Book of Ruel

Valentine's Disaster

I finish cleaning the place around 3 pm, before settling back onto the couch, this time with a blanket as I put on a movie to keep myself occupied. I get up and walk to the door, opening it to see a delivery man, holding a bouquet of light pink roses out to me. A grin instantly takes over my face at the sight of the flowers, the first real smile I've had all day today. "Hello miss, these are for you, and I had special instructions to tell you that these are for you from the best Van Dijk and others" the delivery man states, reading off of a card, causing me to let out a laugh, knowing Coco did that without Kate and Sylvie knowing. I thank him and close the door, making my way to the dining room, setting the flowers into a vase with water on the dining room table, smiling at the way they seemed to light up the room.

I get my phone out and take a short video of the flowers, posting it onto my story with hearts and the caption "from my loves", knowing Coco and Sylvie would be checking their phones all day until I made a post about their loving surprise. I take one last look at the flowers before grabbing my blanket off of the couch in the living room, and making my way into our shared bedroom, deciding to just spend the rest of my day watching Netflix in the comforts of my bed.

Two hours pass and I'm scrolling through my phone as a movie plays on in the background, when I get a notification from the Van Dijk family group chat, causing me to instantly tense up knowing Ruel is in it. I open it up to end up seeing that it's Kate asking everyone to send pictures from today so she can post them on Facebook, causing me to instantly cringe that she didn't know what happened and Ruel was about to get called out.

Before I can even reply to her, in hopes that I can divert the attention from Valentine's pictures, Ruel replies. I read his text that says 'Pictures of what? I'm at the studio rn so', annoyance instantly setting in at how he can't remember something like this, but I can put in the effort to remember even the smallest of important dates for him. I sit there waiting for someone to reply, because I know damn well I'm not going to be the one to do it first. All of a sudden pictures from Sylvie and Coco come in of them with their boyfriends, just them and their gifts and flowers and balloons, giving me the inspiration to send my own photo to the group chat. I go out to where my flowers sit, setting my phone up with a timer, as I sit on the table with my giant bouquet right next to me, flashing the camera a cheesy grin. I look at the picture and laugh, knowing Kate is going to love it, before hitting send.

All of the girls react to my photo with a heart, even Ralph reacts to it with a heart, before my phone is lit up with an incoming phone call. I let it ring for a few seconds before answering it, already knowing that he still doesn't remember what today was, and was probably going to jump to conclusions. Let's just say that usually I'd think jealous Ruel was cute, but when I'm also pissed off, it becomes a lot less endearing. Before I can even say hello to him, he's already spewing out words, unaware of the thin line he's riding on.

"Who the fuck sent you flowers, because I know it wasn't me. Just saw that you also have a post for them? Who are you calling 'love', is it that one friend of yours? What's his name, Matt? The same one that continuously blows up your phone, you told me he was just a-" He spits out, completely taking me off guard. I let him go on for a bit, before taking a deep breath and cutting him off, because if anyone is going to look like an ass, it's going to be him.

"Trust me, I think we all know you weren't the one to get me flowers Ruel. Also if you would have read my post more closely, instead of jumping to a conclusion, you would have seen that it was plural! It was loves, not love, because it was from your family asshole-" I hiss out, all my pent up emotions from the day finally bursting out, leaving Ruel completely silent on the other end. I take a few deep breaths to ease my shaky breathing before continuing. "Also Matt? Like really? You're going to accuse me of talking to another guy, when you know I'd never do that, you know you're the only guy in my life. He's also like 25 and oh I don't know, engaged!" I yell out, completely fed up with how my day had turned out.