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Valentine’s Day, possibly your favorite holiday.
You find yourself enjoying school more during this time of year. Because it’s a boarding school, the student council tends to go all out with the decorations and festivities in attempts to make the space more comforting. It was no secret that some got homesick and craved some solace throughout the year, yourself included.
You’d been enjoying the festive environment brought to the common spaces and hallways. And though it was close to ending, at least you’d be able to treat yourself to some sweets you had baked for yourself and friends.
While the school doesn’t host a dance, most students still partake in celebrating the holiday. Restrictions for visiting were more lenient, allowing for couples to spend time together during later hours of the day without resorting to sneaking around. Even though you didn’t have a romantic partner to spend the day with, you were more than happy to embrace the love in the air, no matter how cheesy it sounded.
The outfit you had planned for the day was on theme, made up of different shades of pink and red. You added the finishing touches to your hair and makeup before leaving your dorm, ready to start your classes for the day.
You take your time walking before you’re stopped by a girl from your English class, Holly.
“Hey! I love your outfit. You look cute!” She smiles at you sweetly, and you find yourself wondering what lip product she’s wearing.
You brush the thought of, thinking that it’d probably be creepy to continue staring. “Thank you, I appreciate that. Your hair is really cute.” You mean it, too, she’s somehow managed to shape a section of her red hair into a heart. You return her smile, but find yourself just a bit confused when her face flushes red.
“Hey,” she clears her throat, “I don’t know if you heard, but Valentine grams are getting delivered today.”
You nod. “I heard. I don’t know if I’ll be getting any, though.”
Holly’s face lights up. “Oh, you’re so wrong.” She pauses, as if she regrets saying that, but still continues. “Listen, I’m on the student council and I was involved in the process. I’m not supposed to say anything, but I swear your name came up a ton of times.”
You cock your head. Surely she must be confused. “Are you sure? I mean, I haven’t really had anyone indicate that they’re interested in me.”
“Some people get nervous, some have hallway crushes and do it for fun.” She shrugs, then smirks at you. “And don’t act like that one guy isn’t flirting with you. Jeremy, right? That Australian kid seems into you, too.”
Your face grows warm. She’s not exactly wrong, but you’ve taken their flirting as teasing, not serious interest. “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it, then. I should be getting to class now.”
She nods, but speaks again before you can go. “One last thing.” You nod. “I kinda bought a candy gram for you. Okay, Happy Valentine’s Day, bye!” She runs off before you get the chance to say anything.
This was weird. If she was right about the candy grams, were you somehow oblivious to the attention you were supposedly receiving? You continue to class like normal, but notice the way a couple different people make eye contact with you before hurriedly looking away; something you hadn’t noticed before.
Maybe Holly is right.
__________
You share your first class of the day with Jeremy, who you also sit right next to.
He grins when you take your seat, quick to greet you. “Hey, babe.” After talking to Holly the nickname flusters you more than usual. “You look pretty.” He looks you up and down, taking in your outfit.
You smile sheepishly. “Thank you.” You’re nervous, and frankly a little scared to speak more; just in case you start acting differently now that you know Jeremy might have feelings for you.
He frowns, taking notice of the change in your demeanor. “You okay?” He’s not used to you reacting to his compliments so shyly.
Your teacher begins the class right then, saving you from the obligation to answer his question.
“Okay, we’re going to pick up where we left off yesterday, so-” There’s a knock at the door. She sighs, then walks over and opens it.
Two students with small baskets walk in. Valentine’s grams.
“Make it quick, please.” She’s clearly suppressing her feelings of irritation.
The two make their way around the room. When the first person makes his way to your desk, he sorts through the basket for a good few seconds. His hand emerges with a small stack of candy grams, which he places on your desk with a wink.
“Damn.” Jeremy laughs, taking note of your small pile. “You’re a real heartthrob, huh? You got me beat here.” He motions to the two candy grams on his desk.
“You’ll get more throughout the day.” You smile, trying to ignore the first comment he made. Before he can say anything, the other student comes by, setting an even larger stack of candy grams on your desk.
She smiles. “Do you want a bag?”
You laugh. “Do you have one?”
She nods, then hands you a pink plastic bag from her basket before leaving the room. You put your candy grams in the bag, counting eight total.
You don’t catch Jeremy’s frown as you do.
__________
By the time lunch rolled around, you'd amassed about twenty candy grams. Your bag is stuffed full, and you silently hope you won’t receive more during your remaining classes.
“Jesus, how many of those did you get?” Francesca laughs when she sees your bag.
“Somewhere around twenty.” You sigh, taking your seat across from her and setting your lunch tray down.
She smiles. “Yeah, that makes sense. Did you get mine yet?”
You beam at her. “You got a candy gram for me?”
She laughs. “Yup. I mean, we’re friends, right?”
You nod. “Yeah, of course. I just feel bad now.” You look down at your tray, avoiding looking her in the eye. “I baked something for you, I just didn’t think to get you a candy gram.”
“Aw, don’t worry. I mean, I probably would’ve done the same if I could actually bake, you know I’d probably end up starting a fire in the dorm kitchen. Plus, I prefer your baking to some random lollipop.”
“Don’t be like that, Cesca. You’ll get it eventually.”
“I’d agree, if I was delusional.” She pauses, looking up at someone approaching the two of you.
“Oh, great.”
You look up, too. It’s Jane. He’s sweet and all, just a little loud for your tastes.
“Hello!” He exclaims when he reaches your table. He leans down, his face coming close to yours. “Did you get my candy gram?” He turns to Francesca. “And you, did you get mine yet?”
She looks confused. “You got a candy gram for me?”
He nods. “Yes! I bought twenty of them for all my friends!” He pauses. “Well, fifteen, actually. five of them were for Tavish.”
Thinking of Tavish, he turns and catches sight of him, waiting at a different table. “I need to go now, my boyfriend is waiting for me!” He walks away without another word.
You and Francesca look at each other, surprised expressions on your faces. “Boyfriend!” You squeal in unison.
She laughs. “Finally! I thought we’d have to sit through that awkward flirting forever.”
You nod in agreement. “Same. It was kinda sweet, though.”
“Yup, and now I can say I got a candy gram.” She glances at your bag. “Speaking of, who are all those from?”
“Oh, I haven’t sorted through all of them, but it’s a lot of different people/”
You lean in close to her, lowering your voice just a tad. “This girl in my English class told me a ton of people came through buying them for me. I mean, I didn’t believe her at first, but I can’t deny it now.”
Francesca rolls her eyes. “You’re so oblivious, sometimes I forget you’re being serious.”
You frown at her. “What are you talking about? I mean, she was right about the amount of people, but do you really think that many of them are romantically interested?”
She groans. “Okay, let’s see them. Read them off and I’ll tell you.”
You roll your eyes at her, but pull the first one out. “Ali, from history.” You pause for a split second, remembering the way he had smiled at you when you saw him in the hallway this morning.
“He was totally flirting with you when you were working on that paper together.” She smirks.
When you think about it, she could be right. Ali had often tried to derail the conversation from the research topic, talking to you about unrelated things. You try to ignore that, instead pulling out the next one. “Elena, we’re both in gardening club.”
“Yeah, the girl who tried asking you on a date to the botanical gardens?”
Your eyes widen. “That was for a research project!”
“No, dude. She meant for it to be a date.” She snickers at you.
“Why can’t people just say what they mean? This is way too complicated.”
“Aw, poor you.” She teases. “Next one.”
“Sam, they tutored me in Spanish.”
“Yeah, because an ice cream shop is the perfect place to study Spanish in a totally platonic way.” She smirks at you. “C’mon, another one.”
“No, I get it.” You feel embarrassed for being so unaware. “I can’t just ignore these, right? I should tell them I’m not interested.” You sigh, gathering the candy grams and putting them back in your bag.
She tilts her head. “Really? You’re not interested in any of the twenty people you have your pick of?”
You groan, realizing how you must sound. “No! I mean, yes? They’re all really sweet and cool, I just don’t think I could see myself in a romantic relationship with any of them.”
“Yeah, because you’re eyeing Jeremy and Mick.” She hushes you before you can speak up. “Don’t deny it, I know what I’m talking about.” She’s listened to countless of your recounts of interactions with the two.
You rub your arms in a self-soothing manner. “I’m not even sure if they’re even interested in me- and I mean, even if they are, how do I pick? I like both of them a lot.”
“Pick both.” She shrugs, answering the question with ease as if it’s the most obvious thing.
You gawk at her. “Both?”
She nods. “Yeah, I mean, if they’re okay with it. Why not?”
You think about it for a second, and come up with no genuine reasoning as to why it couldn’t work. “Well, I guess.”
The bell rings, and Francesca puts her hand over you after gathering her things. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out, and you can always talk to me if you need help. I’ll see you later.”
You sit there just a second longer before leaving the table, watching her walk off. What she said is still fresh in your mind.
Pick both.
__________
Your last class of the day is art, which you share with Mick. You take your seat in the back right beside him, just before the bell rings.
“Hey, mate.” He flashes a smile at you, which drops when your pink bags catch his eye. You now have two, due to the amount you had received.
“Hi, Mick.” You pull out your supplies, thankful for the easy assignment; sketching freely was always a treat.
He clears his throat. “Got a lot of those, then?” He motions to your bags.
You glance at them, then nod. “Around thirty-five.”
He laughs, though it sounds forced. “Christ. Any of them from who you hoped?”
You hadn’t received one from either him or Jeremy, so no. “No, actually. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really thoughtful, I just feel dumb for being so oblivious to this.”
He snorts. “Oblivious that people like you? You’re funny, mate.”
You laugh nervously. “I’m not joking. I mean, I was talking to Francesca about it. I guess I don’t get it when people are flirting with me. I just wish people would say what they mean, it’d clear up any confusion.”
He nods, though he still feels jealousy running all throughout him. “I get it.”
Another member of the student council walks in with a basket. Eric, if you remember correctly. You shared a class with him the previous semester. He walks around the room, passing out candy grams before stopping at your desk.
He smiles as he places yet another small stack of candy grams on your desk. He leans down a bit. “One of those is from me.” He winks at you and leaves the room before you get the chance to respond.
Mick glares at him as he leaves, clearly annoyed. He only hopes that you were telling the truth about not receiving a candy gram from anyone you’re interested in. He’d hate to see you get with someone before he had the chance to confess his feelings.
“So,” he crosses his arms over his chest, “how many is that now?”
“That’s forty.” You shake your head. “I mean, on top of responding to all these people, I don’t know what I’m going to do with forty lollipops.”
“Good problems, mate.” He covers up his upset demeanor with a smile, which almost turns genuine when you return it.
__________
Jeremy stands in front of your dorm door, trying to hype himself up to knock. He has a teddy bear under his arm, and a box of cupcakes in his opposite hand. He’d saved up for a good few months to buy the cupcakes, all so he could afford to buy them from your favorite bakery.
He’s nervous, really nervous. He knew that over the course of the day you’d probably received even more candy grams, and he prayed that no one you were interested in sent one. He raises his arm to knock, but stops when he hears footsteps coming down the hall.
He turns, and feels a sense of relief when he only sees Mick and not a staff member. He’s well acquainted with Mick, considering how he’s one of your best friends, under him, that is. Well, you’d always said you didn’t play favorites, but he could delude himself into thinking that was a lie.
“Hey, man.” Jeremy greets, though his tone is more bothered than friendly.
“Evening, mate.” Mick takes note of the gifts Jeremy is holding when he’s just a few feet away from him. “Planning to confess?” He smirks. “That’s cute.”
Jeremy narrows his eyes at him. “What, you think you’ve got a better chance than me?”
Mick shrugs. “Dunno. I mean, she does like me best between the two of us.” He doesn’t know that for a face, he’s only allowing his ego to overtake him.
“Who the fuck told you that?” Jeremy scoffs. “Don’t be delusional, man.”
“Whatever you say, mate.” He steps into Jeremy’s personal space, trying to guide him away from your door. “Just let me talk to her and then you can be on your way. Sorry you had to waste your time coming down here.”
Jeremy feels his face heat up. “I swear, I will fuck you up.” Jeremy wants to resort to shoving the other, but knows it’s best not to lose his temper right outside your door, especially with such an expensive box of sweets in hand.
Mick laughs. “For fucks sake, just leave. Pretty sure you lose your temper too often for her tastes.”
“Yeah? Well fuck you. At least I’m ready to actually fight instead of just making passive aggressive comments like some candy-ass.” Jeremy growls.
“This is getting embarrassing. Would you just give it up, you dingo?”
“What the fuck is a dingo- what the fuck did you just call me!?”
Out of all the things Mick had said, that’s what set him off? “It’s like calling you a chicken- are you stupid?”
“I swear, I would beat your ass if I wasn’t holding this shit right now.”
“I would punt your ass across this hallway.” Mick practically snarls.
Jeremy snickers. “You? You’re built like you’d collapse if the wind got too fast.”
“Whatever. I’m sure she’d prefer someone who reads a book at least once a year to some bloke who tries picking a fight with anyone and everyone.”
“Screw you dude-”
“No, fuck you-”
Your door swings open.
__________
You spend your evening in your dorm sorting through candy grams instead of doing literally anything else.
Ben. He was your lab partner in chemistry, freshman year. He asked you out for coffee to study, but didn’t bring his books.
Roxanne. She’d baked something for you every week for a solid couple months.
Alex. He said he had a spare ticket to a movie you wanted to see, claiming that his friend couldn’t make it.
Riley. They had given you a couple piano lessons a few months back, but always seemed to sit a little too close for your comfort.
Daniella. She did your makeup once, and you only now realized why she claimed it’d be best if she sat in your lap while she did.
You rest your head on your desk. Why couldn’t people just make their intentions blatantly clear? Was this how everyone flirted? Did you need to rethink the way you thought of romantic gestures?
Your thoughts are interrupted when you hear noise coming from outside of your door. It sounds like two people arguing, and it gets very irritating very quickly.
You get up from your desk, swinging open your door.
“Screw you dude-” Jeremy.
“No, fuck you-” Mick.
You’re confused as to why they’re there, until you realize what’s going on.
Mick is holding a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers. Jeremy is carrying a box you recognize from your favorite bakery and a teddy bear in your favorite color.
They’re both confessing.
Jeremy’s expression quickly turns from pissed off to happy. “Hey, babe!” Mick rolls his eyes. “Forget about him, he was just leaving.” He tries pushing Mick away by bumping into his side.
Mick shoves him back. “Don’t listen to his wanker.” He side-eyes Jeremy. “I’ve gotta talk to you, love.”
Jeremy busts out laughing. “Love!? That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard!”
“You think babe is any better? You oughta shut your mouth already!”
“Babe, c’mon. Just drop this loser, don’t lead him on when you know you’ve got the best right here.”
“Love, do you really wanna be with this dingo?”
“I’m not a fuckin’ dingo! Y’know what, screw you.” He turns his full attention to you, pouting. “Babe, please. I learned how to crochet for you! I’ve been making this damn bear for months-” he holds the bear up to your face, “and I saved for so long to get you these cupcakes!”
“Well I got these chocolates imported! And I’ve been growing these flowers in my dorm with artificial lights!” Mick raises the bouquet to your face.
“Babe- be honest with yourself. You know you want me.”
“Love, you deserve more than this moron-”
You haven’t gotten a word in, and you know you’re bound to get in trouble if these two keep running their mouths so loudly. You grab them both and drag them into your mound.
Jeremy plops down onto your bed, and Mick sits at your desk chair.
You shut the door, then turn to the two of them. “What the fuck is your problem?” The question is directed at the both of them. “For fucks sake, are you trying to get me a noise complaint?”
They’re both quiet.
“And why are you so insistent on insulting each other? It’s just meaningless back and forth, you’re being nasty to each other for no reason! Do you think I feel good about my friends arguing with each other?”
“I’m sorry.” They both mutter.
“This is ridiculous.” You shake your head.
Jeremy tilts his head up. “So, who do you pick?”
You glare at him. “What?”
“Which one of us do you want, love?” Mick asks quietly, still avoiding eye contact.
You sigh. “Yes, I understand that. But you don’t get to just brush off having a screaming match without apologizing.”
Jeremy huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Sorry I called you a candy-ass.”
Mick avoids eye contact. “Sorry I called you a dingo.”
“Thank you.” You sigh, taking a seat at the foot of your bed.
Mick clears his throat. “So?”
You let out a deep breath. Now or never, right?
“I’m going to be honest, I have feelings for both of you.”
They both perk up, but pause when they realize what that means.
“And I don’t want to make a decision. You’re both funny, nice, pretty. I like spending my time with you, in and out of class. I don’t know if it’d be possible for me to not catch feelings for the both of you, and I don’t think it’s any wonder I’m feeling conflicted.”
Jeremy chuckles. “Yeah, I’m a catch, babe.”
Mick smiles shyly. “Thanks, love.”
You nod, then take a deep breath. “So, I figure if I can have feelings for you both, why can’t I date you both?”
Confusion is evident on both of their faces, and the room grows tense for a good few seconds.
“You mean, date both of us at the same time?” Jeremy cocks his head.
You nod. “Yes. I understand if it’s a no, I just want you to know that I really can’t choose between you both.”
The room grows quiet again, until Mick speaks up.
“You know, if it’s going to make you happy, I’m all for it, love.” Mick beams.
You feel chills run through your body, this might actually work. Both you and Mick turn your attention to Jeremy, waiting for his input.
He mulls it over for another minute or so, then shrugs. “Ah, what the hell! There’s crazier shit going on in the world, let’s do it.”
It soon fully kicks in that this is going as you dreamed. “You guys are both serious?” You smile widely, almost not believing you got exactly what you wanted.
“C’mon love, how could we say no to a face like that?”
“Exactly. I’m not cuddling with him, though.” Jeremy nods at Mick.
“Aw, feeling shy, mate?” Mick teases.
“Oh screw off.” Jeremy snarks, though the amusement on his face is very obvious. There’s a comfortable silence before Jeremy notices your desk. “What the fuck? How many candy grams did you get?”
“Forty, I think.” You rub the back of your neck.
Jeremy approaches the desk, sorting through the cards with a scowl on his face. “Y’know, the candy is whatever, but I think we should trash these cards.” He glances at Mick. “Right, pal?”
Mick nods. “Totally agree, mate.”
You try to speak up, but Jeremy interrupts. “Actually, screw that. We’ll trash the candy, too. We can get you all the candy you want, no need to take it from these chumps.”
You shake your head. “No one is trashing anything. I’m not going to just get rid of people’s grams.”
Jeremy sighs, but decides against arguing it further. “Whatever you want, babe.” He grabs Mick by the wrists, pulling him over to the bed. “I wanna cuddle now.”
“Thought you said you didn’t want to cuddle with me, darlin’.” Mick smirks at Jeremy.
Jeremy’s face flushes, and he shoves Mick onto the bed. “Just shut up already, If you’re gonna be her boyfriend,” he motions to you, “and I’m gonna be her boyfriend,” he motions to himself, “why shouldn’t we be boyfriends.” He shrugs as if it’s the most logical thing.
Mick smiles, then pulls Jeremy onto the bed with him. “Suppose you’re right. Heh, got two in one confession.” He snickers when Jeremy playfully smacks his upper arm.
They both pull you up from the foot of your bed, positioning you between them. It’s only then that you realize how incredible this situation turned out, you’d have to thank Francesca later.
Best Valentine’s Day ever.