Chapter 22

Cersei Lannister POV

Today is Valentine's Day. Jaime didn't mention anything to me, he usually does. I wanted to lay in bed and drink, but he convinced me to go to a study group for one of my classes. I'm upset with him for not doing anything for me for Valentine's Day, he'll be getting the silent treatment later.

When I walk into the apartment, candles are lit and the table is set. I guess Jaime didn't forget about Valentine's day, after all. I smile at the thought. Jaime comes out of our bedroom, he's dressed up.

"What do you think?" He asks me.

"I love it," I say, walking up and kissing him. "I thought you forgot about Valentine's Day."

"I didn't," he says. "But I could tell you were upset and you thought I forgot. I wanted to surprise you." I kiss him again. He really is sweet, I don't give him enough credit.

"What did you make?" I ask, sitting down and putting a napkin in my lap.

"Seared scallops," Jaime says, pouring me some wine. "Seared scallops with green beans and garlic bread."

"You're the best, I'm sorry for assuming you forgot."

"It's okay, you wouldn't be the woman I love if you didn't make assumptions." I don't know if I should be offended or not, but he isn't wrong. He serves me some food and then serves himself some.

"Do you need any help?" I ask him.

"No, that's okay," he responds. "I want to treat you." He's so sweet, I really do love him. He sits down and we clink our glasses.

"We haven't had a real date like this in a while," I say. "I've missed it."

"Me too," he says. "How is our writing coming?"

"Pretty good, I finally got a good story about an expo the school is having."

"What kind of expo is it?"

"It's for female student artists and vendors to sell and advertise their work."

"Are you going to go report on it?"

"Yeah, it's this Wednesday." There's a pause as we keep eating.

"Would it be okay if I came to the expo?" Jaime finally asks me.

"Sure," I say. "Not sure why you'd want to, though."

"I like to support local vendors," he says. "I can bring Bronn and Jorah between our classes."

"Yeah, that would be cool," I say. "It would be nice for you to support me there. I'm kind of nervous to report on it, it's the first school event where I'm interviewing people."

"I'll be there," he says. "Promise." He grabs my hand and we kiss.

"Can I give you your treat?" I ask him as we're putting away the leftover food.

"What's that?" He asks me. We start kissing and head to the shower together. I'm definitely making up for the fact that I assumed he forgot about Valentine's Day.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I'm taking Dany out to a nice restaurant for Valentine's Day tonight. It was actually pretty hard to get the reservation, but I made it work. I show up to her house with flowers, I know that'll make her happy. She opens the door after I knock and immediately smiles.

"Jon, thank you," she says, grabbing the bouquet and sniffing them. "I thought we said no gifts."

"I wanted to surprise you," I respond. "This isn't really a gift."

"I didn't get you anything."

"It's really okay, I didn't expect anything." She goes inside and sets the flowers on the table.

"Bye, dad," she says. He's reading in a chair. "Can you put these in a vase for me?"

"Sure," he responds. "Hi, Jon. You guys have fun tonight."

"Bye, Mr. Targaryen," I say. "Have a good night."

We get to the restaurant and it's really romantic. There are candles, dim lighting and pink decorations set up for Valentine's Day.

"This is really beautiful," Dany says to me. "You're the best boyfriend ever."

"I know," I say, jokingly. "But you're better." She smiles at me.

We enjoy our meal, and I suggest we go on a walk down the bridge that overlooks a local lake. It's a little chilly, but it'll be romantic.

"This is really pretty," Dany says, looking over the bridge at the lake. "My dad used to take me here when I was little."

"Really?" I ask. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, I really liked playing by the water. I always wanted to get in and swim, and he would have to tell me I wasn't allowed to."

There's a pause. "Do you ever resent your dad for everything that's happened with him?" I ask her.

"I used to," she responds. "But I don't anymore. He was having homicidal thoughts and urges, and he really needed to get help. I know he got away from me because he was scared he would hurt me."

"I'm sorry all that happened to you," I say. "I know a lot of people said some awful things about your dad back then, I can't imagine what that did to you."

"The Lannisters were really helpful during that time. Cersei's always been like a sister to me."

"That's surprising, I've always just seen her as scary."

"Most people do, she actually has a big heart. When she loves someone, she loves them fiercely and completely." I want to ask if she loves Jaime like that, but I'm too scared to. Even if Dany knew, I don't think she'd tell me.

"I'm sorry your birth caused such a scandal," Dany says after a long pause. "I didn't ever want to bring it up and upset you, but I always thought you were much more than that."

"Thank you," I respond. "My mom doesn't seem to think so."

"Well, I do." She kisses me, and we look out at the lake peacefully until we have to leave.

I feel like Dany and I have a lot in common because both of our families were involved in serious scandals. She's one of the only people who's seen me beyond that and not treated me differently, even Ygritte saw the scandal before she saw me. Dany can empathize with me, it's nice to finally feel like someone understands.

Sansa Stark POV

It's Valentine's Day, which means it's the one year anniversary of when I lost my virginity. I hate how it happened, it was supposed to be special and romantic. Instead of going on a date, I'm at home depressed about how much my first time sucked. That night was also the first night that I purged, I guess Valentine's Day is just ruined for me.

I just turned 16 last month, and all I did was go shopping with my mom and Arya. I didn't want to have to worry about eating something I shouldn't, and I wanted to avoid them grilling me. I'm starting hands-on driving lessons in March, and I'm hoping I can get my license in the summer.

I'm sitting in my room crying and thinking about how sad I feel like my life is when I hear a knock at the door. "Sansa?" Jon says from the other side. "Dany wants to say hi to you."

"Yeah," I say, wiping my eyes and trying to sound normal. "She can come in."

After a second Dany walks in. "Hey," she says to me. She stops when she realizes I've been crying. "Are you okay?" She asks me.

"I'll be fine," I respond. She sits next to me on my bed and puts her arm around me. "I've just been thinking about some stuff."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"It might help, just to get it off my chest."

"Go ahead," she says. "Say whatever you need to."

"Tonight's the one year anniversary of when I lost my virginity," I say quietly. "It was a really bad experience."

"I'm sorry," she says. "Was it with Ramsay?"

"Yeah," I respond. "He pressured me, and I felt like I had to do it to stay with him."

"If it helps, I wish I had joined Jon in beating him up." I chuckle at that.

"Don't tell anyone," I say. "But that was also the first night that I purged. I ate chocolate cake when I got home and threw it up."

"Do you still do that?"

"No, I never did it again after that." I know I'm lying, but that's easier than telling her the truth.

"Good," she says. "You can text me anytime you need anything."

I nod and she gives me a hug. She walks out of my room, and I'm realizing how glad I am to have her. She's perfect for Jon, and she's a great role model to me and Arya.

Gendry Baratheon POV

Margaery and I are having a nice night at her place tonight, just the two of us. Her brother is with my brother, and her grandmother is out of town.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Margaery asks me while she's in her kitchen. "I have wine."

"Are you sure your grandmother wants you drinking that?" I ask her.

"She wouldn't even notice."

"No thanks," I say. "I have to drive home."

"I would invite you to stay over," she says to me as she walks out of the kitchen and sits on the couch next to me. "But Loras is coming back tonight, it would be weird for him if you were here when he got home."

"I get that," I say. "But I wish I could stay over, too." Margaery smiles at me.

"Marg?" I ask after a pause. She looks at me. "There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"I'm not giving up tech. I understand why you would want me to, but it's one of the only things about school I really enjoy. You don't have to worry about me cheating on you, that'll never happen."

"Okay," she says after thinking a bit. "I still wish you would stop, but I'm glad you can be honest with me."

"Thank you," I say. Wow, that went better than expected. "You're the best."

"I really like you," she says to me. "I trust you, I just don't trust Lady Mel."

"That's fair, I honestly don't either anymore."

There's a long pause. "Can I ask you something?" I ask Margaery.

"Of course," she says. "What is it?"

"What made you want to go out with me? I'm not popular, so I never thought you'd go after me in a million years."

"You're really cool. Ever since we've started talking during math, I've realized I've been really shallow to discount people because they aren't popular. And I figured I could get to know you better now that Jon's dating Dany, and you hang out with him."

"I'm still surprised you want to be seen with me. I'm always walking around dirty and gross from tech stuff."

"Well, you're also just really sexy," she says. "Your muscles always did something for me."

I smile at her and we start kissing. I guess Margaery was never as shallow as I thought. She's queen of Winterfell High now that Danaerys graduated, and I have gotten more attention since I started dating her. People seem more eager to talk to me, and more girls have been flirting with me. At least, I think they're flirting. I hope that never makes Margaery jealous, I don't want to pursue any other girls. I like her a lot, and high school has been a lot easier to navigate since I started dating her.

A/N: Let me know what you've thought of the last few chapters, updates might be slightly less frequent coming up since I'm working on a new story.