He tried
to set Rampage onto Daniela’s head, still holding onto him, but Daniela shot up
and ran away. Hunter chased after her laughing. “Rampage is going to get you!”
he yelled then turned to Rampage and softened his tone. “Aren’t you Rampage?”
Rampage
meowed and we all laughed. He looked a little annoyed that he was flying
instead of sleeping.
Gary came
over while we were waiting for the water to boil, then he helped the kittens.
Daniela eventually braved the potential for kitten poop and fed one of the cats
too. She came away poop free. Gary wasn’t so lucky, but he was a champ about
it.
The whole
evening ended up being a very pleasant time. Hanging out with the three of them
was so comfortable and fun in a non-stressful way. I was beginning to look
forward to enjoying the rest of the semester with both old and new friends.
CUPID
The beginning of February
came and went. Before anyone knew it, we were at that dreaded mid-February
holiday. I sat at a table by myself on the second floor of the Barnyard looking
idly over the railing at the bustle of student activity below, trying not to
gag from seeing all pink and red Valentine’s Day decorations around me. I’d
finished my lunch and was waiting for Daniela to meet me after class.
I spotted
her in jeans and a forest-green sherpa jacket through the fifty-foot glass
windows long before she reached the entrance. I waved to her and she came up
the stairs with a smile. “Hey girl, what’s wrong?” she said, setting her
backpack down and taking a seat across from me. “You don’t look so hot.”
“Yeah,
sorry. I’m just allergic to Valentine’s Day.”
Daniela
flipped her sandy-blonde hair back and removed her jacket. “I know what you
mean. Valentine’s Day is lame.” She put her finger up. “Hold on, I’m starving.
Lemme get some food first. Otherwise, my belly’s gonna revolt.” I waited a few
minutes and she came back with a tray containing a large cheeseburger topped
with all the fixings and a huge plate of fries.
I noticed
that we were the only two people in the cafeteria not wearing a shade of red.
It was kind of surprising that Daniela wasn’t decked out in hearts and arrows,
actually.
“You know
Daniela, I was kind of expecting you to be wearing a pink tutu and one of those
heart shaped tiara’s on your head.”
She
scrunched her face at me. “Meanie. Just because I wanted to celebrate
Valentine’s Day in style two years ago doesn’t mean that I feel the same way
about it now.”
I raised
an eyebrow, skeptical. “Really? What’s changed?”
She
shrugged, “Valentine’s Day is just a construct of the media-entertainment
complex, designed to keep the poor girl down.”
Whatever
answer I was expecting from her, it wasn’t that. “Uh . . . what?”
She looked
at me waving the fry in her hand for emphasis. “Think about it. The entire day
is designed to make you feel shitty if you’re single. It’s even worse if you’re
seeing someone, because then you feel obligated to spend money.”
“Um, I
take it things aren’t going well with Cody?”
“Cody is
old news,” she puffed then rolled her eyes. “Turns out he was a total loser.
You win some, you lose some.” She shrugged then dipped a fry into a dish of
ketchup.
“You don’t
seem too broken up about it.”
“You know
how it is, easy-come, easy-go.”
She didn’t
seem too eager to talk about it, so I didn’t ask her to elaborate. A few tables
behind Daniela, a bulky guy in a tight frat t-shirt was going around table to
table with a basket in his hand. After chatting with a group of starry-eyed
freshman, he started coming our way. He got to our table and smiled at Daniela,
his cheeks dimpling. A red heart had been painted on his left cheekbone.
“Hey,
ladies, want to buy some chocolates for your Valentines? P-K-D is raising money
for heart disease.”
Phi Kappa
Delta? Wasn’t that Gary’s frat?
Daniela
finished chewing her mouthful of cheeseburger, before wiping the corner of her
mouth daintily with a paper napkin. She looked up at him, her eyes glinting
mischievously. Uh-oh. That was her tiger-stalking-her-prey look. I had a
feeling I was about to get a demonstration of “easy-come”. I leaned back,
looking forward to the show.
“Hey
cutie, what’s your name?” she said, batting her eyes at him.
Nice
Daniela, real subtle.
The guy
licked his lips before answering. “Jeff. I’m Jeff.”
“Hi Jeff,
I’m Daniela, and this is Lorrie. Unfortunately, us two ladies don’t have
Valentines to give chocolates to. Now I might be interested in getting some
chocolates for myself, but . . . I think I’ll need a little extra sweetness
with my chocolate.”
He stared
at her dumbly. “Uh . . . you can sprinkle some extra sugar on top of them I
guess.”
I rolled
my eyes and shot a look at Daniela. Was she serious? What could she possibly
see in this guy besides his dimples and muscles?
Daniela
put her hand in front of her mouth and mock whispered to him, “Put your number
on the wrapper and I’ll buy one from you.”
The frat
guy scrunched his brow, seeming to consider it for a second, before realizing
that he was being hit on. His eyes suddenly lit up in realization, and he
nodded quickly with a smile.
“Yeah, oh
yeah. Okay.” He scribbled something on one of the chocolate bars before handing
it to Daniela. She rummaged a dollar out of her purse and handed it to him with
a wink.
After the
guy walked away to a different table, we both erupted in giggles.
“Oh my god
Daniela, you’re impossible! You were just telling me about how you hated
Valentine’s Day!”
“I still
hate Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it to my advantage.”
She picked up her burger again, taking another big bite.
I shook my
head still laughing softly. “So are you going to call him?” I asked her.
She chewed
thoughtfully. “Maybe, I don’t know yet. I like to keep my options open.
Besides, what if someone hotter comes along selling flowers before the end of
the day?”
I wanted
to say something back to her, but the alarm on my phone played its melody
reminding me that it was time to feed the kittens.
“That’s
the sound of kittens crying for their Mommy,” I said, turning off the alarm and
putting my phone back into my pocket.
“Feeding
time at Hunter’s?”
“Yep.”
“Hey you
know, what if Hunter was your Valentine? Or if you were his? I know you guys
have been pretty chummy lately taking care of the kittens and all.” She nudged
me.
I rolled
my eyes. “There’s only one problem: there’s nothing romantic going on between
us. Also, what happened to you warning me to be careful around Hunter?”
“I’ve been
brainwashed by the Hunter-bad-boy complex,” she confessed. “Behind his
reputation, he’s actually been a good guy. I’m thinking I misjudged him.”
“Yeah, I
might’ve misjudged him as well—although being friends with him has had its
rough spots, it hasn’t been the trouble I thought it’d be.”
“Have you
considered moving further with him?”
“Eh . . .
we’re two friends jointly caring for six furry babies. We could be Valentine’s
Day Buddies but that wouldn’t be true to Saint Valentine’s spirit. It’d be like
if you took your brother to prom as your date.”
Daniela
opened her mouth and put a finger inside to simulate gagging. “Yuck! On the
other hand, if my brother looked like Hunter. . .” She grinned. “I’m not going
to say what would happen but I’ll just suggest that there might be some incest
going on in the Stauffer household.”
“Ewww.
Aren’t there laws against that?”
“Not even
the law can stop love,” she said playfully.
“What
about your parents? Knowing your dad, he’d probably kick the both of you out of
the house. Lack of a home can certainly stop love.”
“Well, of
course the hypothetical Hunter Stauffer and I would keep our relationship on
the down-low. On the outside, we’d seem like a normal brother and sister pair;
we may or may not kiss each other on the lips in public—depends on social
norms. Beyond that though, society wouldn’t be ready to accept us.”
“Okay,
well Hunter is basically like an older brother to me. And I hate to disappoint
you by not jumping on the incest train but I ain’t a ‘ho that has sex with her
bro’.” I nudged her back.
“Whatever,”
she scoffed as if I was acting pretentious then took a sip of her drink.
“Besides,
I’m sure Hunter has his pick of Valentines. Girls probably give him roses and
chocolates instead of the other way around. It’s not hard to believe
considering you’d go as far as to break state laws for him.”
She
laughed. “I was just joshin ya, Lorrie. Hunter’s all
yours.
” She gave an
exaggerated wink that made me uncomfortable. “But you’re probably right about
girls wanting to woo him. Anyway, it’s fun to dream about opportunities that’ll
never arise.”
“Maybe.
But it’s also fun just being buddies.”
“To each,
her own. Anyway, I don’t want to keep you from the kids. I’ll see you back at
the dorms.”
I left the
Barnyard feeling better about Valentine’s Day. Despite the odd direction the
conversation took, it raised my spirit. Somehow Daniela always knew how to make
me feel more upbeat. The walk across campus to Hunter’s place was quick, even
with the two inches of snow crunching beneath my boots. When I reached his
apartment, I unlocked the door, and stamped my boots on the welcome mat.
I could
hear the kittens meowing already in their box so I quickly opened the fridge
for the formula and started heating it up. I spent the next half hour feeding
them. It wouldn’t have taken so long if Taylor hadn’t kept trying to climb out
of the box after she had already been fed. They were already growing so big, I
could barely hold their entire bodies in my hands.
The six
little monsters finally fell asleep in their box, and I started cleaning up.
Just then, Hunter came through the front door.
“Hey
Lorrie, Happy Valentine’s Day!” I heard him yell as he came in.
Shit, I
almost forgot. If it was Valentine’s Day, Hunter might have brought a girl
back. My heart beat faster. How awkward would it be to meet his Valentine? I
turned around quickly, blood rushing to my face, but it was only Hunter
standing in the doorway, letting in a blast of winter air.
He was
wearing a black sweatshirt and thick sweatpants: he must’ve just come back from
the gym. I let out a slow breath of relief. He wasn’t with anyone.
“Hey
Hunter. Don’t even remind me.”
“Oh, okay.
I don’t really care, but I figured girls liked Valentine’s Day. How are the
kittens?”
“Just fed
‘em, they’re all sleeping now.”
He walked
through the apartment to his bedroom. When he emerged again, he was shirtless.
His body glistened with a thin sheen of sweat sending an unwelcome surge of
awareness through me.
“Come on
Hunter, do you always need to show off your muscles?”
He
laughed, “Hey sorry, I wanted to get out of my sweaty clothes ASAP. You have
any Valentine’s Day plans?”
“Why? Are
you trying to ask me to be your Valentine?” I crossed my arms, ready for
whatever he was going to try to throw at me next. It would be difficult to top
being half-naked, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
Hunter
held his hands up in surrender. “Whoa whoa, slow down there Lorrie. I was just
going to ask if you wanted to stick around and hang out. Gary is coming over in
a bit. We were just going to have some beers and watch TV.”
I wasn’t
expecting Hunter to be lacking dates for Valentine’s Day so I was surprised
that he wasn’t going out.
“Really?
You’re hanging out with Gary on Valentine’s? Are you sure there’s nothing going
on between you two?” I teased him.
He smirked
at me.“Well you’ll have to stick around if you want to find out. So what do you
say?”
I giggled
at the thought of the two of them wrestling naked like ancient Greek
combatants. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
Hunter
went into the bathroom to take his shower, and I plopped down on the couch to
watch TV. Bridezillas was on—an appropriate show for the occasion. I watched
the brides for a while, but I couldn’t stop thinking about why Hunter wasn’t
going out for a date on Valentine’s Day.
After he
finished his shower, he walked over to the couch. He was wearing a tight white
t-shirt and a new pair of gray sweatpants. His hammer tattoo peeked out beneath
his sleeve when he took a seat beside me and my heart did a pitter patter. I
wanted to shift further away on the couch but I was already squeezed against
the armrest.
“What are
you watching?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the TV.
“Bridezillas.”
He
remained silent while watching a group of bridesmaids console the bride who was
crying over being unable to squeeze into her dress on the last fitting because
she had gained weight from tasting too many wedding cake options.
“You like
this kinda stuff?” he asked casually.
“Uh,
yeah!” I chimed.
He
continued watching, seemingly mesmerized. “Why?”
“It’s a
guilty pleasure. It’s like you know it’s bad, but you can’t stop watching. It’s
kind of like watching a train wreck.”
He hummed
to himself in thought as the bride began sucking on her thumb like a toddler to
ease her anxiety. “Yeah, I can see the appeal. I wanna stop watching but I’m
not sure I can. You think you’d ever be like that?”
“What? No.
No way. I’d be way more reasonable . . . I think.”