February 14, 1985

Much to Olivia's chagrin, Valentine's Day was changing. She was eleven-years-old, in the fifth grade, and there were no more class parties with cookies and punch and no more Valentine's Day art projects. There were no more hearts made out of construction paper and decorated with glitter and no more girls in Mary Jane shoes and pigtails with pink hair ribbons. Instead, there was the annual fifth and sixth grade Valentine's dance, which was held in the multi-purpose room.

The dance was all her classmates could talk about and, as soon as February approached, the boys had started asking their girl of choice to be their date. Out of their little trio, Abbie was the only one who had been asked. She had wanted to go because she had been asked by Trent, but she refused to go unless her two best friends were also attending. Olivia had wanted to ask Alex to be her date and she tried on many occasions, but every time she tried she either lost her nerve or felt as if the moment wasn't right. Her palms would get sweaty, her voice would shake, or she would forget her words and when she was finally able to keep her cool someone or something would always spoil the moment for her.

Instead, Olivia did what she thought was the next best thing: she asked Alex to go to the movies with her. Once Abbie found out about her plan, she immediately called Trent and said she accepted his invitation to the dance. She still wasn't too thrilled about going without them, but she was glad that Olivia had made some kind of attempt at asking Alex out. Olivia had gone to the movies countless times with Alex, so she knew it wouldn't be as nerve-wrecking as going to the dance with her. This isn't a date, she told herself. Alex and I are just going to the movies like we always do.

When Olivia was dropped off at the movie theater, she saw that Alex was already waiting for her. Any confidence that she had was gone once she saw Alex. Instead of wearing the clothes she had worn to school that day, Alex had changed into jeans and a baby blue sweater that was hanging off one of her shoulders. Her hair was teased—or at least she had attempted to tease it—and she was wearing a new lip gloss. Olivia wondered what that lip gloss tasted like and she hoped she would find out by the end of the night.

"Hi," Olivia said nervously when she approached Alex.

"Hi," Alex said awkwardly once she realized Olivia was still wearing the same pair of jeans and softball sweatshirt that she had worn to school. "I'm sorry if I overdressed."

"No, you look…beautiful," Olivia responded, still unable to take her eyes off of Alex.

"I do?" Alex asked and Olivia could sense the slightest bit of surprise in Alex's voice..

"Yeah," she reassured her. "You look like a sophisticated woman of at least 13—like a seventh grader…not a fifth grader. I look like a five-year-old."

"Not even," Alex insisted. "I like the way you look in your softball sweatshirt."

"Thanks," Olivia said nervously and averted her eyes. "Wh—What do you want to see?"

"How about Ghoulies?" Alex asked excitedly. "Andy said it's cool and there's this actress in there—her name is Mariska Hargitay. She is so sexy."

"What?" Olivia asked in shock. "We are not seeing that. You're going to be drooling over her and I'm going to be jealous."

"But she looks like you, Olivia," Alex pointed out. "So much like you that it's actually kind of eerie."

"Still, she's—what—a college girl?" Olivia asked. "I'm a fifth grader. I can't compete with her for your heart. I'd never win."

"Okay," Alex sighed. "What do you want to see?"

"Blood Cult!" Olivia said excitedly. "It's about a serial killer who—"

"No," Alex insisted. "No serial killers. Those movies are too scary."

"That's the point, Alex. It's fun to be scared. Plus, I heard this movie was banned in two states!"

"Oh, fun," Alex said sarcastically.

"How about if I hold you the whole time?" Olivia asked nervously. She had no idea where that boldness came from and it started to scare the hell out of her.

"Okay," Alex responded. "But only if you hold me."

The movie had more violence than Alex had hoped for, but she thought it was cute how Olivia's eyes were nearly glued to the screen. Not once did she flinch even though some of the older, high school girls were afraid. During one particularly bloody scene, Olivia noticed Alex cover her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"No," Alex whispered. "This is so scary."

"Don't worry," Olivia responded. "I'll tell you when the scary part is over."

She had no idea what had come over her, but somehow she was brave enough to wrap her arms around Alex who, in turn, buried her face in Olivia's shoulder. Her heart started racing when Alex placed her hand on the back of Olivia's neck and started to gently play with her hair.

"I had a really good time," Alex said once they were waiting for their moms to pick them up.

"Me, too," Olivia told her.

"I just don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."

"Next time, we'll see whatever you want to see," Olivia promised. "Even if it's a girly movie."

"Olivia?"

"Yeah?"

Alex looked around nervously before quickly and awkwardly giving Olivia a kiss on the cheek. Her cheek now had a sticky lip gloss print on it, but Olivia didn't care. In fact, she considered that kiss to be the highlight of her entire eleven-year existence. It was the kind of thing she had only seen in movies and, if this is what dating was going to be like, Olivia couldn't wait to be a seventh grader so she could go on dates with Alex all the time.