Candy Hearts

Candy Hearts (a short story)

"Happy Valentine's day, darling!" "Oh, you shouldn't have! You're too kind!" "I love you more!"

Charlie pressed her fingers to her forehead in annoyance. Would these people ever shut up? Just because it was Valentine's day didn't mean you had to go around and brag to everyone that you clearly had the best love life.

"You'll break up soon, and then who'll be laughing, huh?" she felt like saying. But she was only the assistant here. It was her responsability to be calm and polite and follow the rules. 

Still. All the excitement about Valentine's day was bullshit.

Charlie pulled her shoulder length blond hair into the best pony tail she could manage, and went back to working, trying to tune out the lovey-dovey noises from all around her.

Suddenly, someone tapped Charlie on the shoulder. "Hey Charlie! Happy Valentine's day!"

Charlie looked up to see Fay, the receptionist who worked across from her. Fay had long, red hair and always wore extravagant outfits. Charlie wasn't always sure whether she wanted to be her or be with her.

"Oh! Fay! Uh, hi!" Charlie replied.

Fay held out a box of candy hearts, "I see no one else got you anything, so I wanted to give you these."

Charlie could feel her face reddening. Oh god. This could not be happening. Fay would only ever see her as the poor, lonely, unlovable, weird assistant now. 

"No thanks, I'm good. I don't really do Valentines day, ya know?" Charlie replied, trying to keep her voice steady. 

"Oh, well, can I give them to you as a friend?" Fay asked.

Charlie felt her heartbeat quicken and suddenly Fay's hand on her shoulder felt very heavy. "Uh, sure, I mean, obviously, yeah, as friends," she stuttered.

Fay giggled, put the candy hearts on Charlie's desk, and walked away.

Charlie groaned. What a great first impression. She looked at the candy's on her desk and pushed them to the side. I'll eat them later.

The day came and went, and soon it was time to pack up. Most of the couples had left by then, so the office was a nice, peaceful quiet. Charlie brushed papers into her bag when she noticed the candy hearts. Right.

She opened the pack and poured them onto her desk. Might as well treat myself, right?  Charlie grabbed a couple, and was about to eat them quickly before she noticed something off. 

Usually, candy hearts had sweet messages on them, like "I love you" or "Heart" or "be mine". But these... these had other messages. Weird ones.

"Help?" "Danger?" Charlie read a few out loud, puzzled. "Why would Fay give me a scary pack of candy hearts? If this is a joke, haha, very funny." she said, loud enough for someone hiding in the office to hear. 

When no one jumped out and said "Haha, got me!", Charlie began to come up with other ideas. What if Fay was in danger, and that was her way of telling Charlie secretly?

"I'm coming Fay, don't worry!" Charlie exclaimed, running out of the office and down the building, "I'll save you, and then we'll get married and run off and live in the forest with the fairies and, oh, Fay-"

"Charlie? Why are you still here?"

Charlie spun around. "Fay?"

"Umm... is everything ok?" Fay asked, looking at Charlie curiously.

"Uh, how much did you hear?" Charlie asked, instantly wishing she could hide in a hole forever.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Fay grinned.

Oh. So she heard a lot. "Uh, well, I just thought you were in danger-"

"Danger? Why?"

"Because of the candy hearts you gave me! The messages on them said 'Danger!' and 'Help!' and stuff like that." Charlie explained, flustered. This day could not get any worse.

"Oh Charlie," Fay smiled sympathetically, "They were just candy hearts."

((I had a vision for this and it didn't really work but anyways, hope you enjoyed))