-fiving. Their plan had worked so much better than they'd expected, and they couldn't be happier for Anais.
Meanwhile, Billy looked down at their joined hands, before looking back up at her with a smile.
She smiled back with a giggle, and as she gazed upon Billy's face she thought to herself.
So, this is what love is like...? She liked it. She liked it a lot. At last, she finally understood. She finally got what this whole love thing was about. She finally understood why Penny and Carrie made Gumball and Darwin so happy.
and now...she was happy too.