"Roses are red, Asphalt is black," Fox said, palm-steering the car at an intersection. "Why is your chest as flat as my back?" I momentarily frowned, self-consciously looking down at the V-neckline of my blood red long-sleeved shirt. This made him chuckle. I had no choice but to retaliate.
"Dimes are silver, pennies are brass," I said with a straight face, puffing my apparently non-existent chest out, "Why does your face look like your a–"
"Em," he interrupted with a warning tone, "Don't corrupt my sister." We both looked at each other as the car stopped at a red light and laughed at our own stupidity. Holly joined in for no reason, flashing her two-and-a-half pearly little teeth.
"Admit it – I won," I smirked. Then I sneezed.
"Bless you. And not even," he grinned, "If anything you complimented me. I'd say both my face and my lower backside are pretty equally amazing features." I rolled my eyes; kept my mouth shut. We had been playing this rhyming game for almost the entire ride to hospital, Fox and I. Holly was accompanying us, and was currently salivating over her heart-shaped lollipop in the backseat. Nina was driving the van full of flowers behind us.
It wasn't long before we were unpacking the buckets of colorful carnations by the back entrance of the hospital. Holly took special interest in a yellow one, squeezing the petals with her chubby fingers. I broke the stem and slid the flower into her hair. I let her see her new accessory, lifting her to the van's black reflective window. She clapped her hands.
"Come on, ladies," Nina called, pushing a cart full of flowers through the automatic doors. She noticed Fox's questioning eyebrows and added, "And gentleman."
He flashed his signature white smile, grabbing the other cart and preparing to push it forward. I cleared some space on it and sat Holly down among the flowers. I sneezed again, twice this time. Fox smirked and slowly followed Nina to the main lobby.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" was the phrase of the day – or most of it. Of course, Holly's alternative: "Habby Val'time's Day!", was also pretty prevalent. We gave flowers to just about everyone. Secretaries, sales clerks, doctors, nurses, janitors, and patients. Little kids were running around the hallways with their flowers and little bags of chocolate; secretaries were blushing as Fox suavely handed out carnations. I tried not to stare as he worked his charm, focusing instead on the patients.
"Happy Valentine's Day," I said softly to a woman in the ICU that was sleeping. I placed a pink and white flower on her stomach in between her small white hands and made my way to the next room.
I saw an old woman sadly march out of a room and out of sight; she had been crying. I figured she was going to the bathroom or to speak with a doctor. Quickly, I went the room from which she'd exited and placed a violet carnation on the sleeping old man in the same fashion as all the other sleeping patients. He had on a breathing mask, and a plethora of machines were attached to him all lighting up in various ways and emitting a number of different sounds. I assumed he was either a brother or husband of the woman who'd left the room and felt extremely sad that he lacked the ability to give her a flower himself. I placed another one on the seat beside him for when she returned.
"Happy Valentine's Day," I whispered gently.
By the time I'd went through all the rooms of the Intensive Care Unit, I was tearing up at all the sad, lonely people I had come across. If they were conscious, their gracious smiles filled me with even more sorrow.
"You okay?" Nina asked with concern when we met up in the cafeteria.
"I shouldn't have taken the ICU," I admitted, "I can't handle seeing people like that."
"I'm sure you made them very happy, though, Em Gem," she assured me, rubbing my back.
"I did, that's the sad part. For most of those people, I was the only one who popped in and gave them something."
"That's great," Nina smiled sadly. "Something is better than nothing."
"I know, I just hate that so many people are alone," I sighed, starting on my slice of pizza.
"As much as you'd love to fix the world all by yourself, Emery," Fox spoke, cutting a slice into little bites for Holly, "you can't do it."
"Dude, you're so supportive," I muttered sarcastically. I noticed a dull ache in my throat as I tried to swallow my food. The corners of his lips turned upwards slyly as he spoke: "All I'm saying is you worry too much over situations that are completely out of your hands."
"Very true, baby boo," Nina agreed. "But that's why you're so lovable, Emery. All that innocence and selflessness you have is just precious."
"Gee, thanks." I finished up my pizza.
"Come on," Fox said, picking Holly up and grabbing two little bags of candy and two carnations – one green and one red.
"Where are we going?" I inquired.
"To visit our little friends, Clara and Nathan." I grinned and got up. We ended up in Nathan's room and gave him his candy and flower first. He seemed super glad to see us. I was surprised he remembered.
"Is Clara in the next room?" I asked him. He nodded shyly.
Fox knelt down and whispered in his ear very secretively while I held Holly. We both watched with silent curiosity. I saw Nathan nod his head. Fox continued to whisper, handing Nathan the red carnation and the candy before sending him out of the room.
"What did you just tell him to do?" I asked, having somewhat of an idea of the answer.
He grinned mischievously and crossed his arms with pride. "I simply explained the physics behind Valentine's Day."
"The physics, huh?" I slowly moved to Clara's room next door.
"Yeah," he said, following me. "If a boy gives a girl a flower, there's an instant reaction."
"Do explain this reaction," I murmured, spying on Nathan as he sneaked around Clara's bed and stood behind her by the window.
"It's more like Chemistry, actually," Fox mused behind me.
"Oh?"
We watched as Nathan brought the flower out from behind his back and the chocolate as well. Clara, wearing a hat with a sparkly red heart on it, beamed instantly and a light blush tinged her apple cheeks. She accepted the gifts and thanked the boy in front of her.
"Girl falls for boy," Fox whispered lowly into my ear. I prayed he didn't notice my shiver as we made our way into the room.
"Emmy! Fox!" Clara exclaimed, running towards me with arms open. "You came back!"
"I told you I'd visit," I laughed, hugging her warm little body.
"Who's that?" she asked, pointing to Holly.
"This is Holly, Fox's little sister," I explained.
"Oh," she nodded, moving back to her bed and gesturing for us all to sit around. Nathan got called back to his room by a nurse and excused himself.
"Look what Nathan gave me!" she said, holding the flower out proudly for us to see. "He said 'a pretty girl needs a pretty flower'." I looked over at Fox. He avoided my gaze, knowing full well that I was pointedly looking at him, and grinned at Clara instead. He had so coached Nathan with that line.
"Well, you are the prettiest girl in the hospital," he concurred, making her blush.
"Besides Emmy," she corrected. It suddenly got quiet.
"Yeah, besides Em," his velvety voice agreed. I almost stopped breathing. It was my turn to blush. I let my hair sweep down on the sides of my face in an attempt to hide the intense color my face was taking on. We continued to talk with Clara until we heard a knock in the doorway.
"Ready to go?" Nina asked.
"Come back soon!" Clara called, "I'll be here!"
"Definitely," I promised.
***
Back at the Red Cross Center, Nina returned to her desk and Fox, Holly, and I sat around on the couch for a bit. A fit of coughs caught me off guard.
"Somebody's getting sick," Fox noted.
"I never get sick," I muttered, feeling another sneeze coming on.
"Yeah, yeah, and I never get girls," he nodded sardonically.
"Actually, I haven't seen you with a girl in what, like three months?" I teased before the sneeze came.
"Bless you," he said, "And just 'cause you haven't seen, doesn't mean I haven't gotten any."
"My bad." I tried to play it off cool, but his comment sparked something heavy in my heart. Why do I care so much if he hooks up with girls? He suddenly got up.
"Hey Nina?" he called, to which she replied with a "Yeah?"
"Can you watch Holly for a bit?"
"Why?" she asked. I was wondering the say exact question.
"Emery and I have something we need to do," he explained.
"Oh, okay," she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. "Take your time!"
"Thank you!" Fox called, putting on his leather jacket and heading for the door.
"Um..." I, with a very confused expression, zipped up my faux-fur vest before proceeding behind the sly, secretive dog to his car.
"Where are we going?" I asked as soon as he closed the door and started the car. He smirked and shook his head, rubbing his hands together to heat them up.
"You cannot handle any form of surprise, can you?" he asked, pulling out of the parking spot and onto the main road. I assumed he was heading toward the highway. I decided to let him drive, despite my immense desire to attack him with questions. What the hell is going on here? About ten minutes later, he was pulling into a busy parking lot and squeezing between two cars. I found myself walking with Fox to the movie theaters.
Intrigued yet definitely resolute in my fight to 'handle the surprise', I kept my mouth shut even when we stood in line for tickets. Even when Fox ordered two tickets to the new, super-mushy, lovey-dovey chick-flick simply titled: You're Lovely, I stayed quiet. Even when my insides were melting and my heart was ready to fall out of my butt and ask what the hell was up itself, I kept my mouth shut. I opened it when Fox asked if I wanted butter on my popcorn and my preference of beverage and candy, but then I quickly returned to my silent ways. Even when he only bought one large drink and told me to take two straws, I simply obeyed despite my anxiousness over sharing a beverage with him. But when we neared the theater in which the super-mushy, lovey-dovey chick-flick was playing... I cracked.
"Fox," I asked, "What's going on?"
He sipped the soda leisurely and with a small smile. "Kudos, Em, you held up a lot longer than I expected."
"Well this I never expected. You've got quite a way with surprises," I commented, turning to enter the designated movie's doors.
"Uh, honey," Fox called lovingly as the manager of the cinema walked by us, "It's this way." I gave him a questioning look, but followed him to the theater down the hall. He started to enter the doors of a restricted horror film.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
He proceeded to climb the stairs within the dark theater and find two seats among the busy crowd. The opening credits were already rolling.
"You don't like horror films? Don't worry, I'll hold your hand," he whispered as we got situated in our seats. He handed me my candy and placed the popcorn in his lap. I reached over and took a handful. The soda sat in the cup holder between us.
"No, I love them," I admitted. "But we didn't pay for this movie."
"Shhh," he cautioned. "It's starting. And because this seemed like a much better movie." I rolled my eyes, eating my popcorn and turning my attention to the big screen. I took a sip of the soda with my straw and sat back. The movie was over within an hour and half. We exited the theater and found ourselves heading back to the RCC to get Holly. The sun had long ago set and I watched small flurries fall as we drove. I was still kind of in shock – Fox had taken me to a movie. A flippin' movie!
"So how'd you like the movie?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"Honestly?" I replied, "It kinda sucked. Same blonde bimbo with no caller ID, walking around the house in the dark, asking, 'hello' like the killer's gonna come out and have a conversation with her... It was completely predictable."
"Very true," he agreed, nodding, "but the bimbo was totally hot."
I laughed. "I expected you to say that, actually. It's always looks over substance for you, Fox."
"Not always," he reasoned defensively. I looked out the window to hide my hopeful expression. He got to the RCC and told me to wait in the car while he went to go get Holly. For the sake of keeping warm, I did just that and sat back. Before long, Fox was back with his sister, fastening her in themcar seat and giving her a new lollipop before returning to the wheel.
"Hey Fox?"
"Hmm?" he returned, turning in the direction of my house.
"You never did tell me why you bought tickets for the chick-flick and took me to the horror movie instead."
"I wanted to sneak in."
"But you're 18. You could've just bought the tickets for that film..." He turned to me just then with an unreadable look on his face. His eyes said so many things; they almost looked like they were smiling but his lips remained in their usual line.
"Remember New Years?" he asked suddenly.
"Oh God," I smirked, throwing my head back, "How could I not?"
"Well, amongst your drunk babbling about kissing me and how awesome your new bra was, you said you still had a lot of firsts to take care of," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "One of them you mentioned was sneaking in to an R-rated movie."
I grinned sheepishly, running a hand through my hair. "I did? I guess I don't remember that night as much as I thought I did." Fox parked in front of my house and turned to look at me.
"You don't remember asking me to sing to you? And asking me to kiss you countless times before you knocked out?" he asked, purposely trying to embarrass me now.
"Um, nope," I said, attempting to lie. I remembered those moments very clearly, in fact.
"The reason I didn't kiss you, other than not wanting to take advantage of you," he clarified, looking me dead in the face, "is because I'm not sure if you're ready or not. You are completely unpredictable sometimes, and I'd rather not freak you out and/or get slapped in the face." I didn't know what to say in response to his statements, so I sat there dumbly. He won't kiss me because of the way I come off. That's cool. "I'm going to leave it up to you," he stated, turning to the backseat in search of something. "If you one day find that you wanna kiss me, then you'll do it."
I almost spurted out a comment like, "And why would I want to kiss you?" But I didn't. It was probably obvious to the entire Connecticut population that I wouldn't mind kissing Fox Evans – who wouldn't? It was just never going to happen. I'll never have the guts to initiate a kiss. Especially with him!
He finished rummaging through his car and turned back to me with something in his hand. My eyes turned to the large, beautiful white carnation being extended my way. With a shaky hand I accepted it. My lip was ready to bleed with all the biting I had done that day.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Fox said simply. I never knew three words would have such a profound effect on me. "Habby Val'time's Day!" Holly repeated, giggling.
"Thank you," I said quietly, trying to hide the grin that was spreading on my face. I exited the car. 'Girl falls for boy.' Those words played in my head once more as I jogged to my house through the snow, which was now falling in heavier flakes. But what if the girl has already fallen for the boy?
She falls even harder.