I had been busily preparing for Valentine's day for a while, now, because in truth, I hadn't had a Valentine before.
I was never interested in dating guys, and given that I hadn't come out yet, I tended to just spend it alone watching comedies on Netflix.
It really was a relief that Lily had come along to save me.
Okay, not to be dramatic or anything but she really did mean the whole world to me.
I supposed that I caught feelings quickly, but I also knew that I had been pleasantly surprised by just how caring and interesting Lily really was. It was hard not to feel strongly for her.
I had to admit I was excited, but it was important to me to get it right, too, simply based on the fact of how much Lily meant to be.
When I had gone shopping for her gifts, I had bought a box of chocolates and a card. I had asked Violet if I was perhaps going overboard, but she assured me it was fine.
Violet had actually said that it was rather cute.
As I sat in my room, I began to sign the card.
To a beautiful Lily,
I am so happy that we met. You are beautiful, kindhearted and lovely, and I really really care for you so incredibly much. You mean the absolute world to me. Happy Valentine's day for now, and I hope that we can spend many more together, in the future.
Yours truly,
Selina
I had deliberated over whether to end the letter a few different ways, including yours truly, love, and from.
I didn't know whether to use 'love' at first, but the others seemed too cold, too distant, so I crossed them both out and wrote 'love' in their place.
Could I say that what I felt for Lily was love?
I did feel as though I was falling hard for her, but I didn't want to rush into anything. All I knew was that I most certainly had the capacity to love her.
I mean, this was Lily I was talking about, and she was a beautiful soul both inside and out, if you took the time to get to know her.
She had ended up being a lot less intimidating than I had initially thought that she was.
I got ready for the day in a pastel pink sweater, dark jeans and trainers, and tied my dark hair into a ponytail.
Once I was all ready, including the gifts that I had prepared to give to Lily, I headed out into the hall to find Yasmin there. The two of us made our way towards the centre of the university grounds. That was where we would soon be meeting the others for the Valentine's festival, which Lily had helped organise.
"Are you excited?" Yasmin asked me with a soft smile.
"I am," I said.
"Me too!" X said, as they joined us.
"Hey Xena," I greeted them.
They smiled back at me.
"Hey you two," they replied.
Yasmin waved to them, too, and we soon decided to walk over to one of the stalls so that we could purchase lavender candy floss, heart shaped sweets and Turkish delight filled chocolates. Delicious. The special celebratory foods all looked so tempting.
I just had to make sure I didn't eat too many. I didn't want to end up making myself feel ill before I got the chance to give my gift and Valentine's day card to Lily. And no, although we weren't girlfriends just yet, a lot of the time it felt as though we were.
X woo was pulled away from Yasmin and I, as there were many people who wanted to give them sweets and presents. Their popularity really was beginning to amaze me, but Xena caught up with it all pretty well. It just felt as though they were like a university celebrity at this point.
Yasmin and I made a start on eating our sweets, as pop songs began to blare out across the grounds.
Many couples walked hand in hand, and I couldn't help but say that I really missed Lily.
I could see her currently wandering around the grounds, busily ensuring that everything was prepared, and that the band of students that would be performing were equipped with everything they needed.
She caught my gaze for a moment, and fluttered her fingers as she waved to me, with a meaningful glint in her eye.
I knew that I would see her properly soon enough and that was what mattered.
Yasmin and I were not alone for all too long, as Lance soon joined the both of us with a smile upon his face.
He moved in a little closer in order to kiss Yasmin on the forehead, and her eyes fluttered shut as the corners of her lips twitched up a little.
The two of them really were adorable.
Lance looked really smartly dressed, too. He was wearing a white button down shit and black trousers and formal black shoes, to match.
Lance gifted Yasmin a rose necklace, and then wrapped his arms around her as though he never wanted to let her go.
Of course, he had to, after a minute, because Yasmin needed to gift him his things, too. She passed him a card and a box that had memories for the two of them so far.
Damn. Yasmin really was thoughtful.
It made me second-guess whether I had done enough for Lily's Valentine's presents, but I knew that the day was going to be okay, regardless As long as the two of us were together, it was always an amazing day.
"Hey you," a voice spoke, pulling me away from my thought cloud.
I met the person's gaze to see Winona.
"Hey Win," I greeted her, with a kind smile.
"How are you doing?" she asked me.
"I'm alright, just missing Lily. If I had known that she was going to be so just today I would have volunteered to help out for part of the day, too. At least then we would have gotten more of a chance to speak to one another."
Winona just met me with a sympathetic expression at that.
"Hey, I know that she is probably missing you a hell of a lot, too," she informed me.
"That means a lot, Winona. Thank you. Want to go and watch the band play for a moment?" I asked her.
She gave a nod of her agreement, and the two of us strode over to the stage, and remained in the audience for a while, as the colourful lights flashed over us. The band played on, and the crowd erupted in applause after they finished their song.
Soon enough, it was time for a different band to step out onto the stage.
"Wait a second. Is that Ulric on the drums?" I asked her.
Winona turned and gave a nod of her head in agreement.
"It certainly is. Pretty cool, right?" she inquired.
"It sure is," I stated.
Ulric and Lily were becoming better friends gain. I knew that there had been conflict before but I wasn't about to apologise for being the one that Lily wanted to be with. At least, I hoped that she wanted to be with me. We still hadn't had that conversation just yet.
Soon the performance ended, and Ulric's group received a round of applause.
He waved to us as he came off the stage, and then went to talk to his fellow band members.
In the meantime, Winona and I were joined by Zara.
"Hi girls, how are we doing?" she asked us, as her eyes looked between the two of us.
"We're good, Zara. Did you manage to get your assignment done?" I asked her.
"Yeah! Thanks for asking. I submitted it this morning," Zara said, "I just hope I get a 1:1...I mean, I've been dreaming of getting into this university since I was a young girl, you know? It's all I ever work for."
"Good luck, Z," Winona told her.
Zara turned to her and smiled to express her appreciation.
"You too, both of you," she said, with a warmth evident in her expression.
I was glad that it seemed we were all getting on better, now. I mean, I was glad that we were all friends in the first place. I knew how elite Cambridge was as one of the top universities globally. I didn't really expect that I would fit in so well, but I had ended up meeting people that I knew I wanted to be lifelong friends.
"Let's go and get some items from the stalls!" Zara then said, energetically, as she headed off towards the pink hot chocolate stall.
Yes, the hot chocolate was in fact pink. It was awesome.
Winona turned to me with a gentle smirk of good humour, and the two of us followed behind Zara, so that we could purchase our own beverages.
I took a sip out of the hot chocolate mug that was currently warming my hands, and then smiled as I embraced the raspberry taste of it. Amazing.
The only thing that could make all of this more amazing would be for Lily to be here.
"Hey sunshine," said a voice from the Heavens, then, and I turned to find Lily next to me, with a bouquet of flowers in her hands, with flowers coloured in reds, pinks, whites and purples.
"Is this for me?" I asked her, then, with a smile in my voice.
She just gave a shake of her head.
"No, they're for me. I thought- you know what, Lily? You deserve some flowers, and then I just went and bought these bad babies. Sweet right?" she said, and then chuckled, holding them out for me to take, "Here, they're yours."
"I have something for you, too," I stated, then, and reached into my backpack in order to take out the card and chocolates.
Lily smiled at me with a grin.
"I love these!" she said, "Now, do you want to head back to my room, for a minute? Then we can talk a bit more."
I gave a nod of my head, and soon enough Lily and I both wandered back to her dorm room.
We sat down on her bed, and Lily began to read the card, smiling as she did so.
She then met my gaze, and the corner of her lip twitched up, revealing her dimple.
"You're so cute," she said.
"Well, I meant every word," I told her.
She just gave me a meaningful look, then, as she set the card down so that she could wrap her arms around me.
"I mean it, though. You're like my Juliet, Selina," she stated.
I felt my own lips twitch at the corners in my own amusement at that, but I also felt a warm fuzziness in my stomach again, too.
"You're more than adorable," she said.
"You're going to make me blush," I told her.
"Good," she said, with a smirk, as she moved a little closer to me so that she could take my hand in hers again.
A few moments of peaceful quiet passed by, and then Lily spoke again.
"You know something, Selina? Before I met you, I didn't think I would ever meet a girl that I was capable of feeling so strongly for. I thought that perhaps I just liked certain people because they were unattainable or something...it was weird, and I thought that matter wouldn't change. Then, however, you come around," she said, with a smile, and I smiled right back at her.
"And then what happens?" I asked her.
"And then I realised that my life was so much brighter for having you in it," she said, "Which is why I've just got to be brave, brave, brave right now, and say something."
"Okay," I said, "Whenever you're ready."
"I love you," she said, "And I know that I can be impulsive, and I totally understand if you're not ready for that but-"
I just leant in then, so that I could press my lips to hers, and at first the kiss was soft, like a butterfly landing on a flower. As I entangled my fingers through her blonde locks, though, the kiss increased in its intensity.
I leant back eventually to meet Lily's gaze, and noticed that her pupils had dilated, as her eyes became full of adoration.
I almost couldn't believe that she felt that for me, but I couldn't be all too surprised because I felt the same way back.
"I love you too, Lily," I told her, and she simply leant in again to kiss me, as I felt as though my heart was blooming, beating away ever so quickly.
It was all worth it, though. All of the anticipation and anxiety that I had melted into the background. It was merely prologue to this.
I wouldn't have believed you f you were to have told me that I would have found love with Lily Everett, yet here I was, defying my own expectations, and I never wanted that to stop.