Sodapop swore it was earlier than it was.

He said that he'd go to bed at ten, but ten pm had passed long ago, and now it was around midnight. Or maybe it was past midnight at this point. Didn't matter.

Soda had been working on this card since dinnertime, yet it still wasn't entirely legible, and he was slowly growing irritated because of it. And now his time was even more limited than it already was. He had work only a few hours from now, and he needed to get to his valentine's house before school began that day, unless he wanted to wait forever for her to finish school. Soda hated waiting, and he probably wouldn't be able to leave work early just to give his valentine a gift.

"This ain't readable…" Soda complained with a groan as he flipped his pencil onto the eraser side yet again. He couldn't tell if it was just his struggle to read or his messy handwriting that was the problem, but it didn't matter. He had to restart.

Soda's hand ached as he erased the sloppily-scrawled words he'd written in the card for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. He was exhausted, but what he'd written needed to be perfect, he couldn't hand his valentine an incoherent card, nor could he hand her one with messy handwriting. Once the words were all gone, or as close to gone as he could get them to be, Soda swiped away the eraser scraps and flipped his pencil around so that the lead was now touching the card. He began to rewrite his message on it, going much slower than he did the other times, hoping that this time it'd be neat.

A tiny drawing of two cherries, along with small, red hearts, covered the once blank, white interior of the card. Tiny lines and dots of red and green from the markers he'd used were all over his fingers. He didn't really like the drawings, but he hoped that the girl that it was for would.

Footsteps suddenly approached the dining room, but Soda was so focused on the card that he didn't notice. "Soda?" Darry asked, walking up behind the chair Soda sat in. "What're you doin' up so late?"

Soda turned around, only now acknowledging that his older brother was in the room, and answered: "Makin' a Valentine's card." He turned back to his card, beginning to rewrite his message.

"Well, hurry up, you got work in the mornin'," Darry replied, clearly too exhausted to ask him any more questions.

Soda didn't reply, he just kept writing as his brother walked over to the kitchen. After four grueling minutes of slowly engraving the pencil lead into his paper, he finally did it. He finally wrote in a way that looked readable. Not perfect, but it was as good as he could muster up the energy to make it. As long as his valentine liked it, he was alright with how it looked.

He quickly put some finishing touches on the card, folding it up and sloppily tying a baby pink colored ribbon around it (he decided that he'd fix it later), and quickly hurried off to his room, excited to see how his valentine would react to the card.


The DX was busy today, a constant stream of people flooding into the store portion of the gas station to buy last-minute gifts for their partners, yet Soda still felt like his time at work was passing by too slowly, and he was bored. Maybe it was just his excitement that was making time pass by so slow. Soda didn't know.

Finally, however, work ended for the day, and it was off to the Soc side of town for Soda, the address he had memorized constantly repeating in his head as he tightly held the card he'd made in his pocket. He sprinted as fast as he could along the roads and sidewalks before realizing something. All he had to give was a card. In his eyes, that wasn't good enough of a gift.

He suddenly stopped in front of a convenience store, panting as he tried to catch his breath (which was difficult from how the cold air was burning his lungs), and staggered inside. A small bell loudly jingled as the door opened and shut behind him.

Soda walked all throughout the store, looking at all the untouched gifts. He quickly decided on a small, heart-shaped box of chocolates and a bunch of pink and red roses, and made his way to the register. He wanted to get to his valentine's house as fast as possible, mostly because he was excited and nervous to see her reaction, and also because he felt far from safe on the Soc side of Tulsa. It seemed like almost every Soc was out to get him, although he couldn't quite tell if he was just overthinking it. Regardless, he wanted to get out of this store.

Soda gently placed the bouquet and heart-shaped box down onto the counter, which somehow startled the cashier behind it. She hastily placed her magazine down onto her lap and scanned both items.

"Will that be all?" she asked, the light flashing off her small name tag. It said Marilyn, a name Soda sort of recognized. He also sort of recognized her face, but he didn't ponder it further.

"Yeah," Soda responded, pulling his wallet out of one of his pockets.

"Alright. That'll be twelve bucks," the cashier replied, holding out her hand.

Soda opened up his wallet and quickly retrieved one ten dollar bill, along with two one dollar bills. He handed them to the girl and she quickly opened up the register, pressed a few buttons, and placed the dollar bills in their respective spots. "Thank you for your purchase."

Soda just smiled, put his wallet away, and collected all his things. He quickly left the store and began to sprint down the street, where more of the residential areas started, clutching the gifts close to his chest—while trying not to crush them—as he did so. Cold air rattled and burned through his lungs with each step, but he couldn't be bothered to care about it (even though it would come back to bite him in the ass later).

He ran for a good five minutes, until he finally reached that familiar, white-painted house with reddish-brown roof shingles adorning the top of it. He ecstatically stumbled over to the door, panting as he tried to catch his breath, the adrenaline of running beginning to wear off—although that didn't dim his excitement. Soda raised his right fist, awkwardly holding the chocolates and bouquet in his other hand, and knocked on the door. He stepped away from the door a bit, hearing a very faint voice shout, "Comin'!", from the other side.

His heart was racing as Cherry opened the door, his face becoming a bit pink tinted as he saw her pretty face pop into view.

"Hi, Soda," Cherry greeted, not seeing the gifts initially.

"Hey, Cherry," Soda greeted back as he walked a bit closer to the door, holding the flowers and chocolates close to her. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Cherry was slightly stunned once she noticed the gifts, but her face flushed a bit and she smiled. "Thank you, Soda," she replied as she took the chocolate and flowers.

"You're welcome," Soda responded as his left hand stumbled around in his pocket, hastily retrieving the card he'd made for her and handing it to her. She awkwardly grabbed it with her right hand's middle and index finger, taking it slowly so as to not drop the bouquet she was holding close to her chest and forearm.

Cherry flashed another smile at him before disappearing behind the wall next to the door momentarily, placing the gifts on a small table nearby before reappearing in the doorway. "C'mere, Soda, I have somethin' for you, too."

Soda walked closer to her, standing in front of the doorway now. "What is it?"

Cherry gently cupped his face with one hand, tilting his chin up with the other, and placed a small kiss onto his lips, keeping them connected for a moment before pulling away a bit.

"That," she told him. She pressed a small kiss onto his left cheek prior to pulling away fully, removing her hands from his cheek and chin.

Soda was dumbfounded for a moment. He'd been kissed by tons of girls before, but something about Cherry's kisses felt different in a way he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was some sort of magic, or maybe it was just because he hadn't kissed anybody since shortly before he and Sandy had broken up months ago. Regardless, it still felt really nice.

"Thanks," was all he could muster up once he found his words again.

Cherry just nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, before Cherry asked, "D'ya wanna come inside?"

"Sure," Soda replied, walking in once Cherry had made room for him in the doorway.