Valentine

It's Valentine's day.

This isn't an important detail, besides the fact that you have been single for each one you've been alive for, twenty-two consecutive years. No flowers, no chocolates, not even a secret admirer admitting their undying love to you. You may have high expectations, but for now, the day is nothing but disappointment.

Well, as much as a disappointment going to one of your friends' college parties could be, considering its theme was a singles mixer, called the Stupid Cupid Committee. You were invited into the fraternity house with a few, more like six, cherry-flavored Jell-o shots and rewritten conversation hearts that tasted like chalk.

Your dear friends just wanted you to find a year-round Valentine already since you were always stuck in your academics. Day in and day out, you constantly were studying to become a nurse. It seemed that before your actual career was to even begin, you won't get a break. So, coming to a singles mixer hosted by the college's largest fraternity, with the reputation of trying to tap anything that lives and breaths, was the last thing you wanted to do.

You had a sarcastic enthusiasm about being stuck in a crowded house filled with people you wanted to be around the least. But it all changed when you found your old friend Suguru Geto, in a white button-down and a black tie wrapped around his neck, in the group of lonesome singles.

He looked just as he did when you were classmates, with his piercing eyes scanning the crowd for anyone he might know, and a look of disinterest when he was unfamiliar with anyone. Chiseled jaw and thick black gauges, with his long hair pulled into a haphazard bun, making it look almost like he didn't even try to look this good.

A pleasant surprise it was, after not seeing each other for the past three years due to your busy schedules, as he was studying to be a doctor himself. Happily, you both agreed to ditch the pity party and do something that was more worthwhile than sitting around at a childish event hosted by your mutual friends.

You and Suguru go back further than just three years though. All the way back to your high school days, as first years, starting out as competitive academic rivals. Both of you matched one another's hundred percent, A+'s, and first-place medals in everything you picked up. It's funny how much you used to hate him for being just as good as you, if not better.

He was the golden star boy of the school, the complete opposite of your dimwit, non-academically inclined mutual friend, Satoru Gojo. But when you had walked in on both of them inside the boys' shower room on a fall morning, hotboxing inside the enclosed glass box, you were sure to become the best of friends with the duo and soon joined them in their endeavors. You, yourself, were the epitome of an academic genius.

However, you were destined to be the polar opposite from the beginning, just like Suguru when he showed his true colors.

The thick blunt Suguru had pre-packed and rolled for this very occasion, with his very good luck and intuition, danced between his long index and middle fingers. It hovered just between his lips as he took in the fresh smoke with a large inhale, and then blew it up out of the cracked sunroof. The only light that was visible was the red accents of his car dashboard, accentuating all of the sharp features of his face. You sat with your elbow on the middle console and your chin in the palm of your hands as you patiently watched him take one more puff.

"Where's Saturo? Seems like something he would love to be at." You reached for the blunt as he passed it on to you.

You took your third hit for the night, as Suguru was such a gentleman and let you take the first round. You blew the smoke out of the sunroof and watched the clouds dance into the night air.

"It is," He chuckled, his voice was rich. The R&B playing in the background was drowned out by his voice alone, "In fact, he's the one who told me to go with him, but bailed last minute for some chick he met in his intro chemistry class."