The Best Valentine's Day Ever

I’m gonna ask him. I’m gonna do it. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably not.

“Jesus Christ Mike, just freaking do it!” sighed my best friend Jaime. I guess he could see me watching him sitting at the other side of the cafeteria and could tell what I was thinking about.

It was Valentine’s Day on Saturday and for about a week I’d been trying to work up the courage to ask Tony Perry if he wanted to go on a date with me. Long brown hair, cute smile, sweet personality and good music taste. He’s completely adorable and luckily for me he’s gay, but every time I try to ask him my nerves get the better of me and I chicken out. Now it’s Friday and I still haven’t asked.

“I’m trying, Hime!” I retorted. “It’s not that easy you know. Why don’t you try it?”

“What, ask Tony out?”

“No! I mean someone else. Why don’t you ask that Jessica chick out? I know you like her,” I said with a wink.

“Hey! Shut up,” he said, going slightly pink as I laughed at him. “No, I don’t want to.”

“Why not? Are you too nervous? Is it too hard?” I teased.

“Alright, alright. I get it, it’s hard. But…” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Oh no, what’s your idea? Cheesy or inappropriate pick-up lines won’t work you know,” I warned.

“I will make a deal with you. If you promise to ask Tony out on a date by the end of the day, I promise that I will ask out Jessica as well. And for your information, cheesy pick-up lines will work.”

I sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll ask him.”

“Awesome. So, should we organise a double-date?”

“No way, not with you.”

“Ouch! I’m hurt,” he said, dramatically holding a hand over his heart.

The bell signalling the end of lunch rang then. “Alright, I better head off to Biology,” I said.

“Hey, isn’t Tony in your class right now?” Jaime asked.

“Oh… shit,” I said, my heart starting to pound. “Holy shit… I can’t-”

“OH MY GOD!” Jaime yelled suddenly. “Just go and do it you chicken! Remember, we’ll both have dates by the time we see each other again after school.”

“Yeah… okay… alright. See you then.” Jaime gave me a final wink and ran off to his locker.

After he left I started hurrying off to my classroom so I could grab my usual seat, one behind and diagonal to Tony’s. Call me a stalker, but it was the best spot for sneaking glances at him during class without him noticing me.

I couldn’t pay attention all lesson; I was too nervous and jittery. But I was also a bit excited, because there was a chance he’d say yes and that would be a dream come true. I couldn’t get my hopes up too much though; I didn’t want to feel too let down if he said no. I swear, no guy has done this to me before. I’m normally all about one night stands, never sticking with one guy and always acting cool, suave and confident, especially since the girls are always after me. Shame I don’t swing that way.

The bell rang all too soon. I hadn’t even noticed the time passing since I was so lost in my own thoughts and hopes about Tony. My heart started pounding and my palms got sweaty as the class started packing up and I realised that it was now or never.

I casually followed Tony out of the classroom as he headed over to his locker. I took a deep breath as he stopped in front of it and I headed over and leaned on the one next to his.

“Hey,” I said, trying to stay calm and keep up my normal, carefree demeanour. But it was hard when he looked so good in those black skinny jeans and that white tank top that showed off his arms.

“Uh, hey,” he replied.

“So, um, you doing anything tomorrow night?”

“Well, not really. Why do you ask?” he said hesitantly.

“Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to, I dunno, catch a movie or something?” I said, hoping my voice wasn’t shaking too much.

“You mean… You don’t mean, like, a Valentine’s Day thing, do you?” he said, looking nervous.

“Uh, well, it doesn’t have to be…” Crap, this is going terribly.

“Um, well, I wouldn’t mind it. If that’s what you’re actually asking,” he stuttered.

“Yeah, yeah it was. So… I’ll pick you up about seven?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” he said, giving me one of his cute-as-hell smiles.

“Okay, awesome, so can I get your number and address?”

He grinned again and wrote down his number and address on a bit of paper to give to me. “Okay, well, see you Saturday at seven,” he said and walked off, still smiling.

I jumped as I felt a tap on my shoulder before I realised it was just Jaime.

“Nice job bro! Congratulations! So, where are you taking him?”

“You were watching!?” I exclaimed.

“Hey, don’t freak out. I just happened to be walking by and I decided to wait for you.” I just rolled my eyes as we started walking to the bus stop.

“Well, I’m picking him up at seven on Saturday to take him to the movies.” I couldn’t stop the big grin that crept across my face. “Hey, how did it go with Jessica? Have you asked her yet?”

“Yeah, she’s totally into me dude! I can tell. We’re gonna go for a double date with a couple of her friends at some restaurant. Oh, and by the way, cheesy pick-up lines totally work.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well done man. So I guess we actually got dates, huh?”

“I knew we would. We’re just that hot,” he winked. “Alright man, good luck with your date!” he said as his bus arrived. “See you later.”

“Yep, see you.”

Saturday night arrived agonisingly slow. It was like torture. I went out for a walk and bought a rose for Tony later in the afternoon, but other than that I just lay around wishing that it was 7 o’clock already.

But as soon as it hit six o’clock I started freaking out. I scrubbed every inch of my body in the shower and lathered my hair with shampoo and conditioner, trying to make sure that I didn’t stink and that my hair looked nice. I blow-dried and straightened my hair afterwards, coated my armpits in too much deodorant and then spent too long trying to figure out what to wear.

I hated dressing up, but it was a date so maybe it was expected. I did want to look nice for Tony, but then again, I didn’t want to dress up too much in case I ended up looking stupid. I eventually settled on a smart casual look with my tidiest pair of blue skinny jeans, a soft black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black beanie. It was pretty casual, but in a way that also looked pretty nice. I even snuck on some of my dad’s expensive cologne.

“Michael! Dinner!” I heard my mum call just as I’d finished.

“Aww, looks like Mikey’s got a Valentine,” mocked my older brother as I sat down at the table, set Tony’s rose down next to my plate and started bolting down my dinner.

“Really?” asked my mum incredulously. “Why didn’t you tell us you were going on a date?”

“I just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, okay?” I said, shooting a glare at Vic. He just smirked.

“Well, what’s his name?” asked Dad.

“Tony. Okay, I’ve gotta go now,” I said, standing up and taking my plate over to the kitchen. “Vic, I’m taking your car.”

“What!? Why?”

“Because I don’t have one and I have to pick him up, alright?”

“Ugh, fine,” Vic sighed, returning to his dinner.

“Have fun! Don’t do anything stupid!” called Mum as I shut the front door.

I jumped in the car and drove straight to Tony’s. It was 7:03 by the time I arrived, so I headed over to the door and knocked, holding the rose to my chest.

Tony opened the door a few seconds later. “For you,” I said, bending down into a ridiculous bow and holding out the rose to him.

Tony laughed and took the rose. “Thanks, Mike,” he grinned as I straightened back up. “Let me just put this in some water and I’ll be right out.”

“Sure thing,” I said. He went back into the house and came out again less than a minute later without the rose. “So, shall we go?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. He looked really good tonight. He was wearing those black skinny jeans I loved with a smart-looking black jacket.

We both headed over to my car and jumped in. “So, what movie are we going to see?” Tony asked.

“Not sure, what do you want to see?”

“I don’t know what’s showing. So I guess we’ll just show up and pick a random one?”

“Yep. So hopefully there’s something good on and not all crap.”

“Well, remember that it’s Valentine’s Day. It’ll probably be full of all the new romance releases.”

“Damn, that’s true. I have to say that I’m not really the romance type, but hey, if that’s all that’s showing then I can deal. What about you? What movies do you like?”

“Well I can handle romance okay, but I prefer sci-fi. Star Wars and stuff like that.”

“No way, fantasy’s better. Harry Potter all the way!” That lead us into a playful argument/discussion about movies and stuff like that. I have to say, he had pretty good taste and we had a bit in common.

It didn’t take us long to reach the movie cinema. I almost wished we could just stay in the car and continue chatting.

“Anything caught your eye yet?” I asked as Tony and I wandered around the cinema, examining the advertisements for the various movies showing.

“Not really. Like I said, it’s all romance junk.”

“Wait…” I said, coming to a stop in front of one poster. “Tony, how do you feel about zombies?”

“Yeah, cool,” he replied.

“In that case, I’ve decided. We’re seeing this one.”

We bought our popcorn, drinks and tickets for the zombie movie and went to wait inside the theatre, since it would start in about ten minutes.

“This is gonna be awesome,” I said. It might not be the most romantic Valentine’s idea I could have had, but hey, zombies.

After what felt like forever the lights dimmed and the ads started. Tony and I just whispered and laughed our way through them, waiting for the actual movie to start. Eventually all the lights went off and the movie started.

It was going pretty slowly at first, and I was worried that the rest of the movie would be really crap. I leaned over to Tony to make a remark about how boring it was, when-

“AAAAH!!” screamed Tony as the first zombie jumped out unexpectedly. Tony’s scream scared me more than the zombie, and I spilled popcorn everywhere when he gripped my hand as tight as he could.

“Jesus Christ, Tony!” I exclaimed. “You alright?”

“Y-yeah. That was scary!” I laughed at him and casually put my arm around his shoulders. It was the perfect opportunity. Then I heard a girl whispering behind us.

“Ew, look. That’s so gross. Can’t they, like, go somewhere else? It’s so inappropriate.” I felt a tap on my shoulder and we both turned around to see a jock-looking guy leaning over towards me with a little blonde chick sitting next to him, frowning at us. Ugh, homophobes.

“Um, excuse me,” said the guy. “I don’t know if you realised, but you’re kinda making us a bit uncomfortable with the way you’re acting. Could you, just, stop?”

“Oh, gee, I’m sorry. Is this any better?” I grabbed Tony’s arm, pulled him over towards me and started kissing him. He tensed up in shock at first, but then he relaxed and started kissing me back.

“That’s disgusting. Fags shouldn’t be allowed to act like this in public places,” the guy hissed to his girlfriend, clearly intending for us to hear it. I kinda wanted to just stay here and make out with Tony until the couple left, but Tony pulled away, looking upset.

“I think I just want to go home,” he whispered.

“Come on then, let’s get out of here.” I grabbed his hand and started leading him out of the movie cinema. “All this heterosexuality is grossing me out,” I said as loud as I dared, glaring at the couple behind us.

“I hate homophobes,” said Tony in a small voice.

“Me too. And I’m sorry for, you know, kissing you like that back there. I just wanted to piss them off.”

Tony laughed a bit. “It’s alright.” Then he moved towards me and kissed me. He actually kissed me, and not just to piss anyone off. I stepped forward until he was leaning against the car, one of my arms around his waist and the other hand in his hair. All my dreams of the past few weeks were coming true and it was amazing.

I eventually pulled back. “We should probably head home,” I murmured. I couldn’t noticing what an amazing shade of brown his eyes were.

“Yeah, probably,” he replied. I stepped back and we both hopped in the car. Neither of us said much on the way home. I think we were both thinking about what just happened. I wish those idiots hadn’t upset Tony and ruined the movie for us, but at least the night ended on a good note.

“Well, see you Monday,” said Tony as I pulled up outside his house. But before he could get out of his car I leaned over and gave him one last kiss.

“See you,” I said with a grin. Tony blushed and smiled as he climbed out of the car. I watched as he walked to his house and shut the front door behind him. “YES!” I said, pumping my fist when I was sure he couldn’t see me. Best Valentine’s Day EVER!