Chapter Text
The layer of thick sludge you caked onto your face felt heavy and as far as scents went, you couldn’t claim to love it very much. Hell, as you smoothed out an even layer of the volcanic clay across one cheek, you could admit that your reflection had begun to look more and more ridiculous. Slightly unpleasant smells and goopy weirdness aside, you found the process to be completely worthwhile for how clean and smooth your skin would look as well as feel once you could wash it off after fifteen minutes. A good mask treatment could be an amazingly simple way of feeling pampered and given that the date on your calendar read February 14th, you were quite happy to treat yourself as much as you saw fit.
“Well, now that I look scary enough to freak out small children…”
You washed and dried your hands, setting the timer on your cellphone on the way back into the living room, where the surface of your low coffee table remained exactly as you’d left it. The array of less than healthy foods made your mouth water, the cheese on the pizza you’d ordered looking deliciously melty while the bottle of uncorked wine resting beside your empty glass held the promise of a nice, relaxing buzz. The heart-shaped chocolate box became your first snack of choice, the lid popped off and tossed carelessly aside so you could delve in for one of the assorted treats contained within, biting through the chocolate and its creamy center with a satisfied smile.
It felt wonderful to be in such high spirits on what had once been a day of the year you’d come to hate. For ages, Valentine’s Day had only served to help you recall the horrible relationship you’d gotten out of and all the miserable holidays spent with a man you wish you’d never met. In his absence, it had become a reminder not only of your past but also of new loneliness, filling your heart with an emptiness which had ached almost as much as your memories. A few years had passed before you’d come to the conclusion that an unhealthy love or a lack of it wasn’t what the day had to stand for, not when you’d come worked past your trauma to learn how important it was to carve out a happiness of your own, for yourself and nobody else. Settling into enjoying the day as a means for making yourself feel good had taken effort and it hadn’t been easy right away, but your new routine of self-care, shitty horror flicks and plenty of junk food had inevitably become something you looked forward to.
You weren’t wholly alone, not when you had a phone full of loving texts from the wonderful friends you’d made, and the lack of a presence in the seat beside you no longer felt so overwhelming. It was a space to put your sock-clad feet, stretched out in your heart-patterned pajamas as you poured yourself a nice glass of wine.
There was plenty of love to be found in your life and while it may not have been romantic, it felt okay for things to be that way. It was your day, your holiday to remember that you were a person worth loving, even if most of that love came from yourself.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” you whispered with a little smile, sipping from your glass as you started up the cheesy horror film you’d decided on.
You couldn’t wait to see what sort of discount chocolate you could get your hands on come tomorrow.