February 14th, 2017

Kinsky, California, USA

Valentine’s Day

To open Valentine’s, Kat and Lukas went to brunch. It was at the same place the girls often came to for gossip, and was a personal favorite of Kat. That morning, attendance was surprisingly sparse – the couple got a circular booth, and sat next to each other.

“I’m glad we got these next few days off of school,” Kat commented as she picked up the menu. “I know it’s unrelated, but the fact Valentine’s got included is a nice touch, huh?”

Lukas shrugged. “You know me. I don’t need a reason, I’ll take any break I can get.”

Kat smiled, but her eyes turned towards Lukas’ hand. It was unbandaged now.

“How have you been feeling?”

Lukas picked the hand up, feeling with his other fingers the knuckles of his recovering hand. “I think it’s pretty much back to normal at this point, which is good. I still, uh… I still miss him, though. A lot.”

The smile disappeared from Kat’s face. She nodded. “I miss him, too. Really.”

Lukas looked up towards the window. There was a solemn grin on his face. “Remember back when the three of us were a bunch of single losers, and every Valentine’s we would get together and go on those ‘dates’ to the pier and everything?”

“And Cole would spend most of the time trying to convince everyone we met that you and I were in a relationship. Guess I should’ve gotten the memo all the way back then, huh?”

Lukas cringed a little, shaking his head. “Oh, don’t remind me of that stuff. That’s just embarrassing.”

Kat usually enjoyed remembering the past, but now with Cole’s absence – and his supposed secret – it was much more painful than fun. The waitress came over for their drink orders, and during the filler Kat wondered how she could lighten the mood. There was one thing that came to her head immediately.

After the waitress left, Kat put her arms behind her and leaned back. “You know, there is something I’ve been meaning to bring up to you.”

Lukas took a small sip of the water the waitress had dropped by. “Hmm?”

Kat looked up to the cafe’s ceiling. “It’s been awhile since the two of us have had sex. Like, real sex, ya know?”

Lukas almost spit out his drink. Frantically he looked at the cafe around him, then leaned in to speak quietly to his girlfriend.

“Are you sure this is the best place to be talking about this?”

A smug expression appeared on Kat’s face. “I mean, it is Valentine’s after all,” she continued. “I just feel like we don’t do it as much anymore, and when we do it’s lacking passion. I just can’t help but remember the first time… the way you took control, pushed me onto the bed, pinned me to the-”

“There is an elderly couple sitting on the other side of us, I hope you know that!” Lukas interrupted in a frantic half whisper.

Kat looked at him. “But why can’t we do that again?”

“I-I don’t know! It was, like, a heat of the moment thing. I can’t just come up with that sort of stuff on the regular. I-I-I need to get p-pressured into doing it, I guess.”

That last line left Kat curious. “Oh, is that so?” she commented, a slight purr at the end of her voice. She turned over to the waitress to see that she was still taking orders from some table far off from the two of them. She leaned her left arm to hold her head as she observed the restaurant, as her right arm went down under the table.

“What are you doing?!” Lukas let out in a panic, still trying his best to remain quiet.

“Shhh. Just act natural.”

Lukas tried to do what he was asked, but very quickly he realized he couldn’t handle it. He tightly held his glass of water, his eyes surveying the restaurant, and with every person who came and went his heart grew into palpitations. But eventually he couldn’t even focus on that. His cheeks grew redder by the second, and he closed his eyes. A buildup of stress, of tension, grew in his brain and body – and, at its peak, he let it all out. A deep sigh blew out of his mouth, and his muscles finally relaxed.

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kat asked, grabbing a napkin from the table and wiping her hands. 

Lukas’ eyes looked up at her. He did his best to look unamused, but a small, unintentional smile filled his lips.

“I can’t believe you did that.”

Kat winked. “I guess you’ll just have to punish me for it later.”

At that point the waitress finally came back to their table, dropping off two coffees. The couple ordered their breakfast as if nothing had ever happened. 

…

Despite it being a bright sunny day by the time noon rolled around, the blinds at the Kawakami house were all closed. Perhaps it was because all members of the house were out, save for the sole daughter, whose bedroom faced the front yard and she was currently preoccupied with making love with her boyfriend.

“Ah, ah, ah, ahhhhhh…. shit!”  Rose let out, her moans leading into frustration as she heard a phone ring in the other room. “That’s definitely my mom. I thought she would call later. Just… gimme a sec, okay?” 

“Sure, no biggie,” Aaron responded, as he let go of her hips.

Rose carefully uninserted herself from atop of the young man, dismounting and – with careful steps – rushing out of the bedroom. Trying his best to stay hard for when she came back, Aaron looked around the room as he stroked himself. When his eyes came upon the nightstand next to him, however, he noticed something that he had before failed to see.

A photo of Rose’s grandparents. Two people who were now long deceased.

Aaron stared at the photo. Then looked down at himself. Then went back to the photo. With careful hands, he took the photo by its frame and placed it face down. A little sigh of relief left his lips and he continued on with his business.

When Rose came back, she began climbing back on top of him when she stopped and noticed what was off.

“Why’d you take down the photo of my grandma and grandpa?”

“I mean… I don’t know. I don’t want their spirits manifesting in here, or something like that.”

Rose tilted her head, slightly flabbergasted. “Huh?”

“Listen! I’m just saying-” Aaron began to frantically wave his hands around in order to explain his point. “I mean, you ever hear about how spirits can take possession of objects after they’re dead? What if they’re watching us?”

Rose’s face turned unamused. “Just shut up and put it inside me, okay?”

“Fine. As long as the picture doesn’t go back up.”

Rose got back on and the two continued their work, the spirits at hand now none the wiser.

…

Maurice and Rodrigo had a rare moment alone on Valentine’s afternoon. Together at the Bryant household, they were both currently in Maurice’s bed – still naked from their activities a little earlier – and were talking about life.

“So… your mom getting better?” Maurice asked, his arm around Rodrigo.

Rodrigo shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s getting to the point where even the money from the state isn’t enough to pay for the treatment. She’s hanging in there, but… well, I don’t like to think about what’s gonna happen.”

Maurice caressed the boy’s shoulder protectively. “I get you. I’d even hate it if my mom was going through that. Sorry for asking… just wanted to know if there was any good news, is all.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’m glad I get to talk about it with somebody.”

“You can talk about that with the others too, you know.”

“I know… but I just feel more comfortable talking about it with you.”

The two faced each other, and smiled. Both young men leaned forward, and gave each other a brief kiss.

The otherwise sweet moment was suddenly cut brief by the sudden and horrifying sound of the front door opening. It made Maurice’s hair stand on end.

“Shit!” He let out in a terse, quiet voice.

“That your mom?” Rodrigo asked.

“No, worse – it’s Em! Quick, hide!”

Rodrigo, who honestly thought the situation was much more amusing than Maurice did, quickly sprung out of the sheets and looked around the bedroom. He spotted the small closet on the other end and – picking up his underwear along the way – rushed inside. Meanwhile, Maurice covered himself in the sheets, trying to look as normal as possible.

When Emily finally knocked on his door, Maurice did his best to act casual. “Come in.”

“Hey, where did-” Emily suddenly stopped her train of thought when she opened the door far enough to see her brother. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Just, uh…. relaxing. Taking a nap.”

“With no shirt on?”

“Well, it uh… it just got a little hot, inside the house, so I’m just cooling off is all.”

Emily thought about it for a moment. “Oh! We left the fan in your closet, I think-” Emily began to approach the closet when Maurice suddenly – and frantically – raised his hand to stop her.

“No! No. It’s okay. I-I’m fine as it is, really!”

Emily stopped, but looked at him incredulously. “Uh… alright, then.”

“Hey, so… what’d you need, anyway?”

“I just wanted to know where you moved the stash. I’m gonna hang out with Ash tonight and was gonna bring some.”

Maurice let out a small sigh of relief. “Oh… it’s in the little storage bin near the fireplace. The one on the right side of the wall.”

“Alright, thanks.” As Emily closed the door, she let out one last comment. “Hope I didn’t interrupt your ‘relaxing’ too much.”

After Emily left, Maurice waited in the room in silence. It wasn’t until he heard the front door open again that he finally loosened up and fell back in his bed.

From the closet, Rodrigo swung the door back open, now wearing a white suit jacket he found hanging inside. “Dr. Huerta, at your service.”

Maurice let out a little chuckle, as Rodrigo climbed back onto the bed. “So, what’s this about a stash?” Rodrigo continued. “You two aren’t doing any heroin, I hope.”

Maurice shook his head. “Nah, nothing like that. You know our mom… it’s something a lot simpler.”

…

As Emily drove through the suburbs, she carefully made sure not to disturb the bottle of vodka she had snugly hidden under the passenger seat. Fortunately she succeeded, partially thanks to her destination being very close. She got out of the car, keeping the drink wrapped neatly in a towel, and walked up to the house she was supposed to arrive at.

Ash opened the door almost as soon as Emily rang the doorbell. The blue-haired girl pointed to the towel. “Is that it?”

“Mmhmm,” Emily let out as Ash let her in. “Sorry it took me so long. First I had forgotten about it, and then it wasn’t in its usual place. Oh, speaking of which – I need to tell you a funny story about Maurice. Should I just put it here?”

Ash waved her off. “Nah, let’s just bring it into the bedroom.”

The two walked down a small hallway until they hit the Ash’s artistically messy living space. Ash rolled up a chair while Emily took the drink out of the towel and placed it on a small end table by the bed. 

“Okay, so, I needed to know the new location of our stash, right? But Maurice is always in charge of hiding it from mom, since he does all the work around the house – knows the nooks and crannies, that sort of stuff. So I head back to the house real quick to ask Maurice and pick it up, and I find him in his room… naked. I mean, he’s in the bed with the covers over him, but I can see his chest as plain as day. Trust me, not the sorta thing you want to see with your sibling.”

Ash looked engaged, smiling as she poured two small cups of the vodka. “Have you ever caught him… you know… doing it before?”

“No, never. But I bet that’s what he was doing! If only I was a little more quiet, I could’ve ambushed him. Oh, that reminds me! His lame-ass excuse was that he was ‘too hot’, so I went to get him the fan from his closet – and freaked out! Started yelling, ‘No, I’m good! I’m good!’”

The two girls started giggling with each other, taking the first sips of their drinks. 

“That’s where he keeps his porn stash,” Ash muttered. Emily almost spit out her alcohol.

“Whatever he keeps in there, I’m gonna find out. Only a matter of time.”

Emily winked at the girl, and the two raised their plastic cups in a toast.

…

As the afternoon gave away to the evening, Ash and Emily sat next to each other on the bed, both having taken in a little too much drinking.

“So yeah… that’s what I’m thinking,” Ash said, her somber tone giving away a change in atmosphere to the room. “I mean, state school isn’t so bad. Especially if I do something other than design, like business or something like that.”

“Yeah… I get it,” Emily acquiesced, “Though I don’t think you should give up on art just because something else pays better. That will always be part of you, and you should always nurture it… regardless of whether you go to Alto or not.”

There was a pause in the conversation. Ash’s opening up made Emily introspective, too.

“I feel kinda similar, in a way,” she began. “I know I have an opportunity to go to a really good school, way out east… but I feel like I don’t deserve it. Maybe it’s just from the way my mom talks, but… I dunno… there’s so many things I feel like I haven’t learned yet. Real things, not the ones from books. Like what to do with my money, or how to rent an apartment, or how to get health insurance. I mean, it’s embarrassing to admit, but…  I’ve never even kissed anyone, let alone been in a relationship. How do I do all that?”

Ash, who wanted to cheer up her friend – and was more than a little woozy – suddenly sat herself up straight. “Well, I don’t know too much about life either. But I can help with one of those.”

“Whaddya mean?” Emily asked, looking at Ash and realizing how close she had gotten. “You don’t have any investing tips, do you?”

“Nope, none at all. But when I was a sophomore at camp, I met a girl who showed me some things. Like how to properly kiss someone.”

Emily smiled. “Well aren’t you full of surprises.”

“It’ll just be practice. The two of us… in a safe space, ya know? Just remember it in case there’s a test.”

“Alright, I will,” Emily continued, enjoying herself. “Teach me your ways.”

“Okay, first thing – close your eyes. Yeah, just like that. Now, follow my lead…”

Emily felt something soft and damp hit her lips. There was a strange feeling, an exhilaration that the experience gave her. She felt herself being pushed back, but Ash took careful hold of her and made sure she stayed close. Emily responded in kind.

After only a few moments – but what felt like a real long time – Ash finally let go. “See, how was that?” she asked with a grin.

“I’m not gonna lie…” Emily quietly muttered out, “… I kinda liked it.”

The two looked at each other, smiles growing on their faces, until eventually they bursted out with laughter. 

…

Isaac surveyed around the room, trying to spot someone he knew well. The ‘Valentine’s Day Party with the boys’ idea turned out to be a dud, as most of the guys he did know brought their girlfriends, and the entire thing turned into more of a couple’s party. It’s true, perhaps he should’ve known better – but now he was here, alone, feeling more singled out than he was honestly used to. 

Yet as his eyes glanced towards the front door, past the flock of high schoolers chatting with one another, he noticed something incredibly odd.

“No shit…” Isaac murmured to himself as he took a sip from his red solo cup, trying to position himself so that he wouldn’t be spotted by Sadja Ayoub.

Sadja looked just about as pleased to be there as he was. Introduced into the house by a female companion – one who immediately went off with her boyfriend – she now sat uncomfortably at a couch in the living room. Isaac planned on staying in the kitchen until he could make a good getaway, but he realized how silly that would make him look. Sadja would spot him at some point, and certainly question to herself about the awkwardness of the boy’s actions. So to him it made more sense to quickly and amicably reveal himself, then continue on as normal.

And so, as Isaac was prone to do, he approached the person who wanted nothing to do with him, grabbing her attention with his approach.

“Uhh.. hi,” Isaac let out awkwardly, louder than usual due to the rumbling bass of the music.

Sadja looked at him, uninterested. “Hi.”

“Sorry, I just… I saw you over there and just wanted you to know I was here too, so…”

Isaac was meaning to leave it at this and quickly huddle back to his spot at the kitchen island, but to his surprise Sadja carried the conversation.

“Anyone else we’d know here?”

Isaac turned back toward her. “Oh, I uh… I don’t think so. Unless you know Chevy and uh, Lanni…”

“I came in with Lanni.”

“Oh… ohhh! That’s what she looks like. See, I heard she was coming from Russo. I knew she was in choir but I didn’t know what, you know… her appearance.”

While Sadja kept up the look of annoyance, an uncontrolled smile began to curl around her lips. “You should know her. Kat introduced you two at the fundraiser party.”

“Oh, wow. Really? Man, there were a lot of people there, I just…” Isaac turned his head to the speaker behind him, which was making it progressively harder to have a conversation. “Hey, you wanna… go out to the backyard? I, just because… I know it’s kind of just the two of us here, it’d be sort of lame otherwise.”

Despite Isaac’s weak, somewhat reluctant suggestion, Sadja surprised him again.

“Alright, sure,” Sadja said, getting up. “Let’s go.”

Sadja and Isaac both walked down a hallway and through a porch door to the yard, where they were the only ones present. They took seats at a wooden table nearby.

“Surprised you know the layout of this place,” Isaac said, commenting on her leading the way to the porch. “Have you been to parties here before? I don’t think I’ve seen you.”

“Yeah, from time to time.” Sadja looked off into the trees. She was wearing a denim jacket with a faux fur-lined top, but the weather was still clearly cold enough that she felt the need to warm her hands in between her leggings. A trickling of fog came from her breath as she spoke.

“What about you? You said you know Russo?”

Isaac took a sip from his cup. “Well… sorta. I know him through some football guys. Was really hoping someone else would show, like ya know… Maurice or Rus or something like that.”

Sadja nodded her head. “I don’t know why I came either. Like, you know… I read ‘Valentine’s Smash’ in the text, yet it never occurred to me that it’d be a couples party, for some stupid reason.”

“Yeah, exactly! Same here.” 

Isaac smiled, but caught himself in his excitement when Sadja reached down to warm her hands again and, for a split second, he saw the inside of her t-shirt. The situation – strengthened by the familiar setting of a backyard porch – made him flashback to that time with Cole and the photos in the previous semester. The reminder sent a pang of embarrassment through his chest, made no better by the fact he also remembered some inappropriate actions he had once made with the photo while he was alone in his room. 

“Well, I, uhh,” he stammered, trying to move on to another subject. “So… how have you been?”

Sadja shrugged. “I’ve been okay,” she responded, giving the non-answer. “What about you?”

“You know, just… struggling to stay alive in Hoffmeister’s class.”

“Oh, Hoffmeister? That dude’s a creep. Did you hear about what happened?”

“With him and Nicole? I was there, dude.”

Sadja, for the first time in the conversation, leaned forward in interest, clutching her own drink on the table. “Okay, you have to tell me what happened. I only heard parts of it from Sasha.”

Isaac grinned. He took one more sip from his cup, then leaned towards the table himself.

“So it was Thursday, right? And…”

…

Surprisingly, the two were able to keep the conversation going throughout the night – and many drinks later, they realized that most of the party had left. They went back inside the house, Sadja  getting ready to leave while Isaac helped take out the trash.

“Wait… what?” Sadja asked, within a range that Isaac could overhear. “What do you mean she’s already gone?”

“Yeah, she left with her guy like an hour ago. Said you had a dude who could take you home.”

“No I… no I don’t!”

Isaac, curious about the commotion, walked into the room next door. Sadja was talking to Russo.

“What’s up?” Isaac asked, his arms leaning against the frame of the door.

“My ride just… left me,” Sadja turned toward Isaac, clearly showcasing how tipsy she was. “Lanni left with her boytoy. What a bitch.”

Isaac chuckled to himself. During the middle of their hours long conversation Sadja had gone on a rant about the girl she went to the party with. He turned to look up at her.

“Hey, listen. My house is like, a block away. I just walked here. If you want, we can head back there and you can get yourself a ride. Or, if you need to, you can stay in our guest bedroom. It’s up to you.”

Sadja looked at him with skeptical eyes. She turned back towards Russo, who shrugged.

“Don’t rope me into this. I just wanna kick the rest of these guys out and try to get this place back in shape before my parents come back.”

“Alright, fine. Fine. Lemme just go grab my purse.”

The two walked out of the house and began to follow the sidewalk back to the Broderick residence. As Isaac cautiously watched Sadja’s rather drunken shamble, the girl suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, you aren’t planning to rape me, are you?”

The boy was immediately taken into a fluster. “Jesus Christ, Sadja! I’m not that kind of jock! Listen, the guest bedroom is real. Kat’s stayed in it a few times. Plus, my dad is home. I’ve got a sterling reputation when it comes to this sort of stuff.”

Sadja looked back at him, and burst out laughing. Isaac loosened up a little when he realized she was just teasing him.

“Good, good. Cause I’ll have you know, I’ve been taking karate classes. Check this out: hah! Whooah! Pah, bah!”

“Stop it, you’re gonna trip!”

“Hohohohoho, hiiii-YAH!”

“You’re gonna trip me!” 

Sadja got back on her feet, brushing herself off. “Sorry, sorry. Ugh, that didn’t feel so good.”

Isaac smiled. “We’ll get you some water when we get to the house. I could use some, too. Hey, look, we’re already almost there!”

Isaac pointed to a large house at the end of the street which the two made their way inside of. As Isaac opened the door, a curious Cael looked up from reading a book at the living room chair.

“Is this another one of your girls?”

Isaac’s cheeks turned red. “No! She’s just a friend. We went to the same party. Is it okay if she stays in the guest room for tonight?”

Cael shrugged, looking back at his book. “Not like anyone else is using it.”

Sadja, who seemed to not be paying attention to the exchange, instead looked around the house as if it were an odd artifact. Isaac led her over into the kitchen, where he got out two plastic water bottles from the fridge – he handed one to the girl.

The two went upstairs to where the bedrooms were. And while Isaac was making a beeline towards the room the farthest on the left – the guest room itself – midway through Sadja stopped and looked through an open, lit doorway.

“Wow, so that’s your room, huh?” she remarked, based on the fact it was covered in Kinsky Eagles paraphernalia and a mess of clothes. Isaac, realizing he forgot to turn off his light before he went to the party, walked over.

“Uhh… yeah, it is. So the guest room is just over-”

It was too late for Isaac, as the drunk Sadja walked inside his own bedroom and began surveying the surroundings. Isaac watched her cautiously, his hand on a vanity counter next to his bed. As he followed her gaze he realized that on the bed stand next to him were three condoms he hadn’t put away – in a terrified shock he opened a drawer and pushed them in before the girl could notice.

“You know what?” Sadja began as she rotated back around towards Isaac, satisfied with what she had seen. “I’ve realized something.”

“And what’s that?” Isaac replied, taking a sip from the water bottle. 

Sadja went and sat down at the edge of Isaac’s bed. “The bedroom of every boy looks almost exactly the same.”

“That true?” Isaac went and sat next to her, surveying the room for himself. “You been to a lot of boy’s rooms?”

“None of them have any sense of style,” she continued, avoiding the question. “There’s no plan, no organization, no color. It just kinda looks like throw up.”

Isaac chuckled. “Damn. Well, I’d argue with you, but… I think you got me there.”

Sadja took off her denim jacket, and placed it on the bed next to her. Isaac noticed that the white t-shirt she was wearing created an almost perfect rounded curve across her breasts. 

“But I’m kind of glad that’s true,” Sadja continued. “I think growing up I was a lot more afraid of guys. Now I realize most of them are just as weird and awkward as the girls. I guess that includes you, too.”

Isaac looked down in his lap, trying to avoid feeling anything he shouldn’t. “Yeah, I guess. It’s funny though, I always assumed that you hated me.”

“Oh, I did.”

“Wait, you di-”

Isaac looked up, only to be surprised by how much closer the girl had gotten to his face. He smelled her perfume, felt her energy next to him. It made him feel good. He began to loosen up.

“I did,” Sadja said, lowering her voice to almost a whisper. “But I think after tonight I’ve realized I was wrong. In fact, I think… there’s a lot to like about you, especially compared to all those other jocks.”

Isaac smiled. “There’s a lot I got wrong about you too, you know.” 

“Like what?”

“Well, I always felt you were some serious gatekeeper. I didn’t realize how fun you could be, how easy you were to talk to, how…” Isaac realized his voice had gone down to a whisper himself. Sadja was closer than ever now, the side of her hand now leaning on top of Isaac’s. Almost instinctively, Isaac caressed her fingers.

“How beautiful you are.”

At that moment Sadja leaned forward and kissed Isaac on the mouth. Isaac reciprocated in kind, grabbing Sadja gently by the back of the hair and pulling her closer. The two fell back on top of the bed together.