County Falls

Chapter 29: The Greeting Card Holiday

The remaining weeks went by in a haze. I went through school and work on auto pilot. I went to class engaged in casual conversation, continued to keep my books in my locker and spend the majority of time in the dark room. I still avoided Jason like the plague, not even giving him a chance to approach me and talk. After my conversation with Lauren, I decided to bury my feelings as deep as possible until all I felt was numb. My plan was going well until the day every single person dreads: Valentine's Day. I completely forgot that it was February 14th until my mother received a dozen long-stemmed red roses from Rick. She danced around happily, smelling the flowers, and then put them on display in the kitchen. I was happy for her but I couldn't help but feel at least a little bitter. School was no better. I arrived to see the campus decorated in red and pink. It was like cupid threw up all over the place. Happy couples exchanged gifts in the form of candy, flowers, and stuffed animals, then of course came the horrific public displays of affection. Normally none of this bothered me but considering my circumstances, I became the Ebenezer Scrooge of V-day.

Aidan came up to me and handed me a giant hershey kiss. I gave him a sweet smile which he returned and leaned in for a hug.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine." I told him. "Thank you for my kiss." It seemed like I was always thanking him for his kisses, chocolate or not.

"Any time."

I ate the whole damn chocolate before lunch ended hoping it would make me feel better. It didn't. On my way to photography I spotted Taylor outside her car putting a bouquet of flowers away. The familiar pang started creeping up again but I managed to conceal it. Seeing her with the flowers brought up a memory that I was afraid to remember.

It was freshman year when Jase and I were hanging out in my backyard. He was playing basketball by himself while I sat on the side bundled in a blanket, heckling him mercilessly. When he made a basket I would boo and when he missed I would cheer and applaud.

"Your taunts only motivate me, Evans." He shot another basket.

"Maybe that's my plan Summers. I'm helping your game with a little bit of sports reverse psychology."

"There's no such thing."

"Not yet." I said. "I'm an anti cheerleader."

Jason laughed and sunk another in. When he as done he sat next to me on the blanket and grabbed a water. I shifted some of my covering on to him.

"Are you going to tell me whats wrong?" he asked out of the blue.

"What makes you think something is wrong?" I answered his question with mine. He just gave me a look that told me he knew something was up. "I was just thinking about yesterday at school when everyone was handing out their Valentines."

"I didn't think you were such a sap for love." He teased.

"I'm not. It just made me think of when I was younger and my dad would buy me a single flower with one of those cheesy cards attached." The memory was one of the few happy ones that I had of him but it only made me sad to think about it now.

"Did the card say something like "I chews U" with some sort of candy attached?"

"Yeah or "I dino how to live without you" with a picture of a dinosaur." We started laughing together and spent the rest of the night making up our own Valentine's Day sayings.

When I went back to school on monday I found a single daisy with a card attached that read "I'd pick you any day" and then the year after that I found a tulip with another card attached. Just like that, Jase replaced a sad memory with a sweet one.