The Best Valentine's Day, Ever!

The day started off normal enough. On my way to my first class I had to pass her house anyways, so I figured I would stop and say hi before class started. When I slipped in her kitchen door, I noticed her sitting at the center table munching on her breakfast, with a somewhat sad look on her face.

"What's wrong ____?" I asked.

"Oh hey, __." She replied, with what looked like a forced smile. She then continued to look down and play with her food. Something was clearly bugging her, and I wasn't about to let it go.

"What's got you all bummed today?"

"Huh? Nothing why?" ...Lies. My bs-detector was going bonkers. I sat down across from her and dropped my bag.

"No seriously, come on. It'll bug me all day if you don't let me know." She didn't say anything at first, she just kept munching her cereal for a minute or two. My guess is that she noticed I wasn't going to give up anytime soon (even though truth be told, I was about to), and so she dropped her spoon, and rested her chin on her hand as she looked past me out the window behind me, and I could see her eyes start to tear up a little bit.

"What's the point?" She said to me. At least I think it was to me, she was still looking out the window.

"Whoa, what?" I replied. This was starting to get a little bit scary, I had never heard her say anything quite so deep before, she has always been so happy and careless.

"Of anything! The point of anything! I mean, I try so hard to recycle, but everyone else is so careless with their trash, and it feels like my efforts don't make a difference. What's the point of us voting for President? In the end it's just the electoral college who decides, right? What's the point of going to college when the highest paying jobs in America don't require a college education?"

...I almost made the mistake of letting out a little giggle at hearing her randomly stressing out about so many random things. I saw that her eyes where getting more and more red as she talked though, and I could tell that this clearly meant a lot to her, as ridiculous as it may have sounded to me.

"____, what got you thinking about this all of the sudden?"

"I don't know, I just woke up today and realized that life is a big joke. What's the point of any of it?" I went and sat down beside her, put my arm around her and tried hard to come up with a wise and comforting line, but whatever came out of my mouth didn't get much of a response from her. She gently slid out from under my arm and walked to her room to get ready for her first class. "I have to get ready, I'll see you at second hour, ok?"

She made it pretty clear that the conversation was over. "Ok." I replied, as I walked out the door. I probably should have said something more, or maybe I should have followed her? I don't know, I'm never any good with things like this.

All along the way to class, I couldn't stop thinking about the way her face looked as she stared seemingly endlessly into space, half-tearing up. I had never seen her like that before. And this is Valentine's Day! Days like these are suppose to be happy memories in our relationship! I couldn't just leave it like that, I couldn't just let her be sad and depressed on the most romantic day of the year. What kind of boyfriend does that? I had to do something, so right as I got to the door of the college science building, I turned myself around, and headed for my car, determined to come with a way to turn her day around, and give her the Best Valentine's Day ever!

My first three classes I could get away with ditching, but I had to make my fourth hour or I would be in big trouble, so I had to act fast. I don't know what exactly I wanted to do for her yet, but I knew I would incorporate a gift somewhere in there, so I headed to the shopping district in town to find her the perfect gift. I pondered what the perfect gift would be, there were so many things that she wanted/needed, but I didn't know which to choose. All of them were relatively inexpensive, and that's when it hit me! I had heard this once explained to me as a date idea, but it fit so perfectly with what I wanted to do, so I decided to get her a bunch of meaningful gifts, and send her on a short scavenger hunt. I quickly raced around the shopping center, picking up all of the things I could think of that had meaning to her, or our relationship: hand sanitizer, Cheeze-Itz, a black dress, caramel candy, and a little something special just for her.

After I got all of the stuff together, I realized that first hour had ended, and the second hour had already started. ____ and I had the same class for second and third hour, and I forgot to text her and tell her I wouldn't be at class! Right then I heard my phone going off. Crap! I picked it up to hear a very sharp and stern "Where are you?" I knew she was upset and now that I think about it, she probably really didn't want to be alone, and was looking forward to seeing me in class. Unfortunately my plan was already set in motion! I couldn't abandon it now!

"Hey ____, I'm really sorry, something came up, I have to help out with..." (I can't remember exactly what excuse I pulled out of the air, but whatever it was, she bought it!)

"Oh, ok... I think I will just go home then. I'm not feeling much up to school today." Crap! I can't set up a scavenger hunt at her house if she's there! I have to keep her at school.

"No, no. You should stay, I think I might be getting done soon, and then I can come to class, and I would like it if you were there to sit with me." Well that didn't seem a little needy....

"Um...ok" She replied. "Hopefully I'll see you soon then."

"Ok, see ya soon!" Oh boy, now I really had to hurry up. Now she's frustrated and lonely, this had better turn out good, or she's not going to be happy.

I raced to her house and set up the first item, and left the notes leading to the next. It hadn't been more than 10 minutes before I got the first of many "Are you coming yet?" texts. I ran across the street to set the second gift, and left the notes with it. This one took a little more time, because it was a public setting and I had to deal with friends and others asking a lot of dumb questions about what I was doing. I had to be careful, because all of my friends were also her friends, and if I accidentally gave anything away, they could text her and spoil the whole surprise!

I managed to finally get item three attached to her lazy dog that she loved so much, then threw items four and five in her back yard, in a strategic place that had sentimental value. Second hour was over and it was well into third hour. She must have sent me 20 different "Where are you?" and "Hurry up" texts by now, I knew I was treading on thin ice. I finally wrapped it all up, keeping the 6th item on myself, to ensure that her scavenger hunt would end with her being lead to me.

I raced to class as fast as I could, but as I was halfway through campus I saw all of the third hour classes being dismissed. I ran awkwardly with my backpack, trying to find her before she got away. I finally saw her! "____!" I yelled, panting and out of breathe. She turned around and saw me, but stood there with her arms folded, and clearly upset. I ran up to her and paused for a second to catch my breath. "Hey, I am so, so sorry, believe me I really hurried as fast as I could." She didn't say anything at first, but must have felt sorry for me after seeing me sweating up a storm and panting heavily (there were also stairs, don't judge me).

"It's ok, I've just had a bad day, I just want to go home and crash in bed and sleep the rest of the day. I wish you could have been at class though, it was so boring today." I couldn't help but let a little smirk out across my face, as I knew what was waiting for her at home.

"I understand ____, but look, I need you to promise me something before I go to my next class."

She looked very puzzled, and responded with a curious "Ok...what?"

"I know you are in a really bad mood, but when you get home, whatever is waiting for you, I need you to just go along with it ok?"

"What do you mean? What's going to be waiting for me?"

I smiled to let her know it was ok and said "Just trust me, ok? And please just go along with it even if you don't want to at first."

"Um...ok" She said reluctantly.

"Awesome! Thank you." I told her, as I kissed her goodbye and went on to my next class.

Class was incredibly dull, as always. I had a lot of time to sit and contemplate the very large amount of money that I was paying for the very small quality of education that I was receiving. I looked at the clock, and made up a cool rhythm in my head to the motions of the second hand. I also used tape and a highlighter to turn my pencil into a mini-lightsaber.

"Class dismissed, see you tomorrow." Finally! It seemed like those are the only words I could process that came out of that guy's mouth. What a horrible class. I started walking home and got a text from her. She said "Hey, are you out of class?"

"Yup, just got out."

"Ok, I'm coming to meet you."

Not 30 seconds later, I saw her walking down the sidewalk with the normal bounce in her step that makes her look like a 5-year-old child. It's cute. "Hi." she said, as she grabbed me by the shirt and reached into my front left pocket, which is where I had hid the last gift. She pulled out the box and opened it. A gold heart pendant on a modest lacquered chain. She let me put it around her neck, and the second that it was fastened she turned quickly and kissed me, then gave me a big hug and wouldn't let go for what seemed like hours. She then looked up at me and said "I guess the point is so that I can be with you."

And that is the true story, of how my girlfriend gave me the Best Valentine's Day ever.