First Light

45 valentine's day

Monday 14th of February 2022

Marlo:

I meet Faye on the wall outside the accommodation like normal. I make sure I arrive there earlier than her so she doesn't have to wait for me by herself.

She's in flared trousers and a pastel-green jumper that brings out her eyes, a thick scarf wrapped around her with one end thrown over her coat.

Her smile is infectious. She looks like how Clair de Lune sounds.

When she reaches me, I don't stand up like I normally do, because I want to hug her with my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. She throws her arms over my shoulders and squeezes, and I hug her back, drinking in the feel of her, the warmth of her cheek against mine. As her arms begin to relax and she steps back, I want to hang on to her.

"I missed you." I say.

This makes her smile. I love making her smile.

"I missed you, too. You only saw me a couple days ago, though." She laughs a little.

I smile. "Yeah, I know," I take a second to retrieve the red roses from my bag. I've kept one in my room so I know when to get her new flowers. I hand them to her alongside a present. "For you."

She does the same little gasp that she did at seeing the alstroemerias and the irises, putting them up to her face so she can smell them better. "Oh, thank you, Marlo, they're beautiful."

She takes a second to unwrap the present - badly wrapped, may I add - and smiles wider at the tabby cat brooch. It's eyes are glittery green rhinestones.

"I tried to find one that looks the most like Willow." I explain as she pins it to her jumper.

"It looks exactly like her, I love it." She hugs me again.

I kiss her forehead as a response, and then take her hand to start walking. Her gloved hand is warm against my bare one. The gloves are cream-coloured to match the scarf.

"Your present is back in my room, I didn't want it to be crushed or anything." She says.

I only just realise that maybe I should've kept the roses in my room to give to her later. I voice this to her, and she laughs.

"It's fine, I can put them in my bag for you when we get to the ice rink." I tell her.

The ice rink is an inside one, with coloured lights that make parts of the ice look pink and red. I put my bag and our shoes in a locker and help Faye stand up once she's done fastening the ice skates.

"You okay?" I ask her as she wobbles slightly upon straightening.

She nods twice, and I hold her hand all the way up until we reach the ice, stepping out first and turning back for her once I've steadied myself. She places both her hands on top of both of mine and then hesitates. Her nails are painted pastel-green to match the jumper.

"Don't let go, Marlo." Her voice has an ounce of nervousness to it at the amount of good skaters here.

"I won't. Promise."

She gets the hang of it the longer we're on the ice, her hand locked tightly with mine for balance.

I have to admit that despite going ice skating more frequently and recently than her, she's actually better than me. She seems to find this incredibly hilarious.

"You skateboard."

"So?" I ask, using her to steady myself yet again.

"So, shouldn't you have some sense of balance?" Her smile is on the verge of laughter again.