It was Valentine’s Day. Usually one of her least favorite holidays, but this year... this year she had him. He grinned at her from across the table.

“What are you thinking about?”

She stuck out her tongue. “Ha! Like I’m going to tell you”, she teased, and he merely snorted in reply.

Sitting in class together, it felt like they were in their own bubble. The other students chatting right next to them, the teacher lecturing the class from the front, it was all far away. To the two people sitting across from each other, what mattered most in that room was each other.

“So what did you get me?” she asked.

He looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

She frowned. Didn’t he know it was Valentine’s Day? How could he not? She’d been looking forward to it the whole week.

He noticed her disappointment and immediately relented. “Okay, I didn’t forget. Of course I didn’t forget.” She “hmph”ed and folded her arms, pretending to be angry when he’d already been forgiven. “Really? Oh come on, please look at me.”

Feigning indifference, she kept her head turned to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him slip something out of his pocket and write on it. The next second, something slid across the tabletop and bumped her forearm. She glanced down and saw a Kisses chocolate. Dark chocolate, her favorite. On the little paper strip sticking out of the top he’d scrawled,” Sorry?”

She stifled a grin, then picked it up and bent down to drop it in her backpack. When she straightened up, there was another one lying on her notebook. On this one, there was nothing but a heart.

Finally relenting, she turned back to see a beatific smile on his face. This Kisses, she unwrapped and slipped into her mouth. It tasted as sweet as a boy’s love.