Back to Us

Eleven

It's the fourteenth of February and exactly one month since I've seen Lucas. Exactly one month of non-stop text messages and phone calls. I'm missing him every second in between.

I hate Valentine's Day. Even though I had my first kiss with Lucas on a Valentine's Day. Everything that happened afterwards has made me dread it each year.

This year is no different. As I watch my roommate dress up for her date tonight, I try to not let it get to me, focusing on being excited for her instead.

"Do you know where he's taking you?" I ask Julia.

"No idea. Which makes it harder to decide what to wear. Do you think it's too much?" she asks, looking at her dress in the mirror once again.

"You look great, Jules. Don't worry."

"What if he ends up taking me to a whatever place? I don't want him to think I'm into him by overdoing it."

I sigh at her train of thought. The perils of dating. Luckily, I haven't had to experience this type of thing with Lucas. I guess since we know each other well, we've bypassed the other stages.

"Don't worry, Julia. If he asked you out today of all days, it means he's into you."

"Yeah, but we live in the same dorm. If it goes badly, I'm going to have to live with running into him all the time."

"Or you could have awesome slumber parties," I respond. "Hopefully in his room," I add as an afterthought.

She smiles excitedly for the first time. My phone rings in my pocket, and I see that it's an unknown number. I don't answer since I've learned it's usually a waste of time to deal with random callers. If it's important enough, they can leave a voicemail.

Surprisingly they do, and I find out it's the front desk saying that I received a package.

Hmm. Interesting.

I leave Julia to finish getting ready and head downstairs before curiosity gets the best of me. I break out into a grin when the guy at front desk hands me a vase with a beautiful bouquet of red roses. I make my way back to my room with the roses, and can't contain my smile as I place them on my desk. I open the small card attached to them and read the message from Lucas.

Roses are red—and you're beautiful.

Damn, he's sweet. I immediately call him to thank him, but when he doesn't pick up, I realize he's still in class since he's three hours behind me. So I send him a picture of the roses with as many heart emojis as I can type instead.

"Aw! Lucas sent you roses?" Julia says as she peers into my room.

I nod, and she rambles about how it's so cute and she can't wait to finally see us together. She's heard a lot about him over the years, especially whenever we've gone out together and had too much to drink. I would feel bad if it weren't for the fact that she's shared more of her guy troubles with me. I've kind of assumed the role of her unofficial love coach.

There's a knock on the front door, and Julia claps her hands together excitedly. "Oh my gosh, David's here! Wish me luck!"

"Good luck, Jules." I chuckle as she skips out of my room. Sometimes I wish I were bubbly like her.

I settle down in bed, deciding to get a head start on a reading assignment for class. I don't have anything better to do on this commercialized holiday.

As I pick up my textbook, I hear Julia gasp from outside. I lift my head to see Lucas standing in the doorway.

I yell out his name and run towards him, and before I know it, he's picking me up in a bear hug as I wrap my arms around him. He laughs as he carries me towards my room, and for a split second, I see Julia giving me a thumbs-up before he kicks the door shut behind him.