I've been in a horrible mood all day.
I don't want to talk to Roman. Or Harper. Or Nora. I want to go home and stay in my room all by myself for the rest of the day. Valentine's Day stinks. Love stinks. I hate all of it.
"Luna, wait!" I can hear Roman's heavy panting as he tries to catch up to me. "Please, Luna!" he groans when I don't stop.
I've been holding back tears all day, and I'm still trying to hold them back. They want to break from the surface and spill over the edge. The cold wind can't even dry my eyes until they're scratchy and burning from the cold. The sadness from earlier overpowers the cold and turns my body to fire.
"LUNAAAAAA!" Roman screams from the top of his lungs, sorrow and anger ripping from his throat like a never-healing wound.
I turn around, the second tear of the day making its appearance as it rolls down my cheek. "What do you want, Roman?"
His eyes widen for a split second when he sees my raw emotion. He recovers quickly, straightening his face and catching up to me in the next second. "Why are you crying?" He wipes my face, his somehow warm palm brushing my raw cheek. "Stop crying," he pleads.
"Why would you care?" I ask, shoving his hands away.
His eyebrows furrow, his face turning sharp as he scowls at me. "Why wouldn't I? You're one of my best friends."
I shrug, not wanting to get into it. Not wanting to embarrass myself any further than I already have.
I start turning around, wanting to get somewhere warm. My breath comes out as pants and I can see it puff in the air with every exhale.
He steps in front of me, blocking my exit. “What? What did I do wrong?”
Another tear falls, and he wipes it before it can hit the apple of my cheek.
“You don’t like me,” I whisper, the words passing through my foggy breath louder than they sound coming from my chest.
“What?” His eyes widen incredulously. “Yeah, I do.”
"I gave you the card this morning and it's like you didn't even care. It's like you were mad about it."
He stares at me, his teeth going to his bottom lip and he starts chewing on it.
Bite, bite, bite.
"See?" I step to the side, ready to get away from him. I knew he didn't like me.I knew it.
He steps in front of me again. "Wait."
I look up at him, my nose starting to drip from the cold. I bring the back of my hand up and swipe away the moisture.
He drops his backpack into the pile of snow, and it sinks in deep. Bending over, he unzips the main pocket and pulls out a blue piece of paper. Standing up, he hands it to me without looking me in the eyes, keeping them averted to his backpack. This time his hand is the one that's shaking.
I slide it from between his fingers, feeling the smooth paper. It's a large rectangle with the wordsHappy Valentine's Dayon it. Reds and whites mix on the blue paper, but it's still perfect.
I take a deep breath as I open it, seeing his barely legible handwriting scratched in the middle.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You're my best friend,
But I like you too.
A drop splatters on the letters, blurring them and making the ink run. I wipe my eye, realizing I'm crying again.
I look up at Roman, seeing him looking at me. A bit shyly, maybe. Unsure of himself.